TipsForSuccess: March 2006

TipsForSuccess: More Valuable Than Money

More Valuable than Money

As you know, your income depends on other people. You give them something valuable and they give you money. So even if you think you have nothing to exchange, you have one valuable item that people want from you.

"Approval and validation* are often far more valuable than material* rewards and are usually worked for far harder than mere pay." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*validation: confirm something or someone is true, genuine) (*material: physical)

In a Gallup Organization poll of 2,000 workers, 69% said praise and recognition from their bosses is more motivating than money. Four out of five workers said recognition or praise motivates them to do a better job.

Studies by the US Army prove that soldiers improve their performance 90% of the time when praised and 30% of the time when criticized. But officers in the US Army still prefer to criticize and rarely praise anyone.

Thanking employees is an effective management technique. Every manager and executive must know how to show appreciation to deserving staff members. Good acknowledgments encourage better behavior and increased production. Validating good workers can even help a business recover.

For example, The owner of a small business had a heart attack and could not work for a few weeks. He recovered and came back to work and found he had no money to pay his employees. Instead of asking the employees to leave or borrowing money to cover payroll, the owner used praise and acknowledgment as "pay."

Every employee stayed on board without financial pay for nearly two months. The morale of the group was tremendous. The operation became profitable and the team was rewarded with more money than they would have normally received from a similar job.

You can use this principle in other ways. For example, workers can boost their success by properly thanking their bosses and coworkers. If your leader and teammates are succeeding, your chances to succeed improve.

Some people have the mistaken idea that it is wrong or weak to praise people. "If I thank him or approve his good work, he'll think I'm inferior." "I can't validate her good work because she's already making more money than me." "Even though Joe is my friend, he's also my competition for the raise so I'm not telling anyone how smart he is."

Of course, this idea is wrong. For example, successful sports teammates are constantly approving and encouraging each other with loud yells and slaps. Without this encouragement, the team and each individual would fail.

Praise also gets a bad name when you are not sincere. Sarcastic praise or lying about your admiration can actually hurt your relationships. Validating and appreciating people only helps you if you are honest.

Seven Benefits of Giving Honest Praise

1. You give people a little joy in their day.

2. People follow your example and start to notice the good in others.

3. You can use praise to turn an enemy into a friend.

4. You improve a child's behavior when you use praise as a reward for good behavior.

5. People give you priority. For example, waiters and waitresses prefer to serve customers who show their appreciation of their hard work. If you criticize a food server, you may not get a very good meal.

6. As any successful fundraiser can tell you, no one will support your cause without some praise.

7. If you cannot pay money to people, you can always thank them which is all some people really want.

Eight Ways to Approve, Validate, Admire, Praise and Thank Others

1. Verbally and directly thank the person. Stop the person, look them in the eye, get their full attention. "Pat, thanks for straightening out those files."

2. Explain why you appreciate what the person did. Be specific. "I liked how you used the colored tabs to make it easier for us to find files in the future." "I'm amazed how you got Little Bill to calm down and clean up his room." "Ever since you upgraded my computer, I get my work done much faster!"

3. Expand your compliment. "The way you organize everything really makes it nice to work around you." "Ever since you came home, everyone in the family gets along better." "If you help me with my computer in the future, I'll get a raise!"

4. Give indirect praise. For example, compliment one person about another person. "Bob sure did a good job fixing my car!" "You know, Mary is one of the best friends I've ever had." "I think our boss is a fantastic manager."

5. Defend the person. "You said Chris is too much of a perfectionist, but no one can organize things like she does." "If one of us was the boss, we'd have to be tough too." "Maybe you should say that to his face and not behind his back."

6. Ask for the person's help, opinions or ideas. As a boss, asking for an employee's advice shows that you value the person's intelligence. "Could you give me your ideas about the parking problem?" "Do you think we should hire another assistant?"

As an employee, if you ask a coworker for help, it not only shows you have a good opinion of the coworker, it encourages him or her to be on your side. "Can I ask you for some advice?"

7. Compliment their achievement. Instead of praising the person, you praise their work. Become happy, even excited, about the person's accomplishment. "This dinner is really fantastic!" "That fish tank has never looked cleaner!" "Mrs. Jones was very happy after you met with her."

8. Physical contact. Hand shakes, shoulder pats and even hugs can communicate your appreciation quickly and effectively.

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm or click here.

TipsForSuccess: "No Means No!"

"No Means No!"

Is it easier for you to say "yes" or "no"?

If you are like most people, "no" is more difficult. Saying "no" is like telling someone they are bad or wrong. People might feel rejected if you say, "no."

However, if you can't say "no," you will take detours on your road to success.

"No" Regarding Money

To build wealth you must say "no" at times.

For example, if you manage finances for a business or organization, you probably know how often people try to get you to say "yes." Yet if you agree to every financial request, your group goes broke.

"It is up to a financial manager to be very, very, very tough and to learn how to say no, no, no, no. In fact, it would be a very good thing if he stood in front of a mirror for ten or fifteen minutes a day saying `no.'" -- L. Ron Hubbard

If you are the financial manager for a business or group, you must say "no" for the sake of your organization.

Even if you do not manage a group's finances, you ARE the financial manager of your personal finances. You also need to say "no."

"No" Regarding Time

Like money, your time must be spent wisely to build your success. In fact, your time is your most valuable resource. Yet your time decisions may not always be popular when people say things like:

"I just need a few minutes of your time."

"C'mon. Say 'yes' and let's go have some fun!"

"Will you do this project? It won't take long."

Yet to make progress in life, you must say "no."

"No, sorry, I don't have time for that."

"I'd love to goof off, but no, I'm going to study."

"Do I want to stop my work and help you with your job? Sorry, but no."

"No" Regarding Yourself

The most difficult person to say "no" to is yourself. However, like starting yourself and changing yourself, self-control requires you to stop yourself.

Breaking a bad habit is simply a matter of saying "no."

"No, I won't eat that box of chocolate donuts."

"No, I will not use my credit card to buy that new stereo system."

"No, I don't smoke now."

Telling yourself "no" is also essential to your success.

"No, it's not time to quit."

"No, this job is not perfect yet."

"No, I WILL reach my goals."

Recommendations

1. Write down situations when you should say "no" regarding money.

2. Write down instances when you should say "no" regarding time.

3. Write down examples when you should say "no" regarding your personal habits.

4. With one of these situations and examples in mind, say "no" to a mirror for ten or fifteen minutes.
You might be amazed at how difficult it is to say "no" to a mirror! After a while, saying "no" becomes as easy as saying, "yes."
Repeat for each of the above examples until saying "no" is easy (at least to a mirror).

5. Start saying "no" in every situation listed above as it comes up. Thanks to the mirror exercise, you will find saying "no" is much easier. Of course, your firm decision to say "no" is the key.

6. If you say "yes" or "maybe" when you should say "no," repeat the mirror exercise. Say "no" to a mirror for ten or fifteen more minutes.

Give it a try!

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

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TipsForSuccess: Five Ways to Get Rich

TipsForSuccess: For a Successful Marriage, Communicate!

Five Ways to Get Rich

If you think about it, there are only five ways you can get rich.

1. Gamble. Buy lots of lottery tickets or spend all your vacation time in Las Vegas trying to hit it big. Unfortunately, most people, even professional gamblers, eventually lose all their money with this method.

2. Sue someone. Try to get a Mercedes to hit your car so you can sue the driver. Try to fall and smash your face in a jewelry store so you can sue the company for having a dangerous display case. Pretend to find a severed finger in your can of soup and sue the food company for your emotional stress. Unfortunately, with this method, you can seriously hurt yourself or end up in jail.

3. Marry a wealthy person or inherit your money. Rich people who want to get married to you may be hard to find. Being nice to a wealthy relative until they die can take many years. In either case, you don't have much control of your future wealth.

4. Steal it. Some people spend years trying to steal money through the Internet or with a fake investment scheme or by embezzling company money. But just like bank robbers, they usually get caught and live out their lives in prison.

5. Earn it. Yes, the honest approach is actually the easiest and the most likely to work for you. You provide a service or product that people need and you deliver it.
One of the most effective ways of earning your way to wealth is by constantly increasing your service capacity.

What Is Your Service Capacity?

Capacity: The maximum limit. The greatest amount possible. The highest quality possible.

Service: A valuable act or useful product that you provide to others.

How much service can you produce? It doesn't matter if you are providing it or not. What are you capable of providing?

For example, two auto repair shops in the same town can fix your car's engine. But one of the repair shops can also paint your car and replace your tires. It has a greater service capacity than the other shop. It also has the capacity to earn the most money, right?

Organizations thrive or die based on their service capacity. The same principle applies to you as an individual.

"The greater the investment in more service capacity, the greater the ability to get more service capacity utilized.

"The greater the service capacity utilized, the greater the service delivered.

"The greater the service delivered, the greater the income." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Based on this quote, you can see a formula for earning more money:

1. Invest in your service capacity.

2. Get your service capacity used.

3. Deliver more service or more products; or provide a better service or better products.

4. Increase your income.

For example, a hairdresser has one work station for herself. She averages 12 customers per day which is her maximum service level. She reads the above formula and decides to invest in her service capacity.

She buys a new sink, mirrors, a chair and supplies to create a new work station. She learns how to take care of two customers at the same time. While the first customer's hair is drying, she is cutting another customer's hair. They all chat and enjoy themselves. She is now handling 20 customers per day. Her income increases.

She starts the cycle again and invests in another station and hires a shampoo girl. She gets this greater capacity used and sees 25 customers per day. Her income has now doubled.

She continues using these five steps, builds a chain of hair salons and becomes rich.

As another example, you enter data into a computer. You feel like you have a dead-end job. You make $12 per hour and have no job security. You decide to invest in your service capacity by increasing the value of your time.

You notice that whenever the computers crash in your office, everyone sits and waits for the technician to fix the problem. You know the technician makes $40 per hour. So you invest your free time learning how to fix the computers. You are ready to get your service capacity used.

You corner your boss and say, "I've learned how to fix the computer problems and since I'm already here, we won't have to wait for the technician. I'll only charge $30 per hour. If I can't fix it and need to bring in the technician, you don't need to pay me for my time. And to prove I know what I'm doing, I'll fix them the next time they crash for only $12 per hour. After that, $30 per hour. Is it a deal?"

Your boss thinks for two seconds and says, "Deal!"

One thing leads to another and you are making $50 per hour within four months. You continue to invest in your service capacity until you can fix several types of computer systems. You hire and train people. You build your own company and you become rich.

Anyone can invest in their service capacity.

More Service Capacity Investment Examples

● A Texas book publishing company hires a team to translate their best-selling books into Spanish. They can now produce twice as many books using their existing book deals.

● You sell real estate for six hours per day. You invest several hours in an exercise program so you can work more hours without getting tired. You increase your personal service capacity by 50%. You sell real estate for nine hours per day and boost your commissions by 50%.

● A restaurant invests in more staff training so it can expand its hours. It now serves earlier breakfasts and later dinners. The restaurant income increases by 35%.

● Instead of drinking beer after work, an auto mechanic gets the shop owner to show him how to create custom paint jobs. The mechanic earns more pay as an auto painter and the shop owner can now sell a new service.

If you study the history of every successful business and every successful individual, including the richest people on the planet, you will discover they all began their path to wealth by investing in their service capacity.

With a little thought and creativity, you can find many ways to increase YOUR service capacity so you can also become rich.

Recommendations

1. Write down five ways you can invest some time or money to increase your service capacity.

2. Select one of these ideas and make the investment this week.

3. Get your new service capacity used.

4. Deliver more service or more products; or provide a better service or better products.

5. Make your income increase.

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

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For a Successful Marriage, Communicate!

Marriages can survive money problems, career disasters, even affairs. But if you refuse to communicate, your relationship is doomed.

For example, Frank and Lila's marriage is in trouble. They eat together, watch television together and sleep together, but they are both lonely.

It started when Lila said, "I wish we could go to Hawaii again."

Frank decided Lila meant he was not making enough money; he never asked her, but assumed it. He decided it was best to become unemotional and not tell Lila his true feelings.

Lila noticed Frank was more silent at dinnertime than normal. She thought, "He must not like my cooking." She did not ask, but simply assumed he did not like her cooking. She decided it was better to not bring it up.

Lila was also sure Frank did not like her family or her looks. Frank convinced himself Lila thought he was a loser. Both had doubts and neither would speak.

Frank and Lila decided to improve their communication. While it seemed like the hardest thing in the world to do, Frank forced himself to talk.

"Lila, do you think I'm a loser?"

Lila replied, "Of course not! I think you're an excellent provider. I just wish you liked my cooking and my family and my looks."

Frank says, "I love your cooking and your looks!"

They then worked out his problems with her family and set a goal to visit Hawaii.

Repairing a troubled marriage requires much more communication than in the example, but the key principle applies.

"When in doubt, talk. When in doubt, communicate." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Any kind of relationship improves with communication: friends, co-workers, children, bosses.

If talking about certain subjects is hard for you, start with easy subjects. Talk about anything. Then work your way back to the problems. Persist until the relationship is succeeding.

Whenever you have doubts about something, COMMUNICATE! Talk, talk, talk until the problem resolves. When you feel stress, disagreement or resistance between you and someone near to you, the wrong thing to do is ignore the problem. Instead, start communicating.

When a marriage is bad, there are few things more miserable. But when your marriage is good, there are few things more wonderful. Communication is the key.

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm or click here.

To subscribe, buy books, contact us or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, click here.

TipsForSuccess: More Valuable Than Money

TipsForSuccess: "No Means No!"

TipsForSuccess: Five Ways to Get Rich

TipsForSuccess: For a Successful Marriage, Communicate!

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