TipsForSuccess: How to Be a Leader

How to Be a Leader   You are a leader, even if not officially. People follow your example, learn from you, want to know your opinions and so on. Constantly improving your leadership skills is essential to your success.   Most people have the wrong idea about leadership. For example, car salesman Jim was promoted to the Sales Manager position. During his first week as manager, he decided to show everyone who was boss.   Jim cracked the whip. He held a meeting and told the other sales people, "I want 10 cars sold today or someone will get fired!"   The sales people ran around looking busy and avoiding Jim. Everyone tried to force customers to buy cars, but car sales dropped.   Jim yelled even louder. "You can't sell cars by pressuring customers, you idiots! Now get out there and sell these stupid cars!"   After a month of this, his two best sales people quit. Sales dropped even further.   Jim said, "I can't believe this! What am I doing wrong?"   Five Bad Leadership Attitudes   Like many new managers, Jim had these five wrong ideas:   1. "Because I'm the manager, you better respect me . . . or else!" 2. "People are lazy; I have to force them to work." 3. "Because I'm the boss, I can do anything I want." 4. "If you work for me, you need to kiss my butt." 5. "If you don't like how I run things, you can leave."   Because of these attitudes, Jim's sales people were selling fewer cars and looking for other jobs. If Jim did not change his attitude, he would also be looking for a new job soon.   Just in time, Jim learned this vital fact about management.   A Key to Leadership Success   "I believe that to command is to serve and only gives one the right to serve." -- L. Ron Hubbard   At first Jim said, "What? I'm supposed to serve others? How ridiculous!"   But then he thought it through and a lightbulb above his head flashed on.   "If I SERVE my staff members by teaching them about sales and cars, they know how to sell better."   "If I SERVE my staff members with kindness and courtesy, they will treat customers better!"   "If I'm here to SERVE my team, I don't force them to make sales, I help them make sales."   A New Day   The next morning, Jim brought in a box of chocolate doughnuts for the sales staff and said, "Today is a new day! This may be a shock to you, but I've realized that I can be a better manager. I want to try helping you instead of yelling at you, okay?"   He then asked, "How can I HELP you each sell a car today?"   His team offered some ideas: "Fill the tanks full of gas so we don't have to buy gas during test drives." "Let us give out more brochures." "Offer cookies to the customers."   Jim said, "No problem! I'll get you gas, brochures and cookies."   The sales staff was stunned, but happy.   During the day, he helped his people give service to the customers, not pressure. "She wants to discuss it with her father first?" "That's probably a good idea. Give her a phone."   "He wants to test drive twelve cars before deciding?" "No problem."   "They want to show the car to their mechanic." "Great! Invite him down and give them a tour of our service department, as well."   Customers felt they were buying luxury cars because of the excellent service. The sales people enjoyed their work. Jim had more fun with less stress. Car sales soared.   Service, Not Slavery   Jim had one small worry, "Will my people take advantage of me or run over me if I'm trying to give them service?"   He soon found this was not a problem when one salesman said, "Jim, I need a few hours off to run some errands for my wife. And I need to borrow the demo car, okay?"   Jim said, "No. And you can't take off a few hours until I see you sell a car today. How can I help you do your job?"   Recommendations   1. Make a list of everyone you lead in one way or another: customers, staff, coworkers, family members, friends, colleagues, even your boss.   2. Write down one or more ways you can better serve each of these people this week.   3. Provide these services during the week.   4. Observe the results. Watch how people react. Notice how you feel. You might be amazed!   If you persist with an attitude of service, your position improves, your pay increases and you have more fun. Not only are you more successful, so are the people you lead. Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you.     Copyright © 2011 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. Subscribe, buy books or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org at www.tipsforsuccess.org

 

 

TipsForSuccess: Imagine Success

 

Imagine Your Success   During a tour of duty in Vietnam, Major James Nesmeth was captured and held prisoner in a tiny cell for seven years. To keep sane, he mentally practiced his golf game.   Every day he would imagine being at the first tee at his favorite golf course. He would imagine the weather, the feel of the club and the grass at his feet. He would look at the ball and imagine the perfect swing.   Soon after he was freed and returned to the United States, he went to his favorite golf course and played a round of golf. Without touching his club for seven years, he improved his game by 20 strokes . . . as a prisoner of war!   "One's ability to imagine is directly proportional to one's ability to be successful." -- L. Ron Hubbard   As well as using your imagination to improve your golf game, you can use it in many other ways.   Goal Achievement   Imagine successfully achieving your goals and your chances of reaching those goals are greater.   For example, Shelly and her sister Jill both want to own a home.   Shelly keeps a box filled with paint colors, carpet samples, floor plans and so on. She clips out articles about home locations, loans and buying tips. She has a clear mental image of what her home will look like.   Jill, on the other hand, worries about the problems of buying a home. She worries that house prices are too unstable. She feels terror whenever mortgage rates increase. She complains that life is unfair.   Shelly and Jill both learn about a house for sale for a very low price.   Which sister says, "I'm sure I can't afford it." Which sister says, "I'm going to go see this house during my lunch break."   Who do you think will be first to own a house?   What Can You Imagine?    Your imagination can help you do a better job at work. For example, your paperwork mountain is swallowing up your desk. While taking your morning shower, you envision yourself completing the entire pile in one day. You imagine yourself working hard and fast to clean up the backlog. You feel the joy as the last piece of paper is handled and you look at your clean desk.   When you arrive at work, you know what to do. Because you have a good imagination, you soon have a clean desk.   Other uses: Imagine how the rest of today will go for you. Take a minute and imagine it will be a wonderful.   Imagine getting more work done next week than ever in your life.   If you are looking for a spouse, imagine what he or she will be like. Imagine your lives together.   Imagine what you might accomplish this year. What if you could accomplish anything at all?   Imagine accomplishing one of your goals. How will it happen? How will you feel?   When you think about being successful, what does it include? Imagine that! Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you.     Copyright © 2011 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. Subscribe, buy books or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org at www.tipsforsuccess.org

 

 

TipsForSuccess: Happy Living

 

How to Be Happy Many people believe they cannot be happy. They say, "Anyone who tells you they're happy is lying." "I'd be happy if I had a better _____ (spouse, job, body, house, income, parent, child, boss, employee, government)." "Life stinks and then you die."  The truth is, you are the one who controls the amount of joy you have in your life. You control it based on how well you follow these two rules: "One: Be able to experience anything. "Two: Cause only those things which others are able to experience easily." -- L. Ron Hubbard from Scientology: A New Slant on Life Rule One Every time you are unhappy, there is something you cannot experience. You cannot "be there" with it. You cannot face it.  For example, you are unhappy when someone yells at you. You cannot stand it. It ruins your day. So you decide you will learn to take it. You practice by having a friend yell at you until you can experience it. You realize it's simply noise. Because you can experience people yelling at you, it no longer makes you unhappy. "To be happy, one only must be able to confront, which is to say, experience those things that are." -- L. Ron Hubbard As another example, you need to give presentations at your job. However, you hate speaking to groups. You make up excuses and avoid this part of your job until you get fired. If instead, you face the music and give the talks, you succeed. Despite your fear, you face and experience the audience. You confront the job and feel happy. Wealth Tip Rule One gives you an opportunity to increase your income. If you can easily experience work that most people can't or won't do, you become more valuable. For example, understanding complicated laws, performing heart surgery and managing thousands of people are difficult jobs to experience. This is why lawyers, doctors and CEOs make more money than others. Jobs like selling hot dogs or answering telephones are easy to experience and so do not pay as well. What valuable work can you do that others can't easily experience? What are the most difficult things for you to experience at work? If you could easily experience them, what would happen with your pay? Rule Two "Two: Cause only those things which others are able to experience easily." -- L. Ron Hubbard This means you need to pay attention to others. Everyone experiences things differently. For example, your colorful language offends your mother, but makes your friend laugh. Spending the day at a shopping mall is a joy for your daughter, but a boring waste of time for your son. Your political views enrage your father-in-law, but inspire your neighbor. To be happy, you cannot have attitudes like these: "I'll say whatever I want to anyone I want." "If you don't like what I do, that's your problem." "It's dishonest to not say how I feel." If you don't care about other people's happiness, the people around you will eventually not care about your happiness either. Everyone becomes unhappy. "To create only those effects which others could easily experience gives us a clean new rule of living." -- L. Ron Hubbard If you follow this rule, your work relationships, marriage and friendships all thrive. If you break this rule, you lose friends and make enemies. For example, you notice that your spouse cannot easily experience you complaining about your work. You stop complaining and your spouse is more cheerful. You feel happier. The rule worked. Employees and Children You may think this second rule means you can't demand good performance from employees. For example, "My employees can't easily experience hard work, so I'll be soft on them." However, laziness ruins productivity which ruins your company. A bankrupt company is difficult for everyone to experience!  So you learn to demand good performance in a way that others can easily experience. "Let's get 100 parts built by Friday and I'll buy everyone lunch!" Everyone is productive AND happy. As another example, children may not like brushing their teeth, but tooth pain is much more difficult to experience. So you get your kids to brush without anger or threats. "Let's all go brush our teeth right now" "Brush your teeth after each meal and you'll earn a sticker each time!" How to Be Happy Right Now What is making you unhappy right now?  Which of the two rules do you need to follow? "One: Be able to experience anything." "Two: Cause only those things which others are able to experience easily." -- L. Ron Hubbard What can you do right now to follow that rule? How to Be Happy Next Week 1. Write down everything that might be hard for you to experience next week. 2. Write what you can do next week to more easily experience these things. 3. List out what you might do or say next week that others may not easily experience.  4. Write how you can accomplish your objectives next week while only causing things that others can easily experience. Make these changes and you might have your happiest, most successful week ever! Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you.     Copyright © 2011 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. Subscribe, buy books or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org at www.tipsforsuccess.org   For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm    Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.tipsforsuccesscoaching.org

 

 

TipsForSuccess: The Do-It-Now Habit

 

The Do-It-Now Habit   Do you feel overworked? Do you have too much to do? Are you not making the progress you want to be making toward your goals?   Why can some people produce twice as much as others? For example, Jane not only handles three kids, but works 30 hours per week and runs a small business from her home office. Jane's house is always clean and she prepares delicious, healthy meals for her family.   Jill, on the other hand, has one daughter, makes no money, has no time to do her housework and prefers pizza delivery dinners.   Both Jane and Jill are good mothers, but why are they so different? Why is Jane so efficient?   To be more like Jane and less Jill, break two bad habits and form one good habit.   Two Bad Habits   1. The first bad habit is to look at a piece of work you are supposed to do -- a task, a program, a communication, an assignment or - and put it aside to do later.   Instead of acting, you read it, digest it, think about doing it, consider the problems, sigh, and put it down to do later. Nothing is accomplished. A total waste of time.   2. The second bad habit is taking a piece of work, look at it and refer it to someone else. Even though it's your job, you try to get someone else to do it. The other person eventually sends it back to you. A total waste of your time AND the other person's time.   One Good Habit   "Do it Now."   "One of the best ways to cut your work in half is not to do it twice."   "If you do every piece of work that comes your way WHEN it comes your way and not after a while, if you always take the initiative and take action, not refer it, you never get any traffic back . . . "   "In short, the way to get rid of traffic is to do it, not to refer it; anything referred has to be read by you again, digested again, and handled again; so never refer traffic, just do it so it's done."   "So if you are truly a lover of ease, the sort of person who yawns comfortably and wears holes in heels resting them on desks, if your true ambition is one long bout of spring fever, then you'll do as I suggest and handle everything that comes your way when it comes and not later; and you'll never refer anything to anybody that you yourself can do promptly."   "Do it when you see it and do it yourself." -- L. Ron Hubbard   For example, the government sends you a tax form asking you for some financial information. You take ten minutes to understand what is required and realize it's quite simple. You notice it's not due for two months, but instead of tossing it in your desk to do later, you take another ten minutes to find the information, fill out the form and drop it in the mail.   If you wait to fill out the form later, you have had to spend another ten minutes to understand it again. Perhaps you look at the form every few days, think it over and decide to wait. You might even forget do fill out the form and then waste even more time trying to understand why the government is charging you a $250 late fee.   As another example, you notice your car tire is a little low and you fill it right now. If you wait, you get a flat tire while driving to work. You are not only two hours late for work, you have to buy a new tire.   More examples:   Your food explodes in the microwave? You clean it up now.   Your boss asks for a report? You write it and turn it in now.   Your group needs a decision from you? You make it now.   When you jump and do things at your first opportunity, you stay in better control of your job and your life while earning hours of extra time to use however you wish.   How to Form the Do-It-Now Habit   The best time to get into a do-it-now habit is, of course, RIGHT NOW!   1. Take a stack of papers, task or any kind of cluttered mess that you need to handle.   2. Take the first item.   3. Deal with it, handle it, do it now.   ". . . take the initiative and take action. . . ."   4. If you find it hard to do it now, remember the reward. If you get your work done in half the time, how will you spend the OTHER half of your time? Earning more money? Starting new projects? Having more fun? The choice is yours.   Give it a try.   Now! Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you.     Copyright © 2011 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. Subscribe, buy books or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org at www.tipsforsuccess.org   For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm    Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.tipsforsuccesscoaching.org

 

 

TipsForSuccess: The Power of Good Manners

The Power of Good Manners Do you like rude people? Do you mind if someone interrupts you? Are you happy when people ignore you? Of course not. No one likes bad manners. People with bad manners are rejected. They do not get the good jobs or the promotions. Their businesses do not succeed. People with good manners are accepted. They are liked and supported. They have friends, luck and success. "In a culture, manners are the lubrication that ease the frictions of social contacts." -- L. Ron Hubbard When you improve your manners, you improve your chances for success. 12 Examples of Good Manners 1. Be polite to everyone you meet. You will never regret being too polite, but you might regret being rude. For example, when you go on a sales call or job interview, be courteous to receptionists and assistants as they can affect your chances of succeeding. 2. Use the magic words as often as possible: "Hello," "Please," "Excuse me," "Sorry" and these two most important words: "Thank you." 3. Use good manners in all of your communications. Examples:     Return telephone and e-mail messages within 24 hours.     Do not use swear words or vulgar words.     If you receive a rude message, do not respond with rudeness, but be polite.     Do not interrupt people.     Make sure people are ready to listen to you before you start talking.     Talk less than 50% of the time. 4. Leave generous tips for food servers, luggage handlers, car valets, hairdressers or barbers who do their jobs. 5. Use good manners as a driver. Weaving in and out of heavy traffic and cutting in front of other cars only gains you a few seconds of time. If you are courteous, patient and calm, you arrive safely and more relaxed. 6. Do not blow your nose, use toothpicks or perform other bodily activities in front of guests or people you respect. Never smoke around a non-smoker. 7. Show your appreciation at every opportunity, even for small things. "Thank you for returning my call." "Your advice has been very helpful." "I appreciate your taking the time to meet with me." 8. Arrive on time or early for appointments. When you arrive late, you appear to be disrespectful, disorganized or both. 9. A good sense of humor is good manners. However, jokes about race, disability or sex are bad manners. Tell clean jokes about yourself or pass on humorous stories that anyone would enjoy. 10. If someone treats you with bad manners, do not lower yourself to the same level. Smooth out the friction with your best manners. For example, "I'm sure you have a good reason to swear at me, but I think we can work this out so we're both happy. Can you take a minute and try?" 11. Before starting important conversations, meals or meetings, turn off your cell phone. Ignoring people while you use your cell phone is disrespectful. You can probably leave your cell phone off for hours with no lasting harm. 12. Do not try to show off or prove you are more important than others. This is called "one-upmanship" and is poor manners. For example, a friend is excited about meeting an important scientist. You immediately "top" him and tell about the time when you met a much more important scientist. Instead, share your friend's excitement without bringing up your own story. As you improve your manners, you will enjoy more support, admiration and respect from everyone around you. Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you.     Copyright © 2011 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.    To subscribe, buy books or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org