Your Great Mind

There is no such thing as “time management.” The word manage means to hold, mold, shape or form, influence or have direct control over – NONE of which you can do with time. You can’t hold or mold time, you cannot shape it or form it, you cannot influence time (make it go faster, or slow it down and save it for later) nor can you control time.

So what does that leave you with? CHOICE management. You can shape, influence and control, for the most part, your choices and the activities you choose to engage in each day.

Many entrepreneurs say, “I don’t have enough time.” The truth is you have all the time there is. Each of us are given 24 hours in a day or 1,440 minutes – no more, no less. What we choose to do in those hours and minutes is what will determine our success.

Look at your choices as you begin this new week. What activities will you choose to engage in. Will you choose activities which are tension relieving or goal achieving. Will you choose to waste time on low priority busy work or will you choose to do more challenging activities which produce meaningful results?

Manage your choices wisely or your poor choices will manage you and your business.

Your Friend and Partner In Your Success,

Ray Stendall

“There is only one boss – The Customer. The customer can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending their money somewhere else.” Sam Walton

In an age where the difference between competing products or services is shrinking, the decision for most customers comes down to service. Recognize value added service as your greatest weapon against your competition.

It is also important to note that many of your competitors are cutting cost and scaling down in the current economy. This provides a wonderful opportunity for you to capture new customers and market-share.

Evaluate what services your competitors are cutting or eliminating and then counter with some extra service in that area. Their customers are probably frustrated by the lowered service experience and if you can deliver something special you just might find your business growing in a down economy!

Use These Ideas To Make A Real Difference in Your Business.

Please Share Your Comments!

Your Friend and Partner in Your Success,

Ray Stendall

“The final test of a leader is that he (or she) leaves behind in others the conviction and the will to carry on.” Walter Lippmann

It is easy for employees or individuals to do what is right and perform at a high level when the boss or leader is present. The real test is what happens when the leader is gone. Will they continue to execute with excellence or will they slacken their efforts and accept mediocrity when left to themselves?

Every leader must instill the expectation that it is the standard that is always the focus, not who is there to make sure it is kept. Helping the employees and individuals you lead understand the “why” of their assignments as well as the “how” will ensure they have the conviction to do what is right, even when no one is looking.

What level of conviction are you instilling in those you lead?

Your Friend and Partner in Your Success,

Ray Stendall

“Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.”
Walter Scott

Your attitude truly is your mental compass. It is what drives your thoughts and what ultimately drives your actions and behaviors. Often the difference is not between having a good attitude or a bad attitude – the real difference is found in the slight difference between having a good attitude and a more powerfully focused great attitude.

Attitude has little to do with bouncing off of the walls or seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. It has everything to do with a quiet confidence which focuses on the positive opportunities in any given situation.

A slight shift in your attitude changes your short-term direction and leads to a destinational difference. Where is your attitude leading you? Where is it driving those you lead?

Have a fantastic Monday June 1, 2009

Your Friend and Partner in Your Success,

Ray Stendall

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

Avoidance leadership has become all too common in business today. There are hosts of reasons why people don’t recognize and deal with problems early including: fear of upsetting someone, fear of the potential cost, worry about raising negative issues, overconfidence in their ability to adapt and some just hope the problem will take care of itself.

Effective leaders are always scanning the horizon for potential problems or issues which might prevent them from accomplishing their goals. They recognize most business failures occur because some small issue, which easily could have been taken care of early, turned into a crisis, an emergency and ultimately a crushing blow to the business.

Spend time regularly on early stage issues and the strategies to correct them.

Pick one and solve one today – it will save you and your business an emergency tomorrow.

Please share your comments!

Your Friend and Partner in Your Success,

Ray Stendall

To an entrepreneur or small business owner hope is very important. But, hope is NOT a strategy!
Far too many entrepreneurs and small business owners are hunkering down hoping. They hope the economy will pick up. They hope the price of gas will go down. They hope they can make another payroll. They hope they can survive the next quarter. They hope their customers will remain loyal. They hope sales will pick up soon. Hoping, hoping, hoping…

Again – hope is not a strategy! If you are going to be successful in any area of life or business you must have a strategy. The most important question you must be able to answer for yourself and for your business is, “What is my strategy?”

Take this week and review or create your compelling strategy. If you do not establish your strategy first, you will never build a successful business which will last.

Your Friend and Partner in Your Success,

Ray Stendall

“If you aren’t playing well, the game isn’t as much fun. When that happens I tell myself just to go out and play as I did when I was a kid.” Thomas J. Watson

When in a slump, athletes often go back to their uninhibited childhood playing days to recapture the passion, excitement and energy needed to get back on track.

Do you find your passion waning? Has your entrepreneurial vision collapsed into day-to-day drudgery? Have you lost that magic and spark which used to drive you to achieve excellence?

If you are feeling a bit run-down and frustrated, return to your early entrepreneurial days. Get back to the vision which got you into the entrepreneurial game in the first place. Remember past success. Review periods of peak performance and fun, fulfilling growth.

Remember why you became an entrepreneur and do something today to recapture the energy and vision you need to face the challenges to come.

Have a great weekend,

Ray Stendall

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” Seneca

Do you know specifically where you are going? Have you developed a strategy to get where you want to go as an entrepreneur or business owner? In today’s economy there is no time to drift. Write down the specific places you are going to take your business then chart a course to get there.

Everything begins with a decision and a desire to move from point A to Point B.
Today – this very moment get clear on what you want and the price you are willing to pay for it to come true. Make sure you are very clear on the “Why” you are doing this – to motivate yourself during the difficult times and there will be difficult times. How else would you appreciate the good times if you had nothing to compare it to? From now on please view challenges in life as tests… tests to see if you are worthy of the success you seek.

Till Next Time – Your Friend and Partner in Your Success,

Ray Stendall

“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.”
Charles Kettering

Whether you are working with your employees, your children, a group of peers or even when working with yourself – expectations drive performance. Rarely do people rise higher than the expectations placed upon them. (Even if those expectations are self-imposed.)

Start this day by reviewing your expectations of yourself. Then review the expectations you have for the individuals you lead. Have you settled for mediocrity in your personal performance? Have you settled for mediocrity from the people you lead?

Raise your expectations, and always remember to express confidence in people’s ability to achieve greatness and deliver the extraordinary.

Have a Fantastic 5/19/2009

Your Friend and Partner in Your Success,

Ray Stendall

“Fail forward fast.” Tom Peters

It is far better to have sloppy success than to have perfect procrastination. It is easy to get caught up in the endless tinkering and perfecting of a project. It is true some things require perfection – most simply need excellence. All need action today!

Do you find yourself waiting to launch important projects? Are you forever splitting hairs about elements that are not mission critical. Do you spend hours and hours on details that don’t matter much?

Start your Monday with action! In taking action you may fail – but even that failure will move you forward toward ultimate success. Pick a project you have been putting off and begin today to take the action which will accelerate your path to achievement.

Please share your comments!

Ray Stendall

“The best way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them.” Benjamin Jowett

Sharing the limelight and sharing the credit are hallmarks of a true entrepreneurial leader. If you want your people to rise up and do more, be more and become more you must validate their performance by giving them the credit and celebrating their success.

What will you do to place employees, friends and family members who do well in the limelight?

Have a Fantastic Day!

Ray Stendall

Martin Luther King said, “You don’t need to see the whole staircase. You just need to see the first step.”

Every entrepreneurial journey begins with a single step – FORWARD and UPWARD. Often the successful journey requires that we step to the edge of the light and even one step into the darkness. It is there we find that the path is lit for another step.

Far too many become paralyzed simply because they cannot see the whole staircase and end up waiting and ultimately missing the opportunity because they were unwilling to take an uncertain step toward a certain goal.

Are there any areas of your business or life where you are waiting to take a step forward and upward? Take a step today!

Wishing you the very best and please share your comments!

Ray Stendall

“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your product or service, and that bring friends with them.” W. Edwards Deming

What do your customers say about you? Are they glad they do business with you? Have they emotionally connected with you, your company and your product or service? If not, now is the time to improve and enhance your customer’s experience.

A down economy is the best time to increase service and go get more customers. Your competitors are probably cutting back on service and raising prices. The strategic entrepreneur and business owner will see the best way to increase profits during a down economy is to improve service in order to capture more loyal customers.

What will you do today?

Please add your comments

Ray Stendall

Since so many people enjoyed yesterday’s video from Napoleon Hill let me share another one!  A definition of the REAL Riches that most people don’t know. Summarized in 12 principles in order stated in Napoleon Hill’s voice from a seminar in Circa 1937. This is only 1 minute long but profound beyond words!

Please share your comments!

Ray Stendall AKA “The Catalyst”

www.yourgreatmind.com/blog

Good morning everyone,

I would like to share with you a video from Napoleon Hill.   Dr. Hill has had the greatest influence on my life. I had the good fortune to study his famous book “Think and Grow Rich” in 1987 when I was 12 and my father gave it to me.  Listen carefully to his message and may it move you to a higher state of consciousness as it did for me.

Over the years my studies have helped me greatly and soon I will be a certified instructor with the Napoleon Hill Foundation which gives me tremendous joy. I look forward to sharing with you ideas and thoughts which can make a huge difference in your life. You have unlimited potential once you take control of your own mind and intelligently direct it to what you want!

Ray Stendall AKA “The Catalyst”
www.yourgreatmind.com/blog