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-Leadership is influence - the ability to obtain followers

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-Desire and determination to succeed

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A team of leading organizational psychology researchers recently studied the causes and consequences of ambition. They considered over a hundred prior research articles from psychological, vocational behavior, and sociology literatures, and came up with a satisfactory definition of ambition, and developed and tested their model of ambition in the context of career success. They investigated their hypotheses by drawing upon and analyzing data from a research study initiated in 1922 which investigated the personal and life characteristics of high-ability children. Their work clarifies an elusive concept. In short, they show that ambition has positive, long-term implications. In life, it matters.

The research team defined ambition as "the persistent and generalized striving for success, attainment, and accomplishment". Personality science locates ambition, which concerns strivings in the context of worldly success, in its mid-level trait group. Here, context matters and as a mid-level trait, ambition impacts our behavior more directly than broad traits such as extraversion or conscientiousness. Since it is a personality trait, ambition is stable and consistent over time. Ambitious people have an enduring interest in seeing that their efforts tie to outcomes of success like promotions or pay raises. This differs from a people high in achievement motivation desires. They value the achievement of doing well whether they receive a pay raise or not. Ambitious people value more the rewards of their competencies in task performance.

The model of ambition developed by the authors includes these elements investigated in their study: personality, ability, and family background. Ambition manifests itself in human capital investments and work attainments. This last item, which involves income and prestige, relates to life satisfaction and mortality. The team investigated assessed or measured several variables: educational attainment, educational prestige, occupation prestige, income, life satisfaction, longevity, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and parents' occupation prestige. Their findings, analyses, and implications for organizational science appear below.

Ambition does not constitute a character flaw which leads to the dishonesty and dissatisfaction bemoaned by critics throughout the ages. The results showed that under the model developed and tested, ambition does not make one miserable nor does it create feelings of unquenchable desires for outcomes beyond stretch goals. Instead, ambition, an habitual level of striving for or desiring accomplishment in life situations associated with important human capital-related outcomes, correlates with educational attainment and educational prestige. These in turn related to higher wages, more prestigious work, and greater satisfaction with life. This study demonstrated that ambition operates as an important predictor of positive life outcomes. The authors reported that no previous research has established a relationship between ambition and the major life attainments of educational attainment, occupation prestige, and income. In summary, ambition matters when it comes to wages, work, and life satisfaction.

Judge, T., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. (2012). On the value of aiming high: The causes and consequences of ambition. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97 (4), 758-775 DOI: Source: 10.1037/a0028084.

Service Offering: Dan DeFoe JD MS, the owner of Psycholawlogy and author of this post, owns and is the lead consultant with Adlitem Solutions. Dan is certified to use and interpret three unique assessments published by a world leader in personality assessment publishing and providing consulting solutions, Hogan Assessments. These highly powerful Hogan Assessment tools measure normal personality characteristics (Hogan Personality Inventory- HPI), career derailment risks (Hogan Developmental Survey- HDS), and core value drivers (Hogan's Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory- MVPI). The HPI measures normal personality characteristics necessary for job fit, effective relationships, and career success. The HPI reflects the Five Factor Model of personality and since it provides information regarding how others perceive a person, it concerns reputation. Seven scales comprise the HPI. One scale, ambition, measures the degree to which a person appears socially self-confident, competitive, and energetic. Six subscales of the ambition scale, competitive, self-confident, accomplishment, leadership, identity, and no social anxiety, when interpreted by a certified provider, tell about the overall degree to which a person seems leader-like. Low and High Ambition Scores have related positive behaviors and negative behaviors which, in any certain job context, may have important impact on a firm's overall performance. As with most assessments, context matters. Please contact Dan DeFoe JD MS, dan@adlitemsolutions.com, for further information and to discuss how Hogan Assessments may assist you or your firm and provide new possible avenues for solutions to your firm's quest for performance and service excellence.

Thank you. Please visit again soon. See you next time. Dan DeFoe JD MS - Adlitem Solutions | Organization Development for Professional Services Firms and the Legal Profession: People. Projects. Practices | www.adlitemsolutions.com | dan@adlitemsolutions.com | Blog www.psycholawlogy.com.

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Ambition: An Important Character Trait And Predictor of Positive Life Outcomes

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A team of leading organizational psychology researchers recently studied the causes and consequences of ambition. They considered over a hundred prior research articles from psychological, vocational behavior, and sociology literatures, and came up with a satisfactory definition of ambition, and developed and tested their model of ambition in the context of career success.

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-Ability to take risks

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Again, I can't say thank you enough to the Jackson FCA for inviting me to speak Thursday night. I had a few people ask if I'd share my message notes. It's always funny when I look back over my notes [...]

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-Quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas

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-Mutual assistance in working together to achieve a common goal

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"Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police." - Albert Einstein

What are cooperatives?

Cooperatives are businesses organisations that are owned and run by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit. Within a legal context they are an association or corporation established for the purpose of providing services on a non-profit basis to its shareholders or members who own and control it. Cooperatives exist for all types of reason, to provide housing, food, and energy to running businesses such as bookshops to artist cooperatives and beyond.

How did they come about?

Cooperatives have existed in some form or another ever since human beings began to organise themselves for their own mutual benefit, many tribes organised themselves along cooperative lines as a means of securing resources and allocating work within their particular group or community. These cooperative structures were then used when trading with other tribes and communities within the locale as a means of ensuring fairness.

Cooperatives within a historical context

The idea that people that should form into groups for their own mutual benefit was further developed by the Welsh Social reformer Robert Owen, who in 1810 got together with his partners and purchased a Mill from his Father-in Law David Dale.

From this point onward Robert Owen and his partners introduced better work conditions for their workers and offered them discounted goods via their retails shops, as well as sharing the profits from sales amongst the employees. Owen continued to develop these cooperative ideas through writing books and travelling round the UK doing lectures to promote these new ideas.

Further to this, in 1844 the first cooperative enterprise was developed when The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was founded. Historically this enterprise was taken as the model to develop further Cooperatives and is the basis of the modern Cooperative Movement that we have today.

A working cooperative in action

There are dozens of cooperative up and down the country that offer a variety of goods and services. An obvious example of a fully working contemporary cooperative that is very prominent within the wider Market framework is the Cooperative, known by many simply as the Co-op. The Co-op boasts over 6 million members and provides employment for over 110,000 people across the UK.

At the other end of the spectrum there are smaller grass roots community run cooperatives both here in the UK and all over the world, and this seems to be something that is gathering momentum due to the workers valued involvement and input, the social investment, and the general resilience of cooperatives compared to Market place models of trading and producing goods.

What is encouraging within a UK context is that there are many medium sized and smaller cooperatives that focus on food and the distribution of food, such as the Suma Whole food Coop, Organiclea in London, and Manchester Unicorn Cooperative grocery, to name but a few. These cooperatives provide healthy organic and ethically sourced produce for people all over the UK with Suma, and across Manchester and London, and are thriving; they are thriving because they have developed links with the local community whilst at the same time ensuring that suppliers are paid a fair price for their produce.

How can cooperatives help to develop a permanent culture?

Cooperatives are an important organisational structure as we move towards the development of a Permanent Culture and away from the temporary exploitative short term 'quick buck' approach of free Market economics and Neoliberalism.

There importance lies in the fact that they are run collectively and mutually, and because of this Cooperatives are much more resilient and people centred than a top down structure where those at the top make decisions based on their personal interest as opposed to the interests of all of those involved in the business or organisation. If we examine the underpinning principles below that govern and guide the modern cooperative we can see that these principles embody a great many of the things that we need to bring about a Permanent Culture, such as inclusivity, equality, fairness, access and participation to democratic processes.

Cooperative Principles

Principles - Voluntary and Open Membership
Democratic Member Control
Member Economic Participation
Autonomy and Independence
Education, Training and Information
Cooperation among Cooperatives
Concern for Community

Cooperatives offer a way of developing new organisations that provide for people's needs based around different principles to mainstream capitalism. They allow development of organisations that are accountable and democratic and even though they have to interact within a market system they still offer an alternative way of doing things. They are just one model of doing things and there are others which are equally valid. By adopting these models of operation, people are moving towards more sustainable and democratic way of doing things and that can only help move towards a better world.

Cooperatives, have the ability to embody and put into practice the ethics of Permaculture in a way that other models of trading and production such as Capitalism are unable to due to external forces and vested interests, this is vitally important if we are to have a sustainable and ecologically sound future where inequality and exploitation are removed from our trading interactions.

An important to thing to consider as we look back through our relatively short human history is the fact that human beings have created a dynamic and diverse world through the collective effort of people, as opposed to individuals. It might well be the case that individuals have been responsible for what we perceive as human innovation in terms of invention and development, but without the collective effort to develop and produce these innovations they would simply not exist other than in the mind of the inventor or innovator. In nature, all is cooperative and interdependent, this is something that has been lost to us to our detriment due to the mistaken believe that individualism is the driving force of humanity.

Within a possible permanent culture we are all valued parts of developing our own ethical future, it is left to individuals then we can only expect to see more greed, more self interest and more division, because without division individualism and the self interest that it perpetuates would simply collapse.

"The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation." - Bertrand Russell

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Introduction to cooperatives - Permanent Culture Now

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"Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police." - Albert Einstein What are cooperatives? Cooperatives are businesses organisations that are owned and run by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.

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-Self assurance arising from one's appreciation of one's abilities

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The Secret to Performance

That's the secret to performance: conviction. The right note played tentatively still misses its mark, but play boldly and no one will question you. - Rachel Hartman, Seraphina

Dan never failed to astonish me.

If he had a class project due at 8:00 a.m. but had yet to start it, he would say, "Oh, I'll just go talk to the professor. He'll understand."

There was no hesitation in his voice. He never wavered in his absolute belief that he would be granted an extension. And without exception, he always was.

Sometimes he probably deserved an extension. Mostly, he didn't. But he could charm, cajole, and coerce every professor he ever needed to.

My coworker Craig had the same talent. He could enter a conversation with people vehemently opposed to his political views, but by the end of the discussion they would usually be nodding their heads as they reconsidered their stance. More than once, I heard, "I don't know why, but if you ran for office, I'd vote for you."
"

That's the secret to performance: conviction. -Rachel Hartman

I have stood on the sidelines and watched these maestros conduct their magic. Occasionally, they would have to poke me to make me hide my astonishment, lest I let the cat out of the bag. You could say they were masters of manipulation, and that would be true in some instances. But most of the time, my two charismatic friends simply persuaded and influenced their listeners.

It helped if they knew what they were talking about, but I've seen them plunge into situations for which they had no preparation and come out with the upper hand. The strength of their magic did not come from their competence of the subject matter-it came from their conviction that, whatever the issue, they were right.

Confidence Trumps Competence

I am fascinated with people like Dan and Craig because their approach is so alien to me.

By my nature, I focus on facts and reason. My instinctive approach to selling, communication, and influencing used to be to present the facts in logical order, and then allow the other person to draw their own conclusions. From one point of view, I sold competence.

While that may seem an ethical and transparent approach to business, it made for a lousy living.

Competence matters. Sincerity and honesty matter. Ethics are a cornerstone of long-term success. These things are important. But when it comes to working, selling, and communicating-that is, compelling other people to act-competence and such have never been enough to bring real success.

My mistake was in leaving out the key ingredient that came so naturally to my cohorts: confidence.
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Competence without confidence just doesn't cut it. -Derek Lewis

Sadly, I remember the time I cost Craig (and our company) a major client. If we had landed them, the client would have been our biggest by far. The recurring revenue from the contract would lift our company from being a marginal player to an "up and coming" enterprise.

Craig's discussions with the client had gone well. By the end of the big meeting, the client showed all the signs of having made their choice. Things seemed sure.

The next week, I was sent in to do a follow-up meeting-really, a meet-and-greet with the head honchos. I was nervous about taking on the client, though. It would mean hiring more people, learning some new tools, and significantly changing how we operated.

But the truth was that the client intimidated me.

In fact, I was so intimidated when I met with them that I was utterly unconvincing. The next time Craig spoke with them, the client had reversed their decision. They no longer had "the confidence that you can handle our business."

Our company did indeed have the competence to handle them. The problem was that I didn't have the confidence.

Much later, when I started my own ghostwriting practice, I still lacked that confidence. I undercharged and undersold my services (a deadly combination) because I didn't believe I was worth more.

It took a handful of wonderful mentors and some time before I finally found the confidence I needed. My bank account immediately began to reflect it.

In both cases, competence was there. The difference between success and failure was how much confidence was there, too.

Confidence versus the Appearance of It

In my quest to learn and earn more confidence, I've come across a startling fact. What matters more than how confident I am is how confident the other person believes I am. Their perception counts far more than the reality.

And I've finally found some real evidence that lends credence to my experience.

Recently, professors Gavin Kilduff and Adam Galinsky released the results of their experiment on social dynamics. For the sake of conversation, let's say this study centered on first impressions.

They assembled a random collection of college students, divided them into three groups, and gave each a writing assignment. One group wrote about their dreams and ambitions; the idea was to prime them to be confident. The second group wrote about their duties or about a time when they felt powerless; the goal was to put them in a deferential mindset. The third group was the control, writing about their commute to campus or a trip to the grocery store.

Then, the researchers assembled project teams with one person from each group. After the project, each participant ranked the others. As you might guess, the people primed to be confident were more respected, exerted more influence on the other members and the overall project, were referred to as "the leader" of the team (even though the researchers didn't ask the teams to choose a leader), and were perceived as more competent than the people from the other two groups.

As one reviewer of the study put it,
"If you're confident when you join a group, you'll be more assertive when you first start talking. As a result, you'll look more able to everybody-and thus take top spot in the freshly formed pecking order."
Prior to the experiment, these team leaders did not possess any more confidence than their peers. These leaders didn't enter their respective projects and immediately begin trying to assert themselves, like Dan and Craig naturally do. All three groups of students were randomly selected, both for the experiment and for the writing assignments.

Their confidence was artificially spiked, if you will. They were not truly more confident in themselves; they just looked like they were.

But that's all it took for their peers to vote them as more competent than themselves.

3 Things You Can Do to Be More Confident

Some people try to skimp on competence, attempting to bluff their way to success. They are not the problem.

One of the world's real problems is the other type of person: those who are incredibly talented, highly skilled, and brilliant in their own right, yet who lack confidence. They struggle with selling themselves to employers, supervisors, or clients. They live with the haunting feeling that they are frauds and that they will soon be discovered. They live life on a lesser plane than they should.

That is-in every sense of the word-tragic.

The good news is that they can become competent in confidence. Like leadership and the ability to communicate, confidence is not something we are innately born with or not. It is a skill-a skill like any other that can be studied, learned, and even mastered.

If you want more confidence (and who doesn't?), here are three easy things you can do to begin your journey to mastery.

#1: Simply be aware of your lack of confidence. Most people never stop to think about why they felt confident in one situation but intimidated in another. The more you are aware of these times, the more you can understand the strengths you can build on and the circumstances that make you feel vulnerable.

#2: Amy Cuddy's TED talk does a wonderful job of demonstrating how our body language determines how we feel, which in part determines who we become. Towards the end of the talk, she provides examples of "power poses": easy stances you can mimic for a minute or two before going into a meeting or phone call that literally enhance your feelings of confidence. I can attest that they work.

#3: Read Dr. Maxwell Maltz's book The New Psycho-Cybernetics. Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon in the 1950s who was stumped by patients who could still "see" their old features even after he had cosmetically altered them. As one patient irrationally said, "The scar may not show any more, but it's still there." His book is about how to reprogram your brain (so to speak) to help you overcome the obstacles you've placed in your own life. It is an amazing read, especially if you follow his advice.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said,
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep the streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"
I wholeheartedly agree. But as you do so, remember this one thing.

Competence without confidence just doesn't cut it.

Like this? Please share!

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Confidence: More Compelling Than Competence

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The Secret to Performance That's the secret to performance: conviction. The right note played tentatively still misses its mark, but play boldly and no one will question you. - Rachel Hartman, Seraphina Dan never failed to astonish me. If he had

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-Involving imagination or original ideas

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6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Recently I was sharing some concerns with a trusted mentor. I was stressed and anxious. As I rambled on, I realized I was talking in circles.

I was jumping back and forth between the backstory and current story, sidestepping and swinging back around to finish a thought. Then I stopped narrating.

"I'm sorry. I'm making no sense," I said.

"Natalie. I'm tracking you," my mentor said. "You're painting a picture. I can't tell you which strokes to use, but I see the picture."

Her response was so simple and reassuring, I felt understood. She validated my thought patterns.

Entrepreneurs, by nature, see things differently. They are constantly searching for opportunities, for points of pain and possible improvements in current systems. Such individuals rarely think inside the lines. If they did, things would remain status quo and innovative breakthroughs would be nonexistent. For entrepreneurs, the wheels are always turning and the creative juices rarely stop flowing.

Anyone who has ever experienced the creative process can attest to the fact that it is anything but predictable and rarely clear-cut. Brushstrokes fly all over the place in ways that can make very little sense to an onlooker. Sometimes multiple ideas are at play at once -- something that more systematic thinkers might not understand.

I'm not suggesting that one way of thinking is superior to another. Rather I wish to acknowledge and validate that the creative process is messy -- and that this is OK. Here are a few ways I try to organize the messiness that is my creative process:
Related: The Daily Schedules of Creative Geniuses (Interactive Graphic)
1. Write things down.

Because creative people see potential in so many different situations, they are usually juggling multiple ideas at once. I find that in the quiet moments of one project, I'm often pondering my next idea. As an entrepreneur, I can't "turn off" my creativity. It would be detrimental to my growth and potential.

Instead of putting your idea maker on mute, I suggest keeping lists. Create an "idea inventory." Write down your ideas. Keep lists of projects that you're currently working on: What have you done? What do you still need to get done?

If you carefully track each project that you're involved in and each one that you'd like to do, you can inject a healthy amount of organization into your creative process. Done right, this will let you expend your creative energy while making significant progress on the tasks at hand.

2. Know when to purge.

I often have a certain conversation with fellow entrepreneurs. People get bogged down because they don't know when to cut the cord on a project or partnership that's no longer viable or healthy.

There's nothing wrong with experimentation. I highly recommend trying out as many different interests and ideas as possible.

Finding the right outcome won't always be straightforward. Sometimes the process involves a lot of trial and error. But one thing gives way to the next. And after a series of seemingly nonsensical brushstrokes, people often end up where they are supposed to be.

Experimentation is key but so is purging.

Knowing when to step away from a project or pursuit that's no longer productive or fulfilling is crucial. This is not failure. It's simply part of the learning experience. I constantly make lists of the projects I'm focused on and go through and "delete" projects that I no longer want to pursue.

This doesn't necessarily mean that these project ideas were failed attempts. It just means I've found that my time and energy is put to better use elsewhere. By purging the extraneous projects from my list, I am able to create more mental space for the things I want to focus on, as well as nurture new ideas.
Related: 5 Benefits of Being a Misfit Entrepreneur
3. Keep painting.

I am very lucky to have a mentor who has expressed such understanding and empathy about the messy tendencies of a creative mind. But not all people understand this. For those who lean toward systematic thought and orderly expression, a scattered creative process can be intimidating and undesirable.

Don't let such individuals dampen your process. Keep painting and let the brushstrokes fly. Even if they don't make sense to other people, let yourself go through your own messy, creative process. Continue exploring fresh ideas and purge the ones that don't work for you.

Stay on top of your projects, but give yourself the freedom to fall flat on your face and then rise again to try out a new idea.

Each person's project capacity will be different. Perhaps working on multiple projects at once isn't your style. That's OK.

But for those of you who function best in a sometimes chaotic and creative environment, give yourself the permission to live in it. Keep the ideas flowing: If you don't explore them, you will never truly understand their potential or viability.

Famed writer Lillian Hellman penned the book Pentimento, recounting the people who had had a profound impact on her life. ( Pentimento means "a reappearance in a painting of an original drawn or painted element which was eventually painted over by the artist.") An entrepreneur, like an artist, always has the option of "painting" over a current project to reshape or remold it -- or begin something new. If traces of the old "painting" resurface, they only serve to influence the new project.

Entrepreneurs are the sum of their endeavors and learn from experience.
Related: 10 Mindsets That Will Radically Improve Your Business

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Maximizing the Potential of a Creative Mind

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6 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Recently I was sharing some concerns with a trusted mentor. I was stressed and anxious. As I rambled on, I realized I was talking in circles. I was jumping back and forth between the backstory and current story, sidestepping and swinging back around to finish a thought.

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-Firm decision and resolved not to change it

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When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Sometimes the 'going' can look like you're at a standstill.
I have been pushing, going like a mad woman, and working my tail off, yet I can seen very little progress. I could be discouraged or I could take time to notice that I have pushed a huge boulder half way up the side of the mountain and I still have strength to keep pushing.

Halfway up the mountain is not the time to give up.
Photo Credit
Keep pushing, keep working, keep providing resistance; do not stop.

Eventually something is going to give.

Don't let it be you.

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When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Sometimes the 'going' can look like you're at a standstill. I have been pushing, going like a mad woman, and working my tail off, yet I can seen very little progress.

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-Fulfilling one's duty

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Discover and share Dutiful Quotes. Explore our collection of motivational and famous quotes by authors you know and love.

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-Maximum productivity with the least amount of effort wasted

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We live in an age when we work more hours and feel more stress trying to get more done. Technology, meant to simplify our lives, saps our attention and steals our time. Has the need for a more efficient operation ever been greater?

Thankfully, we can learn to become more efficient at work, individually and collectively. Management consultants and business professors have long debated the relative merits (and even the definition) of efficiency as it pertains to the business world. In highly simplified terms, efficiency concerns the cost of input for the output produced-in other words, the best use of resources and the least waste of time and effort.

One of the areas where efficiency can be optimized is the work force, through increasing individual productivity-defined as the amount of work (products produced, customers served) an employee handles in a given time.

In addition to making sure you have invested in the right equipment, environment and training to ensure optimal performance, you can increase productivity by encouraging staffers to put an end to a modern-day energy drain: multitasking. Studies show it takes 25 to 40 percent longer to get a job done when you're simultaneously trying to work on other projects. To be more productive, says Andrew Deutscher, vice president of business development at consulting firm The Energy Project, "do one thing, uninterrupted, for a sustained period of time."

To help achieve maximum productivity for clients such as Google, Facebook and Green Mountain Coffee, The Energy Project relies on a wealth of physiological data about the basic human need for rest. The Yonkers, N.Y.-based consultancy teaches that the key is a biological cadence known as the ultradian rhythm, which commands energy levels to rise and dip roughly every 90 minutes.

"At that 90-minute mark, you have to think about some sort of renewal, to put fuel back in your tank before you start the next cycle," says senior vice president of facilitation and programs Annie Perrin. She recommends encouraging workers to reach for a healthful snack, go for a short walk, listen to music or just push back from their desk, close their eyes and breathe deeply.

Collectively, more productive workers can contribute to a more efficient workplace. On the macro level, companies can become more efficient by fine-tuning the methods of the so-called lean movement, spawned from Toyota's highly collaborative and famously efficient production system.

The healthcare industry is one that has made great strides in workplace efficiency through lean management. Craig Vercruysse-COO for California Pacific Medical Center, part of Sutter Health, an extensive network of doctors and hospitals-says some Sutter facilities have rearranged their medication rooms to cut the time nurses need to gather supplies. "If you save a minute for every nurse, and multiply that by the number of times the nurses go into the medication room, now it's material," Vercruysse says.

But lean, efficient management is about more than incremental savings. "Lean is kind of a culture and philosophy," says Klaus Lemke, managing principal with Minneapolis-based Lean Project Consulting, who preaches new ways to generate efficiencies. In the construction business, for example, lean could mean getting the subcontractors on a project-architect, electrician, plumber, landscaper, etc.-working as a team to complete the job more quickly. Hiring a substandard contractor based solely on the lowest bid could result in a project that goes over budget or past schedule-and this can affect a business's reputation and long-term performance.

"When lean is working correctly," Lemke says, "it focuses on the value stream." Efficiency at its best.
Referenced from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226991
Hannah

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The Art of Efficiency: How to Do One Thing at a Time

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We live in an age when we work more hours and feel more stress trying to get more done. Technology, meant to simplify our lives, saps our attention and steals our time. Has the need for a more efficient operation ever been greater? Thankfully, we can learn to become more efficient at work, individually and collectively.

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-Eager enjoyment, interest, or approval

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These simple techniques will bring a solid platform of engagement and commitment to your organization. Enthusiasm is an elusive culture, but once it's present it will take off. Your only challenge then is to continue to channel it for sustained success.

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-Able to modify according to the circumstances

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Flexible Stock Photos. Royalty Free Flexible Images

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Download flexible stock photos including images of elastic, bending, asana and rhythmic. Affordable and search from millions of royalty free images, photos and vectors.

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-Able to pay attention to a particular objective

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Our worlds are so full of activity. We may tend to think we can accomplish more than is possible or more than we can healthfully manage. It is almost a badge of honor to be a multi-tasker. In fact, many employers request that their employees multi task. As it turns out, our brains do better when we focus on one task at a time. When we are focused on one specific task we are able to complete the task more efficiently and more quickly than if we have to keep "shifting gears" to other topics. If you are reading email, read email. If you are on the phone, focus on the conversation.

The next time you have a list of tasks to accomplish, try compiling a list, start with the task with the highest priority and complete it without diverting your attention. See if you are able to complete the list in less time than if you tried to do more than one thing at once. Let us know how it goes.

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Our worlds are so full of activity. We may tend to think we can accomplish more than is possible or more than we can healthfully manage. It is almost a badge of honor to be a multi-tasker. In fact, many employers request that their employees multi task.

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-Useful

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We talk about maintaining the value of your home, while enjoying the time you spend in your home. Here are some tips that will help you in making your decisions.

Don't Overbuild:
Before finalizing home plans and beginning construction, compare the home you're planning with others on the same street. You never want to be the most expensive house on the block; you won't get your money back when you sell.

Don't Select a Builder Based Solely on Bid:
When choosing a builder, don't select the one with either the highest or lowest bid. A high bid doesn't guarantee a superior product and the lowest bid could mean that you'll be hit with extra costs as construction progresses. Often, the low number is to reel you in and the extras will be tacked on later. At Croce Construction you can be sure you will receive a legitimate bid based on your project and the work will be done to your complete satisfaction.

Hire Locally:
A well-established local builder will have plenty of nearby subcontractors and suppliers to rely on, meaning no costly travel delays while waiting for out-of-town crews and materials. By hiring a Croce Construction you will find we understand your neighborhood and your needs better then others and have worked in homes similar to yours. We also understand how to deal with local government and obtain proper permits.

Build for Your Future:
When planning your home's layout, think not only about your current lifestyle but also plan for a few years down the road. For older adults, a master bedroom on the ground floor is a smart bet. Also, including a shaft that could one day be an elevator is a good idea. The space could be used as closets now and easily converted to an elevator should the need arise.

If you have young children or planning a family, then you must take their future needs into consideration as well. A well thought out nursery can make an easy transition into a teenagers future needs. Let us help you make some of these important decisions.

Don't Go With the Latest and Greatest:
Fill your home with technology that will stand the test of time. State-of-the-art features are great but quickly become outdated. Buy products that have been on the market for a year or two. They're less expensive, readily available and any initial kinks and design flaws have been worked out.

Avoid Trends:
Nothing betrays a home's age like trendy, of-the-moment fixtures. Let's say that Brazilian cherry hardwood is all the rage, then it goes out of style making your home look dated. Select fixtures and features that are classic so your home always looks current.

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We talk about maintaining the value of your home, while enjoying the time you spend in your home. Here are some tips that will help you in making your decisions. Don't Overbuild: Before finalizing home plans and beginning construction, compare the home you're planning with others on the same street.

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-Forming new methods; advancements to the original

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When a study was released earlier this year noting that procrastination can make you more creative, many people probably rejoiced.

Instead of being thought of as slackers by co-workers and bosses, they can now claim they're not goofing off - they're being "creative."

To a certain extent, that's true. The research the University of Wisconsin found that those who put off doing work by playing games like Solitaire for five minutes before offering ideas were 28% more creative - as rated by assessors - than those who started working on their ideas right away.

Part of the reason is because you may default to more conventional ideas when launching immediately into work and delaying your efforts may allow you to connect with something more creative. Still other studies have found that when you allow yourself to get bored, you're more likely to get those creative juices flowing, which is why many people report having breakthrough ideas while stuck in traffic or washing the dishes.

But just delaying the start of your work or getting bored isn't a guarantee that you're going to pop up with an idea that will rival the invention of the telegraph or the iPhone.

So what is it that fuels some individuals and organizations to be so innovative? Why does it seem some people get an extra helping of creativity or some companies can churn out innovative ideas seemingly every week?

"You might only think you can be innovative in creating a new service or a new product. But there is lots of space in any job to be innovative," he says. "Anyone can be innovative."

Second, when you try to be innovative, you need to (read more here)

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How Anyone Can Be More Innovative Every Day

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When a study was released earlier this year noting that procrastination can make you more creative, many people probably rejoiced. Instead of being thought of as slackers by co-workers and bosses, they can now claim they're not goofing off - they're being "creative." To a certain extent, that's true.

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-Being honest and having strong moral principles

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-Mental and emotional qualities of an adult

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Being a professional means more than behaving a certain way or being good at something. Dive in a little deeper to what it really means to be a professional.

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-Not influenced by personal feelings or opinons

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-Strong and barely controllable emotion

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Post written by Scott Addis.

Industry consultants spend a lot of time trying to understand people's performance. This includes, but is not limited to, an analysis of prospecting, sales skills, customer relationship management and differentiated business development initiatives. The consultant's performance indicators focus upon a host of quantifiable measures including the number of prospect calls, proposals, new business hit ratios and retention.

Business development performance can be enhanced through the strategies, activities and the measures listed above. There is no question that a strategic business development plan, which incorporates a differentiated sales process, is essential. However, what is often overlooked is a producer's Emotional Energy - his or her Passion for the business.

In The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, John Maxwell states, "if you look at the lives of effective leaders, you will find that they often don't fit the stereotypical mold. For example, more than 50% of all CEO's of Fortune 500 companies had a "C" or "C-" average in college. Nearly 75% of all U.S. Presidents were at the bottom half of their school classes. And more than 50% of all millionaire entrepreneurs never finished college. What makes it possible for people who might seem ordinary to achieve great things? The answer is passion. "

The Definition Of Passion

Passion is derived from the Latin word passio and the Greek pathos that denotes deep emotion. Throughout history, passion contained the notion of suffering and endurance. Very broadly, passion is defined as "a strong or intense feeling or emotion". Passion creates powerful energy. Typically, passion begins as a focused desire but eventually swallows all of the emotions it engenders.

The concept of releasing emotions in business has been around since the beginning of modern time. To our detriment, we chose to suppress it. Traditional business conduct had no place for emotions. Expressing passion in the business setting was considered unprofessional. There was a belief that the release of emotion in business deals made the engagement less effective and less productive. Times have changed. In fact, many of today's notable business leaders are very emotional people - Jack Welsh, Michael Dell and Mark Cuban, to name a few.

Passion in business is exemplified by loving what you do. No business professional should feel guilty of sharing emotions. After all, humans are emotional creatures. The key lies in learning how to harness and direct your passion so that it serves you in positive ways. Research now substantiates that consumers make buying decisions based, in large part, on emotion. In fact, leading marketers use emotion to create enduring psychological bonds to link the customer to a product or service. Brand consultants often refer to passionately strong brands of companies like Urban Outfitters, Harley Davidson, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and E-Bay.

The Differentiator Called Passion

Passion is a key differentiator. Passion comes across in verbal energy and body language. You can even see passion in one's eyes. Unfortunately, passion cannot be trained. However, it can be drawn out. It comes from a love of business and a belief in one's unique process and package.

John Maxwell teaches us the four truths about passion:

1. Passion is a first step to achievement

2. Passion increases one's willpower

3. Passion changes you

4. Passion makes the impossible possible

Think of passion as the thermostat that measures the intensity of your emotions. The fuel for passion is your purpose. You cannot have passion without a clear understanding of your purpose in the business. Passion is the fuel for your fire. It is the fire in your heart and soul. It impacts your life and those around you. "A leader with great passion and few skills always out performs a leader with great skills and no passion", states Maxwell.

What is your Passion Index? Ask yourself the following three questions:

1. How long has it been since I could not sleep because I was so excited about a new business system, strategy or tool?

2. I find myself getting excited when I share my unique "business model"?

3. My energy is contagious?

If you answered yes to all three questions, you have a high Passion Index. Congratulations! If not, do not despair. While there is no magic pill for passion, it can be drawn out of you with a clear understanding of, and appreciation for, your business purpose. "What makes it possible for people who might seem ordinary to achieve great things?" The answer is passion. The answer is you!
An in-demand speaker and award-winning entrepreneur, Scott Addis has climbed to numerous summits and achievements during his career, and he is passionate about helping other professionals realize their own peaks of potential. Scott is a recognized leader who has been awarded the Inc. Magazine "Entrepreneur of the Year" award as well as the "25 Most Innovative Agents in America." He is also the author of Summit.
photo source: forbes.com

1,899 readers liked this post. If you enjoyed it, please consider sharing!

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How Passion Makes The Impossible Possible

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Post written by Scott Addis. Industry consultants spend a lot of time trying to understand people's performance. This includes, but is not limited to, an analysis of prospecting, sales skills, customer relationship management and differentiated business development initiatives. The consultant's performance indicators focus upon a host of quantifiable measures including the number of prospect calls, proposals, new business hit ratios and retention.

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-Good in quality or performance

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RHUB Blog: Web Conferencing & Remote Support

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When customers and employees are depending upon you for tech support, you must be able to depend on your own support technology. Most of the R-HUB alternatives currently available on the market, including LogMeIn Rescue, GoToAssist, and Webex Support Center are SaaS or cloud-based solutions. This means they host the software. It also means that you must rent.

By comparison, R-HUB's model is vastly different. Our appliance-based approach to remote support means that customers are actually able to own the solution. From a cost perspective, owning always beats renting over the long term. Owning is also more secure.

Even so, it is important to consider the implications for reliability of service. Can you expect the same standard of reliability from an appliance-based solution that you can hope to obtain from a SaaS solution?

How Does R-HUB Ensure Reliability?

Extremely Reliable and Optimized for Best Performance- Unlike software-only deployment, which typically shares with other applications running on a general purpose computer, each TurboMeeting server is an appliance dedicated to run TurboMeeting.

In many ways, each TurboMeeting server is similar to your switches and routers. As a sealed device, these servers are designed to deliver unattended services and support to your daily business operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Consequently, you can gain complete peace of mind. Both the operating system and hardware for the servers are optimized to provide the best performance possible. Below are just a few of the benefits you can enjoy with R-HUB servers.

Backup Services - You can back up your database anytime and use the High Availability (HA) cluster configuration to increase redundancy. If for any reason your server is out of service, R-HUB will provide you with online meeting services hosted by the R-HUB servers around the world. You never have to worry about being without the services and support you need.

Security - R-HUB gives you the ability to support critical internal systems without worrying that you are exposing data to the Internet. For instance, with R-HUB, there is never a need to trust someone else to guard your data. This is because R-HUB will route all of your sensitive data through an appliance that is actually behind your firewall under security measures that you already have in place.

Integration - It's easier to integrate an appliance you own, located behind your firewall. Additionally, R-HUB also provides integrations for the LDAP, CRM, Windows, and web management solutions.

We understand how critical remote support is to your organization. You must be able to rely on your remote support software because everyone is also relying on you. R-HUB provides you with the ability to map out your own redundancy plan instead of relying on a vendor's due diligence, which you may or may not be able to trust. We are thankful that so many companies now rely on us for their remote support software.

To obtain more information about R-HUB Remote Support Servers, call us at 1-866-758-0984 or email us at sales@rhubcom.com

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When customers and employees are depending upon you for tech support, you must be able to depend on your own support technology. Most of the R-HUB alternatives currently available on the market, including LogMeIn Rescue, GoToAssist, and Webex Support Center are SaaS or cloud-based solutions. This means they host the software.

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-Able to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties

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-Able to manage your actions

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Every virtue can come with its own accompanying dark side: honesty with brutality, courage with recklessness, and self-control with rigidity. It is said that people who seek therapy do it either because they need controlling their impulsive behavior or because they need loosening their rigidness.

Both impulsiveness and compulsiveness are often just two sides of the same coin. Compulsivity differs from impulsivity in that a particular action is repeated over and over. Psychologist Ainslie argues that rigid (or compulsive) behaviors arise as side effects of successful attempts to alleviate the weakness of the will.

Compulsive people are apt to get just as little long-range pleasure as impulsive ones. Here is how:

1. A defense mechanism

Rigid behavior is a defense mechanism in the effort to maintain a strong, consistent, positively valued sense of self. People who are strongly preoccupied with being in control may be struggling against more powerful temptations toward self-indulgence than most of us face.

2. Rigid thinking erodes spontaneity or playfulness

For rigid individuals everything seems deliberate. For them surprise is dangerous. The future ought to be known. They tend to be less spontaneous compared to individuals low in self-control. Thus, there seems to be a tradeoff in that self-control promotes consistency at the expense of spontaneity and freedom. Rigidity stem[s], in part, from obsession for control. The perfectionist fears that if he let go of it, his world would fall apart. Thus, for these people, impulse is a temptation, which can interrupt their rigid determination.

3. All-or-nothing thinking

Perfectionism (a high level of self-control) is a personality trait that involves habitually establishing lofty or unrealistic standards. Perfectionists compete against themselves, and nothing ever feels good enough to them. The burden of perfectionist expectations is all too familiar to anyone who has struggled to kick a bad habit. Break down just once (e.g., one smoke, or one single drink) it is considered relapse, and you may as well pour yourself two or three more. They are vulnerable to eating disorders because of their all-or-nothing mind-set. They are either on a perfect diet or off the diet completely. For example, women who are high in perfectionism are more likely to see themselves as overweight and to be dissatisfied with their bodies. These unachievable standards increase the chance of failure, the result of which can be the development of bulimic symptoms.

Individuals with high perfectionism may turn their attention to dieting to change their appearance as a way to respond to the experience of negative feelings in other domains (e.g., interpersonal or academic). For example, detailed meal planning or counting calories may permit distraction when they are experiencing stress. Because by dieting, they can gain some sense of control in the appearance domain for a lack of control in other domains.

5. Mental illness

Perfectionists are often at risk for mental distress, such as depression, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. This is not surprising when you consider the causes of depression include all-or-nothing thinking, and a focus on the goal to the exclusion of any joy in the actual moments in achieving those goals.

6. Perfectionism is considered as a positive trait

Many people associate perfectionism with certain positive traits. People in job interviews mention perfectionism as their personal weakness. They equate perfectionism with attention to details and making sure they do things well.

There must be a balance between expressing and suppressing our urges. Individuals who maintain this balance are more comfortable and healthy. In the words of Oscar Wilde, to get rid of temptation is to yield to it - enjoying a delicious piece of chocolate cheesecake! Psychologist Paul Bloom argues that we shouldn't underestimate the short-term self. What if the long-term self is misguided? Sometimes we deprive ourselves of perfectly good pleasures, including those involving love and companionship, because of the decisions of the long-term self (e.g., the workaholic who never sees his children).

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The dark side of self-control -- Sott.net

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Every virtue can come with its own accompanying dark side: honesty with brutality, courage with recklessness, and self-control with rigidity. It is said that people who seek therapy do it either because they need controlling their impulsive behavior or because they need loosening their rigidness.

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-Relies on one's power and resources rather than others

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Independence Word over Dependence Arrow Self Reliance Freedom

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Discover this and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations, and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. Thousands of new, high-quality images added every day.

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-Easy to do and understand/ honest and frank

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Transparency Word Magnifying Glass Sincerity Openness Clarity Stock Illustration - Illustration of openness, closer: 36425057

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Transparency Word Magnifying Glass Sincerity Openness Clarity. Photo about openness, closer, glass, reliability, magnifying, looking, clarity, candid, forward, correct - 36425057

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-Able to be relied on as honest

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-Thinking about or planning for the future