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Browse every published article connected to Joey Faucette, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
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Browse every published article connected to Joey Faucette, or search within this exact expert archive.
When we connect with someone on LinkedIn, we welcome them with an invitation to read free chapters of one of our books. We hope just one idea will coach the reader closer to achieving business dreams. One connection recently replied, “Thanks, but I don’t have time to sit down and read a book.” “I don’t have time” are four of the deadliest words you’ll ever say.
Has your to-do list grown ove ight? Yes, it’s “the most wonderful time of the year”…and yet many of us miss the wonder of it all due to the overwhelm at work that accompanies the holidays. Here are 3 ways to cure your holiday overwhelm at work starting today: Focus on Positive Strengthsr From Madison Avenue to Your Street, you are shoved toward an impending sense of lack during the holidays. This scarcity mentality afflicts you at work as well, shifting your focus to the negative.
My Grandfather told me stories of getting up at 4:30 a.m. to bring in the wood, put it in the cook stove, and light the fire so his mother could prepare breakfast. A sister gathered in the dark eggs laid by the hens. A brother prepared the pig months earlier. The flour ground from their corn was in a sack to make the biscuits with fresh milk from their cows. Sure they had a lot to do every morning, but if they wanted to eat, this is what they did.
I was lying flat on my back in the grassy outfield, trying to come around. I had drifted back from my third-base position for the Little League team White Sox into shallow left field to catch a fly ball. I missed the ball with my glove and instead caught it with my forehead. Someone said, “Son, you’ve got to keep your eye on the ball.” Little comfort when your head is killing you and your ego is dead with embarrassment. And you find out later that regardless of how much you keep your eye on the ball, it won’t help. I needed glasses. My focus was off.
The snow finally melted to reveal a spring-like day. The calendar called my wife and I to activity—to act on our plans for the blueberry bushes to grow fruit. Positively successful people understand that it’s a process to grow personally and professionally. They Work Positive with themselves and their business to bear fruit. They do these five spring things to grow: Purpose For our blueberries, the purpose is for me to step outside around 6AM each day in July and August to pick for my breakfast. In the evenings, we purpose to pick and put in the freezer for after growing season.r
Has your to-do list grown ove ight? Yes, it’s “the most wonderful time of the year”…and yet many of us miss the wonder of it all due to the overwhelm at work that accompanies the holidays. Here are 3 ways to cure your holiday overwhelm at work starting today: Focus on Positive Strengthsr From Madison Avenue to Your Street, you are shoved toward an impending sense of lack during the holidays. This scarcity mentality afflicts you at work as well, shifting your focus to the negative.
Daily someone sends something to us that promises to get our message out there and insure we are heard above the competition for our customers’ attention. It reminds me of trying to quiet my two-year-old daughter’s department store tantrums by yelling. The only attentio I received was louder cries and suspicious glares of child abuse. Are you abusing your customers by yelling your company’s features at them? Instead positively listen to your customers. Yes, it’s counterintuitive, but it grows your bottom line and that’s what you want, right?
When the alarm clock radio has awakened me for the past few weeks, the sun was getting up and it was light. I like that. This morning, it went off and the sun was still asleep and it was dark. I don’t like that. Welcome to the first workday of Daylight Savings Time. Sure, I’ll enjoy an extra hour of sunlight this evening. But that didn’t help any this morning. Somebody moved my time. Seems like somebody is always moving something, aren’t they? Especially in business… Since everything is changing so rapidly, how do you keep up?
You’ve made your reservations. You’ve paid your deposits. Now it’s time to go on vacation. Have you planned to have a great time? Or, do you just hope it will happen and work avoids intruding on your experience? Here are 3 Tips to Positively Enjoy Your Vacation More: Demonstrater In our previous blog, you put into practice “3 Strategies to Avoid Vacation Anxiety.” That is, we: 1. Described the status of your projects and shared it with your coworker and/or supervisor 2. Defined “emergency” for your coworkers and/or supervisor so as to avoid interruptions, and;r
Just because the U.S. government can afford a shutdown doesn't mean you can. You have a family to provide for, bills to pay, and hopefully a retirement to fund. So despite all the news about the federal shutdown, what can you do to succeed in a shutdown? Check out these 3 Positive Ways to Succeed in a Shutdown that you can begin doing today: Attentionr Attention is your most precious resource. Its strategic investment is more important when the negative attempts to shutdown business. Focus your attention in two areas as you work: Positive Thoughtsr
There may be only one day a year devoted to giving thanks, but expressing thanks year round and doing it well is one of the most profitable business strategies you can have.r
“How do you know you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing for work?” the college student asked me. A middle-aged guy and I had the same discussion recently as he transitions careers. The answer lies in your heart; what you “Believe” about your work, the third core practice of a Work Positive lifestyle. What emotionally engages you about your work? What are you looking for at work? These conversations prompted my own looking for and discovering 3 Signs You Are Positively Engaged at Work: You Look Forward
“Dr. Joey,” she asked. “Why is it to be gone on vacation for one week, I have to do two extra weeks of work? One before I leave, and the other when I get back?” Have you ever wondered that? Sure seems that way, doesn’t it? Here are 3 Strategies to Avoid Vacation Anxiety: Describe Statusr Have a meeting with yourself and describe the status of each of the projects receiving your primary attention currently. How far along are you? Where are you on the project timeline? Will any status reports require filing while you’re gone? What must you accomplish before you leave?
According to a survey conducted by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, about half of all American households experience customer service-related problems. Over two-thirds of those customers were “very” or “extremely upset” about the company response when they complained. Over one-third reacted by yelling at the rep while the number of consumers cursing nearly doubled to 13%. If we surveyed your customers, how would they rate their experience with your business?
Shoppers will crowd the super centers and malls starting Thanksgiving evening in the U.S. In fact, over the next several weeks, retail stores will do 50% or more of their business for the year. So where will you go? And who will you do business with? Create a Work Positive impact with your holiday spending. Here are three positive reasons to shop local especially this Saturday, November 30, which is Small Business Saturday. Personal Servicer
Watching NCAA March Madness Tou ament college basketball games, I’ve learned again the supremacy of team versus a star-player-plus-four approach. Sure the “one and done” star freshman who’s merely passing through for a year on his way to the NBA might be thrilling to watch, but several such “it’s-all-about-me” squads lost to double-digit seeded teams. How did the teams win? And what can we learn from them so we win at work? Here are 3 Positive Reasons Teams Win at Work: Teams focus on winning.r
College basketball’s annual trek up the Final Four mountain has started. While the school names change from year to year, the qualities of championship caliber teams are consistent. What are they? And how can you learn from them to win championships at work? Here are 3 Key Strategies to Positively Win as a Team as you Work Positive: Play Offense and Defenser Championship teams know how to score a lot of points and how to keep the other team from scoring as many. Lots of teams excel at one or the other. Championship teams do both well.
Announcements of office parties are met with either go-for-it’s or groans. The go-for-it’s are the ones who enjoyed last year’s party or just look forward to any social experience. The groans are the persons who remember last year’s with disdain or generally avoid socializing with their work mates. Whichever you are, here are your 3 Keys to Work Positive at Your Office Party: Relaxr Groaners often sense a need to be more extroverted or jovial than usual. They feel a game of square pegs and round holes coming.
When my younger brother and I went trick-or-treating as kids at Halloween, he was scared of ghosts. When he was very young, he had eye surgery a couple of times. All of the OR people wore white. He associated their white dress and the white sheets of “the ghosts” with pain. Like him, we can associate the ghosts of business pain past with present opportunities. We often fear these moments because of the past. Here are 3 Positive Strategies to Transform Business Fear so you Work Positive this week: Fear of You Can’t Do It Right Enoughr
Ever find yourself striving to Work Positive and your Eeyore Vampire boss is doing everything he can to prevent it? You’re in good company. Negative bosses—Eeyore Vampires—swoop in with alarming consistency on our coaching clients despite their best efforts to Work Positive. How do you deal with them to increase your sales with greater productivity and get out of the office earlier? Here are 3 Positive Strategies to Deal with an Eeyore Vampire Boss: Select Your Battlesr
How’s your New Year’s resolution working out? How would you like to SWAP your resolution for something more successful? Think of SWAP as an acronym and Work Positive to transform your chosen target of change into productive results using these three proven methods: S - Songr Resolutions fail because you lack a positive, consistent connection with your desire to change. How do you motivate yourself daily for success?
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series…again. That’s two of the last three seasons, a rare achievement. What discoveries are there for you in their success as you seek to increase sales with greater productivity so you can leave the office earlier to do what you love with those you love? Brian Sabean, GM, describes the key to their success when he says of the players: “They didn’t try to be the guy. They were just trying to be a guy. That’s the mantra of this organization—be a teammate.”
Shoppers will crowd the super centers and malls this weekend following Thanksgiving in the U.S. In fact, over the next several weeks, retail stores will do 50% or more of their business for the year. So where will you go? And who will you do business with? If you truly want to create a Work Positive impact with your holiday spending, here are three personal reasons to shop locally this Saturday, November 24, which is Small Business Saturday. Personal Servicer
Our attention has been riveted by one person’s heinous actions and the consequences felt in Newtown, CT. Complete understanding of this tragedy defies our intellect. However, we do choose how to respond. While I pray such disaster avoids your area, reality suggests some variation will strike. Perhaps not as catastrophic, but every community experiences a similar event. Your customers in your community keep your lights on, pay your mortgage, educate your children, and support you in your lifestyle. You receive much from them.
It was a routine attempt to block a three point shot. But when University of Louisville sophomore guard Kevin Ware landed, his tibia compound fractured. The unthinkable happened. The next 30 minutes plus the rest of the game was a lesson to us all when dealing with life or business. As I watched, I discovered 3 Positive Ways to Deal with the Unthinkable: Deal in Realityr When the unthinkable happens, it’s anything but pretty. The Louisville and Duke players turned their heads away in disbelief. To their credit, CBS spared us the gruesome, repetitive replays.
U.S. citizens cast their vote for the next President, Vice-President, and a host of congressional leaders this week. Attention focuses on this once-every-four-years activity with a virtual obsession. Yet, there is a more important vote you as a business professional cast and more often than every four years. While government leaders are important, your leadership in business has a significant, daily impact on you and the people around you.
You want to increase sales with greater productivity so you leave the office earlier to do what you love with those you love, right? The “Receive” core practice of a Work Positive lifestyle in which you do just that involves the ethical dynamic of your business. You understand you Receive a great deal from your community of customers. This understanding prompts you to serve others.
College basketball’s annual trek up the Final Four mountain began this week. While the school names change from year to year, the qualities of championship caliber teams are consistent. What are they? And how can you learn from them to win championships at work? Here are 3 Strategies to Positively Win as a Team as you Work Positive: Play Offense and Defenser Championship teams know how to score a lot of points and how to keep the other team from scoring as many. Lots of teams excel at one or the other. Championship teams do both well.
“Overwhelm” is a constant theme in our coaching conversations lately. Business professionals have this sense of more effort and fewer positive results. There’s more to do than there is of me to do it. How do you deal with overwhelm? Here are 3 things you can do starting right now to move your business forward while overwhelmed: Focusr Your attention is a valuable, non-renewable resource. This most precious asset is best invested according to your priorities. Set your priorities based on:
Positive productivity is more difficult for most business persons these days. Persevering and achieving your business dreams in the midst of a negative world is increasingly challenging. The uncontrollable negatives from bombings to an unfamiliar economy that just won’t correct assault us daily. How do you productively achieve your dreams today? Here are 3 Keys to Positive Productivity Today: Give Attention to Positive Thoughtsr
I watched a bit of the last Presidential debate. Up until the point where the debate morphed into one big interruption. Interruptions intrude into political debates, marriage conversations (and other intimate activities if you have children at home), and your work flow. How well do you deal with interruptions? Implement into your work flow these three strategies for dealing well with interruptions and watch as your sales increase with greater productivity and you get out of the office earlier: Listenr
Your customers aren’t sure what to expect from you right now. Election year uncertainty casts a negative anxiety over doing business that political ads only exacerbate. Customers aren’t sure who cares, who to trust, and who is on their side. How do you engage this adversity so as to increase sales, and get greater productivity from your team so you can leave the office early to do what you love with your family? Employ these 3 Ways to Give Positive Customer Service in a Negative Election Year: Give Carer Your customers are thinking, “Who cares about me?”
As I left our home and drove around the mountain, fog enveloped me quickly. Unexpectedly. There was no sign of fog when I pulled out of our garage. The business environment changes that quickly, also, particularly with what influences our customers’ and clients’ lives. For example, the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. This tragedy suddenly dominates our conversations, news media, buying habits, and prayers. It fogs our perception. So how do you do business when tragedy fogs over your business? Here are 3 Strategies to Work Positive in a Tragedy. Headlights Onr
I recently returned from a week of speaking engagements to awaken the next morning to a case of vertigo. I woke up, rolled out of bed as usual, and the floor rose up to whack my head. It was kind of like being drunk on a rollercoaster ride. Over the next several days, I was in bed or in my recliner, hanging on for dear life, wishing the room would stop spinning. As the rotation slowed, I moved around some. That’s when I thought, “This is like trying to do business today. Just when you think you have figured it out, everything moves and you’re off balance again.”
I watched a sandpiper scurrying around the beach looking for something to eat. At least that’s what I thought he was doing. But he used most of his time and energy to chase away other birds. If another sandpiper approached his territory, he quickly ran over to chase him off. Then another bird invaded the opposite end of his area and he was off to chase her away. Back and forth that little bird ran, spending virtually no time eating and all his energy chasing away the competition.
So who’s come into work bleary-eyed from the late-night Olympics? Here’s what I’m discovering from these athletes that is creating some gold for my businesses…and can for yours, also. Ignore Conventional Wisdom and Limitsr After he didn’t win gold in his first race, the pundits spu Michael Phelps as not ready for London. They placed limits on what he would accomplish based on one event. He now is the most decorated Olympian ever with 22 medals.
You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want. Zig Ziglar In a financially-strapped economy like this one, a common response to suggestions to grow business is negative. “I can’t afford to advertise.” “I have to cut marketing expenses.” We focus on what we can’t do. Will that grow your business? What would it cost you to follow Zig Ziglar’s advice to positively grow your business? Here are 3 no-cost ways to positively grow your business by helping others get what they want: Greet with a Welcoming Smiler
To succeed in today’s economic environment, check your ego at the door and embrace a new way of doing business that is about more than what you can control and manipulate. That’s your ego talking. The Ego Economy is dead. Welcome to the We Economy. This rising tide of the We Economy can lift all of our companies on thrilling waves of positive profits or capsize and drown us in red ink. We choose. How do you navigate the change and positively succeed at work?
Your stomach rolls at the first mention of it in your staff meeting. “Well,” someone says, “we need to plan the holiday office party.” And running through your head, thanks to John Lennon, is “Imagine there’s no office party…” So it’s planned and you’re going. But it’s more obligatory than pleasure. How will survive your office party? Here are the three keys to survive your office party. Relaxr Just be yourself.
The major activity in college athletics last week saw universities realigning their conference relationships. It’s a growth industry in a down economy and they’re seizing financial opportunities that emerge from positive associations with high fan-base institutions. The PAC-12’s announcement to “hold” was in stark contrast to this auction-like attitude. Commissioner Larry Scott said, “…we are going to focus solely on [our] great assets, our strong heritage, and the bright future in front of us.” http://tinyurl.com/3rjhv5l There’s a lesson here for all of our businesses.
So here you are sitting in your office, staring at a couple of weeks left in the month, and wondering how you will finish up 2011. The holidays are nice and all, but depending on what kind of business you’re in, you’re either overwhelmed and just trying to keep up or underwhelmed, worried about keeping the door open until business returns to normal. Regardless, you talk to yourself and the conversation starts with, “I’ll be OK. Business will be better when . . . I get some new employees.” I move to a new location.” I renegotiate my supplier contracts.”
The deck was stacked against me that morning… I moved my daughter over the weekend which involved driving a truck and trailer for 17 hours, moving more stuff tha I care to remember, and wrestling a bear of a refrigerator to the point of physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation… My alarm clock went off an hour early because I forgot to reset it…and so did my coffeemaker… I skinned my right thumb while moving furniture. It decided to bleed on my favorite white dress shirt as I put it on that morning…
I have a friend who worked in the family business for most of his adult life. Sure he operated as a business owner, but his father started the business. It was his father who spent sleepless nights worrying about making payroll and whether his suppliers would extend credit again. My friend was insulated from such anxieties . . . until the family business was sold, and he started his own business. He became an entrepreneur really for the first time.