Being able to understand people is the greatest asset anyone can have. In their book, "Becoming a Person of Influence", John Maxwell and Jim Dornan remind us that being able to understand others can have a positive impact on more than just your success in business. It can impact every area of your life.

How can we become better at understanding the people in our life?

It starts with communication. Often when we think about communication, we focus on talking. Yet the most powerful aspect of communication is not talking. It's listening. More than anything, most of us yearn to be really heard.

When we feel that the person we're with is really listening, we feel respected. If you listen with care and ask questions to make sure you understand, you will develop a greater understanding of the people in your life. By listening with care you can learn what motivates a person. You can even anticipate how they may react to a situation. You can influence them in a positive way.

Many of the...

Picture this. It's early morning and I'm making my way through the airport to catch a flight. The weather is -26 C and that's without the wind chill. I go through security and everything moves along smoothly. As I settle into a seat to wait for boarding, I dig into my purse to check my cell phone. I wouldn't want to miss anything important. I'm sure you know the feeling.

I happen to look out the window for a minute.

The sun is rising bright and clear. We have a truly beautiful northern morning in spite of the cold. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a movement on the blustery tarmac, drawing my attention to a bundled-up lone figure. It looks like he's dancing, but I can't be sure without getting out of my seat for a closer look. Yes, there goes a leg and an arm and a hip wiggle. I'm really seeing this.

Like a child at play, I start to giggle right there in the airport during the hushed early morning hours. People notice. I've piqued their interest.

Soon I'm not alone at the window...

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”  - Author, Stephen King

Many years ago, a person that I know said something about talent that has stuck in my mind. He said that all of us have been created with equal ability to become unequal.

The truth is, we are not all created with the same level of talent. Some of us have a sharper ear for music. Some of can add columns of numbers in our heads. As individuals, we all have unique abilities. But there’s one thing we all have in equal measure. We all have the ability to use, or not use, the talents we’ve been given.

There’s an old story about a wealthy ranch owner and talents. Although talents in this story actually represent an ancient unit of money, the story works equally well if we use the modern meaning of the word. 

As the story goes, the wealthy ranch owner was preparing for a business trip. He knew he’d be...

Many of us take the start of a new year as an opportunity to consider where we've been, where we are, and where we'd like to go. We think of success as a destination. But what if it's less about a place than a person? What if success is about something we already have--our own inner potential?

I like to call this pursuing the greatness within. By greatness I don't mean awards on the wall, things that other people give to us, although those are meaningful in a different way. In this blog, I'm referring to what happens when we place the onus on ourselves.

The pursuit of greatness is not a matter of destiny. It's a matter of choice. Each of us decides whether we'll work to discover and share our unique greatness. Pursuing greatness leads to living a life of significance. As Henry David Thoreau said, “One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.”

Many of us are still working to discover, develop and share what that something is. Some of us may not...

Do you like what you’re doing right now? Is this your passion? If not, why are you doing it?

In order to find our purpose and passion in life, we must become aware of who we are. Finding our passion helps us reach our potential.

It starts with knowing yourself. This includes your strengths and blind spots, your interests and opportunities. You must be able to gauge not only where you have been, but where you are going. Otherwise, you are liable to get lost.

John Maxwell tells us, “You have to know who you are to grow to your potential. But you have to grow in order to know who you are.” To grow, he suggests we focus on what is REAL: relationships, equipping, attitude and leadership.

His passion and self-awareness helped John Maxwell become an internationally recognized expert in leadership development. Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders and many other organizations rely on John Maxwell for inspiration and advice.

Living your passion gives you...

Happy New Year 2018!

With a new beginning and fresh start,
Full of inspiration and positive thoughts,
Let's begin this year with an optimistic thought.

Gone are the days of regret and guilt,
Those rooms full of darkness.
It's time to move with courage,
Full of confidence and hope.
Let's begin this year with an optimistic thought.

 

Published by Somya

  At familyfriendpoems.com

All the best in 2018

Your friends,

UpCloseTeam

Snowball Poem
  by Shel Silverstein
Fun Poem

I made myself a snowball,
As perfect as could be,
I thought I’d keep it as a pet,
And let it sleep with me.

I made it some pajamas,
And a pillow for its head,
Then last night it ran away,
But first - it wet the bed!

All the best in 2018!

Your friends,

UpCloseTeam

Have you ever wondered if what you do today really affects your success tomorrow?

If you have a good day, does that make it more likely that the next day will also be good? And anyway, what makes one day good while another is not?

Everyone wants to have a good day, but according to John Maxwell, few of us know what a good day looks like. In his book, "Today Matters", he explains that very few people understand how the way they live today will impact what happens to them tomorrow. Why is that?

Well, there are a lot of misconceptions that can lead us astray. Here are few of the common misconceptions that are outlined in John Maxwell's book:

1. We believe success is impossible, so we criticize it.
2. We believe successes is mystical, so we search for it.
3. We believe success comes from luck, so we hope for it.
4. We believe success is productivity, so we work for it.
5. We believe success comes from opportunity, so we wait for it.
6. We believe success comes from leverage, so we power up for it.
7. We...

Why do people say” heads up” when you should duck?

Why are the numbers on a calculator in the opposite order from the numbers on a phone? And why does a round pizza come in a square box? Many of us have wondered about these questions.

So here’s another question: what is it that makes us so inquisitive?

Curiosity is all about keeping an open mind and being able to enjoy new experiences while at the same time always looking for challenges and wanting to learn something new. It’s a thirst for knowledge.

Curiosity can also be contagious – in fact, if you want to make other people pay attention to what you have to say, keeping them curious may be one of the most effective ways to do it.

Just for a moment let’s go back to when you when you were a child, or when you had children. Do you remember watching Curious George on TV? He was always having experiences and getting into trouble because of his curiosity. You followed him on his daily journey and...

What is your underlying desire in life? Do you yearn for self-fulfillment? Or is self-development more important to you?

Are your efforts designed to make you feel good? Or are they designed to help you become the best you can be? Is your goal to be successful? Or is it to achieve significance?

These are great questions to ask yourself.

Before you can help anyone else grow, you must first take care of your own growth. In "The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth", John Maxwell talks about what he calls the Law of Contribution. According to this law, "Growing yourself enables you to grow others."

You may be wondering why you'd want a personal growth plan. What is the purpose of such a plan?

Most of us are already growing at least a little. So why make a plan? The purpose of a plan is that it takes your further. Intense growth does not happen by accident. Without a plan, you might grow a little, but you're unlikely to reach your true potential.

Although making a personal growth plan involves...