Success Techniques: Connect the Dots! Your Roadmap for Success
Success Techniques: Connect the Dots! Your Roadmap for Success
So I ask you, “Have you connected your dots?”
Here are five reasons why taking the time to connect the dots will give you a roadmap for success in your life:
1. All Dots are Good
Many times we face challenges in our life that, at that moment, look like failures. Because we are focused on the imagined “downside” of the challenge, we lose focus on the good that can come out of the challenge.
I had an ex-Navy civilian in one of my workshops on downsizing. He said he was part of a downsizing process by the Navy two years ago in Ohio. You can imagine he was hurt, upset, and concerned that he wouldn’t find another job after his twenty years in the Navy. Then he refocused himself on what he could do to make this situation positive. He started doing job research, making telephone calls, networking, and sending resumes. Within three months after his layoff, he received his dream job offer from the Navy. It was a technical job he always wanted at a pay scale much better than his previous job. The best part of his new job was that it allowed him to move back to his hometown of Virginia Beach.
All dots are good; it’s the way we look at them that lead to our success.
2. Be Willing to Go to the Next Dot
Due to past “negative” experiences, many times we avoid new challenges because we want to feel “safe.” How many times have you heard the following?
“I’m never dating again because of my past experiences with…”
“I don’t want to take on the new project because it is too high profile and I might fail.”
“I don’t want the promotion because of what happened the last time…”
Basing our past experiences on life’s variables that have no relation to the present will make us miss new opportunities. There is an expression I often use, “You need to go through the mud to get to the gold.” In other words, we all need to experience the “road bumps” in life to know and appreciate the real opportunities in life.
3. Accelerate the Dots in Your Life
You can speed the amount of success by continuously learning. Continuously work on your communication, career or business, and technical skills so that you can embrace opportunities that come your way.
One of the best ways to learn is by volunteering. I recently had lunch with Carol at a recent conference. She shared with me that she had started working in a school over fifteen years ago because her kids were in the school system. Because of that, she volunteered for as many school-related activities as possible that would involve her kids. She became an expert and the person to go to concerning many school subjects. Recently, an opening in the superintendent’s office came up, and her name was on the short list. Because of her vast experience and, even more important, because many people knew of her expertise, she was an easy decision for the position.
Learning accelerates your dots.
4. Bypass Dots Only with Wisdom
Many times we try to skip a step or two in life. We have heard about people who have “instant” success and then lose it all almost as fast. They never acquired the wisdom needed to maintain their success.
Take time to learn from the events in your life. Like the quote goes, “Smart people learn from their mistakes; truly wise people learn from other people’s mistakes.”
5. Go Forward and Connect the Dots
Take time to plan your future events and goals based on your past events. Analyze the positive outcomes from those events and use them to plan for the future. That is the secret to true success.
So go forward and connect the dots, and you will realize your roadmap to success.
Success Techniques Connect the Dots Your Roadmap for Success - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Sykes's Website.
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Recently, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios, gave a commencement address to the graduating class at Stanford University. He talked about creating passion, life and death, and “connecting the dots.” The dots were events in his life, many challenging and many positive, which led to his many successes. He shared with the audience that being fired from Apple Computer, the computer he founded, he was able to step back and develop the idea for Pixar Animation Studios. By achieving the great success at Pixar, he was eventually asked to come back to lead Apple Computer. This eventually led him to spearhead the launching of one the most revolutionary products of the 21st century…the iPod. He feels that he would never have achieved his successes without his failures and setbacks. He was able to connect the dots to see how it all added up.
So I ask you, “Have you connected your dots?”
Here are five reasons why taking the time to connect the dots will give you a roadmap for success in your life:
1. All Dots are Good
Many times we face challenges in our life that, at that moment, look like failures. Because we are focused on the imagined “downside” of the challenge, we lose focus on the good that can come out of the challenge.
I had an ex-Navy civilian in one of my workshops on downsizing. He said he was part of a downsizing process by the Navy two years ago in Ohio. You can imagine he was hurt, upset, and concerned that he wouldn’t find another job after his twenty years in the Navy. Then he refocused himself on what he could do to make this situation positive. He started doing job research, making telephone calls, networking, and sending resumes. Within three months after his layoff, he received his dream job offer from the Navy. It was a technical job he always wanted at a pay scale much better than his previous job. The best part of his new job was that it allowed him to move back to his hometown of Virginia Beach.
All dots are good; it’s the way we look at them that lead to our success.
2. Be Willing to Go to the Next Dot
Due to past “negative” experiences, many times we avoid new challenges because we want to feel “safe.” How many times have you heard the following?
“I’m never dating again because of my past experiences with…”
“I don’t want to take on the new project because it is too high profile and I might fail.”
“I don’t want the promotion because of what happened the last time…”
Basing our past experiences on life’s variables that have no relation to the present will make us miss new opportunities. There is an expression I often use, “You need to go through the mud to get to the gold.” In other words, we all need to experience the “road bumps” in life to know and appreciate the real opportunities in life.
3. Accelerate the Dots in Your Life
You can speed the amount of success by continuously learning. Continuously work on your communication, career or business, and technical skills so that you can embrace opportunities that come your way.
One of the best ways to learn is by volunteering. I recently had lunch with Carol at a recent conference. She shared with me that she had started working in a school over fifteen years ago because her kids were in the school system. Because of that, she volunteered for as many school-related activities as possible that would involve her kids. She became an expert and the person to go to concerning many school subjects. Recently, an opening in the superintendent’s office came up, and her name was on the short list. Because of her vast experience and, even more important, because many people knew of her expertise, she was an easy decision for the position.
Learning accelerates your dots.
4. Bypass Dots Only with Wisdom
Many times we try to skip a step or two in life. We have heard about people who have “instant” success and then lose it all almost as fast. They never acquired the wisdom needed to maintain their success.
Take time to learn from the events in your life. Like the quote goes, “Smart people learn from their mistakes; truly wise people learn from other people’s mistakes.”
5. Go Forward and Connect the Dots
Take time to plan your future events and goals based on your past events. Analyze the positive outcomes from those events and use them to plan for the future. That is the secret to true success.
So go forward and connect the dots, and you will realize your roadmap to success.
Success Techniques Connect the Dots Your Roadmap for Success - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Sykes's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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