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Do you do things every day that amaze you?

Guest post by: Ian Berry

Article Overview: I very much enjoyed a seminar recently with a colleague Paul Dunn who is known internationally as ‘the wizard of wow’. I also love getting emails from Paul who often signs off with “be sure to keep on doing things that amaze you.” In this article are 5 ways you can do things everyday that will amaze you.

Do you do things every day that amaze you?

Do you do things every day that amaze you?

Here are 5 ways you can:

1. Little things make the big difference:

One of my favourite sayings comes from Anita Roddick, the Founder of The Body Shop. She said “If you don’t believe little things make a big difference then you have never been to bed with a mosquito.”

Take a look at all that you do for family, friends, and work mates and ask are they saying wow about my actions? And then change what you need to so that all your actions are ones that mean people say wow.

1. Embrace sustainability, it’s actually simple

Governments, as evidenced by the monumental failure of the Copenhagen summit on climate change, the posturing of some big businesses only interested in themselves, and the emergence of more bureaucracies, means sustainability can appear to be complex and out of reach for small to medium enterprises.

Forget what other people are or aren’t doing. Do the right thing by people and our planet yourself! And if you are in business consider that building a business that is good for people and our planet can actually make you more money! Don't’ believe me? Give me a call sometime. I can prove this beyond any shadow of a doubt.

1. Innovation is only possible when your culture allows it

In conducting my research for my conference and event presentations worldwide it is crystal clear to me that most business cultures make it hard for employees to turn information into insight into inspiration into ideas and therefore innovation, the successful implementation of an idea, rarely happens.

Does the culture of your business mean innovation is easy? And how about at home. Is innovation easy there too?

If you are doing what you’ve always done, most likely you are getting what you’ve always got. Is is time to change who you are and what you do?

1. People need big reasons to really be personally responsible

Best-selling author Daniel Pink has proved clearly that most business leaders do not understand motivation which is why a majority of employees do not produce their best work on a consistent basis.

Pink suggests that there are three primary motivators for us all:

“Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives

Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters

Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves”

In your home and workplace and wherever else you gather are these three motivators being met?

1. Enlightened self-interest is an old idea that can make your life and business new again

The following entries are found Wikepedia.

Enlightened self-interest is a philosophy in ethics which states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong), ultimately serve their own self-interest.

It has often been simply expressed by the belief that an individual, group, or even a commercial entity will "do well by doing good"

In contrast to enlightened self-interest is simple greed or the concept of "unenlightened self-interest", in which it is argued that when most or all persons act according to their own myopic selfishness that the group suffers loss as a result of conflict, decreased efficiency because of lack of cooperation, and the increased expense each individual pays for the protection of their own interests.

All over the world I have seen ‘unenlightened self-interest’ destroy businesses, families, and lives in general. The good news is that I have also seen productivity and positivity go through the roof when the awesome power of ‘enlightened self-interest’ is at work.

Is enlightened self-interest driving you? Could you do more for your world and therefore for yourself?

Be the difference you want to see in the world

Ian

Founder Differencemakers Community

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Article Tags: culture, Enlightenedselfinterest, Leadership, sustainability, Wizard, Wow



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Re: February 27 Triple Crown Leaders - Thanks for the update Evan, Looks like David is way ahead in the forum posting and great to see GT in the lead in the referred articles section. I won't even talk about the the approved articles section as the people in that section amaze me with the amount of articles they are able to generate in any given month. MchelleJ
Re: Dropped Out Of School To Startup! - I don't know how it goes in other countries, but here we have so many "student right" but they forget all the other rules students have to follow. They do think they are smarter than their teachers, there is no respect to a teacher, or any adult. I am working with kids at the ages of 12-18, what amaze me the most is the fact they have no boundaries, and they don't know the difference between right and wrong, and the teachers, can't do their job, to teach and educate, because they can't tell the students anythings, because it hurt their feelings. What about our feelings?
Re: How do you budget your life? - Hi Kevin, This is a very interesting post and the very word ‘budget’ can bring some people out in a cold sweat. The fact is that everyone budgets every day but we may not actually call it that, it’s called living within your means. If it’s close to pay day and you are short of money you cut out the socialising and other extras and just manage on tick over until your next salary. On a personal level all my utility bills and fixed payments go out by direct debit on the 1st of every month, I can sleep better that way and can organise a budget for the rest of the month based on what is left. Naturally, with the global financial situation as it is I would think that everyone (or most people) have had to look at their finances differently unless you are already in a strong financial situation where you will hardly feel any pain. Governments always amaze me as they are always telling us they have no money but have contingency budgets for a whole variety of circumstances so it is all relevant to what you class as financial difficulty. regards, Mal.
Re: Dropped Out Of School To Startup! - [quote="TannyL":wt0bsxdg]I don't know how it goes in other countries, but here we have so many "student right" but they forget all the other rules students have to follow. They do think they are smarter than their teachers, there is no respect to a teacher, or any adult. I am working with kids at the ages of 12-18, what amaze me the most is the fact they have no boundaries, and they don't know the difference between right and wrong, and the teachers, can't do their job, to teach and educate, because they can't tell the students anythings, because it hurt their feelings. What about our feelings?[/quote:wt0bsxdg] That's a real shame, Tanny. It must be hard trying to teach students who already think they know everything and don't give you any respect. I can't even imagine trying to deal with that. At my high school, and most schools here including elementary grades, if a student acts up and gives the teacher a hard time, all they have to do is send them to the principal's office, and they'll be taken care of. That kind of attitude isn't tolerated over here. Most students are well behaved, but there's always a few that need dealt with.
Re: Dropped Out Of School To Startup! - [quote="Alan Mater":3ospu8s7][quote="TannyL":3ospu8s7]I don't know how it goes in other countries, but here we have so many "student right" but they forget all the other rules students have to follow. They do think they are smarter than their teachers, there is no respect to a teacher, or any adult. I am working with kids at the ages of 12-18, what amaze me the most is the fact they have no boundaries, and they don't know the difference between right and wrong, and the teachers, can't do their job, to teach and educate, because they can't tell the students anythings, because it hurt their feelings. What about our feelings?[/quote:3ospu8s7] That's a real shame, Tanny. It must be hard trying to teach students who already think they know everything and don't give you any respect. I can't even imagine trying to deal with that. At my high school, and most schools here including elementary grades, if a student acts up and gives the teacher a hard time, all they have to do is send them to the principal's office, and they'll be taken care of. That kind of attitude isn't tolerated over here. Most students are well behaved, but there's always a few that need dealt with.[/quote:3ospu8s7] Alan. you are right, but here, teachers can't always do something. They can ask students to close their cell phones, but they can't take it a way if the student is speaking on the phone. You can't touch them, they photo everything and might accuse you with sexual harassment. Last Tuesday the teachers had a strike, because there were 3 different cases where students beat up teachers. There is no respect! At my school we are lucky, we have a big school with 3 principals. One of them is my boss, and since our building is separated from the rest of the school the students feel the freedom, but one of the principals is my boss, and his office is in the building and the kids afraid of him. I know fear is not the way to solve things, but sometimes there is no other way. OK, enough with the negativity. Our school is located at the top of the table in our country, and have some very good students, that do make you feel proud and make you smile.


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