Maya Angelou Said This…A Tribute To Women!

Words of Wisdom From Maya Angelou

I have been a serious fan of Maya Angelou for about 30 years now.  Her books and poems have touched me and have been a source of inspiration and motivation.    Maya Angelou shows us how to be strong, how to fight, and how to come back and win, not matter what the odds are.

In April Oprah had Maya on her show as a way to celebrate her 70⁺ birthday.  Oprah asked her to share some of her thoughts about growing older.   I was touched by the profound wisdom she shared in her simple and honest responses.  I will share some of them with you.  I hope that you will be inspired:

I share Maya Angelou’s thought also as a tribute the special women I have (and have had) in my life: My grandma Bessie Mae Guss – “Nanny” may she (R.I.P), my mother Sarah Crenshaw, my other mom Gwen Patrick-Buie and the few women who have allowed me to share part of their lives their initials are: CMH-T, CRL-B, LEF, my sister JET, my three beautiful daughters Jenerra, Nijah (Doc), Khalia Sarai and my neice Tonnesha.

Ladies (and men too) I share with you some of the thoughts of Maya Angelou:

On Body Changes

Regarding body changes, she said “there were many, occurring every day…..like her breasts. They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist, first.”  The audience laughed so hard they cried.

On Things She Has Learned:

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”  (optimism, the key to success in life)

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” (lol)

“I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.”  (You better listen to that! I’m just sayin)

“I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life.” (I really like this one that’s why it is in bold)

“I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.” (And a third and a 10^th)

“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back…”

“I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.”

“I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.” (say it again) “I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.” (thanks)

“I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone.  People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back…”  ( I know that’s right.  I have written about this before in other blog posts)

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (That’s a big one. It reminds me of a point I made about complaining vs making people feel good.)

The End.

These are just some of the thoughts that Maya Angelou shared.  I hope you felt some inspiration and get some motivation to have a great day today.

While you are having your great day remember to “increase your personal value and help someone to improve every day!

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Are You Too Tired To Become Successful?: 4 Strategies To Get The Energy For Your Success!

_{“If you work hard on your job you’ll make living.”}

_{If you work hard on yourself you’ll make a fortune”}

ARE YOU TOO TIRED TO BE SUCCESSFUL?:

4 Strategies to Create The Energy You Need for Success!

Yesterday morning I had a conversation with one of my clients (let’s call him “George”).

I asked George, “How have you been doing with your assignments?”  It seemed like the phone went dead for five minutes, although it was only about five seconds.  I could feel the tension in George’s voice as he said, “I have committed to improve and want to do the things I need to do to be successful, but I just don’t have the energy.”

Can you relate to this?  I’ve heard statements like George’s many times.

All of us feel a sense of fatigue and being overwhelmed (and may even feel like quitting) at times when we work hard to improve ourselves.  We need energy and motivation as we focus on new tasks, responsibilities, or relationships.  Because of this, we need to look for strategies that maintain and even increase our personal energy and influence.  As we do, this will lead us to take action during times of change.  We all know that success requires us to take action.  Right?

Here are strategies that have worked time and time again to provide the energy and influence needed for continuous self-improvement.

Make a Personal Development Action Plan:
Many of us have workout plans or diet plans.  Do you have a personal development plan?  Make personal development a daily activity.  Read inspiring books, (I recommend at least 10 pages a day).  Listen to motivational CDs for about 30 minutes each day.  Learn about what you desire, if you desire wealth, study wealth.  If you desire better relationships, study relationships.  If you desire success, study success.  Learning provides a natural energy.  I guarantee you by committing to personal development you will become even more than what you are today.  When you become more you will receive more.  The key is making personal development a daily routine.  When you work hard on yourself, you’ll make a fortune.

Create a Vision:
There is nothing more personally energizing or influences action more than following a compelling vision.  Visualize yourself succeeding as a result of the actions you have taken.  See yourself, in high definition (1080p), as the person you wish to become.  Imagine the benefits of growing — creating new opportunities, building a more exciting and dynamic future, and opening up new opportunities for success.  Write out what you have envisioned in as much detail as possible so you can refer to it often.  If you want to get even more energy, imagine your life if you don’t take action.  Imagine THAT LIFE 5, 10, 20 years from now.  (You should write that down too!)

List Opportunities:
Ask yourself, “What are the opportunities presented by taking action?”  Make a list of all the ways you can grow, add new skills, meet key people, have more influence, experience new things, and add value to the people you care about.  This is sure to give you energy and influence you to take action.

Create Networks:
It is often difficult for us to create energy when we are alone.  Most people need the stimulation of other individuals and their ideas, input, feedback, and support.  Create (or expand) a support network and spend time with people who understand you, believe in you, and are willing to help you move forward.  Your fans will only cheer when you take action.  In many cases, members of your support network will see the results of your action even before you do and encourage you to keep going.

Build Bridges:
If your avenue for more success involves changes within an organization or moving to a new organization — embrace it.  Organizational change normally involves the establishment of new relationships.  Sometimes we resist these new relationships, especially if they involve a new supervisor or a perceived loss of authority.  Instead of retreating from the new relationships, draw energy from them by embracing them and building bridges between yourself and people you encounter.  Meeting new people is usually highly energizing because it gives you the opportunity to find commonalities in your values and goals and in the creativity of collaboration.

A Word of Caution:
Sometimes we fall into the trap of trying to change too much too soon.   This causes us to feel overwhelmed.  Being overwhelmed saps our energy and motivation to take action.  I recommend that you don’t try to implement all of these strategies at the same time.  I recommend doing them in the order they are listed.

These strategies are sure fire ways to give you the energy you need to succeed.  Whenever you feel like you don’t have energy or need to be influenced to take action:

• Do something from your personal development plan
• Pull out your vision
• Refer to your list of opportunities
• Interact with your fans

When you do this you will have the energy you need to succeed!

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Behavorial Change: 3.5 Things Everybody Should Do To Help Someone Improve

“Increase Your Personal Value And Help Someone To Improve Every Day!”

What would you do to improve the performance of someone you were nurturing, leading or working with if he or she did not perform up to their potential?  What if the result had a direct impact on you?  How would you get that person to change for the better?

Most people would criticize, condemn or complain about the person (some will do all three).  What about the people you interact with, would they be in this group?  Ironically most people are quick to criticize, condemn and complain about others, but it is interesting that 99 out of 100 don’t criticize themselves for anything no matter how wrong it may be.  This truth is the fundamental reason why criticism, condemnation and complaining are pointless, especially criticism.

Criticizing a person is pointless because it puts the person on the defensive and usually makes him or her strive to justify the action (or lack of).  It is also dangerous because it:

• Wounds a person’s pride,
• Hurts a person’s sense of importance,
• Arouses a person’s resentment and hard feelings towards the critic,
• Reduces a person’s further usefulness

If we want to motivate people to improve we must understand a very important concept. When we are dealing with people, we must realize that we are not dealing with creatures of logic.  We are dealing with creatures of emotion who are motivated by pride and vanity.  As much as we thirst for approval, we dread condemnation.”

Do you know someone you would like to influence to change and improve long-term? Great! That’s fine.  I’m in total favor of that.  But why not commit to continuously improving yourself first?  Here are three and a half things you can do to influence people to continuously improve.

3.5 Things We Can Do To Influence Continuous Improvement

1. Try to Understand.  Instead of criticizing people, let’s try to understand them.  Lets try to figure out why they do what they do.  Just the other day I was having a discussion with a close friend who took my comments as criticism and her immediate response was, “You haven’t walked in my shoes.”  What she was saying is, “I don’t realize how I could have done any differently from what I have.”  We shouldn’t criticize; instead we should consider that the person is just performing the way we would be under similar circumstances.  Seeking to understand is a lot more profitable and fascinating than criticism; and it breeds sympathy, tolerance and kindness.
2. Give Recognition. Let’s keep an eye on the people we care about, nurture and lead so we can catch them doing something well and recognize them for it.  Most people (including parents, teachers, and managers – even our friends) only comment on people’s mistakes.  In 2008 a survey of all the employees at a chain of restaurants discovered that the number one thing people want from their job (more then money) is acknowledgment for a job well done.  A pat on the back will motivate people a lot more than a kick in the pants (criticism).  Another study stated that two out of every three people in our country has a low self-esteem, so people are obviously starving for positive feedback.

1. Make People Feel Good.  We should make a point of complimenting people and making them feel good. You might be the only person that day who said something nice to them. (Remember how good it felt in elementary school when your teacher put stickers on your homework when you did a good job?)  This will reinforce their talents and good behaviors.  Behavioral scientists have proven that people rewarded for good behavior will learn much quicker and retain what they have learned much more effectively than someone punished for bad behavior.  Be sure your compliment is sincere. If people feel you are not being honest or just “kissing up,” they’ll quickly dismiss your comment and may even feel worse.

By doing these three things at home and at work, in our relationships and in our interpersonal engagements we will quickly win people’s loyalty and commitment while influencing them to realize their full potential.  The best nurturers and leaders are able to motivate others and help them perform at their highest level.  This can only happen when they feel good about themselves.  Take the time to help people feel this way and you will see amazing results.  Do this and you will be influential!  You’ll be someone that remembered.

3.5

Oh, by the way, I promised to mention three and a half things; the half thing is: “don’t do what any fool can do…!”  Dale Carnegie said: “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.”

If you put these in action, not only will you influence people to reach their potential, you will enjoy the process.  I’m talking about the process of life.

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