What are the fundamental capabilities of a human system that are crucial to its capacity to execute flawlessly and innovate consistently?
I think the simple answer is sharing. When I say sharing, I mean sharing knowledge, expertise and secrets. I think that in order to get what you want you will need a roadmap, not a conventional roadmap - a roadmap that contains an idea, plan and a series of steps to execute that plan.
Knowledge isn’t everything, you may need a guide - someone who’s been there before - someone who understands what you are going through and wants you to succeed. Someone who can give feedback, motivation and pick you up when things get tough. When you combine a proven roadmap with a skilled guide and an army of supporters - this makes an unstoppable combination. It’s important to have likeminded people beside you on your journey, people who understand what you are going through and want you to succeed.
8 Habits of Lucky People
Work hard
Complain less
Teach others
Share credit
Be on time
Be kind
Be teachable
Show gratitude
c/o Steven Keating
Should you trust your gut?
““The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” - Albert Einstein”
I Can See Clearly Now
I’m a sales guy by nature and have done really a lot of selling. Basically, there are two elements of selling - starting the conversation that leads to a meeting and closing the deal.
I think SALES is a performance profession! The challenge is how to accurately and fairly measure results. Most companies teach their sales team how to take an order and how to make presentations, which is fine, I think what they should also be teaching is how to ask open ended questions. You can read all the books and study it, in reality, unless you are applying it everyday, building systems and habits around it, it’s just information.
I have a passion to help others achieve their goals and exceed their own expectations with over 20 years experience of contributing to and leading organisations within retail, wholesale, marketing and branding.
Contact me if you are interested in hearing more…
What Have I Become?
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a time for reflection. I am fully aware that opportunity is always mixed with difficulty, therefore, the only time when things will change is when I change. “I am not a product of my circumstances I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen Covey
I had an epiphany last week that made me think about the meaning of my life and what have I become. The voice said, “You can have more than you’ve got because you can become more than you are and unless you change what you are, you’ll always have what you’ve got.” I know that the major key to my better future is me, and in my case true happiness is not contained in what I get, happiness is contained in what I become. I immediately knew that I had to start working on myself and as there are only 24 hours in a day, time was not the issue. You cannot get more time, but you can create more value as we primarily get paid for the value we bring to the marketplace. We have plenty of energy to do the things that we really want to do as motivation creates energy.
The Last Dance - Netflix
What are my life goals? How can you hit a target that I don’t have? How to set goals and how to achieve them? I know that you have to have your goals in place to get what you want, and I have to set the kind of goals that will mean something by achieving them. I have to start by making myself comfortable with being uncomfortable as when you let yourself get comfortable with your way of life, you miss out on what you could accomplish when you keep reaching for the next golden ring. One has to eliminate all the negative influences in your life and that also means friends who are dragging you down and keeping you from reaching your goals.
1. Identify exactly what you want.
2. Why do you want to reach this goal?
3. What are the obstacles you need to overcome in order to achieve this goal?
4. What are the skills and knowledge required to reach this goal?
5. Who are the people, groups, organisations you need to work with in order to achieve this goal?
6. What is the plan of action required to achieve this goal?
7. When is the completion date?
Your goals could be physical, mental, spiritual, social, family, career or financial. Are you committed to reaching your goals? When you have a solid base with a solid commitment and solid objectives then you have a much better chance of reaching your goals. Please do not confuse activity with accomplishment! Have you written out your clearly defined goals? Yes? If no, why not? Is it because of fear, a poor self-image, no desire or just because you don’t know how? Would you like some guidance with how to set your goals? I am interested in building characters and developing leaders. Contact sb@stephenburrell.com
Stimulus > Choice > Response
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Victor Frankl
We live in an information-rich, time-poor world, as a result, it is easy for us to behave like rats. In other words, we see an opportunity (stimulus) and we jump at it (response). The great thing about being human (aside from our ability to use a TV remote) is that we can exercise choice. So unlike one of *B.F. Skinner's rats, our behavioural equation is Stimulus > Choice > Response.
*B.F. skinner was an American psychologist who developed the Theory of Operant Conditioning. The idea that behaviour is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again.
The challenge is that sometimes we move so fast we whoosh right past our choice and feel like we are simply reacting to the multitude of stimuli - demanding customers, boss' deadlines, screaming kids, requests to volunteer, web page pop-up ads, Facebook status changes, "you've got mail" notifications, GPS voices telling us to "veer right", text tones on our telephones, and on and on.
So, to help you intentionally respond to inbound opportunities and requests, here are four useful questions:
Does it interest me?
Do I have the resources (skills, money, contacts, knowledge) to make a positive impact?
Do I have the time (our most precious resource) for it?
Can I make the personal commitment necessary to be successful or fulfill the demands?
These questions reveal a thought process that highly successful people use to live intentionally. They never lose sight of the "C" - choice.
The choice is ours. Our success can be accidental or intentional. Choose to live intentionally.
Contact me here to book a 1:1 session
Crucial Conversations Training
Did you know that I am a certified Crucial Conversations Trainer?
Crucial Conversations teaches skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional and risky topics - at all levels of your organization. By learning how to speak and be heard (and encouraging others to do the same), you’ll surface the best ideas, make the highest-quality decisions and then act on your decisions with unity and commitment.
What Is a Crucial Conversation?
A crucial conversation is a discussion between two or more people where the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong. These conversations - when handled poorly or ignored - lead to strained relationships and dismal results.
What Does Crucial Conversations Training Teach?
Crucial Conversations teaches participants how to:
• Speak persuasively, not abrasively
• Foster teamwork and better decision making
• Build acceptance rather than resistance
• Resolve individual and group disagreements
Who Needs Crucial Conversations Training?
Does your organization suffer from taboo topics, deference, disagreement, analysis paralysis, information hoarding, office politics or alienation? Is your organization battling declining productivity, safety violations, low morale, reduced quality, poor customer satisfaction or other bottom-line concerns? Then you, your team, or your organization needs Crucial Conversations Training.
My aim is to guide teams, leaders and entrepreneurs on how to focus on your company’s performance and culture by integrating open communication into the heart of your business. Crucial Conversations workshops are two days and ideally have a minimum of six participant. For further information please contact me.
Look Inside
Just imagine if we changed our opinion on suffering and from now on we think that suffering is awesome. Some of the greatest people on earth have suffered the most, for example, Nelson Mandela. Difficult times, pain, failure and loss can be looked upon as learnings, perhaps even as purification in preparation for personal heroism.
How would your life be if you were given the tools to use disappointment, difficulty and heartbreak as a crutch to strengthen yourself? If everything that hurts you, you used to make yourself a better person. The inner work is how you move through the blocks of your shadows that are covering your primal genius. ”The more you sweat in training, the less you will bleed in war.” - Navy Seals
As children, we live through our heart as we grow older we move out of our hearts and into our heads, we are taught to numb our feelings and live in our heads. In my opinion, great art, great architecture, great business, great lives don't just come from our heads, they come from our hearts, our passion, our feelings and our gratitude. I can resonate with Jay Shetty when he says, ”We are wired for generosity but educated for greed.”
I recently asked a medical doctor, “What is in charge - your head or your heart?” He answered, “the head” and I disagreed and bravely challenged him. I said, “You can find people in your profession, who are hospitalised, still alive but clinically brain dead. I am sure that you would agree with me that when your heart stops it’s over and out!”
Succeeding in life and battle is all about training, preparation and putting in the work needed to rise above the adversities that each one of us will face during our lifetimes. Contact me here to book a 1:1 session…
We Are All Fragile
Today, all the FA Cup matches will start with a minute’s silence to bring awareness to mental health issues. I wonder what are the effects of stabbings, shootings and gang-related incidents on young males who have been conditioned not to speak their peers about emotional issues? Now as a Londoner who has been living in Copenhagen for 23 years where ethnic minorities, in general, are also not integrated within mainstream society, I have been observing disenfranchised men for decades.
How hurt we feel about our loss and if we do express it in any way then it is expected to be in a masculine way, for example, retaliation, revenge, speaking about retribution, etc., and that’s what we have been teaching each other for years. Perhaps this is why we have such a high rate of suicide amongst men because the dialogue is just not there. We are not speaking amongst ourselves about emotional issues, being open with one another about how we feel. Speaking up may not solve everything but it will definitely help!
Many of us have heard about soldiers who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria who returned ”home” with post-traumatic stress disorder. I think that there are similarities between war zones and the everyday battle young men are facing in our inner cities. The trauma of thinking that if they look at somebody in the ”wrong” way, they may be stabbed - this mindset are making people do some really crazy stuff. I can engage with these youngsters on their level, I can give them focus and aspiration because if we can change their mental game then we can change their external world.
We are all fragile, we all have traumas and it’s easy to judge people we see struggling with addictions, weight issues, self-esteem, etc. We have all been in a bad place in our heads, take a moment to think about that time in your life and just imagine how far you would have fallen you if didn’t have a support structure around you. There are many of us who think that we have got it together, we should all remember that we are only a few steps away from losing it all.
Fear is a condition for those we help, contact me here to book a 1:1 session...