Wow, I can't believe that we are already on week 11. I am so glad you have continued to work with your group up to this point. If you are just joining us, hope you look back and review the weeks before. This week we will be focusing on reality and facing the future.






Start this week by telling yourself that it is, "time for a reality check." When we are in a current position we may not be facing the reality we are in. We need to stop and face reality in order to ask ourselves the tough questions.  However, once you do this it can help you map out the future of where you are going.  This chapter in Monday Morning Choices suggests talks about a manager who went to his Vice President and asked for a new opportunity as a sale representative he was told no because he didn't use his, "slack time productively." Once Carl faces reality he has options in order to help him chart the next course of his life. Facing reality will give us the building blocks we need in order to face today what we need to change for tomorrow to create the reality we want. Checking in with reality can be a change.

Facing reality can cause some uncomfortableness in your world for a short time. However, there are rewards for facing the reality you are in. For example, you learn more about yourself, you can step out of the rut you are in.

"Choosing reality takes courage. It takes strength of conviction and a passion for progress," (David Cottrell, Pg. 159)

Checking in with reality is active not passive. Things that David Cottrell suggests, "that you can do to check in with reality is to check in with reality everyday. Look for truth all around you and in every situation. Reality may not always be the easiest path."

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Monday Morning Choices #12

 This week we will finish up by focusing on, "The Legacy Choice... Give Your Gift."


Our Final Week with Monday Morning Choices has arrived.  I hope you have found this segment helpful and renewed yourself in your career and your life.

It is important for anyone to succeed that they at some point in their life have a mentor to help them out. It is just as important that you give back to the world by becoming a mentor as well. You can do this in a variety of ways, through your community or boy scouts, where and how does not matter.  Being a mentor is what matters.

A mentors responsibility it to bridge the gap between past experiences to help support future decisions.  Without people who are willing to become mentors to those around them individuals would not have access to important information. However, don't give to others because you want some thing in return, David Cottrell says, "give because it is the right thing to do," (David Cottrell, Pg. 167).

You do not have to make large sweeping changes you only have to start where you are.  Be nice to the people around you, help a co-worker in need or support your boss when they make a difficult decision.

Your legacy is sacred and you do not know when or who it will help. Take the time to pass on your wisdom to others.  David states that your, "legacy is priceless." It is a gift that should be cherished and shared with the people around us because they deserve to have people around them that have been in the same place as they have.

"Your legacy is your gift to pass on."

Find people who spark your inner fire.

Thank you David Cottrell for you 12 weeks of wisdom.


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Monday Morning Choices #10

The Criticism Choice... Embrace Tough Learning

It can be lonely at the top because there is always someone who is willing to criticize you.  However, this section in the book suggests that criticism can give you what you need to rethink a position you took.

However, this section is not talking about analyzing the criticism that people may make about the way you look or other trivial items.  Criticism isn't always a bad thing and can be the catalyst needed for change to happen.  When analyzing criticism or when trying to figure out the importance of the criticism you must first ask yourself some questions. For example, who is the person offering the criticism and are they trying to hurt or help?

Criticism is a part of our lives and it is important that you use it to your benefit and not as a hindrance.  However, you need to protect your self-esteem as well, do not let people attack your self-esteem. Learning and moving forward from the advice can help take you to where you want to be.  It is important that you allow yourself to here the suggestions around you because although, one way may work it may not work for everyone.

"Learn to use criticism, not become defensive."

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Monday Morning Choices Week #9

Week 9:

Welcome to week #9. We are rounding down are Monday Morning's and I hope that you have found this information valuable. I also hope you continue to work with your group to refine and reflect on your choices throughout the year.

The Relationship Choices.... Connect with Success.

This weeks work starts out with a story about bees. They survive in the winter because they all work together. While a bee is not always in the center of the ball warm, the entire hive works together in order for everyone to be successful. The point, success cannot be achieved without the work of everyone and you cannot achieve long term success without help. 

A study completed by, Carnegie Foundation found, "that 85% of a person's success is determined by what the researchers called ability to deal with people and attitudes (David Cottrell).

Most individuals are looking for a variety of things from their relationships with others and you may have learned about relationships from a variety of people in your life. This however, does not matter. What matters is that you have strong healthy, positive relationships with others.

Cottreell in this chapter mentions that trust is a very important component in a relationship. However, communication and a caring for other people's dreams and goals are also important in building strong relationships with others. 

In our lives we our like the five people we spend the most time with. This is not always a positive thing. Hang out with people who are achieving or desire the same success you desire.  Building relationships and keeping strong relationships take time and effort. If you are not willing to put in the time, chances are that relationship will not be a sustainable one.  

This week focus on who you spend the most time with. Ask yourself how you foster this relationship and what you could do to improve the relationship.  

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Monday Morning Choices #8

                                                    

Overcoming adversity

It doesn't matter who you are, how old you are, male or female or your political views at some point in time you have come up against adversity. But what you do with this makes the difference between success and failure. 

"The difference between successful people and average people is that successful people make a conscious choice to spend their time attacking the problem."

We always have a choice. What choice will you make next time you are faced with adversity?

You can look around at your friends, co-workers or family and pick out which ones have faced adversity and overcome it and which ones let it take over their life. If you want positive rewards you have to make the choice to let the past be the past and move forward with the future no matter what situation you are facing. 

This week focus on moving forward one positive step at a time. 

Chris Novak, in the book conquering adversity suggests you do six simple things to overcome adversity.

1. Affirmation

Take inventory of what you have lost and what you have left. Don't get into the mind set that you have lost it all. 

2. Expectation

Don't focus on the why, focus on what you are going to do to move forward. 

3. Communication

Believe that the people the around you can help and don't be afraid to ask them for help when you need it. 

4. Locomotion

Don't stop, move forward.

5. Collaboration

Take people with you on your journey forward. 

6. Celebration 

Find time to celebrate in order to restore your sense of hope and positive energy.

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Monday Morning Choice # 7

  

Your Attitude!

This is week #7 of, "Monday Morning Choices." I believe this is one of the most important sections you will read. Without a positive attitude other changes cannot occur. If you look in the face of negativity and pessimism you believe the changes you have made to this point are not working. You may revert back to your old self because you have not enjoyed the weeks of success. Or you do not see your change as benefiting you.

It does not matter what happens in your life or what other people do to you because you have the power to chose your attitude.  I'm sure many of you have heard about the, "The Fish Philosophy." There is a fishing company in Seattle, called the Pike Place fish market.  The company started by asking themselves who they wanted to be, how they were going to get there and what it meant once they were there.  What they decided was that they wanted to be, "World Famous." And although, some might see working with fish  boring and gross the employees there see it another way.  And they live by three philosophies. One of them is, "choosing your attitude."

Choose to be enthusiastic in everything you do and choose to be around people who live there life that same way.  In the book, Monday Morning Choices," he challenges you this week to think about people you admire, do any of them have a negative attitude?  The answer is that there probably isn't anyone because successful leaders are ones that have positive attitudes.

Yes, bad things in life happen and sometimes we are overwhelmed with those bad things. But we can choose how we react and we can choose the attitude that takes us to the next choice we make after those bad things happen. How quickly you recover from the negative in your life is a direct choice of the attitude you choose to have.

"The Force Multiplier"

Positive, enthusiastic people give energy to the people around them. While negative people take away the energy from their co-workers and their work environment. You want to stand next to the people that are passing out positive energy and helping you to build on your positive attitude. If you are unable to find these people in your work force, then you must become the person that is handing out positivity. 

You must chose optimism all the time. David Cottrell states, "it's easy to chose optimism when times are good." However, you have to chose this state all the time and remember when there are setbacks they are only temporary and you can overcome them. With optimism comes choices and with choices you can be back on track before you know it.

This week focus on your attitude in good times and bad. Reflect what goes well this week and what didn't go well. What was your attitude in each of those situations? And how did you feel after the setback.

We cannot choose the events that happen to us, but we can choose to smile at the opportunity we receive when the wind stops blowing.

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Monday Morning Choices

Welcome to choice 6 of Monday Morning choices, you are know halfway through changing your life.

This week we will be focusing on, "The Persistence Choice... Learn from Failure."






It is okay to fail. We can learn as much from our failures as we learn from our success. And it is important to preserve through our failures in order to find what we seek at the end of our journey.  We will not find success in a day or two. It takes time and it is what we do everyday over a long time that determines whether we will actually succeed in our goals.

Fear is a natural emotion that everyone feels at some time in their life. This is okay. But you should not let it hold you back from making choices or from moving forward. Have the courage to face your fears and move through them.

It is easy to give up and give in when you have failed over and over. However, it is the choices we make in the moment of failure that we can find the piece that is missing to help make a product more successful.

Train yourself to accept failure as a part of life and instead of dwelling on it and letting it hold you back, let it drive you forward into making the best decisions you can make to help you be successful in your business. 

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Monday Morning choices

 

 

We are on week 5 and today we will be focusing on chapter called, "The Do-Something Choice... Don't vacation on "Someday Isle."

I'm sure you are all familiar with the phrase, "Someday, I'll be happy when I..." This is a place that doesn't exist so make choices not on when you are going to be happy or lose that 20 pounds but focus on what changes you are making right now. 

Great ideas that move us forward or only great if we put them into action. It isn't enough to talk about change you have to be willing to put that into momentum and movement. Change is hard, but talking about change will not actually cause change to occur. 

One of the important choices in this section, is making, "the choice to read everyday."  David Cottrell states in the book, "the bigger houses have the bigger libraries and that this is not a coincidence. The more you read the more you learn and the more success you will have."  You have to be a life long learner and in order to do this you must read. 

Although, you may be limited by the people you meet you are not limited by the information you can learn from historians, business executives and great leaders when you pick up a book. The information you can now learn and grown from is limitless in a book.

David further suggests that it does not matter what you read, it just matters that you do it. Don't give up on learning right after you graduate make yourself a long term reader and learner to enjoy long term success in your life.

This week focus on making decisions to keep winning. Because, "winners keep winning." Just because you won an award once or were the top once it isn't enough. Keep do what you need to in order to keep winning over and over.

Communication:

Communication is written language, how well you listen and how well you verbalize answers to questions.  People make a judgement about you in the first six seconds. It is critical to make sure you are efficient in each communication area. If you are not you will want to find a class, book or group that will help you increase your skills in that area. You cannot be successful if you cannot answer a question sufficiently or if your emails contain spelling errors.

There is no try. You can create excuses why you couldn't get the project done or why you didn't make those important phone calls when you use the words, "I'll try." Instead eliminate this from your vocabulary and only use words about it already being done.

Begin your success today by making a change today.

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Monday Morning

Welcome to week four of Monday Morning Choices, Morning Choice # 4 . Hope that last week was a successful week for your group and you were able to evaluate your enemies with an open mind.  It's important to continue meeting and making time for your conversations to happen.

"The Integrity Choice...Do the Right Thing" 

Integrity is the fabric of who we are. It is important that we don't comprise this integrity. Here is a little exercise for you to complete this week.
"Write down the first five people that come to mind that you consider to be trustworthy. Now look at your list and evaluate with characteristics they have in common?" (Pg. 47)

Now make another list of the five people you don't trust. What characteristics do they have in common?

 Our integrity is the most important trait we have in this world. It means we do what is right even if there isn't someone watching, a prize at the end or a bag of money. It means that we do what is right when no one is watching because at the end of the day all we have is our integrity.  Some of our greatest hardships may have come from someone who proved that their integrity could be compromised. 

Do you know someone that values their own integrity above all else? Or a company that doesn't care what the cost is they always do the right thing?

Johnson and Johnson did, when they found out that individuals were poisoned they did what they needed to in order to protect society. They didn't worry about the millions of dollars they were losing they focused on the lives they were saving.

A final important point from this section, "Integrity is usually lost not by the big decisions but the small choices we make everyday."

Don't let the small choices change what you stand for today.

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Monday Morning Week 4

Welcome to week four of Monday Morning Choices, Morning Choice # 3 . Hope that last week was a successful week for your group and that now you are into the swing of your meetings.  It is important to continue meeting and making time for your conversations to happen. Don't lose momentum.

This week we are going to focus on evaluating our friends while focusing on choosing the right enemies. 

Values are the beliefs that we hold closest to us. Know your values and stick to them, because you will always have enemies.  Your enemies according to, "Monday Morning Choices," are created because your values are in direct competition with their values or beliefs.

No matter what you do you will likely have enemies of some sort. Whether it's because your better at your job, prettier or more organized you will have people that stand on the other end of the line from you. It's important to make your choice on who your enemies are going to be by sticking to your values that you hold close.

This chapter suggests that you need to ask the question, "who are your enemies?" This will help you answer other questions, for example, why are they your enemies and who are they as individuals?

When I was growing up my parents constantly told me, "that who I hung out with determined who I was." I didn't believe them. I thought that I would be defined by the choices that I made, but it was not true then and it is not true now. Who you surround yourself with in the office will determine what path you are on. However, it may also save your work life.

We cannot make everyone like us all the time. You can chose your values, stick to them and then surround yourself with people who feel the same as you.

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Monday Morning

   Monday Morning Choices Week 3

Last week we featured the beginning decisions to help support changes in your office. We discussed finding a team, setting aside time to talk to your team about the weekly chapter you read and making a commitment to complete each week's reading.

 I hope that week 1 went well for your team and you were able to keep your commitments to your team. 

This week we will focus on Chapter 3 of Monday Morning Choices Week 2.

This week we will be focusing on making our commitments a passion in order to succeed. This chapter focuses on the idea that sometimes you map out the plan, chart the course and then lack follow through. 

Monday Morning Choices, Author David Cottrell says, "Commitment isn't as simple as being able to check off what we've accomplished toward our goal. It's a choice, an attitude." 

Your assignment this week, envision your goal-draw and create a visual representation of that goal.  Then write out your goal. David presents in his book that one of the issues individuals have is that they plan their goal but then after time enthusiasm fades. 

However, when we write down our goals and then monitor ourselves towards that goal we begin to accomplish the goal we set out for ourselves. 

Second item we need to focus on this week is diving in with passion. It isn't enough to just believe that you can accomplish the goal, however, you need to be able to and be ready to make sacrifices in order to succeed at your goal. See, hear and breath your goal and your mission and don't hesitate to do what you need to in order to accomplish this goal. 

Attributes from David Cottrell of People who have passionate commitment:

1. They do what they say they are going to do.

2. They vividly see their success.

3. Put their words into goals and accomplish those goals.

4. You can believe in what they say.

5. They commit, they invest.

6. Learn from mistakes and continue to move forward.

7. Make success a top priority.

8. Failure is seen as a success.

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Monday Morning

Choices 

Part 2 of 2 

Chapter 1: The No-Victim Choice... Don't Let Your Past Eat Your Future

You have already taken important steps to changing your life. You picked your top five, you set aside time to meet, and you have made the choice to change. 

Now, begins the hard work.  It is easy to let life happen to you and then make excuses for why those bad things continue to happen. There are people in life that let life happen and their are others who adjust and change when life happens in a way that they don't like. According to, David Cottrell, it is not a coincidence that some people have all the bad luck.  

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Make a choice. You can be what is called, "a passenger or a driver." A passenger sits in the car looking at the world pass them by but they do not make any choices on the path that they are taking. They do not stop the car when it is on a collision course of bad changes and they do not accept that they have the option to change what is coming their way.  While a driver is the person in charge. They make the choices and they are moving forward.  However, they also have the power to change when life is going in a direction you do not want. 

Unexpected downfalls will occur to you. It is something to accept.  The problem is not that bad things happen or that their are events that occur out of our hands, but it is how we handle those problems that determine where our life goes next. It is truly the choice you make with the problem that determine your success or failure. 

Take ownership of your decisions even if failure occurs. It is okay to make mistakes or have things go wrong. But, it is what you do when this occurs that will help build a strong team and a strong business. People around you will have faith in your management abilities when you show them that you are willing to accept responsibility when things are good and bad. It is often with failure that greatness happens and it is when we find out what we are really made of.  Make the choice to own your failure and your success.  Do not let someone else be in control of your business decisions because it is easier to be a, "passenger." 

 "The key to accepting responsablity-no matter what-is to take ownership of your mind, thoughts, actions, and reactions. Only you can accept this ownership-and, once accepted, it is yours to keep," David Cottrell.

1. Expect things to go wrong.

2. Look for other solutions to your problem through reflection. 

3. Do not get stuck in the trap of victimization.

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Monday Mornings

 Choices: 

Part 1 of 2

Do you dread going to work on Monday's? Do hit the snooze bar a few extra minutes while you lay their begrudging your alarm clock because the ring woke you up from a perfect nights sleep and a fantastic dream?  Or are your Monday's filled with bad decisions that set your week going down the drain? 

Well the book Monday Morning Choices by David Cottrell has some great suggestions on twelve weeks of Monday Morning Choices that can help change your life and the success of your business.

Author David Cottrell suggests doing a few things before you delve into the book.  

First: Find a team of people

        A wise friend once told me that you are who you hang out with. Pick the top five people you want on your life changing journey.

Second: "Make sure everyone has a copy of the book."

       Team huddles is a team gathering time. Set aside uninterrupted time with your five to discuss the suggested Monday change. This is a good time to talk about how your going to the decision that leads to unsuccessful decisions.

Third: "Make a commitment."

         Don't let your team or yourself down. Make a commitment that you are going to do the work it takes to change.  An activity can become a habit after 120 days but it will not be overnight. 

Fourth: "Change your Mondays and Change your life."

        Getting up on Mondays does not have to be you drudging through the mud to earn your paycheck. You can wake up, enjoy your day and enjoy the success your life has to offer. 

                              

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