Jefferson Maguire

The Best Advice I’ve Ever Heard

Dr. James Gills accomplished the remarkable feat of completing two triathlons back to back. Most of the world, including me, couldn’t complete one triathlon, never mind two. Yet, Dr. James Gills, a man in his fifties, was able to complete a double triathlon six times.

When asked how he did it, he gave the best advice I’ve ever heard.

He said, “I’ve learned to talk to myself instead of listen to myself.”

He continued, “If I listen to myself I hear all the reasons why I should give up. I hear that I’m too tired-too old-too weak to make it. But if I talk to myself I can give myself the encouragement and words I need to hear to keep running and finish the race.”

It’s the same way with life.

Too often we listen to ourselves and hear all the complaints, self-doubt, fear and negativity that lead to unhappiness, failure and unfulfilled goals.

But instead of listening to the negative we can choose to feed ourselves with the positive. We can fuel up with words, thoughts, phrases, scripture and beliefs that give us the strength and power to overcome our challenges and create an extraordinary life, career and team.

Just keep running, stay positive, talk to yourself instead of listen to yourself and make sure you celebrate and raise your hands in the air when you’ve reached your destination!

20 Ways Ordinary People Reached World-Class

1.  Know what you want. Clarity is power. And vague goals promote vague results.

2.  Remember that every problem has a solution. Maybe you just can’t see it. Yet.

3.  In this Age of Dramatic Distraction, the performer who focuses the best wins the most.

4.  Before someone will help you, you need to help them.

5.  Become the most passionate person you know. It’ll be contagious.

6.  Know more about your craft/the work you do than anyone who has ever done the work you do…in the history of the world.

7.  Join The 5 am Club. Your most valuable hours are 5am-8am. They have the least interruptions.

8.  Devote yourself to learning something new about your field of mastery every day. Success belongs to the relentless learners. Because as you know more, you can achieve more.

9.  Remember that when you transform your fitness, you’ll transform your business.

10. Don’t check your mobile when you’re meeting with another person. It’s rude. And rude people don’t reach world-class.

11. Every time you do what scares you, you take back the power that you gave to the thing that scared you. And so you become more powerful.

12. A problem is only a problem if you make the choice to see it as a problem.

13. Stop being a victim. Your business and personal life was made by you. No one else is responsible. To make it better, make better choices. And new decisions.

14. You can lead without a title. Don’t wait to get a position to stand for excellence, peak quality and overdelivery on every expectation.

15. Find your own style. Be an original. Every superstar differentiated themselves from The Herd. And marched to their own drumbeat.

16. Understand that when you play small with your success, you betray your potential. And the birthright you were born under.

17. Eat less food and you’ll get more done.

18. As you become more successful, stay really really hungry. Nothing fails like success. Because when you’re successful, it’s easy to stop outlearning+outOverDelivering+outthinking and outexecuting everyone around you. (Success is Beautiful. And dangerous).

19. If you’re not overprepared, you’re underprepared.

20. The only level of great manners to play at is “Exceedingly Polite”. In our world, this alone will make you a standout. And differentiate you in your marketplace.

The Secret to Overcoming Busyness and Stress

Dharma “the love dog” greets me as I walk out of my bedroom in the morning. Then she rolls on her back letting me know she wants me to rub her belly. I really want to but I can’t stop thinking of all the things I have to do today. I feel busy, stressed and the last thing I want to do is stop to pet my dog.

Dharma must sense what I’m feeling because she gives me this loving look as if to say “Don’t walk away. Pet me. It will benefit you as much as it does me.”

I’ve read the research and I know she’s right. Petting our dogs reduces our stress, boosts our immune system, enhances our happiness and improves our overall well-being. If I would just stop for a few moments and spend quality time with her I would be the one who benefits most.

It’s the same way with the relationships in our life.

If we made time to invest in our relationships and spent quality time with our family, friends and colleagues we would dramatically improve the quality of our lives and careers.

Yet, too often busyness and stress cause us to focus on what is urgent instead of what matters most. We focus on our to-do list instead of people and our own survival instead of building thriving relationships.

That’s why I often say that busyness and stress are the enemies of great marriages, leadership, teamwork, relationships, and customer service. Busyness and stress keep us from caring about the people and things we are supposed to care about.

In many ways it’s not our fault. Science tells us that when we feel busy and stressed we activate the reptilian part of our brain. If you know anything about reptiles they will never love you. Reptiles want to eat you. They are all about survival. And so are we when we feel busy and stressed. Creating meaningful relationships is the last thing on our mind when we are stressed. Instead our reptilian brain is thinking about how to just make it through the day and it will eat anyone for lunch that gets in its way.

The good news, however, is that we have another part of the brain called the neocortex. I call it the Positive Dog part of our brain and we activate it when we love, care, pray, and practice gratitude. In any moment we can override the reptile with the positive dog.

We can choose to love people instead of ignoring them. We can choose to slow down instead of rushing. And we can choose to be thankful instead of stressed.

In fact, the research shows we can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time. So anytime we are feeling busy and stressed we can pause, take some deep breaths, focus on gratitude, and change how we approach the day and the people in our life.

This brings us back to Dharma as she waits for me to rub her belly. My reptilian brain is telling me to keep moving, hurry up, eat breakfast and ignore the dog. But I can’t. I won’t.

I know how and why busyness and stress can sabotage my joy and relationships. I know the antidote to busyness and stress is a positive thought away. I know that in each moment of my busy life I can override the reptile and focus on my relationships. And I know that when I make relationships my top priority everything in my life is better.

When you know better… you do better.

The Four Emotions that Can Lead to Life Change

Emotions are the most powerful forces inside us. Under the power of emotions, human beings can perform the most heroic (as well as barbaric) acts. To a great degree, civilization itself can be defined as the intelligent channeling of human emotion. Emotions are fuel and the mind is the pilot, which together propel the ship of civilized progress. Which emotions cause people to act? There are four basic ones; each, or a combination of several, can trigger the most incredible activity. The day that you allow these emotions to fuel your desire is the day you’ll turn your life around.

1) DISGUST
One does not usually equate the word “disgust” with positive action. And yet properly channeled, disgust can change a person’s life. The person who feels disgusted has reached a point of no return. He or she is ready to throw down the gauntlet at life and say, “I’ve had it!” That’s what I said after many humiliating experiences at age 25, I said. “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I’ve had it with being broke. I’ve had it with being embarrassed, and I’ve had it with lying.” Yes, productive feelings of disgust come when a person says, “Enough is enough.” There is nothing so life-changing as gut-wrenching disgust!  

2) DECISION
Most of us need to be pushed to the wall to make decisions. And once we reach this point, we have to deal with the conflicting emotions that come with making them. We have reached a fork in the road. Now this fork can be a two-prong, three-prong, or even a four-prong fork. No wonder that decision-making can create knots in stomachs, keep us awake in the middle of the night, or make us break out in a cold sweat. Making life-changing decisions can be likened to internal civil war. Conflicting armies of emotions, each with its own arsenal of reasons, battle each other for supremacy of our minds. And our resulting decisions, whether bold or timid, well thought out or impulsive, can either set the course of action or blind it. I don’t have much advice to give you about decision-making except this: Whatever you do, don’t camp at the fork in the road. Decide. It’s far better to make a wrong decision than to not make one at all. Each of us must confront our emotional turmoil and sort out our feelings.

3) DESIRE
How does one gain desire? I don’t think I can answer this directly because there are many ways. But I do know two things about desire:
a. It comes from the inside not the outside.
b. It can be triggered by outside forces.
Therefore, while searching for your “hot button” of pure, raw desire, welcome into your life each positive experience. Don’t erect a wall to protect you from experiencing life. The same wall that keeps out your disappointment also keeps out the sunlight of enriching experiences. So let life touch you. The next touch could be the one that turns your life around.

4) RESOLVE
Resolve says, “I will.” These two words are among the most potent in the English language. I WILL. Benjamin Disraeli, the great British statesman, once said, “Nothing can resist a human will that will stake even its existence on the extent of its purpose.” In other words, when someone resolves to “do or die,” nothing can stop him. When confronted with such iron-will determination, I can see Time, Fate and Circumstance calling a hasty conference and deciding, “We might as well let him have his dream. He’s said he’s going to get there or die trying.”

The best definition for “resolve” I’ve ever heard came from a schoolgirl in Foster City, California. As is my custom, I was lecturing about success to a group of bright kids at a junior high school. I asked, “Who can tell me what “resolve” means?” Several hands went up, and I did get some pretty good definitions. But the last was the best. A shy girl from the back of the room got up and said with quiet intensity, “I think resolve means promising yourself you will never give up.” That’s it! That’s the best definition I’ve ever heard: PROMISE YOURSELF YOU’LL NEVER GIVE UP.

Create A Culture of Greatness

To build a winning a team and a successful organization you must create a culture of greatness.

It’s the most important thing a leader can do because culture drives behavior, behavior drives habits and habits create the future. As the leaders at Apple say, “Culture beats strategy all day long.”

When you create a culture of greatness you create a collective mindset in your organization that expects great things to happen—even during challenging times. You expect your people to be their best, you make it a priority to coach them to be their best and most of all you create a work environment that fuels them to be their best.

A culture of greatness creates an expectation that everyone in the organization be committed to excellence. It requires leaders and managers to put the right people in the right positions where they are humble and hungry and willing to work harder than everyone else. A culture of greatness dictates that each person use their gifts and strengths to serve the purpose and mission of the organization. And it means that you don’t just bring in the best people, but you also bring out the best in your people.

If you are thinking that this sounds like common sense, it is. But unfortunately far too many organizations expect their people to be their best but they don’t invest their time and energy to help them be their best nor do they create an environment that is conducive to success. They want great results but they are not willing to do what it takes to create a culture of greatness.

A culture of greatness requires that you find the right people that fit your culture. Then you coach them, develop them, mentor them, train them and empower them to do what they do best. As part of this process you develop positive leaders who share positive energy throughout the organization because positive energy flows from the top down. You also don’t allow negativity to sabotage the moral, performance and success or your organization. You deal with negativity at the cultural level so your people can spend their time focusing on their work instead of fighting energy vampires. And you find countless ways to enhance communication, build trust and create engaged relationships that are the foundation upon which winning teams are built.

If creating a culture of greatness sounds like a lot of work, it is, but not as much work as dealing with the crises, problems and challenges associated with negative, dysfunctional and sub-par cultures. While most organizations waste a lot of time putting out fires you can spend your time building a great organization that rises above the competition.

17 Ways to Get Mentally Tough at Work, in Sports and Life

1. When you face a setback, think of it as a defining moment that will lead to a future accomplishment.
2. When you encounter adversity, remember, the best don’t just face adversity; they embrace it, knowing it’s not a dead end but a detour to something greater and better.
3. When you face negative people, know that the key to life is to stay positive in the face of negativity, not in the absence of it. After all, everyone will have to overcome negativity to define themselves and create their success.
4. When you face the naysayer’s, remember the people who believed in you and spoke positive words to you.
5. When you face critics, remember to tune them out and focus only on being the best you can be.
6. When you fear, trust. Let your faith be greater than your doubt.
7. When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then recall a time when you have succeeded.
8. When you head into battle, visualize success.
9. When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, instead focus your energy on the present moment. The now is where your power is the greatest.
10. When you want to complain, instead identify a solution.
11. When your own self-doubt crowds your mind, weed it and replace it with positive thoughts and positive self-talk.
12. When you feel distracted, focus on your breathing, observe your surroundings, clear your mind, and get into The Zone. The Zone is not a random event. It can be created.
13. When you feel alone, think of all the people who have helped you along the way and who love and support you now.
14. When you are tired and drained, remember to never, never, never give up. Finish Strong in everything you do.
15. When you feel like you can’t do it, know that you can do all things through Him who gives you strength.
16. When you feel like your situation is beyond your control, pray and surrender. Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t.
17. When you’re in a high-pressure situation and the game is on the line, and everyone is watching you, remember to smile, have fun, and enjoy it. Life is short; you only live once. You have nothing to lose. Seize the moment.

Success is Easy, But so is Neglect

People often ask me how I became successful in that six-year period of time while many of the people I knew did not. The answer is simple: The things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. I found it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not to. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking and my ideas. They found that easy not to. I found it easy to attend the classes and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it probably really wouldn’t matter. If I had to sum it up, I would say what I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. Six years later, I’m a millionaire and they are all still blaming the economy, the government, and company policies, yet they neglected to do the basic, easy things.

In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing as well as they could and should, can be summed up in a single word: neglect.

It is not the lack of money - banks are full of money. It is not the lack of opportunity - America, and much of the free World, continues to offer the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities in the last six thousand years of recorded history. It is not the lack of books – libraries are full of books - and they are free! It is not the schools - the classrooms are full of good teachers. We have plenty of ministers, leaders, counselors and advisors.

Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is simply neglect.

Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout our entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown of a potentially joy-filled and prosperous human life.

Not doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosion of self-confidence. As our self-confidence diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins the slow shift from positive to negative, our self-confidence diminishes even more… and on and on it goes.

So my suggestion is that when giving the choice of “easy to” and “easy not to” that you do not neglect to do the simple, basic, “easy” but potentially life-changing activities and disciplines.

By Jim Rohn

Think Like a Rookie

Experience is not always a good thing. In fact, sometimes experience can be a curse. Such as when your experience causes you to focus on the good ole days; and long for the ways things were; and complain about the way things are; and become unwilling to change.

The good news is that there is a simple antidote to the curse of experience and it is to Think Like a Rookie.

Rookies don’t have experience. They don’t know about the way things were. They have no knowledge of the good ole days. Instead rookies create their good ole days right now.

Rookies put their head down, work hard, stay positive, live fearlessly and are naïve enough to be successful.

I recently spoke at a national sales meeting for a Fortune 500 company. The President, while speaking on stage, recognized a rookie sales person for winning a big account.

The President said about the rookie, “He didn’t know that what he asked for to win the account doesn’t usually happen. He didn’t know that you just don’t ask for it. If he was a veteran he would have just assumed the answer would be no. But he did ask and the answer was yes.”

Rookies aren’t tainted by rejection, negative assumptions or past experiences. Rookies don’t focus on what everyone says is impossible. Instead, with wide eyes they believe anything is possible. They bring an idealism, optimism and passion to their work and because they believe in the future they take the necessary actions to create it.

So, regardless of how much experience you have in your industry and profession I want to encourage you to let your experience be a blessing not a curse. Let your experience provide you with expertise and let your rookie mindset fuel you with optimism and passion.

Mentor the rookies because, for all their effort and energy they do make mistakes. And yet, let them teach you how to see the world through their eyes.

Think Like a Rookie, forget the past, and create your good ole days right now.

Wherever You Are, Be There

by Jim Rohn

One of the major reasons why we fail to find happiness or to create unique lifestyle is because we have not yet mastered the art of being.

While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office. And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home.

We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us. We may be hearing the words, but we aren’t absorbing the message.

As we go through the day we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future possibilities. We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we never even notice that today is slipping by.

We go through the day rather than getting something from the day. We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time.

Lifestyle is learning to be wherever you are. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment, and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer. Lifestyle is taking time to watch a sunset. Lifestyle is listening to silence. Lifestyle is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what we are and of what we are in the process of becoming. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.

Have a Great February

First, I wanted to wish you a strikingly productive + creative + fun February. Fresh new month. Great opportunity to step up, show up, rise up. I pray you will.

Second, I wanted to share my thoughts on why it’s so easy to sabotage our highest aspirations and daily deliverables. [We all do it to varying degrees so please don’t think you’re alone].

I So with a ton of encouragement for your sustained success this year, here you go…

Talk to anyone who knows even the basics of exceptional performance and modern psychology and they’ll tell you that many of the beliefs that run your life today were installed when you were a kid. [I call this phenomenon “The 1st 5 Years Factor”].

Well intentioned parents/teachers/peers spoke phrases like “don’t think like that” or “that would never work” or “you’re not smart enough to become this” or “what would people think?”. This messaging stifled our spark. And diminished our Genius.

Even deeper, all of this early programming created the very context (our “Stained Glass Window”) through which we now see the world [the old idea: “we see the world NOT as it is but as WE are” speaks volumes to the point I’m offering here].

And rather than knowing ourselves and getting clear on these faulty beliefs, we blame the world for our less than superb business and personal lives. Instead of cleaning up our own patterns of thought, we give away our power.

       “Something deep in my character allows me to take the hits
          and get on with trying to win.”
           - Lionel Messi