Can you afford to ignore the value in the hidden segments of diversity when leading or speaking?

Why does the word “diversity” provoke so much fear and passion in today’s world? More importantly, why is diversity so often misunderstood or misappropriated?

From the classroom to the boardroom to the factory floor to virtually every corner of our modern world everyone is clamoring for more and more diversity. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I have developed, managed and facilitated diversity programs and training. While doing so, I have seen both its benevolent and malevolent sides. While I continue to applaud diversity, as both a business and social strategy, I do so with a profoundly deeper understanding today than I did several years ago.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE “DIVERSITY”?

Ask most people what they think diversity is and they will most like say, “It is a program that aims at creating a balance of people within a group based on race, gender, and religion.” Some may go so far as to add education, age and ethnic origin to the mix. The business case for diversity is much more than the affirmative action, gender equality and identity issues most people think it is.

The truth is, based on information from the Society for Human Resources (SHRM) these characteristics are just the tip of the iceberg.

Look at this graphic from SHRM.

The chart helps you see that diversity traits are both visible and invisible. Whether you are leading or speaking to a group, you can be assured that there will be people in your group filling a multiple of these traits most of which are invisible.

DIVERSITY AND THE SPEAKER

As a speaker, you must do your research before you speak. Ask the organizers of your speaking opportunity to provide you with data regarding the composition of your audience. Once armed with this information you can use it to craft your presentation to be more inclusive both in terms of content and language selection. Possessing this information will make you a better speaker, providing you with insights that will help you deeply connect with your audience.

DIVERSITY AND THE LEADER

True diversity in the workplace allows leaders opportunities to create a complex composition of individuals who can be given a seat at “the table”. The more diverse the individual traits represented at “the table”, the greater the opportunity for gaining new insights into a variety of business-critical issues from product development to process improvement to employee engagement. When you are leading a team, think beyond the obvious visible traits that tend to placate most drivers of diversity. Think, “How can I best serve my customers, employees and company by pursuing the most diverse range of thinking I can assemble.”

THE HIDDEN VALUE

The hidden values in diversity are by-products of its practice. When you think diversely and seek diverse opinions you strengthen your own sense of what you know, why you choose one option over another, and why it’s okay for people to disagree while working together to build a consensus and strategy for progress and growth.

For a leader this means developing an understanding of how people think and express themselves when given the opportunity to freely contribute to the “conversation”.

For a speaker this means learning to listen not only to what you are saying but to what others are saying about those topics near and dear to your heart. Avoiding isolated thinking is a powerful way for a speaker to connect and make an impact.

In the end, diversity really is about the art of thinking independently together. It is no secret that no one ever achieves success alone. Increasing the diversity of your thinking, research, and experiences is the strongest case for practicing diversity in everything you do. Diversity forces us to seek the most common ground. And, it’s on the common ground where the most bonds of goodwill, cooperation and understanding are initially forged and tend to endure.

As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. I appreciate a diversity of ideas and comments as well, so please share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

How you can avoid violating the safety zone of speaking discretion?

Can you keep a secret?

Most of us believe we can. In fact, we shock ourselves when we “leak” the contents of a confidential and trusted tidbit of information. Pressure, from within and without, is often the cause of our indiscretion when it comes to divulging that which we heretofore believed we would not. Peer pressure, job pressure, and the inevitable “I know something you don’t know” can create such internal pressure on the human mind the only cure is to vent the hot info being contained. But what happens when you divulge secret or confidential information without even knowing you are doing it?

Over the last 40 years we have heard a lot about leaks. From The Pentagon Papers to “Deep Throat” of the Watergate era to the WikiLeaks War Logs. It seems humans have a proclivity for divulging information they acquire confidentially. In truth, the motive to “do the right thing” is undeniably at the root of some of this behavior. I will not contest that here, mainly because truth, like beauty, is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder.

What I would like to discuss here is how seemingly reliable people innocently divulge confidential information all the time without even realizing they are doing it. Are you one of them?

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Ever since the invention of the cell phone, I find that I am repeatedly assaulted, exposed, and inundated with more private information than I care to process. A whole lot of it is TMI that I would really, really prefer never to hear. Once, while waiting at the car wash, I heard a complete break-up of a relationship. Who would want to expose this most private detail in a public forum? “Can you hear me now” seems to be more of a strategy than a marketing slogan.

“Yes, I can hear you now. And, frankly, I’d like you to take it down a notch or two or four or even eight.”

From restaurants to theaters to planes, trains and sidewalks more and more people are screaming the details of their private lives at levels loud enough for everybody to hear; two towns over, whether they choose to hear it or not.

I was raised with an understanding of a “restaurant voice”. The one to use when you are in a discrete social setting. The only time it was appropriate to raise your voice was when you sang “Happy Birthday” to another member of your party or another diner in the establishment as a well wishing for the occasion. Now, the level of vocal pollution in restaurants and cafés from people conducting wide open discussions on the mobile devices is deafening and a good deal of it is not for public consumption.

Heck, we didn’t even speak that loud when we were kids connecting to each other over two tine cans and a waxed line.

THE INNOCENT EAVESDROPPER

During the last week, I needed to alter my routine due to the devastation from an F1 tornado and macro burst that knocked out power throughout the area where I live. While conducting business in a well-known bread eatery, I noticed many other business people taking advantage of the free wi-fi and power to do the same. One group, seated just a table away, was conducting a meeting and openly discussing business information and strategy with complete abandonment at a vocal level loud enough for me to know who they were, what they were saying, etc.

I’m sure these are intelligent, well-intentioned people. I can’t say for sure, but they might have been sharing some of the same proprietary information probably covered by the non-disclosure agreement they may have signed upon being hired.

Nice people, behaving in an easily avoidable way is quickly becoming a common denominator.

THE FOUR ZONES OF SPEAKING DISCRETION

Wise leaders and effective speakers understand the power of artfully placed discretion as a critical element of their speaking success. More importantly, they understand the appropriate range of volume to be used in each setting. They know the Four Zones of Speaking Discretion.

The Four Zones of Speaking Discretion are:

1. Public

2. Social

3. Personal

4. Intimate

Each zone has an appropriately accompanying range of speaking volume. Knowing how to apply each range effectively is a key to commanding your speaking effectiveness and enjoying the success it brings.

Let’s briefly look at each zone.

Public:

• 12 feet or more from you and your listener.

• Volume range 8 – 10
  10 is the maximum. (Sorry, no room for a Spinal Tap “11” here).

Think open forum. Cheerleaders use this voice to excite the crowd, police to issue a warning, and doctors to issue an emergency command. When people are on their mobile phones they use this volume level because they cannot see the other person. This leads their brain to processes their target as being more than 12 feet away. The fact is, with a mobile phone, assuming your recipient has the phone to their ear, you are usually less than 12 inches away (Intimate Zone)

Social:

• 4 feet to 12 feet in range from the speaker to the receiver.

• Volume range 5 – 7

This is your typical board room or conference room setting. Your voice needs to be loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to be overpowering. (Unless that is the result you intend to get.)

Personal:

• 18 inches to 4 feet.

• Volume range 2– 4

This is the space usually observed between two to four people in a closely held conversation. Confidential communication can freely be exchanged without fear of discovery by others. My group in the bread café, in this zone, were speaking with a volume between 8 and 9.

Intimate:

• 0 – 18 inches

• Volume range .25 – 1.75

This is the space that should be saved for the most private information. The Godfather new this. He would have his listener lean in real close and whisper his wishes in their ear. Everyone always got the message and meaning from the Godfather. They may have not been sweet nothings, but the whispers were effective and successful. Try to imagine The Godfather sitting in his favorite eatery communicating delicate “business” to his consigliore on his cell phone with a public voice. The authorities would have loved that – a lot.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Now that you know how to safely avoid violating the safety zones of speaking discretion, use this information to protect yourself as a speaker and leader. Every speaking opportunity has the appropriate zone of information and accompanying voice volume. Using these effectively will contribute to your confidence and authority as both a leader and speaker.

As always, please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. Also, please share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Build your persuasive speeches around the huge power of What, Why and How and you'll never go wrong.

Persuasion.

Have you ever considered the human predisposition toward persuading is most likely encoded in our DNA?

How else can you explain how children learn how to negotiate while building logical arguments long before they learn to tie their shoes. You might even get some negotiation and argument around “why do I gotta tie my shoes” as well.

The proclivity to persuade probably dates back to the first person to step up with an idea for organizing a tribe or convincing people to try something new.

“Hey everybody, instead of wrestling the sabre tooth tiger, maybe we could try poking it with a really sharp stick. A lot. All of us at the same time. I know Stumpy thinks it’s a good idea.” Not that I was there, but I’ve heard rumors.

For leaders and speakers, the ability to persuade through language is a fundamental aspect of their job. Persuasive speaking is a skill that, depending on the speaker’s objective, may use one of several distinct organizational patterns. But at its fundamental level, persuasion requires connection. Connection of the speaker to the needs of their audience, their current mindset and their exhibited behavior.

People can be moved to change by three influencers; what inspires them, why it motivates them, and how it can transform them. The surest way for you to connect your audience to your ideas is to build a pathway for them and share the What, Why, and How of your objective.

Let’s look at each of these influencers.

WHAT

When a speaker or leader desires to persuade, they must first detail a clear vision of the reason for the change they seek.

When you concentrate your initial comments on the What, you have opportunities to identify a host of conditions such as current state, short falls, expectations, disappointments, promise lost, etc.

This is where you can “shake up” your audience and begin to get them thinking about the ideas or solutions you will share. Taking the opportunity to tell your audience what is “broken” is the first step that inspires them to seek change.

The What section of your speech sets the stage for the Why and How sections that will follow by clearly aligning the expectations of your content with your audiences’ connection to your supporting points.

WHY

Lots of people hear lots of good advice every day, but never act on it. Why is that?

Most likely it happens because the good advice is not connected to a compelling reason to follow it. People need to feel there is a compelling reason to take action, to embrace change.

It is not enough to tell your audience they should follow your advice, you must detail for them the benefits your advice will deliver to them. Telling your audience about the best way to lose weight because it worked for you is a start. But telling them how it will change their lives by sharing with them how it will feel, how they will look, how their self-image will increase, etc.

Using a story or example that motivates is an effective way to visualize what your desired change can bring. Essentially, this is a great time to use imagination language. Phrases like What if or Imagine you are… can help you begin to guide your audience towards the shifts you are seeking.

Watch most any infomercial and you will see this strategy deftly delivered.

HOW

I have listened to a lot of motivational talks in my life. In many cases I am left with the same feeling. Emptiness.

While the speakers have been passionate, energetic, insightful and a host of other adjectives, many of them fall short of having the one thing I believe makes persuasive speaking effective - connection.

Many speakers simply forget to connect the What and Why to an executable How.

Advice is great, but without a strategy for implementation the receiver is left with trying to figure out the “How” by themselves.

Persuasive speaking is done to bring about change. Change is the pathway to a destination. The destination is Transformation.

Transformation is the object of every persuasive speaker whether they know it or not. And, if your goal is to lead or influence others, you’d be well served to master the transformative elements of any persuasive speech you plan to give.

POWERFUL PERSUASION

If you’re skeptical about this, all you need do is look at two of history’s greatest persuasive speeches, Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death and Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream.

Both speakers clearly detail for their audience the What (current state of things), the Why (a compelling reason for change) and the How (next steps to follow).

Perhaps this is why these two speeches are held in such high esteem by historians, educators and the public.

THE APPEAL TO INTEREST

A few blogs ago (Mar. 12 ’18) I wrote about WIIFM – What’s In It For Me?

Every audience member has a reason for being there. As a speaker and leader, it would serve you well to understand what these interests are before you start speaking. No matter how clever your idea is or how revolutionary your strategy may be, if you fail to connect to your audiences’ interests you will struggle bringing about the change and momentum you desire.

Follow the simple formula of the three influencers:

1. Tell them What the current state is to inspire them to change.

2. Help them to see Why this appeals to their interest with a compelling reason

3. Share with them the next step on How they can achieve your desired change and transformation.

The next time you need to energize your “tribe” remember interest trumps intellect. Connecting to your audience’s interest is the key to getting them to embrace yours.

Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. As always, share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

If a problem is an opportunity you've yet to solve, then a mistake is just a lesson you've yet to learn.

99% of all disappointments in life are the result of misaligned expectations.

OK, that’s a pretty big claim. But I think if you mull it over you’ll find it to be true more often than not. Nowhere is this more evident in the falsely laid expectation organizations tend to have regarding the consistency of human performance.

Let’s face it, humans are not perfect. We make mistakes. Some days a few, other days too many to reckon. But, it is not the mistakes that cause either short or long-term harm. The deepest scars are left by our failure to profit from the experience by making the appropriate changes to our thinking and process.

Getting Better by Mistake

“To err is human, to forgive divine.” (from “An Essay on Criticism,” by Alexander Pope.) But to not learn from your mistakes is a diabolical shame. More importantly, it is a waste of your potential. And, while “God may help those who help themselves,” you’re pretty much on your own if you can’t figure out how to get better by mistake.

Getting better by mistake is a concept detailed in Alina Tugend’s book, Better by Mistake. The subtitle of the book is, “The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong.” So many good things happen when you take risks. Especially if the risks are predicated on your willingness to accept that you might not reach your intended goal, but you will learn from the process. By the way, sometimes the results of a “mistake” can be more profitable than your original goal.

Take Post-it Notes. 3M did, and they’ve never regretted it. At 3M there is a massive culture encouraging employees to explore with plenty of allowance for mistakes. Here’s what happened in 1968 at 3M.

No one set out to invent sticky notes. Instead Dr. Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M Company, invented a unique, low-tack adhesive that would stick to things but also could be repositioned multiple times. He was trying to invent a super-strong adhesive, but he came up with a super-weak one instead. What an incredible way to get “better by mistake”!

Every Mistake is a Lesson

When the result of an effort ends short of the goal we humans tend to analyze that result. We’re searching for an answer. Not to what went right, but what went wrong. Often the data reveals a mistake as the culprit. A mistake in judgement, estimation, calculation, intensity, application, attitude, etc.

Albert Einstein is most often credited with having said, “The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result.” Guess what? He never did. But, despite Einstein’s vehement protest to the contrary, people just keep attributing this quote to him. This is ironic. While a string of intelligent people collectively continuing to make the same mistake over and over again, they are failing to learn from their mistake of their ways. They are destined to exist in this insanity loop doomed to repeat their mistake due to popular misconception and perhaps intellectual laziness. They are blind to their own mistake. Perhaps this is the real definition of insanity, “The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and not learn what went wrong from the mistake we are making.”

So many people misattribute quotes, there are enough to fill a book I have in my library by Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George titled They Never Said It. And, Einstein is not even in the book!

Mastering the Mechanics of Mistakes

Since mistakes are inevitable, it makes a lot of sense to plan for them. In the science the culture is to detail every step of an experiment with two thoughts in mind. One, is have precise data in order to replicate the result should it be positive. The other, should the result not be positive, is to not replicate the result by varying a step or ingredient.

When you engage with people it makes great sense to expect less than perfection from them. It is extremely rare when a less than perfect being can create something of perfection. No matter how hard we try, everything we create has a seam on it. And that’s OK. We’re willing to live with that because we accept that. In fact, we find a comfort in the divine perfection of imperfection. There are even places where creating a near-perfect seam is rewarded. (Think tailoring.)

In her book, Ms. Tugend tackles the myth that “Perfectionists make better workers.” Her study finds that many perfectionists fear challenging tasks, take fewer risks and are less creative than non-perfectionists. One reason she offers may be that perfectionists so dread receiving feedback they don’t develop the same creative risk-taking skills as non-perfectionists.

My Advice

My advice is simple. Embrace the experience. Prepare with the maximum of intention and preparation. Allow others to provide insights, feedback and support. Encourage yourself and others to grow through measured risk-taking and learn from the incremental mistakes that happen along the way. Assess what you knew before and what you’ve learned after the experience. Analyze the gap between them and then get better by mistake. Learn from the lessons of the adventure.

PS

If you’d like to know where the “Einstein” quote may have originated, quote investigators offer this tidbit. The famous quote can be found in Rita Mae Brown’s 1983 novel Sudden Death. In the novel the main character, Jane Fulton, is a critical sports writer who contends “Modern professional sports rewards players for function instead of character.” Finally, after following the lives and careers of the players, and the game itself, she concludes, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again but expecting different results.” This may not settle the origination argument, but it gets us closer to closing the mistake gap.

Also, in 1983 Samuel Beckett, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, offered a counterpoint perspective in his work “Worstward Ho”: “All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Perhaps the best lesson we can learn that will help us get better by mistake is to “fail better” with each attempt.

Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. As always, share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

Eagerly Explaining How to Become Less Anxious When Choosing the Words You Say.

Batter Up!
It’s baseball season. At this time every year, I get excited for two reasons. I love baseball and it means, the weather gods permitting, Spring is just around the corner.
It also means that while batters may be slugging the ball around the outfield, they are regularly clubbing the heck out of the English language.
Here are just three instances for your enlightenment.

• Anxious vs. Eager

• The Future Ahead

• Masterful Malapropisms

Ready or Not, Here I come?

At the start of every baseball season, I can predict with an absolute degree of certainty that before any team breaks Spring Training, some player, during some random interview will confidently say the following, “We have a great team with a great bunch of talented guys. I think this team has what it takes to win. I am anxious to get the season started.”

Everything that player is saying is all real positive, right up until the end. Every sentiment expressed about his team, its members and their prospect for the season is all positive. And, if that is the case, then why is he “anxious” to start the season.

Most likely he speaks this way because he just does not know the difference between the words “anxious” and “eager”. He is not alone. Unfortunately, in the battle of Anxious v. Eager, anxious almost always wins. This is simply because most people don’t know how to, or even more sadly don’t care to, correctly use these two words. Here’s why this is important.

In his book, “Leadership Is an Art”, Max De Pree puts it this way, that a leader must have “…a respect for the English language, an acknowledgement that muddy language usually means muddy thinking and that our audience may need something special from us.”

In the speaking world we characterize this as “saying what you mean and meaning what you say”.

In her fantastic grammar reference book “Woe Is I”, Patricia T. O’Conner explains that “you can be eager to do something” or you can be “anxious about doing something” but you cannot be both. I use this rule: use “eager” when you are feeling positive or looking forward to the experience and use “anxious” when you are uncertain or have anxiety about the experience.

For instance, “I am eager to go on vacation, but anxious about flying.”

The difference may appear to be subtle to you, but to the listener it clearly indicates a specific state of mind. One of the primary functions of language is to create higher levels of understanding.

As a leader and speaker this is your primary goal.

Meanwhile Back in the Booth

Baseball has a rich tradition of colorful language from Dizzy Dean to Yogi Berra. Who cannot help but chuckle at Yogi’s comment about a popular nightspot when he said, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” Whether Yogi intended to solicit a laugh or not, his unique way of speaking made him an adept practitioner of the fine balance between humor and accurate language. Here’s another, “It gets late, early there.” It causes us to think a bit and then “get it” after we parse the sentence.

But, unlike Yogi, today’s sportscasters (impromptu speakers) are required to banter back and forth hurling random superlatives in a verbal game of “pepper”. Sometimes what comes out of their mouths is verbally redundant chatter. Among my favorites is, “He’s a really fantastic player whose future is right in front of him.” Where else would it be? Certainly not right behind him. We call that the past. And, while “past may be prologue”, it can never be the future. Or as Yogi once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be”.

Masterful Malapropisms

It’s been said, “You are what you eat.” In truth, you are what you say or what people think they heard you say. Sometimes we mean to say one word and another similar sounding word comes out in its place. This is called a malapropism. The term 'Malapropism' is derived from the French term mal a propos, which translates as 'ill to purpose'.

Once, Danny Ozark, who managed the Philadelphia Phillies was asked about one of his outfielders and he replied, “His limitations are limitless”.

Back in the 80’s, the TV character Archie Bunker from All in the Family, would utter malapropisms at an alarming rate. Here are a few. "Buy one of them battery operated transvestite radios." And, "A woman doctor is only good for women’s problems…like your groinocology." Or my favorite, "A witness shall not bear falsies against thy neighbor."

If humor is your intent, a good malapropism can go a long way as long as you’re willing to have your audience laugh at your self-deprecating use of language.

But if your goal is to lead and inspire people by delivering precisely chosen words of high impact and value, you would do well to head Mark Twains’ advice (from the top of this blog) about the difference between the right word and the almost right word.

Lightning rarely strikes the same place twice and a speaker who confuses their audience with incorrect word selection will rarely get a chance to do it more than once as well.

Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. As always, share your comments on this post or suggestions in the comments section below.

Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer

How to achieve success with the genius of “The Three Principles”.

In most crimes, the solution rests on three things; means, motive and opportunity. There is no greater mystery than the unfolding of your life. And just like a good mystery, it also centers itself around means, motive and opportunity. Every human being who has ever desired to change the future, improve their skills, or build their self-esteem has confronted these three things by engaging the “The Three Principles of Success”.

The Three Principles of Success

Have you ever watched an infant begin to take its first steps?

If you have, you’ve probably noticed how quickly they get back up after they have fallen? That’s because, whether they know it or not, they are acting on their encoded secret plan to achieve success.

Do you want to know what the secret is?

It’s “The Three Principles of Success”.

The Three Principles are:

1. The Principle of Purpose

2. The Principle of Passion and

3. The Principle of Persistency

Defining Your Purpose

Perhaps the most common question people ask is, “What is my Purpose in life?”

In order to answer that question, it is necessary to answer these questions first, “What do I Want?”, “What do I Have?”, and “What do I Need?”.

A Want or a Need are the objective goals that compel you to seek and begin change in your life. Wants and Needs are assessment tools that help you determine the abundance and priority of What you have as a means to your end.

Defining your Purpose is first step in solving your life’s mystery. A Purpose is a What, a means. Purpose along with its cousin Passion create the vision of the destination you seek to achieve. Your Purpose is personal. It is impossible to succeed at achieving someone else’s Purpose. You cannot and will not succeed at it unless you make it your own unwavering Purpose.

It might take you time to clearly define the Purpose of your life. But be careful. Many people often define Purpose through short term thinking.

“I need to make enough money to take a vacation.”

Making money is a means to an end, but not the Purpose. The Purpose is the end, the vacation. The Purpose is the value exchange you will receive from the vacation you will take. The scope of your Purpose might change as you expand the range of your vision. A weekend at the shore may be immediately achievable but sailing around the world may take a little more planning. Both are clearly achievable goals, requiring varying degrees of unwavering Purpose.

Defining your Purpose is your first step in achieving a desired success. Take some time to flesh it out. Allow it to mature. Study it. Question it. Investigate it. If, after all of your probing research is done, you still feel the same burning Purpose and Passion for the end result, it is rightfully yours to own and achieve.

Discovering Your Passion

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is noted for saying, “The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you figure out why.”

Your passion is your “why”.

Passion addresses the “Why” or “Motive” of your crime.

Your Passion is as unique to you as your fingerprints. No two passions are alike.

But, understand this one basic rule, “You cannot succeed at someone else’s passion.”

No matter what desires others may have for you, what dreams they hold and hopes they desire, They are not yours, unless to totally intend to make them so.

Think deeply about your Passion. Does it truly answer your deepest “Why”?

Designing Your Persistency

Developing Persistency requires continual “gut-checking”. Intestinal fortitude will tell you if you have a stomach for what you may have to swallow on the journey to your destination. I call this developing a “Capacity for Tenacity”.

Running a marathon requires more than just showing up for the starting gun. Hour upon hour of training through all types of weather and terrain is required. Alterations to diet, conditioning, sleep, communal time, etc. all fall victim to the desires of the long-distance runner. Being a “long-distance” runner is a metaphor for whatever desire you pursue. It will take time, energy, talent and treasure to reach your goal. Getting there requires tenacity, an unyielding Persistence.

But what happens when you become drained, depleted of all resources, and run out of gas?

What happens when you are at the end of your rope?

What to Do When You’re at the End of Your R.O.P.E.

Get more R.O.P.E.!

When you hit a “wall” of resistance, that is the time to step back, assess your progress and dig in with unyielding Persistence. Access your R.O.P.E.

R.O.P.E. is your Reserve Of Persistent Energy. Persistent Energy is your resolution to succeed. No matter how much someone may want something for you, they cannot do it for you. If they do, it is not yours, it is theirs. You may have it, use it, and abuse it. But, you will never truly own it. It will always be a gift replete with all of the encumbrances of a gift including the gratitude and responsibility associated with accepting it.

If you want to own your achievements, R.O.P.E. is a controllable way to get there.

The Four Horsemen of Failure

Distractions, Obstacles, Limitations, and Entropy. These are the “Four Horsemen of Failure”.

Very often, when beginning on a quest, you find yourself facing a daunting journey. Why not? If it were easy everybody would be doing it.

Let’s say you need a paper clip. You have two choices. Make one or buy one. Making a paper clip and buying a paper clip are two totally different experiences. One is possible given degrees of application in time, talent and money. The other is simply a shopping task. Or a quick trip to the next cubicle. But let’s suppose for a moment that you live in a pre-paper clip world. Would you have enough tenacity to bring it all together?

Well, we all live in a “pre” something world. If we don’t have it, haven’t done it, or haven’t seen it, it is all imagined. But, you can plot the course before you “set sail” on your journey by designing a set of unbreakable Persistency that will enable you to reach your destination.

Persistence is the “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition”. We sometimes call this “single-mindedness” or “extreme focus”. There is nothing wrong with having this behavioral trait. But, like all good things in life, it must find its place in the life-balance continuum.

This Persistency will make up your “Won’t Power.” Your Persistency will include promises that you are not willing to break. If you do they have a considerable ability to undermine your success. As a start, let your unbreakable Persistency address the Four Horsemen of Failure.

Distractions. Design a set of promises that specifically address the circumstance under which you will allow yourself to be distracted from your goal. Accept these as being OK, and everything else as forbidden.

Obstacles. Make a list of the obstacles you see on your journey and design promises with strategies for how you will confront and surmount these impediments to progress. Don’t back down. Be firm. Have your own back.

Limitations. These are the things you need to achieve your goal that you do not currently have. Design promises that with set you on a path toward acquiring the things you need to succeed. Realize they may not be immediately acquirable but certainly attainable given time, talent and treasure.

Entropy. No matter how much energy you have at the start of your journey, you will continually need ever increasing amounts of energy to stay the course until you reach your goal. This is not your fault. This is the Universe at work. Entropy is the universal law that says everything has a tendency towards deterioration. Gravity wins. Friction slows you down. Design some promises that will help you get tough when the going gets rough.

There is genius and simple wisdom in this practice. If you build the palace of your desires on the Three Principles of Success you will find is has footing on a solid, proven base of beliefs, behaviors, and shared genius of countless successful people.

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Bringing Positivity to Everything,
The Brain Tamer