by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 39 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Your first day, every day
— From This Is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership That Matters by Drew Dudley
Drew Dudley, leadership guru with one of the most watched TED Talks (“lollipop moment”) has published a new book, This is Day One, and I love it!
In the book, Dudley recalls the story of Mustafa, his tour guide in Qatar who had the most wonderful and infectious energy of anyone he’s ever met: “he vibrated with energy.”
As they were dune bashing (“flying off sand mountains at 70 miles an hour”), Mustafa was “cackling with laughter” and having an incredible time, whereas Dudley was trying to brace himself as much as he could.
What follows is the exchange that took place at the scene, as Dudley describes it. I left it verbatim because the story is absolutely beautiful. It left me with an a-ha! moment and a powerful lesson—I hope it does the same for you!
[As] he pushed the accelerator toward the floor [we] were absolutely flying toward what appeared to me to be a sheer drop and Mustafa was having the time of his life.
Bracing myself against the dash, I looked over at Mustafa and shouted: “Mustafa! You’re having a better time than I am! You do this every day! How do you stay so excited about it?”
Mustafa looked over at me, and with a smile that showed every one of his teeth, bellowed back:
“Oh! It’s my first day!”
I just about crawled out the back window.
Look, I understand that everyone has to start somewhere, but if your job involved driving me off of a sand cliff (hell, if your job involves driving me off of any cliffs really), I’d rather prefer not to be assigned the new guy.
I’m going to assume that thought showed very clearly in my expression because Mustafa let out a laugh and hit the brakes. The 4×4 skidded to a halt maybe twenty feet from the edge of the dune.
At that point I had both feet on the on the dash and had pushed myself basically up to the roof. Mustafa put the vehicle in park and looked at me with pure amazement.
“Mr. Dudley,” he began, leaning in. “Don’t you realize? You want the new guy!”
My heart still in my throat, I managed a weak, “I’m not so sure, my friend.”
“Think about it, Mr. Dudley,” Mustafa replied. “Think about your first day of work! On your first day of work you show up early; you dress your best; you try everything you can to impress your boss. You are patient with your coworkers, even the ones you know right away you’re not going to like. You ask all the questions you have because there’s no shame in doing that when you’re new. You double-check everything that you do. You stay late. You are never more committed to your job than you are on your first day. You are never more convinced it is going to be the best job you have ever had than you are on your first day.”
He leaned closer and continued, “As soon as your second day of work begins, all of that starts to stop being quite so true, doesn’t it?
He leaned back with a broad smile.
“The first day that I ever came to work at this job was seventeen years ago, Mr. Dudley. But I had such an incredible experience that I promised myself something. I promised myself that I would NEVER have a second day of work.”
He paused to look me right in the eye.
“Mr. Dudley, it has been my first day of work for seventeen years. Five years ago I bought this company. All I ask of anyone who works for me is that they treat every day they come to work like it is their first day. The customers love it. It’s why we are the best tour company in the country.”
ACTION
TODAY: Go back in your memory and relive the excitement of your first day of work. Take that enthusiasm, energy, and can-do-it-all attitude with you throughout the day and see how this changes your approach to things.
FUTURE: Adopt the first day mindset and share it with those that surround you. If, as the saying goes, hindsight is always 20/20, imagine what your wisdom of hindsight plus the energy and excitement of the first day can do for you and your business today: simply magic!
Know someone with infectious energy and enthusiasm? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 15 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Reprogram your brain to enjoy hard habits
— From Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
“You can make hard habits more attractive if you can learn to associate them with a positive experience,” says James Clear, author of Atomic Habits and habit, decision-making and continuous-improvement guru.
“Sometimes, all you need is a slight mind-set shift.”
For example, Clear points to the way we talk about everything we have to do in a given day: “You have to wake up early for work. You have to make another sales call for your business. You have to cook dinner for your family.”
Then he says, “Now imagine changing just one word: You don’t ‘have’ to. You ‘get’ to.”
“You get to wake up early for work. You get to make another sales call for your business. You get to cook dinner for your family. By simply changing one word, you shift the way you view each event. You transition from viewing these behaviors as burdens and turn them into opportunities.”
The author says, “The key point is that both versions of reality are true. You have to do those things, and you also get to do them. We can find evidence for whatever mind-set we choose.”
So, it’s up to us to intentionally choose the one view that we prefer. Personally, I like the one that is uplifting. This reminds me a lot of the book The Art of Possibility where the authors suggest exchanging an AND for a BUT to open up possibilities. So true!
It’s all about perspective. Clear shares a story of a man in a wheelchair who was asked if it was difficult being confined. His response? “I’m not confined to my wheelchair—I am liberated by it. If it wasn’t for my wheelchair, I would be bed-bound and never able to leave my house.”
“Reframing your habits to highlight their benefits rather than their drawbacks is a fast and lightweight way to reprogram your mind and make a habit seem more attractive.”
Clear points out to a few habits that are hard to keep and makes a few suggestions on how to see them from a new perspective:
- Exercise: “Many people associate exercise with being a challenging task that drains energy and wears you down. You can just as easily view it as a way to develop skills and build you up. Instead of telling yourself ‘I need to go run in the morning,’ say ‘It’s time to build endurance and get fast.’”
- Finance: “Saving money is often associated with sacrifice. However, you can associate with freedom rather than limitation if you realize one simple truth: living below your current means increases your future means.”
- Meditation: “Anyone who has tried meditation for more than three seconds knows how frustrating it can be when the next distraction inevitably pops into your mind. You can transform frustration into delight when you realize that each interruption gives you a chance to return to your breath. Distraction is a good thing because you need distractions to practice meditation.”
While these little mind-set shifts aren’t magic, Clear says that they can definitely work to help you change the feelings associated with a particular habit or situation.
Further, he says, if you create a motivation ritual, “You simply practice associating your habits with something you enjoy, then you can use that cue whenever you need a bit of motivation.” This could be as simple as playing the same song before you start working out to get in the mood for exercising, or doing a few jumping jacks or power poses before going to give a presentation to get your blood pumping and set your mind to “presenting mode,” etc. Do what works best for you: create your own motivation ritual and that will make it easier and better to stick to the habit you want to develop or strengthen.
“The key to finding and fixing the causes of your bad habits is to reframe the associations you have about them. It’s not easy, but if you can reprogram your predictions, you can transform a hard habit into an attractive one.”
Do you plan on starting a motivation ritual or you already have one? Let me know in the comments here, we can all learn from each other and get ideas that way!
ACTION
TODAY: When you find yourself feeling the burden of all you have to do, remember to exchange have for get. Try it, there’s nothing to lose and much to gain. The language you use will determine how you feel, use it to create the best mind-set for you.
FUTURE: Create a motivation ritual around those habits that are hard for you. Stick to it, one day at a time, for 90 days until the ritual is fully ingrained. Remember what Og Mandino said (I’m paraphrasing): if I am to become a slave to my habits, I might as well develop good habits.
Know someone who could use more GETs and less HAVEs? Or someone who could benefit from reframing? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Be conscious of your language
— From Attention Pays: How to Drive Profitability, Productivity, and Accountability by Neen James
Attention Pays is a fantastic book by Neen James that my friend Jeanette Bronée gave me – thanks Jeanette!
The book is all about being intentional and conscious in the way we handle and apply our attention: towards people, our work, the planet, and ourselves.
One of the things James highlights is being very conscious of our language: “Due to our distracted and often split attention, we aren’t always purposeful in how we choose our words and actions.”
And she goes on to ask, “Do the words you use provide positive or negative attention?”
She, in turn, points to Chad Hymas, author of the book Doing What Must Be Done, who often challenges audiences to use inclusive and collaborative language by asking, “Where can you replace the words I, me, my, with you, we, and ours?”
James also suggests we “Remove overused, cliché phrases and replace them with words that help build a stronger personal brand.” And she offers the following chart for some of her least favorite words and her suggested replacements. She says, “Listen to how often you use these words and consider changing them.”
| Remove from your language: |
Replace with: |
| But or However |
Simply make your point and stop talking; replace with and. |
| Problem or issue |
Challenge or opportunity (which implies a solution |
| Should |
Would you consider |
| They work for me |
They work with me |
| My team |
Our team |
| Take it to the next level |
Accelerate results, create progress or improve performance |
| Push the envelope |
Explore boundaries or overcome objections |
| Outside the box |
Creative, innovative, ground-breaking |
This exercise reminds me, indeed, of the importance of language, not only as we use it with others, but with ourselves as well.
Years ago, my wonderful mentor and dear friend Monte Lee-Wen had me do an exercise to permanently get rid of disempowering words and phrases, such as I need to, I can’t, I ought to, (but) How?, Impossible. I wrote them down (in English and also in Spanish since the latter is my native language) and then I watched them burn. Here are the pics for you. It was a very powerful exercise for me, since it deleted (physically and mentally too) those words from my vocabulary. Ever since, it has enabled me to use, instead, empowering thoughts and words to replace them. I highly recommend you do this too with the words that bring you down.
Cards
Words burning
Words burnt
Language is powerful, use it intentionally to your benefit and that of everyone around you! Make a habit of using words and phrases that, like a rising tide, will lift all boats around you.
ACTION
TODAY: Think of the words that you use. Are they empowering and lifting yourself and others or are then bringing you down and draining your energy?
FUTURE: Be aware of the language you use when you speak, write, and—especially—when you think. What you say to others and to yourself has the power to motivate or erode trust and confidence.
Know someone who would like this post? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Mindset, Opportunity, Productivity, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 22 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Inspiration is perishable
— From REWORK: Change the way you work forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Have you ever had a flash of inspiration—a eureka moment—that you’re pumped about, yet you don’t act on it, and later on it’s gone as well as the energy that surrounded it? Ugh…
That’s because “inspiration is perishable,” say Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, business gurus, cofounders of Basecamp, and authors of Rework. Action is the key to turn that bolt of inspiration into something real.
Here’s what the authors say about inspiration that struck a chord with me:
We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever.
What doesn’t last forever is inspiration. Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: It has an expiration date.
If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now. You can’t put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it. You can’t just say you’ll do it later. Later, you won’t be pumped about it anymore.
If you’re inspired on a Friday, swear off the weekend and dive into the project. When you’re high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in twenty-four hours. Inspiration is a time machine that way.
Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.
There you have it. Short and sweet, just like inspiration itself. Next time you’re inspired, remember that it’s perishable and grab that magical force—that energy that comes with inspiration—and act on it.
How have you harnessed your inspiration so far? What has come out of it? I’d love to know! Please share it with me in the comments here.
ACTION
TODAY: Look within yourself: What are you inspired about now? What action are you going to take to turn that inspiration into reality? Even if it’s minimal, take some action now to show yourself that you indeed act when inspiration strikes. The result? It will strike more often.
FUTURE: Be open for inspiration to strike anytime, even at non-convenient times, such as in the shower or while driving… Just know that it will, and make a point of welcoming it and harnessing it as soon as possible. That jolt of energy that comes with inspiration can propel your ideas and projects forward by leaps and bounds. Further, to create a welcoming environment for inspiration to come in at better times and more often, check out this 6-part miniseries where Josh Davis, Ph.D. shows us how to be awesomely effective. Because, Davis says, “When you are mentally effective, you can accomplish whatever matters most to you at that moment, with pride in your work and inspiration to do more.”
Know someone who is inspired? Help them harness that inspiration by sharing the ideas on this post! Email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Opportunity, Planning, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 50 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Write a great last chapter-Part 2
— From Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer
Yesterday we learned Danny Meyer’s approach to mistakes: writing a great last chapter. “The worst mistake,” he says, “is not to figure out some way to end up in a better place after having made a mistake.”
Today, Meyer expands on his philosophy for handling/addressing mistakes and why it’s important to learn from them.
In his restaurant business, “when something goes wrong, it is essential for the manager on whose watch the mistake occurred to make every effort to connect with the guest within 24 hours.” Depending on your business, the time frame for connecting may be different, but it is indeed essential to connect with the affected party.
The author says, “No matter how much you try to erase what has happened, you cannot.” And he adds, “Why wait for a second or third letter from somebody who has now cc’d his report of your fallibility and culpability to the Chamber of Commerce, the restaurant critic of The New York Times, and the Zagat Survey? Instead, take initiative.”
The initiative that Meyer suggests—and takes—is as follows:
1. Respond graciously, and do so at once. “You know you’re going to resolve the mistake eventually. It’s always a lot less costly to resolve the matter at the outset.”
2. Err on the side of generosity. “Apologize and make sure the value of the redemption is worth more than the cost of the initial mistake.”
3. Always write a great last chapter. “People love to share stories of adversity. Use this powerful force to your advantage by writing the closing statement the way you want it told. Use all your imagination and creativity in thinking about your response.”
4. Learn from the mistake. “Use every new mistake as a teaching tool with your employees [or colleagues]. Unless the mistake involved a lack of integrity, the person who made it has actually helped your team by providing you with new opportunities to improve.”
5. Make new mistakes every day. “Don’t waste time repeating the old ones.”
These last two points showcase one of the reasons why Meyer has been so successful. He is not afraid of him or his staff making mistakes, he knows it’s a natural part of life and business, and he welcomes the lessons and improvements that each mistake brings.
If you want to learn more about Meyer’s story and his philosophy about hospitality, my friend Don Crawford kindly pointed me to this recent podcast. Thanks, Don, it’s awesome! If you have a resource that goes well with a particular post and you’d like me to share it, please let me know, I’ll be happy to do so. 🙂
ACTION
TODAY: Hindsight is always 20/20, but in this case it can definitely help: think of a mistake you’ve done in the past. How could you have solved it in a more timely way and written a great last chapter? Do this exercise a few times, focusing on a different mistake each time. By imagining how the process and the ending could be different, you’ll be getting ideas as to how to handle future mistakes applying Meyer’s philosophy.
FUTURE: Make it a habit of incorporating Meyer’s five initiative points above to your life and business. You and your team will be able to handle and learn from mistakes in a much better way!
Know someone who would like this approach to mistakes? Please share this post: Email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Opportunity, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 12 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Write a great last chapter-Part 1
— From Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer
Danny Meyer, restaurateur and hospitality guru says, “The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled.”
I love his take on this!
He and his team refer to their strategy for handling mistakes as “writing a great last chapter.” While Meyer’s examples come from the restaurant world, the approach can be adapted to any business. The author explains:
Whatever mistake happened, happened. And the person on the receiving end will naturally want to tell anyone who’s interested at all about it. That’s to be expected. While we can’t erase what happened, we do have the power to write one last episode so that at least the story ends the way we want. If we write a great one, we will earn a comeback victory with the guest. Also, the guest will have no choice but to focus on how well we responded to the mistake when telling anyone we made it. We can, then, turn a mistake into something positive. To be effective, the last chapter must be written imaginatively, graciously, generously, and sincerely. And sometimes we even write a great last chapter when it was the guest, not us, who made the mistake.
Meyer recalls an occasion when Senator Bob Kerrey—whom he knew well—was having a dinner party at one of his restaurants. One of Kerrey’s guests found a beetle in his salad. Kerrey ran into Meyer the next day and told him. Meyer, rightly so, apologized and asked if his staff had handled it well, to which the Senator replied that, indeed, the staff had handled it incredibly well.
After the conversation with Senator Kerrey, who was then having lunch at another of Meyer’s restaurants, Meyer spoke to the General Manager and told him:
“There was a mistake last night at Gramercy Tavern. We’ve got to figure out how to write a great last chapter here,” and explained what had happened. Further, Meyer added, “Whether or not Senator Kerrey or his guest orders a salad during his lunch, I want you to deliver a beautiful salad and garnish it with a small piece of paper. On that piece of paper, I want to you write the word RINGO, and when you deliver it, you can tell them ‘Danny wanted to make sure you knew that Gramercy Tavern wasn’t the only one of his restaurants that’s willing to garnish your salad with a beatle.”
Meyer points out: “It was now impossible for Senator Kerrey to tell anyone the story about the beetle in the salad without also mentioning the ‘last chapter’ we wrote the following day.”
Most mistakes in Meyer’s business, according to him, are like this one and small enough to fix. But whether it’s something like this or a complaint of any other kind, the author focuses on a twofold mission. “First, to learn from the mistake and to profit from what we’ve learned; and second, to write a great last chapter that allows us to end up in a better place with the guest than if we had never made the mistake in the first place.”
I think Meyer’s approach to mistakes and hospitality is fantastic. Please come back tomorrow to continue learning from him on how to handle mistakes.
Do you have any stories of mistakes well handled? I’d love to hear them! Please let me know in the comments here.
ACTION
TODAY: Whether you make a mistake or someone else does, big or small, you can write a great last chapter. What will you write?
FUTURE: Make it a habit of incorporating the mindset of writing a great last chapter in your life and business. You and your team will be able to handle and learn from mistakes in a much better way!
Know someone who would like this approach to mistakes? Please share this post! Email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
