By Romy Marquez
TORONTO - With the way mainstream media is portraying the Oct. 25 election, voters don't seem to have much of a choice. As if there's a dearth of qualified people.
The truth is, out of the five candidates getting all the media attention, there are thirty-two others less conspicuous but probably more qualified to run Toronto as mayor.
For the most part they are faceless, no name recall like a Miller or Ford, or a Harper or Ignatief, but just as enthusiastic to change the culture of politics at City Hall.
Consider Phil Taylor, author, public speaker, motivational guru.
Soft-spoken with an immense capacity to bear no malice towards anyone, he refuses to engage in the current muck-racking among the mainstream media's five, namely, in alphabetical order, Rob Ford, Jose Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman and Sarah Thomson.
Every tired word, every irrelevant issue, every little gaffe are magnified a thousand times by these media and re-echoed a hundred times more in cyberspace so long as they are spewed from any of the five mouths of the talking heads.
It is in this context that Phil Taylor is a refreshing sight, perhaps a re-energizing change for all Toronto.
"I choose not to make this politics a blood sport," he declares in an interview with this reporter. It is his belief, he said, that running for a public office need not be that bloody and insulting.
Taylor preaches love, harmony and amity not for the sake of maintaining the status quo, as in the way public affairs are run and managed at City Hall, but as a means of evoking positives from everyone and preserving goodwill inherent in every man.
Asked why he stays quiet amidst the rancour among the candidates, he retorts: "That's not the path I want to go down".
Taylor premises his run for Toronto mayor on the glaring fact that only 35 percent of registered voters have gone to vote in the past elections.
"This means people are discouraged," he explains. "They're not showing up in polls".
He adds: "That also means that people in positions of power and the candidates themselves are not addressing the majority of Torontonians".
"The core is this: People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care," Taylor states, sounding philosophical.
"The real question is: Do they really care? I just want to know if you care about me," he says
Taylor does care enough for Toronto and its 2.48 million population (5.5 million in the Greater Toronto Area) that he wants to roll back taxes if he gets elected, and cut the mayor's salary. At least those two items are high in his agenda.
"Half of their (the population) life is being hijacked by the government through taxes," he explains. "We are not finding solutions by increasing taxes," he adds.
# # #
Get Connected 21st Century Learn, Speak & Socialize leads to Monetize
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Use Feedback to Your Advantage
As you begin to take actions toward your goals, your dreams, you’ll soon realize that not every action will be perfect.
Not every action will produce the desired result.
Not every action will work.
Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right.
Thomas Edison is reported to have tried over 2,000 different experiments that failed before he finally got the light bulb to work. He once told a reporter that, from his perspective, he had never failed at all. Inventing the light bulb was just a 2,000-step process. If you can adopt that attitude, then you can be free to take an action, notice what result you get, and then adjust your next actions based on the feedback you have received.
There Are Two Kinds of Feedback
There are two kinds of feedback you might encounter – negative and positive. We tend to prefer the positive – that is, results, money, praise, promotion, raise, awards, happiness, inner-peace, etc. It feels better. It tells us we are on course and doing the right thing.
We tend not to like negative feedback – lack of results, little or no money, criticism, poor evaluations, complaints, unhappiness, inner conflict, pain, etc.
However, there is as much useful data in negative feedback as there is in positive feedback. It tells us that we are off course, headed in the wrong direction, doing the wrong thing. This is priceless information!
In fact, it’s so valuable that one of the most useful projects you could undertake is to change how you respond to negative feedback. I like to refer to negative feedback as information for “improvement opportunities.”
Ways of Responding to Feedback that Don’t Work
Though there are many ways you can respond to feedback, some responses simply don’t work.
Caving in and quitting:
How many times have you or someone you know received negative feedback and simply caved in over it? All that this does is keep you stuck in the same place. It’s easier not to cave in if you remember that feedback is simply information. Think of it as “correctional guidance” instead of criticism.
Getting mad at the source of the feedback:
Think about it… How many times have you reacted with anger and hostility toward someone who was giving you feedback and it was genuinely useful? It may temporarily make you feel better to get angry, but it doesn’t help you become more successful in your quest.
Ignoring the feedback:
We all know that people who turn down everyone’s point of view but their own. The sad thing is, feedback could significantly transform their lives, if only they would listen.
Ask for Feedback
Most people will not voluntarily give you feedback. They are as uncomfortable with possible confrontation as you are. So to get honest and open feedback, you need to ask for it and make it safe for the person to give it to you. In other words, don’t shoot the messenger!
The Most Valuable Question You May Ever Learn
In the 1980s, a multimillionaire businessman taught me a question that radically changed the quality of my life. This magical question can improve the quality of every relationship you are in, every product you produce, every service you deliver, every meeting you conduct, every class you teach and every transaction you enter into. Here it is:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of our relationship (service/product) during the last week (month/semester/quarter)?”
Here are a number of variations on the same question that have served me well over the years...
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the meeting we just had? ... me as a manager? ... me as a parent? ...this class? ...this meal? ...my cooking? ...our sex life? ...this deal? ...this book?
Any answer less than a 10 always gets this follow-up question:
“What would it take to make it a 10?”
This is where the really valuable information comes from. Knowing that a person is dissatisfied is not enough. Knowing in detail what will satisfy them gives you the information you need to do whatever it takes to create a winning product, service, relationship or result.
Is All Feedback Accurate?
Not all feedback is useful or accurate. You must consider the source. Some feedback is polluted by the psychological distortions of the person giving you the feedback. For example, if your drunk husband tells you, “You are a no-good bleep,” that is probably not accurate or useful feedback. However, the fact that your husband is drunk and angry, is feedback you should listen to.
Remember, feedback is simply information. You don’t have to take it personally. Just welcome it and use it. The most intelligent response is to say “Thank you for your feedback. Thank you for caring enough to tell me what you see and how you feel. I appreciate it.”
Look for patterns in the feedback you get, too. As my friend Jack Rosenblum likes to say: “If one person tells you you’re a horse, they’re crazy. If three people tell you you’re a horse, there’s a conspiracy a foot. If ten people tell you you’re a horse, it’s time to buy a saddle!”
For more on Using Feedback to Your Advantage, review Principle #19 in The Success Principles. It’s one of the core principles you can apply to your life.
* * *
Are you "stuck" in this area?
Send me your most pressing question about this topic, then join me for our monthly
"Ask Jack Canfield" Tele-Clinic on September 1st!
www.AskJackCanfield.com
© 2010 The Canfield Training Group
All Rights Reserved.
Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Not every action will produce the desired result.
Not every action will work.
Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right.
Thomas Edison is reported to have tried over 2,000 different experiments that failed before he finally got the light bulb to work. He once told a reporter that, from his perspective, he had never failed at all. Inventing the light bulb was just a 2,000-step process. If you can adopt that attitude, then you can be free to take an action, notice what result you get, and then adjust your next actions based on the feedback you have received.
There Are Two Kinds of Feedback
There are two kinds of feedback you might encounter – negative and positive. We tend to prefer the positive – that is, results, money, praise, promotion, raise, awards, happiness, inner-peace, etc. It feels better. It tells us we are on course and doing the right thing.
We tend not to like negative feedback – lack of results, little or no money, criticism, poor evaluations, complaints, unhappiness, inner conflict, pain, etc.
However, there is as much useful data in negative feedback as there is in positive feedback. It tells us that we are off course, headed in the wrong direction, doing the wrong thing. This is priceless information!
In fact, it’s so valuable that one of the most useful projects you could undertake is to change how you respond to negative feedback. I like to refer to negative feedback as information for “improvement opportunities.”
Ways of Responding to Feedback that Don’t Work
Though there are many ways you can respond to feedback, some responses simply don’t work.
Caving in and quitting:
How many times have you or someone you know received negative feedback and simply caved in over it? All that this does is keep you stuck in the same place. It’s easier not to cave in if you remember that feedback is simply information. Think of it as “correctional guidance” instead of criticism.
Getting mad at the source of the feedback:
Think about it… How many times have you reacted with anger and hostility toward someone who was giving you feedback and it was genuinely useful? It may temporarily make you feel better to get angry, but it doesn’t help you become more successful in your quest.
Ignoring the feedback:
We all know that people who turn down everyone’s point of view but their own. The sad thing is, feedback could significantly transform their lives, if only they would listen.
Ask for Feedback
Most people will not voluntarily give you feedback. They are as uncomfortable with possible confrontation as you are. So to get honest and open feedback, you need to ask for it and make it safe for the person to give it to you. In other words, don’t shoot the messenger!
The Most Valuable Question You May Ever Learn
In the 1980s, a multimillionaire businessman taught me a question that radically changed the quality of my life. This magical question can improve the quality of every relationship you are in, every product you produce, every service you deliver, every meeting you conduct, every class you teach and every transaction you enter into. Here it is:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of our relationship (service/product) during the last week (month/semester/quarter)?”
Here are a number of variations on the same question that have served me well over the years...
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the meeting we just had? ... me as a manager? ... me as a parent? ...this class? ...this meal? ...my cooking? ...our sex life? ...this deal? ...this book?
Any answer less than a 10 always gets this follow-up question:
“What would it take to make it a 10?”
This is where the really valuable information comes from. Knowing that a person is dissatisfied is not enough. Knowing in detail what will satisfy them gives you the information you need to do whatever it takes to create a winning product, service, relationship or result.
Is All Feedback Accurate?
Not all feedback is useful or accurate. You must consider the source. Some feedback is polluted by the psychological distortions of the person giving you the feedback. For example, if your drunk husband tells you, “You are a no-good bleep,” that is probably not accurate or useful feedback. However, the fact that your husband is drunk and angry, is feedback you should listen to.
Remember, feedback is simply information. You don’t have to take it personally. Just welcome it and use it. The most intelligent response is to say “Thank you for your feedback. Thank you for caring enough to tell me what you see and how you feel. I appreciate it.”
Look for patterns in the feedback you get, too. As my friend Jack Rosenblum likes to say: “If one person tells you you’re a horse, they’re crazy. If three people tell you you’re a horse, there’s a conspiracy a foot. If ten people tell you you’re a horse, it’s time to buy a saddle!”
For more on Using Feedback to Your Advantage, review Principle #19 in The Success Principles. It’s one of the core principles you can apply to your life.
* * *
Are you "stuck" in this area?
Send me your most pressing question about this topic, then join me for our monthly
"Ask Jack Canfield" Tele-Clinic on September 1st!
www.AskJackCanfield.com
© 2010 The Canfield Training Group
All Rights Reserved.
Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Monday, August 2, 2010
Power of Newsletter!
Couple of years ago went to event and the speaker challenged us to start a newsletter. So the journey began. It was begin of an exercise which would open new doors and create ongoing relationships.
The months began to pass and nothing happen. No results! I began to get little frustrated, remembered the speaker said this would happen and began to think more outside the box regarding this information.
It wasn’t it was a flashy newsletter with bright colour and fancy pictures it was about the information that was important.
Had an upcoming talk that I was doing on Do you have a mentor? Which I included in the newsletter with some other upcoming events , links and services of interest. Few day later got email back from an author who I had met that had written a book on mentorship. Invited her out to come speak at the end of my talk, she showed up and wrapped up the event and even sold some of her books! I was impressed!
This gave me confidence to continue doing newsletter and have had more results happen from getting testimonials, referrals, recommendations to contact other entrepreneurs.
Giving away prizes from free ebooks to doing funny contests such ask how many times certain word appears in the newsletter.
Recently have found some free resources online that has given newsletter better interface which I like and have done a few that way.
Another reason that a realized was going to be equally important was the part of follow-up, keeping your contacts top of mind about you and what you are doing is important.
With the advent of Twitter and Facebook. Having follower is very important in the social media landscape. Having also a simple way to communicate with your contacts at least twice a month can equally be effective and provide results.
It may take some time but be persistent and Get Connected Make it Happen!
The months began to pass and nothing happen. No results! I began to get little frustrated, remembered the speaker said this would happen and began to think more outside the box regarding this information.
It wasn’t it was a flashy newsletter with bright colour and fancy pictures it was about the information that was important.
Had an upcoming talk that I was doing on Do you have a mentor? Which I included in the newsletter with some other upcoming events , links and services of interest. Few day later got email back from an author who I had met that had written a book on mentorship. Invited her out to come speak at the end of my talk, she showed up and wrapped up the event and even sold some of her books! I was impressed!
This gave me confidence to continue doing newsletter and have had more results happen from getting testimonials, referrals, recommendations to contact other entrepreneurs.
Giving away prizes from free ebooks to doing funny contests such ask how many times certain word appears in the newsletter.
Recently have found some free resources online that has given newsletter better interface which I like and have done a few that way.
Another reason that a realized was going to be equally important was the part of follow-up, keeping your contacts top of mind about you and what you are doing is important.
With the advent of Twitter and Facebook. Having follower is very important in the social media landscape. Having also a simple way to communicate with your contacts at least twice a month can equally be effective and provide results.
It may take some time but be persistent and Get Connected Make it Happen!
Follower effect can be powerful for your brand
During the past few years have stressed to entrepreneurs the importance of the follow-up with your customer , clients and potential new contacts. In an earlier article talked about the newsletter be used as an effective tool to keep people up-to-date on what you are doing on a monthly basis.
With the explosion of Facebook and Twitter it has been very interested to see how the creation of a following can create the six degree of separation but on steroids!
Motto I live by everyday is “Get Connected Make it Happen!” I share this with everyone that I know because we connect with people everyday and want to make things happen from sharing business ideas with potential prospects to increasing our network of people we know.
This can be done in many ways from attending networking events and meeting people face to face or you can go online and join site like Linkedin and start building professional contacts online and do it in a easy and effortless way.
There is no doubt Twitter and Facebook has changed the landscape for many people for everyday entrepreneurs to movie stars. Important thing to remember is what type of followers are you attracting and do you know anything about them.
Entrepreneurial friend of mine always says “what are 20 things describe your ideal prospect” by the time you get to number 13 you will uncover some interesting things!
So the next time you either are adding a friend or adding a contact ask yourself few questions regarding the value of a them following you and also the interest of them learning more about you.
Remember Get ConnectedMake It Happen” You only have one chance to make a 1st
Impression
With the explosion of Facebook and Twitter it has been very interested to see how the creation of a following can create the six degree of separation but on steroids!
Motto I live by everyday is “Get Connected Make it Happen!” I share this with everyone that I know because we connect with people everyday and want to make things happen from sharing business ideas with potential prospects to increasing our network of people we know.
This can be done in many ways from attending networking events and meeting people face to face or you can go online and join site like Linkedin and start building professional contacts online and do it in a easy and effortless way.
There is no doubt Twitter and Facebook has changed the landscape for many people for everyday entrepreneurs to movie stars. Important thing to remember is what type of followers are you attracting and do you know anything about them.
Entrepreneurial friend of mine always says “what are 20 things describe your ideal prospect” by the time you get to number 13 you will uncover some interesting things!
So the next time you either are adding a friend or adding a contact ask yourself few questions regarding the value of a them following you and also the interest of them learning more about you.
Remember Get ConnectedMake It Happen” You only have one chance to make a 1st
Impression
Wayne Gretsky Wants You To Take Shots
As you may know, I live in Canada where our national sport is ice hockey. This of course was quite evident during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver this year. If you ask any long time hockey fan who he or she would regard as the greatest hockey player ever, there's a very good chance that you will hear Wayne Gretsky as the top pick.
Wayne Gretsky once made a very interesting quote as follows.
"You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take"
Of course, he was referring to hockey where in order for players to score, they must always at least try to shoot the puck towards the goal (the puck is the hockey equivalent to ball for my international readers who are not familiar with this sport). If they never try shooting, there's zero chance of ever scoring.
This quote can be applied off the ice to other parts of life as well. Let's take a look at some scenarios. Let's say you always wanted to network or do business with individuals or companies from a certain type of group but never had the experience. If the lack of experience is holding you back from even making any approaches to this new group, you will probably never accomplish the goal of making new connections with them.
The end result of never making new connections with this group will be never ever having them as potential friends or customers, all because you were reluctant to make the initial moves.
You could have been reluctant to 'take the shots' because you were too shy or not feeling confident about unfamiliar territories that might have a high rate of failure. You basically wanted to avoid failure. The end result is the same regardless of the reasons though - no goals scored!
However, if you approach this knowing that sometimes you will miss the goal and accept this fact without stopping you from taking more shots, then you will eventually score. If any of the shots you take do not result in something that is favorable to you and you take them as learning situations to help you improve your future shots, you will benefit greatly.
This is the same in dating. As you can imagine if you never take chances with the people of your desires, you will always end up alone. I'm sure the married folks are nodding in agreement here. Sure, you might strike out but if you keep trying over time and learn from your misses, you will eventually have the company of that man or woman of your dreams. It might not be the original person targeted but he or she will be a good substitute!
So as Wayne Gretsky suggests, keep shooting. Sure, you might miss a lot of the shots but if you don't take any, you will certainly miss out on all opportunities in life.
Wayne Gretsky once made a very interesting quote as follows.
"You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take"
Of course, he was referring to hockey where in order for players to score, they must always at least try to shoot the puck towards the goal (the puck is the hockey equivalent to ball for my international readers who are not familiar with this sport). If they never try shooting, there's zero chance of ever scoring.
This quote can be applied off the ice to other parts of life as well. Let's take a look at some scenarios. Let's say you always wanted to network or do business with individuals or companies from a certain type of group but never had the experience. If the lack of experience is holding you back from even making any approaches to this new group, you will probably never accomplish the goal of making new connections with them.
The end result of never making new connections with this group will be never ever having them as potential friends or customers, all because you were reluctant to make the initial moves.
You could have been reluctant to 'take the shots' because you were too shy or not feeling confident about unfamiliar territories that might have a high rate of failure. You basically wanted to avoid failure. The end result is the same regardless of the reasons though - no goals scored!
However, if you approach this knowing that sometimes you will miss the goal and accept this fact without stopping you from taking more shots, then you will eventually score. If any of the shots you take do not result in something that is favorable to you and you take them as learning situations to help you improve your future shots, you will benefit greatly.
This is the same in dating. As you can imagine if you never take chances with the people of your desires, you will always end up alone. I'm sure the married folks are nodding in agreement here. Sure, you might strike out but if you keep trying over time and learn from your misses, you will eventually have the company of that man or woman of your dreams. It might not be the original person targeted but he or she will be a good substitute!
So as Wayne Gretsky suggests, keep shooting. Sure, you might miss a lot of the shots but if you don't take any, you will certainly miss out on all opportunities in life.
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