How To Give Criticisms Without Bruising Ego

As responsible employers, parents, and friends, we have an obligation to correct the mistakes of other people in order to enhance their personal success. The task before us is how to correct a deficiency without damaging the delicate ego that can sometimes get in the way. Too often people criticize someone’s behavior without providing a solution and this is detrimental because it then becomes a personal attack on the person that only aims to demerit them. Constructive criticism involves pointing out their weakness and offering a solution to correct it. In order to give constructive criticism, we must seek the solution to the problem before we point it out to the person. By doing this, we effectively separate the behavior from the ego and preserve the relationship in the process.

Life is a Sales Job from Beginning to End

Strange as it may seem, our life is made up of a series of “sales presentations”.  Sales may not be your gig, but if you’re the boss you’re making presentations everyday.  Be it a pitch to your Board, announcing a policy change to employees, selling an idea to your spouse, or just trying to win others over to your point of view - you need to punch up your people skills for winning pitches.

Like it or not we are all salesmen.  Our lives are made up of a series of “sales presentations”, otherwise known as presenting one’s self in the best light possible. Whether we’re out for a job interview, trying for a raise, or just convincing our employees that a job must be accomplished - you are making a presentation.

To become masterful at it can be summed up in the acronym IPRESENT!

• I - involve your audience

Motivation, The Heart Of Self Improvement

Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the ‘push’ to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend’s tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves.

Are You Ready for Business When You Walk Out That Door

Remember that people judge you by what they see, hear and sense. In the first 30 seconds, the time it will take you to make your elevator pitch, people will form opinions about your economic level, your trustworthiness, your social position, your level of sophistication, social background, your success in present and current endeavors, your character, your future and decide if they like you.

Those are some pretty stout decisions to make in 30 seconds or less. So what can you do to ensure you are prepared to put your best foot forward? Some of this stuff sounds so simplistic that is could be insulting, but many of us operate on auto pilot in the morning and we may not be as prepared as we should be.

“The Game of Life” Start your own coaching: 7 days program

Have you ever been a coach to a neighborhood team? I know how it feels the first time I’ve coached a team of seven-year-old soccer kids and how much they can really test my patience, not to mention sanity as they run around kicking the ball like ants to a huge, white crumb. It feels strange at first, having to be stared at by a bunch of kids who they will know that I’m not the one in the field. Sounds wrong in a sense, right? But what is the dead about coaching?

Walking a New Road

Here is a good question to ask yourself. Ten years from now you will surely arrive. The question is, where? We don’t want to kid ourselves about where; we don’t want to kid ourselves about the road we’re walking.

At age 25, I had a day shortly after I met Mr. Schoaff called “do not kid myself anymore” day. I didn’t want to be disillusioned anymore. Up until then, I had been using the crossed-finger theory. But after meeting Mr. Schoaff, I finally decided that the crossed-finger theory was not going to get me what I wanted. That it wasn’t where the treasure lies. That I was going to have to make sure which way I was headed

More Precious Than Gold

In this world there is something more precious than gold. Diamonds? No. Platinum? No. Some other precious metal? No.

Of course, it would depend who you might ask. Many would mention the alternatives I’ve already given. If you asked a drowning man he would undoubtedly say a life-buoy. If you asked a thirsty person stranded in the desert they would say water. And if you asked a person grieving over a lost loved one they would answer in that manner. All would be correct according to their own particular circumstance.

How to Talk to Anybody, Anytime

You know the situation: There you are at a business or social function and you end up with someone who you have never met before. Some people get amazingly uncomfortable with this situation because they simply don’t know how to start or carry on a conversation. Yet successful people are always going to find themselves in these kinds of situations because they are always stretching themselves and putting themselves into situations to help them and their businesses grow and that means meeting new people. So if you are going to be successful, one thing you have to get down is how to talk to anybody, anytime. Good news: It is easier than you think!

Avoid the Avoiding Habit and Find More Time and Less Stress

Procrastination can creep in and easily become a habit. Once it does, it erodes your capacity to function effectively. But it can be a hard habit to break.  However, with some honest self-assessment and an organized and attainable plan of attack, it can be overcome successfully.
Be gentle with yourself when you decide to try and kick the procrastination habit.  It may be so ingrained that you don’t fully recognize all the ways you actually procrastinate. Start out by taking a large or complicated task and breaking it down into smaller parts that you can accomplish easier.  It’s important to bear in mind that the most difficult or complex tasks are simply just a series of smaller jobs.

A Friend’s Evaluation

Evaluations are a tremendous resource to help us know where we have been and how to get where we want to be. One very overlooked person who would give us a very insightful evaluation is our friend. Our friend? Yes! Think about it: They know you better than anyone. They see you in the greatest amount of diversity. They know about all areas of your life. They could possibly give you the best evaluation you have ever had.

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