Set Limits For Calls And Meetings

Setting limits to calls, meetings and conversations can save you lots of time, even up to an extra hour a day. At the beginning of a meeting or a call inform your caller that you only have a few minutes to complete the call. Most people become more concentrated and go directly to the point when they are under the threat of a deadline. If there is something more elaborate to discuss you can always agree to reconvene at later time or set up a subsequent meeting to deal with it.

The Latest Impression

Particularly with business acquaintances and people you don't know that well, in the mind of others you are only as good as your latest interaction with them. We talk a lot about the importance of the first impression - and it is important when you initiate new contacts. But, equally important, yet less talked about is the latest impression. This is because the latest impression lingers in the air and in the minds of others. Make sure your latest impression is always a good one.

Rapport And Listening

Be a good listener and people will think you're a great conversationalist. One of the best ways to strike up a conversation is to state a fact and then ask for an opinion about it. Say something like; "I hear you just came back from a trip to Africa. Can you tell me what you found to be the most exciting aspect?" The easiest way to build rapport with other people is to let them talk and be an attentive, engaged listener. Try it sometime.

Development Of Character

Goethe once said: "You can develop any quality in solitude, except character." In order to develop true character you need to step out in the world and rub against the idiosyncrasies of other people. We learn as long as we pay attention. We can gain strength from the feedback of each interaction however brief and bizarre. The rude guy in traffic can help us develop our temperance. See your challenges as opportunities to grow stronger and become a person of better character.

Directing The Direction Of Change

A sense of control over our lives is essential to our mental well being. However, the only constant is change, on the other side. Setting goals in a changing environment is a bit like staking out the compass direction. It points you in the general direction. Goals enable you to control the direction of change. In orienteering you have to take out a new compass direction every time you hit the next checkpoint. That's not a problem when you have a clear target, is it?

Think And Talk About What You Want

Everything in life first start as a thought, then we verbalize it and finally we put it to practice. You know, we think all the time and have this inner dialogue going on at the speed of fifteen hundred words a minute. Successful people think and talk about what they want, whereas unsuccessful people think and talk about what they don't want. Successful people have learned to control their thoughts more effectively. Control your thoughts and refuse to think and talk about what you don't want.

Attempt To Add Value

Sometimes when you visit a public venue you can see a sign saying something like; "Please leave this room in the same condition you found it in". Nowadays we are so environmentally conscious I think it makes sense to try to leave things in a better condition than you found them in. Both on the job and in private; always try to make things better, don't just leave things the way they were. Make a difference. Add value whenever you can!