Make It Great! with Phil Gerbyshak

No Complaining Rule: Book Recommendation

One of the most impactful books I've read in a while is Jon Gordon's The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work. It's impactful because it offers practical tips on how you can shake yourself and your team free from the negativity that grips you. Try as I might to always remain positive, I still need a booster shot now and then. This great book offered more than 1 booster shot, and I can't recommend it for you and your team strongly enough.

Gordon writes this book in a fable form, so it's not completely factual, but it is based on an actual company that implemented this rule. Because the book is written in fable form, it is incredibly easy to read and understand. It's also incredibly practical and easy to relate to.

My favorite part of the book is the 5 things that we can do instead of complaining.

The 5 things you can do instead of complain:

1) Practice Gratitude
2) Praise Others
3) Focus on Success
4) Let Go
5) Pray and Meditate.

Jon offers this tool, and many more including fun videos to introduce your team to this book, at http://www.jongordon.com/thenocomplainingruletools.html.

Buy a copy of The No Complaining Rule TODAY! Heck, buy a copy for everyone on your team and start a complaint free revolution!

Burning passion for greatness

Two Quotes:

"There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it's the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a business person." - Anthony Robbins 

“Whoever you are, whatever your dream, you have to be strong in your head and strong in your heart. Be strong. There's no quitting in the person who wants it bad enough.” — Carly Patterson

Two Questions:

Do you have a passion for greatness?

Does your passion burn brightly enough others can see it, can feel it?

Hope and Limitations

Two Quotes:

“Once you choose hope, anything's possible.” — Christopher Reeve 

"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours!" - Richard Bach

Two Questions:

Are you choosing hope?

Are you willing to stop believing in your limitations and start believing in your amazing greatness?

Great Customer Service from Hertz

I just traveled to the beautiful city of Kansas City where people are the friendliest of anywhere I've ever been in my life. Wow! From the smiling lady who checked in my bags at the airport, to the folks at Starbucks who sold me a cup of coffee fast, to my friends at Heartland HDI who made me feel right at home (especially Howard, who will be getting an article all about him soon), to the folks at the TSA who got me through security in 90 seconds, to anyone else I encountered. WOW!

I want to call attention to two folks from Hertz who took extra special care of me. They were both too concerned with helping me that they didn't give me their names, but they were GREAT and are to be commended.

I spoke in Overland Park, Kansas until 4:00 PM, with a 5:45 PM flight out of Kansas City International airport, typically a 30 minute trip. I only had 1 page to check, so I should have had plenty of time to do what I needed to do. Except the directions the GPS was saying conflicted completely with the printed directions I had made before my trip, so I got lost. BADLY.

I spent 25 minutes driving in one direction, only to be scolded by the GPS that I was going in the wrong direction. I've never been to KC before, so I trusted the GPS was right.

The GPS got me to Hertz at exactly 4:55 PM. I not-so-patiently waited while a nice man came up, checked out my car, and asked me how my stay was. I gently asked "Any chance of me making my flight at 5:45?" fully expecting him to say "No way."

Instead of answering me, he called another Hertz employee over, gave him the keys to the rental car I had just returned and paid for, and had him deliver me directly to my gate AND help me with my bag AND make it to the airport by 5:05 PM without speeding. WOW!

Hertz went the extra mile for me, and for that, they now have a loyal customer who will tell EVERYONE about these 2 great associates and my great experience. If anyone is traveling through Kansas City International, I highly recommend the GREAT customer service Hertz offers.

Photo credit to Josh Bancroft

No Mopey Murphys Here

Original found at http://flickr.com/photos/swimboy1/353909308/sizes/o/

Click on the picture for a great article.

Thankfulness and Gratitude

Two Questions:

"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" - Henry Ward Beecher 

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." - Albert Schweitzer

Two Quotes:

What are you thankful for?

Who are you thankful for?

Free Personal Development Material: Sunday Find

I can’t remember where I saw a link to this first, but I’m thankful to whomever shared it. It’s Free Personal Development Material, brought to you by Lyman Reed and other smart folks like him. On a nice relaxing day like today, it’s nice to have something to read that won’t cost me anything but my time.

Free Personal Development Material is full to the brim with ebooks, MP3s, and other items that can help you improve your life. I’d encourage you to take 10 minutes to peruse through the archives, find 1 ebook that hits you where you need to be, download it, and then take an hour to focus on that one aspect of your life. Do that each week for the next 4 weeks, and if you act upon what you learn, you will experience a better life.

Free Personal Development Material is exactly what it sounds like: Free personal development material. What could be better than that?

Luana: I’m off to practice something new

 

Rosa Say shared a new word today that I am trying to do more of: luana.

luana. vi. To be at leisure, enjoy pleasant surroundings and associates, live in comfort and ease, enjoy oneself, relax, be content.

Luana is not one of my strengths, but given it’s a holiday weekend and I have 1.5 more days before I need to go back to work, I’m going to give it a try.

I’m going to fill one of these lounge chairs today and tomorrow, and luana at a friend’s house on Lake Michigan.

What are you going to do to practice more luana in your life?

Photo credit to John-Morgan

Make It Great! Wins Dig Your Job Award

I just got an e-mail from GL Hoffman indicating I am a winner of the "Dig Your Job" award! VERY cool! Past winners include Dr. Ellen Weber, Troy Worman, Timothy Johnson, Drew McLellan, Steve Roesler, Robert Hruzek and Dan Schawbel, to name just a few.

What did I do to earn this great award? According to the award page:

All you need to do is start a dialogue how the workplace, something positive. Offer a new posting, feature, idea or article that will help someone. Or you can simply add an idea or a spark to a discussion that is going on here. Or, just share some story that happened to you that might help someone else manage or cope a little bit better.

Cool! I’m glad to help others manager and copy a bit better with the world around them. That’s all I can hope for.

Thanks again for the recognition GL!

Put a little love in your heart

Two Quotes:

"Love is not a matter of what happens in life. It's a matter of what's happening in your heart." - Ken Keyes 

"Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we have learned here. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts." — Marianne Williamson

Two Questions:

What is happening in your heart?

Are you letting the love pour in?

Helping Others: A Daily Dose of Vitamin H

Guest Attitude Vitamin from Brandon Caudle

 

In the nutritional sense, Vitamin H (also known as Vitamin B7) is necessary for cell growth and a host of other processes within the human body. I also like to think of Vitamin H as the Vitamin for Helping Others (hence the H). We have countless opportunities to help others around us and the best time to help someone is at the exact moment that you see they need assistance.

 

Several years ago…

 

I was leaving a big box computer store and saw an older man struggling to change the tire on his red pickup truck. I walked over to him to see if he needed assistance. Though he was much larger than me, he turned to me and very gratefully said that he certainly could use the help. As I finished changing his tire, I noticed the World War II veteran hat he was wearing. He shared he never used to ask for help, but ever since he had both knees replaced a few years back, it was difficult for him to get up and down easily. I was even more glad I stopped to help him and when I finished, I proudly shook his hand and thanked him for his military service. He was also very grateful for my help. Vitamin H was in full effect for both of us.

 

Fast forward to this past weekend…

 

I listened to a local speaker talk about providing service to others. He related an experience that he had recently in which he as traveling though the Chicago O’Hare airport when he saw an elderly couple stuck on the moving sidewalk. Apparently, they were trying to go the wrong way on the moving sidewalk and, like salmon, were swimming upstream against the current of people. The speaker shared how he saw them, noticed them, went to get a bottled water, returned, saw them struggling again and got on his plane. As he sat on his plane, he regretted not helping them and wondered what happened to them. He missed his opportunity to take his Vitamin H for the day.

 

Just like the Boy Scouts motto (Do A Good Turn Daily), we should never pass up the opportunity to take a daily dose of Vitamin H.

 

Brandon Caudle loves Customer Service. You can find him talking about it at www.customerservicevoodoo.com

           

Original photo found on Flickr

Wordle: Sunday Fun Tool

If you haven’t played with Wordle yet, take a few minutes and check it out. It’s a visual way to see the words you write about, think about, and blog about.

This is Mike Sansone’s Wordle cloud. I’m working on mine, and will share it very soon.

A few things I’m going to do with this cool tool:

• Insert it into a presentation to make a point at the beginning to show folks what you’ll be sharing
• Insert it at the end of your presentation to show people what you already told them
• Tell someone about your personal brand and what you stand for
• See what the most popular words are in your article so you know what key words you might want to tag the article with

What else could you do with Wordle?

If you do a Wordle with your blog, please leave a link below so we can all take a look at it.

Flickr photo credit from Mike Sansone

Interested in World Domination?

Chris Guillebeau offers a fantastic little manifesto called “A Brief Guide to World Domination,” available as a free PDF download. At 29 pages, it’s hardly all encompassing, but it is certainly brief. Thanks to Jonathan Fields of Awake at the Wheel for the link.

The Decision to be Remarkable is one of my favorite articles that I found by looking around Chris’ site a little more. He offers some great tips for those of you who, like me, want to stand out and stand up to the world as we see it. Among his tips:

• Stop Making Excuses
• Take Responsibility
• Take It Up a Level

and a few more. Sounds like a guy after my own heart!

A caution about Chris’ tale: it’s not for everyone. If you’re not willing to take life up a notch and make it great, please don’t read A Brief Guide to World Domination. Then again, if you’re not willing to take life up a notch, you’re probably not reading this blog.

Go get your free copy of A Brief Guide to World Domination and tell ‘em Phil “Make It Great!” Gerbyshak sent you.

Thoughts and Vision

Two Quotes:

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you." — James Allen 

"Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own." - Robert Collier

Two Questions:

Where are your thoughts going to take you tomorrow?

Do you see yourself achieving tomorrow's vision clearly?

Don’t Take Everything So Seriously

One of the things I need to remind myself about my job is to stop taking everything so seriously. I take my job VERY seriously and VERY personally, and it’s been stressing me out a LOT lately. This picture of me, Gene Simmons, and one of my best friends Bren Boddy-Thomas is a great reminder for me to stop taking everything so darn seriously and just smile and enjoy life.

 

Thanks Bren and Gene for the reminder, and for whomever was nice enough to take this silly picture of me rockin’ out!

This picture was a great attitude vitamin for me, and hopefully for you too, as I hope it makes you laugh.

And you can apply this to your life too. Find your favorite silly picture of you and share it with others who might enjoy it. Post it to your blog, print it out and post it at your cubicle, or go ahead and make it your desktop wallpaper.

Happy Monday everyone!