AchieveMax® Blog

With the new year just around the corner, it’s pretty safe to guess that a good many people will be dragging out their New Year’s resolutions from last year, dusting them off, and making preparations to break them all again within the week. Well, this year we’ve decided to help you better prepare for this traditional exposure to stress by providing you with two small, but powerful, tools that may very well impact your outcome in a more positive way.

Procrastination always seems to be a major factor in preventing our attempt to successfully complete our well-intentioned resolutions.

The first half of our one-two punch is truly understanding what procrastination is. You must know it to conquer it. Therefore, let’s take a look at the official definition of procrastination:

There are so many wonderful, fine, lovable and so-called ambitious people in today’s society who are always about to commence to begin pretty soon before very long to getting around to doing something just after they finish something else!

How many times have you procrastinated merely because you simply never got around to doing what you knew you should be doing? We’ve all faced that challenge at one time or another. Never again! The second half of our one-two punch will solve that problem forever. You are now the proud owner of a Round Tuit. READ - HEED - and SUCCEED.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

In the spirit of C.A.N.I. (Continuous And Never-ending Improvement), here are this week’s new facts—one for each day of your coming week. Pass them on to others to keep the spirit alive or invite your friends and family to visit our blog where they can also view previous entries.

• Suze Orman, financial guru and author, trimmed eucalyptus with a chainsaw.
• Walt Disney mashed apples in a jelly factory.
• Stephen King was a high-school janitor.
• Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, was a summer intern at Hewlett-Packard.
• Martha Stewart worked at the New York Stock exchange.
• Bill Gates was a page in the Washington state capitol building.
• Michael Dell, founder of Dell computers, washed dishes in a Chinese restaurant.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Chaotic times breed new trends. They always have. They always will. New strategies must be attempted in hopes of reversing negative situations resulting from political, financial, and business influences.

Many of these new trends are very basic in nature while others appear somewhat radical compared to what we have known in the past.

One such trend is emerging from coast to coast across industries. It deals with employees performing below accepted levels. In the past, poor performers were often tolerated for far too long for a wide variety of reasons … seniority, negative image, personal relationships, hope for improvement, legal ramifications, etc.

However, recent local and global pressures have reversed this archaic practice in hopes of increasing productivity and profitability at a time when nothing less can be accepted.

Leadership guru Peter Drucker has long suggested: “If you have a ‘people’ problem, fix it immediately. If you do not have the right person for the right job to begin with, trying to eliminate other job-related barriers is like trying to drain the Atlantic Ocean with a teaspoon.”

Author and CEO Harvey Mackay has learned through many years of experience that “It isn’t the people you fire who make our life miserable, it’s the people you don’t.”

Business consultant, best-selling author (Built to Last and Good to Great ), and lecturer Jim Collins says: “We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats—and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage ‘People are your most important asset’ turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

Leading authorities agree that the focus of loyalty has changed from the poor performer to those fellow employees who are performing well, customers, and any other stakeholders. The obligation today lies in doing everything possible to improve performance including training, enhancement strategies, expectations, accountability, and consequences. If and when these attempts fail, removal of the poor performer is essential to future success.

Many organizations have avoided having to take such unpleasant actions by perfecting their approach to recruiting, hiring, orientation, and continuous training .

Oh, to return to those wonderful days of yesteryear when things seemed so much simpler and a real friend was a real friend.

It was Christmas school break back in the 50s, and Bobby and Tommy were riding the bus home, talking and thinking about Santa Claus. Tommy said that he had been a good boy and was hoping Santa would bring him a BB gun. Bobby was old enough and bright enough to know that if he wanted to find his favorite toys under the tree on Christmas morning, he needed to pray very loud so Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma could hear him. He also knew it helped if he turned down the pages in the Sears catalog and left it out where it could be easily found by family members.

However, down deep inside, Bobby wanted to believe in Santa Claus just like his younger friend, Tommy.

Finally, Christmas morning arrived, and there it was … the shiny brand new bicycle just like Bobby wanted. There was a few Matchbox cars, toy soldiers, and a brand new Red Ryder BB gun as well.

Bobby ran next door to show Tommy his new bike and BB gun. When he arrived on Tommy’s porch, he found his young friend sitting on the steps barely able to speak. He heard Tommy’s quivering little voice say: “Bobby, Santa Claus didn’t come. Either I’ve been a bad boy or Santa ran out of toys.”

Bobby could see the pain in Tommy’s eyes and hear the brutal disappointment in his voice. Bobby, without thinking, quickly said: “Tommy, Santa did come. He thought you were spending the night with me, and he left your BB gun at my house. I rode my bike over to bring it to you.”

Tommy grinned from ear to ear and was so excited he could hardly speak as he grabbed the gun and shot an imaginary bear off in the distance. Tommy hugged Bobby, and Bobby hugged him back. At that very moment, at 9 years old, Bobby once again believed there really is a Santa Claus.

On his way home on his new bike, without his new BB gun, Bobby kept thinking, “Please Mama, don’t be mad.” And she wasn’t.

A best friend may very well be the greatest gift of all! And wouldn’t it be nice to see a few of Bobby’s values in today’s chaotic world?

Merry Christmas!

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

In the spirit of C.A.N.I. (Continuous And Never-ending Improvement), here are this week’s new facts—one for each day of your coming week. Pass them on to others to keep the spirit alive or invite your friends and family to visit our blog where they can also view previous entries.

• The Trans-Canada Highway is the world’s longest national highway at 6,699 miles.
• The people of the United Kingdom eat more cans of baked beans than the rest of the world combined.
• The U.S. has 300 different types of fast-food chains.
• The U.S. Mint’s first production in 1793 consisted of 11,178 copper cents. Today the Mint produces an average of 14.7 million coins per day.
• The word “Mrs.” cannot be written in full.
• The world’s most valuable comic is Action Comics #1, which introduced Superman. The cover price was 10 cents; the present value for a copy of that issue in mint condition is $600,000.
• The world’s largest democracy is India with 620 million voters.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Negativity abounds across this country today. It has for months now. In this complex world, we yearn for simplicity to reduce the ever-growing level of stress.

The holiday season is upon us now, and we’ve been given an early gift. It is simplicity personified. It brings a smile to a frowning face, triggers memories we thought were long forgotten and provides a peace of mind, innocence and serenity of heart that today’s generation may never experience.

Within this veiled "gift" is a critical message for all who seek success. Talk about "back to basics"… listen to this!

On November 6 at 2:52 in the afternoon in Rochester, New York, what might be considered the most versatile and gratifying toy in history was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. Believe it or not, the lowly stick—a wooden piece of a tree—has joined the coveted ranks of 41 other favorites that meet the demanding criteria of a "toy."

But allow me to digress for just a moment. Yes, Virginia there IS a Toy Hall of Fame. It’s an organization that recognizes the contributions of toys and games that have sustained their popularity for many years. Criteria for induction include: icon-status (the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered); longevity (more than a passing fad); discovery (fosters learning, creativity, or discovery); and innovation (profoundly changed play or toy design). Established in 1998, the National Toy Hall of Fame was originally housed at A. C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon, but was moved to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, in 2002 after it outgrew its original home.

Now—back to the stick!

I was fortunate to grow up in the midst of great riches. My family had little or no money, but I had a lake in my front yard, a dense woods behind my house and my loyal dog, Scout, constantly at my side. What more could a young boy ask for?

That mystical woods kept me supplied with an unlimited supply of sticks … and each individual stick rendered a myriad of magnificent memories to my young mind and imagination.

Every day when I played and allowed my imagination to transport me to other worlds, my stick disappeared. However, it quickly reappeared in a variety of appropriate forms.

When I defended the Alamo in my coonskin cap as Davy Crockett, my stick was transformed into a trusty Flintlock rifle.

As Captain Ahab guiding my raft across my lake in search of Moby Dick, my stick was modified into a powerful and lethal harpoon.

My faithful stick played many other crucial roles throughout my childhood. I remember them all very well—a medieval knight’s sword, a magic wand, a fishing rod, a royal scepter, a witch’s broomstick, a snowman’s arms, a hurdle, a baseball bat, marshmallow toaster, and, by merely adding a rubber band, a slingshot.

I was limited only by my imagination, which meant the sky was the limit! And, compared to today’s toys—no contest. My stick cost nothing, was multi-purpose, required no batteries or maintenance, and was easy to replace. It also required no rules, regulations or instructions. The stick was, by far, my favorite toy throughout my childhood.

I’m going to share the list of other Hall of Fame toys but first want to mention my second favorite toy which was also inducted back in 2005. Are you ready for this one? It’s your everyday cardboard box! I’m sure you see the obvious common thread—my creativity and imagination! Boxes of all sizes allowed me to travel anywhere my mind might want to go and do whatever I wanted to do. A simple box would become my race car, space ship, submarine, robot, and, when we were fortunate enough to have a neighbor purchase a new washing machine or refrigerator, we would have the world’s greatest fort until the first rain came.

Some of my warmest childhood memories revolved around a simple stick and an unassuming cardboard box. I often wonder how today’s youth would react if given a stick and a cardboard box and asked to let their imagination run wild.

While I fully understand that things have changed and the toy industry has made great strides over the years, I sometimes fear we’ve lost a real treasure somewhere along the way. I’m sure it’s just me.

The other members of the Toy Hall of Fame include:

• Alphabet Blocks
• Atari
• Baby Doll
• Barbie Doll
• Bicycle
• Candy Land
• Checkers
• Crayola Crayons
• Duncan Yo-Yo
• Easy Bake Oven
• Erector Set
• Etch-A-Sketch
• Frisbee
• G.I. Joe
• Hula Hoop
• Jack-in-the-Box
• Jacks
• Jigsaw Puzzle
• Jump Rope
• Kite
• Lego Blocks
• Lincoln Logs
• Lionel Trains
• Marbles
• Monopoly
• Mr. Potato Head
• Play-Doh
• Radio Flyer Wagon
• Raggedy Ann
• Raggedy Andy
• Rocking Horse
• Roller Skates
• Scrabble
• Silly Putty
• Skateboard
• Slinky
• Teddy Bear
• Tinkertoys
• Tonka Trucks
• View Master

This very simplistic phrase, “Find a need and fill it,” has been around for a very long time. I first read about it in Entrepreneur Magazine many decades ago. They explained this strategy was the #1 rule for business start-ups.

I later heard Zig Ziglar, one of the nation’s most highly regarded motivational speakers, share the virtues of this very successful approach to life.

I then read that John Deere, the respected blacksmith who later became the world’s leading producer of farm equipment, claimed the phrase as his personal inspiration and philosophy back in the 1800s.

Regardless of its origin, it continues to produce creative ideas that have enhanced society in many diverse and productive ways.

The interesting thing about this simple battle cry is the modest fact that many people struggle with the challenge of “finding a need” … and yet they exist all around us.

For instance, consider a basic common obstacle confronting football players, firefighters, industrial and hazmat workers, and even racing pit crews—the need for quick heat relief.

It’s an elemental challenge, yet critical to anyone having to deal with it. Well, someone has recognized that need and obviously filled it.

For apparent reasons, they call it the Cool Shirt®. It was designed to maintain or quickly return core body temperatures to normal levels, reducing heat-induced fatigue. It also cools the body and allows it to radiate its heat, thus reducing the risk of heat stroke.

Weighing a mere 4 lbs., this unusual shirt contains more than 50 feet of medical-grade capillary tubing securely stitched on the front and back of the shirt. It is connected to a compact cooling unit via insulated hose with quick, dry disconnects. The cooling unit contains ice, water and an internal pump that supplies cool water to the shirt as it covers up to 40% of the body. The shirt pumps 40 degree water through 50 feet of tubing to keep the wearer cool.

Being made of lightweight cotton, it can be worn comfortably for long periods of time and quickly connected and disconnected to the cooling unit as needed. Cool Shirt® will return the body’s core temperature to normal levels within minutes.

The temperature-controlled cold water provided by the refrigeration unit to the Cool Shirt® is between 50 and 65 degrees. Studies have proven that cool water will transfer body heat 28 times faster than cool air. This allows faster, more efficient maintenance of the body’s optimum core temperature.

The Cool Shirt®, while quite fundamental in its construct, has provided relief and assurance to many employees working under challenging conditions day in and day out.

This is a perfect example of identifying a need and producing a solution to fill that need.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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• Creativity Speakers and Creativity Training
• Top Creativity Books
• Words of Wisdom on Creativity
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• Tapping Your Creative Spirit at Botsford General Hospital
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It’s startling how quickly a long-standing tradition can suddenly disappear into the abyss of historic memories.    

When I was young, it was not unusual to drive down the street and see laundry hanging outside in most every yard—soaking up the warm rays of sunshine as they dried in the fresh summer breeze. Some folks used a simple, straight clothesline connecting two trees while others chose a fancy, adjustable rotary apparatus. Either way the sun, wind and dozens of clothespins did the job very efficiently.

This fond memory brings to mind a Generational Gem that we should revisit as we face a business environment which, for the first time in history, employs members of four very different generations. How we view one another is critical to our success.

Consider this example:

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.

One morning, over breakfast, the young wife notices her neighbor hanging the wash outside in a gentle breeze.

“Her laundry’s not very clean,” she said. “She either doesn’t know how to wash correctly or maybe she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Over the next few weeks, every time her neighbor would hang her wash on the clothesline the young woman would make the same critical comments.

About a month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her?”

The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

And so it is with life. What we see when observing others depends on the purity of the window through which we look! A little patience, empathy, and understanding can certainly go a long way in providing a much clearer view!

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

In the spirit of C.A.N.I. (Continuous And Never-ending Improvement), here are this week’s new facts—one for each day of your coming week. Pass them on to others to keep the spirit alive or invite your friends and family to visit our blog where they can also view previous entries.

• The NFL buys up to 150 Super Bowl rings per year at $5,000 per ring. The losers also get rings.
• The only English word with a triple letter is Goddessship.
• The pin that holds a hinge together is called a pintle.
• There are 7.5 miles of information on a standard DVD.
• The song with the longest title on Billboard’s Top 40: “Jeremiah Peabody’s Poly Unsaturated, Quick Dissolving, Fast Acting, Pleasant Tasting, Green and Purple Pills” by Ray Stevens.
• The study of the moon is called selenology.
• The term “karaoke” means “empty orchestra” in Japanese.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.