AchieveMax® Blog

We’ve added still another category, vision, to our growing list of “Words of Wisdom” subjects, bringing our current total to 35 categories.

Can you put a price on an offer that promises to change your life as you know it today? Most would struggle to do so.

I can make you that offer and will gladly do so at absolutely no charge. However, there IS a price! It’s simply discipline, application and execution!

It’s been proven that having a compelling vision of your future that is in line with your values, interests and desires gives you an edge in bringing it into reality. Leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.

However, a recent study revealed the shocking fact that LESS than 5% of the population, 1 out of 20, has a personal “vision.” In fact, the majority of people today would struggle to even define “vision.”

Simply put, a “vision” is the structure that gives your life its meaning and purpose. It’s gives us a reason to stretch ourselves, expand our current comfort zones, capitalize on our strengths, strengthen our weaknesses, learn new skills, expand our networks, and establish hope for a better future.

A strong “vision” acts as a compass to keep you on track to reach your chosen destination. A “vision” can be the proverbial “fire in the belly” that keeps you going, sustains tenacity, and assures you of a better tomorrow. It forces you to look into the future and identify possibilities as you maintain a focus on what needs to be done today to achieve your future success.

Creating and pursuing a vision may sound as though it requires an effort on your part. It certainly does! However, isn’t that effort well worth the positive consequences you’ll certainly enjoy in the end? And consider this … what’s the alternative? For most, it’s continuing to wander aimlessly through today’s chaotic environment in hopes that the future will be kind to you. Consider the odds.

The offer I mentioned earlier? Do some research, create a vision of the future you desire, develop a strategy, and begin this crucial journey today! Follow this simple formula and you become one of those one out of twenty people who are in a much better position to overcome the odds in your pursuit of happiness and content.

Also take a look at some of the compelling quotes on the subject of vision on our website.

Feel free to check out our in-depth offering of quotes on many additional subjects should you be in need of a refreshing thought, idea, slogan or profound nugget for an upcoming meeting, presentation, or lunch room bulletin board.

We offer interesting quotes on the subjects of attitude, change, chaos, creativity, customer service, dreams, employee engagement, employees, empowerment, enthusiasm, execution, fear, gender, goals, graduation, leadership, mentoring, motivation, networking, passion, patience, persistence, politics, potential, random acts of kindness, reading, repetition, sales, sense of urgency, smiling, teachers, teamwork, time management, women, and now vision!

Click on “Words of Wisdom” in order to review our entire offering.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

Due to our increasing number of book reviews, we have moved our content to a new section dedicated exclusively to our book reviews. We have divided this new book reviews area into 15 various categories to house the 205 reviews we’ve completed thus far.

We recently added two new selections you might be interested in checking out. The first selection can be found in the leadership book reviews category.

How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In

Here’s another best seller by noted author Jim Collins who gave us two previous winners: Good to Great and Built to Last. As the title indicates, this book examines a variety of industry leaders who have fallen from their leadership role as well as others who have succeeded in spite of today’s chaotic business world.

Our second selection can be found in the decision-making category.

10-10-10: A Life-Transforming Idea

This book is a transformative new approach to decision-making in the realms of career, business, leadership, romance, health, friendship, marriage, and family. It’s written by Suzy Welch, wife of former GE CEO Jack Welch.  She is also a noted journalist, author and speaker. This powerful philosophy is a practical guide that will certainly enhance your life management skills

To view all 205 book reviews in 15 categories, simply go to http://www.AchieveMax.com/bookreviews/

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

We’ve added still another category, graduation, to our growing list of “Words of Wisdom” subjects, bringing our current total to 34 categories.

It’s that time of year again … GRADUATION … both high school and college! Expect to see caps and gowns, tassles, diplomas, open houses and parents and students alike sleeping during the commencement address! I know very few people who can remember a single reference shared by their special speaker. In fact, few can remember who the speaker was from their graduation.

It’s interesting that each year we can find thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns listening to a speaker who tells them that “individuality” is the key to success!

This annual event is also tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries and, after 22 years of child-raising, they are unemployed!

I just read an article that said we’ll see 2.8 million high school graduates this year and 90,000 college graduates. We certainly wish them well as they enter a very chaotic world that is counting on them for leadership and success in the future!

Feel free to check out our in-depth offering of quotes on many additional subjects should you be in need of a refreshing thought, idea, slogan or profound nugget for an upcoming meeting, presentation, or lunch room bulletin board.

We offer interesting quotes on the subjects of attitude, change, chaos, creativity, customer service, dreams, employee engagement, employees, empowerment, enthusiasm, execution, fear, gender, goals, leadership, mentoring, motivation, networking, passion, patience, persistence, politics, potential, random acts of kindness, reading, repetition, sales, sense of urgency, smiling, teachers, teamwork, time management, women, and now graduation!

Click on “Words of Wisdom” in order to review our entire offering.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

If you’ve been using e-mail for more than a month, for business or pleasure, you’re probably well aware of the fact that it’s very easy to be misunderstood while communicating. It’s happens every day … much more than most of us realize.

How many times have you written something with the full intention of being humorous only to discover that the person you were writing to was actually offended? Or how about a casual comment from you that was taken as being sent with anger, aggravation, contempt, or sarcasm?

Usually when we discover that the other person misunderstood, we’re dumbfounded at the thought. How could they possibly have misinterpreted our simple message. Well, the answer is actually very simple … we just don’t think about it.

The majority of us write an e-mail exactly as though we were talking to the other person face-to-face. It’s human nature! Why would we do anything other than that? What we don’t seem to comprehend is that those we speak to face to face don’t interpret our message by words alone!

In fact, words contribute only 7% to our message clarification. The remaining 93% of message interpretation consists of facial expression (including eye contact), body language and tone of voice and social context … all of which are key to proper understanding!

Research tells us that both sender and receiver tend to automatically fill in the “tone” of an e-mail, 93% of the actual message, based on how they feel or what they fear, not what’s actually being said. It can, and does, happen to anyone, no matter how knowledgeable.

Studies have shown that some 54% of e-mails are incorrectly interpreted in some way by the receiver of the message. While this may cause havoc in the workplace or within friendships, there’s even more bad news long term. Most of these e-mails go unchallenged. You could very well anger someone, bruise someone’s ego or burn bridges and never even be aware of it.

Here are some basic tips for making sure you don’t accidentally annoy, anger or intimidate the people you communicate with via e-mail.

• If you’re joking or being sarcastic, use surrogate facial cues like smiley faces — : ) — or type “[grin]” or use some other indicator of your intent. They seem trivial but are very important.
• Use plentiful qualifiers such as “don’t take this the wrong way,” “I’m joking,” or “I’m not angry at all.”
• Beware of brief e-mails, as they can be interpreted as abrupt. A very short e-mail can be interpreted as cold, angry or demeaning.
• Start the e-mail with something obviously humorous, which conveys that you’re not angry.
• Think about who you’re talking to. It’s very easy for a co-worker or subordinate at work to read anger, disappointment or other negative emotions into your notes. If you’re a manager, you need to go out of your way to send friendly e-mails or you’ll end up with a morale problem. In-laws and relatives might be easily offended as well.
• End your e-mail in a friendly way, such as “Thank you!” or “I really appreciate this.”
• Always re-read your e-mails before sending—and be on the lookout for areas of misinterpretation based on your knowledge of the 93% – 7% ratio.
• Don’t get angry from e-mail, then reply based on your anger. First find out the intent of the sender by calling or asking for clarification. Remember: nearly half of all e-mails are misinterpreted.
• Don’t use e-mail for emotional or sensitive topics. Pick up the phone or visit in person.

While all of the above information is very basic in nature, it is abused or ignored every hour of every day by most everyone. Think no? How do you explain 54% of all e-mail messages being misinterpreted! Don’t forget, you’re sending your e-mail to someone in order to communicate. Master the simple art of e-mailing and you will avoid disaster, soon be known and respected as a great communicator, and enjoy some peace of mind.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

We’ve added still another category to our growing list of “Words of Wisdom” subjects, bringing our current total to 33 categories.

The month of May is National Smile Month. The majority of the focus is dedicated to improving the public’s oral health and emphasis is placed on products and procedures which are designed to enhance your teeth, lips, etc.

I’d like to focus a little bit more about the importance of and consequences resulting from something as simple as a smile. It’s one of the most powerful tools we have in the effort to make a difference in the world today!

A recent study was conducted as to what makes us smile most often. See if you agree.

What makes us smile?

• Finding money in an old pair of jeans (69%)
• Hearing a baby giggle (51%)
• Seeing an old friend (50%)
• Looking back at old photographs (47%)
• Sitting in the sun (46%)
• Hearing a song that reminds you of your past (45%)
• Winning money in the lottery (44%)
• Finding a bargain in the sales (44%)
• Waking up on a Saturday and realizing it is the weekend (41%)
• Fitting into a pair of jeans that used to be too small (41%)
• Seeing old people holding hands (39%)
• Booking a holiday (39%)
• Bumping into someone you haven’t seen for ages (37%)
• Finding out someone likes you (36%)
• Landing at the holiday airport (33%)
• Someone offering an elderly person their seat on a bus or train (31%)
• Watching other people fall over (30%)
• Bank holidays (29%)
• The smell of a Sunday roast (29%)
• Swimming in the sea (28%)

Feel free to check out our in-depth offering of quotes on many additional subjects should you be in need of a refreshing thought, idea, slogan or profound nugget for an upcoming meeting, presentation, or lunch room bulletin board.

We offer interesting quotes on the subjects of attitude, change, chaos, creativity, customer service, dreams, employee engagement, employees, empowerment, enthusiasm, execution, fear, gender, goals, leadership, mentoring, motivation, networking, passion, patience, persistence, politics, potential, random acts of kindness, reading, repetition, sales, sense of urgency, teachers, teamwork, time management, women, and now smiling!

Click on “Words of Wisdom” in order to review our entire offering. Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

Time:

• Some waste it.
• Most need more.
• Many try to save it.
• No one has enough.

This “time challenge” is nothing new. It’s been around since time immemorial.

It will be with us until the end of time. It’s how we make the most of our time that differentiates the successful from those who continue to suffer the consequences of stress.

Would you like to see how fast and effortless you can actually change your life? You might be surprised! Read on to discover this powerful strategy … unless you don’t have time!

Think about this:

How many minutes are in one year? In a non-leap year, there are 525,600 minutes in one year. In a leap year, there are 527,040 minutes.

Of those Five Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Six Hundred minutes you were blessed with last year, how many were devoted to:

• Learning?
• In church?
• Meditating?
• Exercising?
• Researching?
• Bench marking?
• Deep breathing?
• Reading a book?
• Exploring nature?
• Volunteering in your community?
• Casually chatting with your parents?
• Casually chatting with your siblings?
• Casually chatting with your children?
• Casually chatting with your neighbors?
• Casually chatting with your co-workers?
• Casually chatting with your grandchildren?
• Sharing your experience and expertise as a tutor?
• Sharing your experience and expertise as a mentor?
• Casually chatting with your spouse or significant other?

If you had invested some of those precious moments in any of the above activities, you’d be better off today in so many ways. By the way, what were you doing that didn’t permit you to invest even a few of those moments in one of the activities listed above?

Let’s do a couple of quick re-frames. Be honest as you answer the following.

Re-frame #1

Let’s say you dropped dead right now. You get to wherever you’re going, take a deep, well-deserved breath, grab a comfortable chair, and look back closely over the past year of your life. Are you satisfied with how you invested your time during your last year on earth? If you could, would you change your time allotments? Would you and those in your life prefer that you had spent more of those final moments investing in the areas mentioned above? It’s not too late!

Re-frame #2

Let’s say it’s time for your annual physical check-up. You’re close to your doctor so he doesn’t hesitate being very frank with you. After some tests, he sits down with you and explains that you have one year to live. Absolutely certain. You’ll be able to conduct your daily routine as usual. No pain. No limitations. At the end of one year, your death will be painless, but certain.

After you get over the initial shock, you start to focus on the coming year and how you’re going to spend it. More time at work? Bringing more work home? Maybe considering some of those things mentioned above? Five minutes ago you probably thought something along the lines of: “Nice list. Very touching. That would be nice. However, the reality is I’m too busy for that stuff. I have a life to live!”

How do you feel knowing that life now consists of just 525,600 minutes? How do you want to spend them now? See how quickly you can re-frame your thinking … change your mind and actions, and enhance the lives of others as well as your own? That’s a tremendous skill which YOU possess. Why wait until you hear from the doctor? Do it now! Avoid regret! Are you SPENDING your time or INVESTING your time. Think about it!

I hope reading this message didn’t waste any of your time!

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

We’ve added still another category to our growing list of “Words of Wisdom” subjects, bringing our current total to 32 categories.

As I mentioned in Monday’s article, yesterday was Teacher Appreciation Day and we’re also currently in the midst of Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s a shame that we don’t celebrate the contributions of these “special angels” every day of the year as they certainly deserve the adulation and support.

As you read the various “Words of Wisdom” focusing on teachers, think about sharing them with your family, friends, and associates and encourage them all to “Thank a Teacher” as often as possible! You’ll appreciate it as much as the teachers do!

Feel free to check out our in-depth offering of quotes on many additional subjects should you be in need of a refreshing thought, idea, slogan or profound nugget for an upcoming meeting, presentation, or lunch room bulletin board.

We offer interesting quotes on the subjects of attitude, change, chaos, creativity, customer service, dreams, employee engagement, employees, empowerment, enthusiasm, execution, fear, gender, goals, leadership, mentoring, motivation, networking, passion, patience, persistence, politics, potential, random acts of kindness, reading, repetition, sales, sense of urgency, teamwork, time management, women, and now teachers!

Click on “Words of Wisdom” in order to review our entire offering.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

Let me share a few figures with you that should shock you if you’ll pause to think about them for just a moment!

1. There are 4,146 colleges and universities in the U.S. alone.
2. There are approximately 15.9 million students enrolled in the nation’s colleges and universities this year.
3. Average tuition, room and board (for in-state students) at the nation’s four-year public colleges and universities for an entire academic year is $9,953. Remember, however, this is the average cost which means 50% are paying more than this figure.

If you’d like, you can grab a calculator and stun yourself as to the number of dollars being invested in higher education today, but that’s not really necessary. I think everyone knows the kind of money we’re talking about.

Isn’t it somewhat ironic that parents all across this great country are willing to mortgage their homes, cash in stocks and bonds, and save or make loan payments for what seems forever … and to what end?

Obviously, it’s to obtain a great education for their children to ready them for a career that will hopefully provide security and content.

And yet the majority of those parents who are ready to make these major sacrifices won’t sit down with their children and spend some time sharing their own experiences and life lessons and sharing simple values which could easily change the lives of their offspring.

There are so many simple values that can have an incredible impact on your children if imparted properly by loving and caring parents. Look at life in the U.S. today and consider how many leaders in business, politics, education, military, etc. say one thing and yet do another or, worse yet, nothing at all. At the moment, it’s crippling our country and stifling our progress! You read it in the papers every night or see it on television 24/7.

I wonder how many of those headline-grabbing leaders were ever told the importance of simply Walking the Talk? What a difference that might have had on today’s society and culture! Did YOU ever receive that message? Are you going to readily invest a little time and love to make certain your children understand the importance of this simple but powerful message. It can change the world! And this is just one of many very simple values we should be sharing.

If you’re uncertain as how to impart such a message, take a look at this short video on “Walking the Talk.” It’ll give you some expert talking points. In fact, better yet, share the video itself with your children followed by a interactive discussion on the subject. You’ll be glad you did!

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

Over the past month, I’ve provided two dozen questions that hopefully cause you to think in a refreshing exercise of truth and revelation.

The response has been very positive so here’s another dozen questions I hope you enjoy answering. I think you’ll discover some personal insight you might find not only revealing but, in some cases, even surprising.

1. If you had to develop a brand-new course to be taught in colleges, what would it be?
2. If you could erect a lighthouse that would guide all human beings toward one particular virtue, which virtue would it be?
3. When you were a child, what job did you most want to have when you grew up?
4. Which of the seven dwarfs personifies you best—Dopey, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Grumpy, Happy, or Doc?
5. If you could bring back any tradition that seems to have faded into the past, what tradition would you bring back?
6. In hindsight, what particular class in school, at any level, above all others do you wish you had paid more attention to or taken more seriously and why?
7. What is the greatest lesson you’ve learned in life thus far?
8. What fear do you most want to be rid of forever?
9. You are offered an envelope that you know contains $50. You are then told that you may either keep it or exchange it for another envelope that may contain $500 or may be empty. Do you keep the first envelope or do you take your chances with the second?
10. Where do you turn for tough decisions?
11. If you could eliminate one month on the calendar, going directly from the month preceding it to the month following it, which month would it be?
12. If you could wake up tomorrow morning fluent in any language, which language would you choose?

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.

We’ve added still another category to our growing list of “Words of Wisdom” subjects, bringing our current total to 31 categories.

I can’t think of a more suitable time in our lifetime to focus on the importance of “patience” than right now. The entire country is being asked to be patient at a time when it appears almost impossible to do for so many.

While patience appears critical at the moment, it’s always been a crucial trait for those striving to achieve success. However, in today’s world of continuous technology enhancements, the word patience is almost becoming extinct. Everyone wants everything right now … and in many cases, can get it. And yet, each day continues to be twenty-four hours, the week continues to be seven days, and the year continues to be 52 weeks.

Therefore we can continue to schedule our daily activities in such a way as to avoid the chaos which seems to mount with each passing day. Respect the value of patience and practice it regularly. The results will be phenomenal!

Feel free to check out our in-depth offering of quotes on many additional subjects should you be in need of a refreshing thought, idea, slogan or profound nugget for an upcoming meeting, presentation, or lunch room bulletin board.

We offer interesting quotes on the subjects of attitude, change, chaos, creativity, customer service, dreams, employee engagement, employees, empowerment, enthusiasm, execution, fear, gender, goals, leadership, mentoring, motivation, networking, passion, persistence, politics, potential, random acts of kindness, reading, repetition, sales, sense of urgency, teamwork, time management, women, and now patience!

Click on “Words of Wisdom” in order to review our entire offering.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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.