People with intact Self-Esteem accept responsibility for everything they think, say, do, and feel.  People who have intact Self-Esteem like themselves regardless of the rejection, indifference, or criticism they receive from others.  People with intact Self-Esteem ask questions to show their interest in others.  People with intact Self-Esteem listen to others and give them their undivided attention.  People with intact Self-Esteem have great energy.  People with intact Self-Esteem are team players.  They help others succeed.  People with intact Self-Esteem accept others totally and unconditionally.  People with intact Self-Esteem are committed to a cause bigger than life.  People with intact Self-Esteem share their wisdom and skills with others.  People with intact Self-Esteem are at peace with themselves.  People with intact Self-Esteem can see the humorous side of life.  People with intact Self-Esteem help others feel important.

Do you meet many people who have intact Self-Esteem?  One way you can tell about a person’s Self-Esteem is the way they focus on people.  They create an atmosphere that is safe, secure, and comfortable. 

What about the management where you work?  Do they have intact Self-Esteem?  You can tell by how easy it is to talk with them.  Do they create an atmosphere of acceptance?  Can you speak freely about your pay, working conditions, learning opportunities, skills, benefits, etc.?  Are you encouraged to be congruent (your words, feelings, and behavior are in agreement) without fearing the loss of your job or career advancement?  Just because a person is financially successful or holds a respected position does not necessarily mean that they have intact Self-Esteem.  Their behavior will always let you know if a person’s Self-Esteem is intact.

Is your present pathway moving you toward your ultimate ideal career?  Would you say your work/career makes a difference?  Are you fulfilled with what you are doing?  How do you feel about having your child follow in your footsteps? Have you ever taken the time to write your own work/career plan?  Are you on purpose ?  Are you on purpose with your work/career or are you following someone else’s vision?

Take some time to review and write down your career history.   Begin with any job you had where you earned money.  This includes paper routes, baby-sitting, cutting grass, cleaning house, taking out the trash, etc.  Write what you liked best and least about each job.    What were your greatest qualities as a worker?  How did you acquire these skills?  Were there any skills you wanted to refine or develop?  Who were your favorite bosses?  What was it about their behavior that caused you to like working with them?

Based on where you are today, what are your five top skills?  What areas do you want to refine?  If you were someone else, would you want to be your employee or employer?  Are there any characteristics you would like to acquire to be an excellent employee, employer or entrepreneur?

Prepare a plan to obtain better career results and then, watch what happens!

I believe that strikes are caused by employees and managements’ lack of skills and/or their unintact Self-Esteem to negotiate and compromise.  It seems that we, as a society, have learned very little from history.  After every war, there is negotiating and compromising.

A strike is an indication that both management and employees need to communicate their needs, wants, and concerns, on an ongoing basis.  They need to be continually establishing a mutually beneficial relationship.

All events in our lives go through a process called gradualism.  A child grows into an adult by the body, mind and spirit changing through the years.  It is a process and it varies for each individual.

Business and organizations develop in similar fashion.  There is birth, infancy, childhood, the teen years, young adulthood, adulthood, maturity and the vintage years.  It does not happen overnight.  It is a process.  Along the way there is always a moment when employees and management become aware of their needs, wants, and values.  If there is a conflict concerning how these are to be met and fulfilled, then resolution needs to take place.  When people are deprived of a need at the point of its highest intensity they will have it met at some other time, in some other way.  This could include: sabotage, slowdowns, sickness, quitting or strikes.

With intact Self-Esteem, there is never a desire to strike because people will communicate at a level where both parties talk about their needs, wants, and values.  They will initiate negotiating and compromising appropriately to establish mutually beneficial results.  Employees and management will listen to everyone’s point of view and be able to create a viewing point that is mutually beneficial.

What is the real fear that causes a strike?  I believe it is the fear of losing control.  Employees want to maintain or achieve a dignified lifestyle.  Management wants to stay in business and make a profit.  Either or both may perceive that their wants will be infringed upon or ignored.

Strikes would not occur if both groups had intact Self-Eteem and were willing to negotiate and compromise.  In the end, both parties will do it anyway.  Does it make sense to negotiate and compromise up front?  I believe so.  Before there is even any sign of discomfort or miscommunication, continuing dialogue is necessary.

Do you ever go on “strike” with your friends, your family, your company, your own business or your associates?  All strikes could end when: people are sensitive to the needs, wants and values of each other; they invest time in cultivating harmonious relationships; they initiate describing their uncomfortable feelings with each other; they upgrade their people knowledge and skills; and they keep their Self-Esteem intact.

So the next time you hear about a strike, remember the words: sensitivity, time, relationships, initiate, knowledge,  Self-Esteem and activate them and  then, watch what happens! 

Affirm:

“I decide to avoid all strikes by negotiating and compromising now.”

There has never been anything with more powerful potential than an idea in the mind of a single person.  Einstein was a man who ate like other men and washed his face like other men.  Yet, beginning with the thinking of his mind we have been able to top the ultimate source of energy in nature.  Ideas are a dime a dozen.  It’s the idea that is acted upon which can make a difference.  I was reading a book recently about the thirty minds that shaped our civilization.  How many of the Great Thinkers do you recognize:

Jesus             Aquinas           Newton           Clerk Maxwell

Moses           Columbus        Rousseau         WilliamJames

Confucius  Machiavelli         Kant                Nietysche

Plato             Copernicus      Malthus           Pavlov

Aristotle       Luther             Clausewity      Freud

Euclid           Bacon              Darwin            Einstein       Wiener

Augustine  Descartes           Marx Keynes   Sartre

There are also many women who have impacted the world. See how many of these Great Thinkers you recognize: 

Sappho                                         Eleanor Roosevelt

Hildegard of Bingen                   Karen Horney

Sacajawea                                    Ruth Benedict

Margaret Fuller                            Anna Freud

Harriet Beecher Stowe                Margaret Mead

Susan B. Anthony                      Hannah Arendt

Elizabeth Blackwell                   Rachel Carson

Emma Curtis Hopkins              Mary Leakey

Marie Crie                                    Virginia Satir

Maria Montessori                       Shirley Chisholm

Mary McLeod Bethune             Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Helen Keller                                 Barbara Jordan

There you have it – 54 great thinkers.  How many of these individuals and their contribution to the world do you recognize?  Whose ideas make the most sense to you?  How have those ideas impacted your life?  Who are some of the other great thinkers you would like to investigate?  Do you want to be a great thinker?  What do you want to leave behind to grow?

Every day as you decide how to be productive, evaluate all of your ideas and then take action.  What career ideas will you use today to maximize your potential?  What book will you read today to improve your productivity?  What audio or video cassette will you play today to upgrade your competence?  What education course or seminar will you experience to invest more deeply in career knowledge?

Decide now to invest in great ideas and then, watch what happens!

Affirm:

“I now invest in great ideas of great
thinkers, including mine.”

Share with us your comments on this subject.

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For the short term break your next steps into very practical and specific baby steps that are measurable.  Like, I will communicate what I need and want to my spouse and children.  Assess your progress each day, week and month.  Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10.  In fact ask others for feedback on how you are doing.

Get an accountability partner, coach or mentor to help you stay on track.

Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen?  If you can live with that then the best that can happen will come to you.  If you want to get past the ordinary you need to intensify your activities so the extraordinary can exist.

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She was impressed with it first because she could not figure out what it was and the letter she knew mean something.  She tried all kinds of words and fianlly asked her mother to explain what the letters meant.

Lord I do give thee thanks for the abundance that is mine.  Wow the daugher said.  Now any time either of them forget what it means they are remined to say it out load.

What is a unique story or phrase that inspires you?

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