“God is the silent partner in all great enterprises.” A Lincoln. Lincoln was one of our best presidents ever, and why? Well for starters he understood the relationship between effort and failure, but he also had a very deep spiritual perception of life and all of its problems, challenges, and successes. My mentor and friend for many years, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones was a huge advocate of his, and we spent many nights in Mechanicsburg discussing his traits and shortcomings, but one thing always stood out – regardless of the outcome – challenge, problem, or success he always had a “God-focused” attitude. I learned from Charlie’s and my conversations that I needed to also bring this type of perspective into all of my life activities, both personal and career-related. In the beginning, it wasn’t always easy, and the outcomes were sometimes very painful but over time I learned to always put God into everything – my writing, my speaking, my selling, etc. And, with time I finally got it – and developed my “List of Life Mantras”. Two of them are “If what I plan, want, desire, or need happens I will get excited and if it doesn’t I won’t be disappointed.” And number two – “Life happens, change happens I can’t control most of it, but I can control how I choose to respond to these.” By the way, if you would like my complete list (it’s just one page) I’m happy to send it to you just send me a quick email requesting the page.
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get it.” M. Gandhi. One of the major skills I teach in many of my training courses including selling, management, leadership, relationships, and life in general is – if you want something sooner or later you are going to have to ask for it. It will not come to you while you wait and hope. Asking is easy but it can also be very difficult as it depends on two concepts; one – what you want and why you want it. And two – how the other person, group, enterprise, or life, in general, is going to react or respond to your request or question. I’ll throw in one more of my Life Mantras that can relate to this issue. “When you go against a higher authority it’s not whether you are going to win or lose but how much are you willing to lose?” It can also depend on how you ask, your motives for asking, and your communication style of asking. So, yes it can be complicated. If you would like my booklet on questions let me know – it’s on me. But I will close this with just two quick questions. One – know why you are asking and whether you can handle an answer that doesn’t meet your expectations. Two – Is the timing of your asking appropriate or would sooner or later be more effective?