Quick Time Management Tip – Delegate Right!!
Quick Time Management Tip – Delegate Right
(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)
We can accomplish a lot more with help. We shouldn’t just delegate to full-time employees. Delegating can also include others whom we turn to so that we can progress in other ways. Outsourcing is delegating. I outsource my lawn care, bookkeeping, and pizza baking. (Thanks, Pizza Hut.)
Delegation is not dumping. As leaders, if something we assign doesn’t get done right, it is on us. Either WE:
A.) did not communicate the task clearly enough, and/or provide the right tools; or we
B.) delegated the task to the wrong person.
Delegating to wrong person with wrong info leads to change.
Delegating to right person with wrong info leads to change.
Delegating to wrong person with right info leads to change.
Delegating to right person with right info leads to progress.
The right info means providing:
- Clear goals (Objectives must be clear, but allow attendant procedures to vary. Guard against any tendency you may have to micro-manage.)
- Training (classroom and/or on the job)
- Realistic deadlines (Make sure those you delegate to know the relative importance of the task.)
- Rewards/Consequences
What on your To-Do List can be handled by someone else?
What are some things you are doing daily that others could do, so that you would have the time to do the things YOU want to do?
“In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.” – Sir John Lubbock
(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)
Be Progress.
C.S. Lewis Quote on Progress
C.S. Lewis Quote on Progress
“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
– C.S. Lewis
10 CUSTOMER Loyalty Tips
10 CUSTOMER Loyalty Tips from Dean Lindsay, Customer Loyalty Speaker
For Video clips of Dean Lindsay in action click here.
Customers offer the three priceless Rs: Revenue, Referrals and REALITY.
ONLY 1 out of 25 Dissatisfied Customers tell the business they are dissatisfied.
Over 90% of all Complaining Customers will do business with you again if you resolve their complaint quickly and professionally.
True Customer Loyalty begins and ends with the RELATIONSHIP. Solid Customer Relationships cannot be purchased; they must be earned.
It costs up to five times as much to attract new customers as it does to keep existing customers.
Customer complaints are one of the most inexpensive, available, useful and yet ignored forms of customer market data.
When you answer the phone, your company’s image is on the line.
Courteous service is imperative but courtesy is not a substitute for Competence. Building trust with customers often takes Problem Solving.
That customers we wish would just go away, will eventually GO AWAY — along with their business and possible referrals. Be careful what you wish for.
Business Networking Speaker – Funny Video on How to Remember Names
Business Networking Speaker – Funny Video on How to Remember Names
Dean Lindsay, author of Cracking the Networking CODE: 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships
An authority on harnessing human potential and creating authentic business growth, business networking speaker Dean Lindsay is an engaging and highly sought-after business consultant and speaker. He is an active member of the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy and the American Society of Training and Development.
Dean Lindsay sees an important connection between sales, motivation, solid customer care and leadership. All are achieved by effectively positioning ideas, recommendations, solutions, products, services – even ourselves – as PROGRESS in minds of those we wish to inspire to action. All must be positioned as Progress and NOT Change. It is natural to resist change but we embrace PROGRESS. All progress is change but not all change is PROGRESS.
Dean is a featured contributor to Executive Travel, Sales and Service Excellence and the American Management Association’s Moving Ahead magazine as well as the nationally distributed audio publication Selling Power Live. He has been spotlighted as an Outstanding Speaker by the International Association of Speakers Bureaus and recognized as a ‘Sales-and-Networking Guru’ by the Dallas Business Journal.
“Dean Lindsay is an outstanding thought leader on the subject of developing priceless business relationships.” — Willis Turner, President of Sales and Marketing Executives International
Dean has served as Guest Lecturer to International Customer Management Institute as well as both the UCLA and University of Dallas MBA programs. He is a Cum laude graduate of the University of North Texas and serves on the Executive Advisory Board for UNT’s Department of Marketing and Logistics and the Board of Directors of the UNT Alumni Association. Dean’s first book, Cracking the Networking CODE: 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships is Recommended Reading by United Professional Sales Association and Profit magazine.
Click for more info on Business Networking Speaker - Funny Video on How to Remember Names
Dean Lindsay, author of Cracking the Networking CODE: 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships
Ten Back to School Quotes
Ten Back to School Quotes
Compiled by Dean Lindsay, author of The Progress Challenge and Cracking the Networking CODE
Back to School Quote # 1
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” — William Arthur Ward
Back to School Quote # 2
“All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.” — Martin H. Fischer
Back to School Quote # 3
“The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions.” — Bishop Mandell Creighton
Back to School Quote # 4
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” — Henry Brooks Adams
Back to School Quote # 5
“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” — Clay P. Bedford
Back to School Quote # 6
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.” — Winston Churchill
Back to School Quote # 7
“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.” — Mortimer Adler
Back to School Quote # 8
“Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.” — Thomas Szasz
Back to School Quote # 9
“Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.” — Dana Stewart Scott
Back to School Quote # 10
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler
Quick Stress Management Tip – Find and Create Humor
Quick Stress Management Tip – Find and Create Humor
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As legendary director Mel Brooks said, “Humor is just another defense against the universe.” Our minds can only focus on one thing at a time. When we find the humor in a situation, it automatically relieves stress because the humor takes the place of stress, washing it away in waves of laughter and sometimes even rivers of tears. Laughter is good medicine.
Humor is a learned coping skill that improves with practice. When we laugh, similar to when we exercise, endorphins are released in the brain that help us feel better about the situation and offer more energy to tackle challenges. “Belly laughs” are also said to give our innards a good workout, massaging our organs while warming our hearts. Touching, isn’t it?
“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs – jolted by every pebble on the road.” – Henry Ward Beecher
Humor also happens to be profitable. People are drawn to people who are upbeat and have a positive, jovial frame of mind. Professionals who maintain a sense of humor gain respect. Find what makes you laugh. And be sure to laugh at yourself from time to time.
What makes you laugh?
Where is the humor in the situation?
Be Progress.
The Little Mind That Could – Puff, Puff, Chug, Chug
The Little Mind That Could (an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)
Subscribe Free to the Monthly Newsletter, “The Progress Challenge” HERE
I was listening to my elder daughter, Sofia, reading Wally Piper’s classic The Little Engine That Could to her younger sister, Ella, one night and it occurred to me what a powerful little story it is. In his book, Mr. Piper shares the story of a little red engine pulling a train “filled full of good things for boys and girls” on the other side of a mountain.
When the little red engine breaks down, a toy clown hops off the little train and starts asking larger passing trains if they will help.
The first two trains refuse to help because they feel they are too big and important to pull toys and goodies.
A rusty third train relates that he is too old and tired to help, and chugs away saying, “I can not. I can not. I can not.”
Finally, a little blue engine passes by and stops immediately when she sees the clown waving. The little engine’s first words are, “What is the matter, my friends?”
The clown relays the challenge, and the little blue engine explains that she has never been over the mountain. She then sees the tears in the dolls’ eyes and thinks of the good little girls and boys who will not have any toys to play with or good food to eat unless she helps. She looks at the mountain and says, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”
The little blue engine hitches herself to the little train and starts tugging and pulling and pulling and tugging. Slowly, the train moves forward.
“Puff, puff, chug, chug, went the Little Blue Engine. ‘I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.’” – from The Little Engine That Could by Wally Piper
Up they go, ever so slowly to the top of the mountain. When they reach the top, the toys cheer. After coming down the mountain and unhitching the train, the little blue engine chugs away, saying happily, “I thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could.”
The conviction that we have the power to progress is a major key to progressing. Remember, our brains want to be right. Whatever the mind believes, it will work to make true.
But, the little blue engine didn’t say, “I think I can,” only one time. She said it over and over and over and over. Repetition, repetition, repetition.
What do you think that little blue engine will say next time she is asked to pull a train over a mountain?
Will she say, “I think I can”?
I think not. She will say, “Yes, I can.”
Also, the little blue engine did not say, “I think I can,” and then glide away. She said it and immediately hitched herself to the little train and started tugging and pulling and pulling and tugging. To progress in this world of change, there must be ACTION. No dallying!
The little blue engine had to tug and pull to reach her goal.
Will some of the progressive action steps that you and your company need to take to climb that mountain and reach your crafted goals be painful? Yes. Again, consider:
What is more painful to you, discipline or regret?
Finally, the little blue engine had strong reasons. She saw the tears in the dolls’ eyes and considered the little children, who would not have any toys or good food to eat unless she helped. She would feel pain if she didn’t help, and would gain pleasure, prestige, and power if she did.
Develop strong reasons for taking strong action. Remind yourself often of the personal benefits that reaching your and your company’s goals will have for your life. Help others develop strong reasons, so they too choose to take strong actions.
Define your Parameters for Progress.
Commit to well-crafted, progress-based goals.
Stop Changing and Start Progressing.
Uncover others’ Parameters for Progress.
Earn and Maintain Customer Loyalty.
Be a BAM and Believe you can help others progress.
Focus on Being Progress – not being perfect.
Believe in yourself. Chug. Chug. Puff. Puff.
Progress is a step forward. Take today’s step. To change is human; to progress, divine.
Be Progress.
(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)
How to Conquer the FEAR of Networking
How to Conquer the FEAR of Networking
an excerpt from Cracking the Networking CODE by Dean Lindsay
Questions we sometimes ask ourselves when considering networking:
What will people think when I walk across a room and approach them to start a conversation?
Will they think I am stupid, boring, pushy?
How’s my breath?
It can be intimidating to approach someone and start a conversation. Ralph Waldo Emerson knew the way around this universal fear, but most of all he knew the way through it: “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”
Progress agents get all the butterflies in their stomach to fly in formation and then soar above their comfort zone to a new, more expansive comfort zone. Don’t make networking more complicated than it needs to be. Develop strong networking skills so you can make connections without being rattled and intimidated. The more intimidated you are by the process, the less appealing you are in the process.
Emerson’s advice will help you overcome the fear of meeting new people. Use Nike’s formula and Just Do It! These new contacts may eventually become strategic partners, customers, employees, employers, or even best friends. Remember, most people enjoy offering assistance, information, and advice. No one is getting voted off the island at the end of the event.
“You are the one who can stretch your own horizon.” — Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin
Zig Ziglar often uses a popular acronym for fear. He says fear stands for: False Evidence Appearing Real. Right on, Zig.
Really, do not be a Mumpsimus. No, that is not misspelled and no, I didn’t call you a dirty word. Well, maybe I did – sort of. Mumpsimus (pronounced MUMP-si-mus) is a seldom-used word. Mumpsimus means:
A. a person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice.
B. an erroneous practice, use of language, or belief that is obstinately adhered to.
In other words, the unfortunate state of mumpsimus means pigheaded adherence to a notion or expression that is popular but obviously wrong. Do not be a mumpsimus about networking. It is not some bad, hard, or artificial experience. Resist the popular notion that networking is all fake sincerity and pushy behavior. That is just not so.
Networking is not about arm-twisting. It is not trying to get someone to do something that does not make sense for them to do. It is not scary old backslapping sales shenanigans. The simple fact is, most people are cool and want to meet you. You will not find Eeyore or Oscar the Grouch at most networking events.
I do need to mention, though, that no matter how cool, giving, and funny you are, there are going to be some folks who just don’t get it. They are not interested in anything or anybody, and are always bummed out.
My quick advice is: Move on. Do not let their flawed human thing rock you. Really, who can honestly say they enjoy talking to a negative blowhard? People like this expect the worst and that is exactly what they get. Somebody forgot to tell them that you create your own reality and if you expect bad stuff to happen, bad stuff happens.
You know the people I am talking about – the ones who look and act like they just ate a big steaming bowl of “ Catcher in the Rye.” They’re irritable, easily agitated, restless types who love a good argument. Chances are, they are not feeling too wonderful, either. They have no personal curb appeal.
So what are the possible causes of soreheaditus?
Maybe their back is out of alignment. That could make you a sourpuss.
Financial and personal problems can make someone a bellyacher.
Hating your job can make you crabby.
A bad haircut can undercut confidence.
A hangnail.
Hunger.
Perhaps it’s Monday.
Come to think of it, a lot of things can make people habitually irritable.
So how come more people are not walking around scowling and biting the heads off of bats? (Maybe because bats are hard to catch?). I’ll tell you the real reason. It’s all in their attitude. Those disgruntled people CHOOSE their bummed reaction to the world because they do not know how else to deal with it.
They need a little Monty Python. They need to “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” Progress agents have discovered that changing the way they look at things makes life easier in all aspects.
Think of Oscar the Grouch types as just nice people who have not yet been taught how to cope with life’s stresses and challenging moments. Taking responsibility for themselves and their choices has never occurred to them before. Maybe they grew up in a dysfunctional family and had no suitable role models to show them more appropriate ways of responding.
Progress agents always set a good example for faultfinders to follow. We adopt the “live and help prosper” philosophy, and we are not quick to make judgments.
So you can choose to tactfully walk away from a new contact who is letting off negative steam, or you can choose to stay a little while, lend a sympathetic ear, and try to guide the person to a new way of thinking. Friendly words of wisdom shared at the appropriate moment might make a difference. But be careful because uninvited advice is sometimes seen as a form of attack.
Do not take responsibility for these people or take their Holden Caulfield impression personally (Holden is the hilariously agitated protagonist and narrator of the JD Salinger novel, The Catcher in the Rye). They are probably bummed at the whole wide world. They may have been like this for most of their lives and they are probably not going to change just because you chatted with them for five to eight minutes at a business mixer.
But most people are cool, nice, enjoyable, and are there to connect. If they are not, they are making a far worse impression than you are. Shrug it off. Do not let these sad sacks curb your enthusiasm. Have fun. Enjoy the process. Life is too short (for you and everyone else).
Conquer the FEAR of Networking.
Be Progress.
More info on Cracking the Networking CODE by Dean Lindsay
Viktor Frankl Quotes – 21 of his BEST!
Viktor Frankl Quotes – 21 of his BEST!!
Compiled by Dean Lindsay, from The Progress Challenge : Working and Winning in a World of Change
Link to Frankl logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress #1 & #2
Link to part one of Dr. Viktor Frankl, life of
Link to The Original Thinker-Through
Viktor Frankl quotes # 1
“The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 2
“It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 3
“Being tolerant does not mean that I share another one’s belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another one’s right to believe, and obey, his own conscience.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 4
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 5
“Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 6
“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 7
“A human being is a deciding being.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 8
“What is to give light must endure burning.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 9
“Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 10
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 11
“Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 12
“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 13
“For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 14
“A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how.”” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 15
“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life… Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 16
“The existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in a state of boredom.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 17
“We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: 1. By doing a deed; 2. By experiencing a value; and 3. By suffering.” - Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 18
“We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation–just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer–we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 19
“Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 20
“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitudes” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl quotes # 21
“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” – Dr. Viktor Frankl
Be Progress.
Link to Frankl logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress #1 & #2
Link to part one of Dr. Viktor Frankl, life of
Link to The Original Thinker-Through
“As friend, colleague and assistant to Dr. Viktor Frankl for over twenty years, I can confidently share with you that Dean Lindsay gets it! His ability to integrate the inspirational theories of Dr. Viktor Frankl with contemporary business needs is extraordinary. Dean’s application of Frankl’s concepts of “freedom of choice” and “the defiant power of the human spirit” to modern business/sales is powerfully motivating. The Progress Challenge goes beyond telling us to “just do it” and, in a very readable way, tells us how to do it – or, in Dean’s words, how to be progress. A must read for business success!”
– Jay I. Levinson, Ph.D.
Former Special Assistant to Dr. Viktor FranklLink to Dean Lindsay info
Link to info on The Progress Challenge : Working and Winning in a World of Change
The Original Thinker-Through
The Original Thinker-Through 
- Interesting Frankl Facts :
by Dean Lindsay, from The Progress Challenge : Working and Winning in a World of Change
Link to Frankl logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress #1 & #2
Link to part one of Dr. Viktor Frankl, life of
During his youth, Viktor Frankl wrote to Sigmund Freud. After Freud replied, a lively correspondence developed.
Dr. Viktor Frankl traveled extensively, enjoyed a lifelong passion for mountain climbing, and even obtained his pilot’s license while in his sixties.
Dr. Viktor Frankl wrote over 30 books. However, in his autobiography, Frankl writes, “In my view, I was never a big thinker. But one thing I may have been through my life: a thorough and persistent “thinker-through.” (A thinker-through…I like that.)
Dr. Viktor Frankl died of cardiac arrest on the 2nd of September, 1997, in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 92.
Viktor Frankl was a great Thinker-Through!
Dr. Viktor Frankl was Progress!
Next up: Great Dr. Viktor Frankl Quotes!!!
“As friend, colleague and assistant to Dr. Viktor Frankl for over twenty years, I can confidently share with you that Dean Lindsay gets it! His ability to integrate the inspirational theories of Dr. Viktor Frankl with contemporary business needs is extraordinary. Dean’s application of Frankl’s concepts of “freedom of choice” and “the defiant power of the human spirit” to modern business/sales is powerfully motivating. The Progress Challenge goes beyond telling us to “just do it” and, in a very readable way, tells us how to do it – or, in Dean’s words, how to be progress. A must read for business success!”
– Jay I. Levinson, Ph.D.
Former Special Assistant to Dr. Viktor Frankl
Link to Frankl logotherapy Teachings for Business Progress #1 & #2
Link to part one of Dr. Viktor Frankl, life of
