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Act As If

December 9, 2008 by Cathy Stucker

confident.jpgIf you want your life to change, one simple thing you can do is to act as though the change has already occurred. If you want to achieve something, act as though you have already gotten your desired result. If you want to possess a certain quality, act as if you already do.

Want to be happy? Act as though you are happy.

Want recharge your marriage? Remember how you felt in the early days of your relationship, and act that way again.

Want to have a job you can love? Act as though you love your current job.

Want to be more confidant? Act as though you are confident.

Acting as if you already have what you want will change your attitude to a more positive one. It will also alter how you behave toward other people and how they react to you. You will create the habits necessary to get—and be—what you want.

Acting as if is not easy. It takes practice and reinforcement. You will need to change the negative thoughts and actions that have become habits over many years. Cut yourself some slack while you are establishing new patterns, but keep acting as if and your new attitude will become a habit.

Try it—and be amazed by the results!

Filed Under: Life Lessons, Making Changes, Positive Thinking

Dealing with Criticism

November 22, 2008 by Cathy Stucker

criticism.jpgWhen someone criticizes you, how to you react? Do you tell them to, “Take a hike, jerkface,” or do you crawl off to a corner to sob? Neither of those reactions is particularly useful.

Getting defensive when someone criticizes you is a normal reaction, but if you are willing to accept constructive criticism you can improve. The criticism may be of your business, your products or you personally—if you can get past your initial reaction, you may find it helpful.

I have presented seminars for years, including about a year for a major public seminar company. Every day I faced an audience of 50 to 400 people, many of whom were sent by their bosses and did not want to be there. At the end of the day, they got to say whatever they wanted, anonymously, on the evaluation form.

Fortunately for my ego, most of the evaluations were positive. People talked about how I kept their interest and how much they learned. But sometimes they said I talked too fast (Oops. Yes, I do that.) and sometimes they lobbed gratuitous insults rather than offering constructive criticism. One person didn’t like my hair, another criticized the color of my jacket, and someone else said I was too short.

My favorite comment was from someone who said, “She tries to be funny and it makes her even more annoying.” “Even more annoying”? So this person did not like me from the git-go, and when I opened my mouth, things went downhill from there. What can you do when you read something like that but laugh?

The secret to handling criticism is to know when to pay attention to it and when to shrug it off. The people who said I talked too fast—well, they had a point. I do sometimes talk too fast. Seeing comments like that made me more aware of it, and reminded me to slow down and breathe once in a while in future presentations. But to the people who said that my jacket was too bright or I was too short, geez, get a life.

When you are in the public arena, you will be criticized, sometimes fairly, sometimes not. You need to develop a thick skin so that the ridiculous insults do not draw blood, but recognize when someone offers criticism that can make you, your business or your products better. Here are some ways to do that. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Life Lessons Tagged With: Critic, criticism, feedback, Success

Lessons from Hurricane Ike

September 22, 2008 by Cathy Stucker

hurricane.jpgI live in the Houston, Texas, area, and we took a direct hit from Hurricane Ike about 10 days ago. Although my husband and I were fortunate in that our home suffered little damage, we did spend more than a week waiting for the power to come back on. You do not realize how dependent you are on modern conveniences until you are forced to go without them for a while. Internet access, power for computers, televisions and other devices, air conditioning and even ice soon seemed like luxuries.

I learned a few things this week that I wanted to share with you. As I thought about these lessons, I realized that they would be helpful even when not facing a disaster. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Life Lessons

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