Archived entries for Welcome to Monday Morning

Welcome to Monday Morning: Listening

Listen! Or your tongue will make you deaf

Cherokee saying

Thought for the week

Most of us view listening as a passive form of activity, a time when we can formulate our next question, prepare our next line of attack or even daydream. Listening is in fact a very active skill, involving focusing our attention and concentration on the individual doing the talking. When listening is done in this way, the listener is looking to understand what is really being said, picking up the non-verbal cues ? what hasn't been said ? and the underlying emotion of the speaker.

Challenge for the week

What kinds of conversation would benefit from active listening? Would your sales results or personal relationships improve? Do you think you would have less need to ask co-workers to repeat themselves?

Welcome to Monday Morning: What Do You Want?

The trouble with many plans is that they are based on the way things are now. To be successful, your personal plan must focus on what you want, not what you have

Nido Qubein

Thought for the week

This is a simple enough question ? or is it? Given the increase in consumer spending, we could think that what we really want is more shoes, cars, clothes and handbags! Are these things a fulfilling reward for all our hard work?

Challenge for the week

What do you value? What do you think you will want tomorrow, next year, in five years' time?

Welcome to Monday Morning: Pay-Play Balance

If you love what you do, you will never work another day in your life

Confucius

Thought for the week

Tradition has it that we get paid for work but not for play. The difference is that work is something we don't enjoy and is full of effort, and play is something that is effortless and fun. But when we love what we do, our work is no longer work to us, it becomes play!

Challenge for the week

What kinds of activities do you find enjoyable and effortless? When was the last time you lost track of time doing something you loved? What were you doing?

Welcome to Monday Morning: The Childish Mind

Children share with geniuses an open, inquiring, uninhibited quality of mind

Chauncey Guy Suits

Thought for the week

As we become older we gather knowledge, information, ideas and concepts. We take on beliefs and attitudes, most of the time unconsciously. Then most of us surround ourselves with co-workers and friends who share similar knowledge and mindsets. It comes as a shock when we meet people who disagree with or contradict us, and we often act defensively, rather than embracing the opportunity to question and refine our knowledge and mindsets.

Challenge for the week

Do you surround yourself with people similar to yourself? Do you tend to read the same newspapers and magazines and follow the same radio or TV programmes? In what small way could you challenge your knowledge and mindsets this week?

Welcome to Monday Morning: Good Humour

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humour in anything – even poverty – you can survive it.

Bill Cosby

Thought for the week

Good humour can be considered a tonic for mind and body and recent research has shown it to be an excellent antidote for anxiety and depression. Indeed, we could consider it to be a business asset as it attracts and generates good relationships and can improve office moral.

Challenge for the week

What kind of humour do you enjoy? Is there a humorous story or joke that you could share with a colleague or friend this week?

Welcome to Monday Morning: Creativity

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play

John Cleese

Thought for the week

The dictionary describes creativity as having the power to bring something into being. This sounds pretty amazing, and indeed it is. In our businesses and work places creativity can be used to originate new ideas, concepts, processes, structures, ways of solving problems and generally gain us more of our market share.

Challenge for the week

How would you or your organisation benefit from the creative touch this week?

Welcome to Monday Morning: Have patience With Yourself

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew

Francis de Sales

Thought for the week

As human beings we often forget that we are not perfect. Indeed, it is our imperfections that make us interesting, beautiful and most importantly alive! As human beings we have the choice to think of each day, as a fresh day acknowledging the things that went wrong the day before, learning the lessons from them and then doing them differently the following day.

Challenge for the week

In what areas of your life do you need to be more patient with yourself? What would a fresh new start mean for you?

Welcome to Monday Morning: Solving Problems

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them

Albert Einstein

Thought for the week

For the entrepreneur, solving problems is an everyday occurrence. If we were to look at these problems closely, however, we would probably notice that they were of different types. Some are practical, while others are more esoteric. Some can be solved in a straightforward manner, while others need to be looked at more laterally. But in order to solve them, we quite often need to be in a different mind-set. Examples are the creative mind-set, where all possibilities are available; the pessimistic mind-set, where we assume that all things will go wrong; and the pragmatic mind-set , where all ideas have to be practical.

Challenge for the week

What kind of mind-set do you have? What kinds of mind-sets would you like to help you solve problems? What sorts of mind-sets do the people around you have? How could you include them in solving difficult problems?

Welcome to Monday Morning: Timing

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time

Saint Francis de Sales

Thought for the week

A sense of timing allows us to understand when to take action and when to back away. Judging when we need to intervene and when to leave well enough alone is a constant challenge. Those who have perfect timing often operate on the level of intuition.

Challenge for the week

What activities this week would benefit from the power of withdrawing and waiting until a better time? What other kinds of activity would benefit from the power of acting now?

Welcome to Monday Morning: Enjoy Your Differences

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge

Dale Carnegie

Thought for the week

Most of us find it very uncomfortable dealing with people who are different from ourselves. Quite often these differences bring difficult conversations and awkward meetings. However, they challenge us to see the world with new eyes, to accept that our view of the world is just one perspective. These differences also allow for very creative solutions.

Challenge for the week

Take this week to notice people who are different from yourself. What do they have to teach you?

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