How Have You Grown?

When we speak about growth and results more often than not, we measure it with numbers.

• Sales were up
• Profits were down
• My grades were in the top ten percent
• I ran a mile in 10 minutes

Numbers are absolutely critical to measuring results……in most areas. It is easy to get number focused and miss what truly matters.

Numbers are truly important but what really matters is the impact that your efforts have on others. The measurement of your relationships, the human results are much harder to measure.

Even though numbers are truly important, it is the quality of your relationships that truly matter. You can have many positive measurements of success and improvement but if your relationships aren’t happy and fulfilling then all the positive results in the world won’t fill that void.

You can’t put a number on the value good relationships brings to you and others.

You can attain the numbers you desire in other areas and say you have been successful. Success is getting what you want. But, there is no complete success without happiness.

Happiness is wanting what you get. If you have the numbers and the good relationships you have it all. And that’s what truly matters.


For More Information: http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Connection

John Maxwell in reflecting on how to win with people say to get out of your “own little world.”

In order to connect with more people in a positive way you always need to be expanding your view. Otherwise the types of relationships you have will have a great deal of sameness and not add to this adventure called life.

How do you go about connecting with more people on different levels?

If you have a narrow view of people, go places you have never gone, meet the kinds of people you do not know, and do things you have not done before.

Step out of your comfort zone. The comfort zone, if not expanded whether it is in business, life or relationships becomes the zone of mediocrity.

If you go new places, meet new people and step out of your comfort zone you will change your perspective. Change your perspective and you will change your thinking. And when you change your thinking it will start changing your habits in how you relate to others.

Now, with these new experiences and connections you will see the bigger picture and how better to relate to others.


For more information: http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Adjustment

Life is full of surprises, and the adjustment of our attitudes is a lifelong project.

Only when you adjust your attitudes can you experience more of the wonderful things life has to offer.

If you believe that the only way to travel is to walk your range will be limited. If you have a positive attitude about bicycles you will be able to travel farther, and more importantly, faster which will allow you to see more things.

And when your attitude is positive about driving a car you will be able to travel farther and faster than if you walked or used a bicycle.

Your positive attitude to explore and change is what transports you to greater adventure and fulfillment in life.

Adjustment of our attitudes is the key to expanding this gift of adventure that is called life.

William Arthur Ward said, “Our destinies in life will never be determined by our complaining spirits or high expectations.

The pessimist complains about the wind
The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails.”

Lead yourself. It is up to you.

Adjust your sails. Let go of old attitudes and ways of doing things.

When you let go of the old can you lead yourself to more that is new, exciting, fun and ultimately fulfilling.


For more info: http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Managing Time?

Achievement takes time but it is not about managing time. All of us whether we are rich or poor, happy or unhappy have 24 hours in a day.

We all start with the same amount of time. What we manage is how we use our time.

And to do that effectively, you must have objectives and focus for each day. Not only that, but to stay focused you must be able to see a long term outcome that excites you.

Most people don’t take objectives seriously. They put average effort into a lot of things thinking that by being involved in a great number of activities that it will yield them greater results.

Notice the word ‘effort’ in the last sentence. It is the key to success. Effort is the amount of energy you are able to put into something.

When people say, “I don’t have enough time to do this” most of the time what they are really saying is that “I don’t have enough energy to do this.”

If you have the energy to put superior thought and effort into a few things then you will keep your focus, increase the odds of accomplishing your objectives and having greater success.

Think about how you are managing your energy. When you understand what gives you energy and what takes it away you will be ready to better utilize your time to accomplish your objectives.

How you manage your energy will determine what you do with your time.

For more information: www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

Jimmy Buffett in his song, Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, sings about changes and how nothing remains quite the same.

When we are trying to live our lives based on past memories and glories they are never the same. Why? Because the present we are now experiencing will color them. Sometimes they are lighter and sometimes they are darker.

Missing the great times of the past one can be grateful and happy that they had them or sad that they are not to be repeated.

That’s why living in the present with a purpose is so important. You must be creating those positive memories today that you can use as an impetus to create a better tomorrow.

Sadly, many people stop at creating a better present and wish for things as they were in the past. And their lives become full of deadening uniformity.

The great joy in life is that even if you can’t change your latitude you can change your attitude. Create a vision of the future you desire. Once you have that then you can start living in the present with meaning and purpose.

When the present becomes an exciting journey to the future you desire it will change your attitude and it may even change your latitude.

For more information: http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

The Power Of Hope

Hope’s power energizes us with excitement and anticipation as we look toward the future.

Hope is one of your most valuable possessions.

It’s been said that a person can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but only four seconds without hope.

If you want to help people win, build great relationships, build great teams then become a purveyor of hope.

For more information: http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Expectations

You set your expectations depending on where you have decided to pitch your tent today. Wherever you have pitched it will determine what you are expecting to happen in your life today, tomorrow, this year and beyond.

Where you pitch your tent is a reflection of the attitude you have. What attitude do you have?

If your thoughts are stuck and you’re focusing on what’s wrong or what’s not working, then it’s time to pull up your tent stakes!  It’s time to pack up your belongings and move out of the land of discouragement.

It’s time to move out of the “Not-going-to-happen” neighborhood and move into the new neighborhood of “Can-do-it-ville.”

It’s time to pack your bags and move into the land of hope, faith and expectation!

Every time you catch a negative thought and choose not to dwell on the positive, you are pitching your tent back in the “Not-going-to-happen” neighborhood.

Create higher expectations and move to a better place. Pitch your tent in “Can-do-it-ville.”

For more information: www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Letting Go And Faith

We all go through disappointments, setbacks and things that we don’t understand. Maybe you prayed for a loved one, but they didn’t get well. Or maybe you worked hard for a promotion, but you didn’t get it. You stood in faith for a relationship, but it didn’t work out. One of the best things you can do is release it. Let it go.

Don’t dwell on it anymore. If you go around wondering why things didn’t work out, all that’s going to do is lead to bitterness, resentment and self-pity. Before long, you’ll be blaming others, blaming yourself, or even God.

You may not have understood what happened. It may not have been fair. But when you release it, it’s an act of your faith. You’re saying, “God, I trust You. I know You’re in control. And even though it didn’t work out my way, You said, ‘All things are going to work together for my good.’ So I believe You still have something good in my future.”

There is power in letting go of the past and the frustration of trying to figure everything out. When you release your questions, you are saying, “God, You are in control. I trust You.” And when you put your hope in God, that’s when He can heal your heart and lead you forward into His path of blessing.

We all go through disappointments, setbacks and things that we don’t understand. Maybe you prayed for a loved one, but they didn’t get well. Or maybe you worked hard for a promotion, but you didn’t get it. You stood in faith for a relationship, but it didn’t work out. One of the best things you can do is release it. Let it go. Only when you master the art of letting go can you let yourself grow.

Let go of the past to grow into the future you desire. If you go around wondering why things didn’t work out, all that’s going to do is lead to bitterness, resentment and self-pity.

Before long, you’ll be blaming others, blaming yourself, or whatever is convenient. You may not have understood what happened. It may not have been fair. Letting go of the past is your act of faith and a step forward to a better tomorrow.

For more information: www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Intelligent Action

People often ask how they can make better decisions? How can they make better choices?

The answer is to make the future part of your current philosophy. With a picture of the future you desire both personally and professionally you will now be guided to make better decisions in the present.

When faced with a decision all you have to do is ask, “Is this leading me to the future I desire?”

If it is not, don’t do it. If it is the proceed.

But there is one thing that can get in the way. It is the past. Use the past as a guide as to how to move toward the future you desire. When you use the past as a guide and as a school, and not as a club on yourself about would have, could have or should have been, you will move forward.

You can now choose to take intelligent action in the present to create pathways to the future you desire. Intelligent action in the present revolves around one thing, clarity.

Once the future is finished in your mind, then what you need to do in the present becomes absolutely clear. When you are absolutely clear you will take intelligent action.

For more information please visit : http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com/intelligent-action/

Master The Small Disciplines

Are you mastering the small disciplines in your business and life? It is the small disciplines that lead to great accomplishments.

Success is about accumulation. The accumulation of many small disciplines performed well leads to great accomplishment.

The next time you let something go that needs to be done with the attitude that “it really doesn’t matter,” remember this.

Accumulating many small examples of a lack of discipline leads to failure. Failure, like success, is also an accumulation. Failure is the accumulation of many small errors in judgment repeated every day over a period of time.

Why is this important? It is the sum total of our past decisions that lead us to our current circumstances.

Master the small disciplines. They show us the correct way to step into success and the good life!

For more information please visit : http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com/master-the-small-disciplines

Business Keys To Success: Focus And Leadership

Control Your Internal Wheel

Control can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing.  For most people, the first thing they think of is that if I am in control that’s good and if someone else is then it is not.

Over years in my personal business coaching practice I have observed while collaborating with and supporting self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs, solo professionals, corporate managers, executives and individuals that most of them when they here the word “control” think of it externally.  Externally means either they are controlling someone or they are being controlled by someone.

To have small business success or any success for that matter, understanding and practicing internal control is essential.

Control What’s On The Inside

Yet, the most important control is not external.  It is internal.  Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, one of the greatest coaches who ever lived, said, “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

Wooden was known for stressing excellence to his players and encouraging them to work toward their potential.  He understood that what was happening on the inside controlled what was manifested on the outside.
 
Focus On What’s Under Your Control

He never made winning a championship his goal.  He focused on the journey, not the destination.  He and his players focused on being the best they could be on the inside.  And he had some major challenges with his star players including his famous center, Bill Walton.

Yet his work ethic and focus on the things within his control and imparting that to his players earned his UCLA teams four undefeated seasons, an eighty-eighth game winning streak, and an incredible ten national championships.  No one had ever done that before him, and no one has done it since.

Control Is Necessary For Greater Success

Coach Wooden focused on the journey, not the destination.  As you move forward on your success journey you need to remember that what happens in you is more important than what happens to you.

You can control your attitudes as you travel on this journey but you need to remember that you have no control over the actions of others.  You may influence someone but you can’t control them.  Too often, people mistake influence for control and end up being disappointed.

Control Comes From Self-Education

As you move forward learning internal control is part of your self-education process.  It doesn’t come from online training, online courses, corporate training, continuing education or business training.  All of these can add to your perspective on control.  But ultimately control resides inside of you.

Be In Control And Reduce Stress

Unfortunately, the majority of the fear and stress that people experience in life is from things they can do nothing about.  Don’t let that happen to you.  Be in control.see more at : www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Business Keys To Success: Leadership

Leadership-Be Out Front

One of my favorite quotations on leadership states, “Leadership isn’t taught.  It is caught.”  I can assure you that in my career as a self-employed business owner and as a personal business coach that there are several people who served me well as excellent role models of leadership.

In fact today, when I am in leadership positions, I refer back to some of those experiences to help guide me and make me a better leader.

Leadership-Think In A Larger Context

One of the things I have learned is that good leadership thinks in a broader context.  Leaders start by asking themselves, how will this impact my people or those around me?  But they go one step further.  They look at the impact on those above them and below them.

They look at things in the larger context.  They try to see everything in terms of the entire organization and beyond.

Leadership—Be Global

Good leadership has the ability to be global.  Leaders that are global have the ability to create the positive vision of the future that they and their team want to accomplish.  But in being global they also see how what they are doing will have in impact on other areas of the organization.

Or, if they are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur or solo professional, how they are going to have to change and what other changes are going to happen in order to grow the business and have small business success.

Leadership Is Influence

As John Maxwell says, “Leadership is influence.”  You can extend your leadership skills even further if you have what I call a spectrum component to add to the global outlook.

The spectrum component is the ability to see in broad terms the steps, time lines and project management that will be needed to take the team to the realization of the goal.

Leadership involves many other things but the above are a start.  Start looking at things in the larger context.  This leads to more global thinking.  Provide a linear or spectrum component, or what I call, the “how tos.”

But in the end, your leadership will be as effective as your influence.  Leadership is creating in others today a future willingness to follow you into something new for the sake of something great.  And the great leadership stories are about just that.  Leadership is about taking a group of followers into something new and ending up with something great.See more at : http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Business Keys To Success: Self-Discipline

The road to success and ultimately more happiness is paved with self-discipline.  Author H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates.  There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.”  If you know you have talent, and you’ve seen a lot of motion—but little concrete results—you may lack self-discipline.  The road to small business success, or any success for that matter and happiness is paved with self-discipline.

Self-discipline-Sort Out Your Priorities

What two or three areas of your life are vital to your success?  Write them down, along with the disciplines that you must develop to keep growing and improving in those areas.  Develop the disciplines and more importantly develop an action plan with concrete steps that you must apply whether it is daily or weekly.  Plan how they are going to become part of your life.

Self-discipline-List the Reasons

What are the benefits of practicing the disciplines you just listed?  Starting something new is not easy.  Without a positive vision of the benefits it is more challenging to follow through.  Post these benefits somewhere where you will see them daily.  In my personal business coaching practice I have observed the importance of constant visualization of what we want to accomplish and how it gives impetus to making it a reality.

Self-discipline—Get Rid of Excuses

Whether you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or corporate manager or executive all of us come up with excuses as to why we are not getting things done.  To eliminate the roadblocks to developing your new disciplines write down the reasons as to why you may not be able to follow through with them.  Read through them.  And then dismiss them as the excuses they are.

Here’s the hard part.  Even if a reason seems legitimate, find a solution to overcome it.  Don’t leave yourself any reasons to quit.  Remember that a discipline is the bridge between a thought and an action.  Only when you have the discipline to act do you have the power to achieve your dreams.

There is a nursery in Canada that displays this sign on their wall:  “The best time to plant a tree is twenty-five years ago…..The second best time is today.”  Plant the tree of self-discipline in your life today. see more at : http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

Houston Business Coach Steve Scott Teaches Key Leadership and Business Skills For Small Business Owners

In the last 35 years, Houston Business Coach, Steve Scott has started and built up several businesses. They ranged from a sole proprietorship to a multimillion dollar corporation with 80 employees. He’s worked in a variety of industries including financial, service, retail, manufacturing and international markets. Those experiences combined make Scott an ideal business coach to work with small business owners and solo entrepreneurs to tackle key skills that may be holding them back in making their business successful.

Sandy Vilas, CEO, CoachInc.com, MCC explains that Steve Scott has a gift of taking difficult concepts and putting them into ways that she can understand and remember. “For me, his approach and memorable stories have created pathways for greater accomplishment. Steve has given me a clarity of thought that has helped me see through the fog, and focus on the future.”

Scott’s goal as a business and life coach is to collaborate with and support professionals and business owners who are committed to having more in their businesses and lives. He works with clients who understand that through coaching they will have the accountability to create the future in business and life that they desire.

“I have known Steve Scott for over 40 years and I am hard pressed to think of anyone that I trust more and have more respect for,” Bryan Gorrie, Retirement and Business Coach says, “Steve is not only a good friend but someone that is deeply committed to supporting people in attaining what is most important to them in their lives.” Gorrie originally coached Steve to get trained as a coach because he saw a passion for working with others to find their bliss and attain new levels of success in their lives.

Client Reiland Larry, Owner at The Water’s Edge Spa says, “Steve Scott has provided me a way to find my own path in this complex world in which we live and work. He is the ‘Coach’ in every sense of the word!”

Scott’s coaching style utilizes stories and examples as well as real world application so clients can go out and make real changes to their business and themselves to become more successful. He’s built up a solid reputation as “The Houston Business Coach” over the last seven years and in recent years; he’s gained national and international coaching clients who appreciate his warm manner, true listening skills and practical solutions.

Learn more about Steve Scott, “The Houston Business Coach” at: http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com.

Business Keys To Success: Your Team And The Revolving Door

In any team sport, the key to sustained success is managing the revolving door of players. Players come and players go. In business it is the same. If you are leading a team, you are responsible for making sure that the revolving door is geared toward bringing in players who are better than those that are leaving.

                                  Keeping A Good Team

So how do you go about doing this? Whether you are a small business owner, entrepreneur or a business executive all of us know that situations, especially when it comes to employment, are not forever. A good start to managing the revolving door and keeping a good team is to place high value on the good people already on the team.
According to John Maxwell every team has three groups of players. The first is the starters, who directly add value to the organization or who directly influences its course. The second is the bench players, who indirectly add value to the organization or who support the starters. The third group is a core group within the starters that he calls the inner-circle members. Without these people the team would fall apart.

A Good Team Is An Evolving Process

Your job as a self-employed business owner, or corporate manager or executive is to make sure each group is continually developed so that bench players are able to step up to become starters, and starter are able to step up to become inner-circle members.

In my personal business coaching practice I have observed that the business owners and managers who understand the revolving door and how to have it work to their advantage have better and more productive teams.
If you are not sure who the inner circle members are on your team, then try this exercise: Write the names of the people on your team who are starters. Now determine the people you could most easily do without. One by one, check off the names of the people whose loss would hurt the team least if they left. At some point you will end up with a smaller group of people without whom the team would be dead. That’s your inner circle. At this point you can rank the remaining members of the team in order of importance.

Treatment of Team Members Must Match Their Value

Also, this is a good exercise to remind you of the value of the people on the team. And here’s another observation that Maxwell makes. If your treatment of those people doesn’t match their value, your run the risk of losing them and having your revolving door work against you and your team.

Here’s the question for moving your team forward in the small business or the corporate world. Does your treatment of your inner-circle members match their value? When it does your revolving door slows down and you are better able to manage it and your team. And your reputation will become one of a good team leader where people want your door to revolve so they can come in and be part of your team.for more information please visit-http://businesskeystosuccess.com/

Start with a Winning Attitude To Have Success in Your Walk of Life

Everyone wants to be highly successful in their personal and professional life. However, an individual merely does not “fall” into personal and professional success. Instead, there are many things increase the chances of success in both spheres of an individual’s life. Therefore, understanding what the keys to success are is a life-long process that begins with learning and self-discovery in grade school and throughout the rest of one’s life.

Learning the keys to success often starts in school and is complemented by a strong family unit. School teaches you valuable skills, including learning how to read, write, analyze and how to deal with people. As more and more people are enrolling in college, people learn more specialized skills to become an expert in a respective field. College courses, which include business principles, are often a key to help individuals start their own business. As starting your own business is a complex and risky venture, having as much knowledge as possible is essential to increase its chances of surviving and thriving.  

Starting your own business requires a lot of time, planning and execution that often time gives entrepreneurs a limited time-frame to make crucial decisions. Therefore, it is essential to learn as many small business keys to success as possible. One of the most valuable small business keys to success is making sure that you have enough experience and judgment to ensure that you can handle your business alone. Since many businesses are founded and run by the owner and operator for years, at least initially, having competence will increase your business  longevity.  

Entrepreneurs are often under a lot of stress when they first begin their venture and for many years after inception. When an entrepreneur is looking to create a business or get through a professional hurdle, he or she may need the services of a personal development coach. Seeking the services of professional develop coach often times gives an entrepreneur great personal development secrets. During each session, entrepreneurs are able to learn “how to succeed in business” secrets that if applied correctly will help their business grown efficiently and profitably.

However, entrepreneurs need to make sure that they use their precious time efficiently. If an entrepreneur does not use their time wisely, their business could overwhelm them and eventually fail if things are not planned properly. However, if an entrepreneur seeks out a personal development coach at the right time, and if they struggle with time management for example, they can learn that particular skill, along with other personal development secrets. Their professional skills, such as marketing, can be complemented by mentoring from a personal business coach.

 Therefore, an important key is having an open attitude that welcomes change.  Be willing to learn and to work with individuals and organizations with different perspectives.  When you do this  increases an individual’s chances of becoming successful at life and at their business. Learning how to be successful from an early age helps individuals learn how to build on their success and keeps them on track to keep learning and keep growing for a business and life of successes. For more information please visit-http://www.thehoustonbusinesscoach.com

About Author :-
First things first, I like to have fun with people and what I do. I am a personal business coach. Yes, I have received training and been coaching since 1983. I have gone through and continue to happily go through more personal development.

Personal development and its quest for personal growth, more often than not, are the missing links in the chain of business and personal success.As Warren Buffett once said, "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get."For more information please visit-http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com