Calvin Coolidge was the 30th President of the United States.  He was a small government Republican.  Comments on his presidency are eerily similar to what is being played out in US politics today.    Many historians look favorably on the reduction of the size of government programs during his presidency.  Others feel that the federal government under Coolidge should have been more involved in regulating and controlling the economy, and are not so quick to heap praise on his administration.

Coolidge was known as “Silent Cal” as he was a man of few words.  But when he did speak, he came up with some gems.  One of my very favorite life and career success quotes comes from Silent Cal Coolidge…

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

I was skimming through Napoleon Hill’s classic book Think and Grow Rich the other day when I came upon his thoughts on persistence.  They reflect President Coolidge’s…

“One of the main causes of failure is a lack of persistence.  You may overcome this weakness through effort and intensity of desire.  Will power is the basis of persistence; increasing your will or desire will help to strengthen your persistence…Persistence is not reliant on education or intelligence, and requires only a little bit of time and effort.  There are four simple, but necessary, steps that will lead to the practice of persistence:  1) a stated purpose, backed by burning desire, 2) a definite plan, expressed in continuous action, 3) a mind closed against criticism and discouragement, and 4) a friendly alliance with at least one person who will encourage you to follow through with your plans.  Persistence should become a habit.”

I really like Dr. Hill’s third and fourth points.  Tweet 49 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Surround yourself with positive people.  Hold them close.  They will give you energy and help you create the career success you deserve.”  Tweet 50 says, “Jettison the negative people in your life. They are energy black holes.  They will such you dry; but only if you let them.”

Persistent people, successful people, surround themselves with positive people – people who are both positive by nature, and positive about their life and career success.  Positive people are optimistic; and optimism is the first step in building your self-confidence and life and career success.

As Napoleon Hill points out, positive people help you feel good about yourself and become more persistent, because they feel good about themselves – and life in general.  They help you build your self-esteem because they have a strong sense of self-esteem.  Positive people are there when you begin to doubt yourself or when you want to give up.  They are not threatened by you or your success.  They realize that self-esteem is not a fixed pie.  There is an unlimited amount of it to go around, so positive people are always giving it away.  You can build your self-confidence and jumpstart your life and career success by spending your time with upbeat, positive people.

It’s pretty simple.  When you surround yourself with positive, self-confident people, you become positive and self-confident.  On the other hand, when you surround yourself with negative or cynical people, you become negative and cynical.

The choice is yours.  I choose to surround myself with positive people.  Not only do they help my self-confidence, they are more fun to be around.

I’m a big fan of Mark Twain.  One of my favorite quotes of his gets at the heart of surrounding yourself with positive people and jettisoning the negative people in your life…

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

Mark Twain and Napoleon Hill thnk alike when it comes to negative people.  Negative people are a drag on your goals and your ambitions.  They can hamper your chances of becoming a truly persistent and successful person.  They are quick to tell you what you can’t do, offer little encouragement, and hate to see you prove them wrong by succeeding.  Hold these kinds of people at arm’s length.  Don’t spend time with them.  Instead, invest in friendships with positive, upbeat people; the kind of people who not only don’t belittle your ambitions, but do what they can to help you make them a reality.

Cynics are negative people.  They are also dangerous, because they are seductive.  They always have something witty to say about others – usually others’ shortcomings.  At first, they seem to be funny and amusing.  But spend time with cynics, and you’ll find that they have little joy in life except in pointing out and reveling in others’ problems and failures.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Persistence will help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.  But as Napoleon Hill points out, no one — no matter how persistent — can go it alone.  Follow the career advice in Tweet 49 in Success Tweets.  “Surround yourself with positive people.  Hold them close.  They will give you energy and help you create the success you want and deserve.”  Positive people are great.  They feel good about themselves and life in general.  They are enthusiastic – and their enthusiasm is contagious.  When you surround yourself with positive people, you’ll become more positive and enthusiastic.  And, you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  Who are the most positive people you know?  Get to know them better, spend more time with them.  Don’t let negative people into your life.  Follow the career advice in Tweet 50 in Success Tweets.  “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  They will suck you dry, but only if you let them.”  Avoid cynics.  They are jealous and petty, unhappy when others succeed.  Avoid jerks too  – people who are rude, insulting, sarcastic and two-faced.  They will only drag you down.  Make a conscious choice to spend time with positive, optimistic people.  Avoid negative, pessimistic ones.

That’s my career advice on how positive people can help you become more persistent – and to achieve the career success you deserve.  What do you think?  Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  Thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I really appreciate your support.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

I saw some great career success advice in a Facebook posting by Nancy Arroyo Perez the other day.  It was a simple quote…

“I do it because I can.  I can because I want to.  I want to because you said I couldn’t.”

I love what Nancy has to say here.  As we go through life, all of us encounter naysayers and negative people.  The best way to deal naysayers and negative people is to prove them wrong.  Even better, hold them at arms’ length.  That way you won’t have to waste time proving them wrong.

Tweet 50 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  They will suck you dry; but only if you let them.”

I was leading a career success workshop the other day and I mentioned that self-confidence is the hinge on which career success swings, and that optimism and positive people are the most important ingredients in the self-confidence mix.  On the other hand, pessimism and negative can cause the success hinge to rust and become difficult to swing.  That’s why some of my best career advice is to hold tight to the positive people in your life and run – as fast as you can – from the negative ones.

For me, optimism begins with the ten points of The Optimist Creed.  I have given away a couple thousand copies of The Optimist Creed.  If you would like one, just go to http://budbilanich.com/optimist.

Let’s take a look at the difference between positive optimistic people and negative pessimistic people.

Positive, optimistic people tend to see problems, failures and setbacks as temporary.
Negative, pessimistic people tend to see problems, failures and setbacks as permanent – almost their destiny.

Positive, optimistic people see problems, failures and setbacks as isolated occurrences.
Negative, pessimistic people see problems, failures and setbacks as omnipresent – things from which you can’t escape.

Positive, optimistic people don’t take problems, failures and setbacks personally.
Negative, pessimistic people personalize problems, failures and setbacks.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I am an incurable optimist.  I see problems, failures and setbacks not only as temporary, but as opportunities to learn and grow.  I expect things to go well.  When I run into problems, failures and setbacks, I’m always a little surprised because I don’t expect them.  I do, however, plan for them.  Finally, I never take a problem, failure or setback personally.  I’m a human being.  Sometimes I make great decisions.  Sometimes I make poor ones.  My self-worth is not threatened by the occasional problem, failure or setback.

And I choose to hang around with positive, not negative people.

I’m a big fan of Mark Twain.  One of my favorite quotes of his gets at the heart of surrounding yourself with positive people and jettisoning the negative people in your life…

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

Negative people are a drag on your goals, your ambitions and your life and career success.  They are quick to tell you what you can’t do, offer little encouragement, and hate to see you prove them wrong by succeeding.  Hold these kinds of people at arm’s length.  Don’t spend time with them.  Instead, invest in friendships with positive, upbeat people; the kind of people who not only don’t belittle your ambitions, but do what they can to help you make them a reality.

Cynics are negative people.  They are also dangerous, because they are seductive.  They always have something witty to say about others – usually others’ shortcomings.  At first, they seem to be funny and amusing.  But spend time with cynics, and you’ll find that they have little joy in life except in pointing out and reveling in others’ problems and failures.

Ambrose Bierce may well be the biggest cynic the world have even seen.  I often see quotes attributed to him on line.  In the early 20th century, he published a book called The Devil’s Dictionary.  Even I admit that some of his definitions are pretty funny.  However, I get tired and frustrated after reading more than one or two.  Here are a couple of quotes from The Devil’s Dictionary…

“Optimism:  The doctrine that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong… It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.”

“Calamities: Two kinds – misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.”

No wonder ole’ Ambrose was called “Bitter Bierce” by his contemporaries.  First, he bashes optimism, then he suggests that human beings see the good fortune of others as a personal calamity.

Here are a couple of other entries in The Devil’s Dictionary…

“Politeness: The most acceptable hypocrisy.”

“Perseverance: A lowly virtue whereby mediocrity achieves an inglorious success.”

Do you know any people like Ambrose Bierce?  If you do, my best career advice is to hold them at arm’s length.  While you may find them to be witty and entertaining at first, they will drag you down in the long run.  They will not help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.

Point 6 of The Optimist Creed says…

“Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are of your own.”

This is 180 degrees from what Ambrose has to say.  Successful, self-confident people aren’t jealous or upset by the success of others.  They are genuinely pleased when they see others succeed.  They see the success of others as an inspiration.  They use it to motivate themselves to achieve bigger and better successes.  Negative people choose to see others’ successes as a personal affront.  Take it from a career success coach, these kinds of people will not help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.

Don’t let negative people into your life.  In my career success coach talks, I tell people…

“Allowing a few negative people to make themselves at home in your life is dangerous.  Their poison will quickly infect you.  Negative people try to clone themselves.  Spend too much time with them and you run the risk of becoming one yourself – and of limiting your chances to create the life and career success you deserve.”

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Successful, self-confident people don’t let negative people hamper their life and career success.  They follow the career advice in Tweet 50 in Success Tweets.  “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  They will suck you dry, but only if you let them.”   Cynics are negative people.  Avoid them.  They may be amusing at first, but in the long run they are jealous and petty, often unhappy when others succeed.  They will only drag you down.  Make a conscious choice to spend time with positive, optimistic people.  Avoid negative, pessimistic ones and you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s the career advice inspired by Nancy Arroyo Perez’ Facebook post, “I do it because I can.  I can because I want to.  I want to because you said I couldn’t.”  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

Self confidence is an important key to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  I always tell my career success coach clients that there are three keys to becoming self confident: 1) Choose to be optimistic, 2) Face your fears and act, and 3)Surround yourself with positive people.

Tweets 49 and 50 in my career advice book Success Tweets say, “Surround yourself with positive people.  Hold them close.  They will give you energy and help you create the career success you deserve.” (49)  “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  They will suck you dry; but only if you let them.”  (50)

“Good career advice,” you might say, “but how do I figure out exactly who are the positive and negative people in my life?”

Robin Harpe my friend and a career coach in Florida has provided a great resource to help you answer that question.  Below, you’ll find 20 questions you can ask yourself about anybody you know.  You might be surprised by how well some of the people you consider to be positive and supportive fare under this type of scrutiny.

Here are Robin’s 20 questions for determining exactly who are the positive and negative people in your life…

1. Do they return your phone calls, emails?
2. Do they honor their commitment to you?
3. Do they do what they say they will do?
4. Do they send you information, give you things that will help you without you asking?
5. Do you get things from them without continually have to ask over and over for then?
6. Do they ask questions that show they have been actively listening?
7. Do they only talk about themselves?
8. Do they always ask for favors, and then disappear when you have a need?
9. Do they demand things of you, giving off the impression they are better than you?
10. Do they apologize when they are wrong?
11. Do they blame everyone else, never accepting responsibility for their part?
12. Do they talk a good game but no follow through?
13. Do they accept total responsibility for everything?
14. Do they speak about themselves in third person?
15. Do they constantly say, “I could never do that”?
16. Do they constantly say, “I wish _____”?
17. Do they tell the same stories, over and over and over – nothing new?
18. Do those stories come from the glory days of their life?
19. Do they talk positively or negatively?
20. Do they subscribe to WOW customer service by giving you more value, and going out of their way and way above what you expected?

I like these questions.  My thanks to Robin for blogging about them.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  You have to be self confident to create the life and career success you want and deserve.  Surrounding yourself with positive people is an important confidence booster.  Positive people will lift you.  Negative people will drag you down.  Use the 20 questions above to help you figure out exactly who the positive and negative people in your life are.  Choose to hang around with positive, upbeat people and you’ll be on your way to the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on identifying the positive people in your life.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

Self confidence is an important key to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  I always tell my career success coach clients that there are three keys to becoming self confident: 1) Choose to be optimistic, 2) Face your fears and act, and 3)Surround yourself with positive people.

Tweets 49 and 50 in my career advice book Success Tweets say, “Surround yourself with positive people.  Hold them close.  They will give you energy and help you create the career success you deserve.” (49)  “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  They will suck you dry; but only if you let them.”  (50)

“Good career advice,” you might say, “but how do I figure out exactly who are the positive and negative people in my life?”

Robin Harpe my friend and a career coach in Florida has provided a great resource to help you answer that question.  Below, you’ll find 20 questions you can ask yourself about anybody you know.  You might be surprised by how well some of the people you consider to be positive and supportive fare under this type of scrutiny.

Here are Robin’s 20 questions for determining exactly who are the positive and negative people in your life…

1. Do they return your phone calls, emails?
2. Do they honor their commitment to you?
3. Do they do what they say they will do?
4. Do they send you information, give you things that will help you without you asking?
5. Do you get things from them without continually have to ask over and over for then?
6. Do they ask questions that show they have been actively listening?
7. Do they only talk about themselves?
8. Do they always ask for favors, and then disappear when you have a need?
9. Do they demand things of you, giving off the impression they are better than you?
10. Do they apologize when they are wrong?
11. Do they blame everyone else, never accepting responsibility for their part?
12. Do they talk a good game but no follow through?
13. Do they accept total responsibility for everything?
14. Do they speak about themselves in third person?
15. Do they constantly say, “I could never do that”?
16. Do they constantly say, “I wish _____”?
17. Do they tell the same stories, over and over and over – nothing new?
18. Do those stories come from the glory days of their life?
19. Do they talk positively or negatively?
20. Do they subscribe to WOW customer service by giving you more value, and going out of their way and way above what you expected?

I like these questions.  My thanks to Robin for blogging about them.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  You have to be self confident to create the life and career success you want and deserve.  Surrounding yourself with positive people is an important confidence booster.  Positive people will lift you.  Negative people will drag you down.  Use the 20 questions above to help you figure out exactly who the positive and negative people in your life are.  Choose to hang around with positive, upbeat people and you’ll be on your way to the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on identifying the positive people in your life.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

We had a mayoral election in Denver recently.  It was an interesting campaign and one in which I found some great career advice.

Mayoral elections in Denver are non partisan.  That means that parties do no nominate candidates.  This year, we had about 12 people on the ballot.  All they had to do to get on the ballot was gather enough signatures.  In a non partisan election if no candidate gets over 50% of the vote and run off is help between the top two vote getting candidates.

This year three candidates split about 95% of the vote, but by law only two were in the run off election.  Both of the run off candidates are liberal democrats.  There was very little difference in their stance on the issues.  In effect, the run off became a popularity contest.

At the very beginning of the run off campaign, one candidate went negative.  He attacked his opponent vigorously with some vague and misleading ads.  Also, an independent group went way negative.  We received at least one or two direct mail pieces every day disparaging the other candidate.  Late in the campaign, the candidate who went negative said that his campaign did not produce these direct mail pieces and that he didn’t know who did – a disavowal of them, sort of.

Long story short, the negative tactics backfired and the candidate who did not run a negative campaign won – big time, 52% to 38% of the vote.

So what’s the career advice here?  Be positive.  Follow the advice in point 9 of The Optimist Creed – “Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.”  The winning candidate made his points about the issues and told his story – an inspiring one of overcoming poverty.  The losing candidate did little more than criticize the other guy.

Tweet 136 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Be responsible for yourself.  Choose to act in a civil constructive manner in tense situations.”  This is true in politics, and it’s true when it comes to your career success.

By acting in a pretty uncivil manner, the unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of Denver hurt himself.  He was the leader from very early on in the campaign.  He raised the most money and ran an expensive campaign.  Yet he lost.  In my opinion, he didn’t lose on the issues, he lost because he ran the negative campaign in the run off election.  He turned off a lot of voters by his actions – and his inaction to stop the negative mailings someone was sending on his behalf.

The candidate who won never criticized his opponent.  He did point out that even though he was the victim of negative and  misleading ads that he himself was staying positive – focusing on the issues and telling his story.  To put it into Optimist Creed language, he spent so much of his time focusing on his positive message that he had no time to criticize his opponent.  He followed the career advice in Tweet 136 in Success Tweets.  He continued to act in a civil, constructive manner right up until the end of the campaign.

Tweet 50 in Success Tweets says, “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  The will suck you dry; but only if you let them.”  In this case, the voters of Denver spoke.  They rejected the negative candidate and went for the positive one.  Reminds me of the career advice in Tweet 49 in Success Tweets.  “Surround yourself with positive people.”

By the way in case you’re wondering, Michael Hancock was the winner.  Chris Romer was the loser in this election.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  People react better to people who are positive, not negative.  As my grandmother used to say, “You get more flies with honey than vinegar.”  Build relationships with the people in your life by spreading honey, not vinegar.  Stay positive.  Follow the career advice in point nine in The Optimist Creed.  Focus on improving yourself, not criticizing others.  Become a positive, optimistic person, just like it says in Tweet 43 in Success Tweets.  “Optimism is contagious.  Become a positive optimistic person.  Surround yourself with positive people.”  Be warm, pleasant gracious and sensitive to the needs of others.  Take the time to find out about other people – their ideas, values and passions.  Relationships are an important key to career success.  You can build strong relationships by remaining positive, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

That’s my career advice on staying positive.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

We had a mayoral election in Denver recently.  It was an interesting campaign and one in which I found some great career advice.

Mayoral elections in Denver are non partisan.  That means that parties do no nominate candidates.  This year, we had about 12 people on the ballot.  All they had to do to get on the ballot was gather enough signatures.  In a non partisan election if no candidate gets over 50% of the vote and run off is help between the top two vote getting candidates.

This year three candidates split about 95% of the vote, but by law only two were in the run off election.  Both of the run off candidates are liberal democrats.  There was very little difference in their stance on the issues.  In effect, the run off became a popularity contest.

At the very beginning of the run off campaign, one candidate went negative.  He attacked his opponent vigorously with some vague and misleading ads.  Also, an independent group went way negative.  We received at least one or two direct mail pieces every day disparaging the other candidate.  Late in the campaign, the candidate who went negative said that his campaign did not produce these direct mail pieces and that he didn’t know who did – a disavowal of them, sort of.

Long story short, the negative tactics backfired and the candidate who did not run a negative campaign won – big time, 52% to 38% of the vote.

So what’s the career advice here?  Be positive.  Follow the advice in point 9 of The Optimist Creed – “Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.”  The winning candidate made his points about the issues and told his story – an inspiring one of overcoming poverty.  The losing candidate did little more than criticize the other guy.

Tweet 136 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Be responsible for yourself.  Choose to act in a civil constructive manner in tense situations.”  This is true in politics, and it’s true when it comes to your career success.

By acting in a pretty uncivil manner, the unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of Denver hurt himself.  He was the leader from very early on in the campaign.  He raised the most money and ran an expensive campaign.  Yet he lost.  In my opinion, he didn’t lose on the issues, he lost because he ran the negative campaign in the run off election.  He turned off a lot of voters by his actions – and his inaction to stop the negative mailings someone was sending on his behalf.

The candidate who won never criticized his opponent.  He did point out that even though he was the victim of negative and  misleading ads that he himself was staying positive – focusing on the issues and telling his story.  To put it into Optimist Creed language, he spent so much of his time focusing on his positive message that he had no time to criticize his opponent.  He followed the career advice in Tweet 136 in Success Tweets.  He continued to act in a civil, constructive manner right up until the end of the campaign.

Tweet 50 in Success Tweets says, “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  The will suck you dry; but only if you let them.”  In this case, the voters of Denver spoke.  They rejected the negative candidate and went for the positive one.  Reminds me of the career advice in Tweet 49 in Success Tweets.  “Surround yourself with positive people.”

By the way in case you’re wondering, Michael Hancock was the winner.  Chris Romer was the loser in this election.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  People react better to people who are positive, not negative.  As my grandmother used to say, “You get more flies with honey than vinegar.”  Build relationships with the people in your life by spreading honey, not vinegar.  Stay positive.  Follow the career advice in point nine in The Optimist Creed.  Focus on improving yourself, not criticizing others.  Become a positive, optimistic person, just like it says in Tweet 43 in Success Tweets.  “Optimism is contagious.  Become a positive optimistic person.  Surround yourself with positive people.”  Be warm, pleasant gracious and sensitive to the needs of others.  Take the time to find out about other people – their ideas, values and passions.  Relationships are an important key to career success.  You can build strong relationships by remaining positive, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

That’s my career advice on staying positive.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

Saturday morning I got into my car and turned on the radio.  The “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits was playing.  I thought, “How appropriate.  I’m heading off to the Women’s Vision Mentoring Walk in Denver’s City Park.”  I had a great time.  I volunteered as a mentor.  I had a chance to share my life and career success advice with the two women with whom I had been paired as we strolled around what, in my opinion, is the most beautiful of Denver’s parks.

Following the walk, all mentors and mentees were treated to a great breakfast – fruit, bagels and burritos – and a talk by a Denver motivational speaker, Lori Bachman.

Lori made some great points about mentoring.  The most important of which is that mentoring is an active process that should be done not in a conference room but during real work.  She suggested that there is a four step process to being a good mentor….

1. The mentor performs a task until he or she is proficient.
2. The mentor shows the mentee how to perform the task.
3. The mentee performs the task while the mentor watches and gives feedback.
4. The mentee performs the task on his or her own.

I like these four steps.  They follow the basic principles of adult action learning and are much better than just talking about how to do something.  Modeling and feedback always develop career success skills faster than does conversation.

I ended up volunteering as a mentor because of Danielle Perrin of Duo Marketing and PR here in Denver.  Danielle was volunteering her time as a PR rep for the Mentor Walk and asked if I would be willing to blog about it.  I did, and I signed on as a mentor.

Self confidence is one of the keys to success that I discuss in many of my career advice books including Success Tweets.  One way to build your self confidence it to surround yourself with positive people.  In my book, mentors are positive people by definition.

The term “mentor” comes from The Odyssey.  Odysseus entrusted the care of his son, Telemachus, to Mentor when he set out to fight the Trojan War.  The best mentors will help you learn and grow by sharing their knowledge and wisdom with you.  In this way, you can benefit from their experience without having to suffer the consequences of gaining that experience firsthand.

As I’ve said, mentors are positive people by definition.  It takes a positive person to give of himself or herself to help another learn, grow and create the life and career success they want and deserve.

I have been fortunate to have had several mentors in my life and career.  All of them shared several characteristics.  They all…

• Were willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills and expertise.
• Had a positive outlook on life.  They helped me through tough times and showed me how to find the opportunity in the difficulties I was facing.
• Were genuinely concerned about me and my success.  In addition to being knowledgeable, they were empathic.
• Really knew what they were doing.  I respected them for their knowledge and skills.
• Kept growing themselves.  All of my mentors were curious and inquisitive.  Sometimes the roles were reversed.  They asked what I was reading, and then read the books themselves – so they could learn and we could discuss the ideas.
• Gave me direct, constructive feedback.  They held me to high standards.  They congratulated me when I met their expectations.  They corrected me when I failed to do so – but in a manner where I learned what not to do the next time.
• Were respected by their colleagues.  People who are highly regarded in their field or company make the best mentors.
• Sought out and valued the opinions of others.  My best mentor always told me to listen most carefully to the people with whom I disagreed – in that way I might learn something.  And, he was right.

As the old saying goes, a mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.

Do you want to find a mentor?  Just look around you.  Who are the people you admire and want to emulate?  Watch what they do, and do the same.  I’ve had several mentors who never even realized they were mentoring me.

I learned how to build a network of solid contacts by watching Maggie Watson.  I learned the rules of business etiquette and dressing for success by watching Bill Rankin.  I learned how to become a first-rate public speaker by watching Steve Roesler.  I learned how to become a trusted advisor by watching Don Nelson.  I learned how to carry myself with dignity in even the most difficult situations by watching JF and Carol Kiernan.  I learned how to become a better conversationalist by watching Cathy, my wife.

The reverse is also true.  I’ve learned plenty about what not to do to build self-esteem, give performance feedback and treat people with respect and dignity from observing a few of my managers over the years.

I’ve found that if you want to have an acknowledged mentoring relationship, all you have to do is ask.  Go to the people you admire and tell them that you admire their judgment and would like to learn from them to build your career success.  Ask if you can impose on their time to get answers to questions you have.  I have never had anyone turn me down when I’ve asked this way.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.   Self confidence is an important key to life and career success.  Surrounding yourself with positive people is one way to build to your self confidence.  Mentors are positive people who can not only help you build your self confidence, they will help you create the career success you deserve.  Follow the career advice in Tweet 51 in Success Tweets.  “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  You can enter into a formal mentoring relationship.  Or you can just observe people you admire.  They can mentor you without even realizing that they are doing so.  And, it’s never too early to become a mentor yourself.  There is always someone who needs your career advice; someone who needs to know what you’ve already learned.  Be a positive person.  Help others achieve the life and career success they want and deserve.  I had a chance to watch this in action on Saturday.  I saw about 50 mentors helping 150 women interested in creating their career success at the Women’s Vision Mentor Walk.  I was really happy to participate in such an uplifting and energetic event.  I plan on continuing the mentoring relationships I developed Saturday.  Do you have a mentor?  If not, what are you waiting for?  Find one and you’ll be on an accelerated path to career success.

That’s the career advice I took from my participation in the Women’s Vision Mentor Walk of Saturday.  What do you think?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  Do you have a mentor?  If so, please tell us about the relationship and how it has helped you toward you career success goals.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

Saturday morning I got into my car and turned on the radio.  The “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits was playing.  I thought, “How appropriate.  I’m heading off to the Women’s Vision Mentoring Walk in Denver’s City Park.”  I had a great time.  I volunteered as a mentor.  I had a chance to share my life and career success advice with the two women with whom I had been paired as we strolled around what, in my opinion, is the most beautiful of Denver’s parks.

Following the walk, all mentors and mentees were treated to a great breakfast – fruit, bagels and burritos – and a talk by a Denver motivational speaker, Lori Bachman.

Lori made some great points about mentoring.  The most important of which is that mentoring is an active process that should be done not in a conference room but during real work.  She suggested that there is a four step process to being a good mentor….

1. The mentor performs a task until he or she is proficient.
2. The mentor shows the mentee how to perform the task.
3. The mentee performs the task while the mentor watches and gives feedback.
4. The mentee performs the task on his or her own.

I like these four steps.  They follow the basic principles of adult action learning and are much better than just talking about how to do something.  Modeling and feedback always develop career success skills faster than does conversation.

I ended up volunteering as a mentor because of Danielle Perrin of Duo Marketing and PR here in Denver.  Danielle was volunteering her time as a PR rep for the Mentor Walk and asked if I would be willing to blog about it.  I did, and I signed on as a mentor.

Self confidence is one of the keys to success that I discuss in many of my career advice books including Success Tweets.  One way to build your self confidence it to surround yourself with positive people.  In my book, mentors are positive people by definition.

The term “mentor” comes from The Odyssey.  Odysseus entrusted the care of his son, Telemachus, to Mentor when he set out to fight the Trojan War.  The best mentors will help you learn and grow by sharing their knowledge and wisdom with you.  In this way, you can benefit from their experience without having to suffer the consequences of gaining that experience firsthand.

As I’ve said, mentors are positive people by definition.  It takes a positive person to give of himself or herself to help another learn, grow and create the life and career success they want and deserve.

I have been fortunate to have had several mentors in my life and career.  All of them shared several characteristics.  They all…

• Were willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills and expertise.
• Had a positive outlook on life.  They helped me through tough times and showed me how to find the opportunity in the difficulties I was facing.
• Were genuinely concerned about me and my success.  In addition to being knowledgeable, they were empathic.
• Really knew what they were doing.  I respected them for their knowledge and skills.
• Kept growing themselves.  All of my mentors were curious and inquisitive.  Sometimes the roles were reversed.  They asked what I was reading, and then read the books themselves – so they could learn and we could discuss the ideas.
• Gave me direct, constructive feedback.  They held me to high standards.  They congratulated me when I met their expectations.  They corrected me when I failed to do so – but in a manner where I learned what not to do the next time.
• Were respected by their colleagues.  People who are highly regarded in their field or company make the best mentors.
• Sought out and valued the opinions of others.  My best mentor always told me to listen most carefully to the people with whom I disagreed – in that way I might learn something.  And, he was right.

As the old saying goes, a mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.

Do you want to find a mentor?  Just look around you.  Who are the people you admire and want to emulate?  Watch what they do, and do the same.  I’ve had several mentors who never even realized they were mentoring me.

I learned how to build a network of solid contacts by watching Maggie Watson.  I learned the rules of business etiquette and dressing for success by watching Bill Rankin.  I learned how to become a first-rate public speaker by watching Steve Roesler.  I learned how to become a trusted advisor by watching Don Nelson.  I learned how to carry myself with dignity in even the most difficult situations by watching JF and Carol Kiernan.  I learned how to become a better conversationalist by watching Cathy, my wife.

The reverse is also true.  I’ve learned plenty about what not to do to build self-esteem, give performance feedback and treat people with respect and dignity from observing a few of my managers over the years.

I’ve found that if you want to have an acknowledged mentoring relationship, all you have to do is ask.  Go to the people you admire and tell them that you admire their judgment and would like to learn from them to build your career success.  Ask if you can impose on their time to get answers to questions you have.  I have never had anyone turn me down when I’ve asked this way.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.   Self confidence is an important key to life and career success.  Surrounding yourself with positive people is one way to build to your self confidence.  Mentors are positive people who can not only help you build your self confidence, they will help you create the career success you deserve.  Follow the career advice in Tweet 51 in Success Tweets.  “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  You can enter into a formal mentoring relationship.  Or you can just observe people you admire.  They can mentor you without even realizing that they are doing so.  And, it’s never too early to become a mentor yourself.  There is always someone who needs your career advice; someone who needs to know what you’ve already learned.  Be a positive person.  Help others achieve the life and career success they want and deserve.  I had a chance to watch this in action on Saturday.  I saw about 50 mentors helping 150 women interested in creating their career success at the Women’s Vision Mentor Walk.  I was really happy to participate in such an uplifting and energetic event.  I plan on continuing the mentoring relationships I developed Saturday.  Do you have a mentor?  If not, what are you waiting for?  Find one and you’ll be on an accelerated path to career success.

That’s the career advice I took from my participation in the Women’s Vision Mentor Walk of Saturday.  What do you think?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  Do you have a mentor?  If so, please tell us about the relationship and how it has helped you toward you career success goals.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

For me, the Memorial Day weekend is more than a US holiday and the unofficial start of summer.  Memorial Day weekend is always the middle weekend of the French Open — one of the four tennis majors.   If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I often find career advice in sporting events.  This year’s French Open presents another opportunity to connect career success with sports.

One of the biggest upsets so far this year was Kim Clijsters loss in the second round to Arantxa Rus, the 114th ranked player in the world.  Kim Clijsters was seeded second in this year’s French Open.  She won the two previous tennis majors, the 2011 Australian Open and 2010 US Open.  If I were a betting man, I would have bet heavily on her to beat Arantxa Rus.

Last week Kim Clijsters lost two match points and 11 of the last 12 games to Arantxa Rus.  After the match she said..

“I starting doubting a little bit.  When you start doubting yourself on any surface – but for me definitely on clay – it’s the wrong attitude to have.” 

In other words, Kim Clijsters was eliminated from this year’s French Open because she lost her confidence.   Arantxa Rus, on the hand gained confidence as the match went on.  Kim Clijsters said, “She obviously starting building up more confidence, started playing a lot better, and was really putting me on my back foot all the time.”

Confidence is important in sports.  It’s also important if you want to create the life and career success you want and deserve. 

There are five keys to building the self confidence that will help you create the life and career success you want and deserve…

First, you have to become an optimist.  Optimism is the key to self confidence.  If you aren’t optimistic about your chances of creating your career success, you will never do it.  Optimism is a choice.  Optimistic people believe that today will be better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better yet.  Choose optimism and you’ll be on your way to being more self confident and creating your life and career success.

Second, you have to face your fears and act.  We’re all afraid sometime.  If you want to become a career success, you have to overcome your fear of failure and move forward.  I find that procrastination is the physical manifestation of fear.  The next time you find yourself procrastinating ask yourself a simple question, “What am I afraid of here?”  Once you identify your fear, do something.  Take action.  The worst thing that will happen is that you’ll learn what not do in similar situations in the future.

Third, surround yourself with positive people.  Positive people will help you become more self confident and help you on your way to career success.  Avoid negative people.  As Tweet 50 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  They will suck you dry; but only if you let them.”  Cynics are negative people.  They may seem to be good company at first because they are witty.  However, in the long run, you’ll find that they humor usually comes at the expense of others.  They are negative people in disguise and will drag you down if you spend too much time with them.

Fourth, find a mentor to help you on your way to life and career success.  Mentors are positive people by definition.  They are willing to give of themselves to help others create their life and career success.  You can learn a lot from your mentors.  But I think the best thing you can learn is how to deal with setbacks and disappointments and keep moving forward in a self confident manner.

Fifth, become a mentor.  It’s never too early to become a mentor.  There is always somebody who needs to learn what you already know.  You never learn something as well when you teach it to others.  Becoming a mentor will help you cystalize the career success lessons in your experiences.  This will help you build your self confidence.  Also, as you watch the people you help grow and move toward their career success, your self esteem – and self confidence – will grow.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  If you want to create the life and career success you deserve, you need to be self confident.  There are five keys to building your self confidence: 1) choose optimism; 2) face your fears and act; 3) surround yourself with positive people; 4) work with a mentor; and 5) mentor others.  If all else fails, follow the career advice in Tweet 52 in Success Tweets.  “Identify the self confident people you know.  Pay attention to how they act and carry themselves.  Watch what they do.  Act like them.”

That’s my career advice on self confidence.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

For me, the Memorial Day weekend is more than a US holiday and the unofficial start of summer.  Memorial Day weekend is always the middle weekend of the French Open — one of the four tennis majors.   If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I often find career advice in sporting events.  This year’s French Open presents another opportunity to connect career success with sports.

One of the biggest upsets so far this year was Kim Clijsters loss in the second round to Arantxa Rus, the 114th ranked player in the world.  Kim Clijsters was seeded second in this year’s French Open.  She won the two previous tennis majors, the 2011 Australian Open and 2010 US Open.  If I were a betting man, I would have bet heavily on her to beat Arantxa Rus.

Last week Kim Clijsters lost two match points and 11 of the last 12 games to Arantxa Rus.  After the match she said..

“I starting doubting a little bit.  When you start doubting yourself on any surface – but for me definitely on clay – it’s the wrong attitude to have.” 

In other words, Kim Clijsters was eliminated from this year’s French Open because she lost her confidence.   Arantxa Rus, on the hand gained confidence as the match went on.  Kim Clijsters said, “She obviously starting building up more confidence, started playing a lot better, and was really putting me on my back foot all the time.”

Confidence is important in sports.  It’s also important if you want to create the life and career success you want and deserve. 

There are five keys to building the self confidence that will help you create the life and career success you want and deserve…

First, you have to become an optimist.  Optimism is the key to self confidence.  If you aren’t optimistic about your chances of creating your career success, you will never do it.  Optimism is a choice.  Optimistic people believe that today will be better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better yet.  Choose optimism and you’ll be on your way to being more self confident and creating your life and career success.

Second, you have to face your fears and act.  We’re all afraid sometime.  If you want to become a career success, you have to overcome your fear of failure and move forward.  I find that procrastination is the physical manifestation of fear.  The next time you find yourself procrastinating ask yourself a simple question, “What am I afraid of here?”  Once you identify your fear, do something.  Take action.  The worst thing that will happen is that you’ll learn what not do in similar situations in the future.

Third, surround yourself with positive people.  Positive people will help you become more self confident and help you on your way to career success.  Avoid negative people.  As Tweet 50 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Jettison the negative people in your life.  They are energy black holes.  They will suck you dry; but only if you let them.”  Cynics are negative people.  They may seem to be good company at first because they are witty.  However, in the long run, you’ll find that they humor usually comes at the expense of others.  They are negative people in disguise and will drag you down if you spend too much time with them.

Fourth, find a mentor to help you on your way to life and career success.  Mentors are positive people by definition.  They are willing to give of themselves to help others create their life and career success.  You can learn a lot from your mentors.  But I think the best thing you can learn is how to deal with setbacks and disappointments and keep moving forward in a self confident manner.

Fifth, become a mentor.  It’s never too early to become a mentor.  There is always somebody who needs to learn what you already know.  You never learn something as well when you teach it to others.  Becoming a mentor will help you cystalize the career success lessons in your experiences.  This will help you build your self confidence.  Also, as you watch the people you help grow and move toward their career success, your self esteem – and self confidence – will grow.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  If you want to create the life and career success you deserve, you need to be self confident.  There are five keys to building your self confidence: 1) choose optimism; 2) face your fears and act; 3) surround yourself with positive people; 4) work with a mentor; and 5) mentor others.  If all else fails, follow the career advice in Tweet 52 in Success Tweets.  “Identify the self confident people you know.  Pay attention to how they act and carry themselves.  Watch what they do.  Act like them.”

That’s my career advice on self confidence.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.