Last Sunday my husband and I were driving up to Torrance CA from my place in La Jolla.  We got talking and he missed the turnoff. Since we were still on I-5, on a whim, we decided to continue on up and visit Bob Schuler's church, the Crystal Cathedral.  I had never been there before, and have always wanted to see it.  We pulled into the parking lot at about 3PM or so, and began to explore the place.

As we entered the newest building on the Church Campus, a lovely woman, appearing to be in her mid-70's, was walking toward us, saw that we were pointing and talking, and realized we were "tourists".  She approached us and offered to answer any questions.  You know how some people just have that "Spark" about them? She had it.

We ended up talking for well over an hour.  Her name is Patricia Nordberg, and she has just written a book about her life experience: when her son was only 6 years old, she had an aneurism on the main artery leading to the brain, as well as one on the anterior communicating artery.  Thirteen years after brain surgery, Pat attained her Master's Degree in Psychology, and became a practicing psychologist. During our talk about her recovery from aphasia, having to learn to do everything all over again, including moving, communicating, the works, I found out she is an Octegenarian!  She is now embarking on a brand new speaking career!

She wrote a  book, which is literally just now hot off the press, called "Reaching for Hope: My experience with Brain Rehabilitation". 
In the book she tells her amazing story, and the tips and tricks she used to be able to function again, and how she then passed on her ideas to help special education children, some of whom were basically written off.  She has stories about memory, vocabulary, and learning in general.  She is extremely bright.  To think that in 1959, her skull was cut apart, and they operated on her brain, without the  technology we have available today!  Yikes.  Most people would have thrown in the towel, and used their disability as an excuse to go no further.

Not Pat.  This woman, because of both her experience and her education, knows so much about psychoneurology and how the brain works, and that there is really no such thing as "I can't" or "I give up" or "There's no hope" .  All there is for us is: hope, dogged determination, faith, strength, belief, and the ability to keep moving toward your goal in the face of little or no results.

Our meeting Patricia was no mistake; I have found a new friend who believes in the miracle of the brain and pumping mental iron.  I sure am glad my husband missed his turn.....who knew?

The most valuable asset you own is your brain.  Please use it, take care of it, and thank God for it!  Now, go Pump some Mental Iron! Keep reading....the answers are all in the books, as Charlie says!

To your success,
Coach Julia

        

I was facilitating a MasterMind Group this morning and likened our experience together to a workout in the gym.  That is the whole concept behind the name of my tag line since the beginning, as most of you know. 
Whenever I go somewhere with a name tag on and people don't know me yet, they say "Pumping Mental Iron?  Are you a trainer?" Or they say "Pumping Metal Iron! Oh you're a trainer!"  Often they don't get it.
That's okay, it gives me an opportunity to give them my "elevator speech" about working out the 6 inches between your ears just as you work out your body at the gym.

It always fascinates me how many people don't work out at all, either in the physical, or in the mental gym.
The two are so related.  Brain fitness is becoming one of the fastest growing industry, with the huge population of Baby Boomers aging, and becoming concerned for their cognitive ability.  Over 26 million people have Alzheimer's Disease, isn't that scary? Many studies are being done on Neuroplasticity, and and have now shown that our brain does not just shut down with age.; it is an organ that continues to change, adapt, and process information by making new connections among neurons.

It has been shown that people who use and challenge their brain are about three times less likely to develop Alzheimers!  Here are some of the activities elderly people engage in to ward off Alzheimers: Chess, Scrabble, crossword puzzles, learning a musical instrument, or learning a language.  It is suggested by neuro-specialists to engage in activities that challenge visual-spatial skills, motor functions, language, and memory.  That's the mental part.

Harvard Business Review reports that this research explains why people like Alan Greenspan and Warren Buffett stay so sharp later in life: they have spent and continue to spend their lives reasoning, remembering, learning, planning, adapting, making decisions, solving problems, and dealing with stress.

Now, here's the physical part.  "Anything that's good for your heart is good for your head" is the saying that's going around. Watching your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol help take care of your brain, too. Scientists now say the four "musts" to protecting the brain from aging are:
1. Eating frech fruits and veggies
2. Regular aerobic exercise
3. Challenging your mind with difficult tasks
4. Staying socially active and connected.

This all seems like a no-brainer, right?  (pun intended)  According to Trends Magazine May 2008, Software geared to brain fitness is a $225+billion business.  Jumping on the bandwagon of offering software that assesses and trains cognitive skills are Fortune 1000 companies, the military, sports teams, and others. Nintendo's Brain Age took in over $80 million in 2007.  The game stimulates the brain through problem solving, math, imagery and scrambled words.

The brain needs to have things that are difficult and new to continue to create new connections and continue to work.

Top Ten Takeaways: 
1. Become a perpetual student devoted to learning new things.
2. Get into a good facilitated MasterMind Group that challenges your thinking and problem solving.
3. Stop resisting change and learn something new.
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I grew up in a ballet studio.  Many dancers suffer from  "overextension", which most often happens in the knees, but occurs in the feet and other body places as well. Overextension can affect a dancer's performance negatively. Uncompensated and uncorrected, it will eventually cause injury, not to mention how bad it looks uncorrected on stage!

It is the same with all of us in our workplace behaviors.  We can have "overextension" of our strengths.

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• A strength that causes a salesperson to be a hard-driving, goal-achieving machine could be an attribute that causes the person to be impatient, a primadonna, a non-team player, or possibly prione to anger.
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• The salesperson who is the expert on your product, the stats, the competition and the latest research may be the same salesperson who is in front of the computer so much that they never get out into the field, therfore, do not have the success they want and need.
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• The employee who is a "grab the bull by the horns"  go-getter may end up unable to delegate, burned out, and alienated by others around her who want to share in the tasks.

Every one of us needs to be optimizing our strengths, and minimizing our weaknesses.  The beginning is to understand what makes us "tick".  We all have different mindsets based on how we are "wired" from birth, as well as how, where, and when we were brought up in life and in business, what beliefs we have, and other factors.

Under stress, some of our best characteristics are accentuated and can be perceived by others as destructive and harmful....this is known as an overextension of our strengths.  In this case, ironically, our strengths get in the way of our success, thereby becoming weaknesses to the organization.

Using validated assessments that help us understand behavioral strengths and individual motivators, so we can understand each other better, know how to communicate, put the right teams together, and optimize everyone's best qualities, will keep those characteristics from undermining us.

In ballet, there are a number of ways we do this physically.  In the workplace, we do it behaviorally. 

According to recent research, 40% of employees cited stress as the primary reason to leave the job.
Do you think any of your team is under stress?  If so, it is time to use some validated and proven assessment tools that show us the "how" and "why" of our actions.  Knowledge is power, and understanding is wisdom.  We leaders need to be powerful and wise.  Let's start today.  Call me about behavioral assessments.  I can provide many assessments on a complimentary basis. 

Reading can give you tremendous insight into this whole world, too.  Call me if you need some good book titles or information about validated assessments. As the leader, it starts with you.  If you don't have a good executive perfromance coach, I highly recommend hiring one who will hold the mirror for you. Work on yourself, and then work on your team.  What strengths of yours are you allowing to become overextended?  What overextensions do you see in your company?

Who are the people ...

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http://www.youtube.com/v/JnezpSJwr8c&rel=1  Watch the Movie trailer for the Great Debaters.

When it first came out in the theaters, a few months ago, my husband and I went to see this movie. 
Typical of many intelligent movies, it was not in the theaters long.  But you can get it on Netflix or in the video store.
I highly recommend you do. It is about discipline.  It is about compassion.  It is about the power of words.  It is about moving ahead with conviction aqgainst all odds.  It is one of the most inspirational movies I have ever seen. 
It is rare for movies to be this intelligent.  Not erudite, not intellectual, but intelligent.  Please watch this movie and tell me what you think. I learned a piece of history, a story I never knew, and a lot about myself.
If you are a speaker or have to give any kind of presentations, this movie is a great dose of mental iron for you.
Enjoy.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/7oPRdoPg9nY&rel=1     

Falling Water: architectural genius Frank Lloyd Wright's remotely situated work of art in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
A cantilevered dream house built into the rock ledges sitting on a waterfall in the middle of the woods.  A complex, Da-Vinci-like design, a great work of art, commissioned in the 1930's, Falling Water is visited by over 128,000 people every year.

In each of us lies that next song or poem, that next piece of coreography, that next speech.  It is in our brain, continuing to develop as you read this.  What is yours?  What is your next great idea? 

Where is it stuck?  What needs to happen to make it complete?  When is its moment of birth......of becoming reality?
Often we get stuck because we don't write it down.  Can you imagine a builder trying to build a house without a blueprint?  A symphony ever being conducted and played without a sheet of music to read?  A business plan not written down?  OOPS....I think I hit a chord there.  (no pun intended)

Every sustainably successful business has a written plan.  A good one starts with a vision, values, and a mission statement.  (What's yours?  Is it on your website?  Is it on your wall?  Does it make sense and still resonate with you when you read it?  Or does it need a little tweaking?)  Out of your vision, values and mission comes your business plan, which inside it contains your marketing plan, your recruiting plan, your sales plan, your environmental plan, whatever pieces make up your unique business.  Justy like with Falling Water: It wasn't enough to have an outside drawing.  Mr. Wright had to have a foundation plan, a first floor plan, a second floor plan, a rooftop plan, an electrical plan, ad infinitum.

My point is this: He didn't just wing it.  How often do we wing it in business?  Let's be honest.  Now watch the video again.  This is your business without a plan.  You may have the greatest vision in the world.  Without a plan to keep it strong and sustainable.....well........enough said.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. ...<< MORE >>

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Hickory Dickory Dock
I 'm sold out to the clock
The clock struck one
and I'm undone
Hickory Dickory Dock.

This seems to be the mantra of so many of my clients.  You don't even want to know how many times I hear "I didn't have time" in a week.

Here's an idea:  Every time you are tempted to say "I didn't have time", sustitute it with the truth: such as "I chose not to do it",  "I didn't really intend to do it", "I intended to, but I have a habit of overcommitting and I was not being realistic", "I'm sorry I didn't know how to say "no", " I didn't put it on my schedule", "I don't have a schedule, so my life is out of control", "I lived in my inbox this week instead of in my calendar, so I acted by default rather than design and didn't get the important things done".........or whatever is really true.

There are a number of reasons we don't get things done and we allow (usually unintentionally) the clock to steal hours out of our our life each week.....here are some of the major ones:

1. We are not clear on our vision, therefore have trouble prioritizing tasks.
2. We lack the energy to be intentional, and end up reactive instead of proactive with our time.
3. We don't take the time to think.  We're just doing stuff the same old way we always have when it could be done more efficiently.
4. We have trouble delegating.
5. We don't know how to say no.  Or we choose not to say no, because we want everyone to like us.
6. We lack systems to make our use of time more effective.  We are not using the leverage available to us.
7. We are not reading, learning, and growing.
8. We're burned out, unhappy, we've lost our passion, or we are doing something for the wrong reasons.
9. We're afraid what we really want because we don't believe we deserve it.

The truth is: We really don't ever manage time.  Time keeps on.  Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, and it does not stop.  We can only manage ourselves.  Why do some people get so much done and have such full lives, and still seem happy, when others grind away, burnout, and race against the clock, like a helpless caged gerbil in a wheel?

If you would like to get more out of your day, and have a happier and fuller life, I have a few slots left for the Monday (Mar 24th) interactive Web session at 11AM Pacific time..  All subscribers to this blog are invited to attend free, on a first come, first serve basis.  There are just a few spaces left.  Email me if you would like to attend.  julia@mentaliron.com .  Let me know you'd like to attend and mention that you subscribe to this blog, and I will waive the $99 fee.  The Web session is one hour long.  It is called "Taming the Unruly Clock". 

Have a fabulous week, and keep reading!!!!!

Coach Julia

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I just answered a question on "Linked in".  Here I stand on the soapbox again.  And I know, on this site I'm preaching to the choir.  After all, you are the Reading Revolutionaries!  Did you know it is estimated that 90% of sales professionals and their managers don't read books on their profession? Now, that's just plain stupid!

A salesperson can and MUST include reading, and lots of it, as one of his sources of learning to sell, manage, coach, and lead. Successful people are committed, perpetual students. I am flabbergasted that so many professionals do not read books about how to better do their job! Right now I am reading six different books on coaching, one book on managing people across cultures, and a book on mentoring. I just finished reading 2 books on sales, and finished Chet Homes "The Ultimate Sales Machine" on CD in the car. I have at least a dozen CD books in the car "in queue" on a variety of sales, management, and current business trends. In my night stand are 3 books that get read and re-read, multiple times: "The Bible", "The Big Book", and "Think and Grow Rich". I also consume regular periodicals with the latest info on business, like Harvard Business Review and Success magazine, for creativity and inspiration, and to keep me being the person I need to be to do the best job for my clients.

Now.....Obviously, we can not succeed on books alone.......we must get out there in the field and practice our craft at every opportunity and we must all make many mistakes in order to become successful. That's how we learn (falling off the bicycle, right?) The most successful people in the fields you mentioned above are the people who have made the most mistakes. (When I was the "top dog" salesperson it used to infuriate me that people would say "you're so LUCKY".  They weren't with me at 7AM every morning practicing my scripts on the phone, or when I repeatedly put my foot in my mouth, when I cried myself to sleep, when I got 146 "no's" in a row, when I got hung upon, the door slammed in my face, when my friends would say "Why don't you get a REAL job" and when I was awake all night worrying about where I would find the next sale.

Along with reading, it is essential to practice scripts and role play various situations with others.The average professional football player practices about 500 hours for every hour spent playing. How many hours a day do we practice? If a salesperson will get out there and learn what his customers want, have caring conversations, listen actively, practice, and read everything about his profession ever written, he can become unstoppable.

Managers: Here is the last, most critical piece: Just because someone CAN sell doesn't mean they WILL. A salesperson must have a burning desire to accomplish certain specific goals. Without big important reasons to continue performing his best in the face of few results at first, he must ...<< MORE >>

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