Carrots, Eggs and Coffee…

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 6:11 am

This is a guest post by Teresa Orzalli

I keep the following story posted to my office wall as a reminder of what I want to be and how I want others to see me. I WANT TO BE COFFEE!!! That’s right, you read that correctly…I WANT TO BE COFFEE. I don’t know where the story originated from but it tells of a young woman who went to talk with her mother (who was working in the kitchen) to share some difficulties she was going through. As the daughter spoke, the woman took out three pots, filled them with water and placed each on a stove burner set on high. Soon the water began to boil. Listening to her daughter continue to talk, she placed items in each pot of boiling water; carrots in one, eggs in another and ground coffee beans in the third.

Twenty minutes passed and as she continued listening she removed the carrots and eggs and placed them in bowls. She then ladled out the coffee and placed it in a bowl as well. Then she asked her daughter…”What do you see?” She replied carrots, eggs, and coffee of course. The mother then asked her to feel the carrots; she did, and noted they were soft.

Her mother asked her to break the egg; she did, and noted the egg was now hard boiled. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to taste the coffee; again she did as her mother asked and tasted the rich flavor and wonderful aroma. Confused, she asked her mother why.

The mother then explained to the daughter that each of the items had faced the same adversity; boiling water. The carrot went in strong and hard but came out soft and weak. The egg went into the water fragile and protected by its thin outer shell but after sitting in the boiling water, it became hardened.

However, the ground coffee beans were different, after being in the boiling water…they changed the water. She then asked her daughter, which one are you?

When faced with adversity are you the carrots, eggs or coffee?

Are you the carrots that seem strong but when faced with hardships and difficulties you become weak and soft?

Or maybe the egg, which began with a fluid spirit but has been hardened by the challenges life has thrown in your path?

Or are you the coffee bean?

Do you face the challenges of life’s boiling water and make the best of the situation at hand?

How do you handle adversity?

I know this month’s article is not what I usually share with all of you but for me, this story fits into every aspect of my life; professional or personal. I think about it all the time and I hope it will be meaningful and helpful to each of you at work and at home…ATTITUDE makes the difference. So again I say, I WANT TO BE COFFEE…served in a pink cup of course.

Tidbits by Teresa Orzalli appears monthly in The Suite Life at Cache Creek Casino Resorts, Northern California’s Finest Destination, http://www.cachecreek.com/

Related Blogs

Share and Enjoy:

Sales Confidence From The Ground UP

Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 9:11 pm

Comments

This is a guest post by Todd Royer

There is a deep connection between your ability to work with confidence and your self-esteem. Your ability to go out into the world and accomplish all the goals and dreams you envision for yourself depends largely on your inner world. It’s not that you can’t go out and accomplish things – things like sales success and internet marketing goals– but if you want the personal rewards for your accomplishments then how you feel about what you’ve done is significant.

So that means self esteem is important. Your self esteem is the reputation you negotiate with yourself. No matter what you have gone through in life, how you hold what you’ve got is the key to your success. Now that may sound a bit high-minded, but let me define self-esteem so that you can see what is involved, and just how practical it is to work with your self esteem as you pursue sales and marketing success.

People with healthy self-esteem are characterized by tolerance and respect for others. Their inner stability allows them to accept responsibility for their actions. Their self-confidence allows them a posture of genuine integrity in all their affairs. In short people who experience self-worth take command of their lives and enjoy the rewards of their accomplishments. For any sales or marketing business this is meaningful stuff. Basically your self esteem is an inside job – you have to work at it.

The National Association for Self-Esteem defines self-esteem as “The experience of being capable of meeting life’s challenges and being worthy of happiness.”

If you have high self-esteem, you are worthy of positive emotions when you consider the discrepancy between the person you wish to be and the person you realistically know you are. Let me repeat that. If
you have high self-esteem, you are worthy of positive emotions when you consider the discrepancy between who you wish to be and who you know you are.

This discrepancy is what allows each of us to be human. We pick goals and attempt to achieve them. But when we are honest with ourselves each of us knows we frequently fall short and then have to find a way to forgive ourselves. Your only means of liberation, in all of this, is that you give your best efforts towards well-chosen, worthwhile goals. Achieving success or falling short is irrelevant if when you have genuinely invested your best effort. But even better, if you do the work of knowing who you are and work at your self esteem then the likelihood of your success goes up. So as you do your marketing, pay attention to “who you know you are” and “who you wish to be.” As you recognize and accept the difference between these two parts of yourself, your confidence will soar and that will help your success.

Todd Royer specializes in sales methods and sales coaching. For Todd’s free report about “Cold Calling Success Methods” Click Here!

Related Blogs

Share and Enjoy:

The Winner’s Circle

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 5:01 am

Comments

This is a guest post by Dr. Denis Waitley

Every four years we see those five brilliant, interlocking Olympic rings on flags and in television and billboard advertising globally. The Olympic Games are where the best in the world go for the gold and the few stand, listening to their national anthem, in the coveted winner’s circle. If the five Olympic rings were attitudes of champions in every profession, these five attitudes would be prominent in the mindset of the peak performer:

Paying the Price. Everyone wants to win, but few are willing to invest the time and effort. Paying the price means focusing on developing the skills and training regimen of champions—observation, imitation, repetition and the internalization of knowledge into habits; also, learning why and how to go the extra mile and seeing success as a marathon, not a dash. Champions view failures as temporary inconveniences and learning experiences.

The Olympian Within. Winners believe in their worth in advance of their performance. Most people base their worth on their current status or achievement level, which means that until they are judged successful by society’s standards, they have little to be proud of. Champions believe in their dreams when they have only a dream to hang on to, even in the face of criticism and superior achievements by others.

Non-situational Integrity. Authentic, lasting winners have an uncompromising attitude about self-honesty. They function according to an “integrity triangle,” consisting of three basic questions: (a) Are my beliefs based upon truth? (b) Do my words and actions correspond with truth and honesty? (c) Before I speak or act, do I honestly consider the impact of my decision on other people and the environment?

The “Coachability” Factor. Champions are always open to alternatives to improve their performance. Consistent winners are not the arrogant egotists who dominate the media spotlight. The most successful individuals in the game of life are often the most approachable, most gracious, least judgmental of others and most critical of their own performances, as well as most eager to learn and improve.

Being a Team Player. A team in harmony is synergy in motion, where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual talents. When all assignments are understood, when each takes 100 percent responsibility for the outcome, a quantum leap in performance takes place. Winners learn how to become interdependent—without sacrificing individuality—and how to stand out, while fitting in.

Reproduced with permission from the Denis Waitley Newsletter.
To Subscribe to Denis Waitley’s Newsletter Use this link
© 2010 Denis Waitley International. All rights reserved worldwide.

Related Blogs

Share and Enjoy:

Visualize and Expect Success

Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 5:53 am

Comments

This is a guest post by Denis Waitley

Our studies of high achievers have shown that no matter how different their personalities, work habits, occupations or gender, the people who accomplish great things in life have visualized and expected success all along. They’ve had the ability to vividly picture their achievements and to reassure themselves in the face of long odds that they would come through.

To visualize the person you want most to become, set aside some time this week in which you can create an atmosphere conducive to re-affirming your life dreams. You may want to be near the ocean, or a lake, or in a park, in a garden or in the woods. Or you might just sit quietly by yourself in a comfortable lounge or chair. Get yourself in the mood for visualizing. When the left hemisphere of the brain is quiet and relaxed, the mind is most receptive to creative inputs. To facilitate this you may want to use soothing recorded music, preferably slow and inspiring like Bach, Handel or Vivaldi if you like classical music, or soft, popular instrumentals from epic movies or other mood music.

Once you’re properly relaxed and optimistic, let your mind focus on who you really want to become. Visualize the future in two time frames: five years from now and ten years from now. First, design a day in your life five years from now. Who are you five years from now? Where are you professionally and geographically? On Monday mornings, where do you go?

What are you doing, seeing, feeling and thinking? Who are the people around you? What’s different about your life five years from now?

Next, project ahead ten years from today. Picture a film of your life at that time. Who is watching it with you? What dramatic moments are depicted by that film? What personal triumphs are revealed? What obstacles are courageously overcome?

Don’t be shy! The purpose of this exercise is to load visualized software in your mental computer. Just as a computer must be configured to accept specific materials, your mind must be prepared to accept the reality of your greater success. By introducing positive images of goal achievement, you’re preparing yourself to translate those goals into reality.

I especially like to visualize myself being introduced at a dinner in my honor. Maybe it’s the Coaches’ Hall of Fame! Don’t laugh! It could happen! The emcee comes to the microphone and reads the highlights of my life and adds some insights as to who I really am. What would the emcee be saying about you if such a dinner were held in your honor ten years from now? Devote a page in your journal to describing the things you would want said about you.

This visualization will put you on a path that leads to your future self that you vividly picture today!

Related Blogs

Share and Enjoy:

Attitude Is Everything

Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 9:41 am

Comments

m_1bb5fbd5246de9412f5ee04a216eac0e

Eternal Wisdom From Jim Rohn

The process of human change begins within us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand.

Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, that produces the intensity of our activity and predicts the quality of the result we receive, is our attitude.

Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.

No one else “makes us angry.” We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.

If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.

If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value, which must be protected accordingly. Beware of the vandals and thieves among us who would injure our positive attitude or seek to steal it away.

Having the right attitude is one of the basics that success requires. The combination of a sound personal philosophy and a positive attitude about ourselves and the world around us gives us an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of our existence.

Share this Post