Are you a people watcher? I am but didn’t start out that way. Lots of practice over my 35+ years of management and leadership polished up those skills considerably. The payoff received? Many exceptional UVA success lessons learned from bosses, peers, and especially professors.
Are you aware of the awesome habits impacts for success and positive thinking on your personal development? Success lessons that can be shared with the entire team.
We often use checklists to achieve our goal to refresh and reinforce success lessons critical to our ability to see opportunity in every difficulty.
Related: 10 Life Lessons You Need to Learn Early
I keep a stack of 10 or so checklists that I rotate and update occasionally. I pull out one checklist to read and contemplate for 5-10 minutes as a way to start each day. I find it puts my thinking in the right frame of mind.
Here is one checklist example of simple reminders to improve the odds of success in any task that I or my team may be doing. It was developed mainly from UVA success lessons I learned from the people around me:
UVA success lessons … demonstrate a positive attitude
Build and maintain a positive mental attitude. Do things to let it be seen and felt by others. It’s often easier to give in to cynicism, but those who choose to be positive set themselves up for success and have better reputations.
You will perhaps have heard this very old story illustrating the difference between positive and negative thinking:
Many years ago two salesmen were sent by a British shoe manufacturer to Africa to investigate and report back on market potential.
The first salesman reported back, “There is no potential here – nobody wears shoes.”
The second salesman reported back, “There is massive potential here – nobody wears shoes.”
This simple short story provides one of the best examples of how a single situation may be viewed in two quite different ways – negatively or positively. And it is not difficult to see which one you want, eh?
UVA success lessons … maintain patience
The proper timing of your words and acts will give you a big advantage over people who are impatient.
For example: Don’t click send on the email right away — breathe and reread it. The classic example would be getting irate and sending something with hostility.
Much of real happiness is a matter of being aware of what you’re doing while you’re doing it — and enraged people aren’t typically conscious of their actions.
https://digitalsparkmarketing.com/become-a-smarter-person/
UVA success lessons … keep an open mind
Those who close themselves off from certain ideas and associate only with like-minded people are missing out on not only personal growth but also opportunities for advancing their careers.
Smile often
The greatest asset a person can show is a ‘million-dollar smile’. This allows people to lower their guards during conversations with you.
Listen much more than you talk
The most likable people know that it’s not worth offending people by expressing everything they know, even if they are true. Pay close attention to someone speaking to you and show interest.
Using a conversation as an opportunity to lecture someone may feed the ego, but it never attracts people or makes friends.
Seek to understand the perspectives of those around you. Listen; really listen, to what all employees are saying to you. You will be amazed at what you can learn. And use what you learn to enhance the teamwork of your group.
Keep your cool
Maintain your composure in all circumstances. Overreaction to things either positive or negative can give people a poor impression. Always remember that silence may be much more effective than angry words.
UVA success lessons … show kindness with good deeds
The best true leaders help other people out without expecting anything in return. And if you want people to recognize your real worth, do lots for lots of people.
UVA success lessons … don’t fear failure
People admire those who grow from failure rather than wallow in it. Express your gratitude for having gained a measure of success.
Express interest in people
The most likable people use conversations as an opportunity to learn about another person and give them time to share a story.
Be genuine in praise
Praise the good traits of others without being excessive.
Show you care
Successful people don’t pretend to be likable; they are likable because they show care for others. Having confidants who can be completely honest with you allows continued growth.
Reflect at end of every day
Most of the time, heading out of the office is the time for rehearsing everything that went wrong that day. We recommend also reflecting on what went well. That way you’re not denying that some things went poorly, but you’re getting a richer picture of what happened.
UVA success lessons … laughter
Learn to find laughter wherever you can, even it is at your own expense. Tip for Success: Laugh to the universe, and the universe will laugh back with you
Create trust
Empower your employees to act on your behalf, stand back and watch what happens. This is the most crucial way to enhance teamwork behaviors in staff … trusting them. They will never trust you without you first trusting them. It is the foundation of your employee team.
Be willing to openly share and be influenced
Seek out employee ideas and initiative. There should almost nothing you shouldn’t share with the employee team. The more they know, the better decisions they can make. And don’t be afraid to be influenced by their ideas.
UVA success lessons … live the moment
Many employees are never tired when it comes to the party, play and so on ….. I tried to explain that they have to go to sleep early for work the next day… The next day? Tomorrow we will think about it. Tip for success: Concentrate on today, live the moment and have fun.
Never give up
Have you seen an employee learn really hard new things? How many times until he learns? Did he quit? It’s amazing how we give up so easily. Many people want to succeed but are afraid to take chances and make mistakes. Success tip: You need to take some risk to create something new in your life, and yes you probably going to miss sometimes.
UVA success lessons … learn from your success
This is the favorite lesson I loved to observe from employees. Tip for success: After making mistakes several times, and you finally get it right, then just keep doing more of it to create a bigger success.
UVA success lessons … don’t be afraid to ask
This was a hard lesson for everyone, I included. We all like to be self-reliant. Never be afraid to ask, worst case you’ll hear a no, it just means not now. Ask again later.
Facilitate a learning environment
Openly share business information. Encourage questions and participation in discussion and discovery of business decisions.
Support an environment of change
Teach employees it is ok to fail and still take prudent risks as long as they learn. Encourage the exchange of new ideas among team members. Don’t fear occasional experimentation with these ideas.
Encourage collaborative relationships
Collaboration is the key to an effective employee team. Teach collaboration on all tasks with a mini team approach whenever you can.
Takeaways
Across industries, continuous learning is a process, not a destination. A great employee team is like an organic being, continually growing and changing to adapt to situations and challenges as they arise. Remember, teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.
Remember to work on all the lessons … it is another great way to show people a positive mental attitude. Also be sure and walk the talk on these!
May you be so fortunate … to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.
It’s up to you to keep improving your continuous learning performance.
Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff’s leadership, teamwork, and collaboration? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a team or leadership workshop?
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Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
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Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?
Do you have a lesson about making your learning better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on continuous learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
9 Things to Know About Creative Visual Design Content
8 Presenter Mistakes That Are Rarely Made Twice
Know These Great Secrets of Collaboration and Co-Creation
How Good Is Your Learning from Failure?
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.