"If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance." - - George Bernard Shaw

In 1912, the printer was all set to run three million copies of Teddy Roosevelt's nomination speech, complete with photographs of Roosevelt and his VP candidate, the immortal Hiram Johnson. Then the chairman of the campaign committee discovered that no one had obtained permission from the photographer who had taken the pictures. Legal penalties for the copyright violation could be as much as $3 million. The printing plates were made. Changing the photos would be extremely expensive. But no one knew what the photographer might demand for the rights. It was even possible that, heaven forbid, the man was a Democrat.

There were a number of them afoot in those days, you know, and they were an unpredictable lot. The photographer might even deny the committee the pictures altogether. The chairman sent off a quick telegram: "Planning to issue three million copies of Roosevelt speech with pictures of Roosevelt and Johnson on the cover. Great publicity opportunity for photographers. What will you pay us to use your photographs?"
"Appreciate the opportunity," the photographer replied, "but can only pay $250."
The chairman accepted without dickering. He probably could have held out for $350 or $400.

We all want to be positive and enthusiastic about what we have to offer: about our companies, our products, our careers, our selves, our various proposals and visions. But far too often we try to accomplish that by ignoring or burying potential negatives. Everything is wonderful, let's all think happy thoughts, the glass is half full not half empty.

Unfortunately, as we all know, reality has a nasty way of refusing to stay ignored. "So you're saying you shopped around and my prices are really that much higher than those of baby shop down the street? Well . . . ah . . . I mean . . . Hey, look! There's Elvis!"

In his book, "Filling the Glass: the Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business" (Dearborn 2001), Barry Maher focuses on strategies for handling these types of potential negatives. The idea is to deal with reality rather than to simply putting the best face on it: to fill the glass rather than worrying about whether to call it half empty or half full. One of the most effective strategies—and one of the most counter-intuitive—is the one exemplified by that Roosevelt story. That strategy is called, Making the Skeleton Dance, after a quote by George Bernard Shaw...

"If you can not get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance."

People keep telling me that in Chinese the word for problem is the same as the word for opportunity. (They also keep telling me that Coca Cola means bite the wax tadpole.) I have no idea if that's actually true. But I do know that the Making the Skeleton Dance strategy has turned more than a few problems into opportunities.

For example, how often in your business career have you stumbled over that issue of price? Too many of us act like charging what we are worth is something to be ashamed of. Here's how I brag about that particular negative.

"Are my hourly consultation rates expensive? Absolutely. And why do I charge so much? Because my clients are not just willing but happy to pay those kind of rates - because of the results I generate for them. Because they know I'm worth it.
Can you hire somebody else to do the job for less? Absolutely. I'll be glad to supply you with phone numbers.

But why do you think these companies charge less? Do you really think they would charge less if they could charge more? They're not running humanitarian services, I assure you. They charge less because that's what they can get—that's what their clients are willing to pay for the results they generate. Now let me tell you why my clients are so willing to pay more."

Often the secret to making peace with a negative, is to find a way you can honestly brag about it. Save the Reality Checklist below for the next time you're confronted with a negative you're tempted to bury or to try to ignore. You just might find that instead of a negative you've got a selling point—even a bragging point.

Reality Checklist

What are the negatives you need to present—or wish you could avoid presenting—to others?

- Understand the potential downside of those negatives to everyone involved.

- Understand the potential positives that surround those negatives: for you, your company, and most especially to those you'll be presenting the negatives to.

- Isolate the What's in It for Them for each of the Thems you need to reach.

- Take care of the What's In it for Them, and the what's in it for you—and the company—will take care of itself.

- Marshall your best possible case, then imagine yourself presenting that case to the biggest Doubting Thomas you're likely to encounter.

- Are you, yourself, really sold? If not, don't expect that you'll be able to sell anyone else.

• If you're not sold, what would it take—what can you do—to make the case more saleable? If it can reasonably be done, do it. If it can't be done, deal with the reality, explaining why it is the reality, frankly and honestly.

• Never forget that truth is the ultimate sales trick.

Adapted from Filling the Glass: The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business by Barry Maher (Dearborn 2001).

I thought this was interesting enough to add here at "Key Thoughts" this week. Essentially, it describes in detail the old adage that..."You are what you think."
Carefully choose the things you think, and here I mean selectively control what goes through your mind - and you program yourself to achieve success?
Very interesting.....

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Autosuggestion and Controlled Attention
by Napoleon Hill

You are influenced by, and you are a part of, the dominating circumstances of your daily environment. The medium by which this takes place is known as autosuggestions (suggestions you make to yourself, either consciously or unconsciously).

Autosuggestion records in your memory every thought you express, and makes it a part of your character, whether the thought is positive or negative. It records every word which is spoken within your hearing, and gives it a positive or a negative meaning, according to your reaction to it.

Autosuggestion records your thought reactions to everything you see or recognize through any of the five physical senses, and it records the “feel” which you pick up from your physical surroundings.

The objects on which you deliberately concentrate your attention become the dominating influences in your environment. If your thoughts are fixed upon poverty, or the physical signs of poverty, these influences are transferred to your subconscious mind through autosuggestion.

If the habit of concentrating on poverty is continued, it will result in conditioning your mind to accept poverty as an unavoidable circumstance, and you will eventually become poverty-conscious. This is how millions of people condemn themselves to a life of poverty. Remember this, you who would have opulence.

The principle of autosuggestion works in precisely the same manner when your dominating thoughts are fixed, through controlled attention upon opulence and economic security. This habit leads to the development of a prosperity consciousness without which no one may hope for economic security.

It is obvious, therefore, that when you voluntarily fix your attention upon a definite major purpose of a positive nature, and force your mind, through daily habits of thought, to dwell on that subject, you condition your subconscious mind to act on that purpose. As we have stated repeatedly, the subconscious mind acts first on the dominating thoughts placed before it daily, whether they are positive or negative, and proceeds to carry out those thoughts by translating them into their material equivalent.

Source: PMA Science of Success. Pgs. 345-346.

The Four Steps to DOING Anything.

In the movement to "DO" in our lives, i.e., to get out and create action, we often encounter stumbling blocks. Some we cannot do anything about, they just exist. We push on and keep moving to get past them - THAT is what ultimately makes us great.

But many of the challenges we face are simple and basic - and which we tend to blow out of proportion. The French philosopher Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, wrote in the 1500's, "My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened."

We worry, or we get caught up feeling inadequate or we just stall in place - paralyzed by what we see as insurmountable problems. But the truth is, we come equipped, for the most part, with the intelligence and the tools to do most anything we desire. What is needed, then, is a fingertip method to keep us moving past those "stalling moments" which paralyze it.

SO here is my favorite technique to keep from getting bogged down in problems. It is based in the balance between personal power and having none. When a person acts from personal power they see things for what they really are and they take action. They don't bog down in emotions, or trying to find reasons why something CAN'T work.

Power Position Solutions

+ Step One: Dream
This is the first step towards using power to control your outcomes. So if you want to DO something, Step One is to first ask yourself:

"If this situation were to turn out the way I want, what would it look like?"

Then, spend a moment or two imagining the OUTCOME you want.

But don't spend too much time at this dream phase. While it is sometimes comforting, dreaming is ineffective in itself.

But a dream that becomes vision is the first first step towards seeing a problem for what it really is. After all, you can't hope for change if you don't see the need for it!

+ Step Two: Acknowledge Reality
Okay, now you're getting somewhere! In Step Two, you must acknowledge reality. You are not an ostrich hiding your head in the sand - you are a human being, trying to make something happen!

So, in Step Two, stop and SAY out loud:

"This is the reality of the situation. These are the problems I face, the needs I have and the help I need if I am to achieve what I set before me."

Actually say this aloud to yourself, don't cheat and mutter it under your breath. If you need to go somewhere private to do so, then go ahead.

Don't hide from these things; don't be afraid to write them all down. The person who says, "It is, what it is," is far closer to doing something than one who only complains. Once you acknowledge the reality of your situation, you'll find that YOU begin to change for the better. Once that happens, you are primed to affect your own outcome.

+ Step Three: Find Solutions
This is where it all leads - ACTION. The other things are important but they only shine a light on an issue or problem. In themselves, they do nothing but illuminate what you must DO.

Step Three - Write down all possible solutions

Notice, saying them aloud isn't enough. Now you must write these things down. This is called 'brainstorming' and it is where you face ALL possible solutions... not just the ones you like.

Some solutions may be hard or require things you do not currently have, so you must work to make them happen. Often these are the right solutions, even if not the easiest. So you must write down your options and evaluate them on their own merit. DO not be afraid to enlist the aid of someone else, either. They may see things you don't.

But, once you accept and adopt solutions, you change the situation for good. It is no longer what it was - this is where opportunity opens up for you. So put the solutions you decide upon into action.

+ Step Four Get On With It.
This is the ultimate point of all this... to move forward. SO Step Four is to move on from the problem.
Once you have acted on your solutions, you can step forward. Perhaps it will take some more planning to get the actions well along. Or maybe you need some more resources or tools. That's okay, it;s al part of the solution. I will talk mre in a future post about the ways to put solutions into effect.

But remember, the final goal here is to place your problems on the "To Monitor" list.
This means they no longer absorb your energy and worry, but only require occasional input and minor effort to keep going forward.
As Winston Churchill said, "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

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Of course, there is nothing to force you to use the Power Position Solutions.
So what happens if you don't?

Well, every Power has its powerless opposite. While Power Position Solutions give you good reasons for what you do, the Powerless Position leaves you with little more than excuses. Simply put, nothing changes and you get nowhere. But, hey... at least you'll have plenty of arguments why.

Powerless Solutions

+ Wait and hope
Waiting an hoping is the first step to failing. Sadly, too many people think it is a solution by itself. While hope often gives temporary comfort, waiting is ineffective in itself. It also tends to place the results outside the individual.

That is, if things go good, it is because someone or something else did it, since all you did was wait and hope. If things go badly, well, then the same thing applies.

+ "I can't" - These two words are responsible for more frustration that any other. Once you begin uttering, "I can't..." phrases, you soon develop excuses as to WHY you can't. Before long, you convince yourself of your own inadequacy and develop elaborate rationale to back it up. All this emotional investment has it's own reward, since before long you are convinced that you cannot.

"Whether you believe you can, or you can't... you are right" - - Henry Ford

+ Blaming others - Once you convince yourself that you cannot... you then find others who are part of your downward spiral. Either they caused your failure or they are holding you back. This can be anyone, from your family to the President, even Society at large. But normally there is a face associated with this blame.

Regardless, once you've come this far, there is always someone else who is at fault besides YOU. Rather than acknowledging reality and searching for solutions, it is easier to put the blame on others.

+ Unaware/Unconscious - This is the ultimate Powerless Position. We call it denial, these days. You push the situation so far back in your mind and camouflage it in such a tangled web of blame and self pity that it is finally subverted. In the end, you turn your back on the problem and try to live as if it didn't exist.

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So as you move to DO and accomplish things in your life, remember that it is Power that gets you there. Try the four steps of Power Solutions and see if they don't kick start your efforts to GO, DO and BECOME!.

Is Your Life in the Dirt?

“All Men Are Kings Before Potatoes.” This has become something of a catch phrase for me, lately. I'm a gardener at heart, you see, so it is a natural expression of that pastime.

Few activities are as fulfilling as gardening. It is simple, often laborious work, but it gives you time to think and the results are immediate. Sinking a spade into the soil and turning the earth offers "real-time" feedback; the smell of the soil, the twinge as unused muscles awaken - your results are timely and visible. The Earth does not complain or talk back, either. It knows nothing of negativity... you work, it complies. Simple, basic.

It should be no surprise that I am inspired by Henry David Thoreau and his classic work, "Walden." In that book, Thoreau left the hectic, burdened world of 'civilized' people to live a simple agrarian life, without trappings. What his experiment ultimately proved was that whether you're a king or pauper, rich man or poor, you are on equal footing with the soil.

Gardens also are the epitome of dreams, since they are dreams, realized. All gardeners are planners and people of vision. They schedule, organize and endlessly rotate the features of their garden, manipulating the earth for one goal: TO prepare it for the greatness to come. By deliberately making their visions bear fruit, they hold in their hands the core of all achievement.

Turning the earth to cultivate your own food, is the purest distillation of the Human Charter I talk so often about. That Charter, to "GO, DO and BECOME" is at the core of every garden.

You GO out to the earth, laid before you and embrace it. There is no sitting down and hoping with the garden... you must get up and go there.
You DO, by planting and watering, cultivating and nurturing until it produces that which sustains you. "Garden" is an action word.
In doing all this, you BECOME far more than if you had you simply dreamed and wished for something to have occurred. It is the culmination of vision and applied effort, the highest purpose man can attain.

At the same time, it is a very fulfilling purpose. You see, it is all up to you.
In the garden, you are generally alone and it succeeds only because you make it work... or fail to.

It is the glorious paradox of the garden that this basic, unfettered work makes it such a life-changing force. Often, people scorn the garden as oafish, or arcane - but nothing is farther from the truth. What they cannot see is that in calling forth the powers of the Earth, you fulfill the core need of all humanity to GO, DO and BECOME. In the garden you meet the expectations of all society to do something useful with yourself..

SO, if you are feeling like you are wasting your life, getting nowhere or are unfocused, don't buy another self-help CD, or pay for another session with some "guru." Instead, shed these things, go dig in the soil and plant some tomatoes!

You will find that you are refreshed in both body and spirit and will see things in a vastly different way.

Real Heroes

I listened to a radio show today about battle field medics and doctors in Vietnam. The horrors they described, the deprivations they endured were beyond re-telling. No words I can write would do their story justice. No one should be placed in such a position as they, trying to revive young men blasted to shreds, any one of which might be a neighbor, friend or brother.

Some of them came apart and lost it, never regaining their full sanity... no one of us can, or should, blame them. But most went on after the war to become "regular" people.

What impressed me the most was that these were ordinary men, thrust into extraordinary circumstances. They didnt ask for these things, but they endured and they went on. They coped any way possible and in the midst of the carnage, they did their job - they saved lives.

Many men living today, as you read this, owe their lives to these gallant men.
Most of these gallant men owe their own sense of purpose to the men they saved. For them, those they saved made it all worthwhile.

It's no surprise that most of these men have kept in touch over the last 40 years, saved and saviors alike. Only men who have carried each other in battle can know this connection.

No trite commentary, regardless of it's content, can supplant what these men have done, what they are. So I won't try. I'll simply stand in awe of them, this day.

Instead, I'd ask that each of you remember the servicemen and women who have tasted death itself for their family, their friends and a nation of citizens whom they will never know. God Bless them.