Debra Kasowski, Author at Debra Kasowski

EPISODE 13: The Power of Positive Thinking

July 28, 2016 by Debra Kasowski Leave a Comment

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DKI Episode 13 – The Power of Positive Thinking

A book written by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale called The Power of Positive Thinking was written years ago. Its message is still true today. I love to listen to it to help me stretch out of the space sometimes I can get into this talk that we have in our heads. What I learned is that we have 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts in a day. It is surprising that 80% of those thoughts are actually truly negative. It is only when we consciously think about the thought that we were able to really shift and reframe the thought into something positive. What is very interesting to me is that 98% of the thoughts that you think today were actually the same thoughts that you had yesterday. It blew me away and it really made me think about things a lot differently.

Positive thinking is not about putting on rose-colored glasses and ignoring the negative events. We hear about bombings and the terrible terrorist attacks going on in the world. Many of the things going on we do not have control over. You and I can think about our own thoughts and what can we can control.

“We are what we think” – Buddha Proverb

Norman Vincent Peale also talks about:

“Change your thoughts and you can change your world.”

“Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes his mind to do. We are all capable of greater things than we realize.”

“Believe it is possible to solve your problem. Tremendous things happen to the believer. So believe the answer will come and it will come.”

What one should really think about is… where ever you are right now, I want you to think about the negative thoughts that you have been having. The self-talk that you’ve been talking yourself out of doing a thing and you truly want to do.

I am going to tell you why it’s important. What happens when you are positively thinking – impacts your leadership, impacts how you run your business, how you run your organization, and how you chase after that creative idea that you have. Whether you’re inventing something and bringing something to the marketplace, people need your ideas. People need you to step into the leader that you are truly meant to be. What happens when you are positive thinker, not only is this contagious, you can teach people how to choose their words and how they speak because whatever you think is what you are. Right? Refer back to the Buddha Proverb.

Benefits of Positive Thinking

The benefits of positive thinking include:

decrease stress if you are thinking positively, you are not putting that energy into your fears, your worries, or your concerns about something,
you’re able to handle difficult situations with ease because you are looking for a positive outcome,
Decreases conflict because there’s intention to be more forgiving to really understand where a person is coming from. Are they truly trying to be malicious or are they know not self-aware of a situation?
better first impressions- When you are speaking positive and you are excited about your day versus someone who’s got slouched posture saying “Hi, how are you?” (say it in the Eeyore voice from Winnie the Pooh). Do not put that energy out there. You don’t want to be around them. You start to repel is like a magnet. You just want to walk away from that negative energy.
Improved health and vitality – Your thoughts influence your feelings and how you think about things and how you’re going to behave. The actions that you take. You are going to make healthier choices and it alludes to your longevity.
You start seeing problems as true opportunities to be solved. You never know where it going to take you. It is like an open door that you just walk through and it’s going to be, “What can we do this now? What can we do better?
It is always continuing so seeing that momentum and it is also motivating when you are thinking positively. It motivates you as well as the team that works for you.

How to Be a Positive Thinker

Positive thinking can be challenging at first if you have been negative long time but it starts with:

Taking 100% Responsibility One of the most important key factors in determining people’s successes is being able to really take responsibility for your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions that you take and the impact that it has.

Evaluate Your Thoughts I want you really think about your thoughts. Are these thoughts true? Is this something that I totally believe in? Do I know this for sure? Is the intention behind this is real?

Listen to Your Internal Monologue Is this a cycle that you are listening to, is there truth to it? Are you coming from a reactive place? Are you being jealous or envious of another person? That’s when you start discounting your own worth and what you bring to the world. I want you to really catch and take a listen to what you’re saying. Are these thoughts true and are they negative? If they are, reframe them and change them into a positive thought. What you want to be? There is that saying, “act as if” ; you need to show up as who you want to be before you even become it so really thinking about what you saying to yourself.

Get Rid of or Cut the Drama I don’t like drama. One of the things that I’m telling about the drama part is, if something is not broken – with a relationship or you have some negative thoughts about something. Don’t jump in and start accusing somebody of something and getting into petty fights. A lot of the disagreements the people get into are over the little things that really don’t have a lot of significant. If you just open up the conversation, you find out that it’s not as difficult or a conflict as you what you thought it was.

Turn Negative Talk into a Positive Talk what you want to be going on in your life. If you want to generate great stuff, you want to generate more positivity. You need to start yourself by being more positive.

Feed the Positivity Hang out with people who are positive, who generate ideas and brainstorm with you, and give you excitement.

Find the Humor. You can always discover the humor in a situation; although it might not be funny at the time. I’ve been in situations that I sit back and think “This is not funny”. I know I can be steamed and then realized a while back when somebody points out something that you just start laughing because it just seems so surreal that that even happened. It takes you to where you need to be but sometimes we just need to laugh situation and think you know what, one of those small things that it’s not a big deal.

Continually Cultivate Your Positive Outlook Realize that as with anything that we want to be sustainable- it takes time to develop.

Brian Tracy said, “One of the most important leadership qualities is the accepted of personal responsibility. Leaders never complain, never explain, instead of making excuses, they make progress. Whenever they have a setback or difficulty they repeat to themselves:” I am responsible! I am responsible! I am responsible!”

What are you going to take responsibility for when it comes to you and your thinking?

No one can influence the thinking that you have. You choose how you think. We have a 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts coming through our mind at any point in time. You choose what you want to focus on. What you bring to consciousness, whether it be positive or negative, you get to choose.

Take responsibility, really challenge your assumptions, and challenge your thoughts to see if there’s truth in them. Cut out the drama, it is draining. It takes away a lot of your energy. Any thought that’s negative- start shifting into a positive talk. If you start doing this regularly, sometimes what you need to do is write it down. What is that talk and what how do I really want to be? When you start catching these things, you will start shifting how you are behaving, how you are thinking about things, and shifting to more positive thinking. Remember to surround yourself with quotes and sayings, listen to positive relaxing music, and the people you surround yourself with. Make sure that you are surrounding yourself with positive people who are providing a great influence for you. Read great books that add to your positivity. You do not want to be watching the news first thing in the morning or at night to set the tone for your day. Often what you see is negative. Start your day with positive thinking that and influence it either reading the quote or writing in a journal. Writing down what you are grateful for – really starting and ending your day with something positive. Remember to look for the humoring the situations and not to take yourself too seriously.

The power of positive thinking can really shift your life. It changes the way you lead. It changes the way that you develop yourself. What I know for sure is when you are positive thinking, you are in a find solutions and creativity in you everything that you do. You will be able to be more productive and increase your performance not just for yourself but for the people that you work with too.

What are you going to start doing to BE more positive today?

Email me at Debra@debrakasowski.com and let us know what you would like to be featured on the show. Subscribe to The Millionaire Woman Show. Give us a 5-star rating! Sign up for our Newsletter www.debrakasowski.com

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Time 13:51 min

EPISODE 12: Epic Ways to Seize Your Happiness

July 26, 2016 by Debra Kasowski Leave a Comment

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EPISODE 12 – EPIC WAYS TO SEIZE YOUR HAPPINESS

What does happiness have to do with leadership, business, and human potential? When you are in a happy state, you change the actions that you take. You change the way you approach things. You change your perception of different things, when you’re in a happy state of mind.

“For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I really don’t want you to lose out; I want you to become the leader that you were meant to be. Lead a fulfilling life and work business and at home. We are going to talk about the ways to seize your happiness so you might want to grab a paper and pen and if you are you driving in the car listening to this podcast you can go to the show notes and download your epic ways that you can seize your happiness.

Train Your Brain. Start with training your brain. Happiness is truly a state of mind. To be able to practice mindfulness and to be in a place where you are able to recognize smallest of things that contribute to the world today. When we talk about mindfulness, it’s not just about sitting in meditation and clearing your mind you so you have this blank slate. By being mindful, it is being able to recognize the small things: the breath that you take, the smell of a flower, to interpret someone’s emotions way when you’re having a conversation with them – being able to be perceptive of what’s going on around you.Some of the ways to practice mindfulness are meditation. There is prayer – by being able to feel like you’re connected with the universe or God or whatever that being is for you – something greater. Some people practice mindfulness through yoga, through just doing some deep breathing exercises, and recognizing how their body feels and being able to recognize these things around you – how you interact with your environment.

Getting Enough Sleep. Many people are running on so little sleep. I use to say this phrase that “I would sleep when I’m dead.” However, when you really think about it if you wear yourself out by working 60 to 80 hours a week how long will that be sustainable? Are you truly showing up in giving your best self?What happens is when you are exhausted, your fuel tank decreases. You’re not able to fully give the full horsepower of what your engine of who you are is able to give. When you get enough sleep, you actually less triggered by the events around you so when something does not go right you are able to be more responsive than reactive. Our bodies do need to rest to allow our minds and cells in our body to actually repair from the work of the day. By allowing yourself at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep, you’re giving yourself a way of clearing any mental fog that “brain fog” so you can think clearly and make decisions well while being able to assess information and facts before you.

Practice Gratitude. People take for granted that we have all the things that came into our lives. Take a look around you everything you have in your life change your life by choice. By saying by choice, the more you are grateful for something, the more that happens to show up in your life, more things for you to be grateful for.There is a book that I read too long ago called, 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik.He changed his life. This book is about this individual is kind of a grumpier kind guy stressed out and he decided that he needed to change his life. What he did every day for 365 days of the year, is that he sent out the hand written a letter of acknowledgment to different people who are impacted or his life in some way. His whole life shifted. Part of it was his attitude and how he viewed things. Now he started to recognize the things he was grateful.
I recommend to clients that I work with that when you stop and recognize some of the things that you are grateful for, you start to notice more things. The list gets longer but I do recommend you at least acknowledge three things that you are grateful for each day. Make as simple as a smile, someone held the door open for you, or you just recognizing that someone complimented you today. We often move onto the next thing and failed to recognize, some of the small things that really have enhanced our lives. This goes back to being mindful but being able to recognize how all the small things really contribute to the bigger picture – the person who you become and who you have yet to be.

Focus on People NOT Stuff. Focus on building and nurturing relationships and not on material goods and things. When you focus on the relationships, you add a whole new richness to your life. You learn about people. You learn what motivates them. Zig Ziglar had a saying that if you help enough people get what they want, you will get what you want. You will accomplish your goals as you help them.Don’t focus on the stuff. Stuff can be purchased. Relationships are not something to be purchased. They are something to live, to enjoy and to share.

Set Meaningful Goals. Many people out there don’t set goals. Only the top to 3% of people, set goals on a regular basis. When you set goals for yourself, you want to use the SMART goal method which is: S – Specific, M- Measurable, A- Achievable, R- Realistic, and T for Timely. When you use this, what you trying to do is be specific, what is it that you want to achieve, what you want to achieve and by when the timestamp because without that it becomes a wish; it becomes a dream. It something that you’re not actually working toward so we will be able to measure it; give it a timestamp as to when you might want to do this by. It’s commitment. The next one is achievable. Is this achievable within the time frame that you are trying to do this? Is this something you can actually do? Is this realistic? Is it something you can do within the time frame you provided for yourself?R is for realistic. People say why not lose weight in 24 hours. As you can see that’s not very realistic unless you’ve undergone some type of surgery. It’s about thinking about if it is realistic in the time frame. Maybe you need to adjust your time frame or test it out and then re-adjust- it happens. Timely, we want to be able to measure it. We want to go back to the time date stamp as to when you’re going to achieve it. Some people set goals that you cannot actually measure it’s not something they can measure per se.What I like to recommend is using a rating scale of 0 to 10, 0 (lowest point) is about how you’re feeling about a subject and 10 is that you are at the top of your game. Let’s say you are at a 5/10, and then you decide what actions you are going to take to go from a 5 to a 7/10 two weeks from now. Thinking about those strategies and what you need to have in place and who you need to connect with. These are how we say to breakdown and chunk down your goals. You have to really stop and think about all the things that can help you get to where you want to go. Work backward, so if you know where you’re going in the time frame, what are the steps you need to take? Break it down into smaller pieces thinking about the resources, how much time you need to a lot to it, and how much money might need to go into it. What are the resources? What is your grit power? What is the work that you need to put in to get this done? Maybe you are going to achieve it earlier and need to set a new goal to up your game or you might need to adjust some of the strategies.
Think about the strategies. Who else do you need to get involved in helping you get to where you want to go? What happens, when set meaningful goals, is that all of a sudden you create this excitement; you create energy around you because you have something that gives you momentum something you look forward to achieving. I was sharing with people in my newsletter that I had a friend who challenged a few people to set a swim goal and I had set it for 4000 m 10 weeks down the road. I figured 400 m per week was reasonable because I like to participate in other activities. I thought I usually the average about 300-400 meters then I am out of the pool. I became so excited so focused on how my rhythm was or how my stroke was that I achieve that goal within four weeks and then my son said to me, “You know what Mom, I don’t think you’re working hard enough” my mouth just dropped.” I replied, “Okay, you’re not the one who’s swimming so I decided that I would up the game. I had six more weeks to go so I thought I can swim 6000 m more. I finished again a little bit early because of the excitement of it and I pushed myself to do something that I haven’t done in over 11 years is1500 m in one stretch to conquer the 10,000. It felt phenomenal to be able to achieve something that I haven’t done a long time but to set that goal. When you do this, you are really able to create a momentum in your life and it increases your happiness because you know that you’re reaching these the small milestones along the way.

Spend time with family and friends. Surrounding yourself with people who support you. Spending time with people- family and friends sharing in celebrations, birthdays, and holidays really connecting with people and accepting people unconditionally for who they are. One thing I want you to keep in mind, as a leader is no matter of what you are working with her when you are speaking with, remember that they’re all part of their own journey. Everybody isn’t doing the same as you or in the same place as you. They might want to learn from you or be mentored by you. People may say, “Why would someone want to learn from me?” Everyone has someone that they look up to. Think of the kids in school fourth-grader looking up at the sixth-grader thinking that there like a God because they have gone through some of the milestones and journeys and just excited to be a part of it. Spend time connecting with people and getting to know about people. What makes the tick? What gets them excited? What are their hopes and dreams? When you really take time to get to know somebody’s dream that’s when you are ultimately connecting with people

Forgive Others. When we talk about forgiveness, I want to keep in mind that forgiveness is the process. It is not that you’re going to forget what happened to you. By being able to forgive, you build stronger relationships, you’re able to express how you feel, and put you in a greater place and state of mind. Psychologists talk about forgiveness as being a conscious deliberate decision to release those feelings of resentment. There may be anger or frustration.A person I met and the totally adore is Dr. Shawne Duperon. She is a six-time Emmy award-winner. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with Project Forgive and she uses this in leadership to help teach leaders the importance of forgiveness. The documentary coming out in January 2017 or later in 2017 I believe that is the date it is rolling out. She has researched good gossip is part of her Ph.D. She is an ultimate communicator and public speaker.Her message is on how important forgiveness is. You can learn more about this project by going her website www.projectforgive.com to learn about how you can help support this project because of what it’s doing. The documentary was triggered by a hearing about an accident that happened to killed part of a family. She knew the family that was affected but she also knew the person who caused the accident. What happened is that these people were able to forgive each other and it had sparked is like a domino effect of sharing these stories of how people work to get passed it, and move forward from some of the most painful places in their lives. To be able to forgive – to be able to move forward. They’re not going to forget what happened but they’re going to release feelings that are holding them back from moving forward with enjoying their lives and being happy. It is truly a phenomenal gift. If you get a chance go to www.projectforgive.com, check it out and learn more about this very powerful movement.
When forgiving others, you may not forget but remember that other people make mistakes too. We get angry; it’s like we’re expecting people to be perfect, forgetting that there are mistakes that others make.

Do Things for Other People. You feel greater happiness than you are able to do things for other people; sometimes the best thing to do when you’re wallowing in your stuff and you feel like things are not going the way you want them to is get out of your own space. Go out and volunteer. Go out to places and help people achieve things that they need, whether it’s a women’s shelter or to child center that needs your support, or going to the Humane Society – for those animal lovers listening to the podcast. Get out your own space and do some good in the world instead of keeping that focus on yourself. When you are focusing on yourself, you’re sitting in a space that doesn’t allow you to move out of that space. You keep looking at the problem versus a solution. When you take actions to get out of that space, you are able to clear your head and really see some of the happiness in your day.

Finally, my favorite because it is free to give a smile. Not a fake smile – people. I want your smile to go up to your eyes so your eyes twinkle. You can tell a true smile by how someone’s eyes I look.

There are no shortcuts to happiness. Happiness does not come to you; I want you to remember, it comes from you. You need to take action steps to help you become happier.

“Count your age by your friends, not years.

Count your life by smiles, not tears.”

John Lennon

Pretty Powerful! There are other resources a course on seizing your happiness. There is so much good going on. Make your life great! Make your leadership message your legacy helping people grow. Be a people builder.

Another resource you can tap into is the TED Talk by Shawn Achor with The Happiness Advantage.

There are books on living happy, working happy, really find what you love to do. The ultimate fulfillment is being able to challenge yourself to reach new heights, to become better than yesterday. These are the things that are and help you seize your happiness and grab on to what you truly want. Remember that being happy is contagious! The reason why I want to talk about happiness in this podcast is because when you are happy you performed better and you will also be more productive. You will achieve great results by allowing your happiness to come through you and into the work that you do. The creativity and innovation are going to spark so many more ideas and things that can be game changers for you and others.

What are you going to do to increase your happiness today?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Time 23:23

EPISODE 11: Effort Trumps Talent

July 21, 2016 by Debra Kasowski Leave a Comment

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Episode 11 – Effort Trumps Talent

“Small actions over time, transform us.”
Daniel Coyle, Little Book of Talents: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills and New York Times Bestselling Author of The Talent Code

Small actions over time… Where we are growing, learning, and improving. You will want to listen to Episode 10, our last episode, about Leaders Are Learners. Here’s a question that comes up, “Do you believe that talent comes only from the genes that you’re born with or do you believe talent is something that you can develop?” That is the pressing question of the day!

Do you believe that you either have a talent because you’re born with it or that there’s no chance of developing a talent if you don’t have it? Is it something that you think you could really hone skills and become that top person?

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest we haven’t planted.” David Bly

It is very interesting when people talk about the overnight success. They think know they are lucky – they are suddenly successful. They don’t know about the 10-20 years that people have been working their butts off and staying up late, sacrificing many things in order to get to where they want to be able to see. They don’t see that. Suddenly, when they reach that tipping point and they are successful, the luck is that they did some hard work.

What Is Talent?

Talent is something that is natural; it comes to you naturally. People think people who are talented don’t have to study or that there is this great hockey player and he did not have to develop the skill. Even the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky challenged himself by doing different antics on his skates to see how he can adjust and recover. Tiger Woods had to change up his skill all the time. Coach Hank Haney, a coach of Tiger Woods wrote the book “The Big Miss. He said Woods had to change his swing because a person the can become very bored but if they’re not constantly learning and trying to improve their skill then there’s nothing to challenge them. When they are challenged, they can become even better with their talents.

Who wins…

2084455 - business people running to win

It is like the tortoise and the hare you really think about it. When people are you naturally talented, they come to a point where they figure they don’t have to put any effort in because it comes so naturally. Whereas, the person who is hard-working and dedicated and perseverant who pushes through all the obstacles they can surpass those people with talent because talent will only take them so far.

Mindset Matters

No matter where you are, don’t you start comparing yourself to someone and say, “Well, you know that they got it all, they got all the skills, they got all the talent, what do I have?” If you are a self-motivated individual who is persistent and determined and you’re willing to learn and your teachable (as some of you know from the coaching world we call it, “Are you coachable?) If you’re willing to learn (and not come from a place of knowing everything) and be open to new opportunities, you will be able to demonstrate your worth. They are going take somebody who works hard was not can sit back on their laurels and think that everything is going to come to them. It is known that people who are talented might not work as hard as somebody who it doesn’t have the exact talents but they worked very hard.

What I’ve learned through competing in triathlons and any other competition, (I am one of those people who likes to push myself) it is about taking that talent and setting a new goal. Life isn’t about one place of success; it is about setting all the small milestones and goals that keep you motivated. They are all little jaunts to push you. When challenging yourself, you demonstrate that effort and you give yourself that determination.

When you give yourself that extra push, you can actually see which are truly capable of. It starts with one thing- it really begins with believing in yourself and what you have to offer and what you are able to do.

How to increase your efforts:

Believe in Yourself

Think of the Olympic athlete – they need to start believing that they have the skill in order chase after that dream.

Focus

They need to focus. You know you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to do this.

Emulate the Greats

In the Leaders Are Learners, I encourage people to think about what these great individuals that inspire us are doing to reach their milestones. What would like to learn from what they are doing?

Set Your Priorities

45578689_s Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices based on what is important to us and what our priorities are. You might end up taking a staycation instead of a jet-setting vacation while trying to save money toward your goals. You might eat in versus eat out regularly with friends. You might take evening classes instead of going out for a drink after work. Whatever that might be for yourself but where your focus goes is where you able to manage those things so that you can work toward the goals that you want to achieve.

Prepare for Greatness

It starts with really being prepared. For example, if you want to be a great speaker, you need to be prepared and practice that speech. It is about being ready- being ready for your board room meeting. It is no different than if you’re going on a family outing; it’s about being prepared. When you are prepared, you can be called on a moment’s notice. People will be able to depend on you to carry through what they would like you to do. Whether you are speaking on stage, doing a short presentation on something, or tending to a phone call, they know when you’re prepared and you’re on the ball you will take on any challenge that comes your way. When people know that you are a prepared person, those opportunities will also come your way.

Practice and Hone Your Skills.

Thomas Edison took 10,000 times to create the lightbulb. You may have heard that it takes 10,000 hours be considered an expert in your field. It’s really about honing in and practicing your skill whatever that skill is to constantly learn to work and improve on it.

Perseverance – Make it a Daily Habit

Don’t make it a daily habit to give up! Perseverance is about believing in your dream. It is about being there for the long haul and really going after what it is you want knowing that it’s not just an overnight success. There are very few of those. Many of the successes that you see around you have been from hard work and dedication to something that they truly believe in.

What I want you to do is really think about how are you going to prepare yourself, what are your current beliefs about yourself and your talents, and what are you going to do to hone that skill and talent. You already have the talent. Imagine if you put in extra effort or you worked with a trainer or you took some courses and practiced and did some of the things you truly wanted to do. Imagine what would happen. Persevere. What are you going to do to keep you on track and keep you motivated?

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard” -Kevin Durant

Believe that you are going to achieve everything that you set out to go after!

Time 10:53 min

Why Optimism Beats Pessimism

July 20, 2016 by Debra Kasowski Leave a Comment

You are faced with a variety of life events and circumstances every day. Each event or situation can be viewed in a positive or negative way. Your perspective is your outlook on the world around you. According to psychologists, you are either an optimist viewing the world from the viewpoint of a glass “half-full” or a pessimist viewing the world as a glass “half-empty”. For the most part, you are not happy or sad 100% of the time but you will lean more to one or the other disposition predominantly. Which one are you?

“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”
― Noam Chomsky

The Optimist

Optimism is defined as taking on a favorable view of events or circumstances and to expect positive outcomes. Optimistic character symbols are the fish Dory from the Disney Film Finding Nemo with her positive attitude and phrase, “Just Keep Swimming” demonstrating persistence. The Donkey from the movie Shrek does not seem to let anything bother him – everything just rolls off his back. The Disney character Goofy seems to do things without doubting of things with work out; he just does. You may see these characters as overly optimistic but it helps them face any adversity that comes their way.

Optimistic people look for the good in situations and believe that most people’s actions are filled with good intentions. They have a “can-do” attitude and see negative events as a temporary setback and see these hardships as learning opportunities for growth. They persist when faced with adversity. An optimistic person practices gratitude and acknowledges what is going well. They are positive and are confident in their abilities. When optimistic people share the events of their day, they tend to focus on sharing good events over negative ones. Uncertainty does not throw optimists off track; they see unscheduled or unplanned events as an opportunity and adventure to be seized.

The Pessimist

Pessimists are in the state of mind of expecting only the worst outcomes. These people have similar characteristics to the characters of Chicken Little who created a widespread panic that the sky was falling when it was only an acorn that fell, Charlie Brown was full of dread, negativity and worry, and Eeyore who was full of doom and gloom. People with these pessimistic characteristics can wear on the patience of others and suck the energy out of a room.

Pessimistic people believe that negative events were caused by them. What power they have! They believe that one mistake leads to a Domino Effect of mistakes. If something positive was to occur to them like a promotion or winning a prize, they would attribute these successes to luck, chance, or a fluke accident and the likelihood of it ever happening again was nearly impossible.

A pessimist can cause habit in the marketplace, business, or organization. They can negatively influence their employees, colleagues, and co-workers. I have watched this happen and it can move like wildfire. They start demonstrating poor work habits, carelessness, and lack of motivation. They become distracted and disengaged with the people who they are serving. Stress increase as these individuals gossip and complain. Others start to dread coming to work. They see setbacks as permanent and they are less flexible in challenging their perspective. There is increased fear, worry, and anxiety about the future which in turn impacts productivity and performance and thus the bottom line – profits.

Ultimately, optimism beats pessimism. Optimists live longer healthier lives. They have lower stress levels because they do not allow situations and life circumstances to dictate their happiness. They tend to be more successful and have increased productivity. Optimism impacts your overall well-being – it “feels good” to be positive and uplifting.

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Way to Beat the Doom and Gloom of Pessimism

Challenging assumptions by questioning your thoughts (Is your thought true?)
Reframe negative thoughts into positive thoughts
Learn from mistakes and adjust your course by doing it again until you get it
“Act as if”; be who you need to be now to achieve what you are trying to succeed at. Do not wait to be in the leadership role to become a leader.
Look for the good and what you have to be grateful for. The more you are grateful for, the more that will show up in your life to be grateful for.

Each day we have a choice. Which perspective will you choose – the optimist or the pessimist? At the end of the day, optimism beats pessimism. You cannot help wanting to be a part of the positive energy; it contagious. What attitude do you want to spread? How full or empty is your glass?

I believe it is not how full or empty your glass is what determines the quality of your life; it is about the people you meet, the places you travel to, and choices you choose to fill it with. Seize the opportunities live life to its fullest and drink up!

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

EPISODE 10: Leaders are Learners

July 19, 2016 by Debra Kasowski Leave a Comment

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“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

While you are listening to this podcast, I hope that you are taking the ideas you learn and you are implementing them into what you’re doing so it can take you places to where you want to go. My ultimate gift is to have an e-mail from you letting me know how this podcast has helped you, how you’re taking ideas and implementing them, whether it is in your leadership style, your business, or your organization or just how you live your life.

One thing I really want to hone in on the leaders being learners. Learning is not a one-time event. It is not about going to a seminar or conference and buying every package that might be sold or you or just attending and then just making it a social visit. Building relationships are very important but what I also need you to do is I need you to take away some of the things that you learn and start implementing them into who you are and what you do. It will change your practices. It will change your perspective of how you do things.

The reason why I want you to start being open to learning more and new information is because you become better today than you were yesterday. You will come up with better solutions. You will come up with new ideas to be implemented. Y might be saying to yourself, “I do not have a lot of time; I barely get to the gym, have supper, go to the kids soccer game.” I get it. I have three kids I am a busy lady too.

I know that learning is very important. Sometimes, I have the book stuck in my purse or by my bedside, even if it’s 10-15 minutes a day, I am reading. I take a book to the doctor’s office because there is downtime. Think about all the places you have downtime. There are other ways audios, the audio books, and podcasts like this one on Kindle or Kobos, going to conferences, workshops, reading the newspaper, or talking with others in the industry. There are lots of ways to learn and grow.

What I Have Learned About Leadership

One of the things I was learning more about leadership and in my own practices is that leaders are not afraid to show their gaps in their knowledge. They look for opportunities to learn how to handle situations better. They ask more questions they don’t assume that they know everything. I know I don’t, so I’m an insatiable learner. I am always trying to learn more information. As a leader, you could be willing to admit your mistakes and learn from them so that the people who follow you know that it’s okay to do the same. It’s about learning and growing. One of the biggest things that you can do that can make you more successful is to learn what motivates the people who work for you. How do you inspire them? How do you help them become a learner?

Shocking Stats

1997919 - studio shot beautiful young blond woman looking happily surprised

Shocking information that I came across while I researched statistics about this topic, just blew me away! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2013, 80% of people watch TV on any average given day, TV takes up half of our leisure time. Other leisure activities in this category included: exercising, socializing, playing a game, and reading. Television viewing increases as you age. Think about it – 50% of your leisure time spent on TV. The other 50% is broken down further into that exercising, socializing, and all those other pieces of a very small amount 20% of our waking hours are spent watching TV incredible. Then I decided to check out the book consumption per capita. In 2010, 21% of adults consumed 11 to 20 books in one year, 21% read maybe one book a month. In 2012, this number decreased to 14%. I found this really interesting article via Chief Executive Magazine that the top CEOs read 4 to 5 books per month. Grant Cardone was quoted as saying that, “the average CEO is said to read 50 books per year and makes 319 times the income of an average worker who read one book a year but finds the time to watch 700 YouTube videos a year. How essential is it to helping people apply ideas from what they learned?”

This quote really shifted the way I was thinking because when you hear those statements and think about it learning and growing and being at the top of your game. This means that you need to spend your time very wisely. You need to have time for your family, time for exercise and looking after you as well. Volunteering and giving back to others. There are many ways to learn and even YouTube videos can be a part of that especially if it is intentional learning. You need to make time for learning.

What Can You Do When You Decrease Your TV Viewing?

41718579 - video on demand vod service on tv television concept. One of the biggest things I am going to stress today is to decrease your TV time. Spend more time socializing and talking to people in your field. Spend more time connecting with people, getting your exercise in, and really boosting that reading time. Look to the greats and read biographies; learn what they did when they were challenged with struggles. Learn from them, there’s so much to learn from other people. When you study the greats, you can get ideas of what they did what works well for them. As Daniel Coyle says that you can steal those ideas! You’re not copywriting or plagiarizing, you’re taking things that look really good that you admire and creating your own style of how you can present yourself.

Learning Can Improve Other Things

Leaders are learners can be timely topic. When you’re thinking about obesity rates and people on the couch and the sugar intake, all these different things are all interconnected. Take time to learn. Make a commitment to do at least 20 min. a day.

Try, forget try, I am asking you to do this because it is going to change your life. Maybe your topic will be spending more time learning about leadership, maybe it will be about managing your finances or maybe you will choose to study the expertise in your industry. Based on the averages, you are learning more than most people out there and you will be ahead of the game. One of the reasons is that you are putting more effort.

Our next podcast is called Effort Trumps Talent you will not want to miss it because you start to see how you can define yourself and help yourself step aside from the crowd. I decided to put together my top 20 books to read {DOWNLOADABLE}. If you haven’t read some of them or if you had, start reading them again. Think about some of the best books that you have read and whether or not you have implemented something from it. Can you read it again and pull out something that you want to do, something that you want to add? We talk about taking away a lot of things so we are decreasing the TV. I want you to add the excitement and the growth of learning, that anticipation, testing things out, and seeing how they work. If you’re in sales, try some new techniques. If you are into organization or want to be more organized, try some of the techniques.

Start implementing what you learn. You’re going to learn more so you can earn more. You can become the top person in your industry. You’ll be the person that they want to come and talk to at networking event because you know some trivia you know some great information. Learning can make you stand out from the crowd

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Time 11:17 min