MARCH 2014

Tip of The Month

Think Better

By Tiffany Dahlberg

Do you know how your thoughts impact your life? An average adult has over 60,000 thoughts a day and for a majority of the population, over half of those are negative! In his book, "Virus of the Mind," Richard Brodie explains the new science called, memetics. He believes, "...that people who understand memetics will have an increasing advantage in life, especially in preventing themselves from being manipulated or taken advantage of."

Here are three tips to help you think better:

1) Identify your thoughts. What are your thoughts? Why are you having those thoughts? Most thoughts are not original and many are automatic. They came from your culture, upbringing, media influences, friends, prior experiences, and education. Someone or something else purposefully or unintentionally planted them in your brain.

2) Interrogate your thoughts. Ask yourself, "Where did this way of thinking come from? Is this way of thinking helping or hurting me? Is this thought really the truth? What other thoughts could serve me well in this situation?" I often use this line of questioning to move from negative thinking to positive thinking.

3) Choose your thoughts. You may not have control over thoughts that pop into your head, but you can choose what to do with them once they arrive. You can entertain them, dismiss them, or change them. There are several techniques to work through your thoughts. One that works well for me is Bryon Katie's, 4 Questions.

I just taught Critical Thinking for two clients in February, and they found it valuable so I'll write about different thinking styles next month.

Think Differently

Ready2ACT has designed a new way to help business leaders think differently. In February, we incorporated our new program called, Off2Sight, into a Strategic Planning Retreat for Faris Machinery and held the retreat at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, CO. We spent time in the museum for a portion of this retreat learning about some aspects of mountaineering:

Climbing Mt. Everest,
Surviving avalanches,
Treating altitude sickness, and
Utilizing the proper equipment.

Afterwards, we used the mountaineering experience as a metaphor for the work environment at Faris.

This different viewpoint helped uncover possible barriers and obstacles to being successful at achieving strategic goals, so that we could address these underlying issues in our planning.

Congratulations to Faris Machinery for their willingness to think differently and move their company forward!