Life

Have a Summer Attitude at Work and at Home

/ Ken Blanchard

Summer’s here! Kids are out of school, college students have time off or summer jobs, and adults—well, for many adults, all that really changes during the summer is the weather. If we work outside the home we get up every day and commute to our jobs, and if we work from home we look out the window at the sun shining while we are working. It’s easy to start feeling kind of stuck in a rut.

But here’s something we all have the ability to change right now: our attitude. What if we decided to have a “summer attitude” this time of year? I’m not talking about shirking our regular duties at work or at home; I’m talking about shifting our daily practices just a bit toward appreciation of the season. Here are a few examples.

Take time to recharge yourself

  • Get up a little earlier and enter your day slowly. What this means will vary from person to person. Meditate, pray, write in a journal, do some stretches or yoga—whatever works for you. If you don’t have a regular morning routine, just go for a walk around the block. Breathe deeply and feel the fresh morning air in your lungs. Look around and notice small things you may not have thought about for a while—hummingbirds, trees blossoming, puffy clouds. If you meet people along the way, acknowledge them with a smile and a “hello”—that could be all it takes to lift your mood (and theirs) for the day.
  • Make plans to take a break from the ordinary. Having something to look forward to is a great mood lifter any time of year. This could be as simple as a short drive to visit a friend or relative you haven’t seen in a while. It could be a day trip to an interesting destination or maybe a weekend escape with your significant other. Remember, anticipation is part of the fun!
  • Use your vacation or PTO days. I can’t say this often enough: if you have paid days off piling up, use them—that’s what they are for! Whether it’s a long-awaited trip or a staycation in your back yard, you will be a better in every way if you allow yourself to take time away from work to relax, refresh, and recharge.

Have More Fun at Work and at Home

  • If you are a leader at any level, either remote or in the workplace, you set the tone for your team’s work environment. I always tell people to take their work seriously but themselves lightly. It’s a great way to maintain a balanced perspective, stay open to new ideas, and avoid burnout.
  • There’s an old saying: “Laughter is the best medicine.” Keep your own sense of humor at the ready—a good laugh can be like a pressure valve when things get stressful. I find it’s a preferred alternative to ulcers or migraines.
  • Celebrate everything—individual and team goal achievements and victories, work anniversaries, birthdays, promotions, retirements, and new babies. Celebrations create cohesive teams and build trust. Celebrating small victories or big occasions at home with family or friends enriches relationships and demonstrates appreciation for each other.
  • I thought up a different kind of perspective-setting technique when our children were growing up. I noticed whenever we were at the park or the zoo I would see parents yelling at their kids for running around, just being kids. Then it struck me: it’s crazy to take your children somewhere you could have fun together and then scold them for having fun. I decided to reframe my attitude so that we all could have fun. I dubbed it my “zoo mentality.” After that, when the kids started acting silly or chasing each other, I was more inclined to join in the fun myself. I have been known to use this technique when attending company meetings. 😊

So keep your options open this summer. Get creative at home and at work in finding ways you can lighten your outlook, take well deserved breaks, appreciate the people around you, and have fun. Developing a summer attitude can be the difference between feeling run down and feeling renewed!

The Importance of Celebration

/ Ken Blanchard / 1 Comment

All the December holidays are a time of great joy, but they can also be a time of great stress as people try to balance work, family, and extra activities. I encourage you to focus on the celebration part of the season instead of the stress.

You don’t have to do something outrageous to celebrate—in fact, sometimes the smallest gestures have the most meaning. And don’t forget to take a few minutes for yourself during all the hustle and bustle—sit quietly with a cup of tea, take a short walk, or watch your favorite holiday movie. Just make time to do something that brings joy to your life.

Watch the short video below to hear about a special tradition we have at our company to celebrate this fabulous season. People look forward to this event for weeks and share stories from past years over and over. This small tradition builds a strong sense of community among our staff, and it is just plain fun.

I hope you find a way to treat yourself this year while you celebrate with friends and family all that is good in your lives! Happy Holidays!

NATO Golf

/ Ken Blanchard / 2 Comments

With spring around the corner, I find my mind turning to golf. I love to play golf. I’ve always tried to not take it too seriously and remember that it’s just a game—but I didn’t really love to play until I started to use an approach called NATO golf. In case you haven’t heard of it before, NATO stands for Not Attached To Outcome.

BallWhen you’re attached to outcome, you might be having a good game but then you hit the ball wrong and find yourself focusing on the wrong things—every move you make, every breeze, every bump in the grass. It really tightens you up and you can’t perform as well. You become fearful of your results because you believe that who you are depends on how you score or play that day.

I can’t tell you how much more fun it is to play NATO golf than to grind my teeth over the score. It doesn’t mean I’m not interested in hitting good shots or scoring well—but I know that I am not my score. I am not each shot. As a result, I’m much more relaxed and able to swing freely at the ball without fear. I play so much better when I’m not worried about whether I’m going to be able to hit that hole or make that putt. I just get up there and let it happen. It’s beautiful.

Golf is always interesting to me, because I believe golf is a lot like life. Think about it. Sometimes you’re playing better than you should, so you learn how to deal with success.  Sometimes you’re playing worse than you should, so you learn how to deal with failure.  Sometimes you get good breaks you don’t deserve and sometimes you get good breaks you do deserve.  Sometimes you get bad breaks you don’t deserve and sometimes you get bad breaks you do deserve.  All in four and a half hours!  Ha! And one of the best ways to get to know somebody is to play golf with them and watch how they behave. It says a lot about a person.

In life, as in golf, sometimes we get so focused on outcome that we don’t enjoy the ride.  We’re so uptight about the importance of the outcome that we miss the dance of life, the dance of relationships, the dance of the sales call, or the dance of doing a seminar.

Mark Twain said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” I can’t say that I agree. Golf is a wonderful game as long as you don’t start believing that who you are is dependent on how you score. Don’t get attached to outcome—just be who you are and you will be amazed at how much more you’ll enjoy the game of golf—and the game of life.

Remembering Stephen Covey and Zig Ziglar

/ Ken Blanchard / 8 Comments

Two great men who were mentors and friends to me passed away this year—Stephen R. Covey in July and Zig Ziglar just this past week. I’d like to share a few thoughts about these wonderful guys.

Stephen Covey was a devoted husband to his wife, Sandra, and dedicated father of nine, grandfather of fifty-two, and great-grandfather of six. He was also a great friend and colleague to many, including me.

A great memory I have of Steve was when we did a session together in Salt Lake City. During my presentation, I talkedstephen_covey about how the most popular management philosophy was “Seagull Management,” where managers don’t come around until something goes wrong—and then they fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everybody, and fly out.  That line normally got a good laugh from audiences, but not this time. Then Steve whispered to me, “Ken, the seagull is the state bird of Utah.” Oops!  He later told me about the role the seagull played in Mormon history.  When the early Mormons were settling in Utah and planting their fields, they were plagued by swarms of locusts that began eating all of their crops. The people thought they were going to starve to death. At one point they looked up and saw a huge cloud of seagulls flying toward them. They thought the seagulls were coming to finish off what the locusts hadn’t eaten.  Instead, the seagulls ended up eating all of the locusts, saving the settlers’ harvest and their very lives. Steve even took me to the place in downtown Salt Lake City where they have a statue of a seagull.

Steve was such an inspiration and a teacher to so many.  He was a giant in our field and a very special human being.  His legacy here on earth will go on for years to come.

Zig Ziglar had a big impact on me. During the times we were on the platform together, he modeled for me that it was okay to share my faith as long as I wasn’t trying to convert folks. He told me, “Your faith is part of who you are, and people want to know what makes you tick and what is important in your life.”

Zig ZWhen I was 65, I called Zig because Margie and I had been invited to the 59th Anniversary of his 21st birthday. I asked him, “Zig, are you going to retire?” I will never forget his reply: “There’s no mention of retirement in the Bible!  Except for Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and David, nobody in the Bible under 80 years of age made much of an impact. I’m not retiring—I’m re-firing!”  What a difference his phrase of “re-firing” has made in my life the last eight years.  I quote him all the time. In fact, I’m working on a book on “re-firement” and my coauthor and I are going to dedicate the book to Zig.

One last thing I learned from Zig.  He once told me, “I never met a golf game I didn’t like.”  Ever since, I play a lot of N.A.T.O. golf—Not Attached To Outcome—and I enjoy the game so much more. He was an inspiration to everyone fortunate enough to meet him.

It’s always tough to lose important people in our lives. I think the best way to honor them is to make sure you reach out—today—to the people you love, and tell them how important they are. As Margie says: “Keep your I-love-yous up to date.” You’ll never regret it.

New Year’s Resolution Time!

/ Ken Blanchard / 1 Comment

It’s time again to think about New Year’s resolutions. I like to picture myself sitting here one year from today, looking back on 2012 and smiling because I’ve accomplished two or three things that I wanted to accomplish over the year. I’m patting myself on the back! 

So what would you like to do between now and then?  Now you’re going to obviously have some goals in terms of your job and your organization, but what about you personally?  What about your weight?  Your exercise?  Your health?  What about learning a new language, like Spanish or Chinese?  What about improving your organizational skills?  What about writing something that you’ve wanted to write for a long time?  What would really make you feel good if you accomplished it by the end of next year? 

It’s great to write out your resolutions as SMART goals.  Be Specific on what you want so that it’s observable and measurable.  M stands for motivational—make sure it’s something that excites you. Is it Attainable?  Don’t set some unrealistic goal that there’s no chance you’ll accomplish.  Make sure your goal is Relevant and important to you.  And have a goal that is Trackable, which means you can chart it over time so you can catch yourself doing things approximately right and see yourself making progress. 

I have found that I do best on New Year’s Resolutions if I share them with my wife Margie and people at work, and anybody else who is around me, so they can help and support me. We all need an accountability group to help set ourselves up for success. 

So in the next few days I’ll be thinking more about what I would like to accomplish that’s going to make me feel good.  What would you like to do?  How do you want 2012 to go for you?  Let’s see if we can help each other keep our commitment to our commitment.  So often New Year’s Resolutions are just announcements.  Don’t just announce it; really make it happen!  And good on you for 2012!

Lastly, I’ve posted a few of my resolutions for 2012… take a read, and let everyone know a few of your own! https://howwelead.org/resolutions/