Audio Tidbits

I'm tempted to initiate our conversation by saying, "There are two types of people: …." Since my plan is to talk about advice and attitudes, I think it will suffice to simply remind us that there are people who ask for advice and those who actually follow it only when the advice we offer is an exact fit with what they wanted to hear. They are usually the same people. Hannah Whitall Smith understood the key to advice giving when she pointed out, "The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right."

If that adequately sets the stage for both of us, let me suggest that attitude matters, and quite often, attitude is all that actually matters. If you doubt the truth of this putative fact of life and living, let me share the perspectives of some other folks who have given a lot of thought to the notion. From there, you can and of course, will draw your own conclusion. In turn, I will remain perfectly indifferent to your personal conclusion and will not persist in trying to set you right.

The first point about attitude is that attitude is nothing more complicated than knowing that we always get to decide what our attitude is today. It's just a state of mind that we impose on our current situation or circumstance. It works like this.

From Annie Gottlier, we get this. "It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to."

Publius Terentius Afer puts it this way. "There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly."

Leland Val Van de Wall makes the same point like this. "You only have to do something until you want to do it, then you won’t have to do it any more."

And Samuel Johnson joins in, "He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts."

Stephen Covey, William James, and Norman Vincent Peale all agreed.

"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us."

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

Personally, I favor this version of attitude is your choice, even though no one seems to know who said it first.

Your life is your garden, Your thoughts are the seeds. If your life isn't awesome, You've been watering the weeds.

No one claims this version either, but I like it.

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out."

David Ambrose, Arthur Christopher Benson and Helen MacInness also want a turn at the microphone.

"If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success; if you don't, you have achieved half your failure."

"Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene."

"Nothing is interesting if you're not interested."

I think I am safe in concluding that the point has been well made: Our attitude is within our control; and either we control it or it controls us, along with controling our future. All that is left are some little tips about a few of those sometimes annoying facts of life that may or may not be important to know. Dare I say that it depends totally on our attitude?

"Whenever you fall, pick something up." (Oswald Avery)

"We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails." (Unknown)

"The world is full of cactus, but we don't have to sit on it." (Will Foley)

"Those who wish to sing, always find a song." (Swedish Proverb)

"Sometimes life's Hell. But hey! Whatever gets the marshmallows toasty." (J Andrew Helt)

I have come to the end but find myself with three dangling tidbits that are begging to be included but don't quite fit. If you want to stop without them, that works for me. But if you have a few seconds, I think they may be worth taking along with you as you get back to your day.

I'm tempted to initiate our conversation by saying, "There are two types of people: …." Since my plan is to talk about advice and attitudes, I think it will suffice to simply remind us that there are people who ask for advice and those who actually follow it only when the advice we offer is an exact fit with what they wanted to hear. They are usually the same people. Hannah Whitall Smith understood the key to advice giving when she pointed out, "The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right."

If that adequately sets the stage for both of us, let me suggest that attitude matters, and quite often, attitude is all that actually matters. If you doubt the truth of this putative fact of life and living, let me share the perspectives of some other folks who have given a lot of thought to the notion. From there, you can and of course, will draw your own conclusion. In turn, I will remain perfectly indifferent to your personal conclusion and will not persist in trying to set you right.

The first point about attitude is that attitude is nothing more complicated than knowing that we always get to decide what our attitude is today. It's just a state of mind that we impose on our current situation or circumstance. It works like this.

From Annie Gottlier, we get this. "It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to."

Publius Terentius Afer puts it this way. "There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly."

Leland Val Van de Wall makes the same point like this. "You only have to do something until you want to do it, then you won’t have to do it any more."

And Samuel Johnson joins in, "He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts."

Stephen Covey, William James, and Norman Vincent Peale all agreed.

"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us."

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

Personally, I favor this version of attitude is your choice, even though no one seems to know who said it first.

Your life is your garden, Your thoughts are the seeds. If your life isn't awesome, You've been watering the weeds.

No one claims this version either, but I like it.

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out."

David Ambrose, Arthur Christopher Benson and Helen MacInness also want a turn at the microphone.

"If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success; if you don't, you have achieved half your failure."

"Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene."

"Nothing is interesting if you're not interested."

I think I am safe in concluding that the point has been well made: Our attitude is within our control; and either we control it or it controls us, along with controling our future. All that is left are some little tips about a few of those sometimes annoying facts of life that may or may not be important to know. Dare I say that it depends totally on our attitude?

"Whenever you fall, pick something up." (Oswald Avery)

"We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails." (Unknown)

"The world is full of cactus, but we don't have to sit on it." (Will Foley)

"Those who wish to sing, always find a song." (Swedish Proverb)

"Sometimes life's Hell. But hey! Whatever gets the marshmallows toasty." (J Andrew Helt)

I have come to the end but find myself with three dangling tidbits that are begging to be included but don't quite fit. If you want to stop without them, that works for me. But if you have a few seconds, I think they may be worth taking along with you as you get back to your day.

alciccioli, Greg. The Enemies of Excellence: 7 Reasons Why We Sabotage Success. Crossroad: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2011.

Few people consider how to sustain their success because they're too busy trying to achieve it.

Most leaders want to be the best people they can be and to lead with excellence. They want to thrive, and they want the people around them to thrive. They have the best of intentions.

Success is inherently unstable. The skills it took to establish success cannot sustain it.

A high-profile leader is surrounded by people who are hungry for the leader's success. They want him to succeed, and if the price for that is to overlook a few red flags here and there, so be it. The greater the success, the greater the danger.

To deal the fatal blow to egotism, you must identify what you desire as the outcome of your life and leadership. You need to ask yourself: Are you striving to reach just another self-centered summit, or are you leading people and the organization you serve towards something higher?

...influence, more than intelligence, is the sign of the greatest leaders.

Have you noticed that work is always present and, like fire, is never satisfied?

The best way to build character is to define it, practice it, and defend it. Once you define your character so that you clearly understand it, you can practice it in everyday life and leadership. This increases your character competency and prepares you to defend it when you face the Enemy of Indulgence.

We need to invite the right people into our lives and grant them permission to review who we are and how we live. When we choose our own accountability partners, we gain people we can trust, and that trust leads to greater vulnerability. To be vulnerable is to be open to correction and criticism.

The self-deception of many leaders begins with the Enemy of Egotism. A leader believes "I really know what is best for me, my team, and this organization." Notice I say that he believes it, not that it is true.

Yet herein lies the problem. Most leaders who enjoy rapid success experience a serious gap. Because success has come so quickly, and character is slower to develop than talents and abilities, their character is inevitably less developed than their talents. Yet, like all of us, they need character to sustain success.

A leader in emergency mode is just trying to put out fires in his personal life. He is too tired to do things right and well, so he tries just to "get it done." This approach inevitably can't solve problems, breeds more Bad Habits, and merely fuels the leader's failure.

You need to succeed, but in fact, we all need you to succeed.

alciccioli, Greg. The Enemies of Excellence: 7 Reasons Why We Sabotage Success. Crossroad: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2011.

Few people consider how to sustain their success because they're too busy trying to achieve it.

Most leaders want to be the best people they can be and to lead with excellence. They want to thrive, and they want the people around them to thrive. They have the best of intentions.

Success is inherently unstable. The skills it took to establish success cannot sustain it.

A high-profile leader is surrounded by people who are hungry for the leader's success. They want him to succeed, and if the price for that is to overlook a few red flags here and there, so be it. The greater the success, the greater the danger.

To deal the fatal blow to egotism, you must identify what you desire as the outcome of your life and leadership. You need to ask yourself: Are you striving to reach just another self-centered summit, or are you leading people and the organization you serve towards something higher?

...influence, more than intelligence, is the sign of the greatest leaders.

Have you noticed that work is always present and, like fire, is never satisfied?

The best way to build character is to define it, practice it, and defend it. Once you define your character so that you clearly understand it, you can practice it in everyday life and leadership. This increases your character competency and prepares you to defend it when you face the Enemy of Indulgence.

We need to invite the right people into our lives and grant them permission to review who we are and how we live. When we choose our own accountability partners, we gain people we can trust, and that trust leads to greater vulnerability. To be vulnerable is to be open to correction and criticism.

The self-deception of many leaders begins with the Enemy of Egotism. A leader believes "I really know what is best for me, my team, and this organization." Notice I say that he believes it, not that it is true.

Yet herein lies the problem. Most leaders who enjoy rapid success experience a serious gap. Because success has come so quickly, and character is slower to develop than talents and abilities, their character is inevitably less developed than their talents. Yet, like all of us, they need character to sustain success.

A leader in emergency mode is just trying to put out fires in his personal life. He is too tired to do things right and well, so he tries just to "get it done." This approach inevitably can't solve problems, breeds more Bad Habits, and merely fuels the leader's failure.

You need to succeed, but in fact, we all need you to succeed.

alciccioli, Greg. The Enemies of Excellence: 7 Reasons Why We Sabotage Success. Crossroad: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2011.

Few people consider how to sustain their success because they're too busy trying to achieve it.

Most leaders want to be the best people they can be and to lead with excellence. They want to thrive, and they want the people around them to thrive. They have the best of intentions.

Success is inherently unstable. The skills it took to establish success cannot sustain it.

A high-profile leader is surrounded by people who are hungry for the leader's success. They want him to succeed, and if the price for that is to overlook a few red flags here and there, so be it. The greater the success, the greater the danger.

To deal the fatal blow to egotism, you must identify what you desire as the outcome of your life and leadership. You need to ask yourself: Are you striving to reach just another self-centered summit, or are you leading people and the organization you serve towards something higher?

...influence, more than intelligence, is the sign of the greatest leaders.

Have you noticed that work is always present and, like fire, is never satisfied?

The best way to build character is to define it, practice it, and defend it. Once you define your character so that you clearly understand it, you can practice it in everyday life and leadership. This increases your character competency and prepares you to defend it when you face the Enemy of Indulgence.

We need to invite the right people into our lives and grant them permission to review who we are and how we live. When we choose our own accountability partners, we gain people we can trust, and that trust leads to greater vulnerability. To be vulnerable is to be open to correction and criticism.

The self-deception of many leaders begins with the Enemy of Egotism. A leader believes "I really know what is best for me, my team, and this organization." Notice I say that he believes it, not that it is true.

Yet herein lies the problem. Most leaders who enjoy rapid success experience a serious gap. Because success has come so quickly, and character is slower to develop than talents and abilities, their character is inevitably less developed than their talents. Yet, like all of us, they need character to sustain success.

A leader in emergency mode is just trying to put out fires in his personal life. He is too tired to do things right and well, so he tries just to "get it done." This approach inevitably can't solve problems, breeds more Bad Habits, and merely fuels the leader's failure.

You need to succeed, but in fact, we all need you to succeed.

According to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, they believe actions speak louder than tweets. I don’t know the context for their mentioning this, but I definitely agree. How about you?

I will leave you to your own speculation about who or what comes to mind when the subject of tweets comes up. I only caution you to avoid conflating tweeting with doing, tweeting with thoughtful discourse, tweeting with reality.

Although tweets and tweeting are fairly recent innovations, the idea of communicating through compact pronouncements is not. Let’s try a few examples that would have worked quite well as tweets, had the option been available at the time. I have picked out examples that may have best been directed to today’s most prolific tweeters. May I suggest that you focus on a specific tweeter, if one comes to mind. That will help when considering the fit between tweets and action, as KLM suggested.

#JohnLocke “I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”

#BenjaminFranklin “Well done is better than well said.”

#AlfredAdler “Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.”

#HenryJKaiser “If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.”

#AndrewCarnegie “As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”

#LewisCass “People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.”

And of course, a good tweet session would hardly be complete without some old wisdom that comes from #Me “When all is said and done, don’t turn out to be the one for whom much is said but little is done.; for if your action can’t speak for its self, more tweets won’t do much to make your case.”

According to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, they believe actions speak louder than tweets. I don't know the context for their mentioning this, but I definitely agree. How about you?

I will leave you to your own speculation about who or what comes to mind when the subject of tweets comes up. I only caution you to avoid conflating tweeting with doing, tweeting with thoughtful discourse, tweeting with reality.

Although tweets and tweeting are fairly recent innovations, the idea of communicating through compact pronouncements is not. Let's try a few examples that would have worked quite well as tweets, had the option been available at the time. I have picked out examples that may have best been directed to today's most prolific tweeters. May I suggest that you focus on a specific tweeter, if one comes to mind. That will help when considering the fit between tweets and action, as KLM suggested.

#JohnLocke "I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts."

#BenjaminFranklin "Well done is better than well said."

#AlfredAdler "Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement."

#HenryJKaiser "If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt."

#AndrewCarnegie "As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do."

#LewisCass "People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do."

And of course, a good tweet session would hardly be complete without some old wisdom that comes from #Me "When all is said and done, don't turn out to be the one for whom much is said but little is done.; for if your action can't speak for its self, more tweets won't do much to make your case."

According to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, they believe actions speak louder than tweets. I don't know the context for their mentioning this, but I definitely agree. How about you?

I will leave you to your own speculation about who or what comes to mind when the subject of tweets comes up. I only caution you to avoid conflating tweeting with doing, tweeting with thoughtful discourse, tweeting with reality.

Although tweets and tweeting are fairly recent innovations, the idea of communicating through compact pronouncements is not. Let's try a few examples that would have worked quite well as tweets, had the option been available at the time. I have picked out examples that may have best been directed to today's most prolific tweeters. May I suggest that you focus on a specific tweeter, if one comes to mind. That will help when considering the fit between tweets and action, as KLM suggested.

#JohnLocke "I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts."

#BenjaminFranklin "Well done is better than well said."

#AlfredAdler "Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement."

#HenryJKaiser "If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt."

#AndrewCarnegie "As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do."

#LewisCass "People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do."

And of course, a good tweet session would hardly be complete without some old wisdom that comes from #Me "When all is said and done, don't turn out to be the one for whom much is said but little is done.; for if your action can't speak for its self, more tweets won't do much to make your case."

There are many reasons why some of us succeed while others of us are only getting by. One of the more hidden reasons is directly related to how successful people – yes, all of them — communicate. They always have smart conversations. While others are having simple conversations, the successful are doing smart, without anyone noticing. Do you communicate for success? I doubt that you ever do otherwise. I am assuming that you are too smart to be that dumb. Listen and hear how it works.

There are many reasons why some of us succeed while others of us are only getting by. One of the more hidden reasons is directly related to how successful people - yes, all of them -- communicate. They always have smart conversations. While others are having simple conversations, the successful are doing smart, without anyone noticing. Do you communicate for success? I doubt that you ever do otherwise. I am assuming that you are too smart to be that dumb. Listen and hear how it works.