Make A Difference Every Day!

leaf-make-changeA few months ago a local landscaper, he may have been close to eighty years old, passed away. He was still actively working his craft. Lawn care and shrubs were his specialty. He was once heard to say, a few weeks before his death, if he stopped working he would probably die within a few weeks.

For me I miss waving to him and getting a wave back as I would often see his truck around town in various neighborhoods or riding his power mower across someone’s lawn he was caring for.

If you go to workout at a local fitness center each day – you get to know the workout routines of the regulars. In fact, everyone has their favorite machine and with the early crowd it is almost like clock work as people move from one location within the gym to the next almost on a schedule. You get to know and chat with the desk workers and other people who work at the facility.

Here is a news story about one of the regular desk people from a facility here in CT –

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BRIDGEPORT — A 24 year-old Bridgeport woman was killed Sunday afternoon when another vehicle moved into her lane on I-95, striking the side of her car and sending it into the concrete barrier.

Akhailia Shameal Jackson of Connecticut Avenue was transported from the scene to Bridgeport Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after the 5:27 p.m. crash, State Police said Monday.

Jackson had been driving her Toyota Camry in the right lane on the southbound side of I-95 near Exit 29 when a Mitsubishi being driven by Livis Rodriguez, 26, of Lawrence, Mass. clipped the left passenger door, causing Jackson to swerve, crossing three travel lanes and striking the concrete barrier on the median, State Police said.

Rodriguez and her three passengers were not injured.

The accident remains under investigation.

(from a posting by the CTPost.com )

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For me I miss Akhailia’s beautiful smile and the new hairdo she would have each week.

Ok, stop with the bad news Mitch – Please!

Will do!

Here is the thing, any day, without any notice, anything may happen to you or to the ones you cherish and love. This is where everyone says – “We know Mitch!”

Ok, cool, and…

Do we change our behavior and give out hugs and actually state our love to those we love each day?

Do we change our behavior and not worry about the small stuff anymore?

Do we change our behavior and consider what we are doing each day to impact others in a meaningful way?

How about the people we work with on a daily basis? The person in the office who is always miserable – when is the last time you said hello to them or spoke with them about their family?

When is the last time you spoke with one of your clients or customers about their personal life? Checked in on how they are doing in their lives?

If you work in a building do you know the names of the people who work the security desk and the cleaning crew who show up every evening?

How about your family? Do you and your wife and children ever sit down and have dinner together with no devices on – no cell – no laptop – no music – zero devices, only good old conversation? When is the last time you sat with one child and only the two of you had a conversation?

What about the world around you?

Is there anything intentional you are doing to make the world a better place?

Of course this seems too big to tackle and it is – however – start with one place or with one thing – the point is why not start?

By the way, this is not to wish anyone ill will or telling you in anyway your time is almost up. The point is, what if it is?

Mitch Tublin has traveled to Guatemala and to Paraguay paying his own airfare, food and hotel costs for a week in each location in order to train local people on transformational leadership – values based leadership. This was accomplished by facilitating RoundTables with a translator by his side. Would you, your company or organization be interested in hearing this story?  Contact Mitch’s Team here to book him to speak.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive coach, trainer and speaker based in Stamford, CT.

What Inspires You?

What inspires you?What inspires you?

What do you find inspiring?

Stop now, for one moment, and consider your answer to these two questions.

Comment on this article right in the comment area and name five inspirational people, stories, images, whatever you find meaningful to inspiring you and enter it into the conversation.

Please do return now to reading the rest of the article.

Here is a Merriam Webster Definition of Inspiration:

1 a :  a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation b :  the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions c :  the act of influencing or suggesting opinions

2 :  the act of drawing in; specifically :  the drawing of air into the lungs

3 a :  the quality or state of being inspired b :  something that is inspired <a scheme that was pure inspiration>

4 :  an inspiring agent or influence

Seriously this is an article calling out to the readers for their feedback.

Is there a person you keep a photo of nearby your work place because their image and the related stories around what they have done or are doing will inspire you every time you see their image?

At this time not really looking for how to get inspired such as – take a long walk, meditate, or other activities – actually these may be asked of you in a future article.

This time it would be great to hear from you if there is a specific story or a person or possibly even a certain type of music which you feel inspired by. Maybe a recording of an inspirational speaker? What works best for you?

Some people may be inspired by nature. This may be in the form of flowers, trees and the forest or the stars and planets visible in the sky on a clear night.

For me, I’m inspired by the stories of people who overcome a great obstacle or obstacles and are now either on their way or right in the middle of great achievements. Each of the stories in this category are so uplifting and leave you with the feeling you are able to accomplish anything when you put your mind into it!

Consider passing this article along to your friends, family members and contacts as their feedback on what inspires them would be helpful to me as well.

Thank you in advance!

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified coach, speaker and trainer based in Stamford, CT.

Do You Keep Score?

do-you-keep-scoreDo you keep score? Doesn’t everyone who watches any sport know the score? Look up at the scoreboard or right to the corner or the bottom of the TV display to check the score? Everyone does it all over the world! Do you keep score?

Place your answer in the comments section.

How about in your business? Are you keeping score? Are you measuring, tracking, recording and reporting your factual results? Is this being conducted daily, weekly, monthly and annually? Are adjustments in behavior, training, and personnel conducted in order to improve what the results are telling you?

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it!”
~  Peter Drucker 

Let’s look at a very simple example of tracking something everyone in business should be doing – Networking! Now, are you measuring how effective you are at networking?

The measurement criteria might look something like this:

Networking Event (name of event or hosted by):

__________________________________

Date and Length of Time:

__________________________________

Location:

__________________________________

Fee or Cost to Attend:

__________________________________

Total Attendees (Best Guess of total):

__________________________________

How many people did I meet?

__________________________________

How many people did I secure and schedule a meeting with while at the event?

__________________________________

How many people did I follow up within one or two days of the event?

__________________________________

From these two follow ups – how many people did you have a meeting with?

__________________________________

From these meetings how much business was transacted?

__________________________________

From these meetings how many new leads or referrals were obtained?

__________________________________

This is an example, however, it would clearly reflect upon the results of your attending each networking event. Over a period of time you would clearly be able to see the trend and your results.

If you are working with a business coach and reported these measurements, the results analyzed would help to guide the work being done together in order to improve as needed certain behavior.

Okay let’s assume you are not sold and further you feel this example is way overkill and not necessary. Fine. Consider the following thoughts on measurement or lack thereof:

  • What if golfers did not keep track of their scores?
  • What if after taking tests students were never graded or given their results?
  • What if companies did not track or report their sales results?
  • What do you think now? Is measurement important enough to take seriously?

Here are three solid reasons why everyone in business should measure:

  1. You always know exactly where you stand
  1. You are able to rapidly understand where your problems are and address them
  1. You and your team are able to see the progress being made toward goals which were set

If you are serious about your business, become serious about measuring your results.

“When performance is measured, performance improves.
When performance is reported back,
the rate of improvement accelerates.”
~ Thomas S. Monson

 Here are three items which must be determined so you begin the entire process in the proper way:

  1. You must have a starting point.
  1. You must have a goal or goals.
  1. You must have the agreed upon and consistent process of measuring.

Lastly, find someone to report your numbers to on a regular basis.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive coach, trainer and speaker who resides in Stamford, CT.

Interested in setting up a process to measure your results?

–> Contact Mitch Here <–

Have You Ever Considered An Advisory Board For Your Business?

advisory-boardDo you have an advisory board for your business? An entrepreneur or a small business owner should definitely have an advisory board. Let’s review a few reasons why it is so critical to set up and regularly meet with an advisory board.

To begin – “It is lonely at the top.”

The assumption and often the reality is the buck stops here, at the top, or if you are alone in your business. As the CEO or lone business owner you must undertake numerous activities which you may have absolutely zero experience or expertise in.

An advisory board might be made up of people who have many of the skill sets the lead entrepreneur or small business owner may not possess. Their advice and potentially their actual assistance diving in would be an amazing asset to have at your finger tips.

You might hang a mirror in your office and discuss everything with yourself. Alternatively with an advisory board there is a sounding board to engage with and discuss ideas, concepts and issues. Depending upon the level of expertise in the members of your advisory board you will be able to have discussions with them about business opportunities, challenges inside the business and with the competition, decisions of paths to take and company growing pains.

This might be the first step for you – assess where you have knowledge and experience gaps and recruit people who have this knowledge and experience to be on your advisory board.

One of the great fears entrepreneurs and small business owners have about creating an advisory board is their need to now share all of their business information with other people who are in many cases, initially at least, complete strangers. A way to keep everyone above board is to create and execute for each individual a non-disclosure agreement and some type of non-compete agreement.

This might sound a bit too formal for some people who want to keep everything casual. Do not fall into this trap with anything to do with your business. It is a business, not a hobby – correct? Act and behave in this manner – like a person who runs a business! 

There is great power in leverage. An advisory board provides one area of leverage.  More than one great mind trying to call every shot and meet and every deadline.

Another advantage of your own advisory board is the network of the members. This becomes another group of people who will become familiar with you and your business.

One of the best early decisions in setting up a new business, breathing life into an old business or operating more effectively in your business is to set up an advisory board that meets at least one time every three months or so. Reach out and begin now if you do not have one.

Mitch Tublin is a business consultant, certified coach and professional speaker based in Stamford, CT.

If you are ready to set up your advisory board and want Mitch to work with you on the process contact Mitch here.

Do You Fear Networking?

fear-networkingMany people tell me they have a great fear of public speaking and giving presentations.

A quick commercial here is that this is one of the areas where my personal approach can help. I help people overcome these fears, become much better speakers and presenters and for those who think they are good enough in these areas, I help people to really excel and step into their greatness as speakers and presenters. If you are interested in learning more about how I can help you with speaking or presentations please use this form to contact me.

What is more interesting to me is many more people have a greater fear than public speaking. This fear is the fear of networking. This fear is the fear of walking into a room or a setting where you do not know anyone.

Typically my articles are not sales pitch articles. Again, the area of networking is one of the areas where my expertise is leveraged to help people become excellent networkers. If you are interested in learning more about networking you can request a free copy of my audio Ninja Networking Secrets here.

The ability to network is critical in any business. It is especially important if you are a one person or small business owner. Odds are great that the majority of your business comes from referrals and networking.

Allow me to clear up one error many novice networkers make. The action of networking is not to collect business cards and hammer people with your sales pitch either right then and there in person or online with emails as soon as you leave the networking event.

There are two very important mistakes in taking these actions. The first is this – the objective of networking is to build relationships with people. Odds are good you will not be selling to anyone you meet. You will sell to their contacts once you build up a trusting relationship with them.

The second error is when you obtain a business card from someone this is not them giving you permission to email them and advertise to them or place them on your newsletter list. Yes, of course an email to set up a meeting or to follow up on a conversation is fine. Do not presume a business card passed to you equates to an optin for your email list.

In closing, recognize where you need to overcome your fears it may be in public speaking, presenting to groups or networking. Decide it is time to invest in yourself and to overcome these fears.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Do You Focus? Or Are You Distracted?

focus-or-distractedNever before in the history of modern thinking has the lure away from focus on a specific item been more challenging. More importantly never before has the ability to focus on a specific item been more important.

It is more than technology. Let’s address technology first to get that big single item off the table…cell phone, smart phone, tablet, laptop, voicemail, texting, email, social media of all flavors from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, YouTube and more.

The majority of the population is tied to their electronics. It is as if everyone must be available to everyone else all of the time or their world would come crashing down.

Take The Challenge. Buy an old school little memo pad and grab a bic pen. Write the day of the week at the top of the page each new day. Use tally marks each day for a week to record every time you either read an email or a text and send an email or a text. At the end of the week add up the tally marks for each day and then the week. What is the weekly number for all of the emails and texts you sent and opened?

Do this again for the next week and add one new element. Circle the tally mark if the email or the text resulted in achieving any one of your personal or business goals. When you finish the week and total your tally marks, total the circled tally marks in their own category.

How many circled tally marks are there. None? A few? What percentage of the whole?

This is the issue. We have become distracted in our behavior. We each need to have personal and business goals. These goals need to be tied to action steps which are defined with specific actions to be taken by a specific date. Without a process such as this basic process described we end up distracted. We think we are busy. We think the small things such as answering every text or email immediately really matter. Yes the small things matter. The small things that matter are the small action steps toward achieving your designed personal and business goals.

The resulting behavior from this described daily ritual the majority of people go through has created a short attention span to any focus for a length of time necessary to establish real thinking and engagement in any one single item of focus. This is rapidly becoming a lost ability in a human being. The media is aware of this and contributes to reinforcement of the behavior.

Take a look around the next time you are in a restaurant. Notice how many couples are sitting across the table from each other and are not speaking with each other or having a conversation. They are each using their smart phones checking newsfeeds or social media or email or texting. What happened to focusing on their relationship and each other?

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified personal and business coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Do you live in Fairfield County, CT. or Westchester County, NY? Check out L2:Learn-Lead Stamford – http://www.mitchtublin.com/L2Stamford