Mindset and Motivation Archives – Page 14 of 17

28 Jan 2010

Knowing When to Quiet the Lizard Brain

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-06T12:44:07-06:00January 28th, 2010|Categories: Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Another great post by Seth Godin about how fear sabotages success; often subconsciously. The thing is, without it you would live life recklessly and probably have already doomed yourself.

So the trick is to ignore the irrational part that keeps you from succeeding and pay attention to the part that helps you survive. How do you do this?

Walk through the possible outcomes of things that are causing your fear to their logical conclusion. Usually, the worst outcome is not nearly as bad as you imagined in your subconscious. In that case ignore the fear. And if it is real, then you can […]

27 Jan 2010

Who Is Right?

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:59:02-06:00January 27th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Read ten different business books and get 10 different stories on the secret to business.

Talk to 10 different entrepreneurs or business owners and you will get another 10 answers.

The reality?

There are many paths to business success.

Most companies will make lots of mistakes along the way. Some will have some luck and some will have some hard luck. Some will ride a trend and some will pick one that doesn't pan out. Some will survive and some will thrive. Some will bloom quickly and fade just as quickly and some will struggle and bloom later.

Just like judging people, it is easy […]

6 Jan 2010

The Ultimate Secret to Everything Revealed

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:19:08-06:00January 6th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

What is the ultimate meaning of life, the universe and everything?

How can I guarantee personal financial success?

What is the magic product or service that will guarantee success?

What is the secret to instant business success?

Where is that magic bullet?

We are all looking for answers in some ways; easy answers preferred. Low risk. There is a book for every subject and they all contradict each other to some degree. Who is right? Many of them are.

42 is an easy answer and the big joke in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But applying it is the trick.

The ultimate secret? There is […]

4 Jan 2010

Think Positive, Set and Achieve Your Goals

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:19:12-06:00January 4th, 2010|Categories: Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

I find it interesting how when you are in a certain frame of mind, you notice (attract) more of the same things that reinforce that frame of mind.

Beware negative thinking. It begets more negativity.

Sometimes my mood is like a bouncing ball being chased by a border collie, up, down, sideways and everywhere in between. Retrieve and repeat.

Lately, I have been pretty positive. Pumped up positive. Eager to take on new things; make things happen.

My last couple of posts were reflecting on how focusing on your strengths (generally a positive thing) builds success.

Well today, I received newsletter from ProCoach. […]

31 Dec 2009

Why Not Be Great?

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:19:16-06:00December 31st, 2009|Categories: Books and Courses, Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|

It is funny how the closing of a year brings reflection on the past… and a fleeting commitment to fix all the things you weren't happy with.

Sure, getting rid of some destructive bad habits is a good thing. But is spending your time dwelling on your mistakes and trying to fix your non-talents (weaknesses) the way to go?

In "First, Break all the Rules…" by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, their research basically determined that you should focus on your talents and figure out ways to minimize the impact of your non-talents.

This is based on the science […]

29 Dec 2009

Sales – Greatness Versus Failure

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:19:21-06:00December 29th, 2009|Categories: Books and Courses, Doug's Blog, Leadership, Marketing, Mindset and Motivation, Sales|

What makes one salesperson great and another fail?

We often think greatness is the opposite of failure. That if we look at why people fail and do the opposite we will succeed. Perhaps this is because it seems logical… the easy solution. Maybe the opposite of greatness (or failure) is merely average. Maybe greatness and failure are merely variations on each other.

This is discussed in "First, Break all the Rules… " by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

"By studying the best salespeople, great managers have learned that the best, just like the worst, suffer call reluctance. Apparently the best […]

21 Dec 2009

Dance in the New Year

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:19:30-06:00December 21st, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Paula Callihoo, the owner of Dance Through Life, is opening up the 2nd half of her studio (i.e. even more classes) in the New Year.

The New Year always brings out the resolve in people to change something and I can't think of a better time to:

Get off the couch and get some exercise,
Do something for yourself and not focus solely on your children (hey even Dr. Phil backs me on this),
Learn something new,
Do something fun,
Follow your dreams.

Hey, I am partial to the step dancing myself being it relates to the Celtic music I like playing and listening to (I am […]

8 Dec 2009

Clear Window, Foggy Mirror… Honest Self-Reflection Is Harder

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:19:58-06:00December 8th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

As I mentioned the last post, we are in the middle of some cold weather. I was taking a shower this morning and the sun was shining through the window, warming up the room. The steam from the shower fogged up the mirror (which was in the shade) before it fogged up the window. This got me to thinking…

Have you ever seen someone in a bad relationship or pursuing destructive behaviour and thought to yourself, the answer is obvious on what needs to happen next. Same thing when looking at someone else's business issues, the answers are fairly clear to you. […]

5 Dec 2009

Black, White and Shades of Grey

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:20:05-06:00December 5th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Current Events, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

I have two border collies. They are black and white.

Friday it started snowing and really blowing; blizzard conditions. Falling snow is white. Blowing snow causes white-outs, even at night. Ice you don't see on the road is called black ice.

This morning we woke up and our snow was grey, not white. Not a light grey, a fairly dark grey.

The field to the north of us is bare soil. The wind was blowing from the north all night… strong enough to move a substantial portion of the field into our yard along with the drifting snow.

The dogs were outside playing […]

30 Nov 2009

200 Posts and a Little Wiser

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:20:11-06:00November 30th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Mindset and Motivation|

Over the last 18 months of blogging I have covered a wide variety of topics concerning business, business strategy, HR, demographics, personal development, software development, etc.

In fact, if you look at the pattern of articles you can see the things that are foremost in my mind over a period of time.

Over the last six months, I have moved a lot more focus onto what makes entrepreneurs succeed. Does this mean I don't care about software development?

Nope, in fact it means that the software I am now interested in building is comprised of tools to help entrepreneurs and businesses succeed. I […]