A Publication of Richard Flint Seminars

MindJogger@richardflint.com

In this issue:

• Featured Article: Perception Is Not Reality!

• Thinking Leadership

• Thinking Sales

• Out Of Richard’s Head

• StarMaker 2008 Conference:  How many days are you challenged with disorganization?

• The Morning Minute

Do you ever need an energy boost in the morning to get you started?

• NEW CD!  Click here for details!

Perception Is Not Reality!

How many times have you heard the statement, Perception is reality? Most of my adult life I have heard that statement and just accepted it was a truth. As I have grown to really understand human behavior, I have started to challenge many of the things I have just accepted as a fact. One of those is the statement, Perception is reality. More correctly stated I think Perception is an attitude! It comes from the accumulation of emotions, which are held together by uncertainty.

Here is my definition of Perception. It is an emotional sketch grounded in fear, which overshadows your mind’s ability to see the pathway to personal achievement. This is a very packed definition. It contains a lot of insights necessary to continue to challenge your life with clarity.

My definition has three parts to it. Let me take each one as a part of the whole. First, perception “is an emotional sketch."

Information enters a life through one of two ways – your emotions or your mind. The entrance point is so important, because it creates the filters used to interpret what one is gathering.

If information enters through your emotions, the filters are all emotionally charged. 99% of the time this means you are connecting what you are gathering to the pain created by your uncertainty. What does this do? It feeds your confusion, which strengthens your fears, which creates doubt. With your top three enemies in place you are now paralyzed.

The result of you being paralyzed is no forward action; you find yourself frozen and unable to help yourself. The result of this is you trapped in an emotional circle, which just keeps pulling you downward in an emotional spiral. As much as you would like to break free of this spiral, the emotional pressure keeps weighing on you. With enough emotional pressure on your life, you soon give in and start coloring the emotional sketch with behaviors that prove it to yourself. These behaviors become the next level of filters you pass your perceptions through.

The second part of my definition states, “grounded in fear.” How powerful a force is fear? Fear becomes the chains that won’t allow you to free yourself from the emotional entanglements.

What happens to most people when their fear starts coloring their emotional sketch?  They:

• Form opinions, which have no factual foundation.
• Expect more bad things to happen.
• Allow their self to be controlled by the words of others.
• Retreat, rather than moving forward with a determined belief to improve.

Have you seen this in anyone you know? Fear is so powerful! It is an emotion with the power to destroy your inner beliefs.

The final part of my definition of Perception is, “which overshadows your mind’s ability to see the pathway to personal achievement.” What happens when a person stops believing, “They Can?” What does it do to their inner spirit? Would you agree it creates a slow leak, which steals their clarity and replaces it with confusion?

Each time I say this next statement people look at me funny, but I really see this as truth. Your mind isn’t negative! It is always positive. The challenge is most people filter from their emotions to their mind, rather than from their mind to their emotions.

Think about this! When you are filtering information from your emotions up to your imagination, it is going to get lost in all the emotional pits created by negativity. Negative filters steal the positive from what it is working with. How many times have you been excited about something, only to have your emotional filters steal the calmness and clarity and replace it with doubt and worry? How many times have you not done what you knew was the right thing to do, because of the negative emotions that raced in and created a perception of “what is?” In this design your emotions are what is defining the meaning of the event/situation to your life.

When you are filtering information from your imagination down to your emotions, you are experiencing a different level of energy. Your imagination gets enthusiastic about seeing the pathway from the possibility to the opportunity. It accepts the possibility as a challenge and creates the pathway to making positive things happen. When you can see the pathway to achievement, how much personal energy does that create?

Your mind doesn’t deal with perception; it deals with facts. Your emotions are a battleground where your doubts are fighting with your beliefs. Because most are more emotional than they are logical, their emotions will defeat their mind’s desires. When this happens, you run from the opportunity and hide in your world of what ifs and not the right time. This results in an attitude designed to shut you down, not free you to soar.

To me, reality is a mindset. It is more than an emotional sketch. It is your imagination controlling the sight plan and clearing the emotional clutter through a clear set of beliefs, which sees what can be done, rather than what can’t be done. The difference between the two is breaking out of the Circle of Sameness and discovering the Freedom to Soar! The difference is choosing between Lasting In a Frustrating Existence and Living in Fulfilling Experiences. The difference is the choice you make and the filters you choose to understand what is happening in your life. I don’t know about you, but I would rather believe in me, rather than let others define who I am, what I can do and what my life can become. I would rather SOAR than sit chained to the ground by the perceptions of others. After all, their perceptions could be wrong. Oh, by the way, most of the time they are!

Email me your thoughts to Richard@richardflint.com

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Thinking Leadership

In a transitional market what will REAL leaders do? Will they tuck their tail and run, using the opinions of others to formulate their perceptions, or will they stand tall and challenge their people through creativity?

I think some managers tuck their tail and run. As they are running, they are screaming, “The sky is falling; the sky is falling!”

I believe leaders stand strong and LEAD! They understand the sky is not falling; the texture of the sky is just being rearranged. Transitional markets define the difference between managers and REAL leaders.

Real Leaders don’t talk about recession; they talk about redesigning. REAL Leaders don’t pull their head into a shell; they slow the pace, do their research and continue to move forward with a more clearly defined plan.

Transitional markets clearly define who is a leader or who has been pretending to be one. REAL leaders see the market doing exactly what it is suppose to do – redesign itself. It is not a “tough” market; it is a market presenting itself with a new set of challenges. The difference between “tough” and “challenging” is another aspect of setting “Leaders” apart from “Managers.”

This transitional market is a time to be proactive with creativity, not paralyzed with fear. It is a time to take a deep breath and talk about what needs to be done “while” the market is in transition, rather than what we are going to do “when” the transition is over. Leaders who live in the “when” are simply saying they have no idea what to do. Those leaders who are grounded in “while” are moving their organizations forward with a paced growth. They are not going to wait; they are going to act now!

I love this market! Is it challenging? YES! Is there business to be done? YES! Are most who call themselves “Leaders” prepared to march forward with a “while” attitude? NO! Could this be the real issue we are facing today?

Email me your thoughts to Richard@richardflint.com

Thinking Sales

Hey, are your sales down right now? Are you finding it more difficult to do business? Are you participating in the recession conversations? If so, then you are reaping the results of your attitude. Your behavior is consistent with what you have accepted. You are the results of what you are doing or what you are not doing.

Andy McGravey is a Regional Leader for Ascent Healthcare Solutions. I have watched him as he has grown from a person who accepted to a person who challenges. Recently, we were talking about his territorial sales and with a grin and a giggle he told me about his first quarter numbers – over 100% of plan!

How is he doing this? Let’s let him tell you. “Richard, it is about keeping people centered on helping the customer, not believing in what is being said about the economy. The business is there; you just have to believe it is there for the asking.”

This is the key! In a transitional market too many order takers have forgotten what it means to be a salesperson. They define their existence through what they hear, rather than create their presence through the value they bring.

FACT: Business is always in a state of flux! There has never been a truly stable market. There is always flux; you either realize this and use the flux as the reason things are not, OR you understand there is always flux and cease upon it as a time to increase your value.

My program, How To Stand Tall When Others Are Falling Down, is the message salespeople need to hear! It is all about how to increase your presence in a transitional market. It is all about having a presence, which increases your value to your customers; it is all about strengthening your partnership with your customers.

The difference between an order taker and a TRUE salesperson is the attitude they bring to their marketplace. A TRUE salesperson sees a transitional market as a unique opportunity to stand TALL and create a presence that is present when they aren’t present. Who is the customer going to remember when we get through this transition? The order taker who participated in a “tough” market OR the salesperson who “challenges” the salesperson who increased the value of their presence with the behavior they demonstrated? Who will they remember?

Email me your thoughts to Richard@richardflint.com

Out Of Richard’s Head

I am really concerned about the increase in the stress I am seeing on people today! Stress is a natural part of life, BUT out of control it can do serious damage to your life – even to the point of killing you!

Most of this increase in stress is financially driven. We live in a society, which has become “things” driven. It is not about what a person can afford; it is about what they feel they have to have. It is not about waiting; it is about having to have it right now.

One of my coaching students was sharing this with me the other day. She had this lady who was struggling to make her mortgage payment and have enough money to put food on the table for her family – YET she had to hurry home because that afternoon they were delivering her new 50’ plasma TV. I’m sorry, but there seems to be something wrong with this picture.

What happens when people get spoiled with getting “things” when they want them, rather than when they can “afford” them? Money is not the root of all evil; it is a person’s inability to be a steward of their money. Foolish financial decisions create financial disaster. Is it possible most of the financial challenges people have today are the result of their financial mismanagement? I guess staying where you are today is more important than making decisions that make sure you are still around tomorrow.

Email me your thoughts to Richard@richardflint.com

Achieving Organization

August 1-3, 2008

Seating Is Limited!

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How To Stand Tall

When Others Are Falling Down

An Examination of The 9-Steps That Allows One To Stand Tall No Matter What Life Throws At Them

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