Happy For No Reason Photo Cube

I recently read the book “Happy For No Reason” by Marci Shimoff. The many charts about choosing expansion over contraction were terrific. I was inspired to put them on a photo cube template from HP to make a Happy For No Reason Photo Cube. The HP template is a little small for the photo cube I found, so I needed to cut them out to paste on the inner cube.

With the Photo Cube Companion, you can track time spent on four main areas of development: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual.

A Tool for Clear Purpose

This is a wonderful tool to clarify what you want to do with your life:

Pave Your Life Roadmap at Idea Sandbox

Don’t miss:

The radar diagram in pdf-a visual map of how you are doing at filling your life with value.

The Life Roadmap Plan in doc-a way to get specific in each life area about what will fill your life with value and how you will bring this into your life. I adjusted it a bit to fit my understanding. Under “enabling activities” I thought in terms of specific action steps that can be done right now: map.pdf

1. Use the radar diagram to identify values/themes. List life areas and ask “What will fill my life with value in this area?”

2. Use the life roadmap to plan steps for specific goals to increase value.

3. Choose three values/themes that you are most passionate about to focus on.

Tracking loving actions

Personal Development System
Part Two: Relationship Tracker Cards relationshipset.pdf

This set includes four cards:

1. list your main primary and secondary relationships.

2. fill out a contact card for each of the relationships you listed.

3. conversation starter card.

4. an emotional account card to track loving actions.

Loving Actions

Personal Development System
Part One: Relationships

Learn to speak in each of the five love languages with this lovelanguages.pdf. Master the language that speaks loudest to your significant other.

Regularly scheduled maintenance

Maintenance may not be generally considered sexy…but perhaps it should be. That which is not maintained disintegrates. This applies to everything…a house, a car, a business, a relationship. This is why we must make choices about what we will invest energy in, and the most efficient methods and the optimum frequency for doing so.

Stephen R Covey and Dr. Harley both talk about the importance of making positive deposits into emotional “bank accounts” and limiting withdrawals from them.

Have a system

I’ve been working on a series of cards that are designed to keep on track with personal development. I plan to publish several that make up a system to track actions in relationships in time for Valentine’s Day. They will include actions you can take to speak in each of the 5 love languages.

Leadership

Reader’s Digest provides a tool to grade the presidential candidates, with nine traits of success.

Marketing U

            Marketing is about developing a strategy to interest customers in the products or services you offer, and then implementing it. Marketing is a plan for how to communicate benefits. Marketing yourself works the same way as marketing for profit or non-profit organizations.

            Begin with determining your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Use the formula from Duct Tape Marketing by John Jansch: Action Verb (What you actually do) + Noun (target market you do it for) + Benefit (the result of what you do.)

            Once you know your USP, think about your brand. With a brand, you plan the entire customer experience by packaging an image that reveals identity. An effective brand, appeals to emotional needs, and includes things like:

• graphics
• logo
• business cards

• Show Off Business Cards
• Cool Business Card Designs

• taglines

            Find ways to sell benefits rather than features. Benefits are the results that you can achieve if you use the features. An effective brand appeals to emotional needs. After you’ve done all the homework, you still have to fish for the hook.

            As an individual, your products or services include your strengths, skills and talents. List these, then next to each one list features and benefits, your target market, and media that are most likely to reach it. Media can range from print materials to videos on a website, and can vary greatly in cost. Get creative to achieve wow factor without spending a lot. To get ideas, brainstorm with others and ask for feedback.

            Additional tools in your marketing toolkit:

Be ready with a clear, concise, creative, compelling answer to the question “what do you do?”

• A verbal business card communicates value, going beyond a simple statement of occupation to describe the results that you achieve.

• An elevator speech is a micro sales presentation of self, pitching the high points of an idea.

• How to Craft a Winning Elevator Speech
• Idea Sandbox provides Elevator Speech Basics

• A mission statement describes who you are and what you stand for, including the values you hold most important.

•  Create a personal mission statement with Stephen R Covey’s mission builder.

• A vision statement describes what you see happening in the future.

•  The difference between mission and vision

See Also: Top Marketing blogs listed at Forbes, Jay Abraham and Copyblogger on Unique Selling Proposition.

Clues to Purpose

Purpose. It’s what lights up your face, it’s what makes it a joy to get up in the morning and be alive. It’s what fills you with energy. It’s what you want to share with others, what you enthusiastically enjoy talking about. Do what you love-happiness is work that uses your talents for a purpose.

Some people just know. It’s like they were born knowing their talents and purpose. For others, it’s more difficult to identify, clarify and understand. We must fumble and stumble and feel our way as we attempt to puzzle it out. There’s no easy answer, but there are some things we can do that will provide clues.

• Schedule quiet time for reflection.
• Explore your talents and strengths, values and mission with the Discover U series.
• Write in a journal.
• Create a vision board.

Brian Tracy on Talents:

• •You love to do it.
• •You do it well.
• •It is responsible for most of your success and happiness.
• •It was easy to learn and easy to do.
• •It holds your attention.
• •You love to learn about it.
• •When you do it, time stands still.
• •You admire and respect other people who are good at it.

Clue Resources:

Strengths-Marcus Buckingham is the author of several books about discovering and putting your strengths to work that include access to an online strengths finder.

Max Lucado has written “Cure for the Common Life” and has a free webinar to find your STORY.

Fast Company articles: “Are You Deciding on Purpose?” by Richard Leider “What Should I do with my life?” By Po Bronson.

My personal favorite: the book “Is Your Genius at Work?” by Dick Richards. See my notes and a tool for finding genius here.

Update: Sand for your inbox

Dynamic Time Management card sort

Keep looking for those clues…

Booknotes

“What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter.

Create a “To Stop” List from a list of 20 habits that hold you back. Most of these come from inappropriately sharing or withholding information or emotion. Ask “Is this appropriate? and how much should I convey?”

Obtain feedback from others on how you’re doing. The wisdom of the Johari Window: what is unknown to us may be well-known to others. Our perceptions may well be inaccurate.

Feedforward

• Choose one behavior you’d like to change
• Ask a person for two suggestions that might help
• Listen
• Say “Thank You”

A Simple process for change (not easy, but simple!)

• apologize-recognizing mistakes have been made
• advertise-announcing your intention to change
• listen-with attention
• thank-gratitude is good
• follow-up-act and check back regularly

Follow-up is vital

• Follow-up is an ongoing process
• It’s how we measure progress
• It reminds others of our efforts

Communication

• Send message
• Ask if it was received
• Ask if it was understood
• Ask if it was acted on

Just because we understand, doesn’t mean we will actually do.

We may learn information about the importance of changing something and yet fail to do so. Without follow-up, nothing happens.

Project Phases (can’t skip from 3 to 7):

1. assess the situation
2. isolate the problem
3. formulate solutions
4. woo up-upper management approve
5. woo laterally-peers agree
6. woo down-direct reports accept
7. imlementation

See Marshall Goldsmith’s Blog and Library with lots of free information.

Discovery of the day

Great articles at Morris Institute for Human Values including Avoiding the Wrong Goals and The Definition of Insanity via Exceptional Dental Practice Mangagement.