Monat: November 2012

One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help. This was generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxi cab. She seemed to be in a big hurry! She wrote down his address, thanked him and drove away. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read: „Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.“ Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole

For the „Eliciting Values“ part of „AIM HERE“ mneumonic device, „Examine order“ reminded me of an optometrist, as they change the lenses, asking: „Which is better, 1 or 2? Now, how about 3 or 4? OK, now, how about 1 and 3?“ . If you wear glasses (corrective lenses) you probably can sympathize with this situation… Therefore, I will now refer to this activity as „eye doctor“, ha ha!

When you are four years old, success means not pee-ing in your pants.
When you are 12 years old, success is when you have friends.
When you are 18 years old, success means having a driving license.
When you are 20 years old, success means having sex.
When you are 35 years old, success means having money.
And when you are 50 years old, success means having more money!
When people retire and reach the age of 65 or so, success often means having friends.
At 75, success means having a driving license.
At 80, success means having sex.
And of course, at 85, success means not pee-ing in your pants.

Colonel Sanders was 65 years old when he received his first social security cheque of $99. He was broke, and owned a small house and a beat up car.
He made a decision that he has got to change. The only idea he had was a chicken recipe, which his friends liked. With that idea in mind, he took massive action.
He left his home in Kentucky and traveled to many states in the US to sell his idea. He told the restaurant owners that he had a chicken recipe that people liked and he was giving it to them for free.
What he wanted in return was for the restaurant owners to pay him a small percentage on the pieces of chicken sold.
He got rejections after rejections, but did not give up. In fact, he got over 1000 rejections. He got 1009 no’s before he got his first yes.
With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the eating habits of the whole world with Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC.
How many of us will keep knocking on doors when we have received 1000 rejections? I presume not many! This is why there are not many successes like Colonel Sanders.
Age is no barrier to success, and so is capital. What is needed is an idea put into action, followed with proper planning and persistency.

A few years after I left my secondary school in Manchester, I was invited to help out with the school’s Christmas Fair and I decided to have a go at being Father Christmas. I had recently grown my first full beard and thought that I would enter into the role by rubbing flour into my growth. Though I say it myself, I looked rather splendid and certainly I attracted lots of custom.
I was enjoying myself enormously, bringing a sense of magic to so many young children, but I was mystified by one young boy who paid for a second visit and then astonishingly for a third. The presents on offer were really pretty pitiful, so I asked him why he was coming to see me so often. He answered simply: „I just love talking to you“.
It was then that I realised that, in many households, parents do not encourage their children to talk and really listen to them. This was a lesson that I have taken with me throughout my life. So, at home, at work, socially, always encourage family, friends, colleagues to talk about themselves and their feelings – and really listen.
Author: Roger Darlington