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Be a Team Player – Team Work Wins Over Individuality Every Time

Rob Wheeler — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:52:08 +0000

If you want to succeed at the highest levels of almost any organization or career, you must employ leverage. Understanding how leverage works within a team is the ultimate knowledge. Building that team is critical to creating an atmosphere of winning. While some sports are one-on-one, most involve a team. You must employ the greatest skills of motivating others to their highest potential if you want to succeed as a team. Michael Jordan, largely considered the greatest basketball player of our age, could not have succeeded without players and supporting staff around him that let him shine without requiring him to shoulder the entire load. He played for the Chicago Bulls. And, while the Bulls made the playoffs a few times with him carrying the entire load, they could not get past the “teams” that were in their way until they acquired the correct supporting staff. When they did, they ran off 3 NBA Championships in a row.

The mental note to make here is that “Team work wins over Individuality every time.”

With that in mind, lets take a quick look at the parts of team work and how they fit into the puzzle. This will be a quick overview with an in-depth look at each in their own section.

Team Goals is the starting point for any true team work to begin. You must have a solid game plan that all team members can refer back to so that there is little if any ambiguity as to how they fit into the puzzle as well as how the team will accomplish the ultimate goals.

An underlying and often overlooked part of this is a common value-set. The team needs to agree on the values that they will operate under.

The most obvious part of team-work is cooperation. Cooperation is mandatory to achieve the highest levels of team work.

UK Cheerleading Celebrates Unprecedented 17th National Championship

One player/team member cannot be on a different page as the rest of the team or the synchronization of the team loses its effectiveness. The University of Kentucky Cheerleading team is consistently in the top 5 of the National Championships and has won multiple times. If one of the cheerleaders is off, the whole team gets downgraded seriously. Therefore, in this type of team, you truly are only as strong as your weakest link.

The USAF Thunderbirds are the epitome of trust. If one of those team members loses focus during their flying exercises, someone loses a life. Trust is not given in most cases, it is earned. That is a little of a paradox for most teams as a new member needs to have the trust to accomplish what he or she needs to, but the teams still needs to operate. This forces any good team to be together for some amount of time. You can connect without establishing trust initially.

Finishing the job is one of the most important part of the team. Completion is a skill that is learned one-on-one and transferred to a team. So, completion is a big part of building team work.

The quality of players you bring to the table also makes a huge difference in whether you win or lose in the situation.

One of the frustrating parts of some teams is wrong job assignments. You must assign the right people to the right job. You don’t send the introvert to the social mixer or the point guard to do all the rebounding. Although they may accomplish some of the task a mis-assigned team member will not flourish in the wrong setting.
Lack of leadership is a huge issue with progressing as a team. There needs to be vision and direction to accomplish all the things that we want to as a team. The right leadership provides that as part of the process.

Another critical issue with team work is a lack of followers. If everyone is trying to lead, you will be going in all directions instead of one direction.

Motivating the team properly is always a key component to team work. Every team and individual on the team will take different motivation. The leader who can figure out that motivation will master the end result.

And finally you must operate the team with integrity. You may change paths or goals or any other thing, but you MUST operate with integrity or the team will lose conidence and flounder.

As we operate our teams, we must maintain these key elements to ensure that the team stays together and plays together well. If you are a current team member, take these elements back to your team to help them succeed.

As always, your comments and thoughts are desired here.

Rob Wheeler

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Barriers to Success – Lack of Definition (BTS Part 12)

Rob Wheeler — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:16:29 +0000

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Safety Glasses

Some barriers are used for protection. Safety glasses protect you from flying debris, whatever you are doing. They help keep a vital organ protected. They are a barrier. Removal of this barrier at an improper moment can mean the loss of sight. Proper vision in your life is just as important. However, there is a barrier you may want to remove from sight.

Many people write down goals. However their goals are too general to ever really reach. Here is an example:

I would like a nice home, in a nice neighborhood with nice friends etc.

These are NOT goals. They are nice thoughts and dreams. To properly set goals, you need significant definition. This is a fundamental barrier to success for some.

Let me give you a visual. Many people set physical goals. One of them it to get defined. Here are two examples of defined:

#1. This man (Good Definition) has definition….the right definition.

#2. This man (Bad Definition) has definition….the wrong definition, but definition nevertheless.

Defined Abs (Bad)

Defined Abs (Good)

They both are defined. They both have six-pack abs. However, their definition is completely different. You have to be specific!

Would you like your doctor working on a heart issue with crystal clear x-rays or fuzzy x-rays. You wouldn’t dream of letting them just wander around your body.

What would you prefer your wedding pictures to be, defined or fuzzy. It sounds silly to allow these things to happen. However, we have a tendency to do this with our life and our time. You shouldn’t allow a lack of definition in any of these areas. Neither should you allow yourself to wander around life with non-specific goals.

Your detail in your goal set will largely determine if you achieve your dreams. If they are just general items and not highly specific, you are really NOT interested in achieving them, they are just nice thoughts.

Many people have nice thoughts. But, they will never achieve anything. If you want to define your dreams, then they must have intracate details to them. If you want a nice home, what does that mean to you, exactly?

Does the home have an entryway? How many square feet? How many bedrooms? What is the cost of the home? Where is the home? Does the home have granite counters, stone counters or formica? Does each room have its own bathroom? How tall are the ceilings? Is it on the mountain or on the beach? Doea it have a sprinkler system? Is it on a golf course?

The point of this is intricate detail breeds thoughts in your mind that will help you accomplish your goals. That detail causes an effect on the human mind. It creates a need to achieve them. It enables the creativity to flow and motivate the mind to create the necessary actions.

Get specific. Drive your goals home in your mind first and the unique material you were born with will strive to reach those defined objective.

Rob Wheeler

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How Do You Embed Video in a Blog or Page?

Rob Wheeler — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:39:41 +0000

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Video has become very popular on the web and a necessity for any serious business. As a result, we need to understand some basic things about it.

#1. You don’t have to create the video to embed it.
#2. You can embed any video from most of the video services (we will use YouTube)
#3. Search for the subject you want and go for it.

I have often been asked, “Rob, how do you embed video in a blog post?”

Wanna know?

Its actually pretty simple. The steps are below:

#1. Find the video you wish to embed on youtube.
#2. Copy the embed code from the video provider.
#3. Paste it in the HTML where you want it to exist.
#4. Save the page.
#5. Go have fun.

Easy enough huh? But, since we are doing a thing about video. How about the World’s Shortest Video on Embedding?

Here it is:

There you go!

Have fun…

Rob.

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Barriers to Success – Motivation – (BTS Part 4)

Rob Wheeler — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:05:46 +0000

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Iceburg

An iceberg is a devious barrier with the most damaging parts of it underneath the water sometimes impervious to sight.

The Titanic was suppose to be the “unsinkable” ship. An iceberg took it out easily and many people perished as a result of this unseen or unperceived barrier

There are some barriers in our lives that don’t seem to be that large when we first look at them. However, when you look underneath the barrier it is larger than you ever imagined. How you deal with these “unseen” barriers will determine largely how well you succeed in your business and personal life.

Today we will be addressing one of these unseen barriers. Personal motivation is an unseen barrier. It is internal, self determined and self handled.

I remember my dad coming into my room and saying, “Time for school!”

It was soooo hard to get up to go to school, and I liked school. My motivation level for school was just not at a level to ensure consistent participation. What gets you motivated? Have you found that special “thing” that motivates you?

Martin Luther King says:

“I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live.”

What are you willing to DIE for.

I have heard it said that if your why doesn’t make you cry, its not big enough.

There are many things that motivate us, but they are usually broken into two categories. Desperation and Inspiration. People that are motivated by desperation find that their motivation usually is a temporary motivation and will dissipate as soon as the situation that caused the desperation has been resolved or eliminated. Desperate people react to situations.

Inspiration on the other hand can have a significantly longer time span because it is rooted in the subconscious. It is built from a deep mission or longing. It will not dissipate with results. Rather with results, it will build excitement spurring additional results and desire. Inspired people are proactive.

It has been said that you can lead a horse to water, but you can NOT make him drink. While this is fundamentally true, if you feed a horse salt pellets along the way, the horse will drink the water without you having to ask.

There is a measure of of pure determination and disciple in any motivation. That is why it is important to find that which inspires you. Motivation starts with self. However, it should extend to others to ensure that your mission gets traction toward completion.

Matthew McConahey really caught the vision in the film We Are Marshall.

Will you “lay it on the line” today? Inspiration beats desperation every time.

Here are a few things you can do to help in the motivation process:

• Dream Big – Visualize what your successful day will look like.
• Speak it out loud
• Choose to have the right attitude
• Believe in yourself
• Give yourself the time to succeed
• Remove Negative/Abusive People from your circle of influence.
• Read positive/inspirational materials
• Determine in your mind that you will NEVER give up.
• Break tasks into smaller parts
• Seek inspiration from those who have traveled the same path and are successful
• Build a positive group of Key Resources^TM
• Music is a master motivator. Use it to your advantage
• Living things motivate. Keep things that are alive around you.
• Become a life long student of your industry choice
• Reward yourself for reaching a goal

These things will ensure that you keep yourself motivated. Listen to motivating people and watch motivating material. Seek your true inspiration to ensure that you have the energy and drive to succeed.

Listen to Gene Hackman:

You don’t need a sports movie to create motivation. Notice that each coach here is programming the athletes mind in preparation for performing above the normal abilities. You can program you mind the exact same way.

Choose to be better.

Rob.

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Goooooaaaaaaal!

Rob Wheeler — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:37:59 +0000

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We hear the announcers voice each time a goal is scored in soccer. The excitement of scoring a goal is real, tangible and measurable.

We should have the same excitement as we “score” (reach) our goals in life. There are seven areas in which we can define and measure.

One thing that will help you to write goals that will spur you on to achievement is to write the goal in such a way as though you already have achieved the goal.

If your goal is to reach a certain sales level by December 31, 2008. An example would be:

I am depositing a $35,000 commission check for reaching 1.5 Million in sales this year Dec, 31, 2008

The model is: State goal as though you have achieved it. Write the date of proposed achievement.

Try it on the sheets below. The red links have PDF blank sheets attached to them.

Spiritual

The first area of concern is setting your spiritual goals. Notice, I did not not say religious. It doesn’t matter what religion you are or if you choose no religion at all. Each of us has a spiritual side to our lives. Break down that spirituality into defineable and measurable units

Social

The second area to address is social goals. These are goals that you set to work on people skills in a social setting. This can be friendships, networking, non-profit work or any area where you create a scenario where there is strong social interaction.

Mental

The area is where you challenge your mind. Sudoku, crossword puzzles and word finds are some examples. Many families play games. Keeping your mind sharp ensures that you are ready to identify those opportunities that cross your plate that make sense.

Emotional

Emotional goals are very important. Do you control your anger, jealousy? Do you have a hold on your anxiety? Can you accept someone else’s opinion as it is? This area helps you to create and define a plan to execute the steps necessary to grow in this area.

Physical

This is a sensitive area. So, I will just ask, where are your priorities as far as your health and wellness are concerned? Are you on a path to health or death? Are you proactively addressing future potential health issues with your diet, exercise? This area of your goals will challenge you to new heights of commitment.

Financial

Did you know money is the #1 cause of divorce? Whether you married or not, this area will help you define and do the things necessary to handle your finances as they exist now while planning for the future.

Material

What are the items that you are going to acquire and how will the help you and your family? Are they toys or assets.

Setting your goals can be a most liberating experience as you formulate the plan to achieve YOUR dreams. It is ok to work for another while you are reaching for the stars. However, always ensure that you have your plan in mind and that you are not being driven by another’s dreams and aspirations.

An man took his new employee out to his farm because he liked the employee. He showed him all the land, beautiful houses and barns, swimming pool, pond and his many play toys. He said, “My boy, see this land? If you work hard for another 20 or 30 years, all of this will finally be mine!”

You see the man understood leverage. He understood that if you leverage someone else for long enough, that person will pay you many times what you pay them.

Step up to center field and start aiming for your goals.

For more complete information on goals, visit my GOAL PAGE.

Rob Wheeler

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Barriers to Success – Lack of Commitment – (BTS Part 3)

Rob Wheeler — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:42:32 +0000

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There is an old joke that as far as breakfast goes the pig is committed and the chicken is just involved.

Are you just involved in life or are you committed? During the Chinese crackdown on democracy at Tianemen Square there were many demonstrations about commitment. However, none seemed to capture the world so much as “Tank Man”.

Talk about commitment! He was willing to stand in front of oncoming ROLLING tanks. He realized that he was as committed as he could be to the ideals he stands for. John F. Kennedy has a favorite poem. It is Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson. You can read the whole poem at:

Ulysses - JFK's Favorite Poem

In the poem an old King looks back on younger days. However, in the last stanza he states:

We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,–
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Not to yield? Never give up! Keep going! Keep striving to reach all those things that you have committed to. There are pledges and promises that you make constantly. You make these oaths to your friends, family, co-workers and to those who look up to you, whom you do not yet realize. They are your true audience. Challenge yourself to do the best you can at all things so that those who are watching, and oh so many are watching, can benefit from seeing true commitment. Edward Hale may have said it best:
I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do
The something that I can do.

I don’t care if you are one and ONLY one. You can make a difference. You can change the world!

Princess Diana talked about doing what you really believe you should do. That will help you to ensure that there is a deep commitment to complete all the tasks because You want to. She said:

“Only do what your heart tells you to.”

She saved hundreds, if not thousands with her efforts to remove landmines. Look at the first word she chose. ONLY!!!! Only do what will ensure that you keep your promises. Then you don’t have to worry about motivation as much.

Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the Declaration of Independence included these words. What a commitment they were. Would you sacrifice as much if needed?:

“We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.”

Would you give up your life, fortune and even your honor to keep those commitments that you promise to deliver on. The founding fathers did!

What are your willing to give up to achieve that which means so much to you? What can you leave behind, so that you can move ahead. Your reputation, your “status”. Who cares what other people think. If you knew how little they think about you, you would not worry so much about what they think.

Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez upon reaching the Mexican continent had his 11 ships burned. Whether his men were committed or not, Cortez was. He was going to conquer the new world at any cost up to and including his own very life. No retreat, conquer or be conquered.

David McNally said, “Commitment is the enemy of resistance, for it is the serious promise to press on, to get up, no matter how many times you are knocked down.”

My father, Thomas L. Wheeler said once, “Rob its not how far you fall, but rather how high you bounce.”

We are going to get knocked down, bullied, told no, rejected, unrequited…etc. No matter how many times it hurts, we HAVE to get up. What number of times will it take you being knocked down to stay down. I say, I DON’T know yet and I ain’t gonna find out, ’cause I WILL get back up!

Vince Lombardi the great coach of the Green Bay Packers, talks about commitment from a team standpoint:

Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

So, the individual has to commit to the team, company, society, work, civilization as a whole or whatever he or she is involved in for the whole to work as a team. So, there is an “I” in TEAM. The “I” is “I commit to the team!!”

Even the english language places importance on it. According to the dictionary, commitment is a noun. A noun is a person, place or thing. They are all concrete, physical, defineable stuff.

Here are some solid steps to handling commitments:

#1. Define the commitments you have made. Write them down.

#2. Define who they were made to. Again, write them down.

#3. Determine those you can keep -vs- those you will not.

#4. Go talk to the people whom you made the commitments you are NOT going to keep and apologize.

#5. Redouble your efforts to keep those which you will keep.

#6. Carefully consider all future commitments and don’t commit to those you can’t keep.

These steps may seem simple. However, they take time, emotion and effort. One of the biggest problems many of us experience is over-commitment. Your time is your most valuable asset protect it for you, your family and career to ensure that you can keep your promises.

Like the pig, Tank Man and Cortez, if you are going to commit. Doit! Go the whole way! If you are not, then don’t.

Rob Wheeler.

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Barriers to Success – Personal Philosophy – Desire (BTS Part 2)

Rob Wheeler — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:44:21 +0000

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Hoover Dam

Holding back a tremendous force can be a daunting task. In 1931 construction began on the Hoover Dam.

This barrier holds back the Colorado River and all of its force. When it was completed in 1935 it was the largest concrete structure in the entire world. It holds back 28,537,000 acre feet of water at full pool. It is 726.4 feet tall and the parapets rise another 40 feet beyond that. The water pressure is 45,000 pounds per square foot.

The Colorado river with all its force and desire to get around it, can’t!

Webster’s defines desire as:

1.	to wish or long for; crave; want.

2.	to express a wish to obtain; ask for; request: The mayor desires your presence at the next meeting.

3.	a longing or craving, as for something that brings satisfaction or enjoyment: a desire for fame.

4.	an expressed wish; request.

5.	something desired.

6.	sexual appetite or a sexual urge.

For our purposes we will defer to 1 or 3. You have to want success badly. You have to have a “white hot burning desire” to create the kind of success you want to create. It has to “transcend” everything. Researchers have found that the desire to succeed is critically tied to success. Moreover, it actually has the capability to reduce the stresses surrounding you along the way to success.

A young man went in search of a grand old Sherpa philosopher to ask him the meaning of desire. He found the master and asked him, “What does desire really mean?”.

The old prophet said, “Follow me!”. They hiked up a mountain. The youth was exhausted. They hiked around a mountain. Now the youth was even more tired, sore and mentally done. Finally, they reached a crystal clear blue/green lake in the mountain pass. The Sherpa master waded out into the lake and stuck his head in the water. He asked the youth to come to him and look at what desire is. The youth, tired and sore, waded into the sharply cool water to where the old man was standing and reluctantly plunged his head in. The master reached out his hand and held the young man, underwater, until the youth fought away from him.

He lunged out of the water to gasp the precious air that was so needed. “Why did you do that?” the young man said exasperatedly.

The old master smiled. Looking into the eyes and soul of the youth, he said, “My child, when you want something as bad as you want to fill your lungs after a period of no air, you will master desire.”

Think of that! How many times in your life has desire been so keen that you will fight for it with that type of intensity and desperation? How often have you been truly under water? I would venture to say very few if none. Our society is breeding an entitled youth. For you to change the tide, you personally must sacrifice all to obtain what you desire.

The great Chinese philosopher Confuscious states:

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”

Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich said it this way:

“Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire that transcends everything”

Do you have a keen “pulsating” desire. Pulsating implies that the desire is consistent and in your face until you address it. Does your desire transcend everything? What are you leaving in the way of your success? What are you not sacrificing to achieve what you must achieve? This desire has to be intense and overwhelming.

Napoleon Hill also states:

“There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.”

If this is the case philosophically and factually, we must develop that desire. The key word in that sentence is “develop”. Most desire is not white hot burning desire initially. It is a mind taught function. Contrary to popular belief, your mind completely controls this process.

Most of that control starts with self-suggestion. You can self-suggest your way to almost any outcome you wish to program. I have heard many times from different people how they have lost their desire with regard to something. It may be a spouse losing desire for their loved one physically. It may be the desire to get healthy or stay healthy. It may be desire to continue working in their chosen field or company. It may be to continue down a spiritual path you have been on for a while.

I can state emphatically, whatever you truly choose that you want to do, you can develop a strong desire to comlpete the tasks or project with a newly developed desire.

8 Steps to Creating Desire (a white hot burning desire):

1. Determine the values that you want to be a part of your Personal Philosophy.

2. Determine the path/person/object/project or goal that you want to obtain.

3. Define that path clearly with stated goals both short, medium and long term.

4. Share that path with at least 5 people close to you.

5. Create a delayed gratification plan. Delayed gratification is where you put off some reward or item until you reach a predetermined result.

6. Create an affirmation that clearly states what you want to desire.

7. At least 4 times a day, state your affirmation out loud. This engages more of your senses than just reading it. Self affirmation is critical to success and the road to success. What a man/woman thinks about constantly fervently, he or she will become.

8. Create a system to measure your results.

Some will say this is hype and bologna. However, research shows that 95% of all our decisions are made in the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is also highly emotional. Emotions can be controlled by thoughts. We can program our emotions and thus desire. It is of the utmost importance for you to be the entity controlling what is entering your thoughts the most. If you don’t control that input, the culture we live in will. What do you want entering your mind?

Take the time to “control” what you put into your mind and your mind will control the output to a large extent.

Rob Wheeler

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