Tude Tips Blog

Attitudes are the essence of success. What you think about, who you associate with and the attitudes you choose all make a difference to whether you achieve your goals or not. Learn tips on how to High Performers achieve your goals.

Changing Limiting Beliefs to Empowering Beliefs

Robyn Simpson - Monday, March 07, 2011

What is a belief?

A belief is simply a repeated thought. Some are empowering, and others are disempowering.

Because we have long held beliefs, they can seem very real to us. When we take a moment to look at them we often find that they are no longer supportive or true. Most people don't take the time to clear up unsupportive beliefs and continue to run their lives on autopilot at the whim of their old beliefs.

Why is it important to clear up beliefs?

If you find yourself repeating behaviours that generate less then useful results, you are probably working from a limiting belief. People generally want to operate at their best, so in order to do that, we need to clear out limiting beliefs and choose some new empowering ones.

Points to note about beliefs:

They are not always true, they often seem real because they have been with us for some time.
They can be changed to an empowering belief.
They can run our lives without us being aware of them if we don't take the time to work with them.
They are a personal thing, what seems important to me may be totally irrelevant or insignificant to you.

How do we change a belief?

There are some simple processes we can use to change limiting beliefs.

We will be examing these in the 'Tude E-coaching program in greater detail. The intensity of beliefs is very personal, it is important that you decide for yourself what your limiting beliefs are and how deeply they sit.

Here are the first steps to changing your beliefs. We cannot give you the full process as we recommend only qualified practitioners take you through it:

Identify your limiting belief and state it clearly
Check whether it is useful in any way or any situation
If it's not useful, we can change it completely, if it is useful in some situations, we can keep it for those and change it for situations where it is limiting.
Notice whether the belief is still true for you. Do you know when you decided to believe it?
For some beliefs it is simply a matter of being aware that it is no longer true, and this allows you to let it go easily.

For deeper or more emotionally charged beliefs we recommend you do a Belief Change process with a qualified practitioner to ensure the process is completed safely and with ecology.

Examples of beliefs we can help you with include:

I'm not good with money
I'm not good at anything
I'm not good at relationships
Relationships never work out for me
I'm not a good learner
Nobody loves me
I always come last
I'm not popular
I'm not a good person
I'm a procrastinator
I never finish anything
I'm not wealthy
I'm not confident
And the list goes on...

There are so many beliefs we hold onto, as adults many of us still hold onto beliefs from our childhood. A simple belief like 'I'm not good enough' can manifest itself in all areas of our lives, creating a web of other limiting beliefs. These can take some untangling in order to uncover and shift the original belief.

If you would like to eliminate your limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering ones, book an appointment or contact us for more information.

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Freedom by Choice

Robyn Simpson - Monday, February 28, 2011

Freedom by Choice

Freedom means different things to different people. Take a moment to consider what freedom means to you. You may be closer to achieving it than you think.

I used to think freedom was something I needed to work towards. My career has been focused around creating freedom, or so I thought. There was a constant striving to move towards my idea of freedom. Recently I learnt to look at life from a different perspective and discovered the freedom I have already created.

Freedom is often sought in order for people to be happy. You may be familiar with the phrase ‘I’ll be happy when…’ this indicates the speaker perceives there is something missing in their life, and they can potentially overlook all that is good until they get the thing they are waiting for. Unfortunately many make freedom so difficult to achieve, they never seem to reach it.

We all have our own definition of freedom based on our values. For example, I feel free being able to work from anywhere. I feel free doing work I love, and taking time out when I want to. I feel free playing music; and spending time with friends and family. I especially feel free when I’m walking on the beach.

What does freedom mean to you? When do you lose yourself? What are you doing? Where are you? Who are you with? That is your freedom. Take a pen and paper and write down what freedom means to you. Make it easy to achieve so you can experience it regularly. Now you can choose to build this into your months, weeks and days. If freedom equals happiness to you, doesn’t it make sense to make it easily achievable?

Freedom is a choice, a state of mind. Even under incredibly restricting and negative circumstances Viktor Frankl chose to be free in his mind while being held captive in a concentration camp. "The last of human freedoms is the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.” Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl’s words stand true for all situations, you don’t need to have experienced tragedy or negative circumstances to be able to turn what you have now into something you enjoy. If you choose to view freedom as something that is easy to achieve, it will be easy to achieve.

You are free to choose your attitude, feelings and thoughts at any moment. It’s also your choice how you share them with those around you. Nobody has control over you. You are your navigator, captain and master. For some people this can be frightening. For others this is enlightening. Taking responsibility for yourself means you take responsibility for all your results, good, bad or otherwise. There is no one to blame when you realise you are free.

Notice throughout your day, where you freely choose to do and think things. Also notice when you don’t, and reassess whether you did in fact have a choice. Did anyone else make you respond or act in that way? Can another person or circumstances force you to choose one thing over another? Or does it come from yourself internally? Who is really in control of your thinking, feeling and sensing? Your subconscious mind is more powerful than any person outside of you. This being the case, you have the freedom and power to choose what’s right for you in any situation.

Sometimes it’s a bitter pill to swallow, and those who have not chosen freedom argue that their circumstances are such that they have no choice. There is always more than one option. Do you or don’t you? Can or can’t, should or shouldn’t, will or won’t? There is also the choice to do, think or say nothing. You are free to make any of those choices at any time and in actual fact, you do that anyway.

Do you intend a life of freedom? A life guided by design is more rewarding than a life by chance. The choice is yours.

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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What are we missing?

Robyn Simpson - Monday, February 14, 2011

What are we missing?

How often do you truly live in the present moment? Many people dwell on the past, others are continuously looking to the future. How good are you at living in now?

Recently I had the pleasure of catching up with a girl friend who had just returned from an overseas holiday. I love travel, and I love listening to people’s adventures. I feel a sense of freedom when traveling and exploring. During our conversation a question was raised: "Why don’t we live with that sense of freedom and appreciation all the time?”

Imagine yourself on holiday… in an idyllic place or space, magically relaxing, doing only what you love. Imagine who is with you, the smells, sights and sounds. Pressures are eliminated. You can choose what ever you want to do at any given moment. Hear the laughter and music, smell the aromas of food and flora. Imagine the best holiday ever!

How often is your life like that? Is that something you want more of? If so, let’s look at how you can make that happen.

Assessing the gap
Look at your usual every day life. How different is it from the perfect holiday you’ve just imagined? Consider every aspect and on a scale of 1 – 10 assess each area of daily life against your ideal state of living you experience on holiday. For example, take laughter. How much laughter do you have in your daily life compared to your ideal life? Measure each on a scale so you can give it some perspective. If your ideal life has just the right amount of laughter – rate it as 10. Rate your daily laughter against that.

Continue this process with other areas that are important to you. For example, spending time with family, reading a magazine, doing new things, sitting and relaxing, or exploring...

Creating more
Now take a look at your list and ask yourself "How can I create this on a daily basis?” Brainstorm as many ways as possible for each area. Let ideas flow without judgment. Allow your subconscious mind to present ideas over the next day or two. Write them down. Go for at least 10 ways to achieve each one and make them compelling.

It is helpful to get in touch with the feeling of having the desired state while you do this exercise. If you can create the feeling you will be more creative and motivated to find ways to achieve it easily.

Busting blocks
Take the top five feelings or experiences and ask yourself "What prevents me having more of this in my everyday life?”

It is important to do this in a non-judgmental way. Be completely honest with yourself. No criticizing allowed. Check if what prevents you is an excuse. Remember the purpose of this exercise is to help you experience more of what you really want now.

For more information on blocks and how to bust them, check out www.choosethetude.com/Free/Articles.html and look up the Goals are Dreams with Deadlines articles.

Final step
Act as if you already have these things happening in your every day life. How would life be if you really did live in the moment, enjoying all the things you want and love right now? What would you be doing?

What have you been missing? Why save the good things for special occasions? Special occasions may not happen. Today is a special occasion for you to enjoy, so fill it with everything you enjoy. It’s your choice.

We are free to choose our experience daily. Since the conversation with my friend I have begun to choose to experience ‘now’ all the time.

I still have dreams for the future, and I sometimes look at the past. What’s important is that I know I’m choosing this and I can choose what’s good about now, now!

Simple techniques like this are very powerful. Life is meant to be simple. So what are you missing?

Final tip… A great way to start your day is to consciously choose your attitude so it starts off positively. Our ‘Smell the Roses’ range can help you get in the mood to relax and take time to appreciate the simple things in life and enjoy ‘now’. For inspiration in this area click here...

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people... pass it on!

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Goals are Dreams with Deadlines Pt2

Robyn Simpson - Thursday, February 10, 2011

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines Part II

How you set goals can have a huge impact on how successful you are at achieving them.

In Part I of this article we talked about Blocks that get in the way of making goals happen and ways to Break them. This month we’ve got a few more Blocks with their Breaks, and some Tips to give you the best possible chance to achieve your goals and make them your reality.

As a brief reminder, Blocks are things (real or imagined) which get in the way and prevent us from taking action and succeeding. Breaks are strategies we can use to break down the blocks and subsequently achieve our goals.

Block 5. Choosing a goal to please someone else
We often choose a goal because we are influenced by, or want to please someone else – parents, partners, spouses or children. We may not be aware that’s why we’ve chosen the goal. If you feel you have chosen a goal because you ‘should’, check whether it’s really your goal.

BREAK IT: Take a good look at what you will get from achieving the goal. What’s in it for you? This is really important. You are much more likely to achieve a goal and be motivated to achieve more if it is something you really want. When you achieve goals you inspire others to do the same.

Block 6. Lack of action
It’s not enough to know what you want, write it down and give it a deadline. You need to take action every day! If you find yourself procrastinating, consider what is getting in your way.

BREAK IT: Refer to Part I of this article – Blocks 2-4 and Block 5 above. Achieving goals takes some commitment on your part. If you don’t have the right skills yet, take action to learn them. If the goal seems overwhelming, break it into smaller achievable chunks and work through them. Make sure you reward yourself for each achievement. Remember – every little bit counts!

Block 7. Lack of resources – usually time or money
I can't do it. I don't have the money. I don't have enough time. I would be retired if I'd been given a $1 for each time I’ve heard these excuses.

BREAK IT: Check how much you really want to achieve this goal. If you really value it you will put the time, money and effort into achieving it. If you don’t have enough money, brainstorm ways to save or earn what you need. Learn more about good money habits (check out The Resource Centre for help). If you don’t have enough time, prioritise what’s important to you and make appointments for yourself in your diary to ensure you give enough time to what’s really important. I do this with work and personal commitments and it works incredibly well.

There are many more reasons why people don’t achieve their goals. But it’s time to look at some tips to help you achieve your goals.

Remember…

1. A true goal is one you will spend energy, time and resources on to achieve.

2. Be clear on what you want. If you’re not clear then refine your goal each day until you are.

3. State your goals in positive language. What you focus on is what you get.

4. Give your dream a deadline. This will get your subconscious to focus on achieving it and you will begin
noticing things you hadn’t previously.

5. Imagine it done - use all your senses to make your imagined picture as real as possible. Describe how it
feels, what it looks like, the colours, movement, your thoughts, responses from other people, words you will
hear or use. The more real you can make it in your mind, the more likely you will achieve your desired
outcome.

6. Write it down and review it every day. Keep focused.

7. Pursue it with reckless abandon – well, at least lots of energy and focus.

8. If you’re not giving your goal attention, time, energy or resources then check what is getting in your way and
remove the Blocks or perhaps review the goal.

9. Achieve mini goals that contribute to the ultimate goal. As Michael Berman and David Brown (authors of The
Power of Metaphor) state "When there is an immediate positive reinforcement, serotonin is released in the
brain inducing a sense of well-being and security”. Success leads to success.

10. Talk to someone who will support you in achieving the goal. Telling someone increases your commitment to
being successful.

11. Celebrate little victories – every little bit counts.

Although these sound simple, the more of these tips you use in the pursuit of your goals the more likely you are to achieve them.

I can speak from personal experience – so I encourage you to start dreaming and turn them into reality.

Choose the ‘Tude is all about attitudes and giving people the resources to help them achieve their goals. This business was a dream that’s become a reality by giving it a deadline and using these tips. We hope they support you in the pursuit of your goals. Best wishes!

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Goals are Dreams with Deadlines Pt1

Robyn Simpson - Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines Part I

Do you have everything you want? Are you where you thought you would be at this stage in your life? No? A contributing factor could be your goals, how you set them, and achieve them - or not.

Whilst discussing an idea I was formulating for a new business with a colleague of mine two statements were made that really stuck with me about goal setting. Firstly, my colleague commented that he didn't like to set goals because if he didn't achieve them he would feel he had failed. His question "Why put myself out there?"

Secondly, he referred to me as 'a dreamer' insinuating that dreaming was a waste of time and not particularly productive. My response "Yes, I'm a dreamer. But I dream with deadlines."

I strongly believe people can achieve anything they want if they put their mind to it. So, what stops us from setting goals? What stops us from achieving them? Blocks! These are things that get in the way (real or imagined) that stop us from taking action and succeeding. I'd like to share with you some of the blocks I've identified and strategies for breaking these blocks.

Block 1. Constant dreaming - No time frame
This often leads to no action being taken. There is no urgency to achieve the dream, so it tends to float along, never really eventuating other than in your head. "I'm gonna..." is the case here and rarely 'gonna' eventuates.

BREAK IT: Take a look at how much you really want to make this dream a reality. If it's something you are seriously passionate about achieving then put a deadline on it. When you put a deadline on a dream it becomes a goal and the subconscious mind begins to find ways to make it happen. What you focus on is what you get.

The common misconception here is that if you miss a deadline, you have failed. This is only true if you choose it to be so. If you find yourself in this situation, take stock of all the things you achieved along the way. Congratulate yourself for them, and set another deadline by which to meet your ultimate goal.

Remember, goals are dreams with deadlines and deadlines work! As an example, an exciting new design based on this concept has eventuated for this company Choose the 'Tude Ltd. Check these out here.

Block 2. Worrying about what others will think about you
How do you feel about achieving this goal? Do you fear what other people might think or say? Do you worry that you may fail if you attempt it? How will that make you feel? If you're focusing on the negatives and what might happen, that's what will happen.

BREAK IT: Reality check! People haven't said or thought anything yet because you haven't done anything! And whose goal is it? Yours! So don't worry about what other people have to say. Get on with it and take some action.

Block 3. Not believing in yourself
We are our own worst critics! Humans are complex creatures. Our minds, past behaviours and beliefs often get in the way - even though they may bear little relevance to our situation today.

BREAK IT: Identifying and getting rid of limiting beliefs about ourselves and our abilities can take a bit of work. There is no quick fix here. If you identify the belief that is getting in your way you can begin to work with it. You can get a coach or learn how to deal with it yourself through training or reading (see our Resources Section for help here). This is a great investment in your future!

Block 4. Listening to pessimists
A mistake people often make is to talk to people who reinforce limiting beliefs or say "it can't be done". If you listen to all the reasons why you can't/couldn't/won't achieve it - you won't achieve it. Often it is our own inner voice that is doing the negative talk and tells us it can't be done.

BREAK IT: Talk to people who are supportive and will help you look at possibilities and ways to achieve what you want rather than those who are stifled by fear. Take notice of the other people who have achieved what you want. 99% of the time, someone else (if not many people) has already achieved it - which is great because it means it can be done. Now focus on how they did it and do it yourself.

If it's your own internal chatter that is knocking you - take a look at the Break for Not believing in yourself (Block 3).

You can achieve anything you want if you put your mind to it and take action. Challenge yourself - write down what you really want... in life, in relationships, in your business/career. Identify the Blocks and begin breaking them!

To be continued... See Goals are Dreams with Deadlines - Part II for more blocks and how to break them.

The business I referred to in my introduction is Choose the 'Tude. This business is one of the dreams I set with a deadline. It works!

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Every Little Bit Counts

Robyn Simpson - Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Every Little Bit counts

In our busy world, our lifestyles can be such that days, weeks and even months go past without us taking time to come up for air. When life is manic like that it pays to take a moment and remind yourself that every little bit counts.

Every thing we do, think and say has an impact on ourselves, others and the environment around us. Time is made up of tiny moments, each one of these moments creates a result. Do we really take notice of what we are creating? The concept of every little bit counts effects all areas of life.

Goals
At the beginning of the year we set goals and generally for the first few months we are great at staying focused on them. Then the pace of life, business and family demands seems to increase disproportionately and the focus on our goals and dreams takes a lower priority.

To avoid this happening, make it part of your daily routine to spend 10 minutes reviewing your goals. Rewrite them and ask yourself ‘What can I do today to bring me closer to making this a reality?’ The best way to achieve big things is by little steps. It doesn’t matter how small the step is because every little bit counts. One small thing every day equals 365 things in a year!

Stress
In times of turmoil remembering every little bit counts can be comforting. When things are becoming overwhelming, take a moment to sit and relax. Reflect on what you’ve achieved and what you are working towards. Notice how far you’ve come. Decide on the next few steps.

Breaking a big task into small tasks significantly reduces stress by allowing your brain to focus on the possible small steps instead of the seemingly impossible mass of work.

Another strategy for stressful times is to take 20 minutes out of your day to meditate. Meditation is an extremely relaxing and calming process. The deep breathing will calm your mind and help you centre yourself. After 20 minutes of allowing your mind to rest, you will be much more energized to handle the challenges in your day. For more information on meditation click on this link

Unfortunately every little bit of stress counts too, potentially causing disease, so the less stress the better for everyone. Make sure you take steps to manage it.

Relationships
Whether at work or in your personal life, every little piece of communication counts towards building or damaging relationships. The trick is to be consciously aware of how you say things, not just what you are saying. This is why emails can be misconstrued. The tone of your communication has a huge impact on the result you get. A great book on relationships is ‘The five love languages’ by Gary Chapman, you can get this from our Books, CD's, DVD's

Teams
Like relationships, often team members can be taken for granted after a period of time. A little bit of thought into developing surprise and delight tactics goes a really long way to keeping a team happy. It doesn’t take much to smile at someone, pay a compliment or perform a random act of kindness. The impact you create far outweighs the effort. These are little things that count.

Environment
Our modern lifestyles have a huge effect on our environment. The world is coping less with our output of pollution. Again, every little bit counts. There are lots of things you can do to reduce the amount of waste in a day or save resources such as water and power.

Unfortunately our earth is not regenerating resources as quickly as we demand. Every little bit of effort to preserve our environment counts. There are lots of ways to do this. Click here to go to our fab environment page in Choose the 'Tude free stuff.

Contribution
We are lucky enough to live in a modern western environment where there is abundance every where. We have more than enough of the basic things in life, so we are fortunate to be able to indulge in everyday luxuries. The great thing about living in a wealthy country is the more we get the more we are able to give. What contributions are you making to others in the world? Remember, every little bit counts, whether that’s food, companionship or finances.

Grati-Tude
At choose the ‘Tude we are all about inspiring people to make positive conscious choices in work and in life. We’ve developed a ‘Grati-Tude’ programme where $1 from every sale of our books goes to a worthy cause.

We also sponsor IHC to help people with disabilities live better lives. We are a small company with a big heart, and we understand every little bit counts!

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Attitudes are contagious!

Robyn Simpson - Monday, January 24, 2011

Is yours worth catching?

Your attitude is your choice - take a moment to assess it. Is it worth passing on? Is it worth others catching? One of the laws of the Universe is that what you focus on will be what you get back, so the 'Tude you choose dictates the results you get!

Is your ‘Tude worth catching?
Too many people go through life at the mercy of external stimuli. You can live as a victim of circumstance, blaming everything on external influences, or you can choose to take personal responsibility for how you are feeling and enjoy a happy, fulfilling life.

Choosing your ‘Tude can make the world of difference to your daily experiences. Attitudes are highly contagious. Have you ever been around someone who has a particularly bad attitude? How does it make you feel? If you’ve experienced being on the receiving end of a bad attitude, how did you react? Often we don’t consciously choose our reactions, which can result in a less than desirable outcome for you and the other person.

Compare this with being around highly motivated and positive people. How does this make you feel? Do you react to them differently to negative people? Positive attitudes are also contagious, which instantly makes you feel good and in turn, respond in a positive way… and so it spirals.

The Law of Attraction
In a nutshell, what you focus on is what you will attract. Take notice of who you are surrounded by because you are attracting them. This is a great way of testing if your ‘Tude is worth catching. If you appear to be attracting happy, positive people, you are likely to be in a good space yourself. But take heed of your attitude if you are surrounded by negative people and choose a new one.

However, beware of the powers of the sub-conscious mind and pseudo positive thoughts! The subconscious mind doesn’t differentiate between positive or negative. It just hears the topic and will focus on that. For example if you say "I don’t want to be in debt” the subconscious mind will focus on debt and bring you more of it. A better statement to make is "I am abundant”, and the subconscious mind will go about bringing you abundance. The words you use are critical to your results, so choose them wisely.

John Assaraf from The Secret says, "The simplest way for me to look at the law of attraction is if I think of myself as a magnet, and I know that a magnet will attract to it.”

The Secret is a DVD with excellent insight into the law of attraction and how learning to use this law can be a powerful tool in what we perceive and consequently achieve.

Pass it on!
If you want to make a difference in your world, think about your attitude and try passing on a great one. The benefits are numerous: firstly you feel good, which makes others feel good, this makes your environment nicer, which in turn makes you feel great, and so it spirals.

In the March Issue of Her Business Magazine, I wrote about creating a domino effect which creates compounding inspiration by consciously choosing your attitude. Click here to read the article.

It’s your choice!
The really great thing about ‘Tudes is they are your choice. You can choose whichever one you like, whenever you like. They are also abundant, so they will never run out. You can choose them as often as you like and keep on passing them on.

To help you to consciously choose your attitude, we have produced a range of Mini Motivational Cards Each ‘Tude is captured in a design which reflects that attitude. On the reverse is a motivational reminder about that ‘Tude. Keep them on your desk, in your car, on your fridge, in your wallet or pass them on – you choose!

Remember attitudes are contagious, so choose a great one and pass it on!

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Change—A Positive Choice

Robyn Simpson - Thursday, January 20, 2011

How do you feel about change? Do you view it as hard or scary? Or as an opportunity? Change is inevitable. How we view it can make a huge difference to our lives.

Change is happening every moment and is often something out of our control. However, how we view it, is completely our choice.

Inevitable changes

Change is a bit like time. It’s constantly happening and has an effect on us and the things around us. When we learn to work with it, it becomes our partner. If we fight it, we run the risk of creating chaos and stress.

Inevitable changes include things like nature, the seasons, tides, aging, and climate. Changes in the seasons, and nature we accept because we have no influence on them. These changes are often the inspiration for many beautiful things such as the incredible changing colours of a sunset or the changes a chrysalis goes through to become a beautiful butterfly. These changes are inevitable, and we accept them as a part of life.

Agingis a change that, when we are younger, we wish would happen faster and as we age we wish it would slow down. There is a huge industry based on the changes we go through as human beings. Billions of dollars are spent trying to change the process of aging. Some cultures have another perspective on this. The young have outer beauty, while the elders have a rich inner beauty called wisdom. All wisdom is built from many moments of experience. Each one of these moments was a moment of change.

In our fast paced world we contribute to climate change. Although we are not necessarily directly in control of it, we can choose to make a positive difference in our own way. Every little bit counts. Saab plant trees to offset the emissions from their cars. Choosing to recycle helps reduce the waste going into our landfills.

Changing perspectives
Change is another word for opportunity. Every change offers an opportunity to make a choice. We can choose to be a victim of the change, or create something new and make it work for us.

The degree of the change can sometimes overwhelm us. It’s natural to have fear initially. This is one of our defense systems. We are all human, and we all have both positive and negative feelings. What makes the difference is how long you choose to hold onto the fear or negativity. The faster you choose to let it go and change your focus to something productive, the quicker you will create great results.

We all have patterns and habits we’ve had for a lifetime about change and how we view it. Active education is the best way to change your perspective and break old habits. By active education we mean putting what you learn into action immediately. You can only truly learn something once you’ve experienced it. We are constantly changing the resources to help you with this, so make sure you keep an eye on the website.

Reducing stress
Change can be stressful for some people. The best way I’ve found to reduce stress is to firstly, take myself out of the situation and imagine I am advising someone else on what to do. This helps to alleviate the emotion so you can do a reality check and take a good look at what is actually happening. From this perspective you can look for the opportunities this change may represent.

Be careful to assess where you are making assumptions. Assumptions are the imaginary rules we put in our way that block possibilities.

There is often fear associated with change. Fear can create the feeling of stress. Most often fear is based on what you imagine is going to happen, rather than what is actually fact. When you begin to feel that fear, ask yourself "What do I know to be absolutely true in this situation?” Don’t allow yourself to dwell on imaginary possibilities. Identify what’s real and what’s not, and concentrate on reality. Let your mind be creative in developing positive outcomes. Your mind can only hold one piece of information at any given moment. If it is holding a positive thought, there is no room for negative thoughts.

Some changes can be planned for in advance. This also helps to reduce stress. In business we talk about strategic planning where we look to the future and devise plans for how to deal with the major changes that could possibly affect our business in the future. We may not know which one is going to happen or when but if something does eventuate, we already have a plan on how to approach it.

We can do the same thing with any area of our lives. This process can be very creative, so you may even develop ideas that you would never have otherwise thought about. Brainstorming is a great way to come up with options and solutions. For more information on brainstorming check out www.choosethetude.com/....

Changing times
As change is constantly happening, we might as well learn to work with it and choose to make it work for us.

As Gary Zukav says in his book titled The Mind of the Soul - Responsible Choice, "You cannot change yourself by wishing, thinking, wanting or desiring. You must change. When you do, you will cease to attract people who wish, think, want and desire to change. You will step into a new domain of experience, and you will find new friends there."

At Choose the ‘Tude we have recently had the opportunity to change where we do business. Firstly, not only are our products and services available throughout New Zealand, earlier this year we opened in Australia! A huge change and a huge opportunity!

Secondly, as a result of turning change into an opportunity we have restructured how we do business and we have realized another dream – to make the business so flexible we can work from anywhere. Being a web based company we able to move quickly to make the most of opportunities when they arise. This means we will be moving, which brings opens up many more possibilities.

Changing how you think about things brings so many opportunities. If you want to achieve more than you already have, change your thinking and your actions.

It’s time for change!

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Creating a Postive Point of Difference!

Robyn Simpson - Monday, January 10, 2011

Creating a Positive Point of Difference!

Are you investing your marketing budget in the right place? Many companies spend exorbitant amounts of money on external marketing strategies but overlook the basics which often don’t cost a thing. Some of the best marketing strategies focus on your team not your customers.

Take a look at your business. Are your customers raving fans, espousing praise to other potential customers so they seek out your products and services? Are your staff proactively creating change and providing new solutions? Would you rate your team morale 10 out of 10?

Very few companies can answer yes to these questions. Imagine what perception of your business would be created if you could answer yes to these three questions. There are simple solutions to help you create a positive point of difference for your business.

Get the Inside Right
…and the outside will follow. Here’s an interesting fact: internal marketing is less expensive than external marketing and, over the last 15 years I’ve found in most cases, internal marketing has a much bigger impact than external marketing.

Internal marketing is about communication and marketing initiatives undertaken inside a company with staff and management. The purpose of internal marketing is to create a culture that supports your business objectives.

External marketing is communications and marketing initiatives that are targeted at people outside the company, such as prospects and customers.

What percentage of your marketing resources (that’s time and money) are spent on internal marketing as even the smallest marketing budgets can afford to invest in internal marketing.

Creating the Positive Point of Difference
As a customer, how often do you rave about the service you receive? Probably not often enough. When you do receive fantastic service do you go back or tell other people? Most people do. So is it a good strategy to provide absolutely brilliant service and make everyone who comes in contact with your company feel great? Definitely.

The first step to creating a positive point of difference for your company is to instill a culture that is positive. Start inside your business. Staff who are positive and reflect this to customers, and each other, will create a positive perception of your business. People like dealing with positive people. It’s that simple.

There have been many books written on the impact of happy staff and how this affects customers and sales. Unfortunately businesses often get busy and concentrate on processes and systems and forget it’s the people who create perception and connection with customers.

Positive Resources
Start with the basics. Instill good communication techniques right down to taking personal responsibility for the outcome of a communication. Teach your team to ask questions to help them provide solutions to customers and each other.

Create a culture of superb service. Everybody is a customer – other team members included. Every interaction should be handled from a service perspective. Everything we do has an impact.

Business mentors and teachers can help you begin the process. These people use accelerated learning techniques that support a variety of people to make sure the message gets through to everyone.

Strong cultures develop over time. Attitude based programmes are a great way to manage the growth. Too many companies spend money and time on conferences that last a day and then fade away. Use your conferences and team meetings constructively to build your internal culture. Always start and finish the conference with reference to the key messages. Repetition is one of the keys to any type of marketing.

Use anchors daily, weekly and monthly to promote your key point of difference to your team. Some examples include everyday products used by your team with motivational sayings, books, screen savers, cards, and the list goes on.

Model other leaders. There are numerous books on leadership and creating culture change. Some good ones are Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard, Good to Great by Jim Collins, Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts. For more titles click here.

Make internal marketing a priority. Vodafone, Saatchi and Saatchi and Weta Productions use internal marketing to keep their staff innovative and solution focused. There are many smaller companies also using simple internal marketing methods to get the inside right. Find out how others do it and model them. Ask!

Change is inevitable – in fact it’s one of the only constants in this world. Everybody has the same choice: have change happen to you or take control and make it happen. Make change a part of your culture by taking it one step at a time. The most important thing to remember is change starts at the top. That doesn’t mean you are responsible for all change. Create a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone in the team is accountable and takes responsibility for creating win-win results.

There are many resources to help you instill a culture that is positive inside your business. Companies like Choose the ‘Tude Ltd are available to help you design simple strategies that last in your business and will begin a phenomenon that creates a ripple effect.

The ripple effect
The ripple effect means the benefits you create will spread wider than your business. The lessons your team learn will benefit them in all areas of life. Good communication skills and service etiquette is beneficial at home, with friends and family and generally in the community.

Positive attitudes generate a positive culture which in turn creates a positive flow. By making your work environment a place that promotes great attitudes and positive feelings, everyone who comes in contact with your business will be affected.

What we do has an effect on everything around us. It’s our choice whether the effect is positive or negative. Make your point of difference positive and your business will stand out!

Author: Robyn Simpson from Choose The 'Tude!

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Attitudes: The Essence of Success

Robyn Simpson - Thursday, December 30, 2010

I have a goal: To create a domino effect of inspiration that will not only prompt people to reach their goals and enjoy life more, but for those people to prompt others to do the same.

Hypothetically, if each person inspires 10 people to reach a goal within 10 weeks, and those 10 people inspire another 10 people each, over a year in excess of 146,000 people will have achieved at least one of their goals. This is the power of compounding inspiration.

That may not seem significant until you look at it in different scenarios:

Imagine if each of those people was on welfare and their goal was to get paid employment – what impact would that have on our employment statistics, those people and their families?

What if each of those people worked for an organisation and their goal was to choose a positive attitude for work each day – what would that do to the morale of the organization, productivity, sales, staff and customer retention?

Or perhaps those people choose to give the best possible service they could, no matter what their occupation – how would that impact on the people they came in contact with?

Attitudes are such tiny things but they can have such a huge impact on us and the people around us. They can be the difference between creating successful outcomes or not.

Have you seen the movie ‘Sliding Doors’ starring Gwyneth Paltrow? The storyline is about how one second in time can change your whole experience. Apply this to attitudes:

Choosing to respond to someone in a positive way can have a radically different outcome to choosing a negative or aggressive alternative.

Choosing a positive attitude in the morning can be the difference between having a great day or a negative one.

The choices we make create our success in all situations.

Who is responsible? We are.

Attitudes are an essential ingredient to success, and we are responsible for our own attitudes and outcomes. Too many people are on auto pilot when it comes to attitudes. Attitudes are ours to choose and we can choose them any time we like.

The DVD ‘The Secret’ is making huge waves around the world. This movie is about the Law of Attraction. What you focus on is what you get. If you are focusing on what might go wrong, chances are it will. Focus on the positive and you will attract positive people and experiences to you. So in essence, we are responsible for our success.

Remember, you can do anything you really want if you really put your mind to it.

Choose the ‘Tude Ltd is a Motivational Resource Centre that focuses on attitude as the starting point for creating success for individuals and businesses. The business is based on the belief if that we can help one person succeed in reaching their goals, we have succeeded. The more people we help, the better life is for more people.

Help us inspire more people to have the life they want by passing on this article.

Attitudes are contagious - choose a great one!
Author: Robyn Simpson

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

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Tude Tips Blog

Changing Limiting Beliefs to Empowering Beliefs

Freedom by Choice

What are we missing?

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines Pt2

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines Pt1

Every Little Bit Counts

Inspire 10 people to inspire 10 people… pass it on!

Attitudes are contagious!

Change—A Positive Choice

Creating a Postive Point of Difference!

Attitudes: The Essence of Success

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