Three Key Behaviors That Determine Your Success

Listening

Listening is not a passive activity. It is unfair to theperson who is speaking to have a person there in body butnot in mind. Just because we are the person being quiet doesnot mean we are listening. As a listener we must be in thepresent and taking in the speakers message in the propercontext. It's not the time to be thinking about what to havefor lunch or your next witty comeback. Be fair to thespeaker and have a clear and open mind.

Active listening requires us to set aside our own agenda,uses our best internal language skills, and takes presentenergy. The best gift to yourself and to your speaker if theenergy isn't available is to say so. Yet, due to theperception management masks we've learned from society, wedon't usually provide this honest feedback. So, wepassively listen, like pretending, as a child, to hear, andsay something quick, something we think they want to hear,just so we can move on.

Choice

The Power of Choice is the energy we send out and is exactlywhat the Universe sends us back. No choice is a choice too.I believe that we are where we are today because of theaccumulative effect of all our choices. We made thousands ofchoices each day and we control our lives by those choices.Having the ability to choose equals power. When we don'tchoose, you give someone else the ability to make choicesfor you, whatever they may be, and you give up any possiblepower with it. Once you realize you have the power ofchoice, life happens for you, not to you!

Feel your power. It is a powerful resource to success.

Internal Dialogue

All day long, everyday, we talk to ourselves. Sometimes weeven talk to ourselves out loud. When we talk to ourselves,what we are really doing is giving out commands to oursubconscious mind. The subconscious mind is a very powerfultool and it can carry out its orders efficiently andeffectively.

We've been listening to ourselves talk for so long, we havejust learned to hear past it. The noise of our innerdialogue can usually and can only be heard if its screaming or ifsomeone points it out.

This discussion is telling us what we need, how we want it,and what we will and will not do in order to get it. Weassume, we don't know what we want, until we begin tolisten. Until we begin to stop long enough to ask what itis that our internal dialogue wants or needs.

Success Begins Here

These are the three toughest keys to behaving our way tosuccess. Are you listening to yourself? Are you listeningto people who are already successful? All excellentquestions to ponder on from time to time. To check in withour self frequently to see where we stand on them. They arekeys that are continuously evolving as we mature andwill not actually stop. They require gentle nudging, gentleunderstanding, gentleness all around.

(c) Copyright, Catherine Franz, 2003, 2004. All rights reserved.