Dare To Dream

On January 13, 2012, In @ Work, By Bryan Dodge

Let nothing hold you back from exploring your wildest fantasies, wishes, and aspirations. Don’t be afraid to dream big and to follow your dreams wherever they may lead you. Open your eyes to their beauty; open your mind to their magic; open your heart to their possibilities.

Dare to dream,
Whether they are in color or in black and white, whether they are big or small, easily attainable or almost impossible, look to your dreams, and make them become reality. Wishes and hopes are nothing until you take the first step towards making them something!

Dare to dream,
Because only by dreaming, will you ever discover who you are, what you want, and what you can do. Don’t be afraid to take risks, to become involved, to make commitment. Do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true. Always believe in miracles, and always believe in you!

~ Julie Anne Ford ~

Doing the Right Thing starts with Never, Never, Quit! Winston Churchill said, “To every man there comes that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his special talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.”

Is this a normal holiday season for you? Or is it different like it should be? What I mean by that is the topic of this month’s e-Zine. Does it always take something outside of our control to put us back in control? The proven answer is yes. My question is why? Are all the changes within the market place trying to tell you something that you’ve forgotten?

Are these uncertain times trying to remind you of the power that allows you to see the meaning of your life? Or are these just confusing times and somebody else’s problem. Do we just brush these times off as something that will not really change our lives? I believe that times like these come only once or twice in a lifetime at a level that forces you to pay attention. If you embrace the lessons learned during times like these and make your new choices a part of your daily habits, you could save all the things that matter in life before it’s too late. Now is the time to be good, not average. Good people always appreciate what they have before they lose it; average people can only appreciate what they have after they lose it.

We all have a choice in the way we live our lives. But many times, you don’t discover whether your choices make a good life or an average one until the moment when a situation seems to find a voice and taps you on the shoulder. The problem isn’t that you couldn’t hear and see; it was that you wouldn’t listen and understand. The real question is why is this happening now? Is it the wake up call that you have asked or hoped for because of the direction you’ve gone in your life? I believe it is! Be thankful that it has called on you, because if you are truly thankful during these uncertain times, you will be reminded of the meaning that you truly have in life.

Let’s be honest…Why has this finally happened? Is it because you have lost control or have doubts? No, it is because you realize you are not totally in control and you need help. At that moment, you realize that the things that don’t matter, really don’t matter anymore. What matters most is doing the right thing and never giving up on your dreams in life. Nothing changes until you change, and once you change, your life becomes different which allows your dreams to become alive again for you and those depending on you. If you’ve been working on your dreams/ goals for a while and haven’t produced the results you wanted, keep on trying. You may just be a foot or two from the diamond field. So keep on digging no matter what obstacles you might encounter.

Please remember, you’re much stronger than any obstacles life can throw at you. That is why you have those dreams to begin with. When you face an obstacle, examine your actions. And if they seem to be taking you further away from your goals, change your approach and take new actions. Keep your goals and dreams by your side as you work toward turning them into reality. Follow the wise advice from Winston Churchill:

Lofty dreams/goals always will take time, effort, hard work, and a ton of persistence to attain.

An effective way to get empowered when facing obstacles is to read stories and quotations from the people who had overcome insurmountable setbacks before achieving their aspirations.

From the Dodge Development family, we all wish for you the best that the holiday season has to offer you and all those that depend on you. Thanks for being you.
The Good Life Rules! Bryan Dodge

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Picture of the Week

On September 30, 2010, In Relationships, By Bryan Dodge

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When You Are Where You Are – Be There!

On September 7, 2010, In @ Home, @ Work, Relationships, By Bryan Dodge

One morning, John, an ambitious climber of the corporate ladder, was about to leave for the office when he heard his wife yelling for him from the laundry room. Upon entering the laundry room, he saw that his wife was holding a towel over a broken water line, screaming, “Do something!” John ran outside to the water meter and turned the main valve off. He then went back in to look at the problem and saw that the pipe leading to the washing machine had burst. He had a big work load at the office, so he told his wife that she needed to call a plumber. She said no because the plumbing was his responsibility. He insisted that she take care of it and left a very angry wife dealing with a situation that he should have taken care of. As he drove to the office, he felt bad because he knew in his heart he did the wrong thing.

At the office later that morning, one of his business associates called from the country club and said that they needed one more person to complete a foursome and asked if he would join them at the club for an 11:00 tee time. He wanted to please his business buddy, so he left his work and headed for the club, knowing that he would be under pressure for not meeting his deadlines.

That day, John had one of the worst games that he had ever played. Why? Because his heart was back at home with his wife, his mind was back at the office worrying how he was going to get caught up, and his body was on the golf course. This was a case of not having it all together.

In this little story, I used a negative situation to call attention to the positive. To be productive in a situation, it is important to be engaged mentally, emotionally, and physically. So when you are somewhere, be there mind, soul, and body.

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It is Time to Stop Managing Down and Start Coaching Up!

On September 2, 2010, In @ Work, By Bryan Dodge

Manager: a person who has control or direction of a business, or of a part, division, or phase of it.

Coach: a person who gives instruction or advice to elevate the performance of an individual or student.

Business men and women are looking for leaders who demonstrate an enthusiastic and genuine belief in others and who strengthens their will to succeed. Look at the two definitions above and think about which of those people is going to get the results needed in business today. Coaching is all about focusing on the talent of the person, and not so much about the production of the job description given when hired. Yes, businesses hire a manager to control the output of sales in order to control the outcome or production of business. However, if the focus is on enhancing the talents of hired staff, I believe the outcome will be greatly improved. Coaches focus on supplying the means to achieve, not on the fear of employees losing their jobs. It is the title of “coach” that helps to express optimism for the future with a firm walk in life.

A coach must keep hope alive from within the person. They must always strengthen their players’ belief that life’s struggles will produce a more promising future. This evolves into an intimate and supportive relationship, a relationship based not on pure authority, but on mutual participation that results in an inner renewal. The coach sees the good in you, and it is his or her job to bring the good out and place you in a position where your talent matches the task so success is almost a given. It is when you put people in positions of your needs that you are thinking like a manager, not a coach. Your job isn’t to put people in a position of your need; it is to put them in a position where they will succeed.

All great coaches find ways to change up the game plan in order to get tried and true results. Different competitions, changing up strategies, having employee input ideas from the field – all these things help to get your team engaged in the company’s goals and have some friendly competition to bolster energy for production. A manager without a coaching strategy might simply post the goals of the company for the quarter and give no input as to how to achieve those goals. This kind of manager is relying on the talents of the sales staff, but not enhancing or improving upon past performance. Yes, the coaching up manager is going to have to be creative.

Business owners should be looking for that quality in a coach for their team. Coaches, study your competition. There are strategies out there that are proven in the market place and should be followed, just like the skills to make a three point jumper shot at the buzzer. Perfect practice makes perfect. Follow your team on the road to help them to continue following proven principles your company has set. But by all means, have some fun with some friendly competition.

During these uncertain and changing times, those who take the title of Coach lead with a positive, confident, can-do approach to life and business, something that is so needed with the people I see each week. The feedback I receive from investing hundreds of hours each year with people is that they want a leader with a coaching focus, not a managing agenda. These people want to believe that we all are part of a journey, and this is not just a job or a task. They seem to gravitate toward people with a can–do attitude, not those who always seem to have a reason why something can’t be done. It is when the pressure is on that the title Coach becomes so important. A manager thinks one way and a coach thinks another. A coach says, “I asked you to be on this team because I believe in who you are as a person, not just as a player.”

The good coach sees what is good on the inside and brings it out. A manager sees what is on the outside and pushes it in. I hope this month’s e-Zine will find you coaching up for success.

The Good Life Rules!

Bryan Dodge

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Forgiveness

On August 24, 2010, In @ Home, @ Work, Relationships, By Bryan Dodge

Many times in life, we fall prey to holding on to past regret, sorrow, disappointment, bitterness, and guilt. It doesn’t make us feel good when we ponder these past indiscretions, but we can’t seem to let them go. I discussed this topic in last month’s e- Zine. The key ingredient to living a better life is to ―let it go and learn to laugh sooner. The feedback I received from this statement was about what you would expect. How could anyone let the past go that easily or even begin to laugh when the hurt was so devastating to begin with? The best way for me to answer that question is to inspire you to choose to live your life from this day forward by changing the way you think.

Nothing changes in life until you change. The change starts when you transform from a reactive state to a life of hope for tomorrow. It is easier to hate than to love if you haven’t learned the art of forgiveness. How can anyone move forward if they are stuck in the past? Alexander Pope, in ― An Essay on Criticism writes, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” We all make mistakes. You must understand that not only are you human, but other people are human, too. Be a student of the truth in life. Any religious philosophy that preaches forgiveness also speaks about loving your neighbor. We don’t have to like what they do. The simple truth is those that forgive first live a better life sooner because they can move forward with their dreams. Forgiveness, however, can be a problem for many people simply because they are not clear about what forgiveness really is.

The simple definition of forgiveness is the refusal to hurt the one who hurt you. This ―refusal to hurt‖ can take many forms, depending on the circumstances, and it encompasses everything from the refusal to ―get even with‖ others, to the refusal to prove to others—with arguments, protest, violence, or even self-sabotage—how important it is that you are right and the other person is wrong. Common sense will tell you that focusing your brainpower on living forward is to understand that forgiveness, by itself, is psychologically preferable to holding a grudge. Bitterness works like a mental poison that doesn’t hurt anyone but you. Seeking revenge or wishing harm to another will, at the minimum, deplete your strength and prevent your wounds from healing. In the worst case, the hunger for revenge will make you into a victimizer yourself. Lacking forgiveness, you both will be locked together in living a life of revenge.

It’s really hard to find a better you, when you are focused on revenge. So even though someone hurts you and refuses to apologize, and even if this means that the relationship cannot be repaired, you can still offer forgiveness—for the sake of choosing to live a better life, by choosing to live forward each day of your life and not allowing yesterday’s mistakes to take away tomorrow’s opportunities. Try spending your time on what you can change. This was President Kennedy’s philosophy and I think you would agree he was a smart man. After a recent program, a gentleman came up to me, said that he was not very happy with himself, and asked if I had any recommendations. I told him not to stay that way very long. I reminded him that life is too short not to be happy. That’s common sense thinking, isn’t it? That, my friends, is good old common sense, and some really good critical thinking on your part.

Join me each Saturday from 4:00 to 5:00 pm on WBAP 820 AM and 96.7 FM for my live broadcast radio show which covers topics like these in greater detail. You can also listen to any of my shows by going to www.bryandodge.com and clicking on the Radio tab. I am now completing my 4th year on radio, and the numbers continue to grow beyond all of my expectations. I thank you for listening when you can, and the suggestions that you make help the ―Building A Better You hour grow tremendously. We can make a difference in America, so let’s put for our best foot forward each day. Forgiveness will allow you to do just that.

Living forward in life begins with complete forgiveness.

Bryan J. Dodge

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