Show gratitude, yes.

Be thankful, of course.

But be an appreciator and you will inspire others in a meaningful way.

Thank you for doing such a good job (and then provide specific evidence).

Be present when others are doing something special (don’t be quick to leave).

Shout out on social media to tell their world and yours.

If employers and bosses were appreciators, it would cost them $0 to highly motivate their team.

If you’re on a team, an appreciator helps smooth over lapses by employers who take people for granted.

Don’t forget home where spouses, partners, loved ones and children come to life when you become one of the few people in it that actively appreciates them as an individual.

These are 3 ways above to begin right now.

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We love dessert, but we can’t eat it all day long.

Our phones are our lifeblood, but they also kill relationships, cause distractions and negatively affect our lives.

1. Turn off mail and social media at a time you are comfortable with every day (the French don’t do business email after work, it’s the law in France).
2. Strictly limit social media – it is the black hole of our digital lives. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social networks are hard to pull out of once you start scrolling.
3. Spend as much time face-to-face with friends as you do with email, texting or social media otherwise your friendships will be compromised.
4. Put your phone away. Parents often use their children as an excuse to put their phones on the dinner table. The phone is a tool and not a lifestyle. (Before iPhones only ten years ago, parents would leave contact numbers with sitters and did not check in with them during the evening.  That system still works).
5. Spend at least one hour a day away from your phone. Yes, you will survive.

Augmented reality and virtual reality are on the way with a new generation of phones coming soon to further divert us from the here and now.

Because the phone is like a dopamine pump in which we have so many ways to check it, swipe it or touch it to get a jolt, it’s time to take serious steps toward keeping these great devices for the advances they bring and not the relationships that they are increasingly killing.

It’s in our hands.

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In sports, when a team and a player disagree on what the salary should be, they often submit their problem to a third-party arbitrator.

Arbitrators take a non-prejudicial look at how the athlete in question compares to others with similar performance markers – statistics.

Often teams avoid binding arbitration in which they must accept the arbitrator’s salary recommendation by doing the same thing – comparing performance markers.

So why don’t we as individuals compare our strengths to others?

Why do we tend to believe the criticism of other people who perhaps may be jealous and accept their conclusion as to what we are worth?

This applies to seeking a salary for a new job or asking for a raise.

But it also applies to non-monetary things.  For example:

• How dependable are you compared to others you know?
• How hard do you work toward your goals?
• How well do you get along with others?
• How trustworthy are you?
• What kind of a listener are you?

It’s one thing to adopt a pep-talk mentality to boost a sense of worth, but nothing succeeds like comparing real traits with those of others to establish a meaningful feeling of self-confidence.

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Is this you?

Seemingly caring more about things and people than perhaps those around you.

People who care about others have a special gift but also a vulnerability.

Some people cannot return the feeling and others may see it as weakness.

The best policy is always try to be the person you want to be.

Start each day with a blank canvas and use your gifts and talents to create the best, different day you can come up with.

As far as people who care too much, we must also be people who care a lot about ourselves.

Do we have healthy boundaries?

Do we tolerate abuse from others?

Caring too much is a wonderful attribute if it also applies to how you feel about yourself.

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What comes first – happiness or success?

Psychologists’ offices are filled with successful people who are not happy.

Happiness is a goal unto itself.

Once happiness is accomplished, success follows.

It rarely if ever works the other way around.

Being happy requires the type of commitment that most “successful” people seem willing to make to their careers.  The sacrifice.  The hours.  The frustrations.  And postponed gratification.

What makes you happy?

How much of your day is devoted to things that don’t contribute to your happiness?

Once you have a better idea of the types of things – major or simple – that bring you happiness, then you are likely to also be on the road to success in other areas of your life.

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If dreams alone counted, everyone would be a success.

But dreams and schemes that do not have a plan do not have a chance.

Study effective people and you find that they have an innate ability to take their desires and put together a plan of action.

Talk to them and find out that often that plan changes – sometimes in the middle of being enacted but they always start with a plan.

What gets done first?

What does it look like?

What steps must follow?

Who will help?

What resources are needed?

Big dreamers who get to realize their dreams are also big planners.

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We wouldn’t start playing a softball game by first saying “I probably won’t win”.

That’s the wrong message.

We’d probably say “we’re going to win” or “we’re going to have fun” or simply “play ball” and see what happens.

When preparing a presentation, how often have you heard “I hate to speak to groups”? Just how well do you think that will go?

The way we talk to ourselves is even more important than the way others speak to us.

Too often we send messages of impending failure.

From now on at the very least, buck yourself up. Say something promising.

I will do my best to make this talk valuable.

I will have fun with the person I am meeting for the first time at dinner by being me 100% and not someone else.

Talk yourself up, don’t run yourself down.

And don’t look for someone else to do this.

It’s your job and the road to success.

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There is no end to evidence that people are burying their faces in their phones and altering the course of their happiness.

At dinner with one of my readers recently, he shared that he was pulling out his phone just to show me pictures not to check his messages.  “I know you don’t like phones at dinner”.

I’ll take it.

All of us can establish the ground rules that we want to live by simply by living them.

When someone pulls out their phone while they are talking to you, stop talking.

If they say “I can multitask”, say nothing until you get their attention back.

If they leave their phone on the table or hold it in their hand, you can’t make them stop, but you don’t have to participate in and encourage more distraction.

I saw a woman sitting with three couples at dinner remove her phone from the table and put in on the bench seat she was in checking it every so often to check messages and even to respond while her companions talked.

We can’t control others’ addiction to their distracting devices but by example, we can get them to pay attention by the way we act.

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Achievers don’t care if they fail.  In fact, they expect more failing than succeeding.

If you go fishing and expect every hook with bait to net you a catch, you’d soon give up fishing.

Self-doubt is created by harboring exceedingly high expectations for ourselves that have little chance of being met.

Jeff Bezos didn’t build Amazon into the amazon that it is by expecting everything he did to succeed.

Google has failed many more times than it succeeded, but when it succeeded, it was big.

Here’s what to build confidence on.

Bet on your ability to keep trying and never quit.  To not expect results every time you do something.

Replace self-doubt with self-assurance that comes from knowing that if it’s worth having, it’s worth pursuing until you get it.

Never doubt yourself ever again.  Why bet against you?

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If you keep bailing people out and fixing their problems, don’t be surprised if they keep coming back to you again and again for more.

When you’re hit up for a loan, don’t be surprised if the recipient after first greeting your generosity with elation winds up resenting you.

More valuable than money is helping someone fix their problems or finding a way to handle the shortfall in revenue that they find themselves in.

It is no gift to make loans or to live another person’s life.

The real gift we have to give is also the one that we give ourselves.

Time.

Help.

Being a good listener and a constant source of encouragement.

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