Giovanna Garcia's Blog

The gift of Integrity

            Integrity is not something we are born with, nor can we go out to buy it. It does not come in a box with a pretty little bow. It would be nice if it were so easy, but it’s not. Integrity is something you have to grow from within. For me personally, it wasn’t until I got older and had lived life for a while that all the pieces came together.

First, I learned the value of my word and honesty. And then from experience I slowly began building my moral compass. I developed a sense of what’s right and wrong. I began to figure out what my ethics and morals are. Only once I realized I had these values, I really began to live them and use them as my moral compass.

          You can do the same. First, you have to be honest with yourself and come to accept your belief system. What personal truths do you live by? It’s not something that is a trend. It’s not what’s popular now. It’s what you know down inside you, what you know to be right and fair. So start asking yourself questions, put them down and paper, and really look at them. What are your answers? Get in touch with your moral compass. Put aside petty thoughts and jealousy and empty desires. What do you know to be right in your heart? Whatever your answer is, that’s what goes in your moral compass.

          Once you’ve got your values figured out, put yourself into the frame of mind to start following your moral compass. Start to live by your compass. If something is wrong by your moral standards, don’t do it, even if no one else will ever know about it, because you’ll always know about it! Having integrity is about being able to look in the mirror every night and feel good about yourself. That’s where you will get your confidence from, that’s why you’ll be able to persevere when times are rough, because you know you made the right decision. You have to draw a line in the sand and live on the right side of it.

Don’t confuse this to mean that you should be going out and preaching to people about your morals and values or be judgmental. No one likes that. What I mean, is that you should live by your moral compass. Live by example and those who are inspired by you will respect you and maybe even follow your example.

You will also find that certain people are uncomfortable with your integrity—usually people who are manipulative and ignore their own morals. These people probably won’t want to work with you or be friends your friend. Accept it and let them go. They are not the type of people you want in your support system anyway. Still, always remember, regardless of who you work and interact with, whether they’re good or bad, always treat people fairly and follow your moral compass. Being spiteful or trying to retaliate a wrong is as sure to ruin your integrity as lying is.

          Share with me about your thoughts on Integrity, I love to hear from you.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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A person with a friendly Attitude

       Attitude defines the type of world we each live in. If you have a bad attitude, you live in a miserable world. If you have a good attitude, you live in a world ripe with possibilities and happiness. A good attitude means having the right perspective. It’s the lenses you look through to see the world—sort of like magic glasses. The great thing about these glasses is you get to choose how they’re tinted.  It’s a choice. You choose how to respond to people and situations. No one else has the power to dictate the way you react to any given situation. Why then do so many people have bad attitudes?

          I believe very strongly that people are aware when they have a bad attitude. They recognize that they are being grumpy or angry or bitter, but they choose not to change. They refuse to take responsibility for their attitude and take control of their own choices. Living like this starts a dangerous downward spiral.

          Your attitude effects the people around you, and the fact is, people don’t want to be around someone with a bad attitude! People are attracted to individuals with good attitudes in all arenas of life, whether as an employer, coworker, friend, family member, or romantic interest. If you have a bad attitude, people don’t want to be around you and that fuels the negative attitude. It is a feedback loop of negativity.

          On the other hand, if you have a good attitude, people will want to be around you. Some people ask, is it the chicken or egg that comes first—is it being successful and having good people around you that creates a good attitude, or does having a good attitude cultivate success and draw good people toward you? I think you already know my answer. The good attitude definitely comes first. You either control your attitude or your attitude will control you.

          I understand that many people are hesitant to embrace the idea that having a good attitude can solve all our problems, and you know what, in a way those people are right. We hear the saying “Have a positive attitude!” get thrown around willy nilly all the time, and I know we’ve all met people in our lives who fake their positive attitude and say everything is peachy and great even if it’s not. It doesn’t work that way. That’s why I say we need to have a good attitude, not a positive attitude. Having a good attitude is 80% about being positive. The other 20% is about being realistic.

          Having a good attitude is all about: Don’t criticize, don’t complain or make excuses. Focus on what you have control of—which at the very least is yourself!—and don’t fixate on things that are beyond your control. Always make the effort to improve every situation you are in, and have faith. Believe that everything will work out in the long run as long as you follow your purpose and have a good attitude.

           Also, recognize that you control how people perceive you. Your attitude is expressed in many ways. Only 7% of your attitude comes through based on what you say. Another 38% is based on your tone and how you say it, and the other 55% is non-verbal. How do you carry yourself? Do you smile? Do you make eye contact? Do you give people hardy handshakes? Do you hug?

          All these things dictate how people perceive you, so it’s important to be aware of your attitude and how you express it. If you generate a good attitude from within you, you’ll create a positive attitude around you and people will be drawn to that.

          Pay attention to your attitudes, you may learn something new.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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Every Master was once a Disaster

Drew Berman

In 2000 I participated in Odyssey 2000 - a bicycle trip around the world.  We rode 35 countries, 6 continents, a full year on the bike, with 200 other people. 

After this one year whirlwind bike tour, I returned home not certain as to what career I want. I knew I didn’t want to have a J.O.B. and work for a BOSS. I was a free man on the tour and I wish to continue to be a free man.

That was when I was first introduced to Network Marketing, back in 2001. Let me tell you, “I was BROKE”, but I knew things were going to be OK because I am a man of great work ethic. Things weren’t easy for me and I had a bumpy start, but I learned many valuable lessons in my journey. And that is what I wish to share with you today.

Here is my story:

I met a man at a Networking meeting and he said he was looking for some sharp people because he was putting together a team to work on a business.

This man said, “I was sharp”.  He handed me a CD called “Hi Tech / High Touch”.  He then said: “use the tools”.  Within 5 years I went to every meetings and functions, spent thousands of dollars on tapes and books, missed two of my best friends’ weddings. I took the advice of finding 2 prospects a day and once I chased down a man in a snow blizzard asking him if he was open to an opportunity. My wife almost left 3 times, my best friend wanted to have an intervention and even had the police called on me when I showed up for a follow up. 

I gave out hundreds of CD’s, became that annoying follow up guy with very little result. My accountant thought I was crazy.  My financial planner asked me bluntly how much longer I will waste my time and talent not making any money.  

So after 5 years of spending more than I made, I retired from network marketing, broke but not discouraged.  I went back to business 101.  

A year later I was reintroduced - this time by a cutting edge, future thinking, health and Wellness Company. There was something about network marketing that had me hooked.  I had not yet understood what financial freedom meant.  But it certainly had a nice ring to it. The Second Time around, I had the winning formula.

I started working with my current action - I saw success and I saw it quickly. In 10 months I replaced my full time income and in another 10 months turned my monthly income into my weekly income.  I quickly became a top earner in my company, a coach for the industry, and now have the honor and privilege of teaching people to have success in their business, regardless of company. 

I am what you would call an overnight success; except it took 20 years of sales and marketing training, and 7 years of network marketing training.  My hard work was what got me here and my dream kept me alive. 

Today, I am living the dream.  I have a beautiful wife and a wonderful life.  We have a 4 year old boy and one on our way.  We are buying (our first) dream home.  And I am still in action - and my action is still imperfect.  But now my action is smarter, more directed.  I am starting to live from the future of possibility not the past of resistance and challenge.  I am learning that you can train your brain, that I can train my brain, to believe and create the future into existence.  I now live a life of prepare not stuck in repair.

My secrets to success are: I always stay in action; I found that doing something is better than doing nothing and I always make corrections along the way. I get feedback from not only other people but also from myself.

Here’s a tip, after a project or conversation or an event here are 3 questions to ask to learn and improve for next time.  What worked?  What didn’t work?  What can be done better?  These will keep you constantly improving.  It’s not about perfection - it’s about progress.  Keep on keeping on is a good motto. 

Here are 4 magic-Jedi- wizard questions that can triple your business.

1) Who are my ideal associates, consultants, customers or partners? You need to identify your ideal candidates.  This step is crucial.  It’s like a waitress giving you a menu before you choose.  You must identify what it is you want before the universe can deliver 

2) Where are they? Are they at the Chamber of Commerce Events, on the internet or in your current rolodex?

3) What makes them tick (what do they think about, what do they read, etc)?  What are their challenges in life? What are their hopes and dreams?  Are they looking to retire their spouse or do they want to send their kids to private school?  Are they looking to retire or pay off their mortgage?  Here’s a tip - if you don’t know their need, want or desire - then how can you possibly help them?

4) What do I have to do, change, or improve to attract more of them? Ahhh - this is the one that hit home with me…take these questions seriously and the people you have been looking for will suddenly show up. Put these on a piece of paper, answer them in a different color, and read it when you wake up and before you go to sleep - for 90 days.  The people you are looking for will magically show up in your life.  

Just remember - when you see these “gurus” on stage - they were not born that way.  I teach my team that this can be a very expensive hobby - but a very, very lucrative business.  All you need is the triangle of success  -RK + RY+ RV - Right knowledge + the Right YOU + the Right Vehicle.  And you can win, and win big.  Hope to see you soon.  I am at www.drewberman.com< /a> 

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The Make-A-Wish Foundation® traces its beginning to one boy’s wish. In 1980, 7-year-old

Chris Greicius

was being treated for leukemia. Every day, he dreamed of becoming a police officer.

U.S. Customs Officer Tommy Austin had befriended Chris and his mother, Linda Bergendahl-Pauling. He also promised Chris a ride in a police helicopter. When Chris’ health worsened, Austin contacted Ron Cox, an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer, and planned a day that would lift Chris’ spirits.

On April 29, 1980, Austin and a caring group of DPS personnel started Chris’ day with a tour of the city in a department helicopter, which also flew him to headquarters. Three cruisers and a motorcycle officer greeted him before his meeting with the DPS command staff. There, Chris was sworn in as the first honorary DPS patrolman in state history.

But his experience didn’t stop there. Cox contacted John’s Uniforms, which agreed to make a custom-tailored DPS uniform for Chris. The store owner and two seamstresses worked through the night to finish it. The officers presented the official uniform to Chris on May 1 and arranged a motorcycle proficiency test so he could earn wings to pin on his uniform. Needless to say, Chris passed the test with flying colors on his battery-operated motorcycle.

On May 2, Chris was back in the hospital. He asked to arrange the room so he could always see his uniform, his motorcycle helmet and his “Smokey Bear”-style campaign hat. DPS motor officer Frank Shankwitz presented Chris with his motorcycle wings. He accepted them with a smile that lit up the room.

The following day, Chris passed away, but not before seeing his dream come true and experiencing the hope, strength and joy that came from receiving his wish.

Chris was to be buried in Kewanee, Ill. DPS spokesman Allan Schmidt promised that two Arizona officers would make the trip to Illinois to say goodbye to Chris. Scott Stahl, a DPS officer and Joliet, Ill., native, joined Frank Shankwitz on the poignant mission.

They saw how happy Chris was knowing his wish came true, and that the wish seemed to take some of Chris and Linda’s pain away – replacing the anguish with smiles and laughter. They thought that if one boy’s wish could create such happiness, maybe they could do the same for other children. They presented the plan to the people who helped grant Chris’ wish. Linda and others endorsed the plan. Thus, the Chris Greicius Make-A-Wish Memorial – which later became known as the Make-A-Wish Foundation – the largest wish-granting organization in the world.

What started out as making one child’s dream come true; today, Make-A-Wish had granted over 181 thousands wishes.

To make a donation go to Make-A-Wish.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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Winners VS. Losers

Winners vs. Losers

The Winner is always part of the answer; The Loser is always part of the problem.

The Winner is always has a program; The Loser always has an excuse.

The Winner says, “Let me do it for you”; The Loser says, “That is not my job.”

The Winner sees an answer for every problem; The Loser sees a problem for every answer.

The Winner says,” It may be difficult but it is possible”; The Loser says,” It may be possible but it is too difficult.”

When a Winner makes a mistake and says,” I was wrong”; When a Loser makes a mistake and says,” It wasn’t my fault.”

A Winner makes commitments; A Loser makes promises.

Winners have dreams; Losers have schemes.

Winners say,” I must do something”; Losers say, “Something must be done.”

Winners are a part of the team; Losers are apart from the team.

Winners see the gain; Losers see the pain.

Winners see possibilities; Losers see problems.

Winners believe in win/win; Losers believe for them to win someone has to lose.

Winners see the potential; Losers see the past.

Winners are like a thermostat; Losers are like thermometers.

Winners choose what they say; Losers say what they choose.

Winners use hard arguments but soft words; Losers use soft arguments but hard words.

Winners stand firm on values but compromise on petty things; Losers stand firm on petty things but compromise on values.

Winners follow the philosophy of empathy: “Don’t do to others what you would, not want them to do to you”; Losers follow the philosophy, “Do it to others before they do it to you.”

Winners make it happen; Losers let it happen.

Author Unknown.

If you want to be a winner, take the Actions of a Winner!

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

Support System

The road to success has a lot of speed bumps. There will be hard times. There will be times when the risks you take fail. There will be times when the outside world doesn’t believe in you, or tries to hurt you. These are the times when you need someplace safe to come home to.

Your support system is that safe haven.

The key to creating and nurturing a good support system is having good communication skills, and developing good communication skills starts at home. It’s easy to fall into the trap of taking our families for granted. After a hard day we come home tired and just want to relax. We forget to pass on the common courtesies to our family that we’d give to a complete stranger—things like saying “please,” “thank you,” and “how was your day?” You can’t let this happen! The foundation for good communication skills starts at home and it starts with the little things. Treat your family right. That means, be polite and treat your family the way you want to be treated. Think beyond yourself and do what’s best for the family, not necessarily what’s best for you personally at that moment. Work at building your support system at home so you can fall back on it during rough times.

Always remember if you want to be heard, listen.

It’s a common misconception that having good communication skills means being able to speak well. Wrong! Listening is much more important. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Whether it’s your spouse, a friend, coworker, client, or competitor, you need to seek to understand before being understood. There are two reasons for this. First of all, people want to be understood. Once they feel you understand them, they will let their guard down and listen to you. Secondly, by listening and understanding you will have a better grasp of how to communicate what you have to say effectively.

In a way, all interactions with people are like negotiations; it’s not a time for you to preach, but rather a time for you to open up a two-way street, to create a dialogue. If you can listen, you can understand, and when you understand the other person, your job is then to communicate clearly what you have to say.

You can create and nurture a great support system by, treating everyone the way you wish to be treated and communicating effectively by find that healthy common ground where everyone can benefits the most.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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An Empire.

A seed of honesty.  

Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the Empire together one day. He said, “It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you.” The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. “I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!”

There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.

By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, “Hey nice try.”

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the emperor. “Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!”

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. “The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!”

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. “My name is Ling,” he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!” Ling couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grown, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!”

What did you learn from this story?

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

Why don’t we talk about money?

Let's talk about Money

When women get together, we talk about everything: The good, the bad, the ugly about our lives with our mate, family and work. We talk about love, we even talk about sex!

How about Money? Why don’t we talk about money?

When a girlfriend gets a new job, we will ask questions like, “What will you be doing? Where will you be working? Etc.. Usually we don’t ask, “How much money will you be making? When one of us announced she got a big bonus. We congratulate her, we celebrate (spend it) with her. We don’t talk about ideas for opportunity for financial growth, what she should do with that money.  

Every one of us secretly does what it takes to get money, we think about how we can get more money. But we want to act like we don’t think about money. Somehow, we got the idea of desiring money is greedy. Hustling for it is unladylike. Talking about it is not classy.

Everyone agreed that we need money to survive, much like we need water and air to survive. No one ever felt uncomfortable talking about water and air, as they do talking about money. Nobody calls you greedy if you wish for a lot of water or air, but you might be called greedy if you wish for more money. Why the contradiction?

We must come to terms with our feeling toward money. We must education ourselves about money. We women empower each other by master minding, sharing stories between one another and sharing wisdom about life. We console, we support and we talk things out…in order to help each other to move ahead. We must do the same when it comes to money, we need to talk about it, learn from each other, master mind around it.

Money is not a dirty word. It should no longer be taboo. It is Ok for a woman to be ambition with money. In order for us to do more good personally or globally, we need MONEY.

Educate yourself, by learning. There are many news paper, magazine, books and conferences for women to learn about money. We can look for mentor, someone who is financially sound; go and ask them for advice. Get professionals help, ask your CPA questions. Ask your financial adviser questions; get an understanding of all aspect of money.  

Plan for your money, have a goal. What do you want to do or buy if you have money? How much money do you need? Make a plan to get yourself to that dollar figure; a saving plan, a budget plan, an investment plan etc..

Test your plan; set yourself up for success by allowing yourself to grow into your plan. Take baby steps; if your plan is to save $300 a month. Try saving $100 the first month. If your plan is to invest in stock, try smaller amount in your investment for your first few transactions until you got the hang on it.

Keep your eyes and ears open, always be learning and be flexible to the changing market. Money in the market place move fast, they change quickly. Be aware of what your money is doing or not doing. Be flexible for new opportunities that come up or move away from investment that no longer serve you.

Talk about Money, which is a great way to stay aware. Speak with your mentor, others who are successful, people with money. What are they doing with their money? What is working now? What is not working? What is new? Take all of those conversation back to your Money TEAM; your CPA, your accountant, your financial advisor etc..Speak with those who are managing your money regularly.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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When you are through changing, you are through.

~Bruce Barton

New Growth

 

 Are you uncomfortable with change? Changes create the rhythm in our life. Without changes our lives would be very flat and uneventful. Yes, sometimes change can be stressful, and our initial reaction might be, “Changes are bad!” But if you look closely, changes are opportunities under cover. Just think what would happen if we didn’t change in the last 100 years.  

What was the world like 100 years ago?

The average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the U.S. was twenty-two cents an hour. The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the United States took place at home.

Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason, either as travelers or immigrants.

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn’t been admitted to the Union yet.

Drive-by-shootings, in which teenage boys galloped down the street on horses and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or anything else that caught their fancy, were an ongoing problem in Denver and other cities in the West.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.

Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn’t been discovered yet. Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn’t been invented.

There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

One in ten U.S. adults couldn’t read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.

Punch card data processing had recently been developed, and early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to help compile the 1900 census.

There is no growth without change. Evolution can’t be stop, we must change with the time.

Let go of the past and move forward. The future belongs to those who welcome change.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

Finding your purpose.

       Once you know your passion, you must determine your purpose. There are a lucky few people out there who know their passion, happen to be naturally great at it, and also have a clear path for working in their area of passion and making a living. For those people, the first part is done. Their path is clear—all they need to do now is go for it, take action, and work hard to put in their dues. More likely, however, you might find that your area of passion is something you’re not great at. That’s okay.

      When I was a little girl, I was always fascinated with the idea of having animals, especially a horse. Living in an apartment in Hong Kong, we couldn’t even have a pet cat, so having a horse was a dream that was never fulfilled for me while I was a child. But that passion to have horses and to be able to ride them stayed with me as I grew up, and eventually I decided to start riding horses. It was wonderful, and I still ride horses to this day. It is a passion of mine. It’s not realistic for me to make a living as a professional horse rider, though. I’m too small to be a rodeo-rider,  too big to be a racing jockey, and not advanced enough a rider to compete in show jumping. And even if I had the physical attributes, I started way too late for any of that. If I wanted to work and make a living in this area of passion, I would have to find a different purpose. I could maybe work as an importer, I could become a breeder, or maybe start my own line of products like saddles, tack, or riding gear… there are an almost endless amount of possibilities where my abilities overlap with my passion. This is what I would have to find if I wanted to work with horses.

     As it turns out, I have a greater passion, a passion to help others find success in their lives, and that is where I devote most of my time and energy, as an inspirational speaker and success coach. Horse riding is still a passion of mine, but I’ve chosen for it to be a hobby, something I can do for fun and not be the main thrust of my life. You may very well find yourself in a similar situation. Maybe you have multiple passions. If so, great. You have more options open to you. Regardless of whether you have one passion or a ten passions, though, you must find your purpose, the area where your passion and life can overlap. You need to find the right crossroads.

      If you love movies, but can’t act, maybe you can write, or direct, or produce, or make costumes, or sets. If you love sports, but aren’t big enough or fast enough, maybe you can coach, or be a trainer, a referee. If you love music, but can’t sing, maybe you can be a songwriter, or a producer, or promoter for live music, or a music teacher. There are so many ways you can be part of your passion, and when you determine that, you have determined your purpose.

      Find your purpose within your passion and you will live with passion!

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

Bee collecting pollen

How is your work habits? Answer the following questions:

Are you on time with your work?

Do you deliver what was expected of you and beyond?

Do you give excuses for your short coming?

Do you stay focus on your goals?

Are you always looking for ways to do better?

Here are 5 very basic, very concrete things that anyone can do to create better work habits.

Show up on time!

          No matter what you’re doing, but especially with your work and career, show up on time! As an employer, I can tell you that punctuality is the first indicator I notice in determining whether someone has good work ethic or not. Even better than just showing up on time, show up early. If you do that, you will find that you have time to situate and prepare yourself  before jumping into the work, and you’ll now have the right frame of mind and be able to work more effectively and efficiently.

Go the extra mile!

          Never sacrifice quality in your work. Whatever product or service you deliver, make sure it is top quality. Don’t risk having your name being tainted for delivering bad work or being irresponsible. Take pride in your work. When you provide a product or service, you put your name on it. So do work that makes you proud, even if it means putting in longer hours or taking extra steps.

Be responsible for your work and don’t make excuses!

          Take responsibility for the work you do. If something is going to be done right, know that it’s your responsibility to make it happen. If something goes wrong, admit it. Don’t make excuses. Admit the problem, take responsibility for it, and make whatever adjustment is necessary to fix the problem. People respect you more when you’re responsible, admit your mistakes, and try your best to fix them.

Keep your eye on your end goals!

          There will be many times when things are not coming along as quickly as you would like. There will be many times when you don’t get rewarded for your hard work. That’s why it’s important to remember your end goals. You’re not in this for instant gratification, you’re in it for long term success and happiness, so keep your eye on the end goals and when you find yourself tempted to slack off, work even harder. You might be the only person in the office staying late, or the only one of your friends working on Saturday, but you’ll know you’re improving yourself and moving towards your dreams.

Keep your eyes open!

          Don’t work with blinders on. Keep your eyes open for any place you can deliver more value, for any new opportunities to grow and expand and get better. And when you see those opportunities, don’t be afraid to act. Taking risks is scary, but if you get into the habit of jumping at opportunity it’ll become second nature and you’ll gain more experience and get much better at risk taking, all at the same time.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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Growing Good Corn

Growing Good Corn

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

 Author: Unknown

You can practice this principle starting by waking up each morning, asking yourself what you need? For example: If you felt sad, than you need joy. If you felt unappreciated, than you need appreciation. Once you defined you need joy, than make it a point to bring some joy to everyone see. Or if you determine you need appreciation, than tell as many people as possible what is it about them that you appreciate.

Getting the idea? You will find that by giving out what you wished to have in your world, you will receive what you wish in your world. Whatever you want, start giving it out first. If you want love, give out love. If you want happiness, make more people happy. If you want to be wealthy, help more people build wealth. If you want more out of life, give more.

Those who understand the true meaning of success, are the ones who share.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

Make a Wise Decision.

            It’s a popular myth that women are more emotional than men. Perhaps in some circumstances this might be true, or maybe women tend to be more outwardly emotional, but in my experience as a success coach, I’ve found that nearly everyone—women and men alike—let their emotions guide them when it comes to making decisions.

Even people who are logical and who weigh the facts, figures, pros, and cons of a situation before making a decision still tend to make their decisions based on emotion at the end of the day. This is a problem when it comes to achieving success. You can’t focuses on what feels good now and not what is going to help you in the long term to find success and happiness. You will need a good balance between being emotional and being logical when it comes to making decisions.

The truth is we are all emotional creatures. A big part of having passion and having that fire inside of us to succeed is having emotion. However, too much of anything is a bad thing. Making good decisions requires you to get the right mix of emotion and logic. You first must know and understand your emotions. Then you have to separate yourself from them to make a logical decision with all the tools at your disposal.

When I still owned my computer networking company I encountered this dilemma many times. I was working in a male-dominated industry and any time a client or competitor challenged me in a business meeting—whether they were questioning me or my product—my first instinct was to be defensive and angry. That is a perfectly natural emotion to have. But as a business woman I had to let that go, take a deep breath, exhale, release the emotion and look at the situation logically. That meant understanding my emotions, but also stepping into the other person’s shoes and understanding their emotions. That is a huge part of making good decisions: being an empathetic thinker.

We rarely make any decision in a bubble. Our decisions impact those around us and oftentimes the decisions we have to make are in response to someone else’s actions or words. If you can first understand your emotions, then step into the other person’s shoes to understand their emotions, you now have all the tools to make a well-informed, rational decision.

In those business meetings where I was challenged, I wouldn’t allow myself to get angry. Instead, I would step into my client’s shoes. Why weren’t they happy with the product? Was it because I had not explained it well enough? Was it because it didn’t provide the services they needed? Was it the price? Why weren’t they happy with me? Did they feel threatened because I was a woman? Was I overlooking one of their needs as my client?

Asking all these questions requires having both emotion and logic. You must be empathetic and understanding. If you can do that, you will have all the tools at your disposal to make a good decision. More importantly, you’ll have already distanced yourself from your own emotions by seeing the other person’s emotions. This will make it easier to make the right decision. Don’t go for the quick fix and what feels good now, but instead go for what in your mind and heart you know is the right decision for you to be successful and happy in the long run.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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