14/01

Remember Alice and the Cheshire Cat?

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“So long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll – 1865)

Does this feel like you? The New Year is a great time to get clear about where you’re going.
Sometimes it isn’t enough knowing where you’re going – you need a team who’ll help you get there.
Who is on your team?

I cannot give you the formula for success but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.
– Herbert Bayard Swope

We hope you had an “Aussie” Australia Day! It seems this could be the beginning of a year of change for Australia and so we offer some thoughts on change.

Change begins with awareness.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!
What are you going to change????

You don’t grow old. You get old when you stop growing!

If you don’t quit, you’ll make it!
– Shelley Taylor-Smith (7 times World Marathon Swimming Champion & 5 times Champion of New York’s Manhattan Island 48km Marathon S

In business, as in most things in life, the most important thing is to be very clear about what your objectives are.
With this you will be focussed and assertive. Without it you will be drifting, unfocussed and at the beck and call of everyone else.

You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart.
– Thomas J Watson

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. 
– Albert Einstein

You have no right to sell to me unless you know me.
– Matt Church
How well do you know the people you are trying to sell to?

All lasting business is based on friendship
– Alfred A Montapet

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
– Walt Disney

The next stage of human evolution cannot be survival of the fittest.
It has to be survival of the wisest. 
– Dr Jonas Salk

Millionaires don’t use astrologers, billionaires do!
– J P Morgan

By the yard it’s hard but by the inch it’s a cinch.
– George Shinn

Some thoughts on anger:
Don’t you ever get angry?
Of course – but only when something is important enough. The point is – I have never found anything important enough.
Paraphrased from The Teachings of Don Juan – The Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castenada

Every minute you are angry is 60 seconds of happiness lost from your life.

Remember anger is one letter away from danger

Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it’s the only thing.
– Albert Schweitze

In the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people – they can no longer lead based on positional power.
– Ken Blanchard

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
– Audrey Hepburn

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do.
– Andrew Carnegie

The bad news is; time flies. The good news is; you’re the pilot.
– Michael Althsuler

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I?
and
If not now, when?
– Rabbi Hillel

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.
– Henry Ford

When you were born, you were crying
And everyone around you was smiling
Live your life so at the end
You’re the one who is smiling
And everyone around you is crying.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.
– Tom Brokaw

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem before it becomes an emergency.
– Arnold H Glasgow

Live more simply so that others may simply live.
– Ervin Laszlo

Tell me & I forget, show me & I remember, involve me & I understand.

If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you?
– Bob Hawke

Life is the biggest and fastest game of all and when the final score is in – it’s not whether you won or lost but how you played the game.
– Evelyn Lundstrom

Don’t tell your problems to people: 80% don’t care; and the other 20% are glad you have them.
– Lou Holtz

All the happiness in the world comes from wishing others to be happy.
– Buddha

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.
– Richard Bach

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself.
When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. 
– Jack Welch

Management is nothing more than motivating other people.
– Lee Iacocca

The 2 steps to happiness:
Give without remembering
Receive without forgetting

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy;
one often comes from a strong will,
and the other from a strong won’t. 
– Henry Ward Beecher

May the world fulfil its potential rather than complete its trajectory.
– Waleed Aly on Enough Rope 11/08/08

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
– Carlos Castenada

Open a conversation, don’t close a sale.
– Kirsty Spraggon

Sales success is all about perseverance. It’s about never letting go of your dreams, no matter how many times you fall over. It’s about never giving up when everyone around you is telling you to. 
– Paul Hanna

Be known, but be known for something. Being known and respected for a talent, expertise or uniqueness is much better than just being known. 
– Belinda Yabsley

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
– Seneca (Roman philosopher)

Change is inevitable.
Growth is optional!

People are always down on what they’re not up on.
– Craig Rispin www.futuretrendsgroup.com

The purpose of having a goal is not in achieving the objective;
it’s who you become in striving to achieve it.

I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I am a possibilitist.
– Max Lerner (Sent in by Candy Shinaar)

It has to be dark to see the stars.
– In these “interesting” times are you focused on the darkness or the stars?

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
– Saying no when it’s appropriate can be liberating and transformative.

Sow the seed, reap the harvest … Sowing and reaping don’t usually occur in the same season
– Tony Gattari

Our new year wishes for you:
May 2009 be the best of your years so far, and the worst of those to come.
and
May you receive double what you wish for others.