E + R = O

March 5, 2021

THANK YOU to all those who submitted their “Self-Care” re-phrases last week. That was actually super fun; I received some great ones including: VODKA (which although clever, and probably quite accurate for some, not the winner)!

The winner(s) of last week’s CHALLENGE – Rephrase the term “Self-Care”…

CONCENTRATION EXPLORATION
BBB – (Big Bucks Breaks)

I absolutely loved these two submissions because as we think of what self-care helps us do, it helps us clear our minds, think more expansively, become more creative in our solution finding and creates more space for us to innovate. Literally affording us the chance to CONCENTRATE and turn that into BIG BUCKS for ourselves, our organizations and the people we serve. KUDOS and well done! Can’t WAIT to hold up my end and have our coaching sessions. Feel free to use these terms as your own; make them part of your culture and see what happens!

Wish you could change the outcome of events you experience in your life?

Yup, me too!

The Good News is…we can. The Bad News is…you’re the only one WHO can.

You can’t delegate this work like we learned to do in February.
(Sorry for the bait and switch here.)

This month we’re going to take a bit of an inward glance at ourselves. How we respond to events, how we manage our energy and what we choose to tolerate.

Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series and The Success Principles™, has a great philosophy I want to share with you today. It’s made an impact on my mindset and productivity; hopefully you’ll find it valuable as well.

It’s a fairly simple equation to learn and requires a little mental retraining and practice. But cut yourself some slack if it doesn’t come naturally to you; this process is most definitely a case of Practice not Perfection.

(Event + Response = Outcome)

The basic principle is “that every outcome you experience in life (whether it is success or failure, wealth or poverty, health or illness, intimacy or estrangement, joy or frustration) is the result of how you have responded to an earlier event or events in your life.”

Think about that for a moment. Essentially, if you don’t like the outcomes you are currently experiencing, you’ve got two choices:

Blame the event (E) for your lack of results or outcome (O). (Sounds harsh but indulge me for a minute.)
- You can blame the economy, the weather, the pandemic, the murder hornets, the President, the former President, gender bias, your parents, your partner, your boss, their boss, your golf clubs, the traffic…get the picture? How do those responses sound to you?
- It’s not the external conditions and circumstances that stop you – it’s you! We stop ourselves when we allow ourselves to buy into these limiting thoughts and defeating behaviors. We justify our lack of results, progress and productivity and we fail ourselves by not owning our outcome and playing victim to circumstance. Think of those who didn’t buy in to circumstance and created their own outcome – Jackie Robinson, Kamala Harris, Steve Jobs, Marlee Matlin – and many more who faced similar circumstances and succeeded. (NOW how do those responses sound to you?)
Change your response (R) to the events (E) until you get the outcome (O) you want. (Here’s where you need to retrain your brain.)
- You can change your thinking, the pictures and images you hold in your head (of yourself and the world), and your behaviors. We learned from our Spheres of Influence circles that that’s all we really have control over anyway.
- The challenge is, we’re creatures of habit and habitual behaviors prevent us from pivoting to new behaviors. Our challenge is to focus on regaining control of our thoughts, our images, and our behaviors. “Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your purpose, your values, and your goals.”

IF YOU DON’T LIKE YOUR OUTCOMES, CHANGE YOUR RESPONSES

Feel free to stop reading here and go enjoy your Friday…however, if you want to read a great story taken directly from the pages of Canfield’s book The Success Principles™, read on…

I’VE HEARD THERE’S GOING TO BE A RECESSION; I’VE DECIDED NOT TO PARTICIPATE

A friend of mine owns a Lexus dealership in Southern California. When war in the Middle East broke out, people stopped coming in to buy Lexuses. My friend and his sales team knew that if they didn’t change their response (R) to the event (E) of nobody coming into the showroom, they were going to slowly go out of business. Their normal response (R) would have been to continue placing ads and wait for people to come into the dealership. But that wasn’t working. The outcome (O) they were getting was a steady decline in sales. So they tried a number of new things. The one that worked was driving a fleet of new cars out to country clubs, marinas, polo grounds, and parties in Beverly Hills, Westlake Village, and Lake Sherwood – and then inviting those folks to take a spin in a new Lexus.

Now think about this…have you ever test-driven a new car and then got back into your old car? Remember that feeling of dissatisfaction you felt as you compared your old car to the new car you had just driven? Your old car was fine up until then. But suddenly you knew there was something better – and you wanted it. The same thing happened with these folks. After test-driving the new car, a high percentage of the people bought or leased a new Lexus.

The dealership had changed their response (R) to an unexpected event (E) – the war – until they got the outcome (O) – increased sales – that they wanted. They actually ended up selling more cars per week than before the war broke out.