Archive for December, 2008

Is the credit crunch really to blame for Woolworth's demise?

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

Isn’t the power of the media amazing?

The latest example of this is the claim that Woolworth’s demise is down to the credit crunch. Far from it.

The Woolworths story is yet another example of what happens when you fail to respond to your operating enviroment and make changes. Whilst organisations such as Kodak adapt to the changes companies like Woolworths and MFI continue to do what they always done. OK, so they may have revamped their stores and decor but beyond that what have they done to change the way in which they operate?

Kodak saw the changes in the photography market. They saw the rise of digital photography and instead of continuing to produce negatives they began to produce paper, printers, software and other accessories which would embrace the changes and keep customer close.

Woolworths on the other hand did not change the way the operated. They have sold they same stuff in the same way for last decade. Whilst the world has gone digital, they have stayed analogue.

This is not limited to business, we as humans are also guilty of the same unawareness that could result in our demise so to speak. When was the last time you looked at what you do and the results you get with a view to changing the way you do things?

Are you a Woolworths or a Kodak?

How the simple sound of laughter can change your life!

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Sometimes it can take just a simple change to make the biggest difference.

In human performance there is a great emphasis placed on one’s “state” , that is our emotional and physical condition at anyone moment in time. The greatest performers on the planet are not always those with the most talent but those who are able to manage their state most effectively. I mean just think of how many talented footballers there have been over there years who have a flash of brilliance and then disappear while the most consistent stick around.

Ask Tiger Wood’s about golf and he will tell you that it’s 90% mental ability.

There are lots of tools for managing “state”, but here is a really simple one.

Check out this video as a demonstration of how a easily you can change your state instantly!

I dare you to try this for just a week!

The real X factor.

Monday, December 15th, 2008

The X factor helped to create yet another future super star on Saturday evening. Millions saw Alexandra Burke win the competition and a recording contract worth one million pounds. Simon Cowell says that he will help her become even bigger than Leona Lewis who won the competition in 2006.

The greatest part about this success story for us is that Alexandra competed in this competition 3 years ago and did not make it, which reminds us of one of the key presuppositions of NLP which is “there is no failure, only feedback”

So what does this mean?

Many people look at temporary set backs in their lives as failures and consequently give up their fight to achieve their goals. Had Alexandra Burke done that when she didn’t make it 3 years ago, she may not have even bothered to enter the competition again. But she had a dream of winning the competition so big that she was not put off by the temporary setback.

The presupposition “there is no failure, only feedback” is very powerful in that, no matter what result you get, if you look at it as a learning experience and therefore give your self the necessary feedback you need to be able to do things differently next time, it is always a better option than saying that you have failed.

Take a look at the things you have done in your life in the past where you may have wrongly labelled them as failures and re-evaluate them using this presupposition “there is no failure, only feedback” How can you learn from the results you got back them and apply the learnings in order to get different results next time round?

Remember, it took Thomas Edison over 9,999 attempts to create the electric light bulb and on every time he didn’t achieve his desired results; he didn’t look at them as failures, but looked at how he could learn from it. He said that “I didn’t fail 9,999 times, I found over 9,999 ways how NOT to create the electric light bulb.

Try this presupposition on for size over the next 30 days and see how different you think about situations. When you realize that this works in so many aspects in you life it will change the way you think for ever.