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Execution not vision, the focus - apparently Lou Gertsner's IBM strategy.
For many people this is where it is at; they dont know where they should go but they badly need to take action and get on the road anyway.
Get engaged in life today, open up to life's journey - be aware that around every corner a teacher with signpost awaits - open your senses, the map awaits - and you will find that it brings you to a place you recognise as better than your starting point.
Remember action precedes excellence.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:49 AM
Ask and you shall receive - well I am about to ask!
Last Saturday my two friends, Martin, Sean and I stood outside Old Trafford waiting on the delivery of our match tickets - but alas our contact didn't show. I have never felt more gutted in my life. Maybe Shankley was right when he said football was life.
Learning from this experience, I have decided that this will not happen again.
Remember, insanity is where you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
So I am starting the "intent" process earlier.
If you have any tickets or indeed any contact who may have contacts with tickets, please email me asap on kevin@kevinkellyunlimited.com
Help us make our dreams come through!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 12:44 PM
I am just after project managing the construction of our new home - What an experience!
From an customer service perspective, well, the industry does not in the main achieve minimum standards.
Here are some of the "highlights"
Subcontractor arrives at 8-50am. Between this and ten am he proceeds to take four phone calls - all about potential new work. After the final one, he approaches me moaning about how some people want things done for nothing and wont allow him to "make a crust." Approximately an hour later, he asks me for a phone recharger.
The customer comes first here?
Yes - the next one.
(BTW the same subbie is charging at minimum thirty per cent over the odds.)
A young slater pitching for work explains to me how he can recall being up on a roof with the snow falling all around him. Impressed, I gave him the job!
For the next four days, the sun split the rocks, and yes you guessed it, no show from the snowman!
Overpromising and under delivering?
A roofer who didn't know the difference between breathable and non breathable felt, got very aggrieved when I asked for a little transparency in the relationship ie if he wasn't going to turn up for a few days to please tell me in advance. Two days after our "clear the air" meeting, he went missing for two weeks! Its good to talk!
Communication is key, usually!
But there were many stars our electricians who worked with a smile on their face, were the most competively priced in the marketplace and turned up always before they promised - a rarity in this industry.
Exceed customer expectations.
And the blocklayer who helped me free of charge on other challenges with the construction.
Give more, get more.
And the reserve slater who yet again worked with a smile on his face and a pep in his step completing the work in half the time of our errand snowman.
Work when you are working!
In summary, a great opportunity for customer service training exists within this industry in Ireland.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 02:36 PM
Read the following insights from Paolo Coelho over the weekend that featured in Aer Arann's inflight magazine:
Be aware
"You have to react very,very quickly. You have to be attentive to life. Omens are all around, all the time. Every single day has a magic moment that can change your whole life."
Trust your intuition
"Don't think too much. Trust your intuition.There is an instinct to take the right decision all the time. Normally this instinct conflicts with your reason. You say to yourself 'I am not being very reasonable here.' Forget about being reasonable.
Take Action
Life is about taking decisions and nothing else. The decisions create the storyboard of our life.Then we do it and we are either utterly dissapointed, which is part of life, or we have got this fantastic, magical reward. Either way everything will fit in the end."
Face your fears
"To any new place, there is a doorway with two pillars, one marked fear and the other desire, you have to go through it. You have to go through the fear of what is ahead and the desire for what is left behind."
As mentioned many times before, The Alchemist is a must read for personal development enthusiasts.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:18 AM
According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of the best seller Flow:
"While many CEO's are being exposed for their greed, truly visionary leaders believe in a goal that benefits others as well as themselves. They realise that it is their vision and soul that attracts loyal employees willing to go above and beyond the call of corporate duty. And their employees are realising the same thing: while eighty per cent of adults claim they would work even if they didn't have to, the majority of them can hardly wait to leave their jobs to go home."
As CEO of your comany; is your mission statement a reflection of the collective dreams of your staff - does your organisation operate with soul?
As an employee; are you working for the weekend?
Would you throw in the towel if your lottery numbers came up?
Are you doing what you love?
Are you leaving a legacy?
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 07:30 PM
Happy Easter to all my visitors from around the world.
Thank you for making this site number one in many of the important key searches.
I am delighted to be achieving my objective of positively touching the lives of many people from around the globe.
Go raibh mile maith agat.
Share the content with your friends.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 12:27 PM
Apologies for the lack of source for the following statistic but:
An American entrepreneur fails an average 3.2 times before they finally succeed in their endeavours.
Ties in with Huxleys quote which suggests we should bring childhood into maturity.
The childs intuitively knows as they attempt to master the art of speaking and walking that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback and that success is indeed only a failure away.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:55 AM
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity.
Thomas Henry Huxley
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 05:20 PM
'Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.'
A line from James Joyce in one of his short stories in Dubliners.
Of course, many of us are living outside our body, thinking of the future, disturbed by the past, persuaded by the wow but not enjoying the now.
Daring to dream is the right strategy but must be accompanied by a conscious attempt to enjoy each step of the journey.
Meditation, relaxation, focusing exercises help us to move back inside and enjoy the trip.
Revisit yourself today.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 02:34 PM
A recent survey suggested that £25,000 a year is all people need to achieve their optimum level of happiness.
The research, by investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, revealed that although income levels have increased threefold since 1950, contentment levels have remained unchanged.
Though interesting, I think it is dangerous to put much weight on the plethora of research studies that put a dollar sign on happiness.
Happiness is a relative phenomena, a person earning a few dollars in one country could be as happy as a millionaire. For those who set a goal of earning £25,000 a year they may find happiness still elusive after achieving their dream.
What I do think is important is that people should aim for happiness in all aspects of their life. Remember in the context of their career, success may not make them happy but happiness will bring them closer to success.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:11 AM
More choice - more stress was the outcome of some research recently highlighted on this website.
Now medical researchers at the University of Greater London’s Psychology & Human Behaviour (UGLPH) faculty have discovered a new syndrome, which they have termed "Dealosis."
"We believe we have uncovered a new syndrome that is similar to paranoia but specifically, and only, related to shopping. The tendencies and symptoms became more acute in the complex field of airfare shopping, where repeated alarming traits were documented including hours of confusion, mild paranoia and in the most extreme cases anxiety attacks,"says lead researcher Professor Abrahim Zloshky.
What next!
I have always wondered has the labelling of all these different illnesses being a positive or negative thing in the context of numbers claiming such afflictions.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 11:45 AM
Have you ever wondered whether or not someone is finding your presense or conversation interesting or not?
For those people who have developed "sensory acuity" a quick check of a person's physiology reveals all the answers. Remember the intimate link that exists between a person's physiology and psychology.
Regardless Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing an emotional sensor, a headset that allows the viewer to get a print out of their colleagues emotional status. This would be of particular use to people with for example autism who have a difficulty interacting with others.
A camera on a pair of glasses is linked to a hand-held computer which "reads" the emotional reactions of a listener.
If the viewer appears not to be engaging with their listener, the software makes the computer in their hand vibrate. It detects movements of the eyebrows, lips and nose and tracks head movements such as nodding, shaking or tilting.
In tests, the device correctly identified people's emotions in video clips 90% of the time and in public sixty four per cent accuracy rate was recorded.
Previous computer programmes have only been able to detect six basic states of happiness, sadness, anger, surprise and disgust.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:08 AM