Today I was asked by three different clients “what should I read, to help my self development/business?”.
So in response I have created what I’m calling my top 10 ‘must haves’ as part of any self development collection. All these books are available on Amazon or in most book stores.
In no particular order;
1. Synchrodestiny by Deepak Chopra
2. The Tipping Point and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (two separate books)
3. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L Hay
4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
5. Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers
6. My Stroke of Insight by Dr Gill Bolte Taylor (also check her out on TED tv)
7. SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
8. Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
9. The Monk who Sold his Ferrari by Robin Scharma
10. Born To Win by John Bertrand
I won’t be as vain as to include The Yin Yang Complex and The 5 States of Success by Brendan Foley but you might consider them for your library!!
Have you got a book that you feel should be on the top 10 ‘Must Haves’ for success and personal development? If so please leave a comment on this post so that others can benefit from your knowledge.
As always please share this post – it’s passing positive karma forward !!! Have great day, Brendan.
PLEASE SHARE! THIS CLIP CAN REALLY HELP YOU BUT MAY HELP SOMEONE YOU KNOW EVEN MORE. IT’S JUST 1 CLICK! Thanks I really appreciate and am grateful for your support.
The recent leaders debate on RTE television was laughable not just for the twitterisation of complex arguments condensed into 30 second soundbites, but for the uniform way the candidates were dressed!
Each man with the exception of green party leader John Gormley wore a red tie. The reason for this is that people like myself have been saying for years that red is a colour that inspires confidence, success and is competitive. A colour you would think that would perfect for a candidates debate. Unfortunately all were reading the same book and what happened was that the ‘red ties’ all appeared as contriving to create an air of confidence.
The edge had turned into uniformity. Maybe it’s time that we all looked at ourselves and wore and spoke as a reflection of how we genuinely feel rather than putting a spin on ourselves. People buy packaging but stay loyal to a brand down to the product itself.
So ask yourself are you more packaging than product?
Simon O’Connor (www.simplesimon.ie) my wonderfully talented designer and I would like your help. Please have a look at the 2 rough images below and please post whether you would be more inclined to buy A or B? This will help us with the creative direction on my new book The 5 States of Success.
Cover ‘A’
Cover ‘B’
Thanks, your comments and help are really appreciated.
Yesterday was a very strange day. It was a day of unusual experiences that for me showed the disconnect between small Irish businesses and the principles of success. Two main experiences summed it up for me;
1. A credit note at a hardware store
2. A protest by subcontractors
The hardware experience. I had to return an ash can, bought the day before, that was unsuitable for our requirements to a local family run hardware store. They did not have the size that I required and the owners first reaction on presenting the item back to him was – “You know I can only give you a credit note on that!”. I was a little taken aback at his abruptness and asked “why is that?”. Amazingly (as the store owner) he said “company policy”. As if the ‘the company’ was some faceless bureaucratic management structure far removed from the store! I said that I was a good customer and was prepared to take my business to the big national hardware stores where I could get a refund on an unused item bought the day before. His reaction was “well make sure you spend your credit note before you do!”. I left feeling like I had been swindled. It was only €50.00 but the principles of the man left me sick. Was my €50.00 worth more than the previous hundreds and possibly thousands that I could leave his store in the future? Obviously not. This is a classic case of small business myopia (short sightedness) that is rampant in Ireland.
Subcontractor Protest
The second moment of truth for me was watching a Prime Time TV report on small building sub-contractors protesting outside the gates of building firms that have gone bust. Their fear and myopia was pouring all their energy into protesting and pleading for money they were owed. What good can that possibly do their business? They have little or no chance of getting their money. All they are really doing is venting their anger. While I can sympathise with how they are feeling surely pouring their energy into new business ideas and development would better serve their cause? This would ensure their future to be positive and uplifting, rather than living in the past, which will acheive nothing for their cause.
What these two stories illustrate is how short sightedness and fear based attitudes can prevent us from creating meaningful success. You can overcome fear or myopia for you or your business by asking;
What do you need to let go of today that will allow you to move forward?
What can you put your energy into that will yield a great return?
What do you need to stand back from to see the big picture?
In my experience coaching 100’s of people I have found that quite often clients will say “I used be so forceful and now I am so empathic, almost too much so…” or “I was very thoughtful and caring about people but now I find after coaching I am very driven and assertive”. These statements point to the phenomenon of the ‘pendulum effect’.
Quite often when people make major behavioral adjustments they over compensate for the change they are making and a dominant person can be too accepting or a social person too introverted and so on. This is not a bad thing as long as you find your way back to the centre. The centre point of the pendulum’s swing only makes sense once the extremes on both sides have been visited. Pushing your behviour on each side of the pendulum is a great thing as you create real awareness of the extremes of your behavior, in doing this it allows you to find your ‘middle ground’ and success.
Think about it like learning to drive. When you first steer a car you understeer and then oversteer, taking corners too sharply or too wide. After time you get a feel for the right line and you drive smooth and easy. The concept of Yin and Yang is the same – find balance. My new book the 5 States of Success also talks at length about achieving this balance.
So my advice is to be brave, experience the pendulum effect, understeer and oversteer and find the middle ground the centre point that works best for you.
PS If you like it, share it! (it makes it all worthwhile then!!! )))) Also a big please, please, please for some FB “LIKE” on www.facebook.com/brendanfoley.net and tell your friends. It’s where details of FREE iPhone app, review copies of book and CDs happen as well as updates and posts.
An industry colleague asked me this question the other day when researching for an MBA he is doing; “How do you generate business as a trainer/coach/consultant?”.
Having a degree in Marketing and Post Grad in Advertising and 7 years working in those industries I was about to respond and rattle off the usual marketing and communications mix of how to get business. But instead I actually asked ‘what do I actually do to get business?’. The following are my top 10 of how to generate business and at least a few of these will apply to what you do…
Make every project you do exceptional – exceed your clients expectations. This makes them think ‘how can I use their services more?’
Ask for referrals from existing clients after completing step 1.
Use social media not to sell but to be ‘top of mind’ and visible so that when a requirement arises you are contactable.
Have an email newsletter, mine is quarterly and focuses not on what we do but on helpful tips, techniques and tools.
Invest in the best design – books are judged by their covers. You wouldn’t buy a Tiffany diamond and get it in a plastic bag…
Be the best example of your own work – share your stories, your insights and knowledge for FREE, this creates traction and interest.
ONLY go after business you will love doing (helps point 1.) I don’t do tenders or easy money workshops. I am only interested if the clients commitment matches my own.
Know your clients businesses intimately and make yourself indispensable to them.
Don’t use business plans, only action plans. Plan less and prototype and test new material more.
Above all else use passion as your compass, do what you love, don’t do what you don’t love. The acid test is always to ask ‘would I do this for free?’ Passion is infectious and everyone want’s a bit of a great thing. Great things come with great price tags!
Do you have some great ideas on generating business? Why not post them as comments so others can learn. Have a great day! Brendan.
90% of our time spent is worrying and fretting about things and events that will never happen and more importantly on things that are out of your control. The net effect of worrying about things outside your control such as the economy, crime, exchange rates, the council, the banks, share prices, the price of milk… is that you are only leaving 10% of your time to focus on what you want and can control in your life. This video will help you to identify the things that are out of your control and the things that are in your control and in this way you will become more efficient and effective at creating happiness and success. Enjoy and please share we all can be happier using some of these tools and techniques! Have a great Day. Brendan
‘What do you want?’ It seems like a simple and easy question to answer, but when it comes to our lives we are very slow to articulate the answer. When we look at our thinking we find that most of us will spend most of our time thinking about what we don’t want. I don’t want to; get fired, get sick, be lonely, be poor, be fat, be unhappy… When we do this we are using our mental capacities to attract those very things into our lives! What would happen in your life if you put all the energy that you spend worrying into getting what you want? Learn more and please share this if you feel it worthwhile…
Meditation has been around for thousands of years because it works. Harvard Medical School and many other notable research institutions have also endorsed the medical, emotional, physical, spiritual and mental benefits of meditation. It a great way to create ‘inner bliss’. A feeling inside that is peaceful and uplifting and that acts a reservoir of positive energy. There is no right or wrong way to meditate and each and every meditation you do will be unique. Try this short 5 minute Inner Bliss meditation and if you like it you can build it into a daily routine to create happiness and positivity in you life.
It’s the simplest tool and techniques that I know for positivity – be in the now. Learn how and why from this, the third part in our 10 part series about creating positivity in your life. As always if it works for you it will work for somebody else please share – have a great day! Brendan.
You are not a slave to your emotions! Amazing research is showing us that our emotional states are and can be controlled by us. This provides us with an amazing ability to choose the emotional state that will help us to create meaningful success in our lives. Did you know that an emotion lasts for about 90 seconds in the body as in the chemicals and hormones associated with that emotion dissipate after 90 seconds? The research of Dr Paul Ekmans also have proven that by changing our physiological state (body language, posture) we can dramatically affect the emotional state we experience.
Enjoy this short video clip and please share it as there is someone that needs to hear this today. Have a positive and uplifting day! Brendan
)))) Also a big please, please, please for some FB “LIKE” on 
