Tag Archives for " success "

THRIVE WITH A FORWARD PERFORMANCE LEARNING ASSESSMENT (FREE) MODULE

“Win, believe, dream, achieve applying learning tenaciously living forever.” – Raj Gavurla

Receive Insights:  Take this Thrive With A Forward Performance Learning Assessment (FREE) Module.  

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it.

The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale

For programs and services, contact Raj at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com, 864.569.2315, LiiiVEN.

Do Your Best, Then Better Your Best

How do you better your best?  You’re mentally prepared so why the inaction to exercise, make a call, and achieve your goal.  You are procrastinating.  I understand some things are mentally tiring and you know where that is most likely to happen.  You have a threshold and you are afraid to break away from it because of the insecurity it causes you.

Since you are always learning, you need to learn what to know about this threshold experience that’s causing insecurity.  When you assess it to deliver by bettering your best with strategy, build a relationship with it, market it in your mind, and evaluate after each effort you are changing the reality of the situation in your mind.

You learned to use solipsism to do your best and with effort you bettered your best.  Continue doing so, forward performing, and you’ll far exceed what you imagine success is because of your achievements, the meaningful process, and the right people who came into your life that you had never met before.

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”  

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

 For programs and services, contact Raj at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com.

Prevent and Cure Clients, Employees, and Athletes Burnout

“Transform your business with meaningful performance and innovation/entrepreneurial leadership.” – Raj Gavurla 

Meaningful Forward Performance Motivation and Inspiration

Win your personal best records and as one constantly does their best consistently they will continue to learn to perform better at what they are doing. On a given day it might be you won a meaningful award and money. It’s this essential aspiration to learn how to win personal best records to perform better at what you are doing that makes what you do meaningful, fun, rewarding, and enjoyable. One will never maximize this if they only work on performance technique. They also need to work on their mental performance skills to transform their performance and innovation/entrepreneurial leadership in business/education, work, sports, and life.

Creative Innovation Tools

You are doing the above and there is still burnout.  Why?  Because you aren’t innovating to win personal best records since the innovation(s) you have need to continue to develop, build, grow, and/or become what makes you unique and different.  There are creative innovation tools to help your neuroplasticity mind.  Some say we use one percent to ten percent of our mind’s ability.  So that means there’s ninety percent not being used.  I posit there is an “endless amount not being used” since you have a neuroplasticity brain.

Entrepreneurial Leadership

So now that you understand this concept and are using creative innovation tools why still the burnout?  Because entrepreneurial leadership isn’t being exhibited in a meaningful financial (monetize) way because the financial mechanisms (funding and resources), reward mechanisms, incentive mechanisms, and partnering mechanisms were at one time the best, however, now they also need creative innovation(s).

Three questions to transform your business:

1.  Are you using your current strategies and innovations to win personal best records?

2.  Does your team have an innovation process to create innovation(s)?  This isn’t just for individuals in management.

3.  Why don’t you work on innovating your business with unique and different entrepreneurial leadership for meaningful better outcomes creating financial mechanisms (funding and resources), reward mechanisms, incentive mechanisms, and partnering mechanisms for forward performance?

Learn how to learn and apply the learning to continue going through living a robust life.  It’s meaningful, fun, rewarding, and enjoyable.  It’s important to include fun business outings and activities/sports/games on company time for social/networking with each other to get to know each other.  Why?  Because it makes it easier to transform your business with performance and innovation/entrepreneurial leadership.

This prevents and cures clients, employees, and athletes burnout for meaningful better outcomes.  You have gifts, talents, and skills.  Develop, build, grow them and discover new gifts, talents, and skills to develop, build, and grow making you unique and different.  It’s Friday.  What are you looking forward to experiencing this weekend with your family and friends?

 “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown

For programs and services, contact Raj at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com, LiiiVEN.

Consistently Perform Well In All Aspects of Life: Win and Make Better Money The Right Way

“Consistently perform well in all aspects of life: Win and make better money the right way.”

– Raj Gavurla

Something annoys me every time it happens. While doing my track training at a local high school (the high school is not important) I see and hear teenagers using racial slurs and denigrating each other.  I know we are taking about teenagers whether they are thinking they are “being cool” or “using it as intimidation”.

A few days ago, it was something I hadn’t seen before. Football players were using racial slurs while their coaches were present. One set of coaches were high school coaches and the other set of coaches were coaching middle school kids preparing to play for their high school. Racial slurs were being used by the high school teenagers to their teammates during practice and while taking water breaks.  The middle school team wasn’t using racial slurs or denigrating each other.  In fact, during their conditioning a teammate was last in finishing his track work and the whole team ran to him with him finishing ahead of some of them on purpose.  Obviously, learning how to run track would make it easier for this boy as the players and coaches are relying mostly on talent at that age so he doesn’t always finish last.

Stopping the “nonsense” of teammates using racial slurs and denigrating each other has high-value worth for forward performance progress socially and environmentally.  Leadership by the coaches would be of great use.  If I was a coach, I wouldn’t allow my players (team) to use racial slurs or denigrating word choices.  My working with athletes at all levels the use of racial slurs and denigrating word choices might work temporarily but not as they progress to realize it takes real learning and application of skill to progress from high school to college to professional in anything they choose to do in education, sports, business, and life.

Cultivating this approach develops, builds, and grows character and dignity which is of high-value worth as we are experiencing societal and cultural transformation in America and throughout the globe.

“Do small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa

For programs and services, contact Raj Gavurla at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com, LiiiVEN.

Better Self-Management

“Better self-management: Put brain, heart, and muscle power into it.” – Raj Gavurla

Lately there has been an increase in the use of the word “he/she/they/we don’t want” or “attitude” used instead of really helping the person who you think should want or have a positive attitude towards something.

Examples:

1.  “Because he/she doesn’t want to make an A”.  Most people want to make “A’s”.  So it’s ridiculous to say they don’t want to that’s why they aren’t.  Yes, the ability to teach is not a skill everyone has developed, built, grown, and usually the people who don’t have this skill revert to the two reasons why; “they don’t want to” or “attitude”.

Everyone’s situation is different, however, one way to increase reading comprehension, retention, and application of learning might be the following:

1.  Read the first paragraph of the chapter

2.  Read the last paragraph of the chapter

3.  Read the headings in the chapter if present

4.  Ask yourself questions as you read specific sections

5.  Write in the margins to denote its significance to you

Yes, this takes more prep time/work, however, it makes you faster in the end because of your ability to comprehend, retain, and apply the learning.

2.  You see this in the workplace also because people aren’t making sure all the relevant information is there or they have anxiety.  Trying to get through it as fast as they can without making sure to first check to see is all the relevant information there and if something is missing find it (research) and then put the steps needed to complete it with an estimated amount of time.  Realize, most people are working on multiple projects at work so put that into your time estimate and assign your time as “uninterrupted”, “regular”, or “interrupted” to accurately estimate the time.  This will take undue pressure off of you.  If someone wants you to do it faster without providing you the tools or methods to do so then tell them “that’s as soon as I can have it done”.  Put some margin in there for breathing room and unexpected events.  Planning helps.

3.  When I taught Career Planning & Exploration my students were future medical assistants, owners, entrepreneurs, computer technicians, and business management professionals.

To prepare, I learned about their course of study to grasp some of the vocabulary to relate to them.  As we prepared for mock interviews, I would ask relevant questions pertaining to their field as being knowledgeable and then play the role of someone who wasn’t knowledgeable about their field but had a role in learning to run a better business.  Seeing their qualitative answers in the debrief was insightful because of what was surprising, shocking, or went unnoticed. As they sat in a waiting room to prepare for a mock interview you could sense, see, and feel their brains, hearts, and muscles working.  One had received news a few hours before that her apartment was flooded, one was battling chronic pain, and the others had their situation.

They all did well in their mock interviews because of “better self-management”.  There were areas they felt they could have done better.  That’s very important to know you can do better by increasing your skills although you are already skilled (competent) in a specific skill.

So, to transform your performance think of these examples and how you relate (“adaptability link”) to them.  “Better self-management” makes it easier for you to transform your performance.

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt

For programs and services, contact Raj Gavurla at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com, LiiiVEN.

What Robust Olympics Memories Do You Want?

“What robust Olympic memories do you want?” – Raj Gavurla

Robust Olympic Moments: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/series/50-stunning-olympic-moments

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

“You can have it all. Just not all at once.” ― Oprah Winfrey

“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

For programs and services, contact Raj Gavurla at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com, LiiiVEN.

National Academy of Engineering: 14 Grand Challenges For Engineering

 “Brain, heart, and muscle power. Not willpower.” – Raj Gavurla

“Everyone is smart.  What do you want to study?” – Raj Gavurla

Which one of the NAE Grand Challenges For Engineering is most important to you?  I selected two because one is essential to the other thirteen. Combined they have the greatest impact.  They are Advance Personalized Learning and Engineer Better Medicines.  Which ones do you want to fund?

Advance Personalized Learning

Make Solar Energy Economical

Enhance Virtual Reality

Reverse-Engineer The Brain

Engineer Better Medicines

Advance Health Informatics

Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure

Secure Cyberspace

Provide Access To Clean Water

Provide Energy From Fusion

Prevent Nuclear Terror

Manage The Nitrogen Cycle

Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods

Engineer The Tools To Scientific Discovery

I selected Advance Personalized Learning because learning, its application, learn how to learn is the catalyst to transform performance, innovation, and/or entrepreneurial leadership and to live a robust life.   I selected Engineer Better Medicines because of devastating side effects, allergic reactions, and to eschew medical hardship and emergency room visits.

Engineers are developing new systems to use genetic information, sense small changes in the body, assess new drugs, and deliver vaccines.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Raj Gavurla

For programs and services, contact Raj Gavurla at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com, LiiiVEN.

Performance and Entrepreneurial Leadership In Management Needed for Mental Health In Your Workplace

“Win your better outcomes: High Value and Valued ROI” – Raj Gavurla

Your valued employee is missing work more often and you can tell some things aren’t making sense.  As leadership and management, you think about what’s happening to them.  Then, your office manager or human resource person informs you they gave them the Employee Assistant Program (EAP) phone number.  Of course, something serious happened yet you’re still puzzled.  However, because you don’t know what to do or policy you don’t initiate to share authentic dialogue with your valued subordinate.

Your subordinate doesn’t know what’s happening as all they think is I’ve been having very unusual thoughts and not feeling well.  It’s as if the microprocessor (brain) in my computer (body) isn’t consistently functioning.  They really don’t know when told they have a mental health diagnosis what that means.  They just hope the doctor determines the right treatment to help/cure/exhibit teamwork to allow them to successfully continue working and living a robust life.  Sometimes for a percentage of workers, this happens and they continue successfully working and living a robust life.  Often times the facts are this doesn’t happen and your employee’s performance is valued for periods of time and then an episode or something happens and they miss work or they aren’t exhibiting their consistent valued performance.  A mental health challenge doesn’t discriminate based on socioeconomic or sociodemographic status.

There is a highly customized fluid solution for your valued subordinate.  An example is:

1.  You (Boss) initiating and sharing private authentic dialogue with your employee.  It takes research better outcomes, preparation, interaction, and communication to deliver better outcomes for your subordinate (employee).

2.  Understanding what his or her treatment plan is and the teamwork needed.

3.  Forming a “small individual/personal matters team/group” to help your subordinate by involving a select group of trained employees as this employee’s support system in your workplace.

4.  Understanding the high-value importance/urgency of their family, work, and financial sustainability to your subordinate’s wellness is essential.  Their family is experiencing similar uncertainty as you about the well-being of your employee.

5.  By taking the initiative and being proactive with a process your employee becomes better and your costs tremendously decrease because your employee is still able to work although it might be scaled back and is given the review and evaluation of their work during this time to continue being a forward performing valued successful employee.

Yes, taking these steps are asking for more effort on your part as Boss and employer.  However, the following are some of the better outcomes (results) from taking initiative:

1.  I know as employer, Boss, team, and employee each is doing everything they can to see each other succeed and your clients succeed.   As an employer, you don’t have to do the bare minimum to be in compliance.  There are value-add resources that can help you.  As a strong mental health advocate, performance consultant/coach, and entrepreneurial leadership expert, my services might be a value-add to your current protocol for this situation.

2.  Donating to charity is important and I encourage you to continue doing so to make your business and community stronger.  However, a lot of times companies donate to non-profits (a humanitarian cause/need) without knowing the person they are helping to receive support services.  By allocating funds for mental health in your company, you are essentially creating “charity in the workplace” and seeing your dollars actually being put to use for your valued employee and receive quality work completed for your efforts.

3.  The sensation of having this humanitarian lens is very fulfilling, highly satisfying, and delivers a win for all (your business and community).  Businesses are here to contribute to family and societal progress.  Being a humanitarian to me means more than “spiritual brothers and sisters have to eat”. Being a humanitarian means “spiritual brothers and sisters have to thrive”. We are very capable of this mission and aspiration being a reality because of the forward progress we consistently make in employer/employee relationships and societal progress.

4.  Most likely your employee becomes more loyal and continues to make forward progress in your company.  Also, you now have an employee with high-value empathy skills and is part of your succession planning for your “small personal matters team(s)/group(s).  Although most of your employees don’t have a mental health diagnosis, they do have mental health challenges whether spurred from a workplace issue or life issue that sharing authentic dialogue with select people in a “small personal matters team/group” would greatly benefit your business.

5.   Mental health is our current major employer/social health challenge to the robust viability of our workplace we have to triumph along with cancer (you could imagine this affects a person’s mental health).

6.   I’ve heard too many personal stories of talented, skilled, and educated people who are underemployed and not doing meaningful work.  Because of this, there might be relationship problems because of the stigma associated with mental health and the individual might lose hope.

Sports often is at the forefront of employer and societal progress.  An example is Lebron James addressing the Cavaliers in the locker room, welcoming, and helping Larry Sanders (mental health challenge) join the team and continue to progress in his NBA career.  Yes, there are a lot of small business owners who are also helping and supporting individuals with a mental health challenge.  How about your Fortune 500, mid-size, or over 50 employees small business?

Remember, being a humanitarian is more than “spiritual brothers and sisters have to eat”.  Being a humanitarian is “spiritual brothers and sisters have to thrive”.  It’s a win for all.  It’s worth it!

If you are an executive, in management, or are a workplace leader, who is challenged by mental health in your business, please contact me to share authentic dialogue.  Your leadership is needed and wanted.

“One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.” Henry Miller 

For programs and services, contact Raj at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com, LiiiVEN.

You Don’t Need To Live A Double Life In Your Workplace

“You Don’t Need To Live A Double Life In Your Workplace.” – Raj Gavurla

Do you come to your job or the playing field leading a double life?  You don’t need to.  How is this possible?  I’m there to work (complete tasks, etc.).  That’s what they pay me to do.  Years ago there was a job I inquired about with someone who worked for the company.  He proceeded to tell me “you have to set up equipment”.  I waited to see if he had more to say.  He didn’t.  I wasn’t interested in the job. Why?  Because work is more to me than completing tasks (it’s part of the job) and receiving benefits.   I understand you have family and friends outside of work you have fun, rewarding, and enjoyable camaraderie with.  How about having fun, rewarding, and enjoyable camaraderie with your colleagues or teammates?

Camaraderie is one of the keys that keeps employees performing, retains, and recruits. It also plays a major role in wellness (well-being), motivation, inspiration, engagement, a positive attitude, leadership, and execution.

What’s a solution to nurture camaraderie in the workplace?  By using a small group personal team matters approach. Do you have thousands, hundreds, less than fifty, ten to twenty, five or fewer employees or teammates?  The larger the business, organization, or team the harder it is to have camaraderie with everyone.  Regardless of size test the following:

Break up into “small personal teams”.  A “small personal team” is a group that discusses (has dialogue) about personal matters not directly related to your job.  For example, your family, what you’re doing this weekend, what you did this past weekend, your health, nutrition, fitness, your parents, kids aspirations, your non-work challenges, crisis, someone passing, accident, hobbies, movie, best place to get something, book you’re reading, mountains, sports, festivals, etc. Apply the learning.

A Customized Structure Might Look Like:

1.  Ask people to participate sharing why.  Do not require them to participate.

2.  For those who join a personal matters team, make what’s discussed confidential. That doesn’t mean you can’t share your situation with someone outside of your group.  Use your discretion.

3.  Meet once a week for 45 minutes to an hour in a quiet place (conference room, courtyard, etc.)

4.  Talk about and share personal matters important to each group member

5.   Close the meeting

Use Metrics and Collect Data On The Outcomes:

Are employees mentally performing better?

Is employee retention increasing?

Is it easier to recruit?

What effect does it have on wellness (well-being), motivation, and inspiration?

What effect does it have on engagement, a positive attitude, leadership, and execution?

Small Personal Matters Team Examples:

Look at an amazing family

Look at a business team.  One of the things employees, athletes, investors, donors, and philanthropists look at is the teamwork exhibited.

Look at our military.  They have tremendous camaraderie protecting each other, to survive, and protect us.  They know each other and have nicknames for each other making it easier to accomplish their mission.

Look at a sports team and you hear athletes talk about the camaraderie or if retired the camaraderie is what they miss.

I remember from reading Oscar Robertson’s biography he worked with people of a different skin color and they never had time for camaraderie.  Just do the work because in those times that’s how it was.  People didn’t know each other at work and never met outside of work with people of a different skin color.  He said, “that hurt”.  I’m sure some people of the other skin color had the same thought and feeling, “that hurt”.  Thankfully, we the people have made tremendous cultural and societal progress.

Another example, I went to college to graduate/get an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering.  That was the main goal.  It’s the camaraderie with a few friends I remember and miss most.  Although we don’t talk often or see each other as often I know, feel, sense, and believe we are connected forever.

My final example are my friends from Leadership Greenville.  I shared with a small personal matters group my mom had a stroke.  One told me his dad passed away from a stroke and another told me they had a family member who had a stroke and it’s a slow process.  People get better. Until the emergency personnel told me your mom had a stroke, I’ve heard of the word stroke but knew nothing about it.  Learning about a stroke and talking with my small personal matters team gave me lived experience insights I couldn’t get from a textbook that helped me to mentally perform to be a caregiver for my mom to make her well.  She is talking better and she needs and wants to walk better and drive a car.

Implementing small personal matters teams in your businesses, organizations, and teams might transform the narratives, conversations, and outcomes.  It should be helpful too and take pressure off and inhibit the performance anxiety your employees, team leaders, supervisors, managers, bosses, management, executives, and owners are experiencing. Yes, conventions, conferences, and special events are still needed and wanted for all your employees or sports team to participate in.

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” 

– Bruce Lee

For programs and services, contact Raj at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com

CHANGE ISN’T A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: WHAT IS?

“Fortunately world-class business occurs with preparation and communication.” – Raj Gavurla

Since change isn’t a competitive advantage, how are businesses, organizations, and teams solving their need(s) for performing (high value/value add) better results (better ROI/higher margins) in a faster time?

Answer: Transform Performance

Examples:

1. Most organization development shows a top-down flow. Whether their competitive advantage starts at the top (trickle down) to the bottom or from the bottom (grassroots) to the top. How about transforming your performance lens to organization development showing forward performance (—–> timeline fashion): Founder-Board-President/CEO – Each Colleague (Teammate) – Business Unit – Division – Department – etc. as they came into existence in a win forward performance for your competitive advantage? Forward performance mentality is essential to living (doing) for each person to thrive.

2. Sometimes when I shoot baskets kids are also shooting on the same basket. When they make a shot and I grab the rebound they are quick to say “change” meaning they want me to pass them the ball as a return for making their shot. Since I’m also a performance consultant and private performance mental skills coach, I want to tell them “Change isn’t a competitive advantage. I would have thrown the ball to you without you saying change.” Instead, they need to shoot the ball from the same spot the same way (“repetitions – keep going to the well”). If an adult paid my fee, the kids win forward performance.

3.  The better tennis player you are the more mental tennis is.  What differentiates the number one players and teams in men’s and women’s tennis is their mentality.  What are you doing to work on your private performance mental skills so you consistently become a better tennis player.

4. In business, work, sports, and life identify your need(s) to win forward performance whether experiencing success (fun) or negativity. Most likely you know what to live (do) and/or you might need to pay for support service(s) to work with you to solve your need(s) to win forward performance.

5. How do you accomplish any endeavor in life (i.e. your dreams, vision, goals, and/or mission)? By living (doing) it.

“You cannot start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.”

– Michael McMillan

For programs and services, contact Raj at 864.569.2315, raj@rajgavurla.com