Bits and bobs

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale  

genistar.co,uk

An international bestseller with millions of copies in print, The Power of Positive Thinking has helped men and women around the world to achieve fulfilment in their lives through Norman Vincent Peale’s powerful message of faith and inspiration.

With the practical techniques outlined in this book (there are exercises to carry out) you can energise your life—and give yourself the initiative needed to carry out your ambitions and hopes. Each chapter of the book tackles different issues, such as worrying, creating happiness, having energy, etc. 

Know though, that there is a definite religious tone throughout the book, which could bother some. Peale was a preacher and he often cites bible passages.

The main points:

 Believe in yourself and in everything you do
· Build new power and determination
· Develop the power to reach your goals
· Break the worry habit and achieve a relaxed life
· Improve your personal and professional relationships
· Assume control over your circumstances· Be kind to yourself

Positive thinking creates a positive life:
what we accomplish each day starts out as a thought, and each day, all day long, thoughts directly influence how we feel and what we do. 
So, if you spend your day thinking about negative things, expect to feel bad. 
On the other hand, if you spend your day concentrating on positive things, good things will happen. 
Such a simple and effective concept yet hard to do at times on its own is a good reason alone to read this book.

If you want to know if this actually works in practice, you will need read my blog tomorrow when I will cover the story of US Contest Queen, Helene Hadsell who used the principles in this book to win everything she ever wanted.

Bits and bobs

Pic from www.Amazon.co.uk

The Power to Shape your Destiny: 7 Strategies for Massive Results 
by Anthony Robbins ( set of 5 CDs)

The Power To Shape Your Destiny will become your best ally as you use it to realise what you really want from your life.

The first thing here is to have clear in your mind: what do you really really really want?

Then, whether you want to advance your career, lose weight, improve your relationships, see the world, or just have time to pursue your favourite hobby, this program will show you what has been holding you back in the past, and help you to achieve a break through.

Anthony Robbins understands the struggles and frustrations that can accompany any attempt to improve and grow.  He also knows the excitement and fulfillment that comes from actually reaching your goals and he can teach you how to shape your future through the power of purposeful goals by tapping into qualities that you already have inside of you.

What will you learn:

• How one simple exercise, when practiced for 20 minutes a day, can make you biggest dreams happen. This exercise can help you wiping out fear, procrastination, worry, anger, bad habit, or obstacle to achievement.
• How a certain quality you already possess can eliminate all your bad habits, and how that same quality can drive you to establish a new level of excellence for your life.
• How to identify the primary motivator in your life and modify it so it serves you.
• How to improve your decision-making system and your nervous system so you naturally attract and create a great destiny
• Powerful decision making skills that help your body and your mind actually create solutions

Pic from www.linkedin.com

Anthony Robbins will give you the skills and motivation you need to make your life extraordinary and this program will give you that extra boost to put you over the top. 

Remember though 2 very important things:

1. Like building muscles ( or becoming an athlete) you can't go to the gym once and except the muscles to suddenly appear, you need to do it regularly, the same is applicable here. Repetition is the key to mastery.
2. Knowledge is not power, is potential power. It is what you do with the knowledge that is important. Listen to the CDs and apply apply apply!!!

Bits and bobs

The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill 

Pic from Amazon.com

The Law of Success is Napoleon Hill's complete and original formula to achievement, is the book for everyone who wants to grasp the full range of Hill's ideas and tap their transformative power.

"The Law of Success" is a success manual course with fundamental 16 Lessons, examining the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success, the precursor as well as the hidden secret in Think and Grow Rich.

The introductory chapter, "The Master Mind," serves as a primer to Hill's overall philosophy. As Hill saw it, these lessons work as a "mind stimulant" that "will cause the student to organise and direct to a DEFINITE end the forces of his or her mind, thus harnessing the stupendous power which most people waste."

The 16 principles of success which you must absorb are:

1: The Master Mind - Telepathy, ether, vibration, and how it all is the basis for how the world functions. A master mind is the alliance of two minds joining in a harmonious way. The power that is formed from two or more minds coming together is more powerful than one alone. This is strictly for minds who trust each other and are interested in the good success of all parties involved.

2: Your Definite Chief Aim - You have to know what you want so that you can start receiving it.

3: Self Confidence - Believe that you are worthy of success and that you can attain it. Without this simple understanding you will probably get nowhere with most of your goals. 

4: The Habit of Saving - Stop trying to get a Porche if you feel more comfortable paying for a Panda. You are on the path to easily affording a Porche.

5: Initiative and Leadership - Leadership skills can be habituated and you don't have to be a born leader.  Hill acknowledges the penalties of leadership. Leaders are not always spoken of sweetly. This should not deter you from becoming a leader. Nobody bothers slandering a person who isn't somewhere near the upper rings of the ladder of success.

6: Imagination - Dream, and use your imagination to help lead you to the attainment of your goals. The making good decisions comes with use, dreams and actions are closely related.

7: Enthusiasm - Mix enthusiasm with your work - do something you are enthusiastic about- and you will not get tired nearly as quickly. Hill explains the things that can contribute to enthusiasm, one being to wear nice clothes. The opposite is also true, and this is to be avoided. Feel good about your appearance, because it also affects the first impression of you on others who can be instrumental in your path to success.

8  Self Control - Auto suggestion is like reprogramming your subconscious mind to believe what you want it to believe - to replace your old beliefs with new ones that will serve you better. This takes self control. When you take control over the thoughts you are thinking, then you can take control of your success. Make these thoughts the ones you want to believe, and see yourself the way you want to see yourself. 

9  Habit Of Doing More Than Paid For - If you are going to complain about your work, then you are not going anywhere. Do the work you have in front of you, then ask what else you may do. By doing this, you make yourself valuable, and you will surely reach a point where you are being paid very well. Valuable employees are... valuable. This is also and especially true when you are working for yourself.

10  Pleasing Personality - "Have one. Don't point things out on people, don't hang your head and say "I'm tired". Mediocrity does not care if you are pleasant or not. Success does".

11  Accurate Thought - Sort "facts" from "information", and use auto-suggestion in conjunction with focused thoughts.

12  Concentration - "Concentration is the act of focusing the mind on a given desire until ways and means for its realisation have been worked out and successfully put into operation".

13  Cooperation - The implementing of cooperation between you and others who are going to help you get to your goal. Cooperation must also exist between your conscious and subconscious mind so that they may work harmoniously in your favour.

14  Failure - Failure is inevitable,  and be happy that it is bringing you one step closer to success. Replace "failure" with "temporary defeat".

15  Tolerance - Don't practice prejudice or racism. It is ignorance, and it is a barrier to success. Just see the best in people and situations, and focus only on your goal and the good for all. 

16  The Golden Rule - "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you." Also, "Think of others as you wish them to think of you."

This is the beginning of the application of the Quantum Physics theory brought to the masses. 

Hill formulated the self-help "auto-suggestion" theory in bites that could be assimilated by everyone so as to get people to better themselves no matter what their background was.

Don't be put off that it was written by Napoleon Hill in 1928 (85 years ago!) as it teaches many lessons. At time some statements might no longer apply because of the lapse of time since written, but the basis on which this book lies is still relevant today.

I cannot imagine how revolutionary this must have been at the time. Now it is up to you to read it and, most importantly, apply the principles.

People stuff

Nudging in practice

Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein is a book that explains how prompting people to make minor changes without telling them directly can have amazing results.

Thaler and Sunstein argue that their approach offers an alternative to both state mandated paths on the one hand and complete laissez-faire on the other and they call this Libertarian Paternalism. 
Overall the book does provide quite a few ideas for how we could achieve some beneficial behavioural changes without being too heavy-handed.

The UK Government created a Behavioural Insights Team (the nudge unit) which has since launched a number of nudging initiative onto the British public following this principle.

Some practical ways of making nudging work for your business:

Pic from market community.com

• If you offer a subsidised canteen or your have an outsourced provider, you can consider providing information about calorie content, links to popular fitness apps etc
• Run informal fitness competition amongst your staff (counting steps for example)
• Arrange the office in a way that encourages mobility and casual encounters (this will also aid flow of information and relationships)
• Offer good coffee (or tea) so staff can avoid long queues at Costa (or Starbucks etc. etc.)
• Provide water stations to improve consumption, hydration and well-being

People stuff

Pic from www.mentalhealthy.co.uk

Pay Attention to Whistleblowing

Usually employees cannot lodge a claim for unfair dismissal until they have been with their employer for a qualifying period of two years. In cases where there is a "protected disclosure"though (whistleblowing) employees can claim for automatic unfair dismissal as soon as they need to.

In the case of Chemistree v Gahir, the Employment Appeal Tribunal had to consider whether or not the claimant (employee) had suffered detriment due to the respondent’s (employer) alleged failure to act upon the disclosures immediately and whether or not the tribunal should have considered each disclosure separately as opposed to them all being rolled up together.

Ms Gahir, was an employee of Chemistree. Her role involved making sure that the pharmacy was compliant with statutory requirements and guidance. Her start date was 16th August 2010, and she was dismissed 18 days later on 3rd September 2010. It was claimed that Ms Gahir was dismissed on the grounds of ‘mutual unsuitability.’ In these 18 days, Ms Gahir raised 17 separate concerns via two emails relating to health and safety and failure to comply with legal obligations. These included statutory and regulatory requirements linked to the storage and dispensing of controlled medicines. These were later claimed to be protected disclosures (whistleblowing).

At Employment Tribunal, the tribunal held that the ‘principal,’ reason for Ms Gahir’s dismissal was that she had made a protected disclosure; it also held that Ms Gahir had suffered detriment as Chemistree had failed to quickly or adequately address her concerns. T

Pic from www.caerphilly.org.uk

Chemistree appealed to the EAT who concluded that Ms Gahir had not suffered detriment. The EAT upheld the claim for unfair dismissal but they found it difficult to see how she could have suffered such detriment between her dismissal and submission of her emails of complaint as she had been employed for such a short period of time. 

The EAT found that there had been no deliberate action or failure to act on behalf of the respondent AND concluded that the tribunal should originally have considered each disclosure separately and in detail taking a ‘systematic approach.’

There is no qualifying period of employment required to bring a claim of automatic unfair dismissal for whistleblowing ; it is recommended however that employers should investigate promptly and thoroughly as well as take specialist advice where concerns are raised regarding health and safety or legal obligations.