100 Ways to Motivate Others : How Great Leaders Can Produce Insane Results Without Driving People Crazy

Keep Your People Thinking Friendly...Thoughts

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/ 100 Ways to Motivate Others
of me if I even used the word “friend” once in a while in
my questions about how we can treat customers better.
How would we treat that customer if that person were a
dear friend?
Why is the word 
friend
so rarely heard in the world of
business relations? Are friends really “better” than cus-
tomers? Does your best friend regularly come by and give
you money to help with the mortgage payment? Does your
friend pull out his checkbook after having a beer with you
and say, “Here’s a little something for your daughter’s
dental bill”? No?
Our customers do.
44. Use Your Best Time for Your
Biggest Challenge
It’s so hard when contemplated in advance,
and so easy when you do it.
—Robert Pirsig, Philosopher/Author
It’s so important to use your best time for your big-
gest challenge.
Of course you can’t always do this. Sometimes chal-
lenges have a way of blowing out their own hole in your
timetable. But whenever possible, see if you can 
match up
your prime biological (emotional, physical, mental) time
with the big job or big communications you have to do.
Many leaders are at their best in the first hours of the
morning; others hit their prime in the late morning; others
still, in the late afternoon. Whichever is your best time to

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shine, don’t waste it on trivia and low-return activities.
Invest that energy and peak attention into the big chal-
lenge you’ve been procrastinating about.
Most of us confuse pleasure with happiness. We find
great pleasure in spending our highest-energy state on small
tasks, taking them out with relish and flair, blowing away
all these minor, little must-do’s with great bursts of en-
ergy and good cheer. But all the while, that big thing is
lurking, waiting until we’re tired and cranky to be fully
contemplated, which is why it gets put off so often.
Know ahead of time what your biggest challenge is.
Set it up to be 
taken out with massive, unstoppable action
while you are at your most resourceful and energetic. You
do have a best time of day, mentally. Know when it is.
Then use it! The ultimate source of a leader’s professional
happiness is the feeling of accomplishment you get when
you take out the big thing!
The look on your face alone will motivate others to
follow you.
45. Use 10 Minutes Well
Man must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind him to the
fact that each moment of his life is a miracle and a mystery.
—H.G. Wells
Contemporary philosopher William Irwin was asked
what he thought the secret of effective leadership was. His
answer was, “Learn to use 10 minutes intelligently. It will
pay you huge dividends.”
Use 10 Minutes Well

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Often what separates a great leader from a lousy man-
ager is just that: the ability to use 10 minutes well.
The Irwin quote is one that we have on our office wall,
reminding us that it really helps to have short, motivating
quotations posted in plain view. It is a way to wake your-
self up to your potential. Especially when you only have 10
minutes before your next appointment. Will you use it well?
Or will you kill time?
Our recent visit to a very successful leader’s office
was enhanced by our noticing these words posted on the
wall behind his desk—also a great guideline for using 10
minutes well:
The Most Important Words in the English Language