S.U.M.M.I.T. Leadership

  "With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." - Eleanor Roosevelt   Happy Monday Everyone! Today I woke up refreshed. I couldn't get out of my mind that today it's a new day, a new work week, and for some people (in business using a fiscal 4-5-4 calendar) it's actually a new fiscal month. For some children it's the beginning of a new school year.   No matter what yesterday was like, today is a new day and a fresh start. Start it off with a positive attitude full of gratitude and thankfulness. Start your new day with fresh new energy knowing you are preparing yourself for new possibilities and new opportunities.   Opportunities to accomplish new tasks and achieve new productivity. Opportunities to add value to other people's lives. Opportunities to create positive change. Opportunities to improve yourself.   Have a refreshed belief in yourself, knowing that you have gained some knowledge, strength and experience from yesterday, then

  " We have an innate desire to endlessly learn, grow, and develop. We want to become more than we already are. Once we yield to this inclination for continuous and never-ending improvement, we lead a life of endless accomplishments and satisfaction." - Chuck Gallozzi   All progress in our lives is the result of a conscious choice to take action. But, that’s easier said than done. The key to improvement is the ability to think beyond the moment and ask yourself, “What will this choice ultimately create in my life? Where will it lead? Who will I become as a result?”   We must seek to find ways to improve ourselves on a daily basis, if even in the teeniest-tiniest way. Be better tomorrow than you were today, and be better today than you were yesterday!   Some practical ways to add value and improve yourself every day:   Read a little bit every day: Books are a concentrated source of wisdom. The more you read, the more you expose yourself to knowledge. In

"It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack. Take time daily to reflect on how much you have. It may not be all that you want but remember someone somewhere is dreaming to have what you have." - Germany Kent Why is it we take things for granted so often? Most the time they are those very things that deserve our gratitude and thankfulness the most. There are many things we fail to realize the true value of until they are missing from our lives. It is said that you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Often the truth is, you may have always known what you actually had, you just never thought you'd lose it. We often don't realize this until after we lose it, or it is gone out of our possession. We take things for granted on a daily basis thinking that they will always be there when we need it. This is true of both people and of our possessions.

  "Life’s like a boom-a-rang. The more good you throw out, the more you receive in return." - Josh S. Hinds   It's important to be nice. Far too often it feels like the world lacks niceness. Niceness should be a necessary quality for leadership in the world we are living in today.   It's tough out there. A lot of hurts, a lot of pain, a lot of uncertainty. This COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on our lives and grind on us as a civilization.   We can never have enough kindness in the world. It needs to be molded into our day, into our lives, and into our workplace. We need to start our day on a positive note and intentionally seek opportunities to be nice and add kindness to someone else's day.   Without it, we will continue to live in an unhealthy, toxic environment.   Here are 7 simple ways I've found being nice can bring you more happiness, joy, and success in your home or at work. You can start to encourage a culture of being nice to o

  "Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future." - Deepak Chopra   I'm sure you've heard the old adage's that "The same old thinking leads to the same old results," or "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."   We continue to create vicious cycles for ourselves:   We all want to change some things in our lives. But aren't willing to take a risk, or face our fears. We all hope that things could be different in some way.   But we fail to gain a clear understanding of what we want or how we want things to be. We want to live healthier, more fit lives. But we continue to drink too much, eat too much (or the wrong things), and exercise too little. We want more; a better job, better income, more wealth. Yet we don't work to gain more knowled

"We all make mistakes, everybody should be given a second chance." - Lailah Gifty Akita Has someone ever given you a second chance? A chance to start over? A chance to start anew? If you've ever been 'up against the ropes' or 'at wits end' or 'on the brink of failure or giving up' and someone or something allowed you a second chance, then you know the feeling of exuberance you get when it feels like you have been given a new lease on life. The elation and joy that comes with an opportunity to do better, an opportunity to be better. Some of us have experienced life changing moments like these in our lives. I know I have, and for them I am forever grateful. That's what life is about. We do not get redo's, but we do get second chances.   We all like second chances. Some of us are waiting for someone or something to come around to give us that second chance. But do you realize that you don't have to wait for someone else to give this

"It is choice, not chance that determines destiny." - Anonymous   If you have been asking yourself "How do I become more assertive?" You won't find your assertiveness in this post, in any book, audio or video, or from any other person. That is because you already have everything you need. You have an abundant, infinite, unlimited supply of assertiveness inside of you. You were born with it.   No one gave it to you, and no one can take it away.   Once you know that, and start to believe it, you are already well on your way.   But your success will depend on your personal approach. Most people tend to approach self-improvement in one of three ways:   I should probably do this, but I'd rather be doing something else like watching Netflix. This is great! I can't wait to get started! This will never work for me.   If you tend to choose number one, well at least you are honest. If you tend to choose number two, you are the type o

"I am powerful. I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time." - Anna Freud Most successful people have incredible levels of self-confidence. The fact is, when you develop an unshakable self-confidence, you gain a kind of clarity that makes you feel unstoppable. Like you can have, do, or be anything you want. And chances are you can.   The problem is that most of us lack self-confidence. A survey done by George Gallup and the Gallup company found that 1 out of every 3 people have low self-esteem. This is brought on by some level of fear, uncertainty or doubt about our own capabilities, abilities and/or personal traits. Even the most outwardly confident person can find themselves doubting their abilities sometimes.   I know I struggled with this most of my life. And although I am much stronger and more confident now, I still battle with this on a daily basis in some ways. I had deep seeded fear of

  "The hopeful man sees success where others see failure, sunshine where others see shadow and storm." - O.S. Marsden   It is understandable to have regrets about things we've done in the past. We may even wish to shut the door of memory and permanently block out whole periods of our lives. Yet it's possible to become grateful for the past. It is possible to abandon our old way of thinking about the past, and view it with new perspectives that will allow us to come to terms with it.   First, it starts by viewing your past for what it was. Take responsibility for it. Own it. Your past, everything and everyone served its purpose in creating who you are today. The good and the bad. Often it isn't regret for the things we actually did, but in the way we feel about those things today. And then let it go. The past is exactly that, the past. You cannot go back. You cannot change it.   You can only work to create a better future. You can't master your future i

  "If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever." -   The Dalai Lama   If you stop to think about it, what's the biggest waste of your time in your life currently? Is it binge watching that series on TV? Is it hopping from one social media platform to the next? I think the biggest waste of time in my life is time spent worrying.   Worrying is one of the most purposeless things that we do. Worrying takes us out of the present moment and either back into the past, where we spend time ruminating over what has already happened; or into the future so we can stew over what might possibly happen (or might not happen). Unless your worry can help you create solutions you can implement to prevent a negative outcome, it is doing more damage than it is worth. The time we spend worrying is time we don'

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at but a manner of traveling." - Margaret Lee Runbeck   We tend to look toward and forward to certain events for happiness. We are happy when our new car arrives, when it's the day of the concert we've been waiting to go to, or when we meet someone special. Vacations and days off bring us happiness, as does getting recognition or a pay raise or a new job promotion.   It's human nature. That's the way most of us are.   The problem is that these things come into our lives only sporadically, not on a consistent basis. So when we derive happiness mainly from things like this, or these types of occurrences, then it tends to be an on-again off-again feeling. Temporary until the next time.   Happiness doesn't need to be limited to specific items, events or destinations. There are a number of things we can do to make it a more ongoing and continuous part of our lives every day.   If we start out with the right attitude

"If your life in any way connects with other people, you are an influencer." - John Maxwell   Everyone is an influencer of other people. Whether you think so or not. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. You don't have to have a high profile occupation to be a person of influence. If in your normal life you interact and connect with other people you likely influence them in some way, shape or form.   This could be in your home, at your church, in your job, with your children. What you say and do has the potential to impact others and perhaps start a ripple effect. But how do you influence others when   implementing change?   Have you ever tried to change anyone’s behavior at work or at home? It can be extremely frustrating. So often the effort produces an opposite result. Potentially rupturing the relationship, diminishing performance, or causing the person to dig in their heels and do the opposite of what you were hoping to change. Still, so