As business leaders many of us count on a team of outstanding professionals to make things happen on a day-to-day basis.  Lisa Haneberg offers some great tips for engaging our teams over at Management Craft:

• Begin holding morning huddles for 5-10 minutes so that everyone can check in with each other. Over time, huddling will strengthen mutual trust and understanding.
• If you have a company lunchroom, make it a point to eat there most days and sit with peers and team members. Create a positive group conversation.
• Talk about the importance of building deep work relationships and begin each team meeting with business related questions that ask each person to share something about his or her background, opinions, or ideas.
• Do more group brainstorming sessions.
• Assign some tasks to pairs and trios. Over time, make sure that everyone pairs up together.
• Ask the training department to facilitate a training session about behavioral styles. There are many easy and inexpensive assessments you can use for this purpose like the MBTI, DISC, Social Styles, and Activity Vector Analysis.
• Increase the likelihood that team members with converse through their assignments, physical location, meetings, and schedules.

Let’s face it, it is far easier to sit in your office and do nothing.  Building a great team takes work.  The foundation of a team is trust.  Trust is built upon communication.  Lisa’s tips help improve communication.

There is no shortcut to greatness in business (or in life).  We need to do the work.  This is a great place to start.

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One Year Ago:

In Career Intensity, we discuss the use of “accelerants” to assist in goal achievement. People, technology, experience, and time are the four most common accelerants leveraged by successful people as they focus on goal achievement, but there are certainly others. Your only limit in finding accelerants to help you achieve your goals is your creativity or, better yet, the creativity of those around you.

People: Successful individuals multi-task, but they don’t tackle every task themselves. Instead, they enlist other people to help them by creating a win-win scenario for the person who is the accelerant. In the mentor-protégée relationship, for example, the protégée benefits from the learning associated with completing tasks that are critical to the mentor, and the mentor offers guidance on how the protégée can achieve greater success in life.

Technology: You can use technological accelerants to e-mail, fax, or leave a voice mail for anyone at any hour of the day or night. This asynchronous communication is effective when you have task-oriented items to cover with colleagues. Interactive or synchronous communication has also benefited from evolving technologies. Mobile phones, two-way messaging devices, and instant messaging all offer you the opportunity to communicate anywhere at any time.

Experience: There are two different ways experience can help facilitate goal achievement. The first is when you have direct, relevant experience and can rely on it as a rough roadmap to guide you through the completion of the task at hand. The second is when the relevant experience is available to you in the form of another person’s success. You don’t need to have an actual relationship with the person to use their success to your advantage; you need only to have access to a recorded history of their success methodology. You can then replicate their behavior and duplicate their success.

Time: One way time can be used as an accelerant is in a negotiation process. If one party has to make a decision by a certain date, time is certainly not in that party’s favor. Time is, however, a huge advantage to the party who is making the offer – provided they know about the time pressure faced by the other side.

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CareerBuilder offers these ten tips to help you get hired:

“1. Customize your résumé and cover letter.
It might seem faster to blast off generic materials to dozens of employers, but this will cost you time in the long run. Tailor your résumé and cover letter to each open position to clearly demonstrate how your experience fills the employers’ requirements.

2. Diversify your search.
If you’ve been responding to newspaper ads with no response, also post your résumé online, search some job Web sites, talk to your friends and attend an industry trade show. The more ways you search, the more likely you are to connect with the right employers.

3. Don’t go solo.
Your friends, family and former co-workers each have a network of their own — and a friend-of-a-friend might hold the perfect lead. Don’t be shy: Reach out to your network and let your contacts know you’re on the job market.

4. Find a company where you fit in.
Browse potential employers’ Web sites and ask your friends about what it’s like to work at their companies. Employers are looking for candidates who would be a good fit and thrive within the company culture.

5. Don’t get discouraged.
Experts estimate the average job search to last anywhere between three and 10 months — and that means a lot of rejection. Keep at it: Your dream job is out there.

6. Always be prepared.
You can never be too prepared for your first meeting with a potential employer. Before your interview, always browse the company’s Web site. Find out as much as you can about the company’s products, leadership, mission and culture, and prepare answers to common interview questions.

7. Be on time.
Whether it’s an informational interview, an open house or a formal interview, always arrive about 10 minutes early. Allow plenty of time for traffic and poor weather.

8. Dress and act the part.
In a business setting, always dress in professional clothing in the best quality you can afford. Take the industry and employer into consideration, but a business suit is almost always appropriate for interviews.

9. Listen more than you talk.
Even if you’re nervous at an interview, try not to ramble. By keeping your mouth shut, you can learn valuable information about the company and avoid saying something that you’ll wish you hadn’t.

10. Ask good questions.
At the end of an interview, the employer will inevitably ask if you have any questions. Have a list of questions prepared that showcase your company research and interest in the position.”

Lets get something straight, these are the basics.  You need to do this stuff to even be “in the game”.  Take personal stock of your job-search campaign now.  If it does not include these tips, start over.

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Do you want to double your pay? 

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 This is a risk free way for you to learn how to double your revenue, increase your time off and have the kind of business and career that you deserve.

What more information?  Click the link below.

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I’ve discussed at length just how important regular goal setting and daily work toward goal achievement are to your long-term success. A highly effective process you can follow to set and meet your goals is:

1. Establish a maximum of 3 long-term goals to accomplish within ten years.
2. Devise up to 9 medium-term contributory goals to achieve within one year.
3. Outline up to 27 short-term action items to complete within a week.

If you have trouble finding time to set goals and evaluate your progress in achieving them, you’ll probably benefit from making better use of your in-between time, all those moments of dead air in your day.

A friend of mine had jury duty today, and he got called back for tomorrow. He’s been through it before, so he knew to come prepared with his laptop and a project to work on during the long stretches of waiting. He tells me that he always has some bit of work with him, just in case he gets caught in a lull beyond his control. That’s a great idea.

Sometimes, you need a little downtime to decompress and let your mind be lazy, sure. But for those times when you’re stuck on the subway, waiting at the doctor’s office, or enjoying a cup of coffee on your morning break, and you feel inspired with big ideas or plans, it’s a great idea to have a means to capture them. You might like to keep your laptop on hand, but a small paper notebook works well, too. Those spare fifteen minutes here and there are surprisingly useful to me. I make to-do lists, organize my thoughts, list my priorities, evaluate my progress, and clear my mind of clutter.

Remember, the definition of intensity is “magnitude of a quantity per unit”. You can make the most of your time by taking advantage of those in-between moments to get clear and get organized.

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Entrepreneur Pete Kight recommends that you always keep it simple. When he first started his electronic payment business in 1981, “the bank-supplied enrollment form said, ‘The system will automatically debit your demand-deposit account.’ The people Kight talked to didn’t get what that meant and found it intimidating, so he took out debit, system, and automatically. His revamped sign-up slip said simply, ‘Your bank will charge your account and make the payment on the due date.’ That worked. Today, CheckFree’s market cap is $4.6 billion.”

Here are a few ways you can streamline your approach to business and keep it uncomplicated:

Exercise common sense. Do not expect the impossible. Make sure, when you ask someone to complete a task for you, that it is possible. Also, make sure that what you’re asking is ethical. You should never ask anyone to do anything that would compromise his integrity or yours. Finally, ask yourself if you can live with an extreme best- or worse-case outcome to your request. Clarity in your approach to work keeps things simple and manageable.

Maintain an external orientation. Put yourself in the other person’s place. Think about her needs and motivations as much as you think about your own. It’s easy to get caught up in your own agenda and ignore the other side, but you’re not going to get very far if you do. Success is all about offering value to others—you’ve got to understand what they want if you’re going to be effective at value creation.

Remember that wishing doesn’t make things happen. We always want to remain positive and hopeful, of course, but it’s important to take action to make things happen and make decisions based on concrete evidence, past precedents, or available resources. Productive thinking takes you much further than wishful thinking.

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“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” Leonardo da Vinci

Passion is a theme I revisit, in my mind and here on the blog, all the time. I keep coming back to it because I simply cannot overstate the significance and importance of pursuing your passion. Think about how you feel when you’re doing what you love to do most of all. Time flies, and yet you might feel as though you have packed a year’s worth of progress into a month. Your experiences are richer, you are more on, and you get amazing amounts of work done. If you can channel that sort of passion and drive into your career, nothing can stop you and success will come with ease.

I love what I do. I love talking to people about their experiences, helping them, seeing their situations evolve, meeting new people, expanding my perspective. My work rarely feels like work to me. It gives back to me even more than I put into it. I look forward to each day and feel grateful for all the opportunities before me.

People who love their jobs project a sense of excitement and urgency into their work and the world. That urgency is beneficial to their careers and contagious to their business partners. The most successful entrepreneurs are always brainstorming about ways to improve their business, move projects forward, and accomplish meaningful goals today. They seize each moment, and they look forward to and plan for the future.

If you do not feel this sense of urgency in your work, that may be a signal that you are in the wrong field, though this is not necessarily true. Try to get in touch with that drive, and infuse your work with it as much as you can. Sometimes the mere act of doing accelerates you toward greatness.

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Successful people are confident. They are not immune to mistakes or flaws any more than anyone else, but they think about themselves in a constructive and positive way. How can you learn to believe in yourself more? One of the simplest ways is to keep your internal dialogue, those conversations between your champion and critic self, positive.

For instance, when faced with a challenging situation, the conversation in your head might go something like this:

Champion: I can do this. I’ve done it before. I’m determined, and I know I can solve this problem.
Critic: What if you can’t? What if you fail and make a fool of yourself?
Champion: Nah, I can handle this. I’ve dealt with much more trying situations before.
Critic: Remember that time you flubbed in the middle of that very important presentation?

Now, at this point, your inner champion needs to kick your inner critic out of the ring. Instead of giving in to fear and doubt, you need to assert the positive, I-can-do-anything side of yourself:

Champion: That’s true. I did mess up that time, but I was young and just getting started in my career. Since then, I have given a number of outstanding presentations, and I have improved drastically over time. I don’t need to be perfect. I just need to keep trying and improving. The mark of a leader is not perfection, but continuous progress.

We all have self doubt from time to time. You should not expect yourself to be free of it. What you must do is manage those doubts and succeed in spite of them.

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What’s so special about those people who always seem to manage to accomplish whatever they set out to do, who appear to have their own personal spotlight shining down on them ‘round the clock? Are they born with it? Do they have all the luck? Are they fated to be winners? Unlikely. Below are ten shining qualities that most superachievers share, traits that propel them beyond the masses into dizzying success, and ten concrete ideas on how to foster these characteristics in yourself:

Confidence: Confident people believe wholeheartedly that they will accomplish their goals and bring their dreams to life. The believe that they are worthwhile people who have a tremendous amount of value to offer their business associates, friends, and loved ones. Confident people do not think they can accomplish anything in the world, and they are not free of doubts—in fact, they make a point of trying to maintain realistic expectations of themselves. What makes them unique is that if they fall short of those expectations, they forgive themselves and immediately set to work making great things happen.

To build self-confidence, give yourself credit for everything you try and everything you accomplish. For the next month, write down all the things you achieve. Eventually, you will internalize these self-affirming thoughts and translate them into words and behavior.

Persistence: Successful people have firm resolve. They make strong commitments to their plans and do not give up. Small steps taken today lead to great rewards in the future, and motivated people know that making regular investments yields tremendous long-term gains.

The best way to develop persistence is to make a habit of setting goals and accomplishing them. The benefits of even short-term commitments will quickly become visible. Write down a goal every day, or week, and make it happen.

Honesty: You don’t have to be honest to get ahead, but deception and mistruths will always catch up to you sooner or later. Once they do, you undo all the work you’ve done to get to where you are. If you lose trust, you lose business and opportunity.

Most people fail to deliver on their word when they guarantee to do what they are not able or willing to do. Never promise more than you can give. It’s much better to promise too little and surprise someone with extra than to promise too much and let them down.

Humor: A little bit of humor makes any difficult situation more bearable. Angry clients, uptight supervisors, and problematic coworkers can all be softened with a touch of it. You can’t take yourself too seriously.

To cultivate the lighter side, step back and take a good look at yourself from time to time. Are you being ridiculously Type A, controlling, negative, narrow minded? Laugh at yourself. Doing so instantly relieves stress and tension.

Integrity: Having a reputation for doing the right thing and treating people well will take you further than any amount of sharp shooting or crafty dealing. Integrity lasts, and no one can compromise yours. In this harried, modern world, real integrity and steadfast commitment to one’s word is rare. We all appreciate people we can count on to fulfill their promises and stand by their values.

Integrity is most often compromised when people enter into situations or agreements that do not suit their needs or purposes. Be clear with yourself about your intentions and desires.

Compassion: Showing empathy for your business partners and clients demonstrates that you are on their side. When a counterpart feels understood, she is naturally more open and trusting, and the relationship has room to move in a positive direction.

Try to put yourself in the customer’s position. What is his problem, and how can it be solved? When you get in touch with that, you will understand what you can do to benefit him and secure your relationship.

Dependability: Your business partners must feel that they can depend on you. They’re never going to trust you with the big projects unless they do. Superachievers ensure that their word is gold, and their customers turn to them first and recommend them to others. The boss will always call upon the most reliable person to work on a special project, and that puts you in position for salary increases and advancement opportunities.

Make your commitments top priority. Other things can wait, but the tasks to which you pledge your time and energy need to come first.

Enthusiasm: If a client or business partner can see that you have passion for your work or their project, they will naturally be drawn to you. Enthusiasm is an energetic force that makes amazing things happen. Superachievers are never blasé about their lives or futures.

The simplest way to increase enthusiasm in your work is to do things you love. If you are uninspired by your current projects, try to branch out into other areas. Offer to do the tasks that appeal to you. If you lack inspiration and motivation, you’re probably just in the wrong field or circumstances.

Patience: Only in very rare cases does whopping success arrive overnight. Most of the time, lasting success is the result of years of hard work. You have to look at the big picture, view overall progress, and keep putting in the time.

What helps me be more patient is to find ways to relax, release tension, and undertake activities I enjoy, which are separate from work. Establishing good balance in your life removes the sense of desperation you might feel about crossing that finish line.

Respect: Successful individuals respect themselves and others. They consider the perspectives even of competitors and embittered customers and work to resolve problems quickly. You have to take your business associates seriously and treat them as equals. Equally important, you have to treat yourself well and pursue the life you really want.

People who respect themselves tend to show others more respect. Take good care of yourself in every way you can. Make smart decisions about your health, money, relationships, goals, career, and free time.

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We have two more weeks until 2006 is halfway over! Is it just me, or has the first half of the year absolutely flown by? This is a great time to start thinking about what you’ve accomplished so far this year, and what you would like to accomplish yet. To some people, six months sounds like a drop in the bucket. Others are energized by the thought of how much they can get done in that amount of time. If you find time elusive and hard to pin down, here are a few ideas on how to manage it effectively:

Time and Strategic Thinking. The first question a strategic thinker asks is, “How much time do I have to develop this plan, make this decision, or solve this problem?” This factor will have the most influence on how the individual will proceed. While a bounty of time is a decided advantage, you needn’t let a lack of time stress you out too much. Some people work especially well under pressure, and not having the opportunity to overthink can actually be a benefit. The important thing is to keep in mind, whether you have a month, a week, or a couple of days to complete a task, is that a solid plan is your best asset. Sit down, work out your schedule for the duration of the project, and set benchmarks.

Time-Out. When we’re pressed for time, we’re inclined to work without pause right up till the end. However, this is not necessarily the best strategy. Studies have shown that people who take a lunch break in the middle of an eight-hour workday are more productive overall than those who work for eight hours straight. Leave a little bit of time for breaks if you can. It will probably end up helping you be more effective and efficient.

Time Wasting. If you intend to make the most of your time, you’ve got to weed out the personal and professional activities that drain your time unnecessarily. E-mail, phone calls, meetings with no purpose, mindless Internet surfing—identify the things that subtract valuable time from your day, and eliminate them as much as possible.

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When’s the last time you did something nice for someone at the office? People tend to establish habits and patterns at work and not deviate from them much. If you find yourself going to work, putting your nose to the grindstone, and slipping out at the end of the day, not having extended yourself or tried something new, it might be time to change that.

When we help our coworkers out, they usually remember and reciprocate at some point in the future. Think of these good deeds as exercises in becoming a more valuable member of the organization, and small deposits in the good will bank.

What’s the best thing you can do to get on a coworker’s good side? Lend a hand. When someone’s bogged down with work, even just a little extra help goes a long way. It doesn’t matter if you’re not trained in his job. If you’re caught up and he’s overwhelmed, maybe you can take care of a simple task or errand for him. A small investment in time and effort will most likely score you big points.

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Who are the repeaters and boosters in your life? Repeaters are people who tend to share information and make recommendations. Boosters are people who not only share information, but who have a platform from which to disperse information to a wide audience. We don’t all know a booster with connections to a large group of people or the media, but most of us know at least one repeater.

Spend some time with the repeater(s) in your life. Talk to them about your goals, projects, and personal brand. Give them advertising materials to pass out, if they’re amenable to that. Off the top of my head, I can think of five friends who have enthusiastically promoted my work to many of their friends, with very little prompting from me. Make the most of the resources you’ve got. This is a critical component of success.

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Successful people are often revered for their time management skills. Their days have but 24 hours, just like everyone else’s, yet they manage to accomplish more than most people. How do they do it?

1. They say no to things that aren’t priorities. Successful people are in control of their lives. They don’t let themselves get sucked into activities that they don’t enjoy, or that don’t contribute to attainment of their goals. If they do participate in events out of obligation, they keep it short and maximize their time. They don’t spend a lot of hours in idle activities that contribute little or nothing to their lives. They make the most of every moment.

2. They say yes to things that are priorities. Once a successful person has committed himself to a goal, he dives into pursuits that will move him closer to it. Even the menial tasks are not a burden because he has the big picture in view. He knows that a little bit of tedious work right now will lead to greater freedom and enjoyment in the future.

3. They know what they want. Successful people understand their passions and have figured out how they want to channel them. Hence, they can devote all the energy other people spend wondering, pondering, escaping, and meandering on goal achievement. Having a strong sense of purpose and direction is highly motivating.

4. They prepare. People for whom everything seems to go right usually have a clear idea of what they want before they even get started. They plan for each interaction, phone call, meeting, and day. They write down their goals and weekly action items and see them through. They think through multiple possibilities and decide how they will deal with any outcome they face. Because successful people know what they want, they can aim for it directly. This makes every interaction more efficient and solid.

5. They know themselves. Smart time managers know how they work best. Through their experience, they have learned to identify typical obstacles to their progress. With the knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses, they know how to plan and handle most any situation, making the most of the time they have.

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Successful businesses and businesspeople are skilled at reinventing the old into the new, constantly regenerating and renewing. How can you do the same? Here are a few ideas:

1. Meet new people. Particularly for those who have the same friends for many years, making some new ones can be enlightening. Of course, we all benefit from knowing people who have seen us through our ups and downs and know us very well, but we can also learn a lot from someone who is forming a brand new impression of us. Each new person you meet offers a clean slate. What do you want to show this person, and what does she pick up on? What old traits do you want to let go of, and which new ones are you inclined to highlight?

2. Give yourself a makeover. Get a nice haircut, start eating smarter and working out more regularly, and spiff up your wardrobe. Taking good care of yourself shows other people that you value yourself and you believe you have a lot to offer. You’re worth the investment.

3. Take a snapshot. What are you holding onto from the past that you should let go of? Are there lingering doubts, fears, or reservations about yourself and the future? Take a good look at yourself as you are. What do you have? What are your strengths today? What are your assets, and how can you use them to leverage more for yourself? Let go of the baggage of the past and move confidently and optimistically into your future.

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Many of you have a three-day weekend coming up. I’d like to suggest that, in addition to relaxing and enjoying the holiday, you talk to someone about your goals and progress. This can be just a casual conversation with a friend. The point is to verbalize the process and make it real. You never know what kind of encouragement, tips, or leads this person can give you. Open up to the world, and let them help you on your path.

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Do you work with any grumpy people? Most of us do. Getting these complainers to relax and open up is a great exercise you can do to practice your powers of persuasion. Softening up these types requires exactly the same kinds of skills that you need to calm down agitated customers, convince people that you are trustworthy, and bring people around to your way of thinking in any situation. And building stronger relationships is something that can benefit us all. Here are some tips for transforming negative attitudes and persuading people to align with you:

1. Get them talking. Complaining coworkers and critical customers often just want to vent and be heard. If you listen and sympathize, they will see you as a friendly advocate. Ask questions about what’s wrong and what could be done to fix the problem. You might think you need to deliver your pitch to change someone’s point of view, but it’s actually more important to listen to their arguments and work with them in subtle ways.

2. Compliment them. Disgruntled folks often feel unappreciated or unrecognized. Tell them what you like about them and what makes them unique. Of course, you don’t want this to come off as insincere, so focus on the qualities that you truly admire in this person. He feels misunderstood by the whole world, but you get him. That’s priceless.

3. Help resolve their problems. If you can fix the problem, by all means, do it. If it’s out of your hands, help come up with ideas on how to resolve it through other means. We’re all looking for people to help us solve our problems, and when we find people who can do it well, we hang on tight. Prove yourself to people, and they will want you by their side.

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How much of your time do you spend working on your goals? Superachievers spend as much as 100% of their time on theirs. This is because the people who accomplish the most are usually those whose goals are in line with their passions, so it’s natural for them to devote all their energy to them. If you are not spending much time on your goals, ask yourself if those are the right goals, if that’s really what you want.

Once you’ve determined that you are pointed in the right direction, take an honest look at where your time goes. Is there anything that adds little value to your life that you could cut down on? People talk about how there aren’t enough hours in the day. We all get the same number, however. The difference from one person to another is how they use their time. Time is arguably the most precious commodity we have. Get into the habit of managing yours well.

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A simple secret to success is to be bold in whatever you do. Believing in and asserting yourself is an essential part of achieving your dreams. You may feel that if you are not 100% certain of your direction, you can’t afford to be bold. The truth is you can’t afford not to be.

No one expects perfection, even from leaders and superachievers, and you shouldn’t expect it from yourself. Every hero has his weak points. In fact, when we see the human side of highly successful people, we relate to them and love them all the more. We draw inspiration from these heroes because we believe that we too can succeed. We admire them because they are brave and seemingly fearless.

To develop your own sense of confidence and boldness:

Relax. When asserting yourself and making strong choices, you need to come from a position of strength. Take some deep breaths and release the tension. Get comfortable with yourself and your circumstances. Don’t hold stress in your body—focus your energy into your actions, and let it out that way.

Adopt a can-do attitude. Instead of worrying about how or why, hone in on how. Most problems can be solved. Roll up your sleeves and get to work. Even if you are stumped from time to time along the way, those around you will be impressed by your determination and quick action, and you will learn and create personal value along the way. The mere act of beginning a project creates forward momentum and builds a sense of accomplishment.

Believe in yourself. When problems bear down on you, we might be inclined to let someone else solve them. However, someone who is confident and self-assured believes that she is the perfect person to get the job done. She knows she does fantastic work, so she’s eager to jump in and prove how capable she is. Meditate on what’s great about you, and bring it to life through your actions.

Do not apologize or make excuses for yourself. If you disagree with someone, don’t preface your concern with “I’m sorry, but I think…” If you make a mistake, own the fact that you fell short, but focus on what you’re going to do to remedy the situation.

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I encourage you to meet periodically with an ambitious and positive friend to talk about your Career Intensity work and progress together. Here’s why:

1. It keeps you on track. For as angelic as we all try to be, when we are our only judge, we often tend to slack off. Having someone to answer to each week motivates you to do something worth reporting. You certainly wouldn’t want to do nothing while your counterpart races ahead, tackling all his goals with ease!

2. It’s fun. Having time just for yourself to do whatever you like and talk about all the great work you’re doing is rewarding. It puts you in a positive frame of mind and makes you feel proud of the work you’re doing.

3. It works. Research suggests that in any process of working toward a goal, people who have partners have higher success rates. We can’t always see our own best strengths and most obvious roadblocks. Someone looking at you from the outside can offer insight to accelerate your progress. Not only do you have someone to hold you accountable, you have someone with whom to practice the skills of socializing, persuasion, and value demonstration.

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When was the last time you had a breakthrough? Taking a sudden leap forward in a process you’ve been working on steadfastly is a terrific feeling. Some people are more slow and methodical in their progress, while others jump forward incrementally, and the size of the jump varies from person to person. In fact, some people work for years before they achieve what they feel is a true breakthrough. If you feel you have not moved forward much recently, keep working—you are likely to experience an energizing breakthrough soon.

When you do make these leaps, record the events surrounding them and the results. Note what preceded the breakthrough and how you felt afterward. Doing this will create a sort of map of your progress. You will learn to prepare for and make the most of these jumps forward. You will reveal to yourself that they do occur, and reaffirm your commitment to progress.

The great news about breakthroughs is that once you’ve made one, it’s almost impossible to go back. Once you’ve learned to negotiate smartly, persuade a crowd of people to your way of thinking, or leverage situations to your advantage, you’ve learned it and you will have that as a resource for the rest of your life. Additionally, you have great power to push yourself over the edge of a challenge and soar into success. So much of progress is rooted in attitude. If you believe you are progressing and you will continue to do so, progress naturally results. If you are convinced that a breakthrough is imminent and you work to achieve it, you will.

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“People don’t remember exactly what you did, or what you said… but they will always remember how you made them feel.” –Author Unknown

How do you relate to people? What would your colleagues, supervisor, and customers say about you? Your interactions with people and the way they perceive you are enormous factors in your success. Being friendly and sociable and winning people over with your charm is a lot easier than you might think. The best way to connect with people is to:

Be yourself. Though you might be able to attract friends and business partners by assuming an alternate identity, this does not benefit you in the long run. Being who you are and letting people know what you’re all about does, however. By definition, you are unique in the world. No one has the same combination of experiences, perspectives, opinions, and methods of expression. The most interesting and attractive people are always those with their own vision and the confidence to express it.

Be involved. We are social creatures. We all want to be heard, understood, appreciated, and validated. A passing stranger who smiles at you can make your entire day, as can the one-minute conversation with the clerk at the post office. Talk to people. If you don’t know where to start, start simple. Talk about the weather. Ask how their weekend was. Compliment their haircut. The most basic conversation topics can lead to wonderful discussions about work, philosophy, the future. You never know where it’s going to go—but the only way to get to a good place is to start walking.

Be open. While being who you are and expressing your unique opinions is a must, you should also keep your mind open to other points of view. Maybe the loud and chatty HR lady gets on your nerves a bit, or the tight-lipped accounting supervisor makes you want to walk on by. That’s fine, but don’t let it stop you from getting to know them, finding out what they have to offer, demonstrating your value to them, and being open to who they are and where they’re coming from. You just might learn something from them.

Business is all about people and relationships, and the better you are at handling those, the further you can go. Succeeding with people is really just a matter of being yourself, getting involved, and keeping an open mind.

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“Workaholics often see themselves as indispensable to their company. However, their boss is likely to see them as inefficient… Over time, employers don’t benefit from workaholics. Hard workers tend to miss fewer days than workaholics, develop better working relationships with others in the office, especially subordinates, and are more efficient.”

This Forbes article distinguishes between workaholics and hard workers, and reminds us that quality is more important to success than quantity. Being successful is not about working harder or longer—it’s about working better and more efficiently. In fact, one of the markers of career success is enjoying your job so much that it doesn’t feel like work at all.

Knowing how to use accelerants, get other people working for you, and maximize the impact of everything you do is what catapults you to success. A few ideas for increasing productivity and getting more out of your efforts are:

1. Say no. Learn how to decline requests for your time that do not provide a good return on your investment. Get into the habit of not answering e-mail or taking phone calls when you are deeply involved in an important project. Unless it’s a true emergency, it can wait an hour or two. Guard your time and effort carefully. If you treat yourself and you time as valuable commodities, so will others.

2. Plan. In addition to planning for each interaction, plan for each day. What will you accomplish today, and what can wait till tomorrow? Learn to delegate work to increase productivity, rather than taking on every facet of a project yourself.

3. Ask for help. You can’t—and shouldn’t—do everything. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of self awareness and foresight. No superachiever reached levels of great success without a lot of help from his friends, and neither will you.

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Who are your advisors in life? Who do you trust and rely on for guidance and suggestions when you’re stuck? These might be your parents or friends, or a spiritual guide, counselor, or coach. Having a mentor can be very helpful to your career. You get all the benefits of education, training, and wisdom, while the mentor benefits from the help you provide. If you’re not sure where to find such a person, consider doing an internship or volunteering. A relationship with a mentor can open doors for you, provide networking opportunities, and help quicken your journey to success.

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Here’s an accelerant you can use to boost your productivity and success: Identify an adversary in your life. This can be a difficult customer, a coworker who is mildly disgruntled with your work, or a business partner with whom you rarely see eye to eye. Pick someone who is reasonable and successful himself, not someone who doesn’t have a good grip on his own career. However much this person may annoy you, I want you to use him to help you clarify your own behavior and improve your performance.

Put yourself in his shoes. Look at yourself from his perspective. What are you doing wrong? Where does your adversary’s problem with you lie? What could you do to improve that relationship and make him feel satisfied with your work? Assuming he’s a reasonable person, he probably only expects reasonable adjustments in your behavior. Maybe he’s peeved that you’re always late to meetings. Perhaps he is frustrated because he feels he is not being heard by you and he isn’t seeing his input being considered and brought to life.

Make a list of things you could do to improve this relationship and increase his level of satisfaction with your work. In the coming weeks, try a few of these ideas. If you harbor a grudge toward this person, put it aside and make an effort to improve the relationship. Business is all about relationships, and it’s in your best interest to maximize the quality of all the connections in your career.

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Over the years, I have found that top performers—those usually thought to be simply lucky by others—share four qualities that attract success to them like a magnet. Anyone can follow these tips and improve their rate of success:

Take Calculated Risks
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, they say, and they’re right. Only by stretching yourself and moving into new challenges will you grow as a person and increase your success. You don’t have to quit your job and dive headlong into a long-shot dream job to take a risk. In fact, you should take calculated risks, attempting things which have a strong chance of working out for you.

Create a Positive Environment
The two ingredients required for a positive attitude are a positive internal environment and a positive external environment. To achieve both of these, you have to master your internal self-dialogue, by eradicating doubts and negative thoughts from your mind. Of course, we all have doubts. However, what sets successful people apart is that they respond to those doubtful inner voices with firm dismissal. For instance, the affirming side of you may say, “I’m dependable,” to which your inner critic responds, “What about that time you were two days late with a deadline?” Successful people remind themselves that nobody’s perfect, but that they do a great job most of the time. They draw from past victories to build future success. Creating a positive external environment is about having a pleasant demeanor, facilitating and contributing to the success of others, and approaching life with optimism.

Work Hard to Make Things Simple
The fewer elements you have in your life, the greater the amount of time and attention you can devote to each of them. Make a habit of discarding unnecessary filler and zoning in on the essential—mentally, physically, and practically. One simple thing I like to do is organize all the e-mail in my inbox into folders I can work with later. The only things that stay in my inbox are items that need quick attention. Get comfortable with saying “no” to things you don’t want interfering with your time and goals.

Follow the 80/20 Rule
Since 20 percent of the work tends to take up 80 percent of the time, make the most of your efforts by cutting the fluff and focusing on the tasks that will produce the best results. Get to the heart of the matter instead of wasting time on the small details.

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You know those people who seem as though they can do anything, who accomplish hundreds of tasks every week and still come out smiling, who never appear to run out of energy? Behind each of these people is an army (or at least a small group) of people helping them accomplish their goals.

Who are the players in your support system? Who helps you personally and professionally? If you think you could use more support, make new connections or hire people to complete the services you require. Wise business people know to hire people smarter than they are in the area of need. For instance, if I need help improving my wardrobe so I can look sharp for important meetings and presentations, I’ll be doing myself a huge favor by hiring a good tailor or wardrobe consultant.

Synergistic relationships are core of business. Get involved with people, and seek out and accept what they have to offer. Services, advice, inspiration, ideas—all these things quicken and intensify your journey down the path to success.

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“Google encourages its engineers to spend one day a week, or 20 percent of their time, on projects that are unrelated to work. Called ‘20 percent time,’ the concept has been quite lucrative for Google, helping the company dramatically expand its offerings, some of which have become cash cows.

According to Debbie Jaffe, product marketing manager for Google, ‘The 20 percent program is important to keep engineers engaged and excited about working on new projects. It’s an opportunity for them to grow both professionally and personally.’”

I love this idea. No one enjoys being chained into a job where every minute of his time is controlled and slotted into one of a few tasks. Individual talents flourish when they are given time and room to do so.

Though you may not be able to convince your supervisor to adopt Google’s concept, you do have the power to implement it in your own life. In working toward your goals, give yourself a certain amount of time to doodle and meander. Some days you might want to sit and think. Others you may prefer to take a walk—personally, I get some of my best ideas on long walks around town. And now and then you may be seized with inspiration that applies directly to your work. Life is multi-faceted. Keep yourself open to a breadth of experiences. Doing so usually only points out all the more what is most important to you and how you want to spend your time.

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“At a meeting of the South Florida chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization, more than 100 small-business owners are gathered in the aisles of an auditorium at Nova Southeastern University. Half of the entrepreneurs stand with their eyes closed and their arms stretched out from their sides, each facing a partner.

The man onstage tells the folks with their eyes shut to think ‘bad thoughts’ as their arms are pressed down by their partners. The arms go down easily. Then the man tells them to repeat the process, this time thinking positive thoughts. No arms go down, even though some of the people pushing down have gotten on their toes to get more leverage. ‘Thoughts radiate physically,’ the man says. ‘Change your thoughts and you change your actions, your results, your destiny.’”

Make a list of the toughest problems you’re facing right now. Pick one that you really want to resolve. Commit to spending the next week (or two) approaching it with a strictly positive attitude. I guarantee you will make progress in resolving the matter. Even if you don’t, you won’t have lost a thing.

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Adam McFarland makes a great case for taking a little time off. I suggested recently that those who are looking for something better careerwise can do themselves a big favor by getting away from the office and ruminating on what they really want. Adam reminds us that even when you love your job, time away allows you to come back refreshed, with new energy and ideas.

No one gets any points for putting in long, exhausting hours. What will get you ahead is working more efficiently, maximizing returns on your time and energy investments.

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Are you using your vacation time? I encourage you, particularly those of you who do not feel satisfied with your current jobs, to take time off. Whether you use this time to search and interview for a new job, brainstorm on alternatives, or simply get away for a while, the break is critical. You need to get in touch with the world outside of work and everything better that’s waiting for you. Take a week off if you can. Get away from the force that’s dragging you down. Shake off the dead weight.

Many people feel guilty about taking time off. Maybe your boss gives you a hard time about it, implying that the show can’t go on without you there. You don’t owe your company anything beyond what your job description states, and if vacation time is part of your contract, you can and should take it. Standing up for yourself and your time is a great first step to reclaiming your life and happiness.

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Great advice from Business Week:

“What are the two little words you can say to all of your customers that will immediately endear your business to them and guarantee they will be your customers for life? What two little words can drive your business through the roof? The answer: your customers’ names.”

I have always believed that the fonder we are of people, the more likely we are to use their names often. Think about someone you hold dear. His or her name probably has pleasant connotations for you.

Make your customers (and colleagues) feel valued by using their names and making interactions more personal. Try to remember details about their lives, interests, and preferences. The closer they feel to you, the more apt they are to trust you and continue working with you.

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