Be Understood and Appreciated Better than a Billionaire
Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!
Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!
Have you ever noticed that people were hanging on your every word?
Do you feel that way as often as you want?
If you haven't ever felt that way, would you like to?
Are you willing to run some risks to gain more understanding and appreciation?
Being understood and appreciated is simpler than most people make it. But it does require making some changes.
First, find a brief new story that summarizes your point in a few words.
I was at a meeting this week with many master story tellers. One woman wanted us to feel the pain of AIDS among children who contracted the disease from their mothers at birth.
Often, these AIDS-infected children are orphans. She described one such orphan whose parents had died at age two. This orphan girl had no siblings. Fortunately, the girl is receiving drug therapy to retard the progress of the disease. But the stigma of AIDS is very great. Many school mates will shun a child with AIDS for fear of catching the disease. The young woman is a religious person who believes it's wrong to lie. She says that lying about her disease is the worst aspect of her life.
You couldn't hear a sound while the woman told that brief story. I don't think anyone even took a deep breath while listening.
We understood her point and appreciated her for sharing that powerful story with us. I'm sure you do too.
Coming up with the right story may take some effort. Make that effort before communicating. Your preparation will save you lots of time and misunderstandings in the long run.
Don't speak until you have everyone's attention.
People have a hard time concentrating. Until they are ready, they cannot grasp what you want them to hear. Take your time so that they are ready for you.
If you start before they are ready, they won't get your message or appreciate you . . . and they will think that you think your message isn't very important.
Look them in the eye repeatedly for two to five seconds as you speak.
Most people avoid eye contact. While most of us also become uncomfortable if someone locks eyeballs with us for minute after minute, we feel disconnected from someone who doesn't look at us directly for at least two seconds occasionally while speaking.
I had that experience today. We had a terrific host who I enjoyed listening to today. At the end of the meeting, I went up to thank him . . . and he looked away as I shook his hand. I felt like a carry-out meal that have been left in the refrigerator for three weeks.
I'll have a hard time respecting him in the future . . . which will affect my ability to understand and appreciate him.
Appreciate them orally and physically for listening.
Explain how much their attention means to you and give them handshakes and hugs to let them feel your appreciation.
Send them a useful bit of information or gift that shows you are thinking of them in a personal way.
Those you want to understand and appreciate you also want to be understood and appreciated. If you take the time to do that, they will be twice as interested in what you have to say next time.
Check in with them from time to time to see how they are doing.
This may seem like what your Mother did for you, but that attention was based in love, wasn't it? It's delightful flattery of the most sincere kind.
Share information that they can use to live their dreams.
People pass along all kinds of potentially useful information to me daily. I try to pass the relevant parts along to those who I want to understand and appreciate me more.
Those who receive the information feel honored, and immediately try to find ways that we can do more things together. Then I feel more understood and appreciated.
It's like a ray of light bouncing back and forth among a few mirrors. You can create an enormous multiplication of the images that way. Your understanding and appreciation beget understanding and appreciation for you . . . and on it goes.
Can any billionaire do better? I doubt it.
Billionaires are likely to use pomp and circumstance to command attention. While we may feel compelled by the trappings to listen, we won't appreciate the compulsion. Understanding and appreciation will be lost as manipulation is resented.
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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!
Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.
Here are some upcoming subjects:
On Saturday, we'll look at how to have more fun with your best friends.
Sunday, the post will explore various ways to express gratitude and enjoy your spiritual life more.
On Monday, let's explore how to have your children behave better than a billionaire's.
Tuesday, we'll look at how to provide your children with something interesting to learn when they are bored at school.
On Wednesday, you'll find out how to get the whole world working to help you better than a billionaire.
August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!
Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!
If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.
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Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.
If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.
Remember to also visit
Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,
Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,
Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,
Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and
Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.
I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.
I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.
May God bless you.
Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge
Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell
posted by Donald Mitchell @ 6:35 AM
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