Author: carlin@elevatingvalue.com

Posted on

Get a Flyer


By Carlin Day

In a new year, it is a great time to think about what you are going to do different than you did the year before. This can be from little things to big things.  Some things can be very hard to change and we all know this to be true.

This post is not about cutting something out. Cutting something from your life is about playing defense. This post is about offense. One way to improve your defense is to keep your defense off the field!! The defense is off the field because you are still on offense!

Here is a way to play better offense in 2020 – Make a flyer –

I was inspired with this idea from watching one of my favorite shows, American Pickers. By me saying American Pickers is one of my favorite shows, I feel like I need to let you know that I am not a hoarder. I enjoy the show and I have always been entertained by Mike and Frank and the interesting people they meet. I also learn a lot about history. One thing on the show that makes me laugh is their flyer.

They drive up to someone’s house and hand them a flyer. On this flyer it has a list of all the things they want and they give it to the person and have the person look it over. The types of people they visit usually have something on the list.

My first point about the flyer is that is seems like something they would not need. If you are into collecting you should know who Mike and Frank are and what they do. But the thing is, a lot of people don’t. A lot of people have no idea who they are.

The second thing about the flyer is that it gives the other person the feeling that if they help out Mike and Frank, they are going to get paid!!!

Could you use the flyer method in 2020?

Make sure the world knows: Whatever it is you are going after, you tell everyone about it. You also learn how to present it in a way that is interesting and exciting. If you know what you want you will be going to people who possess it.

Help the other person understand it would benefit them by helping you: Whatever it is you are trying to do, the other person should feel like if they help you, they are getting paid or receiving dividends from the things they can help you with.

If you did these things, you would always be on offense towards the thing you are trying to accomplish. If you made a flyer, what would you put on it that you want? How would you make the other person feel like helping you would benefit them?

The Flyer is a simple step to help you elevate value.

Have a great year,

Posted on

Thinksgiving

Thinksgiving – Elevating Value

Thinksgiving is after thanksgiving. It is when you can start to look at how you think and what you are thinking about for the next year.

Here is a list of basic thinking skills. They do not teach these skills in school. Look them over and see if you think they have value.

Intuition
The Will
Imagination
Memory
Perception

Intuition – Take inventory of your feelings when you are listening to others. If you will actively listen, you will be drawn in to another person’s thoughts and feelings. This will help you with Intuition and learning to think as others think without logical reasoning.

The Will – The will is the ability to fuel your activity. Activity is based in thought. Your thoughts fuel your activity.  A marathon is an example of the Will. One marathon will have many people who run, jog, or walk and most all finish the race.  They have the will. If you learn the will, you will do things that you may not be the best at, but you have the will to complete the task. This valuable skill is being able to have the thoughts that allow you to never quit.

Imagination – A person can look at the past and let it determine the future. I have been saying a phrase lately that gives a good look into the way a person is thinking. I say that we have to remember we will live in the future and we will not live in the past. This means that you cannot act in the past. You have no activity in the past, but today and the future are very different. You have the ability to change and grow and act in ways that are different than the past, and will most definitely have different results. You can imagine the past from reading about it or remembering it. You can also imagine the future and remember it daily.

Memory – Knowledge, understanding, wisdom, are all found in your memory. Conversation, business dealings, and personal relationships all have memory involved. When you think, each thought comes from the last. Your mind knows all the thoughts it has had. It also knows everything around the thoughts. It remembers the reasons, the motives, the feelings, and the location where you made the thought. You mind remembers the senses you had when you had the thoughts. Think about your memory and do whatever you can to increase your memory.

Perception – How you perceive things is your reality. How another perceives is their reality. Both have flaws and both have perfection.  Training your thoughts to perceive things as they are and not as you perceive is a skill. One of Stephen Covey’s seven habits is the ability to seek first to understand and then be understood.  If you can know the way you think could be incorrect, you should try to think with more understanding and perceive things more as they are and not as they appear.

If you can change the way you think, you can change the way you live. Live by elevating value.

Posted on

The Chains of Events

I recently was reading a story in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The short story was called the Red Headed League. Once Sherlock Holmes had figured out a mystery, He was asked how he was able to figure out the case. He said something to the effect of – The chain was long but, as always, every link was connected.  This line made me think. Did you know that everything we have done, and the thoughts we have had are connected to our previous actions?

Each day is connected to the last

Each thought is connected to a previous thought

Everything you learn builds on your current chain of knowledge

If your actions are making a chain that is dependent on your thoughts and actions, it will be important to make sure each action and thought is as strong as possible. Also, you will have to realize that all the chains in your life were put together by you, and that you did not make all the links simultaneously. They have to be made, and put together, one link at a time.

Maybe a guy says, “I have been doing good things and thinking good thoughts but my results do not reflect my actions” This could be true, because there are so many variables in life. The main thing to know when things are not working out, is to make sure you are doing the things necessary for you to have the best opportunity to accomplish your goals. This way, you can be proud of the chain you are building. Someday, the chain will be called upon to do a big job. Proverbs has something to say about this.

Proverbs 18:16

A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

Once you have went to the Bible for answers, the next place to look is fantasy football – lol

Pictured above is the current standings for my family’s fantasy football. My team, Prestige Worldwide, is currently in second. I would like to brag, but oddly enough, the last place team has scored more total points than the first place team. How can this be? If you would look at the entire chain of events, the last place team has scored a lot of points but the opponent just happens to score more in each individual game. The same thing happens in regular sports.

What does this tell us? The main thing about this example is that you have to know that what you have done is what you have done, and no matter what the actual results, you do not base your success or your value on the current standings. A person must see there value of what they actually are. 

What chains are you building that are worth keeping? What chains do you need to throw away and stop using?

Think about the chains in your life. You want to keep the ones that elevate the value of your life as well as the value of the people around you.  Some chains takes more links than other to finally be chains that are elevating value.

Thanks,

subscribe to the monthly newsletter here

email me at carlin@elevatingvalue.com

Posted on

Make sure you have a Goal

Imagine you are playing in a basketball game and the score is tied at halftime. You and your team make some adjustments and you are going to go out and execute better in the second half and win the game. Big problem, someone has taken down the rim from your goal. The other team still has their rim but you only have a backboard. What would happen? Would your team finish the game?

Life is not a game. It is very serious.  The basketball analogy is silly, but it can be very meaningful. Our time is designed to be used while we are alive. Just as playing a game of basketball with no rim will not work; neither will a life without meaningful goals. In order for activity to useful in any matter, it has to be used to accomplish something of value.

For most things we do, we use default goals that have been ingrained in us as children. Most people do not talk about these goals but without them, life would be very confusing.

Common Goals:

Eat 3 times a day
Go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning
Go to work in the morning and return at quitting time
Watch a television show from the start and expect to complete it
playing games(like basketball) where getting the most points makes you the winner

If you did not have these goals, it would be hard to live a balanced life. Imagine going to work and always wondering when you were going to get to go home. Imagine only going to work when you feel like it. What if you just watched five minutes of every television show?

Valuable Goals

What would it be like if you really did play a game of basketball with no rim? You’re just running around getting sweaty and shooting the ball at the backboard. You are being guarded for no reason. It is impossible to score an actual, tangible, visible goal.

Now that you understand you are actually quite good at setting goals, please understand that you can set more advanced goals towards meaningful activity. A more successful use of time is completing small medium and large goals on a consistent basis.

If you are working on valuable goals, they will require valuable activity. If your actions are valuable, you will be elevating value.

Carlin

Posted on

When is it time to Start?

By: Carlin Day

Here is another example of farming without the farm. See my first post on farming without the farm here.

When should a person start?

A new farmer is planning on having the best crop ever. He wants everything to be perfect. He does all the research on what seeds to use. He prepares the soil with rich fertilizer and cultivates the soil getting rid of all the weeds. He finds out all the chemicals to spray to get the best results once the plant is up. He creates a chart with how much sunshine and rain he will need. He even goes out and buys all the right harvest equipment so he is ready to bring in the bumper crop. After all the research, it is time to plant.

The land is to dry and the temperature is too cool. His perfect chart says it is the time to plant but he knows there is not enough water for the seeds to sprout. The farmer checks the forecast and finds out that the weather is expected to be ideal next week. Next week comes and it has rained and it is now too wet. The next week comes and it is now too cool. As time passes, the days get shorter, the rains begin to fall daily and, by now, it is too late to plant. This year’s crop is a failure and it was never even planted. It never had a chance!

The perfect crop has turned into a failure. As the farmer drives around, he realizes that the land around him has plants coming up all in a row. The other farmers land is producing? What happened? How could they have planted in all the rain? How could they have planted when it was too dry?

How to Start

In the example of the new farmer who wanted to make the best crop, he would have been better just asking when to plant and plant the crop. The crop would have grown just like his neighbors. Instead of planting, he focused on perfection and found all kinds of reasons it was not the right time. Just like on the farm, there are so many ways we see this in life.

When to be kind – all the time, not only when people are kind to you

When to lose weight – all the time meaning eat healthy and live healthy

When to give money – all the time, be generous, regardless of circumstances

When to start your business – start now, just don’t start the perfect business

When to start running –  in about 20 or 30 feet you can get to running speed. That will be a start.

Focus on Value

If you can focus on value, you can start today. If you are focused on important things, you will be elevating value. If you begin working on things that matter, you will be growing, and this is the start that will end in valuable results.

Just like farming, in everything you do, plant today, harvest in the future. Planting daily has great results. Trying to find perfect harvests is much harder than planting.  Plant and the harvest will come. Don’t be like the farmer who waited and now sees everyone with a successful crop. Plant today!! Start Today!!

 

Posted on

Value of Memory


By Carlin Day:

It pays to remember. If you can remember someone’s name or your friend’s birthday, they will appreciate that. If you would remember the books you have read, would you be more valuable? The idea of memory money is that people are paid for what they can remember.

One of the best ways to improve your memory is to work at it. 

The first step is to stop saying you are terrible with names. This statement conflicts with trying to get better at names. If you tell yourself you are terrible with names, you will be capping your ability to get better.

There are many ways of practicing memory. One of the ways to improve your memory is by using systems. Below is an example of learning using a memory palace. My 7 year old son Caden learned the presidents of the United States in one hour by building a memory palace.  We actually had a lot of fun as well. Here is a link to a short video of him going over the presidents.

If you read books, will it make you more valuable in the marketplace?  Yes

If you can remember the books you read, will it make you more valuable? Yes

Who is in control of your memory? You 

A great skill to focus on is memory.  One way a person can do this is by memorizing names. Here is a great quote.

“Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” 
― Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

Subscribe to my newsletter to work on elevating value
To comment, send me an email at carlin@elevatingvalue.com

Thanks,

Posted on

The Ladder to Success

Ladder

by: Carlin Day

Ladders are created to take you places higher than you can reach on your own. I recently came across a ladder that can improve listening skills. John Maxwell uses the following ladder to increase the listening skills of a leader.

L -Look at the speaker

A– Ask questions

D – Don’t interrupt

D – Don’t change the subject

E – Check your emotions

R – Responsive listening

Not everyone is a great listener. This includes me. I am trying to be a better listener. At my house, we have kids who are not the best listeners. They prove to me that the LADDER acronym can improve listening skills.

L – Looking

When my kids do not want to listen, they always look away

A- Ask questions

 If they are listening, they always ask questions. Why, Why, Why, Why, Why, Why, Why, What, etc.

D – Don’t Interrupt

My kids always interrupt. It is really hard for them to not interrupt. If they do not interrupt soon, another kid will interrupt and steal their chance

D- Don’t change the subject

It is hard for kids to not change the subject because they really want to tell me about the latest episode of puppy dog pals. Bingo and Rolly are always up to something.

E- check your emotions

If you are crying about something off subject, it needs to be checked. My kids have a hard time not crying about snacks or drinks!

R- Responsive listening 

My kids will show excitement if I am sharing some great news. Otherwise their response is usually negative because it is something they do not want to hear. It is much more fun to share news to kids who are excited. Example: (Hey guys, remember in Puppy Dog Pals when Bob lost his favorite shirt at the dry cleaners?)

The LADDER acronym will help anyone get better at the habit of listening. Lets all become better listeners. Listening is a skill and skills are necessary in Elevating value.

Important info from post:

Puppy Dog Pals is a show that my boys like

Great post sent to me by a friend about habits. check it out here:

The Guide to Making Good Daily Habits and Breaking Bad Ones

 

 

 

 

Posted on

How much Opportunity Equity have you built?

How much Opportunity Equity have you built?

Garland McWatters
by Garland McWatters

How much personal value are you creating in yourself?

I had a client who asked me to work with them on a mentoring program. They found themselves with a workforce where a number of employees were ready to retire, a large number of employees who were new, and, in the middle, a group of employees who had been with the company for many years who were good, reliable, steady, and unprepared for advancement into management.

Although the company had encouraged professional development, had a tuition reimbursement program for continuing education, supported civic involvement, and had offered a number of training programs on a volunteer basis, few had taken advantage of them. Consequently, many, otherwise valuable employees, offered no value as potential supervisors ready for immediate promotion. They had failed to develop any equity in themselves from the opportunities they had to do so. And yet, they wondered why they were not being considered for advancement.

Presence on the job is not necessarily preparation for advancement.

Your personal equity is the value you create in yourself that travels with you from opportunity to opportunity. It’s what you have to offer beyond the cost of your presence. Every opportunity you get along the way that gives you knowledge, skill, insight, wisdom, or maturity is an investment in yourself that can never be taken away from you. I call it your Opportunity Equity. It’s the way you INPower yourself to lead the life you want.

Whatever you learn is never wasted.

Opportunity equity comes in a variety of forms. It comes from volunteering in the community to help improve the quality of life for any and all who make their home in it. It comes from exposing yourself to new and different activities and events that might be of little immediate interest but end up enriching your life in ways you would never have envisioned. It comes from exposing yourself to new ideas and cultures that push the edge of your comfort zone and make you more aware and compassionate of those who live outside your bubble. It comes from taking on a work assignment that might seem risky and unfamiliar but will provide entrée to new skill sets and insights.

It’s said, “luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” The equity you build in yourself will be one of those ingredients of a “lucky” future.

The INPowered are those who act to make things better for themselves and others. A key to their INPowerment is that they developed their Opportunity Equity.

Garland McWatters is founder of INPowered to Lead and provides leadership and personal development courses. He is an author and storyteller an hosts two podcasts: INPowering Thoughts and The Spirit of Leading. See https://garlandmcwatters.com.

Garland is involved in the NextGen Oklahoma Leaders movement. www.nextgenunder30.com

Posted on

Farming Without the Farm

Are you a Farmer? If so, you know how to farm with a farm. What you may not know is that all people, farmers and non farmers, need to know how to farm without the farm.

If you will look up the definition of farming, you will find a definition that says farming is the agricultural activity of producing an agriculture product. By definition, it would appear that you would not be able to farm without a farm.

I grew up on a farm but transitioned to a businessman lifestyle. In my study of business practices and principals, farming is always flowing through my mind. That is where farming without the farm exists. It exists in the mind. Just as experienced farmers work and act, so must we all think. If a person can learn to think like the farm works, you can farm without the farm.

Two simple and familiar farming practices are planting and harvesting. You may have heard this called sowing and reaping. These two things are the most important practices in farming. Both are needed to produce a crop. I work with a client who is a farmer. He said that if he could always be planting, he could be sure he would have something to harvest. If you are farming without the farm using your mind, make sure to understand the idea of planting and harvesting in your mind.

Planting:

Whatever goes into the mind is a seed. A seed will always take root. It may not be favorable for growing but it is there. It cannot go away. Whatever seeds received water and nutrients grow. It does not matter if the seed is a fruit or a poisonous plant, the seed will grow if it receives what it needs. If the ground(your mind) is open, it will receive anything that comes in and the seed(thought) will be begin to work towards its purpose(harvest).

Harvesting:

What comes out of the mind is the harvest. The thoughts that started as seed are now expressed in thoughts, choices, actions, etc. It is important to understand that one seed can produce a crop of 100 times the amount of seed that was planted. Farming is a very powerful process. The harvest, is always happening in the mind. For some, it is strategic. For others, it can be almost a default kind of process. I think everyone would agree the most beautiful farm does not happen by default. The most valuable farming operation exists because of strategic farming principals in action.

Farming In your Mind:

I believe we can all begin elevating value by using farming principals in the way that we think. If your farm(your mind) was examined, would the crops be abundant? Or, would the farm(your mind) be grown up in weeds. The farm(your mind) is always at work. You are always farming, with or without, the farm.

Carlin,

Posted on

A Taste for Potential

“It is a wretched taste to be gratified with mediocrity when the excellent lies before us”

Isaac D’Israeli – 1834

This quote is an example of elevating value. If you had a chance to become better, you should. In the America that I live in, I find there are so many ways a person can improve. The old saying, you learn something every day really is true. If you make it intentional, you can say that you become more valuable every day

What is interesting is that Isaac D’Israeli spent his life in a constant work of increasing his value and sharing it with others. You can read about him here. I would say that he was close to reaching his potential. A human reaching their potential is one of the hardest things to achieve. All though it is hard to achieve personally, nature does it all the time. Animals and Plants grow to their potential. They do not have a choice.

Animals –

Animals grow and live as big as they can. A fish will grow to the size of the pond or tank and the food available.

Plants –

Plants live and grow as big as they can wherever they are. One plant will grow bigger than another because it has better soil, more water, or more sun. Another plant will not grow as big because it did not have the, soil, water, or sun it needed. The plant does not have a choice and it only grows to the opportunity it has.

Humans –

Humans will live and grow as big as they are capable and decide. Humans have a choice. Humans are limited in their current environment but have the ability to move. They have the ability to change. No one actually knows what a single persons potential is. By observation, it does seem that some people do not reach their potential

I believe the excellent lies before us all. Each and every day is a big day. A day not lived with intentionality could mean a reduction of future opportunity. Don’t develop a taste for mediocrity. Develop yourself and give value to others.

Start Today.

Elevatingvalue website gives away books through the value book giveaway.  This month, I am giving two copies of the classic book by Dale Carnegie – How to win Friends and Influence People.  In my opinion, this is one of the greatest books to help a person improve. With no money, no resources, no genius idea, a person can begin improving just by reading and applying the principals of a book.

You can check out the current giveaways here

Sign up for monthly newsletter here