Michael Grinder’s ABCs of Success

Michael Grinder has been helping educators, leaders, and executives feel more confident and successful for over 40 years. 

These are his favorite ABC (and Q) tips for success.

Three arenas make up success:

• Attitudes — beliefs and judgments
• Behaviors — how you act
• Cognitive — your knowledge
  

Attitudes

What you believe tends to become true.

The more you dream and hope in positive terms — the more you see the positive.

Replace “stop,” “quit,” and “not” with what you want others to focus on.

The more you pick yourself up, the taller you stand. 

The more you focus on your effort, the more positive results are your by-products.

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Drive to work, thinking of something you are looking forward to — even if it is a challenge. Drive home thinking of success — however small.

Behaviors

The more you smile and laugh, even if artificial, the happier you are.

The more you visually plan (e.g., commitments on a calendar, to-do lists, and notes to your family) the more you get done.

Control your eye contact and voice volume to have more energy.

Cognitive

The more you write down what you are learning, the longer you remember the details.

As you learn something, immediately think of when you would want to use it — this will program your future memory.

For tests, use 3” x 5” cards. Number them.

1. Write the question on the front in one and the answer on the back in another color. Keep the questions in the same order you learned them.
2. Once you can answer all questions correctly, turn the deck over, read the answers, and remember the questions. Now mix up the deck… so that the questions are no longer in the order you learned them. Read the question and check your answer.
3. Mix up the deck again. This time, read the answers and remember the questions.
4. Finally, have some cards with the questions facing you and some with the answers facing you.
5. Any tricky cards — rewrite them in your favorite color.

For my final tip, we’re going to skip a few letters…

Q-TIP

On hard days, carry a Q-tip® in your pocket.

Let one end stand for,

Quit Taking It Personally.

And have the other end represent,

Quietly, Take It Professionally.

Ready to learn more?

Michael Grinder has limited spots open for one-on-one coaching — contact us to learn more!