Posts Tagged ‘comfort zone’

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

By Jim Whitt Psychologist William James offered this simple but extremely accurate observation about the human species, “Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.” Most of us are sleep walking through life. It is only when we are provoked from our slumber that we take a look around at the new world we wake up in and ask, “Where am I and what am I doing?” That provocation most often comes in the form of adversity. Adversity is like a slap in the face. Mild adversity may only interrupt our slumber long enough to make us… Read More

July 6th, 2011 at 8:51pm

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What Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson Can Teach Us about Change

By Jim Whitt A few months ago, Charlie Sheen seemed to be on top of the world. Then his world turned upside down. What’s really sad is that Charlie thought he was, to use his terminology, winning. And why shouldn’t he? He was raking in millions of dollars as the star of the highest rated sitcom on television. By many standards Charlie Sheen was a success. He probably really believed he possessed Adonis DNA and Tiger Blood. He saw absolutely no need to change. Now he has no show. Mel Gibson, another celebrity whose problems are well documented, knows what… Read More

April 28th, 2011 at 1:58pm

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Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

By Jim Whitt This article was originally published on November 19, 2008 … “You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap,” says Dolly Parton. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an oxymoronic statement. There’s nothing cheap about Dolly Parton. She is solid gold – an extraordinary talent that has made herself even more so by capitalizing on her paradoxical personality. Dolly personifies oxymoronica, a term coined by Dr. Mardy Grothe.  Oxymoronica is also the title of a book by Dr. Grothe which explores the world of contradictory figures of speech such as the quote by Dolly Parton. “Many… Read More

February 9th, 2011 at 11:38am

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Management Block

By Jim Whitt I found a treasure trove of ideas in responses from readers to my article about Writer’s Block on September 29 (if you missed it you’ll find it at http://www.purposeunlimited.com/blog/). One of my Canadian friends called and asked me exactly what caused Writer’s Block. I told him I thought my case may have been caused by brain overload. If the cognitive circuitry is taxed beyond capacity (not difficult to do with my brain) it may continue to supply the brain power necessary to handle normal daily activity but there’s not enough juice left over for anything else. “Oh,”… Read More

October 6th, 2010 at 8:00pm

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Writer’s Block

By Jim Whitt If you have not been receiving my Eletter lately it is not due to technical difficulty. It is due to cognitive difficulty. In my case the cognitive difficulty is what’s known as Writer’s Block. Simply put Writer’s Block is when you sit down to write and you can’t. Your mind is just as blank as the screen on the computer. I’ve read about writers who have suffered from this malady but have never experienced it myself – until now. So, I have taken a sabbatical from writing the last few weeks. It really wasn’t like I had… Read More

September 29th, 2010 at 8:05pm

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The Prevailing Point of View

By Jim Whitt A friend sent me an article entitled In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers* in which the authors write about provocation-based selling. Being a professional provoker, I found the principles described in provocation-based selling to be congruent with my approach as a consultant and speaker. One of the things I really like about the provocation-based selling approach is that it challenges the prevailing point of view as opposed to aligning with the prevailing point of view. You can sell a lot of stuff to people using the prevailing point of view because it’s familiar to them. But you’re… Read More

June 30th, 2010 at 8:21pm

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Are You Ready for Your Big Break?

By Jim Whitt A local company received a letter from a prospective customer: “Sirs…Could you please send me a catalogue and price list of your products, namely concrete tools and saws. Thank you for your time…Signed: Joe Bob Smith.” The letter found its way into my hands via a friend who showed me the envelope it arrived in after I had read the letter. It was stamped: “THIS LETTER HAS BEEN MAILED FROM THE WISCONSIN PRISON SYSTEM.” Do you remember how the old Dragnet series always ended? “The story you have just seen is true. The names were changed to… Read More

March 18th, 2010 at 7:39am

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Professional Provoking…Online

By Jim Whitt  Monty Teeter was one of my first consulting clients when I started my business a couple of decades ago. I apparently struck a nerve during a conversation with Monty one day. He wanted to know what my official title was. I told him I was a management consultant. “No you’re not,” he responded. “You’re a professional provoker!” He went on to tell me — in no uncertain terms — that I was constantly provoking him. I’ve learned to embrace the title of professional provoker because it’s an accurate description of what I do. There’s a method to… Read More

March 10th, 2010 at 9:53pm

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Road Signs For Success

By Gerald Daniels Last week when Jim Whitt wrote about learning to be comfortably uncomfortable he told of two telephone conversations he had. One of those conversations was with me — I’m the guy who is starting a new business. Starting a new business at any time is a challenge but in the current economic climate it is especially uncomfortable. So, I want to share the stories of a couple of people who have inspired me to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Although Thomas Jefferson lived in colonial comfort he deliberately made choices that were clearly uncomfortable. Some of… Read More

December 3rd, 2008 at 7:55pm

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