Successful People Are Very Careful With Their Body Language!

Nonverbal communication is the fast track to putting people at ease and developing trust!

Here are the best techniques for showing up with your body language:

·       Smile with your eyes. People can see through fake smiles. Smiling with your eyes is warm and communicates to others two things: You're a safe person, and others can be open with you.

·       Match your body language with your message. This simple adjustment will do wonders for you and register positively with the other person. If you're excited and happy for someone else’s promotion, sound and act excited and happy!

·        Pay attention to your posture. Bad posture could hurt you in a transaction, as it may send the wrong message about a lack of confidence or a closed-off personality. Think open posture (arms and legs spread in a relaxed manner instead of crossed or folded) which shows confidence.

·       Avoid both slumping and rocking back and forth in your chair (or leaning back). Slumping conveys disinterest, rocking or leaning back says you're bored. Instead, lean forward when listening to someone speak which indicates an active interest in the speaker.

·       Watch your spacing. Have you ever felt uncomfortable when talking to someone because he was invading your personal space? Culturally in the west, if you're not intimately involved with the person, that's a no no. Yet different cultures differ.

·       Maintain eye contact. If someone avoids eye contact, you'll most likely pick up the other person's discomfort (which can be a sign of dishonesty). If you're dealing with an extremely shy person, ease his discomfort by asking questions that will help open up the conversation. Again, consider cultural differences.

Typically, we maintain eye contact 30 to 60 percent of the time. More than that is welcome, as it signifies that you're interested in what the other person has to say.

·       Mirror the other person's behavior. You've been there before -- the conversation is hitting on all cylinders and both parties are totally engaged. When the magic happens, it's common to see both sides subtly imitating each other's posture, stance, gestures, or facial expression. That's because mirroring nonverbal behaviors creates the sense that you're on the same page, which conveys feelings of trust.

- Marcel Schwantes

Successful People Think and Talk Positively! Always!

Take clues from your colleagues known for being positive and happy. Have you paid attention to how they speak? Most of them, you'll note, refrain from negative words, speech, or conversational topics because they know the stressful effects it has on their emotional well-being. They stay away from unnecessary drama, malicious gossip, and psychological warfare.

Helpful tip: When you're present and "in the positive," offer other people helpful feedback that empowers and lifts up. Doing so will inspire greatness in others, build trust, and generate happiness in your own life.

- Marcel Schwantes

Successful People Gain Trust via Genuine Attention!

This means that when you communicate, your intent is to put the focus on the other person. Obviously this can only happen if you establish rapport first.

You're going to notice that, when you do, other people feel safe in your presence, and you gain influence.

This is not a pathway to manipulating future conversations. Your intent to developing trust by being more present and aware of other people's thoughts and feelings must come from the heart.

It is a genuine expression of your desire to give and serve others.

- Marcel Schwantes

Successful People are Real and Present with Their Feelings!

Being real and present with your feelings will show up in statements like, "I'm really not sure where to go with this, what would you do in my situation?" or "I need some help here."

Getting it out in the open creates a space for authenticity and truth. That's what leaders should model and replicate inside their organizations.

If you're in a management role, being real and emotionally honest gives your team members permission to do the same. You will experience more connection and more honest conversations as a result.

- Marcel Schwantes

Successful People Listen Well and Pay Attention!

Effective communication isn't just about talking; great communicators listen intuitively to the other person's story, asking questions, and searching conversations for depth, meaning and understanding with their needs in mind.

Great communicators are present and in the moment. They don't need to talk over others to get their point across. To quote Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen's CEO, Cheryl Bachelder:

“The biggest distinction of a leader who serves others versus themselves is the ability to listen. When you listen, you hear peoples' objections, anxieties, and fears -- and you also hear the solutions”.

- Marcel Schwantes

Successful People Change from Patience to Persistence!

That may sound like the same thing -- patience and persistence -- but there’s a huge difference. 

The losers in life, the people who just get by, may have admirable patience, but that may be all they have.  And passive patience, in and of itself, seldom brings victory.

Champions, however, practice active persistence. They keep on doing something until victory is achieved. 

To beef up your persistence, start by believing in the power of persistence. Great people invariably swear by it. They know that more often than not it pays off, and it pays big time.

Soichiro Honda, the founder of the Honda Motor Corporation affirmed that. He said, "Success is 99 percent failure." In other words, success will come if you just keep on keeping on, no matter how many setbacks or failures you encounter.

And Albert Einstein, who is always praised for his brilliance, said, "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer."

Getting ahead, winning, succeeding, being a peak performer, reaching the top, whatever you want to call it, is NOT a mystery.  All the evidence indicates that it is possible -- even probable -- if you make these five little behavioral turns.

- Alan Zimmerman

Successful People Change from Wisecracks to Wisdom!

Everybody has opinions. But the champions in life carefully choose who they will listen to. After all, the reason a lot of people never get ahead is they keep on paying attention to the opinions of the ignorant. 

Your brother, for example, may be a wonderful man, a good husband and father, and a great gardener. But that narrows the range of his valid opinions to marriage, parenting, and gardening. Not business growth, team building, or leadership development.

You see, people are quick to dispense advice on any subject, regardless of their qualifications to do so. It makes them feel important. They rarely give any thought to their qualifications. They just spout out their opinions. That's why champions must carefully choose who they listen to. 

As an author and professional speaker, I help my clients create strategies that will make them more positive and productive. But then those same clients are assaulted by an ignorant coworker who says, "That will never work.”

Unfortunately, none of those opinion givers has any expertise in personal and professional development. None of them has spent the 30 years of time and research on the topic as I have. That’s why I tell my audiences that people have a constitutional right to their ignorant opinions, but you have an entrepreneurial responsibility to ignore them.

- Alan Zimmerman

Successful People Change from Education to Empowerment!

No matter how many skills you have, you'll always lack some skills. Unfortunately, the losers excuse or justify their lack of skills. They say such things as: "That's just the way I am," or "I could never do such-and-such.” 

Or just as pathetic, the losers wait for someone else to give them the skills and education they need. They say, “It’s my company’s job to give me the training I need. It’s not my responsibility.” Try saying that in your next job interview and see how far you get. Nowhere.  

On the other hand, champions take responsibility for their lives and their careers. They go after the skills they need. Not only for the sake of continuing education but for the ultimate goal of self-empowerment, so they go from one level of success to the next.   

Does that describe you? If so, there should be some evidence of continuing education and self-empowerment in your life. Perhaps you read a chapter a day in a book that will keep you abreast of the latest changes in your field. And perhaps you listen to a motivational recording as you drive to work, picking up the information and inspiration to become a more effective human being overall.

- Alan Zimmerman

Successful People Change from Chance to Choice!

The losers in life just wait around to see what is going to happen. They don’t really do anything to make it happen; they just take their chances. 

By contrast, a champion is very clear about what personal and professional success means to him. And then he chooses actions that will make his definition come true.

So ask yourself, "Have you figured out your own definition of success? Could you stand up, right now, in the midst of a staff meeting, and give a five-minute talk on your definition of success? Do you know exactly what you would say?"

Most people couldn't give such a talk because they've never given much thought to their definition of success. So it's no wonder their careers aren't going anywhere, or their relationships are less than satisfactory, or they end up broke when they're retired.

Clarify your definition and then choose success-producing behaviors. If, for example, your definition of success includes the development of an exciting, close marital or family relationship, then 12-hour work days are out. If your definition of success includes a long healthy life, you’ve got to stop smoking, exercise regularly, eat in moderation, and get adequate rest.

- Alan Zimmerman

Successful People Don't Procrastinate!

Putting off a project until the last minute is easy. Digging in and working on it until it's done is harder--but it's more rewarding in the long run. Having that project done also opens doors to new opportunities, and that's where successful people thrive.

Successful people also see the project through, finishing what they've started instead of dabbling with something for a while before they move on to the next thing that catches their attention.

Being successful isn't impossible. It just means training yourself to behave as though you are already there. Define your goals, and then dig in and work for them. You might be surprised by just how well it works out.

- Rhett Power

Successful People Don't Give Up!

This is the crucial area that separates successful people from those who will never accomplish their dreams: They keep trying. No matter how many times they fail, no matter how many rejections they receive, they pick themselves up and try again. 

It's not the easy road; but sometimes, the difference between success and failure is simply persistence.

- Rehtt Power

Successful People Ask Questions ... Always!

If successful people don't know how to accomplish something, they figure it out. 

Taking a class? The successful people in the room are the ones who are asking questions of the teacher, discussing the content of the class with their classmates, and exploring beyond just what was discussed in the lesson.

Working on a project? Successful people are the ones who don't just take the current research as gospel: They go further, making sure that they have all the information to proceed in the best way possible.

- Rhett Power

Successful People are Active, Engaged, and Busy ... Doing Useful Things!

Instead of sitting on the couch, occupying themselves with computer games or browsing aimlessly on the internet, successful people are always increasing their knowledge base, networking, or working on their latest project. 

Sure, they might not see the new hottest movie of the season until it's almost time for it to leave theaters, but they have an impressive resume, the credentials necessary to improve themselves, and successfully completed projects.

- Rhett Power