Sam Makhoul – Page 13

September 18, 2012

7 Tips that will change your life in 7 days – Tip No. 3

Tip no. 3: Sleep More

Thats right. Sleep more. That is what I advise my business coaching clients. And it has a dramatic positive effect on their life. In just 7 days! They become more energetic, alert, creative and effective at work. And smarter! Albert Einstein himself needed 10 hours sleep everynight.

Most personal development guru’s suggest that we sleep less to get more done. But in a world where we are getting less and less sleep, our issue is not too much sleep. Our issue is not enough sleep. Most people underestimate how important sleep is to their health. They eat well, exercise but forget the third branch of relaxation. Sure, some people do yoga and meditation to relax BUT let me tell you, sleep is far more effective than both those practices. In fact, sleep is the best meditation!

Some benefits of sleep include:

Prevents cancer
Improves memory
Helps you live longer
Helps you lose more weight
Keeps your heart healthy
Reduces inflammation in your body
Lowers stress levels, anxiety and depression
Helps you recover after exercise

The best thing about sleep is that it’s free! It’s the best supplement that money can’t buy.

The best way to get the best sleep is to connect with nature before you go to sleep and after you wake up in the morning. In other words, go for a walk in parklands first thing and last thing. Another way is to get the most sun in the first two hours of the day. (I have some friends who also swear by melatonin supplements.)

And remember that one hour sleep before midnight is worth 2 hours sleep after midnight. Which means that the best time to sleep is between 10pm – 7am.

So whether your objective is improved health or improved work performance you cannot go past sleep as one of the most effective lifestyle changes you can make.

August 27, 2012

7 Tips that will change your life in 7 days – Tip no.2

Work harder

Yes you read it correctly. Work harder not just smarter. So many of us are obsessed with making a quick buck. It has become an international obsession. There are so many books written about it. But I believe that the Western World is suffering a global financial crisis because we want to create something out of nothing and we want something for nothing. We borrow and borrow and consume and consume and think that somehow it will all pay for itself without having to work hard. This negative mindset is having dire consequences not only for the economy but also on our health and happiness. So much so that work stress has become one of the leading causes of anxiety and depression. So obviously working smarter is not working for us. What is the answer? I put it to you that we must work harder to get healthier. This may sound odd but hear me out.

The most energetic, enthusiastic, and happiest people I know work really hard. They are always beaming with a smile. They have a healthy appetite for food and life yet they are chilled and comfortable to be with. Why is that? Well we spend many hours at work, so it goes without saying that if we approach work with a positive mindset, it will have a big impact on our happiness.

So how do you change your mindset? Before I answer that question, allow me to first clarify what I mean by ‘working harder’. It does NOT mean working long hours. It does NOT mean having blind ambition. It does NOT mean chasing the almighty dollar. Changing your mindset simply entails you making a decision to love what you do.

So how do you choose to love your job? Work harder. Here’s how:

Become really good at your job. Know it inside and out. Keep learning. The way human psychology works, we start liking what we are good at. Immerse yourself in your daily tasks whatever they may be. Laying bricks, reading a contract, writing a song, listening to a patient etc… Give yourself to that moment. Don’t watch the clock.
Serve people from the heart. Make a connection with how your work directly or indirectly makes a difference in people’s lives. My hairdresser is a perfect example of that. I notice that he gets great pleasure when he holds up that mirror to a customer. Their happiness is his happiness.

I have a saying in my business. I tell my staff, ‘Treat customers like you would your own mum and dad.’ I believe that is the only standard you ever need in your working life. It will get you to work harder and that will get you to love what you do.

August 27, 2012

7 Tips that can change your life in 7 days – Tip 1

In my personal coaching I often concentrate on sharing tips with clients that will have the most immediate and profound impact on their life. I do this because I find that most people have little patience for long-term goals. They want results quickly. And most clients also have considerable knowledge of health and nutrition. So their issue is not lack of knowledge but rather sifting through the plethora of information to find what works best for them. So over the past 2 years I have kept a log of what works on everybody, quickly and surely.

Here is the FIRST tip.

Get more sunlight. Vitamin D is the most common deficiency among people in the Western World. It has been linked with increased risk of cancer, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, depression and fatigue. It is also the easiest deficiency to fix. All you need to do is get more sunlight directly onto your skin (preferably the morning sun up to 1pm when the spectrum is most beneficial and least harmful). So strip down and exp

ose yourself 🙂 back/front, arms/legs and even the face (but wear sunglasses). If you have light skin then all you need is about 20 mins of sunlight. If you are dark, then you need up to double that time. Within 7 days of this extra vitamin D you will experience an amazing amount of new energy.

Most people avoid the sun for two reasons. Firstly, they are scared to get skin cancer. Secondly, they don’t have the time.

As for the first reason, research has shown that it’s not the sun that gives you skin cancer, but rather it is sunburn. Research also shows that people who burn easily are antioxidant deficient. In other words, the lack of nutrients in their system makes their cells susceptible to sunburn. So the answer is not to avoid the sun, the answer is to get more antioxidants in your body. (Super foods with the most antioxidants are beans and berries.) Pharmaceutical companies know this but it is easier for them to sell you sunscreen with dangerous chemicals than to tell you to change your lifestyle.

As for the second reason, well it’s really up to you. If you value your health, then you would do everything you can to gets some sun. Even if you are at work, you can aside time during morning tea and lunch to get out into the sun. Thankfully the parts of the body that absorb the most Vitamin D are the hands, arms, face and feet. If you work in a job that does not allow you the time to get out into the sun, then I suggest you quit. Your health is everything. Don’t take it for granted. And the sun is the single most important nutrient for your body. Don’t take it for granted either. It supports all life on this fragile planet of ours.

In my next blog post I will share with you the 2nd most important tip that will unleash your energy levels. And remember that energy is everything. If you have high energy everything else in life tends to fall into place nicely. You are more confident, positive, attractive and your performance at work and at play will sky rocket!

May 24, 2012

The 9th Tip to Business Excellence

In September1995 when I commenced my banking and finance law firm, we did this one thing that got people talking. We started with one client (Citibank), but quickly grew to over 35 corporate clients within 18 months. Our firm’s meteoric rise attracted the attention of the Law Society of NSW, which asked me to talk at one of their functions. The topic was, how to go from been a great lawyer to being a great entrepreneur.

dog lifting weights - popoever — BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY

So I stood up on that stage and talked very passionately about the need to commoditize and corporatize, the need for systems and operational efficiency, the need for transparency and the need to motivate staff. But then, I had a comment from the back of the room from someone who said, “…but that still does not explain how your firm grew so quickly.”

That confronting comment then sparked my honest and impromptu response that went something like this: “There is one thing that we do that gets people talking about us and spreading the word. It’s really very simple. We GO BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY.”

To a room full of lawyers, I thought my response was going to fall on deaf ears. Lawyers are after all obsessed with time costing and billable hours. But I went on to explain that sometimes we need to need to perform our job not solely for the purpose of making money and operational efficiency. Sometimes we need to do more for less. Sometimes we need to make a loss.

I gave them the example of how our firm did not shy away from the difficult customers or the difficult files. I told them the story of how one day I received an urgent set of commercial loan instructions at 5pm. A senior paralegal and I stayed back to prepare some very complicated loan contracts. Then I left the office at 8pm and drove for an hour to deliver the documents personally to the customers home where he and his lawyer were waiting. I received a polite ‘thank you’ and they closed the front door. I was not asked if I wanted a glass of water or to come in and rest a little. I was a little disappointed. But I built a bridge and got over it and went about my business. Two weeks later I received a letter from the CEO of the bank that I was acting for. The letter thanked me for going ‘out of my way’ to help the customer that also happened to be a personal friend of his. Let me tell you that over the ensuing 6 months our volume with that client quadrupled! Simply because we went beyond the call of duty.

That was my message in 1997. Today there are many businesses that live by this mantra. There is a company in the USA that is famous for going beyond the call of duty. Zappos is a company that sells shoes online and back it up with a call centre filled with people that are eager to please the customer. They call it “Delivering Happiness”. There are many stories of how Zappos staff go beyond the call of duty. There is the story of how one employee spent over 5 hours on the phone with a bride-to-be looking for a pair of shoes she remembered seeing in a bridal magazine. Now do you think Zappos made a profit out of that transaction? Definitely not. But it was great marketing dollars! Because that customer talked about her experience.

We have to accept that we live in an age where customers have more power. People are sharing their experiences more than ever. This scares the hell out of a lot of companies. The ones that are focused on operational efficiency but the clever businesses see that as an opportunity. The opportunity is to get people talking about you by going beyond the call of duty.

May 14, 2012

8 TIPS TO BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

First, don’t make your business about money. You and your team will not be inspired. Focus on a purpose and a mission. A lot of business owners and executives make the mistake of thinking that staff are motivated mainly by money. All the research proves otherwise. My approach is to pay staff what they are worth but don’t use sticks and carrots to motivate them. Since the GFC people want to be motivated by the mission more than anything. So put purpose before profit.

Wharton Business School published a book called “Firms of Endearment” which shows businesses that are focused on a purpose ironically made the most profit. They outperformed the S & P 500 by a ratio of 9 to 1 over a 10-year period.

Second, look after your staff BUT do not accept mediocrity. Expect and demand excellence.

Third, hire people that can work on parts of your business you’re not good at. Stick to what you’re good at.

Fourth, accept that you are not perfect. Keep learning to master your craft. Attend training seminars as much as you can. Get a business coach and mentor. Make sure it is someone with a little grey hair. In business, experience is everything.

Fifth, start a rainy day fund in case things go wrong. Economy, poor health or whatever. This takes the pressure off and you start working for love and not money. Work becomes a sport. You start to play with confidence and not fear.

Sixth, do NOT diversify into areas of no competence. I meet many people who make money and instead of re-investing it in their own business they go into other areas. I knew a guy who was a very successful mortgage broker. He made a lot of money but instead of investing it back into his own business, by say, hiring more staff or opening a shop front, he opened a café. He lost a lot of money and took his eyes of his own business. So, stick to what you know.

Seventh, work harder not just smarter. I do not believe in or adhere to the 4-hour workweek. I appreciate Tim Ferris and his adventurous spirit but the constant focus on making a quick dollar is what’s wrong with Western Economies. We do not lack intelligence. We lack a strong work ethic. We constantly focus on making money quickly instead of working hard daily. Building a business is brick-by-brick, day-by-day, there’s no easier way.

Eighth, stay focused on the micro. Ignore what is happening at the macro level. We cannot control that. So don’t be obsessed with the business news. It makes you fearful and you start to work defensively and out of fear. Business is like sport. If we start playing defensively we stop scoring and eventually we lose the game.

There are a lot of businesses that made it through the GFC stronger and bigger and more confident. It’s because they focused on what they could control. If you have a good brand and good product then all you have to do is to stay focused on delivering to your customers. Look at APPLE!

Next week I will share with you the secret 9^th and most important reason why some businesses are outperforming their competitors.