dale carnegie problem solving steps

10 Ways to Stop Worrying and Start Living

These 10 Tips taken from Dale Carnegie’s Book ‘How to Stop Worry and Start Living’ offer simple techniques to ensure worry doesn’t dominate your life.

1. Live in Day Tight Compartments -only worry about what’s happening today – that’s all you can control

2. Sleep – try to rest before you get tired, everything feels worse when you’re exhausted

3. Co-operate with the inevitable – there are some things you can’t control. Accept them and plan how to deal with them so you can move on

4. Try and face your problems logically – follow these 3 simple steps • What’s the very worst that can happen? • Prepare to accept the worst • Think of ways to improve on it

5. Count your blessings not your trifles – clichéd but true. We’ve often got a lot more to be thankful than worry about

6. Don’t worry about the past – what’s done is done. Learn from it and move on

7. Keep busy – activity keeps the mind off anxiety

8. Use the law of averages to out weigh your worries – ask yourself how likely really that this thing is going to happen?

9. Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment

10. Create happiness for others – research shows that doing good deeds can activate neurotransmitters in the brain that are associated with positive feelings and decrease stress and anxiety.

For more of Dale Carnegie’s tips download Secrets of Success.

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How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

Reading Time: 9 minutes

In this time-tested book, Dale Carnegie shows us how to conquer worry and anxiety. Via engaging stories that reveal helpful lessons and practical frameworks , Carnegie arms you with an array of tools that will help you start living more fully and without the harmful effects of worry. Even though this book was written in 1936, the deceptively simple lessons from this book will help you better navigate the noise of the modern era.

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Key Takeaways

Focus on today.

“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” – Thomas Carlyle Resurfaced using  Readwise

Thinking about what needs to be done in the future can lead to overwhelm and inaction. But if you focus on what you need to accomplish today, it’s much more doable. It will help you create the future you want, one day at a time.

A formula to follow

Frameworks for dealing with worry can be helpful, especially since worry destroys our ability to concentrate. Without being able to concentrate, not only do we feel worse, but we’re less effective.

If you have a situation where you’re worrying about failing, follow these three steps.

• Step 1: Analyze a situation causing you worry to determine the worst possible scenario if you fail.
• Step 2: Accept the worst possible case scenario, if it is to happen.
• Step 3: Focus on trying to improve the situation so that you end up with a better outcome than worst case.

Why you should care about worry

“The greatest mistake physicians make is that they attempt to cure the body without attempting to cure the mind; yet the mind and body are one and should not be treated separately.” – Plato Resurfaced using  Readwise

Worry isn’t just something that makes you feel a little worse or makes it less likely that you can concentrate. It’s something that can lead to seriously adverse health effects for your mind, body, and soul. These negative effects can cause much worse situations with your health than whatever it is that you’re worrying about.

In short, worry is not worth the physical toll it can take on your body.

Techniques for Analyzing Worry

Understand the situation.

Whenever you’re worrying about something, you need to do three things:

• Get the facts.
• Analyze the facts.
• Arrive at a decision – and act on that decision.

One simple framework for figuring this all out is to follow four lines of inquiry.

• Write down what you’re worrying about (What am I worrying about?)
• Think about what you can do about it (What can I do about it?)
• Decide on what to do (What are you going to do about it?)
• Start carrying out the decision (When am I going to start doing it?)

This framework helps you get out of your head. It allows you to quickly understand what’s going on, what you can do about it, and to make a decision and start doing what you’ve decided.

Solving business problems

Similar to the framework above for analyzing any worry, you can use the following four questions to solve most of your worry about any business situation.

• What’s the problem?
• What is the cause of the problem?
• What are all possible solutions to the problem?
• What solution do you suggest?

Whenever you’re struggling in business, go through this framework. You’ll feel better and be clear on what you’re going to do to start actually solving the problem, instead of simply worrying about it.

Breaking the Worry Habit

Use busyness.

To conquer worry, you need to understand that worry is a habit. That means it’s a habit you can break. One technique for breaking the worry habit is to keep yourself busy. When you’re really busy or taken up by action, it’s hard to worry. There’s a balance here – you don’t want to mask underlying problems by just keeping yourself moving all the time. But filling up your days can make it easier to not worry.

Don’t sweat the small stuff or the improbable

“Trivialities are at the bottom of most marital unhappiness” – Joseph Sabath Resurfaced using  Readwise

Don’t let the little annoyances or problems in life cause you too much worry. You can’t eliminate everything that’s unpleasant, and the energy expended on worrying about these problems prevents you from focusing on what’s important.

On a related note, don’t get too concerned about things that don’t have a high probability of happening. Most surfers fear sharks, but how likely is it that they’ll get killed by one? Not that likely. Try to ask yourself honestly, “How likely is it that the thing I’m worrying about will occur?”

Accept the situation

“God grant me the serenityTo accept the things I cannot change,The courage to change the things I can;And the wisdom to know the difference.” Resurfaced using  Readwise

We often find ourselves in situations we don’t want to be in. Focus on what you can do about the situation, rather than on the existence of the source of worry.

Know your values

“Yes, I honestly believe that this is one of the greatest secrets to true peace of mind – a decent set of values. And I believe we could annihilate fifty per cent of all our worries at once if we would develop a a sort of private gold standard – a gold standard of what things are worth to us in terms of our lives.” Resurfaced using  Readwise

Get clear on what you value, and live by that standard. Hold others to your standards as well. If you have a friend who’s always an hour late, say that you’re willing to wait up to 10 minutes, but after that, you’re leaving. That’s a standard that you’ve communicated, and the person can choose to meet it or not.

Figure out what you really care about in life and what you’re willing to give up to get it. You may find that you’re expending a lot of energy on something you don’t even want. Cut it if it doesn’t align with your values.

Cultivating a Mental Attitude that Fosters Peace

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius Resurfaced using  Readwise

Just for today

A beautiful daily program for you to aspire to follow, originally written by Sibyl F. Partridge.

• Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
• Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
• Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse it nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
• Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
• Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggests, just for exercise.
• Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor find fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
• Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
• Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurrying and indecision.
• Just for today I will have a quiet half-hour all by myself and relax. In this half-hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
• Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.

Avoid trying to get even

“If selfish people try to take advantage of you, cross them off your list, but don’t try to get even. When you try to get even, you hurt yourself more than you hurt the other fellow.” – Milwaukee police department

No one can disturb your mind if you do not let them. Don’t waste time thinking about people you don’t like.

Don’t worry about ingratitude

Avoid getting upset about people not showing the level of gratitude that you expect. It’s human nature for people to forget to be grateful. So if you expect that they will be, you’ll simply be disappointed. If you want to be giving to people or the world, then do it. Don’t worry about that being recognized. If it is, great. You may feel good about getting that recognition, but don’t feel bad if you don’t receive it.

90% right, 10% wrong.

“Two men looked out from prison bars,

One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.” Resurfaced using  Readwise

Most of the time, about 90% of our lives are going well, while 10% are not going as we’d like. We focus and obsess about that 10%, even if it’s about things that we don’t care very much about. The best way to start enjoying your life is to focus on what’s going well. You can always try to improve what’s not going well, but don’t make that the focus of your days. Be grateful for what’s going well and for what you don’t have.

Help others

If you’re feeling down, try to spend some time thinking about the world outside of yourself. Focus on other people and what drives them. Become interested in their stories. See if you can find small ways to help. Bringing joy to someone else often brings joy to you.

Conquering Worry and Criticism

“Man is not made to understand life, but to live it.” – Santayana Resurfaced using  Readwise

Consider religion and prayer

Religion and prayer – or the acceptance of something not knowable and greater than yourself – is a good way to stop fretting about all of your troubles. While many modern day people are agnostic or atheist, shying away from the specifics of various religions, it’s important to remember that you can always accept that there is a piece of life that you’ll never fully understand.

So even if you’re not religious, talk to yourself about your worries, about your joys, about your hopes and dreams. Ask the universe for help. You may feel better by just asking.

No one kicks a dead dog

“So when you are kicked and criticized, remember that it is often done because it gives the kicker a feeling of importance. It often means that you are accomplishing something and are worthy of attention.” Resurfaced using  Readwise

People don’t criticize others who aren’t doing anything. So if you’re receiving some criticism, it likely means that you’re doing something that’s at least worthy of attention.

Don’t take criticism so personally

You can’t control whether or not you receive negative feedback or unjust criticisms, but you can control how you allow these events to impact your mind. Learning not to get worked up when someone says something that isn’t positive is a core skill for dealing with a world in which you may get criticized for just and unjust reasons.

Keep a “fool things I have done” list

We all do stupid things. Some people learn from their mistakes and move on. Others obsess about the mistakes they’ve made and never let them go. What path sounds better? One way to begin learning from and accepting your mistakes is to keep a “fool things I have done” list. This list can be a simple recording of all the stupid things you’ve done in your life. You can add to the list over time and look back over the years to see how you’re improving.

Keeping Fatigue at Bay

“Fatigue often produces worry, or, at least, it makes you susceptible to worry.” Resurfaced using  Readwise

Rest and relax

“I never stand up when I can sit down; and I never sit down when I can lie down.” – Henry Ford Resurfaced using  Readwise

Instead of grinding all day, take small breaks from your work. Do things you enjoy. Lay down. Go for a walk. Regularly take breaks to restore your energy, and you’ll be able to work longer during the day.

Rest also includes finding ways to reduce the impact of your emotions on your energy levels. Feeling too many negative emotions can easily drain you. Anger, resentment, and so on are some of the most draining forces around. You could sit all down and do nothing, but if you’re angry and resentful, you’ll feel exhausted.

There are different tactics that will work for you, but you have to find ways to relax. “Relaxation is the absence of all tension and effort.” Do whatever it is that relaxes you. This could be a few deep breaths. It could be keeping a journal when you’re upset. It could be laying on the floor for a few minutes when you’re tired. It could be sitting more comfortably in your chair.

Do your best to avoid unnecessary strain as you go about your days, and you’ll feel better throughout them.

Avoid boredom

Boredom is often exhausting. A good way to understand this concept is to imagine times when you’re doing something interesting or exciting. Are you tired or fatigued when you’re really engaged with your work? Probably not. So find activities that get you excited, and you’ll naturally have more energy.

Dealing with insomnia

Sleep is obviously a critical factor in feeling good. But many people, especially as they develop insomnia, begin to worry constantly about not getting enough sleep. This worry fuels the insomnia, and it makes people even more exhausted. So if you can’t sleep well, by all means, try different tactics to get better sleep.

But if you don’t get much sleep or are struggling, don’t worry about your lack of sleep. The worry will make you far more exhausted than the “not sleeping” part. It compounds the problem, rather than fixing it.

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Dale Carnegie Worry Analysis: Steps & Strategies

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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Why do we worry? What can you do to stop your mind from drifting into worry and overthinking?

According to Dale Carnegie, worry derives from being outside of the present moment. In his book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living , he presents “thoughtful analysis”—a three-step approach to working through worry by breaking it down into its basic facts.

There are three parts to thoughtfully analyzing and working through worry. 

Thoughtful Analysis

According to Dale Carnegie, worry is something you can overcome. The most foundational anti-worry tool is thoughtful analysis . Analysis helps neutralize your emotions and breaks worrisome situations down to their basic facts so that you can look at them clearly and calmly. This allows you to make sound decisions and find the best possible solutions.

Part 1: Get the Facts

It’s important to gather all the information you can about the situation, as this gives full clarity to it. If you’re worrying about something without full information about it, you don’t know exactly what you’re worried about. This can cause you to get stuck on “what-ifs” or make decisions based on false or incomplete information. 

When you’re gathering facts, be sure you’re gathering all the information possible. It’s often tempting to only seek out and use information that confirms your thinking, but this prevents you from seeing the situation from all sides and making a fully informed decision. Of course, it can be difficult to remain unbiased— when you’re faced with worry and emotions are high, you’ll naturally reach for information that makes you feel better, even if it’s not completely true. In these situations, there are several methods you can try to look at the problem and accompanying information more objectively:

• Pretend you’re gathering information for someone else who needs to make the decision—this gives you a bit of emotional distance from the matter, and you’re more likely to gather full information for “someone else.” 
• Pretend that you’re preparing a case against a lawyer—this forces you to look into all the possible information on the matter, even the information that’s hurtful or makes you feel bad because it could be “used against you” by the other side.

Part 2: Analyze Your Information

Write out all the information you have and lay it out. Information is easiest to sort through when you can visualize it all in one place, so choose a method that allows you to see all your facts at once and is visually pleasing for you—for example, use sticky notes, a whiteboard, or color-coded papers.

Once you’ve looked through all the information, ask yourself:

• What am I worried about? This question brings you to the actual issue at hand.
• What can I do about it? This question leads you to think about solutions to the core problem you identified.

Then, list all the possible solutions to your problem and decide which will have the best possible outcome. 

This process of analysis is important because you get directly to the center of your problem and choose a clear direction to move in—instead of getting overwhelmed by information or caught in a spiral of “what ifs.” 

Part 3: Act on Your Decision

Once you come to a decision, start acting on it. It’s crucial that you start acting on your decision right away so that you don’t have time to second-guess yourself or worry that you’ve made the wrong decision. 

Keep in mind that taking action doesn’t necessarily mean solving the problem all at once. It simply means that you should start on what you can do immediately. 

• For example, if your doctor tells you that you’re pre-diabetic and you decide to take charge of your health, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to change your lifestyle right away. However, you can start cutting soda out of your diet immediately.

Shortform Example: Navigating a Financial Tight Spot

One month, you find yourself in an especially tight financial situation. You start worrying—“What if my landlord evicts me?” “What will I do if I can’t afford food in a few weeks?” “What if my power gets cut off?” “What if I unexpectedly lose my job?” 

You decide to analyze your situation and figure out how you can make it through the month. You start by gathering relevant information: You make a spreadsheet of your bills and their due dates, you examine last month’s spending and create a budget, and you collect information about the repercussions of missed payments for each of your bills. 

You ask yourself, “What am I worried about?” You determine that you’re worried that you won’t be able to cover your most necessary expenses like rent, food, and electricity. You come up with a list of possible solutions:

• Borrow money from family or friends to cover your bills. 
• Pay all your bills in full, but have next to nothing left over for food. 
• Put money aside for food, pay some of your most important bills, and deal with late fees on the others later. 
• Put aside money for food and pay all your bills in full except your credit card bill. 

You review your information about missed credit card payments and see that there’s a special payment system you can use in case of financial difficulty. You decide that this is the best course of action and call your credit card company to explain your situation. They waive this month’s minimum payment so you won’t get a late fee and put you on a payment plan for the next four months so you can catch up on the bill bit by bit. 

Without the credit card bill to think about, you’re able to cover all your other expenses for the month, avoid numerous late fees, and get back on your feet.

How to Apply Worry Analysis to Your Organization 

A lot of stress and worry in businesses is caused by unnecessary meetings that talk around issues but don’t productively dig into problems and their solutions. You can make these meetings more productive and reduce stress in your workplace by making sure you’re asking the right questions—those that spark analysis and action. 

Step 1: Information-Gathering Questions 

What’s the problem? This question is important because a lot of time is wasted in meetings when people don’t actually know what problem they’re facing. 

What’s the source of the problem? This question is important because many meetings that discuss problems end without actually finding the root of the problem— which is where solutions should be aimed. 

Step 2: Analysis Question

What are all the possible solutions? This question is important because it specifies that numerous suggestions are encouraged. On the other hand, when you ask about “the” solution, it feels that only one suggestion can be important. This drives people to become competitive and refuse to listen to one another. 

If you don’t make it clear that you want to hear every idea, you’ll end up spending your time refereeing arguments about whose solution deserves discussion, instead of focusing on the problem at hand.

Step 3: Action Question

What’s the best solution? Make sure that once all the possible solutions are written down, you decide on a solution and start taking steps to put it in motion. Don’t get caught up in endless consideration of the different solutions’ outcomes. 

Teaching members of your organization to follow these steps when facing a problem reduces your stress and worry in several ways. 

• Team members won’t come to you with problems so frequently—going through the process of analysis forces them to consider facts and solutions, which often results in them solving the problem on their own. 
• When they do need your help finding a solution, the discussion takes significantly less time, as they’ve gathered and prepared all the relevant information ahead of time. 

Analyzing Worry in an Emergency 

Naturally, some anxiety-inducing situations crop up in life unexpectedly and you won’t have time for thorough analysis. In these situations, when all you can do is wait for the outcome, you’ll need a quick way to stop your worry from spiraling out of control. There’s a three-step process to put an “emergency stop” on worry.

1) Determine what the worst possible outcome would be. List all the possible outcomes of the issue—keep going until you arrive at the worst possible outcome.

• For example, if you made a major mistake with the accounts at work and lost $500,000, your worst possible outcome would probably be getting fired. 

2) Mentally prepare to accept the worst outcome. Once you have this outcome in mind, mentally accept that it’s going to happen, instead of trying to convince yourself it won’t. This spurs you to shrink your focus to how you’ll deal with the aftermath.

• If you imagine that you’ll lose your job, you might think, “I have a lot of experience in this field, so I can probably find a new job without too much trouble.”

3) Try to make the situation better. Once you’ve accepted the worst outcome and considered how you’ll deal with it, you can focus your energy on finding ways to mitigate your current situation as best you can. 

• You might examine your organization’s budget to find reasonable places to cut back and recover the $500,000 over a relatively short amount of time. 

When you’re worried, your judgment tends to become cloudy and panicky—you become lost in thoughts of everything that could happen. By forcing you to consider and accept the worst, this exercise clears your thinking so that you can more effectively find immediate solutions to your problem. 

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• What worry is and how it manifests both physically and mentally
• How to deal with worry about work, finances, and criticism
• How to cultivate a less worried mindset
• ← The Bayesian Approach to Making Smart Decisions
• How to Develop a Stoic Mind in Just 5 Steps →

Darya Sinusoid

Darya’s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain/mind/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.

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Simple is as Simple Does: Four Steps to Problem Solving

Take a look at your department’s most popular customized training courses. Chances are they involve problem-solving. Whether the topic is Resolving Conflict or Overcoming Resistance to Change, the root skill set being addressed is problem-solving.

In 1944, Dale Carnegie defined an approach to problem solving in his How To Stop Worrying and Start Living: Eliminating Fifty Percent of Your Business Worries. Today, over 50 years later, I still feel his is still one of the most effective methods there is. Simple and time-tested, Carnegie’s approach is has three steps.

Identify the problem

This may sound like stating the obvious, but it’s a step that many people skip. A thorough, unemotional analysis of the problem is critical to resolution. Don’t skimp on this step!

List all the possible solutions

Use your collective brainpower and problem-solving skills here. Let everyone offer solutions, regardless of how apparently impractical or inaccessible. An idea that sounds impossible may suggest a different solution that is well within your means. Get everything on the table without regard to details.

Choose the best solution, act on it and move on.

Here’s where good leaders show their stuff. Evaluate all the solutions, and choose the best one. You can strive for consensus, but don’t be afraid to act alone. Consider the worst case scenario. Now ask yourself: if that happens, can I deal with it? If the answer is “yes,” go forward. As the saying goes, expect the best, but prepare the worst.

Think this 3-step approach is elementary? Take this quick test of your own problem-solving skills. Consider this:

A five-star hotel opened for business, promising the most luxurious amenities and first-class service. The hotel planned to build its reputation on delivering an unparalleled hospitality experience that would result in repeat customers and word-of-mouth referrals. No expense had been spared to make sure this happened.

On the hotel’s first day in business, disaster struck. A guest came up to the Check-out desk, infuriated.

“There’s a mouse in my room!” he thundered.

The irate customer got louder and louder, as the service staff attempted to address his complaints. When the service manager arrived on the scene, she asked what the problem was.

“We have a very upset customer,” said a front desk staffer.

The scene continued, as the service staff focused on solving their problem. As they offered to give the angry man free drinks, pay for all his meals, and comp his room, a larger and larger crowd gathered.

So…what’s the problem here?

Do you agree with the service staff? Is the problem the irate customer? If so, you’ve all made a critical error. The irate customer must be dealt with (preferably, in private), but the real problem is far simpler.

There’s a mouse in the hotel!

That’s identifying the problem at its most basic level. Once you have a handle on the real problem, you can figure out 1) how the mouse got there 2) how to get it out of the hotel 3) how to keep other mice from becoming uninvited guests.

Until you identify the problem at its most basic level, you can’t solve anything. Once you have a grip on the issue at hand, you can apply Step #2 and Step# 3 of Carnegie’s problem-solving method.

Some things are simple, but they are not easy. Dale Carnegie’s 3-step problem-solving method is one of them. But keep trying; mastering it is well worth the practice!

Author Trenton Hightower, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Businesses Development at ProTrain, will be speaking at the Continuing Education Training Institute April 16-17 in Raleigh, NC. For more information, go to www.CETI.rocks . 

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5 Soft Skills for Leadership Success

These days, it is quite easy to train yourself in hard skills. Accessible, post-secondary education and sites like Lynda.com and YouTube have made it possible for nearly everyone to gain quantifiable skills related to every field of work. So how does one stand out from the highly-educated crowd and prove worthiness for a leadership role?  The answer is soft skills. These less-tangible traits are rarely accompanied by a diploma, and are often built out of experience. Regardless of your current position, demonstrating these abilities in your day-to-day work will help to showcase your readiness for a leadership role.

These are 5 soft skills that will indicate to higher-ups that you’re ready for more responsibility.

Emotional Control in Times of Action

While we never recommend ignoring your emotions, it is important to understand how they might be affecting your decision-making and critical thinking abilities. Regardless of whether those feelings are positive or negative, being able to control and separate them from the task at hand is essential to successfully leading a team. As Dale Carnegie said, “we have to keep our emotions out of our thinking.”

Creation and Maintenance of Positive Relationships in the Workplace

When you can develop genuine connections with the people you lead, you’re more likely to create a workplace of engagement. When this happens, team members enjoy their jobs and feel inspired to work toward the organization’s greater goals. Remember Dale Carnegie’s 9th Secret of Success: “Make the other person feel important, and do so sincerely,” and you’ll be on the right path to successful leadership.

Empathizing with Colleagues and Clients

When you can honestly see a situation from another person’s perspective, you’re engaging in empathy. This is an invaluable skill to have in any career – whether you’re a team leader, sales professional, or customer service representative. Regardless of your position, being able to understand someone else’s emotions, opinions, and problems helps you to connect with them.

As Dale Carnegie once wrote, “Instead of condemning people, let’s try to understand them. Let’s try to figure out why they do what they do. That’s a lot more profitable and intriguing than criticism; and it breeds sympathy, tolerance, and kindness.” So the next time you encounter a clash of wills with a colleague, instead of writing them off as uninformed or overly difficult, try honestly to see things from his or her perspective, and experience the benefits of friendly collaboration.

Inspiring Growth

Dale Carnegie understood the merits of inspirational leadership: “If you and I will inspire the people with whom we come into contact to a realization of the hidden treasures they possess, we can do far more than change people. We can literally transform them.”

In addition to being adept at problem-solving and decision-making, the most successful leaders are skilled in inspiring and motivating the people they lead. By encouraging and enabling team members to be and achieve the best, the successful leader builds a confident and competent team ready to take on the challenges of shifting marketplaces and business landscapes.

Preventing and Putting Out Fires

Are you able to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency? Twentieth-century Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis saw this skill as a sign of a true leader. Possessing this ability will save your business time, money, and frustrations – making you an irreplaceable member of the team.  Sometimes, however, problems cannot be foreseen. In these cases, having the capacity to deal with them in a timely and satisfactory manner is the next best thing. Dale Carnegie’s advice for handling worry provides a great framework for basic problem-solving:

“We must equip ourselves to deal with different kinds of worries by learning the three basic steps of problem analysis. The three steps are: 1. Get the facts. 2. Analyze the facts. 3. Arrive at a decision – and then act on that decision.”

Looking to take your soft skills one step further? Register for the world-famous  Dale Carnegie Course,  and learn how to build trust and motivate people to act; project an enthusiastic attitude; communicate logically, clearly and concisely; and energize and engage listeners. You’ll also discover ways to manage stress and minimize worry, encourage positive thinking, and commit to continuous improvement.

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The 10 Powerful Habits of Outstanding Leaders

Here’s the deal. Outstanding leaders are not carbon copies of one another. There is no copy-and-paste template you can use for achieving success. However, when you look at leaders who have made things happen and have done well at it, there are undoubtedly a few things they will have in common. 

If you’re looking to improve your own leadership skills, you’d be wise to check out the list below and see if there’s anything you’re missing or that could be improved upon. And before you say, “I’m already doing everything right,” have a look at the first item on the list.

1. They keep a growth mindset. 

No matter what level they are operating at, they know there is always room to grow. They work with a coach or mentor because they know they still have plenty to learn and are never burdened by learning. Speaking of learning, they are never burdened by it. On the contrary, they are energized by the prospect of growing their skill set. They study and model after other successful leaders but not to the point where they are strictly copying them. The growth mindset applies to both them as individuals and to the businesses they are leading.

2. They keep themselves in tune. 

Outstanding leaders know the importance of physical, mental, and emotional health. They make it a priority to stay on top of these needs in a holistic way, understanding that the whole person does the job. They build in time for rest in order to avoid burnout, and while they may not always achieve perfect balance, they know how to make time for the priorities in their life. A mindful approach to living allows them to have a high emotional IQ and better relatablity to their peers and direct reports. 

3. They have a sense of purpose.

Going through life on autopilot is NOT a characteristic of successful people. Leaders who are in touch with true intentions and goals are far more effective than those who are not. Understanding purpose usually goes hand-in-hand with passion, and this guides them to take action (even in the face of fear). This sense of purpose also leads to greater authenticity. People feel more connected and more likely to follow those who are authentic. 

4. They know their strengths and weaknesses.

Not only do they understand what they are good at and not so good at, they know what to do with that information. They maximize their strengths and use them to everyone’s advantage. They delegate the rest to others. Knowing weaknesses also provides them insight on where they need to grow. Outstanding leaders are confident, but they are not arrogant.

5. They have focus and clarity.

Great leaders know the power of goal-setting. They write down their goals, make a plan, and stay focused on what matters. Their goals may change, but not without a valid and well-thought-out reason. Priorities are made, and time is seldom wasted on non-priority tasks. They are prepared every day, usually getting ready for each day at the end of the previous one. Time management is a strength.

6. They bounce back from failure.  

Leaders aren’t afraid of failure, they know failure is essential for growth and learning. They find the lesson in it and move on. You may know this as resilience. The dictionary defines resilience as “the ability to recover readily from adversity.” We also talk about resilience as flexibility, like a rubber band. It’s a nice image. However, instead of imagining we return back to our previous form , let’s say that every time we bounce back, we get stronger and stronger. Less likely to break. More likely to soar. This is what outstanding leaders do.

7. They know how to communicate effectively.

With all the communication human beings do from day-to-day, you’d think we’d all have it mastered. The painful truth is that many of us do not. Communication is an art and a skill. It’s something we don’t always do well, but something we can indeed improve upon. An outstanding leader is clear. They listen fully and make eye contact. They may be busy, but they remain approachable and receptive to what others have to say. They know that amazing ideas can come from a variety of sources. Feedback is given to direct reports, but it’s always constructive and helpful. Praise, when earned, is given generously.

8. They employ creative thinking.

In a business setting, if we limit ourselves to linear, rational thinking, we miss opportunities. It lacks perspective and often causes us to fall behind. A great leader knows this. They use creative problem solving. They think outside the box. They generate concepts for products and services that no one else thinks of, and they may even have unique rituals to get them into the creative mindset.They know the dangers of too much comfort as it applies to an organization’s relevance in this day and age, so they seek to nurture new ideas on a regular basis.

9. They keep themselves accountable.  

Outstanding leaders take ownership for their work — both the good and the bad. They have systems and networks, and they keep their word, to themselves and to others. Often, you can find great leaders in a mastermind group with other leaders because they understand that a regular meeting of the minds will keep them moving forward on their goals. 

10. They are a guide to others.  

Let’s not forget that leadership is leading. Great leaders guide their people, providing a direction and showing them the way. Just as they are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, they also help others understand theirs. They know how to bring the best out of each person, and they help them improve where they need it. They are the head of the team, but they are also ON the team, performing their role as one role of many. This gains them respect from peers and direct reports who trust their guidance and always feel cared about.

Getting better in your role as a leader is a journey. The most important thing is the willingness and commitment to actually taking the steps necessary for improvement. Work towards your improvements one step at a time, and you will no doubt grow into the outstanding leader you want to be.

“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, for your character is what you are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” ― Dale Carnegie