January 2006

Chinese New Year: The Year of the Dog

Happy Chinese New Year!

This year is the year of the dog. As you can see, our dog Sonic is energized, motivated, and ready to take full advantage of the Chinese New Year: Year of the Dog. He may move from that spot by 2007.

Give a Compliment Day

"You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life."

- Zig Ziglar

January 25th is Give a Compliment Day! On this day you are to share five compliments during the day.

Why is this important? Because it is so easy to comment on what is wrong with your employees, your community, and even your family or spouse. But sometimes we forget about appreciating the good things people do everyday. By giving a sincere compliment (not flattery), you receive the following benefits:

• A compliment forces you to find the positive in people.

• A compliment lets the other person know you appreciate them for what they do.

• A compliment can be contagious and create a positive environment.

• A compliment can erase conflict between individuals.

• A compliment can make a difference in someone's life.

Believe it or not, there are people going through life never receiving a sincere compliment or expression of appreciation. Do you know someone like that or you can't remember when the last time someone gave you a compliment? They never receive a compliment at work, from family members, or at school. Remember, everyone has something they do well. Our job is to find it and express our appreciation for it. By sharing a sincere compliment can make the day for them...and you.

So here are my five compliments that I will share with these very special people:

To Joy (my wife and business partner): I appreciate her attention to detail and her ability to constantly push herself and others to be better.

To my kids: I appreciate their independent thinking, their drive, and their initiative to make positive things for themselves and others.

To A.F.: I appreciate you for being a leader and taking the time to invest your time to listen and act on your employee's ideas.

To M.T.: I appreciate your energy and positive attitude at your place of work while fighting through your illness. Especially since your doctor told you not to put in so many hours.

To Amos and the BOA crew: I appreciate the way you always make every customer feel special and attend to them like they are the only person in the bank.

I challenge you to find something you appreciate in five other people and share a sincere compliment with each person. Do it because it's the right thing to do.

You'll be glad you did.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.

Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes Featured on NBC News as Mentors of Young Leaders

Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes were featured on the WAVY-TV 10 (NBC affiliate) program, Wednesday's Child, for their volunteer work mentoring the community's young to become leaders. The program, hosted by WAVY-TV 10 news personality, Don Roberts, ran a series called "Where in the World is Wednesday's Child" seeking to find out what happened to children in challenging situations mentored by Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes during 1996. Don Roberts featured Ciara the young child mentored by Joy. Ciara now nineteen years old, is an art teacher in a local school and is preparing to go to college for law.

It has been very rewarding receiving telephone calls from indivduals wanting to know how they can volunteer or start their own programs. Even with our busy travel schedule, we continue to volunteer our time to teach children leadership, team building, and communication skills through the Toastmasters Young Leadership program.

Make your Dreams Come True/Make Your Mark/Blame Someone Else Days!

It's funny that January 11th is "Make Your Dreams Come True Day," January 12th is "Make Your Mark Day," and January 13th is "Blame Someone Else Day." Believe it or not these are real holidays.

I believe that if we don't sit down and plan your goals and act on them you won't achieve your dreams. If we don't achieve our dreams we won't make our mark in life, work, and the community. Many times if we don't achieve our dreams and make your mark we often put the blame on someone or something else. See how the days are connected?

Here are some resources to make it easier for you to achieve your dreams and leave the blame for someone else:

Happy Human Resources Month!

January is Human Resources month! Now is a great opportunity to highlight the contributions you make and to honor the special people in Human Resources who make them. Rewards and recognition for Human Resources staff set the stage for another terrific HR year.

This is the perfect time to:

1. Expand your good will and public relations efforts within your organization.

2. Showcase your contributions.

3. Seek the input and feedback you need to effectively serve your customers.

With these multiple purposes in mind, consider these opportunities:

Want to Accomplish More of Your Goals in 2006?

What do Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Chris Widener, Tony Alessandra, David DeFord, and Ed Sykes have in common?

These achievement experts have joined forces to provide you with a "roadmap of success" in 2006 and beyond in a new innovative achievement book! Whether you want to achieve more in your business, career, family, community, this will give you the easy-to-follow secrets to achieve your dreams.

Read more...