Window Three Blog

Your Choice - Your Next Performance Review

2010-03-09T10:06:54Z

Occasionally here on Window Three, you will be presented with a situation or story. From that story, and should you choose to do so, you are tasked with formulating what would be a “Level Three Action.” In doing so, it might first be a good idea to identify what you would have ‘typically’ done if it was indeed YOU in the situation. From there, decide whether your response was Level One, Two or Three. Remember, your goal is to add positive emotion into a situation.

Once you determine the ‘Level’ of your natural response, you can then define the levels above or below your natural response. Good Luck. For more information as it pertains to acting at Level Three, Check out our book, “Window Three, You Always Have a Choice.”

Scenario: You just had your quarterly performance review with your boss/manager/superior. It didn’t go as you had hoped. The economy is down, and you felt that had much to do with your first quarter numbers, however your boss implied otherwise. She gave you an action plan to, “Get you back on track.” A comment you didn’t accept gracefully. You’ve always felt that your boss lacked the understanding of what you go through on a daily basis. On the other hand, maybe not all bosses in the world have poor judgement, but rather, we just aren’t very good at accepting criticism. Nonetheless, you have a choice. What would Level Three be?

Weekly Challenge - STOP SELLING!

2010-03-08T10:04:38Z

Great Morning Window Three Challengers! How was your weekend? My guess would be that it wasn’t long enough! However, at least you have another week to challenge yourself, so let’s get to it! Here is this week's challenge:

“Unless asked, try to go an entire day without trying to ‘sell’ someone on your ideas and opinions. Rather, ask them questions and listen to their thoughts and ideas. Realize that if they want your thoughts, they will ask for them.”

So often conversations are simply two people trying to present their opinions to one another. Nothing gets accomplished through this self-important interaction, just two people preparing their next ‘point’ they want to make in their ‘sale’ of themselves. In these conversations, very little listening and understanding takes place. Now, you can change all of that by being the Level Three that is needed in giving others what they need and want most: to be understood. It takes a special person to accomplish this task and I know you can do it! Good luck, and have an ALL-STAR week!

Affective Questioning - Would You Part With It?

2010-03-05T10:05:58Z

Much has been written in the past few weeks about the difficulty of loss. Loss has been presented in the sense of material items, careers or simply the past. To continue along the same lines of thought, this week’s Affective Question asks, “What would be the hardest material item for you to part with?” It’s an interesting question in the sense that it allows for so much thought and choice. Some examples might include the home you live in, a piece of jewelry, or something that a loved one from long ago has passed down to you.

Ask yourself what it would take for you to part with that item. What would need to be on the line for you to give it up? Our world today has become more possession oriented than ever and here is a question that gets to the most emotional aspect of your possessions. Challenge one of your key accounts to this question. You’ll be amazed at what you might find out regarding their response. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I look forward to being here again with you next week. Until that time, whenever you have a choice, make it Level Three!

Are You Chasing a LOSS?

2010-03-03T09:17:11Z

Bill was one of the most hardworking men I’d known. He spent most of his life building up his company, in hopes that one day when he sold it, the sale would give he and his wife enough money to retire comfortably. In 2004 he did just what he had hoped, and was able to sell his company for just over 2 million dollars. All that hard work finally paid off, he thought to himself.

Bill’s first order of business was to sell his home in Ohio, and move down to Florida where he and his wife could spend their time walking the beaches and tasting the wines. He had planned to pass the time by dabbling in the market and doing his best to add to their already comfortable savings. So, Bill found a good broker and worked through him to learn the art of stock trading.

Bill’s broker, Larry, had been in the financial industry for years. He had met and worked with all different types of personalities and had been very successful in coaching his clients towards substantial GAINS. “The secret is to have a plan, and follow it. The market can be an emotional game if you let it get to you. Stick to your plan, and it’s much easier to come out a winner,” was what Larry always told his clients.

For the most part, Bill was good about sticking to Larry’s advice. He mostly invested for the long term, but he still would occasionally get a little too risky for Larry’s liking and put most of his money on one stock for a quick GAIN. It was during these times that you might have heard Bill telling Larry, “I didn’t make this money by not taking some risks along the way, so if you can’t take the heat, then get out of the kitchen!”

It was during one of these more risky investments that Bill found out what it meant to chase a LOSS. He had bought the stock known as APX, after a buddy of his had given him some so-called, ‘inside advice.’ Bill had bought the stock at $45 and enjoyed watching it climb to an all-time high of $65. It was at this time that his broker, Larry told Bill he should sell his position in the stock and move back to a safer approach. “My buddy told me that this stock is going to split soon, so I’m sticking with it,” was Bill’s rebuttal. And stick with it he did.

Larry and Bill watched the drop back down to $55, then $45, then $30. At each juncture, Larry tried to persuade that he needed to sell off the stock and keep what he still had. At $55, Bill said he would sell the stock known as APX when it got back to $60. When it got down to $45, Bill decided once it got back to $50 he would feel OK about selling it. Same story when the stock reached $35, but as was the case each time, it never went up.

The stock went all the way down to $5 and every step of the way, Bill was convinced that it would bounce back and get to its glory days and provide him the earnings he had hoped. Rather, Bill traded what he wanted most, for what he wanted in the moment and now works at the local Starbucks serving lattes to strangers.

Brokers such as Larry call this behavior, “chasing a LOSS.” Chasing a LOSS occurs when an investor fails to step back from a position even in the face of great LOSSes in hopes of getting some of their money back. Larry will tell you, “Watching a client chase a LOSS might be one of the saddest experiences I’ve watched another go through. During the entire process, I tell them what is going on and why they are experiencing the emotions that cause them to continue in with their downward spiral. Rarely do they ever listen. Instead, they end up squandering away a lifetime of earnings.”

It’s been said that the emotion a human being feels in the face of a LOSS is 2.5 times stronger than had that same person had a GAIN. In other words, a LOSS has a bigger impact on our emotions and can cause us to do some squirrelly things. In the case of Bill, he threw away over $2 million dollars because of the emotion from having a LOSS. The irony is that Bill had the emotion of a LOSS, when his stock position was at $55 even though he was still up $10 overall. He just wasn’t at the peak anymore and therefore perceived as a LOSS.

Now, it’s this kind of stuff that really intrigues me. Not because I like to invest money. In fact, just the opposite is true; I HATE it for the very same reason that we are discussing...the powerful emotion felt by a LOSS. Like a sweet white wine, I do not have a taste for it. So why do I bring this up then? Great question.

The reason we are discussing this is to compare it to so many scenarios in our lives. Scenarios in which we can’t, and won’t walk away, as it might seem like a LOSS. Some of these scenarios might include your career, your family, a home, or infinite other possibilities. One scenario in which we all have trouble walking away from comes in the form of our experience. I see this all the time with new ideas or new processes that aren’t accepted in the professional world. Sure, many times these ideas are kept at bay based off of habits that keep the new idea from being used, however if you think about it and the person knows it’s the habit, then it isn’t far from the scenario mentioned above.

Take for example a professional that is presented with a new way to communicate with customers and co-workers. More often than not, if that professional was completely honest with themselves, they could admit that the new idea would benefit them. However, a use of the new idea also comes with a subtle suggestion of ‘their way’ as being ‘wrong,’ and therefore hard to accept. The emotion of change is hard to deal with and therefore the old way is hard to let go of. Does this sound anything like “chasing a LOSS?”

I’ve seen this come into play when older generations move from the homes they grew up in. They know they can’t take care of it, they know the home is no longer needed, yet they view it as a LOSS. A LOSS of memories, a LOSS of great times, a LOSS of what used to be. In that situation, you don’t hear much about what they GAIN. You don’t hear about things like, more freedom, more money, less stress. Again, this is because of the emotion and emphasis we place on LOSS.

Now, I know that it may take some thought to make the connection between our original story and change. However, they both involve strong emotion as it relates to LOSS. What you need to do is remember that a LOSS is simply an attitude towards an event. Bill could easily have sold the stock and had a profit. That professional could easily accept the new ideas and call it growth. The person selling their home can call it opportunity. However, we don’t want to do that. We want to rid ourselves of the emotion caused by the LOSS, and the only way to do that is to try hard to hold on to it, or chase it.

Here’s my advice, stop chasing your LOSSES. I’ll go back to the idea of being tied to a pier. The tighter you have your boat tied up to something, the harder it is to move with the water. When change comes about, the waves will smash you on the shore, they will pound you into the pier. Let go. You’ll have much more freedom, and you’ll be able to float in whatever direction you choose. Life, both personally and professionally, is so much easier when your mind is open and free to new ideas. Have a great week everyone!

Your Choice - So YOU Have Some Free Time...

2010-03-02T10:04:57Z

Occasionally here on Window Three, you will be presented with a situation or story. From that story, and should you choose to do so, you are tasked with formulating what would be a “Level Three Action.” In doing so, it might first be a good idea to identify what you would have ‘typically’ done if it was indeed YOU in the situation. From there, decide whether your response was Level One, Two or Three. Remember, your goal is to add positive emotion into a situation.

Once you determine the ‘Level’ of your natural response, you can then define the levels above or below your natural response. Good Luck. For more information as it pertains to acting at Level Three, Check out our book, “Window Three, You Always Have a Choice.”

Scenario: It’s Saturday Morning, and you find that you have the day all to yourself! There is a lot you have been wanting to get done around the house as well as with your career. However, you also have been needing some ‘relax‘ time. So many choices, so little time. For you, what would Level Three be?

Weekly Challenge - Devote YOUR Time

2010-03-01T10:06:59Z

Great Morning Window Three Challengers! It is to be hoped that you had an awesome weekend, and you’re starting your week out right! If not, make it happen now! This week, I challenge you to do one of the hardest things possible in our society today:

“Devote an entire day to somebody that may need it. Not an hour, morning or afternoon. An entire day. This could be a friend, family member, coworker or stranger, just so long as they need a helping hand!”

Why is this so difficult? Well, it mostly has to do with our high levels of self-importance, but it also has some to do with habit. Therefore, it’s going to take some effort to fulfill the challenge. Don’t worry, we will be rooting you on here at Window Three. Should you need any help, you know where to find us. Until then, have a ROCKSTAR like week!

Boss or Leader?

2010-02-26T10:09:30Z

The Boss drives his men, The Leader inspires them..
The Boss depends on authority, The Leader depends on goodwill...
The Boss evokes fear, The Leader radiates love...
The Boss says "I", The Leader says "We"...
The Boss shows who is wrong, The Leader shows what is wrong...
The Boss knows how it is done, The Leader knows how to do it...
The Boss demands respect, The Leader commands respect...

by Unknown Author

Do You Stand on LOGIC?

2010-02-24T10:08:25Z

Guten Tag Window Three Nation! For those who do not know, that’s German for ‘Good Day!’ Welcome back to another week in YOUR life! It thrills me to back here chatting with you, and I must say I am pumped about our topic today as it goes along extremely well with the idea behind Window Three!

However, before discussing today’s topic, I’d like to pose you with a challenge. Below, you will find three short scenarios. Your challenge is to read each scenario, and as you do so, try to determine how the stories are similar. I’ll give you a hint, it has to do with the choices being made. Good luck.

Bumper to Bumper
Having been so stressful, his day seemed longer than usual and he was very excited to get home. Tom had picked his daughter up at the daycare that she attended and he now found himself and his ‘little angel’ headed home by their normal route on the city's bypass. Since it was later than usual, Tom was moving at a fairly good speed in the far left lane.

That’s when it happened! Another car that was moving at a much slower pace moved into Tom and his daughter's lane. “This is the fast lane you idiot!” Tom screamed at the car. That’s when Tom decided it was time to teach this driver a lesson by driving right up on the other car’s bumper. “Yeah, how do you like that!” Tom directed at the vehicle that was five feet in front of him and moving at 70 miles per hour. His daughter clutched her stuffed animal tightly.


New Training
It made no sense! This was a veteran team that had seen the best and worst this economy had to throw at them. They had been through the ups and downs, the mergers and cut backs, and through it all, they had seemingly worked hard to bring this organization success! So now, why on earth would they need to be put through more training? What else could they possibly need to know? How many more of these ‘new ideas’ do they have to sit through before someone realizes that they already have a good team.

“We’re not the problem. The problems are in our products and pricing!” Melissa said to Irene, another team member. Melissa continued, “I’m tired of having to go through all new training every time we don’t meet our numbers! I’m going to say something to upper management!” Irene chimed in, “There's no need for that! Just do what we always do and listen to the material, but then go about business as usual. After all, upper management only has us go through this training so they feel like they are providing us with the needed tools.”

Best Round Ever!
He had only been playing for a few years now, but still, the fact that he’d never shot a round of golf in the 70’s had frustrated Chad immensely. He rarely failed to get close, usually shooting in the low 80’s, but he had never been able to break the magic number of 80. However, today looked like it was going to be the day! After shooting a 38 on the front nine of his round, he now found himself needing to par out on the last two holes to accomplish his goal. That’s when it happened.

Chad tried to approach the Par 5, 17th hole in his usual fashion and use his driver off the tee. However, in usual fashion, he sliced the ball way off to the right and found himself in what golfers call, ‘jail’ (an area that is gridlocked by trees, leaving the golfer with few choices). The choices that a golfer has in a situation like this are usually very clear; chip out to safety, or hit the ball towards the green and pray that it doesn’t hit a tree. To take the safe route and chip out to the fairway would make it more difficult to get on the green in three, and then two putts for one of his much needed pars! Chad stared down his choices thoroughly, as though he was giving thought to both, but deep down, he knew his mind was already made up. He was going to go for it.

As you know, most of what we discuss here at Window Three is positive emotion, not to be confused with negative emotion. In other words, not all emotion is created equal. This is important to note for our discussion today because of the anti-emotion that we will be talking about: Logic.

For our purpose, we are going to discuss logic as being what makes the most sense from an objective point of view. The situations above all featured an example of emotion replacing logic. For example, in the instance of Tom, the driver who was teaching the other driver a lesson by riding their bumper, emotionally in the moment, riding the other person’s bumper makes complete sense. However, from a logical (objective) point of view, it makes no sense at all as Tom is risking multiple lives, including that of he and his daughter, simply to teach this driver a ‘lesson.’

The same can be said for the other two scenarios. In the instance of the team that doesn’t want training, a group of ‘Professionals’ believe strongly that they don’t need to grow with the economy. So much so, that they are willing to ignore, and even challenge management's decision to give their sales team new ideas and techniques that might help them perform better. In the scenario of the golfer, we left Chad right as he was getting ready to risk his entire round on one, ‘low percentage,’ shot.

In each of these scenarios, the main characters are trading logic for their short term emotion. This is where it is important to note that the emotion Window Three represents is not this ‘short-term,’ seemingly negative emotion. In these moments, each individual risks what they want most; to be home safely with family, a successful career, and the lowest score possible, for what they want in the moment; teach a driver a lesson, no more training, and to be closer to the green.

Let’s first reiterate that Window Three always suggests thinking of things in regards to the ‘ultimate goal,’ which is positive emotion added to your life. Second, let’s note that to the casual observer, each of these individuals have gone against ‘logic.’ Now it might seem that when making a decision, a person only has two choices: emotion or logic. After all, we just talked about how each character in the proposed scenarios traded logic for emotion. The reality is that the emotion the characters responded to wasn’t the only emotion in the equation. Had they chosen logic, there would have also been emotion, it would have just come at a later point. It would have come into play when they achieved their goals.

We could easily spend quite a bit of time dissecting what would have happened, and how the characters would have felt, had they chosen the logical decisions, however, I’ll let you play those scenarios out in your own mind. Certainly, there is always the chance that there wouldn’t have been a car accident, that management would have thought the sales team was ‘right‘ in their negative attitudes towards training, and Chad may have hit the shot of his life and not only missed all the trees, but also put the ball on the green. Certainly those are all possible, but the question is, “WHY?”

The truth is that we are constantly trading what we want most, for what we want in a moment! That’s to say that every day, we give in to our short-term emotions and throw away what we want most and the logic that goes with it. My question to you is, "what are some daily instances in your life in which logic gets thrown out the window? What are those moments that you don’t think about Level Three, and therefore just respond to a quick and illogical emotion?" Because it’s these moments that become the biggest detriment to who you are, and what you hope to achieve.

When you are in these moments, please know that the emotion you’ll feel is powerful, and it takes a special person to challenge it. It takes a special person to step back and look at the moment logically. When you feel these moments taking control of your CHOICES, take back control by reminding yourself what you want most in life, and then defining what Level Three might look like for each situation! I promise that when you do so, you'll find yourself getting closer and closer to achieving things that you never thought possible! Good luck, and have a GREAT WEEK!

Your Choice - My Teammate's Attitude 'STINKS!'

2010-02-23T10:12:39Z

Occasionally here on Window Three, you will be presented with a situation or story. From that story, and should you choose to do so, you are tasked with formulating what would be a “Level Three Action.” In doing so, it might first be a good idea to identify what you would have ‘typically’ done if it was indeed YOU in the situation. From there, decide whether your response was Level One, Two or Three. Remember, your goal is to add positive emotion into a situation.

Once you determine the ‘Level’ of your natural response, you can then define the levels above or below your natural response. Good Luck. For more information as it pertains to acting at Level Three, Check out our book, “Window Three, You Always Have a Choice.”

Scenario: You are part of a team that prides itself on having a strong record for customer experience. Therefore, keeping an attitude that is healthy and open to new ideas is of the utmost importance to the success of your team. A team member has recently been going through difficult times both at home and in their career, and has therefore been bringing a negative vibe to the group dynamic by way of attitude. You have a choice. What would Level Three be?

Weekly Challenge - What Are YOU Working On?

2010-02-22T10:11:52Z

Great Morning Window Three Challengers! How was your weekend? Mine was great, as I was given the opportunity to drive my grandparents down to their winter holdup in Hot Springs, Arkansas. But enough about the past, let’s talk about this week and the great challenge you will have the choice to partake in!

“Ask one person a day for an entire week,“What are you working on?” Note the responses you receive. Some will enjoy the question as it gives them an opportunity to talk about their goals and accomplishments. Others will respond sarcastically and defensively. How often do you receive a response that is geared towards self-improvement? How would you have responded?”

Have fun with this! If they ask you what you mean, respond by telling them that everyday is another opportunity to improve and challenge yourself, and you were curios what they are doing to challenge what they already know. In doing so, you will be reminding them and yourself that everyday is another opportunity to improve! Have a GREAT week everyone!