Change the way you Think, Speak and Act

It is wonderful to be sitting in our hotel in Malta having finished a busy three days of delivering my keynote talk and two Masterclasses to different organisations. Before Julie and I arrived, we weren’t completely sure how things would go but the feedback from all three sessions has been wonderful.

This has been one of the best experiences of my life to date. To be delivering these sessions in amazing 5-star hotels to really great organisations has been a true joy. I am sat here reflecting on the week and how well it has gone and how much I have enjoyed it.

A busy schedule

We flew out on Tuesday but on Monday I managed to fit in a Masterclass to the sales staff of the Wireless Radio Group which was held in the North West. It was a challenge to organise all the logistics of Malta plus this session for Wireless, but it was a great session and the feedback was excellent.

This gives me a great deal of excitement for the future as the sessions I deliver appear to be getting better and better. The theme of Mental Resilience combined with my personal story gives the sessions authenticity, credibility and some life changing techniques.

Some great companies

I ran the keynote talk for a great company called Raketech and the CEO Michael Holmberg loved it. Then I ran a Masterclass the following day for an organisation called Ultimate Performance run by Nathan Farrugia which was really positive.

Finally, on Friday I ran the Masterclass for the Academy for Chief Executives again run by Nathan and it was energetic, interactive and fun. The structure of the half day Masterclass seems to be ideal both in content and length. This gives the attendees time to get back to work for the afternoon.

A fellow basketball player

To finish a wonderful week, I had a meeting at 5pm on Friday with Peter Perotti the Chief Retail Banking Officer of the largest bank in Malta, the Bank of Valletta. He has a basketball and sporting background and is still playing running and swimming.

It was great to ponder on the similarities between sport and business and to discuss potential for running some Masterclasses for his staff in the future.

I came across this story recently:

“The story is told of a wise old man. Every day he and his granddaughter would sit outside his petrol station in rocking chairs, waiting to greet tourists as they passed through their small town.

One day a tall man with the appearance of a tourist started looking around like he was checking out the area for a place to live. ‘So what kind of town is this anyway?’ he asked. The old man replied, ‘well what kind of town are you from?’ The man replied ‘One where the people are critical of each other. It’s a real negative place to live.’

A strange response

The old man said, ‘You know, that’s just how this town is too.’ Later, a family passing through also stopped for petrol. The father stepped out and asked the old man, ‘Is this town a good place to live?’ The old man asked him about the town he currently lived in.

The man said, ‘Where I’m from everyone’s close, and always willing to lend a helping hand. I really hate to leave it. The old man smiled and said, ‘You know what, that’s a lot like this town.’

He knew the answer

After the family drove off, the old man’s granddaughter asked, ‘Grandpa, how come you told the first man that this was a terrible place to live, and when the second family asked, you told them it was a wonderful place to live?’

The old man looked into her big blue eyes and said, ‘Sweetheart, no matter where you go, you take your attitude with you, and that’s what makes it terrible or wonderful.

Attitude is everything

Your attitude determines your altitude in life. Attitude or mindset is like an internal rudder of your life which steers you down a negative or positive path. A positive mindset has high energy and a negative mindset has low energy.

Four years ago, my life was heading in the wrong negative direction, so I changed the way I think, the way I speak and the way I act, and I am in awe of what is happening in my life since I changed from negative to positive.

Thoughts for the week:

1. Are your thoughts, words and actions more positive or more negative?
2. What you think and what you say is what you get.
3. If you are more than 50% positive each day you start to win.
4. This week be aware of your feelings if they are good your thinking is good, if they are bad your thinking is bad so change those thoughts.

Well that’s it from Malta have a great weekend and stay positive.

Warm regards

John