TOUGHEN UP: Rules of Engagement

Over the years in the community building industry, I have seen my business partner and leadership expert, Claude Hamilton, exemplify the statement; It’s not only what you tell me, but what you show me.  Albert Schweitzer says, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others; it’s the only thing.”  Claude’s example as a husband, Father, and business leader have been invaluable in my life.

Claude has many loyal business partners and friends because he loves and serves them unconditionally. I remember the first time I met Claude 10 years ago; by his posture alone I could tell he was someone who was going somewhere.  Everywhere he went, people were looking to get time with him and introduce their newest business partners to him. He seemed to be a magnet that attracted everyone that was hungry to learn leadership and business building principles. If you are ever blessed to spend time with Claude, you will quickly realize that his powerful vision and unstoppable work ethic inspire others to act boldly. Many times I have heard him say, “The spines of the weak are stiffened in the presence of the bold.” Claude Hamilton is BOLD!

You can get a glimpse of Claude’s knowledge and wisdom in his new book TOUGHEN UP!  Through personal experience in both his military and business life, Claude outlines eight strengths that are essential for real toughness in leadership.  Claude reveals these principles, and their importance to toughness, through his real life struggles; from military basic training to financial stresses.  Overcoming his struggles and striving for excellence in each of the eight strengths is what makes Claude the great leader he is today.

Part one of TOUGHEN UP outlines the first three strengths:

1. Attitude
2. Courage
3. Character

The following excerpts from the first three chapters are just a glimpse of the wisdom that is etched into the pages of TOUGHEN UP!

• Attitude

“Attitude makes all the difference.  The tougher things are, the more opportunity we have to analyze our attitude and choose the right posture.  Those early rejections defined me because they made me take stock of what I really wanted and decide whether to fight for what our family needed or give in and just let life happen to us”.

• Courage

“…if you do the right thing in small matters, you’re going to be a lot more likely to do the right thing when it’s hard.  We build courage every time we do the right thing, even something seemingly simple as listening to audios and reading important books.  In fact, these things are actually high.  Find a great leader with success in your field, and you’re almost certain to find that he or she listens to audios and reads – a lot”.

• Character

“…when I say someone is ‘a man of character’ or ‘he has character,’ I mean he has integrity, loyalty, and strength.  I mean he will stand for the right things, even when it is hard.  I mean he is honest and dedicated.  I mean I can trust him to do the right thing”.

“I learned as a military diver that a person’s real character is seen when he faces adversity.  Paul Newman once noted, ‘A man with no enemies is a man with no character’.”

Anyone, in any profession, at any stage of their life will benefit from the knowledge they gain from reading TOUGHEN UP!  The principles are universal and the values are timeless.  I encourage everyone to read this book then pass it on to someone else they care about who they want to see succeed in any area of their life.

God Bless,

Wayne

 

Servant Leadership at its Best

In life there are so many people who we come in contact with and they play some role in influencing us in a positive or negative way. This past weekend we have seen why so many people follow and trust Orrin and Laurie Woodward. This couple defines servant leadership. From the time we all entered the Woodward’s 9-Acre property on the beautiful coast of St. Lucie Bay Florida, to the time we all left was nothing short of spectacular. As a group of hungry Canadians, we were inspired to come home and serve even more than we have in the past. To watch the Woodward’s serve the whole day, teaching, inspiring, loving on their teams.

Their property, cars, and yacht were all breath taking and stunning, but the most impactful event from the weekend were the people sharing their dreams and goals amongst each other at the “Gazeebinar.” Having Orrin sharing his thoughts and vision for LIFE and hearing Claude talk about the difference we can all make. Watching and hearing grown men share their inner dreams, goals, and struggles strengthen a team. Orrin said when you try to break one pencil with your hands, no problem, but when your start griping a lot of pencils together eventually they become unbreakable even with all your strength. Building communities of people who share a common vision and purpose is much like the pencil example, strength is in numbers.

Raylene said the best part of the day was Laurie and Lana sharing with all the women at the patio table. It was an amazing couple of hours of loving, information, and valuable nuggets to help any woman move forward in all areas of life. Their amazing ways to serve, answer questions, and share stories was incredible. Lana lead the conversation asking important questions that we all needed to hear the answer to, to help with our thinking and our feelings.

To think and know that this amazing couple started out in the community building industry just like we did is so inspiring. Their exceptional rise to the top of the community building industry is by no accident. They are hungry to learn and grow personally even after all their personal success.

I read an article on Phil Jackson and a reporter asked him, “How do you keep your players so motivated to win?” Jackson response was, “When you have the greatest basketball player in the world, out work daily every other player on the team, it’s easy to motivate them, they have the best possible teacher. It’s easy for me.” This example is how I view Orrin and Laurie Woodward, when you have the greatest community builder in the industry out work, out think, out read, out serve, almost all if not all on their team, it’s easy to see why so many are inspired around the Woodward’s to do more personally.

We also would like to personally thank Claude and Lana Hamilton for being such amazing leaders, always out front and believing in us all. Being a great example to follow in this industry, and making this weekend possible for so many.  Check out this video of Claude in action and how amazing he really is: Claude Hamilton – What Voice are you Listening to?

Thank you to the Woodward’s for graciously opening their home and hearts to us all. This experience will be remembered and treasured forever.

Click on the picture of the car to view a short video of Scott Staley, Raylene, Orrin and I in Orrin’s beast of a car, a convertible challenger.

Here are some awesome pictures of our weekend at the Woodward’s.

Enjoy and God bless,

Wayne

 

Attitude is the Difference

Have you ever wondered why some people just always seem upbeat and vibrant about life?

Have you ever said to yourself that this person just does not have my situations?

Have you thought that maybe they were born with the ability to always stay positive?

I did, for many years I thought something must be was wrong with people who always seemed happy and joyful about their situations, they must be pretending. In my younger years, I always looked at things in life as fun and on the bright side, but as I got older and the responsibilities started piling up, I could not find that something that I was passionate about and that could keep that positive outlook on life. I believed it was circumstances that made me have a positive or negative outlook; I was always looking for an outside event or person to make me happy.

I want to share with you that you can have a positive attitude. It is simply a choice. It may not always be easy, but the greatest minds in the world agree that it is not what happens to you that matters, but how you respond to what happens to you.

Today I have used sources from Top Leadership Guru, Orrin Woodward, especially his new book Resolved, as well as other books, online sources, and mentorship from co-founder of LIFE, Claude Hamilton.

Orrin Woodward states in his book Resolved, I Resolve to have a positive attitude in an all situations. Failure in life is not from outside events, but the inside story a person tells himself.

Winners and non-winners receive the same stimulus, but choose to interpret and respond to the events differently.

As an old Native American Cherokee legend states:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside of me.” he said to the boy “it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is angry, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside of you and inside every other person too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and them asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” the old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Just like those two wolves, we have a negative voice and a positive voice in our heads, many times the negative one screams at you while the positive one is a faint whisper. The difference between a positive and a negative person is not determined by his circumstances, but by which voice he chooses to listen to.

William James said, “Man can change his life simply by changing his attitude.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”

Norman Vincent Peales states, “Attitudes are more important than facts.”

In the 1970’s, The Andrew Carnegie foundation funded the largest research study ever done to determine what makes a successful individual. They surveyed more than 300,000 people in four different employment sectors. Their findings speak for themselves. It was found that:

1. 7% of your success is determined by the knowledge you have

2. 12% of our success is determined by the skill you possess

3. 81% was determined by your ATTITUDE

John Wooden taught these principles relating to attitude: never whine, never complain, or never make excuses.

Achievement orientated people will not associate for long with a negative voice, either their own or others.

Winners have an attitude that they will until, not accepting excuses from themselves.

The voice that a person chooses to listen to determines the fruit that he produces in life.

I encourage you to choose wisely.

Will you decide to consciously feed your positive voice while deliberately starving your negative one.

Zig Ziglar says: “Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude.”

God Bless,

Wayne MacNamara

 

Entitlement vs Performance in LIFE

In TEAM and LIFE, Orrin Woodward along with the founders of LIFE, have created a culture that rewards performance. So many people have become unwilling to strive for excellence. Today, it’s almost as important for people to get rewarded just for participating versus learning the truth that in life the performers get rewarded.

Some examples of Entitlement Thinking are:

1) I have witnessed kids playing sports and their parents not keeping score of the game. They want to reward every kid equally for just being on the team instead of rewarding the performers on the field. Where will these parents be when their children are in a real life scenario like a job interview and their child doesn’t get picked for the job, nor a reward for showing up. Teach the kids to strive for excellence now and they will later. Teach them the difference between succeeding and failing, let them feel that feeling of failure so they strive not to feel it again. I heard once, our job as adults if to raise responsible adults, not just happy children.

2) My wife Raylene, in her college classes witnessed young men and women asking their teachers how many points they would earn for just handing in their assignment. The scary thing is some professors would give marks for it. What message is that sending. Can you imagine saying to your boss “Hey can you pay me today just for showing up, regardless of my performance?”

Entitlement vs. Performing Behavior

• Entitlement behavior says; I’m here, I’m alive, we are all equal, reward me the same as the performer. They believe luck plays the most important part of being a winner.

• Performance behavior says; Can this be done? Is there someone who has done it that can help me? I will learn the skills needed to perform. I will practice over and over so NEVER lower the bar for me, if anything, raise the bar.

What I have learned in the LIFE community building industry is whenever I would reward a non-performer along with the performer, I usually lost both. When I rewarded the non-performer (cause of my feelings/emotions) they never would start Orrin Woodward’s P.D.C.A. (plan, do, check, adjust) process. They had no reason to strive to get better because I would reward their efforts no matter what. Now, because the performer saw me reward the non-performer he started to realize, why should I strive to become better if we both receive the same treatment. This behavior undermines the performer’s belief in themselves. I’m truly thankful today that my mentor/coach Claude Hamilton never done the work for me and never lowered the bar.

Claude has shown me through his example that a performer doesn’t need easy they just need possible!

God Bless,

Wayne Mac Namara

 

Association and Friendship

We naturally have friends that come and go as we grow up based on similar interests, school, single, married etc. As we get older a lot of times it’s our work environment that we have our closest friendships. When I started my LIFE journey it was the first time I thought about who my friends were based on the future I wanted.

One early morning, at a Leadership Conference in Fredericton NB, I asked my mentor Claude Hamilton, how do I tell some of my friends that their association is not a positive one ?

Claude explained to draw three circles like a target, an inner circle, middle circle, outer circle. What he said was the outside circle represented the public you, Wayne the welder, Wayne the ball player. The middle circle represented the personal you, the people who knew me best, friends/family/wife. The inner circle represented the private you, what you and your Lord knows about you. He explained that the further away these three circles are from each other the more stress you will feel in your life. For me personally, I was a different person in different environments which created a lot of stress. He said, the closer you bring these circles together the less stress you will have in your life.

I never had to tell any of my friends that we were growing apart, it just gradually happened, like it had so many times in the past. It’s a natural process of life to change association based on interests. When I started to grow personally and focus on my future, I started to associate with people who had the values and lifestyles I was looking for.

Today I live a blessed life because; I protected my time and who I associated with. You have probably heard if you hang out with bank robbers long enough you’ll probably rob a bank, or at least drive the get away car!!

Thank you Orrin Woodward and Claude Hamilton for creating an environment in LIFE for people to be able to have the courage to unlock their God-given passions.

You become who you associate with, choose wisely.

God bless, Wayne MacNamara