Prepare1: Thermostat or Thermometer in Business & Life

Are you a Thermostat or a Thermometer?

According to Wikipedia a thermometer (from the Greek θερμός, thermos, meaning “hot” and μἐτρον, metron, “measure”) is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles.

According to Wikipedia a thermostat is a component of a control system which senses the temperature of a system so that the system’s temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint.

So, Blair…what has this to do with Social Media, My Life and Business?

We all have the same 24 hours a day as everyone else, no more, no less. How you maximize, focus and implement your strategies for success will either reflect your environment or regulate your environment.

A thermometer reflects the temperature of the environment. It simply reacts to what’s happening around it.

Do you reflect the business around you? Good or Bad
Do you react positively or negatively to market conditions?
Do you reflect your brand to your customers and employees by what’s going on around you?
Does your attitude reflect that environment?

A thermostat, on the other hand, regulates the environment. It sets the desired temperature of the room and actively works to maintain it within a given range. As a parent, leader, business owner, homemaker, manager, secretary, or salesmen you have the control to set your own course, regulate your own environment.

Do you have a goal or goals? Are they written
Do you regulate the pace personally and professionally? Or do you reflect your environment?
Do you have a mission and vision for you and your business?
Do you regulate how you communicate that mission and vision to employees?
How then do you communicate that mission and vision to the outside world?
What’s the best approach to communicate that message? The Old Traditional Marketing or the New Social Media Marketing?

Let’s take a look at some principles that will have a positive impact and control in your life.

THE LAW OF CONTROL

This law says that, “You feel happy to the degree to which you feel you are in control of your own life. You feel unhappy to the degree to which you feel you are not in control of your own life.”

REFLECT VS. REGULATE

Modern psychology calls this “Locus of Control Theory.” Psychologists differentiate between an internal locus of control and an external locus of control.

Your locus of control is where you feel the control exists in each area of your life. This location determines your happiness or unhappiness more than any other factor.

INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL

For example, if you feel that you are the primary creative force in your own life, that you make your own decisions, and that everything that happens to you is a result of yourself and your own behaviors, you have a solid internal locus of control. As a result, you will feel strong, confident and happy. You will think with greater clarity and perform at higher levels than the average person.

EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL

On the other hand, if you feel that your life is controlled by other factors or people, by your job, your boss, your childhood experiences, your bills, your health, your family or anything else, you will have an external locus of control. You will feel like a victim.

You will soon develop what Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania calls “learned helplessness.”

THE POWER OF BELIEF

“Whatever you believe, with conviction, becomes your reality.”
“According to your faith, it is done unto you.”
Successful people expect to be successful, in advance.

The worst of all beliefs are self-limiting beliefs. These are beliefs that you have developed through life, usually false, that cause you to believe that you are limited in some way. One of the most critical steps you take daily is to challenge your self-limiting beliefs.

ACTION EXERCISES:

1. Look at your field today; identify the three most important reasons why some people are more successful than others.
2. Accept complete responsibility for your life and everything that happens to you; refuse to make excuses or to blame others for anything.
3. What self-limiting beliefs do you have that might be holding you back? What if they weren’t true at all?
4. Expect the best of yourself and others; what would you change if you were absolutely guaranteed of success?
5. In what ways have your dominant thoughts and emotions attracted people, circumstances and situations into your life? How could you change this?
6. Everywhere you look, there you are; what do you need to change in your inner world if you want to see changes in your outer world?
7. Determine the three most important habits of thought, about yourself and others that you could develop to be happier and more successful.

Going forward are you going to be a Thermostat or a Thermometer?