In my research to find more ways to promote better health by relieving tension and stress, I happened on to a tape that spoke about the healing benefits of music. It turned out to be a wonderful tape. The motivational message was interspersed with Baroque symphony music, which proved not only a respite from what I had been listening to but it also provided a significant relaxing influence. We have all heard the saying, “Music calms the savage beast.” I discovered years ago, it most definitely did for me. For that reason, I began to experiment with all types of music.

I recalled that over the years whenever, I felt stressed, depressed or down, I would sit at the piano and begin to play. The first few songs were always slow and sad but with each new tune, they would get a little quicker and a little happier. Often, after about ten to fifteen minutes of playing, I would notice a marked improvement in the way I was feeling. Remarkably, I found I could actually play the sad feelings out of me with music.

No one has to remind me about how blessed I am to have been given the opportunity to learn to play the piano. Thanks mom and dad! That said, I still think about how unfortunate it is that everybody does not have a stress-relieving mechanism like playing an instrument for their times of need.

Nevertheless, knowing how to play a musical instrument is of no real benefit for anyone suffering from severe depression. As I pointed out in my book, Until You’ve Walked the Path, you know you are exceedingly depressed or suffering from chronic stress when you cannot or will not do the things that bring you the most pleasure. So it is comforting to know, music is always there and one need not know how to play an instrument to enjoy its health-promoting benefits. To paraphrase Martha Stewart, “That’s a Good Thing!”

Today I have an entire repertoire of music. Each song has been strategically handpicked for its stress-relieving qualities. Whenever I feel the least bit tired or depressed I will often play a few songs from the library in my computer.

I first determine whether I am feeling a little sad or stressed. There is a difference! My experiments with music-motivation have taught me there is also a difference in the way I remedy the way I feel. For example, if I am just feeling a little stressed from the workday, I can simply play a few sound bites from - what are for me - stress-relieving songs. Two of my favorite are, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin and “Always Look On the Bright Side of Life” by Monty Python. While I listen, I will consciously relax in my chair and breathe in and out, slow deep breaths of air. Often, I can recover from feelings of stress in only a few minutes and resume my work.

If, on the other hand, I am experiencing feelings of sadness, I have an another approach based on my observations from playing the piano. In my library of music, I have songs that have been specially selected for what I call, their ‘Sadness-Quality’. Simply put, they are sad songs that elicit sad feelings in me whenever they are played, especially when I’m already feeling a little sad. For example, Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Sun’ / Crystal Gayle’s ‘Don’t it make Your Brown Eyes Blue’ and/or Todd Rundgren’s ‘Can’t we still be Friends’. I have an entire collection of them to use strategically, not unlike one would use a tool - used in this case, as a means to bleed the feelings of sadness out of me as a first and deliberate step in a program to change the way I feel.

Sometimes it takes only a few songs and other times it takes quite a few before I can - now having practiced this many times over the years - instinctively feel when it is time to introduce a few ‘up-beat and motivational songs’ as a second step. I have plenty of them too. Uriah Heep’s ‘Easy Livin’ / Chumbawumba’s ‘I get Knocked Down, But I get Up Again’ are two that get to the fiber of my being and as such, when I have successfully leached the sadness out of me, they, along with others I’ve selected, serve to take me to the next level by promoting feelings of motivation and hope.

What is important to understand here is that music - the right music - can be used strategically, like a tool or a stratagem, to elicit a desired emotional response. Important also, is to know that what motivates me to be happy or sad, may not be right for you. Music is personal. The key is to do a little research on your own to determine the right music for you and then, have your songs categorized and ready - know where they are when you embark on what is a deliberate psychological strategy, proven to reduce feelings of stress and sadness.

I can say with confidence that this strategy is proven, not just from my own personal experimentations but also from some of the research I have done. For example, over the last couple of decades, I know that exhaustive studies were and are still being done on the positive effects of Baroque music and, in particular, music by Mozart. These studies are not just focused on Baroque’s stress relieving qualities but also for its ability to increase one’s ‘left-brain-right-brain’ activities and learning capacities. There is now a new global institute dedicated to what is known as “Super Learning” using music as a subconscious motivator.

The Bottom Line:

Too often, those of us lacking Peak Performance - suffering from sadness, fatigue and stress - overlook many of the natural ways human evolution has provided, to garner balance and harmony. The simple fact is, in music, we can find the right remedy, the right motivation and at the same time - stress-relieving - pleasure.

One need not know how to read or write music to understand and appreciate it or comprehend its unmistakable beauty and therapeutic benefits Paul Shearstone 2002
________________________________________

Paul Shearstone, International Keynote Speaker, Author and
Chronic Fatigue Survivor, is one of North America’s experts on
Stress-Reduction and Peak Performance.
His 3Rs Resilience Formula is based on proven
Personal & Corporate
Strategic Tools for Peak Performance
Paul works with companies & organizations to improve
Performance & Profitability,
Saving companies and Healthcare, Money Guaranteed!

________________________________________

For more information on this seminar or others Paul delivers, we invite you to contact:

Success 150 Group Inc
7305 Woodbine Ave. Suite 458 Markham On Cda L3R 3V7
B: 416-728-5556 or 866-855-4590
http://www.success150.com http://www.paulshearstone.com paul@paulshearstone.com

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Recent legislation enacted by the State of Maryland forces employers with more than 10,000 employees to spend a minimum of 8% on health care. Known as the Wal-Mart law, because Wal-Mart is the only employer in the state directly affected by the law, it seeks to recoup dollars the state contends Wal-Mart is costing their Medicaid fund. Thirty other states are considering similar legislation.

The 8% figure was arrived at because that is the “average” being spent nationally by large corporations.

Throughout the years, Wal-Mart worked very hard at keeping prices low. As an executive with Kmart, I met Wal-Mart executives at many conferences and seminars. With every product they sold their desire was to find a way to increase efficiencies so that they could reduce the cost of every item they sold. Most of the efficiencies were in the distribution channel, however at the same time they were finding ways to keep overhead low. One such way was to keep employee costs down.

The mystique of Wal-Mart and how they grew to be the universe’s largest business, with an economy greater than all but 20 nations, is that Wal-Mart is consistently the lowest priced retailer. This means that from a percentage viewpoint Wal-Mart is spending less on many items including total employee cost, the cause to move merchandise, the cost to transport merchandise, expenditures on real estate, and much more. Once any of those elements changes significantly, Wal-Mart must seek another way to keep prices low or to raise prices.

The latter is what the Wal-Mart attackers are seeking. The two largest groups battling Wal-Mart are comprised of individuals from organizations that have much to gain if employees are unhappy or if Wal-Mart prices were higher. By raising Wal-Mart’s expense on health care Wal-Mart will be distracted by finding other ways to keep their prices low. The hope is they will be unable to do so, making Wal-Mart a less fierce competitor.

Obviously if Wal-Mart is large enough to be Maryland’s only large employer spending less than the average, once they begin to spend the average, the average will go up. To be consistent this would require new legislation to raise the threshold, thus creating a never ending cycle.

The sport of hating Wal-Mart

In some circles, hating Wal-Mart has become a sport. However this overlooks recent studies that have shown the American economy has a lot to be thankful for when it comes to the mega-retailer. The studies show that Wal-Mart has been instrumental in keeping consumer prices low across the board. Certainly Wal-Mart is the low-price leader. When Wal-Mart first enters a town the local mom-and-pop retailers think that they must compete with Wal-Mart on a price basis. This price distraction is the real culprit when it comes to local business failure following the Wal-Mart grand opening.

As with any business strategy if you can recognize your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses you can develop a plan to overcome those strengths and weaknesses. There are many things that Wal-Mart will not do. For example, the need for high volume prevents Wal-Mart from carrying specialty products. Local retailers with the insight to focus on the consumer need Wal-Mart cannot meet are the local retailers that thrive off of the increased traffic created by the low-price discounter.

Why below average is good for sales

There is nothing inherently wrong with seeking to raise “below average” to “average” performance. Sometimes a focus on one “average” may distract an employee or an organization from another “average”, or even an “above average”.

Last year I was coaching a financial planner. His organization noted that not all of their planners were doing their cold calling to find new clients. Their research showed that the average time spent on cold calling was an hour per day. They were also very pleased to learn the number of prospects and hour of cold calling would unveil. Dollar signs pierced their cranium as they thought about the prospects to their agency. Obviously it had to be mandated that every agent spend an hour a day, preferably between 9 and 10 each morning.

In the case of my client this cold call period was a time that he normally was intensely involved in networking. The demand of being in the office to make the cold calls required that he spend his primetime at networking to make cold calls. His talents and personality lent him towards networking. In fact he was excellent at networking. However he struggled with cold calling. Actually “struggled” is too mild a word. He hated cold calling. He came off as cold, scripted, and uncaring. He rarely was able to close a deal when the initial contact was via cold calling.

On the other hand, while networking he was in his comfort zone. He was able to get strong leads and even encourage the lead-givers to introduce them to the prospect. Once he had to take his time away from networking to make cold calls he fell from being one of the top five salespeople in his office to a bottom dweller. Sure his cold calling was now at the average of one hour a day. However it was his networking that put black ink on the bottom line.

The sad part is that the agency thought they had a win-win. The cold call average went up. Because they were focused on the cold calling, they did not realize that his sales had gone down. What they thought was a success was a failure in my client’s eyes. Soon he became discouraged and moved to a different company.

Conclusion

When we focus on the average, we tend to focus on the fact that we are improving below average statistics. We tend to overlook that we are also reducing the performance of our best performers. So it is with every aspect of an organization. We must look at the entire picture. If we do not look at the total personality of our organization, our competitors, and most importantly our people, we will constantly be seeking to drive to the average. If successful we will be just that, average. The bad news is that inter-organizational and interpersonal competition does not allow those that are average to be successful. To succeed one must be above average, particularly in the areas that our customers and employers are most interested.

In the case of Wal-Mart and healthcare, if Wal-Mart spends more on health care than the average, the average will be driven up. Then using the “average” as the barometer, those below average will come up to average creating a never ending spiral. Wal-Mart will not give up their price leadership, making this game of playing averages with healthcare expenditures will result in higher prices for everyone.

Rick Weaver is an accomplished business executive with a wealth of experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain enhancement, project management, team building, and process improvement. Building on a strong retail background, Rick moved to full supply-chain involvement, working with hundreds of companies to improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results.

As Rick’s interaction in varied industries expanded, he became troubled as he increasingly noticed that people and companies had untapped or unfocused talent.

Coupled with Rick’s passion for training and development, popular style of interactive workshops and seminars, and strong desire for continuous improvement, he founded Max Impact Corporation to be singularly focused on helping individuals and organizations achieve high performance.

Rick is a popular speaker at seminars, workshops, and conferences. He has spoken in 43 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and in Canada and Puerto Rico. He is available to speak at groups of all sizes.

Contact Rick at 248-802-6138 or rick@getmaximpact.com

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It’s nice to have a nest-egg of course and it’s a comfort no doubt for GM’s pensioners and health care dependents that the end isn’t imminent.

Gmheadquarters Having said that, the piper must be paid and the most General thing that can be said about the Motors company is that it’s operating in the wrong decade; product, engine and consumer-wise. Across brands, product is redundant, the lines of difference between marques so blurred as to be non-existent. Chevrolet and GMC, both marketing the same SUV? Oh, come now.

Engine-wise the GM bread and butter is big V-8s, even as Toyota takes over as American #2 carmaker from Ford by building small and elegant. Consumer-wise, the numbers are less clear, but lead times are overlong in the auto business and GM looks to be on the wrong side of that equation as well.

The company lost a bundle in its second quarter even as it became profitable for the first time in a long string of reporting periods. In round numbers, they made a billion, lost three and a half and ended up posting a negative three. Somewhere a half billion got lost in the shuffle, but ‘profitable while losing money’ is one of those things that happen within organizations like the Pentagon and GM.

Company sales equaled $54 billion. Profit, sliced and diced down to

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