Volkmar Völzke's BLOG

We all have built a mechanism into our thinking which systematically prevents us from becoming more successful.

Yes, right: This mechanism helps us to survive (at least it did in the stone age), but it prevents us from accomplishing more and having a greater impact on the world. 

What am I talking about? Simply, your inability to correctly assess the consequences of non-decisions and non-actions. 

We are usually good at assessing the consequences of actions and decisions. When I eat healthier, I will feel better, will be more active and will live for longer. If we sell better, we will make more profit. And so on. 

We, however, underestimate the consequences of our non-action.

What if we do not contact ten customers today? What if we do not exercise today? What if today, we do not ask our team members for feedback on our behavior? What if we are not investing the necessary hours in our training today? 

The result: We do not do what is necessary and sabotage our success.

Here are ...

The last post was about one of the most neglected topics for greater success and high performance: your sloppy language. 

Today, I’ll give you three concrete tips to help you recognize and systematically improve your unconscious language patterns.

The impact of these changes on your success will be significant. 

1. Uncertainty. Many of our words that sabotage our persuasion ability come from deeply rooted uncertainty. We are afraid to express ourselves clearly, because that would mean we commit in front of others. Hard to believe? Believe me that whenever you express yourself unclearly (“however”, “not bad”, “could work”, etc.), you are uncertain. Work on it!
2. Mirroring. We reflect our counterparts continuously – subconsciously. We also do this with words. I often experience in executive meetings how the participants “pull themselves down”, linguistically. Tip: Make sure you accept no negative language patterns.
3. Habits. In principle, we are our habits. The same with language. Most p
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The start of the year is the perfect time to change behaviors that harm your productivity. Learning to focus only on important tasks and, consequently, saying NO more often is one of the critical changes. This is a continuous effort: even the most productive people never stop getting better at it.

Watch this short video to learn about seven things in your daily life you could be saying NO to more often.

Your assignment:

1. Watch the video and take notes.
2. Decide which items you will say NO to more often.
3. Start with your first NO TODAY.

Let me know how it worked.