Trump, climate change, the corona virus, refugee crises, etc…these things can make one pretty dizzy. Nowadays, countless messages come pouring in, through all kinds of channels, every day, and 90 percent are negative.

One can easily get the impression that these events are all crucial for our daily well-being. But not at all!

They have an influence, sure, but your personal environment is largely determined by exactly one thing: your small daily decisions.

How you treat the people around you has a greater impact on your happiness and success than the killing of a terrorist in Yemen or even the impact of a new virus.

It is very easy to be distracted by exploited media events and use them as an excuse for doing nothing.

Keep your feet on the ground. Here are three things you should do every day despite or because of all crises:

1. Decision. Decide every day on your behaviour and your positive influence on others. How do you want to positively influence others? What positive things...

Welcome to 2020! This year marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. You will certainly hear more about this event over the course of the year—at least, you will if you are a little bit interested in music.

Here, right at the beginning of the year, are some interesting lessons we can learn from his life, in case you think you have too many problems in yours:

1. Beethoven’s father became an alcoholic, and his mother died when he was 17. He had to take care of his two younger brothers from then on.
2. His hearing loss started at the age of about 30 and progressed to complete deafness later on.
3. He could not marry his love because of class differences.

These are only three of his problems. What did he do with them? Did he complain and withdraw? Quite the opposite. Despite all adversities, he played at countless performances and “incidentally” composed 722 pieces, including operas, symphonies, and piano sonatas. 

The next time you want to...

The world doesn't stop turning because of your decisions. Simply do the best you can do right now to improve your own life and the lives of others.

More here: https://www.volkmarvoelzke.com/blog/how-2020-will-be-very-different

You are likely to hear all kinds of well-intentioned advice on how to be more successful and happier in 2020, and I will not repeat it here. But when I look at past projects and coaching sessions with my clients, there are certainly some places where I would like to see more courage to make significant changes.

Here are five ideas for a completely different (and, therefore, even better) 2020:

1. Don’t take yourself so damn seriously. We are all fallible individuals who try to make the best out of our lives. The world keeps on turning with or without us.
2. Your life is finite. Stop putting things off and start moving. At the very least, plan a fixed start date in your calendar. Make use of every day!
3. You have all the power. You are incredibly powerful when it comes to positively influencing others, but most people suppress this power for fear of attracting too much attention. Make the lives of at least three people a little better every day and do so very purposefully.
4. You decide...

In this time when most of us are less "busy" with daily routines and more thinking about essential questions, it is good to remember some important principles.

Here are 3 extremely important reminders for the coming year that many of us keep forgetting:

1. There are no boundaries, either for yourself or for others.
2. Change comes through action, not through consideration.
3. Happiness comes from progress, not from security and stagnation.

In the video I explain more background and give tips on each of these three reminders.

I wish you a strong start into the new year!

Read more: https://www.volkmarvoelzke.com/blog/your-mediocre-thinking

In my "Winning Team Workshops," I challenge the participants, again and again, from all directions. Of course, this is intentional, even if it is exhausting for most of them.

I'm talking about a mental challenge here. One of them is how, in our mindset, we deal with extremely successful people.

The differences between the teams are enormous: While some are inspired by controversial people, such as Elon Musk or Steve Jobs, and see them as role models in most ways of thinking, others are cynical and try to find negative characteristics.

I don't need to tell you which teams and companies are generally more successful when it comes to strong growth and innovation.

Whether you like it or not, your beliefs about extreme success directly determine your actual success in life and business. And if you lead teams (or even an entire company), you have a strong multiplier effect: I have never seen a team hungry for success with a hesitant team leader.

Important: This is not about maintaining...

Did you know what Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart did shortly after the death of his first son? He composed a symphony – within only 3 days!

I had the pleasure of listening to this symphony last weekend and found it incredible how one could create such a masterpiece in such a short time.

Before you think, "Yes, Mozart was just a genius," take a closer look at what I just described: What exactly is so ingenious about it that you couldn't do it in your field?

You may not compose symphonies, but you have other things that only you can do so well (and if not, it is time you acquire the necessary expertise).

Most of the successes of such outstanding people as Mozart do not come from "genius" (whatever that may be) but from ways of thinking and behaving, as well as habits that anyone can acquire. Here are three of them:

1. Momentum. People like Mozart don't fool around long with analyses of how it can and can't be. Instead, they go ahead and produce. Take a look around at outstanding...

Do you and your team always have your priorities fully under control and never externally controlled? Do you always achieve what you want? Then you don’t need to read on.

All others (approx. 99.9 percent of you) who are repeatedly absorbed by the urgent things before the important things and who spend too much time on reactive activities should definitely take a look at the following. It could change your life.

The brain is a fascinating organ. Simply put, you can program your subconscious mind with your consciousness through strong emotions and continuous repetition. This programming is important because the subconscious mind is responsible for over 99 percent of our daily decisions. This mechanism causes you to do increasingly more of what you have done in the past, and this realization is crucial for your success.

Here’s an example: if you are used to spending most of your time as a leader solving urgent problems and extinguishing allegorical fires, then you will get...

“You know, our people are not born salespeople,” said a CEO in a conversation about increasing sales.

You’ve probably heard such carelessly dropped sentences in your own environment—or even said them yourself: “I’m not like that!” or “We’ve never been good at that.”

The problem is that you are not defining the situation but rather your expectations for the future. If you believe that your team cannot sell, then that will be the case regardless of the people’s actual abilities.

Here’s the big thing: your identity, your team’s identity, and your entire company’s identity have been created over time, and what’s been created can be recreated and changed. But you have to work on it consistently. 

Here are three important steps to change your identity:

1. Find insight. You have to give yourself and your team the insight that we all create our paradigms and beliefs. Nobody is just “that...