One of the things I like about Chinese New Year is the interest in how the coming year will pan out. However I also know that our expectations of the future often create that future. So it might be a good idea to lock on to a version of the new year that will empower you… and here it is!

“2012 will be an amazing year for you. You will see positive possibilities abound and you will take positive action with a level of decisiveness and faith that will surprise even you.

On most occasions the outcomes will be extremely rewarding and the results very special for you. However, on some occasions the outcomes will seem negative initially, but you must look for the lesson within; for in the challenge is a teaching, and when you learn it you will grow. Then what seemed like a negative was in fact a superior blessing served to develop you and guide you, as well as ensure that you are grateful for your victories and accept them with humility and grace.

Relationships this year will improve significantly in direct proportion to your decision to listen attentively and understand the position of the other person. They will improve further when we deliver to people what they need from us in a way that they want to receive it. When we deliver positive messages with surprise and reinforcement, and negative messages with assurance and certainty, then our relationships with others will further increase.

Seek to complete those things you began or intended to begin. Your relationship with yourself this year will increase in direct proportion to your ability to complete those things that you set out to do. Complete those things from long ago. Complete those things started recently. This year you will focus on finishing. This year you will concentrate your efforts on completion.

Money and wealth will increase in direct proportion to the amount of value you give to your community. To deserve more, we must be deserving. Deserve means “of service”. Serve more people with greater quality and value to them, and the rewards will flow your way. This applies to business customers, managers, staff, peers, community and family. This year you will serve value and not just expend effort.

Family will strengthen this year because of you. You will initiate relationship repair and be a rock upon which the future foundations of family strength can further be built. Because this year you choose to care without judging, your strength will withstand any tests and trials.

This year you will strengthen your self-image, your communication, your faith and your results because of all the years that have passed before. The past has prepared you for this year. Those past successes and failures were all references for strength and for strengthening. Your power this year comes from within. Your decision to positively listen, think and act will produce positive results. This year is your year of greatest transformation yet.

Congratulations on taking the next steps toward becoming your potential you with such excitement and positive anticipation! With the power of heaven by your side, and the light within you shining brighter than ever, this year you will live a life that will inspire others as well as encourage yourself.

This is your year. Serve it right. Serve others right. Serve you right.

2012 will be an amazing year for you. Now go, do, and complete.” – Tim Wade

Tim Wade (www.timwade.com) is a Singapore-based motivational business growth speaker who speaks across Asia at corporate and government events. He is often engaged to deliver motivational keynotes, and he is also engaged to facilitate strategic leadership retreats and team-building events to help business teams further increase performance, manage change and increase profitable productivity.

1. The 10,000

Delivering a motivational keynote speech with 10,000 people at an event for Prudential in Jakarta. Awesome experience, incredible energy, amazing crowd (as were the 1500 in Surabaya a few days later).

2. Homeless in Japan

Taking a group of participants through a 4-day leadership and communication program in Tokyo that saw them meet with homeless people, speak with elderly folks in a home, work in local market stalls, and become absolutely poor in a city square with two hours to raise enough money to have afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton.

3. Surgeons of Smile

Spending time with the surgeons, administrators and volunteers of Operation Smile both at their convention in Bangkok and with their student volunteers in Singapore. Mainly because of the passion of the people involved and their authentic connection with purpose, contribution and making a positive difference in the world.

4. The Summit of HR

Speaking at the HR Summit at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore to 600 HR managers and practitioners. This was impactful partly because of the size of the event and the business that it generated, but particularly from the comments of the participants afterword. One had said “You were the best speaker here” as she collected my card, which stopped me in my tracks for a moment as it was humbling (even though it doesn’t seem humble to mention it in my blog) as well as a great positive reinforcer to continue doing what I love.

5. The Great Wall of Japan

Videoing a Japanese man at an event in Sapporo. He was participating in my 100m sprint metaphor (which occurs during my Mindset of Victory speech), and the way he hilariously ran into a wall and dramatically collapsed was one of the funniest portrayals of a person who is enthusiastic but directionless (one of the characters in the race that I set up).

6. Red Buckets and Toast

Delivering 2 speeches at the Toastmasters Convention in Singapore. It was my first real Toastmaster meeting that I had attended (I had done a preview speech for them with IBM and NYP audience members earlier in the year) and although I have never been a Toastmasters member, I was very impressed with the organisation, the talent and the enthusiasm of the members. After that event I was invited to speak at a regular Toastmasters meeting and I came up with a speech titled “The Caveman and the Little Red Bucket” while brushing my teeth in my bathroom where there is a little red bucket. A great international organisation who we very welcoming.

7. Team-building Sleep

Running a fantastic couple of team-building sessions for Simmons Asia-Pacific in Bintan, Indonesia that went from 9am to 10:30pm but saw them fully engaged and participating the whole time. This was memorable particularly because of the varied programs that happened throughout the day (Leadership, Solution-Storming, Strategic Planning, Goal-Setting, Networking, indoor and outdoor Team-building, Communuication, Psychology, Sales and Influence, and more), and also because of the energy levels of people in the business of sleep (Simmons make premium mattresses).

8. Indian Marriages

Speaking with the top mutual funds performers from India’s Axis Bank – we starting talking about cavemen and marriage at one point which was very funny and a refreshing tangent from the business growth keynote that I was delivering.

9. Primary Madness

Delivering a series of programs to Primary 6 students at Xinmin Primary School in Singapore to help them prepare for their upcoming PSLE exams. Now while I’ve spoken with well over 20,000 school students over the past couple of years as a speaker, it had usually been to secondary and tertiary students. This group of primary students were amazing, and my experience and interaction with them was very memorable! But there was one moment in particular that stood out and that was when I told one class to go crazy behind me while I was speaking to the video camera and when I turned around they were to be the best-behaved students in the world. That moment, captured, was priceless.

…and finally…

10. The Spirit of Service

Presenting the inaugural APSS Spirit of Service awards to three speakers (Michael Podolinsky, Scott Friedman and Shirley Taylor) during the end of my year as 2010-2011 President of the Asia Professional Speakers Singapore at our convention in May. An amazing privilege to serve an amazing community of speakers and to have represented Singapore in the Global Speakers Federation.

… and just to overdeliver, here’s an 11th…

11. The Chicken or the Egg

I presented in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at for the Ross Asia Association regional convention presented by leading global chicken producer, Aviagen. This was memorable for a couple of reasons. One, it was a chicken producer and I wanted to ask them a question that has vexed many for millenia. Thinking they would know, I asked which came first. The answer was the grandparent. Chicken people know what this means.

The other thing that astonished me about this particular engagement was the way I got the engagement. A bureau in Louisville, Kentucky contacted me saying they saw my profile and from there they were sourcing the speaker from here. The wonderful infinite possibilities that abound by the influence of the web just leave me grateful for such blessings.

***

So it’s been a busy, challenging, hardworking, positive, lucky, uplifting, exciting and wonderful 2011. I’m grateful to all my clients from global banks to government agencies to satellite imaging companies and law firms to schools and prisons. And I look forward to an even more amazing 2012 and I wish you the same.

Speak with you soon.

Tim Wade, Motivational Business Growth Speaker, Singapore (www.timwade.com).

No matter how much or how little you have, what’s important is making the most of it. In business it’s called increasing utilisation. Take a look at how this business in Singapore makes the most of a really small space. Could you Do More with what you have? I know I could…

I was out at Gek Poh shopping centre out Jurong-ish way, and saw this ridiculously tiny barber shop. I thought good on him (and the shopping centre management) for making the most out of such a small place!

Tim Wade’s Top 5 Factors – Change Management:

When any change happens or needs to happen, there are 5 crucial factors that we need to analyse and deal with.

When consulting to China Light & Power in Hong Kong and United Overseas Bank in Singapore, I took their operational management teams through these in a variety of ways. The result? Both these clients won national an international industry awards for operational excellence, leadership and staff capability.

Now when you read these 5 factors, they will probably make logical sense to you, but if I were to ask you to present your analysis to your Executive Leadership Team, could you clearly articulate it and present supporting data to back it up? In other words, what are you DOING with what you KNOW?

So what are the 5 factors? Here’s a brief overview:

1. Gap Analysis

Know where you are, where you want to be and clearly understand and define the gap.

• develop a selection of possible solution pathways each with pros, cons and risk assessments

• prepare and present the ROI analysis for investing in the change – identify the revenue increase or cost-reduction benefits of taking on the change project

2. Capability Analysis

Is the change possible with the existing resources and skillsets of your people?

• measure the variation of skills through self-assessments, observation, tests and performance development programs

• survey staff, customers, competitors, similar external operations and consultants to understand how your team and resources rate against various benchmarks

• ask your staff what they need so that potential improvements can be realized (ask for their feedback regarding resources, training and leadership)

3. Leadership Analysis

Do your leaders, managers and supervisors have the necessary skills, track record and attitude required for leading the change? How would you know if they do, especially when many will say they do when they actually may not.

• interview your team prior to the change to find out what their implementation strategy might look like

• don’t reveal your execution instructions until you understand how they would have led the execution (for 3 reasons: you’ll get an idea of their experience, their application of knowledge, and their confidence in execution)

4. Action Analysis

Anyone can sail the ship when the sea is calm. It takes a storm to make a sailor.

Sometimes strategies fail to be executed effectively (or failures are hidden or risks are not revealed) because fear gets in the way of growth. Sometimes fear can dominate, overwhelming the drive for action and result in a series of second guessing and even self-sabotage.

Fear causes problems and delays progress and limits change and can cause changes to be resisted, refused or reversed. Ego-defence mechanisms kick into play and people start blaming and avoiding accountability. This leaves the leader to be the sole source of decision-making, and that also slows down progress and overwhelms leaders with work that should be actioned by empowered team-members.

• analyze successful implementations and in particular the key reasons for failed implementations

• what key lessons were extracted from the failures? If the answer is “never try that again” then fear is dominating and no growth has occurred

• interview those people who are task drivers and understand their perspective, taking note of their language and whether it is positive (growth-oriented) or negative (blame-oriented)

• when announcing the new change initiative, take note of the general sense of the team’s “willingness to act” and their apparent collective psychology

5. Mindset Analysis

Most strategies are designed to succeed. When they don’t, executive teams usually determine to fix one, or both, of two things: communication and training. They think either “we failed to effectively communicate our plan” or “we didn’t equip our people with enough training and preparation”.

While both may have been inadequate, the critical factor in training and communication effectiveness is recipient psychology, and in particular, their mindset.

Depending on their mindset, individuals will filter messages in different ways. We need to identify their dominate mindset and character preferences and help them shift to the mindset if positive possibility thinking, to the Mindset of Victory.

• interview key influencers in the team and determine whether they are displaying Victor, Victim, Martyr of Mercenary mindsets using the V9 Profile and the workshop of exercises.

• employ business coaching skills to help shift people to the mindset of victory through a series of leadership development programs, performance development programs and measured activity

• create a positive culture with the key influencers in the team by showing how the change will positively impact the people that the team is serving, as well as positively impacting the team members themselves.

• focus team effort on achieving a measurable short-term goal and its subsequent reward or celebration to reinforce behavioral change

• create a culture of authentic positive praise with at least a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative feedback

• prepare people to look at change in a positive light, with an opportunistic perspective and an culture of excitement and growth-oriented activity.

Remember: the brain grows when success is celebrated and numbs itself into apathy with continual negative reinforcement through the hormones dopamine and cortisol respectively.

Ensure your change management is led with positivity and the results your achieve and the culture you create will have positive impacts far beyond the time of transition.

Critical Moments

There are critical moments in the lives of individuals and organizations. These are the moments of transition, the periods of change. We all experience them. We have all experienced positive and negative changes in our lives. How we choose to approach the next change can be positive if we choose to understand what changes our Mindset, what changes our Action, what changes our Leadership, and what changes our Capabilities. These are the real changes, the gaps, that we need to manage to achieve the change in result that we desire.  Victory comes fastest to those who choose to understand the best way to transition across the Gap.

Change our Mind. Cross the Gap.

As they say in the London underground: “Mind the Gap!” as you choose to get on board the training!

Tim Wade
Change Management Consultant and Motivational Speaker, Singapore
www.TimWade.com

As the 2010-2011 President, I have been involved as part of the team organising the convention and the calibre of speakers are some of the best that the APSS have ever hosted:

• we have the President of the Global Speakers Federation coming in from the UK, Alan Stevens
• we have the President of the National Speakers Association (NSA) of the USA flying from the United States, Kristin Arnold
• you’ll hear from the founder of the German Speakers Association, Siegfried Haider
• from Canada there’s Donald Cooper
• from Australia there’s Ricky Nowak
• from Malaysia there’s Jonathan Low, President of the Malaysia Association of Professional Speakers
• flying in from the USA are two former Presidents of the NSA (USA), Lenora Billings-Harris and Scott Friedman
• also from the USA are speakers Shari Harley and Richard Hadden
• plus we have a panel session featuring Singapore leaders from Coca-Cola’s HR department and the MD of the Adam Khoo Learning Group
• and finally you’ll also learn from the World Champion of Public Speaking, Darren LaCroix from the USA!

Forgive the marketing hyperbole, but if you’re in the business of speaking, training, consulting, presenting, selling, coaching or communicating with people, this really IS a not-to-be-missed event!

Email admin@asiaspeakers.org NOW and secure your place at the APSS Annual Convention 2011, or to find out more click HERE.

One of my favourite sayings is from a speech given by Albert E. N. Gray in 1940: “Successful people formed the habit of doing those things that failures don’t like to do.”

True Productivity is about doing what is necessary to achieve the desired result in a particular timeframe. If there is something lacking in your life or business, it is probably because you have avoiding doing what is necessary to get it. Here are 3 examples.

FATNESS

First is “Fatness”. I don’t know about you, but my mirror would always show me at least one area that has some extra padding that I wished would magically disappear. The truth is that I knew how to change it, I just didn’t liked the process. So I avoided it. I busied myself so that I don’t have time to do it. Alas, if only I had time. It’s clearly Time’s fault. Avoidance: successful. True Productivity: zero. Result: failure. So who is truly accountable? Time to accept the truth.

BROKENESS

Second, “Broke-ness”. Recently I was speaking about priorities, processes, psychology and financial results with an audience of business leaders in Japan. At one point I illustrated how you can be earning a fortune and still be broke. This is often because we set a goal in our mind and we forget to reset it when we arrive.

“The Broke Cycle” is a very funny 3-minute clip illustrating this on my website. It shows how goals need to be re-set. Otherwise we unconsciously sabotage ourselves so that we can pursue the old goal again. That’s why your income can plateau, or people stay in debt, or cashflow never gets past breakeven.

True Productivity comes from being very clear of the new objective and why it’s important. What is your true outcome? Be truthful.

MESSNESS

Third is “Messness”. Messness is a symptom of comfort experienced through disorganisation. Disorganisation is an indicator of inappropriate processes. Poor processes lead to wasted time. Wasted time means that more could have been done in that time. Doing more in the same amount of time is being more productive. If you want to be more productive, you need to learn and apply systems that will serve you. Don’t comfortably insist that your current way works best for you while moaning about the poor results. Increase your awareness of the true reality. Clear up as much clutter as you can in twelve minutes. Then focus on what truly matters, distraction free.

NONESS

Success comes from doing more than is expected. While I said I’d give you 3 examples, here’s a 4^th to reward you for choosing to learn, understand and for committing to apply at least one of the things you have just agreed with.

“No-ness” is the habitual thought, or expression, of saying No to an opportunity or request. We say No a lot. We’re conditioned to say No. Our parents said No to us when we were children to protect us from setting ourselves on fire. Yet these days we say No to all the wrong things. We say No to change, No to possibility, No to opportunities. We say No to exercise, No to saving, No to learning more. Most importantly, we often say No to accepting personal responsibility and accountability for our results.

NO! Wrong. It is nobody else’s fault but our own. Accept responsibility. Seek learning. Attend programmes. Read. Learn. Apply. Yes.

YESNESS

Wow! You must be a committed person to get a fifth example! Well here it is. There are some people who say Yes for the wrong reasons too. There is a character in my V9 profile called The Sufferer. The Sufferer says Yes to everyone because Sufferers define themselves by the opinions of others. By saying Yes to the requests of others, they believe that they are more liked.

However, they can get into trouble when they end up taking on too much work and cannot complete on time. This makes them disliked. So they seek to be liked again by saying Yes to more things and they drown themselves in missed deadlines and feelings of inadequacy. They end up being extremely busy but unproductive.

Saying Yes is great if you qualify it by managing expectations and establishing clarity over priorities. Then focus on completion.

KNOWGODONESS

Let’s complete with the words of Mr. Gray once more: “Successful people formed the habit of doing those things that failures don’t like to do.” To be a Truly Productive person, your habitual actions must (and will) speak louder than your words. And that’s the truth. But you already Know that. Now: Go. Do.

Tim Wade is a motivational business speaker and productivity trainer, with clients such as Microsoft, Motorola, AIA and American Express. He is President of the Asia Professional Speakers Singapore. Tim Wade drew from his Psychology and corporate management background to develop the V9 profile. V9 helps individuals and teams determine their default mindsets and identify their behavioural styles which contribute to their positive or negative results. He then shows them how to improve productivity and performance with specific skills and strategies. Find more about Tim Wade (and watch The Broke Cycle video) at www.timwade.com

I just tested it out with a song I wrote, arranged and recorded in 2004 while living in an apartment that was converted from an stunningly beautiful mental asylum called Willsmere, in Kew, Melbourne. The picture above is of the grand front entrance to Willsmere. I lived there for a few years, hence I named my album Asylum.

The song is called Dreamlife as I was going through a rough patch and was redesigning my future. I still use it during goal setting segments in my programmes. Let me know what you think. Oh, and use headphones for a richer bass.

Tim

Here’s the song at the Audioboo site, click here ———-> http://audioboo.fm/boos/315634-dreamlife-tim-wade-2004

and thanks for having me speak at your Rotary club.

Here are the details for your publicity, including photos and the introduction for the emcee to read:

Title:

“V9: The Productivity Mindset”

Outline:

Bio:

Teaser:

Testimonial:

“A very interesting and participatory talk and greatly enjoyed by the members!” – Rodger Kimpton, President Rotary Club of Jurong Town

Introduction (for your emcee to read):

Our speaker today is Tim Wade.

Tim Wade is a business growth speaker who specialises in increasing motivation and profitable productivity.

His clients include Microsoft, Motorola, UOB, Prudential, American Express, HSBC, Proctor & Gamble and government agencies such as The North East Community Development Centre, Singapore Prison Services, the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Education.

He is engaged to deliver lively motivational keynotes that support key strategic messages at sales and leadership conventions. He is also brought in to deliver in-house workshops and programmes on Profitable Productivity, Leading People Through Operational and Organisational Change, and facilitating Business Growth Workshops to improve positive results.

He developed the V9 Mindset Profile to increase employee awareness of personal and interpersonal behaviours and their impact on relationships and results.

He also co-created the International Business Coaching (IBC) Training programmes in Japan attended by CEOs, HR Directors, Sales Managers, Coaches and Entrepreneurs to increase results through improving effective communication, presentation skills, increasing personal awareness and business growth.

He has spoken with audience sizes as small as 10 and as large as 10,000 and speaks across Asia Pacific from Beijing to Bangalore, Tokyo to Dubai and Sydney to Singapore.

A graduate of Psychology from the University of Queensland, Tim Wade combines psychology with practical business mechanics, to help individuals and teams develop their ability to achieve greater results.

He is a Professional Member and the current President of the Asia Professional Speakers Singapore, and a member of the Global Speakers Federation.

An Australian citizen born and raised in Malaysia, Tim Wade is a Singapore PR who lives in Singapore with his familyand two dogs (Milo and Donut), sings loudly in church, is a Manchester United and Collingwood Football Club supporter and loves talking business growth.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Tim Wade!

Images:

Below are two images (first a collage, second a headshot) that you can copy and paste into your emails and newsletters: