Dot Connector Blog

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’

- Brian Tracy

Success doesn’t come to you, you go get it.

- Marva Collins

If I want to be as successful as I want to be, I have to be thinking about it all the time.

- Michael Phelps

Want to be more successful at work? The Dot Connector blog helps you do just that. Here is a recap of the most popular Dot Connector posts. Each can help you be more effective at work, and think differently about the work world around you!

5 Useful Blackberry Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity

If you have a Blackberry, chances are you picked it up, and started emailing right away. Did you know, there are several time-saving features built in, and several tricks you can do to make your Blackberry even more useful? Here are 5 of my favorites…

10 Tips for Getting Organized with To Do Lists

Getting organized — and staying organized — can help you get things done, feel more fulfilled, and clear your mind for more creative thought! A cornerstone of every organization “system” are to do lists.

10 Tips to Improve Your Voicemails

Voicemail is one of the most frequently used communication tools within an organization. And, it seems that the more senior the person you are communicating with is within your organization, the more likely they will favor voicemail over email. Here are 10 tried-and-true tips to improve your voicemails.

Top 5 Characteristics of Effective Work Relationships

Effortlessly working with your peers is one of the things that is so hard for many to attain, yet so easy to take for granted. In this post, I’ll discuss my top 5 characteristics for effective relationships at work.

Get Control of Your Email – Email Management: Part I, Part II, and Part III

Email. We all have it. We rely on it, and sometimes, we can’t get away from it. Overflowing Inboxes cause us stress. Trying to find an email causes stress. Wondering if you replied to all of the emails you need to causes stress. Today, that stress goes away!

6 Blackberry Tips for Reading Emails

Did you know you can use the keyboard to read Blackberry email? Here are my favorite keyboard shortcuts, especially useful when only one hand is free.

I recently finished Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life by Mike Krzyzewski the highly acclaimed Duke University basketball coach. In it, he covers many of his formulas for success with managing basketball teams, something that can be directly applied to managing teams at work. Here are a few highlights of my “favorites” from the book…

3 Favorite Quotes:

1. When you get better, we all get better
2. You hear, you forget. You see, you remember. You do, you understand.
3. It’s not what I know, it’s what you do that matters most.

5 Components of a Successful Team:

1. Communication (Ask for advice, conduct “huddles” with no BS)
2. Collective Responsibility (Foster the idea that we win and we lose together)
3. Trust (The team leader is the truth, he/she will tell you what you are doing right, and what you are screwing up)
4. Caring (As the team leader, spend time with each person on the team no matter what is competing for your attention)
5. Pride (Put your stamp on everything your team does)

3 Questions for a Team Leader to Ask:

1. How do you see our team? Our strengths? Our weaknesses?
2. Do you see any problems?
3. What do you think we need to work on?

The following “I promise…” statements were sent to me by a colleague some time ago. I find this quote to be a very valuable read from time-to-time.

• I promise to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
• I promise to talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.
• I promise to make all of my friends feel that there is something in them.
• I promise to look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.
• I promise to think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• I promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
• I promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• I promise to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature I meet a smile.
• I promise to give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.
• I promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the persistence of trouble.
• I promise to think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.
• I promise to live in faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.

~ Christian D Larson
Your Forces and How to Use Them 1912