IN THIS ISSUE
Welcome
Feature Article - What You Know
Words to Inspire
Guest Column - Getting Back to Basics
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WELCOME

Greetings and welcome to all of you. We are delighted to send you another issue of KEYS TO SUCCESS. Thank you for joining us.

This is anniversary time! On April 1, 1999 we published the very first issue of Keys to Success and now here it is April 1, 2005. I am quite proud of that accomplishment. I have all of you to thank for keeping me inspired to continue publishing each month.

This month's feature article is about intuition and making sense out of things we can't really explain. Reading Malcolm Gladwell's book "Blink" influenced my choice of what to write about this month. I highly recommend the book for a better understanding of those flashes of truth we experience but can't explain.

Our commitment is to give you practical information and inspirational ideas to benefit your business and personal life. We are committed to "bringing out your best"! We welcome feedback so we can improve and offer real value to you.

Keys to Success is written and published by Carol Gegner. Are you ready to excel? Check out http://www.coachexecs.com. We are ready to help you.

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If you like what you see, will you please help us grow by forwarding the ezine to your colleagues and friends? We truly appreciate your support.
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What You Know

Ever wonder how it is that you know something but you can't explain how you know it? It isn't magic. It's your intuition at work. We all have intuition yet we don't always listen to it. Why? Because we can't justify or explain it to ourselves or others.

What is intuition? Webster defines it as an immediate apprehension or cognition. Others define it as the brain's ability to recognize patterns from past experiences and to retrieve those patterns from memory. Malcolm Gladwell describes it as "thin slicing" in his newest book "Blink". It is our unconscious ability to find patterns in situations based on very narrow slices of experience.

We have instant and spontaneous impressions when we meet a new person. We are unconsciously sizing up that person based on lots of nonverbal visual clues like appearance, eye movements, hand gestures and body motions. And we do it in a flash! Think of the last time you interviewed a potential new employee or met someone new at a social function. How did you base your impression of that person? Now imagine that person standing behind a screen so you couldn't see them but you could hear them. Would your impression be different?

We also use our intuition to make decisions under stress. We don't have the luxury of time to figure out what to do. We go into instant action and respond without conscious thought. It's like automatically stepping on the brake of your car when the cars in front of you stopped quickly and you haven't. There is no time to think, you just do.

Sometimes we confront complex situations and we need to decide what to do. We gather all the information and it just doesn't feel right. Do you listen and follow your intuition or do you make your decision based on the information. Ray Kroc did just that when his lawyers told him not buy out the McDonald brothers' drive-in restaurant for $2.7 million in 1960. He followed his intuition and the rest is history! There are times when too much information gets in the way of making decisions.

I was working with a client who talked about a feeling that "niggled" at her regarding the way a certain reporting process was being handled in her department. That process didn't feel right to her. Something was missing. She couldn't ignore the "niggle" any longer and she discussed her thoughts with the management team. Turns out her intuition was right on and the reporting process was changed to more accurately follow the necessary guidelines.

We can't always explain the ins and outs of our intuition or gut feelings. In fact we often don't even trust them. Yet those fleeting intuitive moments help us in our everyday lives when we pay attention to them. "Thin slicing" helps you recognize that you do know what you don't know without thinking about it!
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WORDS TO INSPIRE

"The only real valuable thing is intuition."
Einstein

"Often you just have to rely on intuition."
Bill Gates

"Intuition: going your way without inquiring about the way."
Unknown
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GUEST ARTICLE - Getting Back to Basics, by Michael Angier

Legend has it that the great Green Bay Packer coach, Vince
Lombardi, used to start off each training season by sitting his
pro football players down and telling them, "Gentlemen, today
we're going to get back to the basics of the game. This,
(holding the pigskin over his head) is a FOOTBALL."

The coach knew the importance of understanding and reviewing the
fundamentals of the sport. And in the complex world in which we
live, it's good for us to do the same.

I love sharing new ideas, new resources and new strategies with
my members and subscribers. But what I also have to remember is
that we all benefit from being reminded about things we already
know.

When I re-read some of my own articles and reports I've written
over the years, I realize I've forgotten about things I should
be practicing--and I WROTE the advice. If *I* need to be
reminded of things I've learned and taught, then I submit we all
can benefit from a little review from time to time.

What are the basics in YOUR life? What's really important to
you? And are you truly doing things that support the answers to
these quest*ons? Most of us would have to admit we're not doing
as well as we'd like.

In any family, any business, any LIFE, we find ourselves doing
things that no longer serve us--if they ever did in the first
place. We start a project, a job or a routine, and we continue
doing it because it's become habitual. Even though we've changed
and things around us have changed, we continue a practice that
may no longer be necessary or even helpful to us.

From time to time, we have to get back to the basics. What do we
want? Why do we want it? What are the best ways to get it?
Otherwise, we stay busy just doing what we've been doing.

Many people today yearn for a simpler life. That's good. But we
have to do more than yearn for it; we have to take action.
Sometimes we even have to STOP doing what we're doing, take a
good, honest look at where we are, what we're doing and what
we're NOT doing.

We have to get back to the basics.

Action Point
Examine everything you're doing and why you're doing it. What
are you spending money on? Are you still receiving value from
those expenditures? Does what you're doing and what you're
spending money on match your core values?

Time is our most precious resource. And it's paramount we do
things that bring us joy and add to the richness of our lives
and the lives of others.