A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Improving Your Personal and Professional Lives

1. Invest in Yourself Using business tools and spiritual concepts to continuously improve personally and professionally © Quality Minds, Inc. June 2009

7. Gallup Organization’s 12 Questions for Measuring Employee Engagement This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress. I have a best friend at work My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important. At work, my opinions seem to count There is someone at work who encourages my development. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right I know what is expected of me at work. Score on a Scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) Question

10. What’s in Our Mind? These six thousand to nine thousand negative thoughts are ball and chain to our attitude dragging us into a bitter, inescapable quagmire. They close our minds and hearts to wonderful opportunities in life. 120 thoughts per day 3000 thoughts per day 6000 thoughts per day 9000 thoughts per day Negative 11,800 thoughts per day 9000 thoughts per day 6000 thoughts per day 3000 thoughts per day Positive 99% Positive Thought Rate 75% Positive Thought Rate 50% Positive Thought Rate 25% Positive Thought Rate Type Thought

11. Thoughts (Cause) and Feelings (Effect) Bad Feelings (Effect) Good Feelings (Effect) Positive Thoughts (Cause) Negative Thoughts (Cause) The red zone is where we don’t want to be but sometimes find ourselves stuck inside. The negative thoughts keep us from seeing a way out to the green zone Strong correlation (r=1.0) There is no relationship between negative thoughts and good feelings (r=0) There is no relationship between positive thoughts and bad feelings (r=0) Strong correlation (r=1.0)

21. Record Your Feelings Total: Percent of Total: Total: Percent of Total: Positive Feelings Negative Feelings

25. Example of Current State Diagram I don’t serve my customers well enough. I need to do a better job of taking care of myself so I can better serve others Nineteen Feelings 53% negative 47% positive Priorities are not in the right order I can be in better physical condition. I have occasional back pain. My thought process is one of accepting where I was in life. No real goals or strong vision. I don’t drink a lot but when I do, I feel sluggish. I try to walk every day but don’t always get to do it. I can lose about fifteen pounds. I try not to eat fried foods but occasionally do. Paying bills depresses me and puts me in an ill mood. I let the actions of other parents throw my thought process off. I can be judgmental of colleagues and others Family First (me) Clients Friends Colleagues Congregation Positive: Pride, Comfort, Accomplishment, Energetic, Enthusiasm, Euphoria, Eagerness, Inspiration, Joy Negative : Envy, Cynicism, Anger, Despair, Fatigue, Hopelessness, Boredom, Lack of Direction, Pain, Apathy Work Family Play(Self) Church Physical Condition Thought Process Alcohol Exercise Family History Diet Newspaper Talk Radio Other parents Colleagues Bosses Television Family Members Bills to pay Friends My past Customer Output Life Process Inputs Supplier

32. Planners and Doers of the World Great Doers Poor Doers Poor Planners Great Planners Movers of the world, leaders Stay at a macro level May not be doing the right things Stuck in a rut and may not know it

40. Food and Drug Administration’s Inspection of Chinese Imports This shows the number of Chinese imports rejected each month by the FDA. Though no rejection is good, this picture exhibits a steady process which appears to be in control. It seems that the monthly number of rejected imports averages 147 and could be as high as 235 and as low as 59. Performance between these extremes would be considered normal and resulting from common cause variation.

41. Trend of a Person’s Body Temperature This shows the ebb and flow of a person’s body temperature. Over time, the average temperature is 98.6 and the normal range is from 97.6 to 99.6. At the end, something happened (ex. Virus) to cause a spike in temperature. This event was not part of the normal behavior and is due to a special cause.

42. Teenage Behavior Sometimes they do things that are not normal. Their action was driven by a special cause. They made a conscious decision and the effect was negative. In these times, punishment is certainly justified. As a parent, your first thought is often to punish especially when they do “bonehead” stuff. But if their action was driven by common cause variation they really were acting normal for a teenager. A good dose of advice is the right medicine. Behavior Governed by Special Cause: Drinking, Drugs, Breakup, Bad grade Behavior Governed by Common Cause Variation: Friends, Social Environment, Hormones, etc.

44. The Spirituality of the Bell Curve The bell curve is a graphical representation of a characteristic which has been measured in a large quantity. The behavior of the characteristic ranges from the left to the right. The bell curve is symmetrical about a point in the middle. This “balance point” is the center of gravity for the data.

51. Be Thankful and Grateful

52. Appendix

53. Form for Current State Diagram Customer Output Life Process Inputs Supplier

54. Form for Future State Diagram Customers Outputs Process Inputs Suppliers

55. Write Down What You Asked for, Fold it, and Put it in a Visible Place