Sublime

OPRAH WINFREY CEO, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN); Actress and Producer

And if all else fails, fake it till you make it. Take a deep breath, and pretend to be hugely confident, and behave in the way a confident, self-assured person would. Act like you matter, like your opinions are worth listening to, and your presence anywhere will be welcomed and appreciated.

If you want to create positive behaviour, don’t make statements, ask binary yes or no questions. People are more likely to answer ‘yes’ if it will bring them closer to who they want to be, and once they answer ‘yes’, that yes is more likely to come true.

affirmational mantra, which he repeats a number of times, is “I am

nod in agreement. He’s right. We know that in most any environment, the best way to not screw up, so to speak, is to follow a specific protocol. Checklists, step-by-step modules: these lead to high proficiency in minimal time.

If you make the decision ahead of time (“If Y happens, I will do Z”), then the action is clear and you have more cognitive resources to apply to taking the action.

Mochary calls his principle the ‘bias to action’. He recognises that the time spent together with clients is precious (for both him and them), and merely contemplating deep thoughts without turning them into actionable steps would be a waste. We need clear, concrete steps to take, rather than distant, abstract goals. Otherwise we might do nothing a

What can I do to go positive and go first?