Keynote Presentation Summary
From Personal Anxieties to Excellent Business Performance
Rick Baker began his presentation by sharing some very personal stories about his younger years in order to set the stage for his suggestions when we are faced with stressful situations.
Certainly, work can cause us stress but this is not necessarily a bad thing. We can have stress without distress (Hans Selye). We are able to use our talents and strengths to get into the flow of positive energy. This requires courage and confidence. For example, we have to have courage to “tend and befriend” rather than to “fight or flight”. Rick suggested that we take our stresses and combine them with our strengths to create meaningful success. This can be achieved through Rick’s Baker’s dozen suggestions. Some of his valuable insights include the following:
- pick personal talents as a starting point
- pick personal values as the key to success
- for every problem, there are at least two solutions and many opportunities
- delete victim thinking from your mindset
- if it is outside my control, let it stay there
- take something positive out of every stressful situation
- focus on helping people
- make a commitment to positive daily self talk
- always be open to thinking about alternatives
Thank you, Rick, for your insights and wisdom. We all learned at least one thing to take away today.
By Dave Schnarr
Executive Director, CFFB
