CATS and DOGS

Dogs come when they’re called;
Cats take a message and get back to you.
-Mary Bly, feminist and author

One thing I love about cats is their independence. One thing I hate about cats is their independence.

That contradictory nature is the essence of cats. How does it relate to Gutfeeling? I think it makes us aware that cats are sensitive to emotion, to feelings of any sort. They remind us that we should be, too.

From early Egyptian times, cats have been both adored and feared. They were among the first animals to be domesticated. Yet they have never truly been domesticated at all. They willingly accept all donations of food. But even on a full stomach, they don’t hesitate to hunt. They have never lost their wild, instinctual nature. They are constant reminders to us that there is always ‘something beyond’.

They have always been associated with spirituality. The Egyptians thought of them as guardians of the dead. Though dreaded as ……..

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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

EXECUTIVE

Noun. One that exercises executive or managerial control.
-Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

If you look at your own life, you are the executive of yourself. If you’re not happy with the results you get, fire your executives. Change your friends. Change your tactics. But be sure you change something or you’ll get the same results you always had.

Individually you are only one person, but if you look closely you will find many characters in your persona. There is, hopefully, a mother, father, caregiver, driver, lover, friend – you are not just one person, you are a multi-faceted individual. You are also an executive, someone who ‘manages’ the whole ‘you’. If the executive doesn’t believe in spirituality, then you yourself won’t.

Our Western culture encourages us to live our lives like executives; people making decisions. We are often encouraged to show less emotion and intimacy – to become logical and totally rational.


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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

MANAGER

A leader knows what’s best to do;
A manager knows merely how best to do it.
-Ken Adelman, business executive

Jerry White, internationally known business consultant, puts his finger on the critical point of difference between managers and leaders. “Leaders and entrepreneurs use intuition as much as anything in divining vision, strategy and dealing with change. The quantitative bean counters be damned.”

Managers follow rulebooks. Good leaders, if they have enough guts, follow their Gutfeeling. Learn to make the distinction yourself.

Rule books are necessary. But all too often they are substitutes for honest reflection and instinct. “Do it by the book” is an expression you will hear all managers use. It relieves them of responsibility for thinking!

There’s nothing wrong with following the book, unless you are unable to recognize when it’s time to set the rule book aside and follow your Gutfeeling. You already have the benefit of the best advice the book can give you. Now forget it, and work out the problem on your own. Let your instincts tell you…..

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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

INSIGHT

A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, philosopher

Employees with too much insight often drift off-target. They move in circles and the higher up in the management corps they are, the bigger the circles.

If you know too much about a company, you may become a difficult person. If your co-workers think you know too much they’ll see you as someone with the master-key to company secrets that not even the Mounties, Scotland Yard, or the FBI has access to. They’ll also become suspicious of you and you may also attract the anger of corporate managers by being too insightful.

To me, insight is a form of self-knowledge. All of the above simply means that if you are insightful, you ought in general to keep it to yourself. I respect someone who lives by his or her own beliefs. But I’m always suspicious of those who flaunt their beliefs too openly. Share when asked, but be suspicious of those who come on strong.

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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

GROWTH

To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.
-Bruce Lee, movie star

Growth is good. But it may be painful. The emotional pain we have all experienced. Lost job opportunities. Unhappy love affairs. Divorces. Deaths of loved ones. No wonder we call these experiences character building!

And remember all those painful physical growth pains you had when you were young? Teeth growing in, then falling out. Legs growing it seemed about a foot a month? Remember not knowing what to do with your sex urges?

The growth of any company or department is filled with as much pain as it is with joy. Is it any wonder, then, that if you can develop your Gutfeeling, there is a discomfort stage too?

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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

Financial Freedom

A lot of money is money you need and don’t have.
-Peter Urs Bender

Everyone thinks they’re underpaid and overworked. We all aim for financial freedom. But to live a more satisfying life, maybe you should reduce your expectations. You don’t have to give up your financial dreams. But be realistic about your earning potential. Look carefully at your actual needs.

There is a story about a high achiever who takes an island holiday in a foreigh country. He meets a young boy lazing about the beach. In conversation he tells the lad how important it is to work, to improve his English, to go to university.

When the boy asks why, the tourist replies,…..read more

Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

POWER – with Gut Feeling

Power’s twin is responsibility.
-Willa Gibbs, writer

Power is all around us. It surrounds us. We possess it. There are some who say there is no such thing as Spiritual Power. They are mistaken. It can heal or harm. Go to any hospital and see. Miracles do happen. Ask physicians. They have experiences with patients they cannot explain.

Yet many negative things have been said about power. It is hard for us even to view it as an aspect of Gutfeeling. Yet power sets our boundaries. It gives form to our relationships. It even determines how much we let ourselves liberate and express aspects of the unconscious.

If something can be described as negative spirituality or Gutfeeling, the naked pursuit of power must surely be it.

But why?

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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

GOLF

Golf is a spiritual game. It’s like Zen.
You have to let your mind take over.
-Amy Strum Alcott, Golfer

All great sports depend on analysis and instinct. Golf does, too.

There’s a wonderful story about a rabbi from Israel who was invited to a conference in Florida. As it happened, his room backed onto a golf course. He woke up at 4:00am. After looking carefully around and seeing no one on the course, the rabbi, even though it was the Sabbath, took out his clubs and headed for the fairways.

Above, Moses noted this breach of religious etiquette. He went off to tell God, recommending that the rabbi be punished. God looked down just as the rabbi began his swing, and winked. The rabbi scored a perfect hole-in-one!

Moses protested. “A hole-in-one is punishment?” God just looked at him sadly for a moment, then said, “But Moses, it’s the Holy Sabbath; He can’t tell anyone about it.”

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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

Communication – with Gut Feeling

To be twice as powerful – use half the words.
-Peter Urs Bender

To everything there is a structure. Everything has its rules, whether they come in instruction manuals or not.

Communication is one of those activities we cannot not do. If we are silent, say nothing to anyone, we communicate. What do we say? “Stay away from me. I don’t want to/can’t talk. I’m shy/secretive/alone.” Maybe that’s not true, but that’s what we’re communicating. Saying nothing is not an option.

On the other hand if we’re too talkative, can’t keep our mouths closed, we’re communicating the opposite message. “Don’t tell this person anything – unless you want the world to know it.”

It is useful to ask the question, “Why is communication so important?”

I think there are three reasons why it is so important for human beings to communicate effectively.

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Peter Urs bender, Author
Gut Feeling

Negotiation

Anything is negotiable.
-The Godfather

As a kid, you started negotiating with your parents. How long could you cry until your demands were met? And that was just the beginning! We all negotiate all our lives.

Certain people negotiate better. They aim for more than others. Remember. You don’t get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate for.

I am willing to buy your present car for $80,000. The terms are $1 down and $1 per year for the balance. Offer sounds great. But payment terms are lousy and unacceptable.

You have to learn to negotiate with yourself, too. You need to convince yourself to listen more closely to Gutfeeling. Learn to negotiate with yourself after analyzing and scrutinizing. Then listen.

There’s a lot of similarity between negotiating and Gutfeeling.

Read more……..

Peter Urs Bender, author
Gutfeeling

For Men Only…

You must train your intuition – you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide.
-Ingrid Bergman, movie star

This book would not be complete without some observations on how women make more and better use of intuition. Even today, in the modern world men are more likely to be raised to pay little attention to their emotions – especially Gutfeeling, intuition, and inner feelings. More and more male managers are able to escape this trap. That says a lot about our society. It is gradually changing – and about time, too!

Women do pay more attention to their emotions than men. They are able to combine their thought processes with their intuitions. They do this, I believe, ‘instinctively’. This is not to say that women are not capable of cold, hard, analytic, so-called ‘scientific’ thinking. But they seem able, even in the midst of tremendous social pressures, to maintain their ‘Emotional Quotient’. And merge it with their modern business thinking.

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Peter Urs Bender, Author

EGO

Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.
-Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman

We all know people with gigantic egos. Their heads are so swelled they’ve outgrown the largest hat size available. They talk more about themselves than you can stand to listen to, and they think they are the only ones down here on earth. Me, myself, and I seem to be the only words they know.

Long ago we thought the Earth was flat and the universe revolved around it. Some might still think so. Even though we now know the Earth is just a little speck in nowhere, lots of us still feel that way. We all still strive to be the center of the universe. There’s nothing wrong with thinking of yourself as being ‘at’ the center of everything. After all, your view of the world starts with the speck that is you in the universe.

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Peter Urs Bender, Author

LEADERSHIP

A leader is best when people barely know he exists.
-Lao Tsu, philosopher

Leadership is something that can’t be learned academically or intellectually. Its principles can be taught, but you can’t learn how to lead from a book. Nevertheless, thousands of books have been written about doing so, including one of my own.

If you look at my book Leadership from Within, you will see that embedded in the title is the key to all my advice. To study leadership, you need to lead, but you can’t lead others until you can lead yourself.

Here is a useful illustration of the two types of leadership: Take a short, three-inch piece of string. Lay it out on the desk in front of you. Then pull it along the desk by one end. You can make it go anywhere and it will follow you. Now try pushing it. The string will pile up and – nothing happens!

Leadership is not about pushing anyone except yourself. But you pull others along if you set a good example.

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

PROFIT - from GUTFEELING

Also known as net income, profit is the sum remaining after all expenses have been met or deducted; synonymous with net earnings and with net profit or net loss (depending on whether the figure is positive or negative).
-Jerry White, business consultant

Profit is not a four-letter word. It’s six. And without profit, or gain, we have to close the show.

Everything in the universe runs on the profit system. If a church, synagogue, or temple wants to stay in business it needs more new souls. That can be considered the ‘profit’ on its work. No profit – No show. There are commentators today who are afraid this is happening. A church, just like a business, must downsize if it’s not keeping its members.

Most of us go to work to bring home a livelihood. If you’re smart enough to keep something of what you earned, you can say you’ve ‘shown a net profit’. I have never yet met anyone who was under-worked and overpaid. Yet I have discovered that a lot of people who earn a lot of money are in a lot of debt.

I see spirituality as the unconscious becoming conscious. The more ‘profitable’ the unconscious can become, the more assets our conscious will have.

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

INSTINCT

Instinct – Animal
Intuition – Woman
Logic – Male
-Anon., 1232 A.D.

When we think of instinct we think of animals and of being preprogrammed from birth. We explain it as the migrating instinct of birds and the survival instincts of animals. There is no question that animals do incredible things by instinct that seem amazing.

But humans are creatures of instinct, too. We don’t fall out of bed (most of the time). We breathe even when we sleep. We don’t break wind in front of strangers. We digest our food without thinking about it. We do it by instinct. We call it ‘subconscious behavior’.

Instinct and Gutfeeling go hand in hand. What we do by instinct, we do unconsciously. Think of the ‘fight or flight’ response. In humans the response can be so strong we react even without thinking about it. But sometimes neither fight nor flight responses are appropriate. That’s when it most pays to take a step back and consciously make a decision.

The more your decisions become conscious, the more appropriate your actions will probably be. Gutfeeling, while intuitive in nature, I see as the subconscious becoming conscious. The more conscious your decisions become, the less you have to worry about an instinctual response getting you into trouble. Try to develop your Gutfeeling. Make more use of it to help enrich your life.


Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

Black Monday

The difference between playing the stock market and the horses is that one of the horses must win.
-Joey Adams, comedian

Mondays, traditionally, are bad days. Many heart attacks occur Monday morning. It’s a heavy day for traffic accidents, too. In our culture Monday becomes Doomsday. Compare that with Friday, when TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) becomes the mantra. Why?

That Monday is always ‘black and blue’ is a wry commentary on the way we live. If you hate your job so much you dread going back to it at the beginning of the week, what are you doing about it?

There were two Black Mondays in the last two decades of the 20th century, one on October 19, 1987, and one almost exactly ten years later on October 27, 1997. They were days when investors felt like jumping out of the windows of tall buildings.

I know it’s one thing to say, ‘I hate this place’, and something else to say to yourself, ‘I’m going to get out of here’. But if every Monday is a Black Monday, start taking steps to get out of the environment you’re in. Actively look for other opportunities. Remember, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten!

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

ABERGLAUBEN - from Gutfeeling

Negative superstition reinforces bad luck!
-Peter Urs Bender

Aberglauben is the German word that means ‘superstition’. Be careful what you wish for. Your wish might be granted!

I have also read that you become the thing you most think about. However, I must say that is not always true because during the early part of my life I thought mainly about women…

I don’t believe in superstition. Except on Friday the 13th, which is my lucky day And I’m careful what I wish for. Also, I never walk under ladders. Something might fall on me!

Actually, what I do believe is that you should be superstitious, if it brings you luck! Superstition, seen in that light, is your spirit talking to yourself. I like to think of it as your subconscious talking to your conscious, and telling you to ‘be careful’. I also like to think of it as your unconscious talking to your conscious and telling you to ‘take a chance’.

Thought of in that way, Aberglauben is a positive force. It’s a great way of putting you in touch with your own spirit. We all get a little superstitious from time to time. Even if we don’t believe in it with all our hearts.

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

Why the name Gutfeeling?

The reason I call this book Gutfeeling is because I have trouble with the word spirituality. Whenever I hear the word ‘spirit’, it makes me want to pack up and go. I would have left at an earlier stage of my life. The minute anyone started to talk about ‘spirituality’, or ‘spiritual values’, I would simply turn away saying, ‘That’s not for me’.

That reaction seems strange to me now, but it’s understandable. The minute one talks spirituality most think they’re talking ‘religion’. There are so many conflicting religions and religious beliefs floating around. The idea of becoming involved with their bureaucracies seems like a giant waste of time.

However, you can be spiritual and not religious. The point I’d like to make is this: Spirituality does not come from religion. Religion comes from spirituality. A major definition of religion says it is ‘an institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices’. The emphasis is on the ‘institutionalizing process’. You can be ‘religious’ and be ‘spiritual’ at the same time.

In fact, I believe it was religious practice that presented the aspect of spirituality in a way that made me turn away from it. Institutionalized spirituality tends to create a whole hierarchy of ‘beings’ in order to explain its beliefs. Spirituality, on aspect of that, was presented as: ‘What happens when you die? Where does your spirit go?’ Frankly, I believe when you die, you die. The show is over. End of story. However, assuming there might be a reincarnation – I will come back, no argument!

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Peter Urs Bender

Peter Urs Bender was known to the media as "Canada's Presentation Guru". His first book, Secrets of Power Presentations, is used in more than forty colleges and universities and many of the top 500 companies, with more than 100,000 copies in print. It has also been translated into many languages, including French, German, Chinese, and Russian. Bender is also the author of the bestselling Leadership from Within, and the co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing and Secrets of Face-to-Face Communication.

Bender's power as a speaker and as a leader came from personal experience. Swiss-born, he immigrated to North America at the age of twenty-three to learn English. Soon after, he became a top salesperson in the high-tech industry, launched his own business, and self-published his first book. Despite having an intense fear of public speaking early in his life, he became one of North America's top professional speakers.

Bender had motivated business audiences internationally and has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances. Learn more about Peter and his work by visiting http://www.peterursbender.com/