Ever heard the saying "perception is reality"? Let me share with you something I heard recently which made me realise we all put our own slant on everything and our own preconceived ideas and beliefs really do effect our perception of situations.

Imagine this scenario - you're sitting at a local café where a man and woman are having a conversation opposite you. You look up from your coffee only to see the man slap the woman in the face. What is your instant reaction to this? What thoughts instantly popped into your mind when you imagined this?

Let's erase that from your memory and say as you looked up over your cappuccino you saw the woman slap the man in the face. What do you assume has happened here?

Now you wouldn't be alone if in the first situation where the man hit the woman you thought "Oh my gosh, why's he hitting her? What a rat!". Whereas in the second situation where the woman slaps the man many instantly jump to the thought pattern "What has he done to deserve that!".

I read about this scenario and the common reactions (which I too had) in one of Allan Pease's book's and found it quite an interesting study of human perception. Same action, different reaction due to our conditioning.

Keep thinking and stay fabulous

Kirsty

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

After enjoying a lovely stay at a friend’s home in Sydney some weeks ago we were gathered around a few drinks and some desert at the end of the night when our friend asked his soon to be wife what was the highlight and lowlight of her day.

An interesting conversation followed with all of us sharing our highlight and lowlight for the day and it was fun and revealing. I encourage you to trial it yourself tonight with your family, partner of friends find out for each of them:

1. What was the highlight of their day.

I’ve never been the sort of person who kept a diary regularly, but each day this year I’ve taken to writing down just the highlight of my day. One thing that has made that day special and spectacular. In looking for the bright moment each day I guarantee that I appreciate the day for what it’s been and I’m always looking to the positive.

2. What was the lowlight of their day.

3. I’ve added my own link in here at number three – because I think that with every failure, there’s a lesson, with every mistake, an opportunity and so with each lowlight you mention, ask what the positive to come from that was or could be. For example, if your low light was that you got a speeding fine, the positive is that you’re going to be more conscious of your speeding in future and potentially save your life or someone else’s by being more cautious.

Stay fabulous, enjoy getting to know each other and seeing a double positive in every day!

Kirsty

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

I'll have a saucepan thanks!

My husband had to gently put his hand under my mouth and prop up my gaping jaw the other night at dinner with friends. I didn’t even realise I was staring – but this restaurant had the same principle that Swamp (see blog below) had going on. My friend Sam ordered the mussels and when they arrived they came in a massive saucepan with a serving of mussels larger than a basketball. They absolutely made me crave them, made me want to go back to the restaurant and made me remember the meal even more. Would I have had the same reaction if the mussels had just arrived in a normal bowl?

What can you do in your business to create that lasting impression?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Swamp - That Special Feeling

I recently ate lunch with a girlfriend a new restaurant in a neighbouring suburb. This suburb is predominantly built on previously flooded land – hence the name of the restaurant “Swamp”.

I ordered some sushi, a ham roll and a banana smoothie for my lunch that day (hey – I like to eat!) and one thing really stood out. When my smoothie came to the table it was served in a massive cocktail style fish bowl glass, it had a cocktail umbrella, a snazzy yellow plastic seahorse and a fancy straw. Swamp had taken something fairly innocuous and created an experience I wouldn’t soon forget.

They took the ordinary – me ordering a smoothie - and with a few simple, not very costly techniques, they made it glamorous and unforgettable.

Today consider how you could you change an otherwise ordinary for one of your customers into something extraordinary? Congratulations Skye and Paul on a great new business!

By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

What a hypocrite I am!

I was sitting in my small local neighbourhood beauty salon yesterday filled with dread. I'm not a beauty salon kind of girl but with a friend's wedding coming up I was making the leap.

The dread however wasn't coming from my lack of experience in the beauty chair. It stemmed from some scary words the young girl wielding hot wax at my eyebrows had just uttered. She'd mentioned that she was still in training.

I was at once petrified with the thought that soon I would have to draw back on my miniscule non existent eyebrows with a pencil each day.

Then a thought occurred to me... Was this how people used to feel when I would show up at their doorsteps at 19 to do a real estate appraisal?

I decided I didn't care, I was still going to panic that someone that young was going to be causing me pain, and even more worried at the pain I would soon feel when I looked into the mirror and saw the result.

To my delight however, I've got to tell you that this young lady really wowed me. Perhaps sensing my trepidation she stepped me gradually through every action she was doing, her knowledge and the training she had already done was evident in the way she calmed me. The result was nothing freakish and I left feeling really happy and a bit disappointed in myself for jumping to such immediate conclusions!

I've always said that the best way to counter youth and inexperience is through enthusiasm and constantly increasing your knowledge. It was nice to get a real life example of that yesterday!

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments