Attitude of Gratitude - Tim Knofler

I've been reading an incredible book lately that really has changed my perspective of the people who have impacted my life and made an incredible difference in my life. I'll call them "life changers." The name of this book is This Is The Moment by Walter Green and you can read the review and enter the giveaway here.

They are the people throughout your entire life that have impacted you so profoundly that if you were to give a eulogy at that persons life, these are the words you would say. Yet why are we waiting to tell these people what they meant to you at the time that they changed your life? How much more would it change your life and theirs if you meet with them personally or even sent along a letter detailing your thoughts while they are still alive?

How would you feel if you received such a letter from someone you have met in your life time?

How would that change your life?

How would these new attitude affect the very people you meet everyday?

Instead of participating in "Thankful Thursday's" I am going to dedicate my Thursday posting to sharing those thoughts live on my personal blog to those individuals, and I hope that you in turn would do the same. It's so much better to share those with them while they are still with us, so that they know how thankful we truly are. Otherwise it's simply a one side phone conversation where they have hung up, and there is nothing on the other end.

Here is my first recipient in my victory lap!!

I first met a man name Tim Knofler, (pronounced K-nof-ler) when I was a corporate trainer for a large communications corporation. He had been at the company quite few years before I had hired on and had been using his verbal skills to help customer service representatives learn how to effectively communicate more efficiently with their customers to produce a positive relationship with them.

I sat in one of his training classes called "Soft Skills." It has forever changed my ability to effectively communicate in any situation I have to handle. He taught us that each of us has a "hot" button that we have to learn to define for ourselves what causes us to "go off," lose control and let anger rule us. Once we learn what that is, we simply come up with a plan of what we will do when that button is pushed. We learn what we will say ahead of time so that when we are in the heat of that moment, we can win instead of being defeated.

I learn that you can't negotiate with an unreasonable person. I learned that you need to be taking notes when people are talking to you, especially if they are angry, so not only are you hearing it, your paying attention. The last thing that person wants to do it repeat themselves to you. Not only that it shows them that you are listening.

Tim is one of the biggest mentors in my personal life as well. We both are currently not with that company any longer, but those days of working hand in hand with him in training were some of the most amazing and fun days at work. Watching people come back to you with how effective this training was not only in their work life, but in dealing with people in their personal lives was beyond rewarding.

Tim, you have made me a more effective and efficient communicator and listener. You were competent, loyal, hardworking and committed. I cherish that you always brought your heart and great people skills to every situation we had to deal with. To this day, I am still remembering your profound words. Simply said, you contributed in a profound way to the effectiveness and gratification of both my profession and personal life. I'll be forever grateful to you. Thank you for being a part of my life that has forever changed my life. I will always remember how to "hit the dog!"