January 2017 – blog.colorcode.com

8 Ways to Build Better Relationships with Reds

The aim of this article is to prepare you with some tools to understanding the innate Red personality so next time you’re at odds with one of these “Kings of the Jungle” it doesn’t have to be as frustrating of an experience.

Reds are as bold as the color they represent — they are not going to go unnoticed. Mother Teresa and Helen Keller were both Reds. President Donald Trump appears to be Red, too. Get the picture?

Reds are society’s natural born leaders, and they know how to get from point A to point B efficiently, often with little fanfare. Reds are active and productive. They are very committed to causes, and they are all about being focused and determined to accomplish whatever life hands them. The Red motto is: “Lead, follow, or get out of the way!”

If you haven’t guessed by now, Reds are naturally the most dominant and intimidating of the four personality types and this can sometimes lead to a frustrated spouse, co-worker, employee, friend, child or parent if the Red hasn’t worked hard at becoming what we call “Charactered.” The aim of this article is to prepare you with some tools to understanding the innate Red personality so next time you’re at odds with one of these “Kings of the Jungle” it doesn’t have to be as frustrating of an experience.

Reds NEED to look good technically, to be right, to be respected and to attain approval from a select few people. They WANT to hide their insecurities tightly. They want to be productive, be in a leadership position and experience challenging adventures. If you struggle to understand how to effectively develop a good relationship with a Red, here are eight helpful tips to consider:

DO present issues logically. Reds behave logically rather than emotionally, as do Whites. Blues and Yellows, however, are emotional beings. Reds can be opinionated and stubborn about a lot of topics and they are skilled debaters. However, they can be reasoned with logically. If faced with an argument with a Red, use your head and not your heart.
DO be direct, brief and specific. Reds are impatient. Red employers cannot tolerate indecisiveness or poor productivity. A White who hates conflict or a Blue who gets too caught up in the details would be wise to heed this advice.
DO demand attention and respect. Due to Reds dominant nature, it may be easy to let yourself go unnoticed by them. After all, they are glad to take the lead. But be careful not to let them walk all over you. Try asserting your opinions and using logic to your advantage.
DO offer them leadership responsibilities. Reds want to be in a leadership position, and they are very strong leaders. Reds are able to get to the heart of a problem without being distracted by lesser concerns, and are able to quickly devise proactive solutions. Reds are visionary, assertive and determined.
DO NOT embarrass them in front of others. Reds want to look good to others and they need to appear knowledgeable. They crave approval from people they respect for their intelligence and capabilities. They’d rather be respected than loved.
DO NOT expect a personal and intimate relationship. Reds struggle to attain intimacy. They are so naturally determined and productive that their lack of intimacy can get overlooked as being a problem by themselves and their loved ones.
DO NOT take their arguments personally. Reds love a challenge. They will frequently bring up controversial topics just so they can have a good debate. The other colors become frustrated by this, but they shouldn’t take it personally, because the Red may be doing it just to have the opportunity to banter.
DO NOT use an authoritarian approach. Reds want control, they want their own way. Due to their resourcefulness and self-reliance, Reds frequently challenge authority figures and control their own destiny.

Now that you’ve learned some basics, hopefully you are on your way to developing a positive relationship with a Red or with yourself. These power wielders can be great assets to our communities. Now get going and do something productive!

–The Color Code Team

What Are Your Colors & Signature?

There is a magical connection between leaving your signature and the best the Color Code has to offer regarding understanding your native character, or as the Color Code calls it, “getting yourself.”

From the Editor: Each month we will be inviting one of our experienced Certified Independent Color Code trainers to write an article discussing why and/or how they use Color Code in their field of expertise. We hope you will find this valuable as you learn from various experts all over the country and world as they share with you how they apply the Color Code. To start this series off we’ve got Jesse Ferrell from Las Vegas, Nevada for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Leaving Your Signature Meets The Color Code

Leaving your signature is an article I wrote and published a few years ago. The Color Code is a brilliant personality assessment that we use with all of our JessTalk speaking and coaching clients! There is a magical connection between leaving your signature and the best the Color Code has to offer regarding understanding your native character, or as the Color Code calls it, “getting yourself.”

We did a comprehensive study of eleven different personality assessments (Myers Briggs, DISC, iPec Energy Leadership, Enneagram, Winslow, etc.) in order to isolate the best personality assessment that had the following attributes: easy for clients to understand, easy to take, interesting and fun, accurate results, easy to enroll in one’s life and very memorable.

We found value in conducting this study and learning the various personality assessments, but none provided the unique variety of gifts that the Color Code offers, which is why we became certified Color Code trainers. We have spent more than 195,300 hours inspiring others to live their highest vision. We do that by building JessTalk Speaking & Coaching Firm and practicing our purpose of speaking professionally from the stage and through our success coaching and executive coaching pillars. LisaListen is a subdivision specializing in empowering women. Every client that walks through our doors or that we meet from the stage to continue the relationship submits to taking the Color Code as the first step in evolving solid professional relationships.

Leaving your signature everywhere you go speaks to how people come to know the manner in which you do things. “How you do anything is how you do everything.” You have an opportunity for making a positive and profound difference when interacting and touching the lives of others, simply by monitoring and upgrading how you do things. You leave your signature wherever you go whether you know it or not.

Some of us leave a very infectious and positive signature and others leave a very scratchy and unlikeable signature. When something bad happens in our space we often feel the need to right the wrong with a return attack or negative language.

We seek to be heard and ensure that the ‘wrong doing bunch’ gets our point! Well I have heard it said that it is better to get ahead than to get even.

It’s how you do things that matters most … it’s your signature. Maya Angelou said it best and perhaps first: “People may not remember what you have done for them, but they will always remember how you made them feel.” How you leave them feeling matters most to all of us.

The Color Code puts the emphasis on helping you get yourself and ultimately helping you get others after getting yourself first, then getting over yourself. It speaks of what your inner core motives are and how they have a large impact on why you do the things you choose to do.

Following the Color Code personality assessment, you are encouraged to raise the level of how you show up for yourself and others through a keen understanding of what that looks like from an innate core level.

Those of us who move through life with a positive and attractive personality or attractive character are typically those who have increased our strengths and reduced or removed our limitations in a comprehensive fashion. We care enough about our signature to shape it in a pleasing fashion that serves others while serving ourselves. We take tremendous joy in helping others achieve better results via finding their own signature and are grateful Color Code helps us to do just that. If you’d like more information on what it means to find your signature then please check out our info below.

Make it a great day!

Jesse Ferrell

ABOUT JESSE & LISA

Relationship help is a click or phone call away — we empower and inspire you to live your best life today. Call Lisa at (702) 239-5055 to learn more. “The Color Code was the missing link in interacting with my sales team. Both parties come out with a win-win opportunity leaving everyone with a happier outcome knowing how to speak each of their languages. It has taken my team to new heights.” ~ Tony Bond, General Manager

Please click here to watch a short client success story on how the Color Code made a major difference increasing bottom line results!

A Fresh Way of Looking at New Year’s Resolutions

As we plunge into 2017, one of the most frequently asked questions we see is, “How can I finally stick to my New Year’s resolutions?”

It’s a good question, and there is a lot of advice out there online. Some of it is really great, and some of it is, well, not so great. As our expertise centers around the Color Code Personality System, I’d like to add my two cents on how to help with resolutions from our perspective.

Our perspective is always “MOTIVE.” Motive is all about why we do the things we do, and it definitely ties into how we pursue our resolutions.

Too often during this time of the year, we sit back and we think, “This year I’m going to lose weight, or save more, or be more patient with my children,” etc.

Take a moment and think about the way that we create resolutions. The process usually entails us deciding that we are going to do less of one kind of behavior and do more of another. For example, we are going to eat less pizza and run more on the treadmill. And we know that if that happens, we will lose more weight.

The reality of our past experiences, however, tell us that the word “if” in that last statement decides everything. Of course, the statement itself is absolutely true. “Will we execute?” is the real question.

In order to execute more effectively, I submit that we need to focus on more than just the behavioral changes that need to occur in order for us to achieve our goals. We need to dig a little deeper into our motives. We need to ask ourselves why we react to certain things the way we do and not just know that we need to behave differently.

An example that I like to use when teaching our Trainer Certification Course is about a person wanting to overcome the limitation of being impatient. The process of becoming patient doesn’t just mean that we stay quiet longer while we allow the same frustration to boil up inside of us instead of spewing out onto others. No, to truly create that kind of change you must first explore why you are impatient.

Maybe you don’t like having to deal with other people and you need to become more sociable. Maybe you don’t care about others in general as long as it doesn’t affect you. In that case, you might need to work on being more empathetic and compassionate. There can be so many reasons why a person displays the limitation of being impatient or why a person binges on food, or spends money frivolously, or doesn’t take time for themselves. And the list goes on.

My advice in a nutshell is to dig deeper! Look not only at the changes you want to make, but the reasons you want to make them and why the changes have been difficult for you in the past.

If you simply try swapping “Behavior A” for “Behavior B,” that strategy will likely last as long as your will power allows it to. Ultimately, we tend to go back to our old ways of doing things if this is our approach.

This year, try to understand what is making you tick from the inside first then work your way outward. Be more in tune with your motives first, and the behavior change will seem a lot easier.

Here’s to you in 2017!

Jeremy Daniel

Jeremy Daniel is the Vice President of Training for Color Code. He leads our Trainer Certification Program and has been teaching the Color Code and delivering motive-based applications to clients internationally since 1998.

6 Tips for Your Relationship with a Yellow

Because of so much exposure to Color Code, I considered myself adept at assigning people in my life to the various colors. So you can imaging my face palm when my husband — I admittedly couldn’t decide if he was a Red or a Blue — turned out to be a bright, shining Yellow.

From a tender age, I have been fascinated by The Color Code. I love learning about myself and others and how I can gain a deeper understanding of how we emotionally connect to one another. I am a Blue.

After listening to the Yellow CD for the first time in several years, it totally makes sense to me that he would be this fun-loving color. How could I not see it before? Now I realize I need to improve my approach of understanding his driving core motive, his strengths, and yes, his limitations.

If you are also in a relationship with a Yellow, here are a few things to remember:

DO promote creative and fun activities for and with them

Yellows are so much fun, and being married to one is very entertaining. My husband and I both value a good time, but I have a lot of White in me and it’s easy for me to rely on him to think of creative date nights. About a year ago, I was feeling slightly annoyed that our recent date nights were seeming a bit routine. My husband is very romantic, and I wanted him to plan something special for us.

Then I realized I was being selfish. He was very good at planning something special for me, but I was lacking. I quickly hopped on Groupon and found a deal to go ice skating outdoors. Then I texted him and told him I had a surprise date planned for us and asked him to pick me up from work and bring some warm clothes. His response was enthusiastic, and he delivered my request. We rode a free Christmas-themed trolley through the city then proceeded to ice skate on a rink surrounded by skyscrapers. It was simple, but memorable, and I could tell it meant a lot to my husband. Just because Yellows are great at bringing the fun doesn’t mean we can’t speak their language by joining the fun.

DO touch them physically

Being “touchy-feely” is not natural for everyone, but Yellows liked to be touched physically. This is a good reminder for couples after the honeymoon phase wears off. If your spouse or significant other is a Yellow, take a mental note to incorporate extra physical expressions into your relationship. Sometimes while my husband is driving, I’ll reach over and rub the back of his neck, and he loves it. Of course, don’t crash!

DO accept their playful teasing

As a Blue, I tend to be overly sensitive. Sometimes my husband will razz me and I won’t realize he’s totally kidding so the conversation takes a sour turn. He then usually says, “You take me so seriously!” I’m a Blue, I do! But it’s important for me, and any other like-minded people, to remember Yellows like to tease and they’re just trying to have fun.

DON’T ignore them

Nobody likes being ignored, but Yellows especially dislike it. Too often, I keep the company of my phone when I should be keeping the company of my husband. I know it’s hurt him in the past when I pay more attention to my virtual life than to him (as it should). Make a concerted effort to be present with your Yellow significant other and pay attention to them.

DON’T expect them to dwell on problems

As a Blue, one of my natural limitations is being worry-prone. Yellows, on the other hand are easily distracted and don’t dwell on problems. Being married to a Yellow is a huge blessing in this regard. I usually want to over discuss my worries, and this can exasperate my husband. He soothes and supports me as a worrier, but I can tell when I’ve taken a step too far.

DON’T forget they have “down” times also

My Yellow husband is optimistic and happy with life most of the time, but he does occasionally surprise me with stress and sadness. When these emotions crop up for him, I try my best to be patient, knowing that he’s great about picking me up when I’m down. But this atypical behavior does throw me off. I do, however, think it’s really important to remember Yellows are still normal human beings and therefore experience all kinds of emotions.

Now that I’ve successfully removed my palm from my face, I hope you and I can apply this Yellow knowledge and strive for better, more fun relationships. After all, who doesn’t love a Yellow?

Megan Christensen graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication. She previously worked as the head writer for KSL.com and is now the digital content manager for The Color Code. Her core color is Blue, but she is almost just as White.