Posted: March 20, 2012 | Categories: Self-Improvement

If we are strong achievers, most of us have had the experience of being overwhelmed to the point where we say:

What’s the use?

I can’t catch up.

I am working around the clock with no end in sight

The irony is, most people I know who have achieved something they are proud of end up going through plenty of frustration.  If it were an easy achievement, we probably wouldn’t be that proud of it.

I was talking with a client last week who had reached a frustration point:  He was a regional manager, and was overwhelmed with constantly changing new policies and procedures in addition to taking assessments and getting new certifications.  He was required to get his team of 12 on board with the new mandates, and they were already overwhelmed with their time management challenges.   We put a focus on the problem.  First, we looked at his planning habits.  As pointed out in the planning blog last December, that is usually the first place to look when we want to manage our time better.  Bill (not his real name) was doing a good job of planning.  The next thing we did was look at time management goals.  A time management goals represents a new habit that we need to form.  New habits are the only way we can improve or time management skills.  After all, if it was a present habit, we would already be doing it!

I challenged Bill to consider what habit he could build that would help him.  In thinking through his situation, he discovered he worked more efficiently when he wrote up his reports right away after a meeting, rather than type them up after he got home.  He found that this habit kept him from bleeding in to his family time, and it also saved time, since the most efficient time to write the report was while his thoughts were fresh. All in all, he found he saved 30 minutes a day by building this new habit.  No big deal?  Consider this:  That is 2 ½ additional work weeks a year.  That is just from one habit. So how do you find what new habit would make a big difference for you?  Here are three steps I would recommend:

Do a time log and list all the things you do in your day

Ask yourself:

What can I combine?

What can I eliminate?

What can I delegate?

When you target the new habit, commit to tending to it daily until it is second nature.  This could take three weeks, or it could take six months.  Stay with it!

Posted: March 15, 2012 | Categories: Management, Self-Improvement

 There are some indicators that our economy is getting better, and you may be one of those whose business and profits are robust.  If so, here is some wisdom I will pass along to you courtesy of the late Peter Drucker:

“An organization should not grow faster than its ability to manage”

 That is the “what”.  Now we can turn to Ben Franklin to get a better idea of “how”.

Benjamin Franklin built his success on defining and living by clearly defined virtues.  He used these virtues every day to check the rightness of his actions or thoughts.  He originally had 12 virtues.  After a short time, he realized he needed to add one more – humility.  As he put it, “Every time I find myself getting very good at something, I start to feel too proud about it”

In his painfully helpful book, “How the Mighty Fall”, “Good to great” author Jim Collins analyzes five key phases in the decline of success.  Sears, GM, Motorola, and Circuit City are some examples he studied.  Here are the five steps as outlined by Mr. Collins:

1. Hubris born of success

2. Undisciplined pursuit of more

3. Denial of risk and peril

4. Grasping for salvation

5. Capitulation to irrelevance or death

He also emphasized that stage #1, “Hubris of success”, is the trigger that leads to the remaining steps of decline.

Let’s see how Webster’s Dictionary defines “hubris” and “humility”

Humility:  Refrain from boasting. Minimize personal accomplishments in favor or building others.

Hubris:  Wanton insolence or arrogance resulting from excessive pride.

Which word do you like better?  (I thought so)

Many businesses believe that their toughest challenge is generating more revenue.  In my experience, I find that the most stressful situation is when we are making tons of money.  There is a strong tendency to let our pride get out of hand, and when that happens, we can make some stupid decisions.

GM didn’t see foreign cars as a threat.  Sears didn’t take Wal-Mart seriously.  Motorola chose to be more engineering driven that customer driven.  As Mr. Collins puts it, “they lost sight of the underlying factors that created their success in the first place.”

So if you are at the top of your game, and enjoying profits beyond your dreams, take some time to do the following:

1. List the underlying factors that created your success

2. Determine which one needs the most attention

3. List and commit to one or two specific action steps you can do to improve the area of focus.

Have a “healthy discontent” with where you are at!

Posted: February 27, 2012 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing.  You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time.  Winning is a habit.  Unfortunately, so is losing.

 There is no room for second place.  There is only one place in my game, and that’s first place.  I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to finish second again.  There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers.  It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.”

-Vince Lombardi

In selling, there is no second place.  We either get the order or we don’t.  And if we don’t, we receive nothing – that is no fun.  As Vince Lombardi says, “Winning must be a habit”

An old mentor of mine once said, “A goal mind is a goal mine”.  I was reminded of this last week while talking to a successful financial advisor:  He began his career in the fall of 2008 – not exactly the most fun time to begin.  401k’s were decimated and financial advisors weren’t winning any popularity contests.  Yet Bob boldly began his career and has met or exceeded every quarterly goal since he started.  He is enjoying a comfortable standard of living.

I asked Bob, “What is it you do that makes you so consistent?”  He replied, “I set goals and achieve them.  I make sure every goal is realistic and challenging.  If I were to set a goal and not achieve it, I would become complacent, and accept mediocrity.  I know because I struggled through high school and college. Once I adopted the “set and achieve goals” mindset, my whole life turned around. “

In his 1940 essay, “The Common Denominator of Success”, life insurance sales manager Albert Gray said:

”It is easier to adjust ourselves to the hardships of a poor living that it is to adjust ourselves to the hardships of making a better one.  If you doubt me, just think of the things you are willing to go without in order to avoid doing the things you don’t like to do…”

 So what can we do to attain the same success as Bob?

Set a goal.  Even if it is dialing the phone six times a day – set it.  And once we do, remember the four key fundamentals to ensure you succeed:

1.  Seize the first opportunity

2.  Launch the strongest initiative

3.  Keep the faculty of effort alive with daily practice

4.  Never allow an exception to occur

Happy goaling!

Posted: December 30, 2011 | Categories: Networking, Self-Improvement

“So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact, and remember that life’s a great balancing act”

                    – Dr. Seuss: “Oh the Places You Will Go”

 “I am just not excited to go to work”.

That is what one of my clients said last week.  You may be thinking this person doesn’t like his boss.  Nope.  He is the boss.  How about working too hard?  He is actually working fewer hours per week that he has in years.  And profit?  His company is just finishing up on one of his most profitable years ever.  So what is the problem?
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Posted: December 28, 2011 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement

 Q. “Why didn’t you tell us at the board meeting that day?”

 A. “ Well…no one was going to listen to someone like me…I mean…you can bend the rules plenty when you get upstairs, but if you’re someone like me, you can’t get there without bending the rules”

                                                                                           –From the movie, “Working Girl”

I hope you are as excited about 2012 as I am.  Challenge and opportunity will abound.  Planning with clarity and following through with focus and resolve will put the odds in our favor.  As we look to execute our plan, let’s consider the magical ingredient of “boldness”.
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