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Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
 If you want to make 2012 count as a year of success and achievement, you’re going to have to do what others aren’t doing – you’re going to have stop thinking like everyone else is thinking. Standing out from the crowd starts with pretty much ignoring how the crowd is thinking and behaving. A mentor of mine in years past reminded me on a regular basis: “The masses are always wrong.” Dave Ramsey, one of my favorite radio personalities, reminds his listeners: “Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses – the Joneses are broke.”
Looking for a good New Year’s Resolution? Here you go – stop believing everything you see and hear in the media and stop paying attention to the naysayers. Here’s why – the two things you can absolutely control are your thinking and your behavior. Let’s face it, whatever happens with the leadership in North Korea, or the turmoil in the Middle East, is out of your control. You can’t change a thing that’s going on in either of those countries.
Here’s your formula for success in the year ahead: E+R=O
Event + Response = Outcome. This formula is based on the fact that the outcome of any event is not predicated on the event itself – but rather on our response to the event. And I’m not just talking about what’s happening in other parts of the world. I’m talking about what’s happening in your world.
Years ago, I taught time management for a company here in Phoenix. One of the principles we espoused was that time management was really event management – and everything is an event. Getting up in the morning is an event. Interacting with our family and friends, driving to work, shopping at the local grocery, are all events.
The outcome of each of those events will be determined by your response to the event as much as the event itself. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed today? Your response will set the tone for your entire day. Does getting the kids ready for school in the morning feel like you’re herding cats? Someone cut you off in traffic on your way to work? Does the person in front of you in the “15 items or less line” have a basket full of groceries? These are all events in which you have the ability to control the outcome.
Making 2012 a success will in large measure be the result of how you respond to the curve balls life throws at you. Solomon said: “There’s nothing new under the sun.” We all face similar challenges every single day. The issue isn’t will we face these challenges but rather how we’ll choose to respond to them.
We have absolute control of two things: how we think, and how we respond as a result of how we think. Start the year off making the resolution to control your thinking and your behavior in each event you face – and in doing so remember – EVERYTHING IS AN EVENT.
Tags: achievement, behavior, New Year's Resolution, success
Posted in 2012 | 1 Comment »
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Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
 If Peter Drucker is right, and “the only way to get the future you want is to create it,” it’s time to start creating a vision for what we want to happen in the year ahead. As important as it is to plan the future you want, it’s even more important to remember planning and doing are two different things.
Each of the answers to the questions below will require action on your part. It would be a big mistake to leave this as just a plan. After you answer these questions, list a “first action step” beside the answer to get you moving to make something happen.
Success comes from doing, not from dreaming. We’re the only species on the planet that has the ability to design the future we want to have. Take advantage!
Here are some questions you can use to plan for a successful 2012. I wish you the very best year ever!
What successes are you looking for next year?
How can you make better decisions in 2012?
What do you need to learn or relearn in 2012?
Which piece of unfinished business needs your attention in the year
ahead?
What project needs to be completed in 2012?
What risk(s) do you need to take in 2012?
What surprise would you like to experience next year?
Name three people you want to positively impact in 2012.
What important relationship needs to be improved next year?
What one word best sums up the experience you want to have in 2012?
Tags: action, future, improvement, planning, success, vision
Posted in 2011 | No Comments »
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Monday, October 24th, 2011
 Simply raising water temperature a single degree means the difference between just having hot water and creating energy. At 211 degrees, water is simply ready to boil. When the temperature hits 212 degrees, the water starts boiling. Boiling water creates steam and steam can be converted to energy.
This simple metaphor reminds us that the smallest changes in behavior can revolutionize performance and productivity. If there were a single word that would describe the difference between mediocre performance and performing at an extremely high level, it would be “focus.” Your ability to harness the power of focus can change your life, when it comes to becoming a high performing individual or organization.
Focus is a good way to describe that boiling point which, when reached, changes everything. The secret to success and achievement is really no secret al all. When the great industrialist Andrew Carnegie was asked his secret for success, he replied: “Put all your eggs in one basket, then watch that basket!” In other words – focus!
It’s certainly true in sports as well. In every professional sport, the difference between the champion and the also-rans is fractional. Vince Lombardi said champions are gauged in inches they achieve, not yards. The great running backs in football know exactly how far they must run for a first down and they focus intently on hitting that yard marker.
It’s said that Thomas Edison conducted more than ten thousand experiments before inventing the incandescent light bulb. After five thousand, he was challenged by a reporter and asked why he continued after so many failures? Edison replied that he hadn’t failed five thousand times – he’d simply found five thousand ways that didn’t work, and he’d continue until he was successful. Edison was later quoted as saying: “Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
What about you? How close are you to the success and achievement you dream of? Is it possible that just a little more effort, just a little more staying power, just a little more focus, might put you over the top?
John Cleek said; “What you want to do, you do. The rest is just talk.”
Walt Disney said: “The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.”
Are you counting on a miracle to help you achieve what you want to achieve? Peter Drucker said: “You can either take action or you can hang back and hope for a miracle. Miracles are great, but they are so unpredictable.”
The success you desire is probably much closer than you realize. More often than not, if you just took one more step, wrote one more chapter, stayed one hour later, got up one hour earlier, the success you desire would be yours.
Here’s the bottom line: You’re probably much closer to achieving that lifelong dream, getting that degree, finishing a difficult project, restoring a broken relationship, than you realize. One more degree of effort might take you over the top.
Follow Edison’s advice. You know what hasn’t worked, up to this point. But keep at it until your dream becomes a reality. Come on – turn up the heat just one more degree.
Tags: achievement, focus, success
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Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
 When you study success, you’ll find unequivocally that successful people in any endeavor have one thing in common: they think differently than less successful people. Roger Ailes, the founder and CEO of the Fox News Channel, is quoted as saying: “There’s a big difference between those who want to be something and those who want to do something. About 95 percent of America is made up of people who want to be something, and they cause all the problems that have to be solved by the five percent who want to do something…”
Not only do successful people think differently, they also have certain characteristics that set them apart. Here are six prominent characteristics of successful people.
Optimism
Helen Keller once described optimism as “the faith that leads to achievement.” Successful people expect positive outcomes. They don’t sit around wringing their hands wondering what will happen if “it” doesn’t work. They simply expect that trying something new will work. If it doesn’t work – it doesn’t work. So what! Successful people just roll up their sleeves and take another run at it.
Creativity
Successful people focus on innovating – not fixing. They realize that fixing a problem, more often than not, just gets them back to the status quo. Nothing changes and nothing gets better – it just gets fixed.
Successful people look at something that’s not working very well and start thinking of new, creative and innovative ways to deal with the problem. They ask “why” questions and “what if” questions. Successful people have a healthy fear of failure (more on that next).
Resilience
Being able to spring back into shape after being bent or twisted is a dictionary definition of resilience. Successful people have a very healthy view of failure. They fully embrace the cliché that failure isn’t falling – it’s failing to get back up.
Thomas Edison was famous for this. After more than five thousand failed tries to invent the incandescent light bulb, he was asked by a reporter why he kept trying. Edison’s reply was that he hadn’t failed five thousand times – he simply figured out five thousand ways the bulb didn’t work. Five thousand experiments later – he created the incandescent light bulb.
Self-Control
If there’s one thing we can count on, it’s that our self-control will be tested on a daily basis. Temptations abound. Successful people learn to harness their passions, emotions and their will.
Jim Rohn offered the best definition of failure and success I’ve ever heard: “Failure is the result of a few errors in judgment – repeated every day, and success came from a few simple disciplines practiced every day.”
Emotional Awareness
Successful men and women have outstanding emotional awareness. Not only are they focused on building strong, lasting relationships, they’re also keenly aware of the feelings of others. They consider the impact of their words and actions on others and are highly skilled at using the right words at the right time.
Winners don’t preach; they persuade. Some people tell you what you want to hear and some tell you what you need to hear. Successful people tell you what you need to hear in a way you want to hear it.
Goal Focused
Successful people keep their eyes on the prize. They identify the real priorities and focus their efforts (and the efforts of others) on what really matters. They realize there’s no “magic moment” and no “silver bullet” to achieving great things. Their success formula is pretty simple – clearly establish what you intend to accomplish and do those things that will accomplish the goal.
Brian Tracy describes goal setting as the fuel for the furnace of success. Here’s an interesting conundrum though; ninety-five percent of people believe goal setting is critical to success, yet only five percent have written goals they focus on constantly. Guess where they stand when it comes to the overall success of the population: right at the top!
There you have it, the six characteristics of success. On a scale of one to six, how did you fare?
Tags: creativity, emotions, emtional, goals, optimism, resilience, self-control, success, successful
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Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
 Improving performance and productivity can be comparable to charting a ship’s course from Point A to Point B. Years ago, I served as a navigator’s assistant in the United States Navy. It was my job to help chart our ship’s course from one location to another, and make necessary course corrections during the journey to be sure we arrived at our destination as planned.
At the end of my four-year Navy career, I realized the same navigational fundamentals we used for getting a ship from San Diego to the South China Sea were absolutely applicable for charting a personal or organizational course for success and achievement. Here are the five navigational fundamentals I worked with, along with some applications for personal and professional development:
- Look Ahead – Determine Your Destination
- Look Around – Get Your Bearings
- Chart Your Course – Develop a Plan
- Set the Sails – Execute Your Plan
- Adjust Your Course – Evaluate Your Progress
Look Ahead – Determine Your Destination
Having a clear understanding of where we want to go is essential to beginning a journey. No captain leaves a harbor hoping to arrive at an intended destination. Instead, he leaves with a course well thought out and planned, to make sure he can safely get from where he is now to where he wants to be. Know where you want to go!
Look Around – Get Your Bearings
A clear understanding of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is essential to launching efforts to improve your current status. Knowing what your current assets and liabilities are will prepare you for the journey ahead. Know where you are now!
Chart Your Course – Develop a Plan
A life without a plan is like a ship without a rudder. No captain expects to drift into a chosen destination. A successful journey is a combination of knowing where to go, understanding the distance involved, and having a sense of the obstacles you’ll face in reaching your destination. The best way to get the future you want is to plan it!
Set the Sails – Execute the Plan
Success is about doing, not dreaming. Once a course is charted, it’s time to go to work and do the things necessary for a successful journey. This may be the most important step in the entire process. Having a vision for what we want to accomplish, assessing our assets and liabilities, and making specific plans for success and achievement are all critical, but doing what has to be done to make our vision a reality is what will ultimately determine our success. Life is hard – get to work!
Adjust Your Course – Evaluate Your Progress
No journey of any distance is made without course adjustments. Changing the seagoing metaphor for a moment, NASA reports that once a space module is launched, 99 percent of Mission Control’s time is spent making course adjustments.
Things change, and in our efforts to improve performance and productivity, we must expect to have to make course adjustments before achieving the success we desire. Don’t fight it – prepare for and expect to have to change your course from time to time. Remember, the only thing constant is change!
Start today. Chart your course for success and achievement. No one else will do it for you.
Tags: achievement, course, navigation, performance, productivity, success, successful
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Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
 Successful people in every profession and high achievers in any endeavor have at least one thing in common – they’ve developed the ability to get things done and to achieve desired results.
This ability is actually a highly developed habit that has little to do with brilliance, an abundance of talent or being connected – it has everything to do with sticking with a project until it’s finished.
Here’s the definition of habit: a pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition. This is the perfect descriptor of the man or women who has developed the ability to get things done. It’s a behavior they engage in frequently.
It’s been estimated that as much as 83% of what we do – we do because of habit. Our behavior, for the most part, is not predicated on genetic predisposition or rules and regulations, it’s predicated on chosen behaviors.
That being said, here are five habits that when adopted will create the behaviors of success and achievement.
1. Abandon Perfectionism
Waiting for the perfect time to start a project almost always results in delays. The reality? There is no perfect time, no perfect condition, no perfect person. Start now, regardless of the circumstance.
2. Don’t think something to death – take action.
Here’s a fact of life: the longer you think about doing something, the greater the chance it won’t get done. Break the habit of thinking something to death. Just do it! Amelia Earhart said: “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. Fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”
3. Live in the now
Don’t worry about what you should have done, or what could have been, just focus on what you can do now. Yesterday is history and tomorrow has yet to come. What you have is today, this moment, this opportunity, so take advantage and do what you can do today.
4. Commit to “Results”
Success and achievement are about doing, not about dreaming. Develop the habit of focusing on results. Not after the third cup of coffee, not after you read your email, get something accomplished as early in the day as possible. The coffee can wait and so can yesterday’s news. When faced with an important task or project see the end from the beginning and focus on seeing the task fully completed.
5. Develop the habit of initiative
The ability to initiate is what separates winners and losers. They don’t wait for the right time or for someone’s permission to take action. Initiative is a developed behavior not a natural talent. Since our daily behaviors are driven by habits – we can develop the habit of initiative. Once we assess what needs to be done we can quickly take the necessary action(s) to create the results we want to achieve.
Tags: achieve, habit, initiate, perfectionism, results, success, worry
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Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
 We’ve all heard the adage “Your attitude determines your altitude.” While I’m in the camp that says a positive mental attitude (PMA) is an important success factor, I’m too much of a pragmatist to say it’s the most important factor. PMA will take you a long way, but without other success attitudes, it simply won’t get the job done.
So, what success attitudes does one need to put together a package for sustained growth and achievement? Here’s a short list of attitudes that, when converted to habits, will create a success synergy that’s pretty tough to stop.
# 1 Desire
You can’t wish your way to success. Everyone wants some level of success in his or her life but just wanting it won’t get you there. Desire is “wanting” on steroids. Desire is what forces us to roll up our sleeves and do what needs to be done.
Napoleon Hill, in his landmark book, “Think and Grow Rich,” said: “The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire brings a small amount of heat.”
#2 Personal Initiative
Here’s a cold, hard fact; no one else is responsible for your personal growth, your personal success, or for seeing to it that you accomplish whatever you say you want to accomplish. That responsibility belongs to you, and you alone.
Gilbert Orland said: “When an archer misses the mark he looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bull’s eye is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim – improve yourself.”
#3 A Process for Improving Performance
W. Edwards Deming, one of the great management thinkers of the last century, said: “If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Without a process for improving performance and productivity, we’re leaving the possibility for success and achievement to chance. Great organizations and high performing individuals have one thing in common – they actively manage their futures by implementing some type of process for ensuring success.
#4 Commitment
Commitment to what? Commitment to personal improvement and commitment to a process, making sure you achieve what you want to achieve.
Jim Rohn, billed as America’s foremost business philosopher, talked about the reasons for failure and for success. He said failure is the result of a few errors in judgment repeated every day, and success is the result of a few simple disciplines practiced every day.
Just trying something for a day or two, or for a week, won’t create the habits for success and achievement you’ll need to create. Commitment to getting better is essential because some days are better than others, some things don’t work the way we want them to, and people will sometimes let us down. Sticking with a process – on a daily basis – is what gets results.
#5 Accountability
This is the heart of every personal or professional coaching plan in existence today. Why? Because we all need a little help staying focused and motivated.
It’s just too easy to get caught up in the grind, or to start majoring on those minor things that rob us of real achievement. We’ve all experienced the benefit of having someone support and encourage our most important activities.
Accountability starts by holding our own feet to the fire for doing the things we need to do to accomplish what we want to accomplish. But having a spouse, friend or colleague hold us accountable is important as well.
Positive attitude is a great thing to have, but a PMA without desire, personal initiative, a process, commitment to that process and accountability will just not carry the day.
Tags: accountability, achievement, attitude, coaching, commitment, desire, initiative, performance, positive, success
Posted in 2011 | No Comments »
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Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
 People at the top of every profession and those in important management positions in any organization have at least one thing in common – they’ve developed the ability to get things done early and often.
This ability is actually a highly developed habit that has little to do with brilliance, having tons of talent or being connected. It has everything to do with a highly developed habit for getting results.
Here’s the definition of habit: a pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition. This is the perfect descriptor of the men or women who’ve developed the ability to get things done. It’s a behavior they engage in frequently.
Here are seven ways to ramp up your performance and productivity, and seven good habits to formulate or nurture that will guarantee a more productive day
1. Abandon Perfectionism
Waiting for the perfect time to start a project almost always results in delays. In the real world, there’s no perfect time, no perfect condition, no perfect person. Start now, regardless of the circumstance.
2. Don’t be a thinker, be a doer.
Here’s a fact of life: the longer you think about doing something, the greater the chance it won’t get done. Break the habit of thinking something to death. Do it!
3. Trump fear with action
It’s widely known that the greatest fear for most people is being asked to speak in public. Oddly, my greatest fear is that I won’t be asked to speak in public, but I digress. Action is the best cure for fear. Do whatever you’re afraid of doing, and do it now! Action builds confidence and confidence conquers fear
4. Live in the now
Don’t worry about what you should have done, or what could have been; just focus on what you can do now. Yesterday is history and tomorrow has yet to come. What you do have is today, this moment, this opportunity, so take advantage and do what you can do today.
5. Commit to action – For everything!
Success and achievement are about doing, not about dreaming. Develop the habit of getting down to “it” right now. Not after the third cup of coffee, not after you read your email. Set busy work aside and get something important done. The coffee can wait and so can yesterday’s news.
6. Develop the habit of initiative
People at the top of every profession or at the top of their field have a rare quality called initiative. The good news is that initiative is a developed behavior (habit), not a natural talent. You too can develop the habit of getting things done, when they need to be done, by developing the habit of initiative.
7. Follow the advice of Larry the Cable Guy
“Get ‘er done!”
Tags: achievement, action, doer, doing, fear, habit, initiative, management, now, organization, perfectionism, performance, professional, results, success
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
 While reading Seth Godin’s book, “Poke The Box,” I came across an interesting piece of information I’d like to pass along. Godin relays the findings of a study conducted by Dr. Jan Souman, of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.
It seems Dr. Souman studied what happens to us when we have no map, or compass, or landmarks to help us keep our bearings. His research on people lost in a jungle, a forest, or in the Sahara desert, with no means of determining a specific direction, showed that they ended up walking in circles. Try as they might to maintain a straight and steady course, they inevitably ended up back where they started.
At the conclusion of Dr. Souman’s research, he wrote: “Don’t trust your senses, because even though you might think you are walking in a straight line, you’re not.”
That little piece of research really got my attention. As a speaker, writer and consultant in the field of performance improvement, I was struck by the analogy of the outcome of people lost in a wilderness and the outcome of individuals and organizations lost in the wilderness of the status quo. They’re both walking in circles.
The Wilderness of the Status Quo
One of the most dangerous places I find my clients is in “the wilderness of the status quo.” They may think they’re moving forward and making progress but, in fact, they’re simply walking in circles. They want to improve performance and productivity but they’ve lost their compass and they have no guide. They’re walking in circles by doing the same things the same way, year after year – but expecting different results. They’re lost! But they’re making good time.
Sometimes the status quo can seem like a safe place to be, especially if it’s led to some degree of success in the past. The problem is what got you where you are won’t get you where you want to be. The old adage, ”Success breeds success,” isn’t true at all. More often than not, success breeds complacency. We reach a point where the success we’ve created causes us to put our business or career on cruise control. We’re not adjusting our course when needed, and we’re not cognizant of what’s going on around us. We’ve lost the horizon – we’re actually walking in circles.
Getting Out of the Wilderness
First and foremost, recognize the wilderness for what is truly is – a very dangerous place. It’s dangerous because when you’re walking in circles, you feel you’re making progress, but you’re really not. You’re simply walking. Walking in circles is analogous to just being busy but, as you well know, being busy and being productive are very different things. Think of being busy as being lost – but making really good time.
Exiting the status quo requires a good map (plan). Last year’s map won’t do. You’ll need a map of the current landscape. You’ll need to know exactly where you’re going and you’ll need to understand the terrain. Where’s the quicksand? Where are the obstacles you’ll need to face or avoid all together?
While having a good map is important, having a good guide may be even more important. Partnering with somebody who recognizes the status quo for what it is can help accelerate your exit. A good guide understands the dangers of the wilderness. He or she knows where the alligators are and can help you avoid them altogether.
Lastly, remember Dr Souman’s warning: “Don’t trust your senses, because even though you might think you are walking in a straight line, you’re not.”
The last thing you or your organization needs to be doing is walking in circles. When you find yourself right back where you started – on an all too frequent basis – maybe it’s time to get a good map and a good guide. There’s no success and no real achievement when you’re trapped in the wilderness of the status quo.
Tags: achievement, circles, complacency, forward, guide, map, performance improvement, productivity, progress, results, success
Posted in 2011, Uncategorized | No Comments »
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Monday, March 21st, 2011
 Conventional wisdom says finishing is what really counts. But I have a different take. I’ve found the only way to finish is to just keep starting, over and over again.
My philosophy on starting comes from years of running. Back in the day (don’t you just love it when somebody says that?) when I was running more than 25 miles a week, I found I frequently had to keep starting in order to finish a long run.
Starting a run was exhilarating. I actually loved the idea of lacing up the running shoes and hitting the streets. Thirty minutes or so into the run, though, I found the excitement of starting had succumbed to the reality of the run itself. My legs were starting to tire and thoughts began to fill my head about my breathing, or the heat, or the dirty air. You get the idea; I was looking for a reason to quit.
At that point, I’d choose to simply start again. Typically, I’d pick out a point on the horizon, say a mile away, and start to focus on just getting there. Once I finished that part of the run, I’d repeat the process, pick another point in the distance, and focus on reaching that goal. I know it sounds goofy, but it worked.
All those years of running taught me many valuable lessons, not the least of which was the value of persistence. The challenge of fighting through the pain or the fatigue always paid off with the feeling of accomplishment I had when I finished the run.
Today, I apply those same principles to my work and my career. As a speaker, writer and executive coach, I find lots of opportunity to start and start again before I finish an important project or task. Just like taking a long run, building a career or a successful life requires a lot of starting before you finish.
Let’s personalize this philosophy.
If finishing seems to be a problem for you, let me suggest focusing on the start. Any finished work, any great accomplishment, any worthwhile endeavor, will happen because of a decision to either keep going or starting again. Stopping doesn’t equate to failing, but quitting does.
Here’s my guarantee: show me a successful person, in any endeavor, and I’ll show you a person who chose to start and start again before becoming successful. Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden started his illustrious career with 10 losing seasons before winning one national championship after another. Do you think he figured out the value of starting again?
The next time you’re in the middle of an important challenge and you’re starting to tire or get frustrated, just pick a piece of the project and finish it. Here’s what you’ll find: just finishing that little piece of the project will stimulate the desire to continue. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, though; just pick out another point on the horizon, another little piece of the project, and get there. The feeling of pushing through the difficulty of a tough situation will create a real sense of achievement and the desire to finish what you’ve started.
Learn from the past but don’t linger there.
Looking back, I realize all those of years of running and all those miles I logged really prepared me for future success. Fighting through the fatigue and the hundred-degree heat, and choosing to start again and again until I finished, served to strengthen my character and resolve. Slowing down was an option, and occasionally I had to stop, but quitting was something I chose not to do.
Learn to be a finisher by making the choice to start and start again when necessary. Pick out the next spot on the horizon and commit to getting there. Then, just start again!
Tags: accomplishment, finish, persistence, start, success, task
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