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Is This You Pushing Your Goals?

If you’re like me and many others, we do OK in setting goals but, many times fail to achieve them. The reason may be that we’re just pushing the “same old stuff” forward, without looking at how we could do it better.

Using this as an example. Let’s say that today our objective is to make 5 new contacts per day in our business. Doubling (2x) the effort makes for 10 contacts, which should be doable and perhaps only requires some adjustment in our time management. But we’re still pushing the same old stuff (methods) forward.

10x That?

Now 10x that and better time management by itself “won’t” get us there.

With a goal of 50 new contacts, we’ll need to come up with a totally new solution (new thinking), and who knows what new ideas and better ways of achieving our goals will surface. Perhaps we’ll need to bring on an assistant, use a new lead management tool or, explore a new way of making those contacts – such as a Webinar.

Creating New Thinking!

Applying a multiplier of 10x to our current situation, also forces us to “separate the wheat from the chaff”. Some of the things that may have worked well up to this point may not work at a 10x level and need to be discarded. Even if we don’t plan to grow 10x, this thinking will generate new ideas for how to do something better. The 10x thinking can be like a breeze of fresh air

I was introduced to the 10x thinking concept by listening to Dan Sullivan, one of the world’s top experts on entrepreneurship in action, and it’s changed my outlook on planning ahead.

Making Real Progress…

Following are additional examples of areas where the 10x concept will introduce more efficiency in your life and perhaps help you make “real” progress:

• Your Investment in Time: If something you’re doing isn’t going to produce or contribute to a 10x result, it may not be worth your time, attention, or effort.
• Determining What to Work On: Looked at from the 10x perspective, everything belongs in one of two categories — “the past” or “the future.”
• Surfacing the Qualities of Success: Everything that contributes to 10x has four qualities — faster, easier, cheaper, and bigger.
• Your Own Transformation: If you have a 10x perspective about every aspect of your life, everything will continually transform itself to support your progress.
• Faster and Better Problem Solving: The continual achievement of 10x progress solves every problem you will ever have by creating endless new opportunities, resources, and capabilities.
• A New Energy Level: The 10x progress is much easier to achieve and expand on than incremental progress because it motivates and energizes everyone who comes into contact with it.
• You Begin to Stand-Out: Focusing on 10x progress immediately sorts out what your unique abilities are and shows how all of these abilities need to contribute to one another.

You’ll find it much easier to capitalize on your unique abilities as you focus on growing your business and your life’s goals 10x. You’ll find a new energy and new paths presenting themselves that would never have shown up otherwise.

For further information on Dan Sullivan go to his Strategic Coach blog and his The Laws of Lifetime Growth is a great read,

Does Your To Do List Look Like This?

Having a Challenge Staying Organized? Does this look like you with your “to do” list?

If so, you’re in the right place. First of all, congratulations if you at least make a “to do” list. For those of you that use “sticky notes” as an excuse for staying organized, this may introduce a new way to “log” all those “great ideas” and keep the important ones in front of you.

To Do List Creating Paralysis?

Let me get back to the “to do” list. As many of us know, in today’s “Information Overload” world, lists can become very unwieldy and staying organized just a wish. At first they are manageable but, as more and more information comes at us, they get pretty unwieldy and frequently, begin to “paralyze us” into inaction.

And for some of us that do keep a short and manageable list – we may appear “busy” but, are we working on the “important” things? We may think we’re making progress but, is it towards our most important goals. For a detailed explanation of “Important”, see my post on Setting The “Right” Priorities.

Saved Time and Less Stress…

Following are two simple practices that have helped me considerably over the years. These clearly are not of my own invention but, rather adaptations and the result of much trial and error. And of course along the way discovering that there’s no such thing as “one size fits all”.

Perhaps these two points will help you stay organized and on top of things as they do me.

• Recording your “ideas” and “things to be done”: This is probably one of the most important things I’ve ever done. “Record your thoughts and ideas or they’ll flee with the wind”. Have you ever had a brilliant idea, forgotten to write it down and sometime later tried to retrieve it? Yeah right!

I’ve used 6 X 8 1/2 spiral bound note books that have served me well over the years. I’ve found this to be the simplest and most sustainable means of logging ideas, tasks and priorities. Here I also maintain my “to do” list, which I review and re-write every few days. Today, an iPad may serve the same function. Your choice!

All of my notes, thoughts and yeah, even sticky notes, go into that very portable spiral bound note book. Once there, I can take an idea or “to do” item off my mind and with it, release “stress”. Now on to another process that has also served me well.

• Maintain a short “to do” list and prioritize your items: So now that you’ve recorded your thoughts and action items, make a list of no more than 10 of the most important of these and in priority order. Be sure to place the toughest task on top. This is probably also the one that has had the most “procrastination time”. Brian Tracy does an excellent job in covering this topic in his Personal Development book – “Eat That Frog“.

Git’r Done!

Here’s a bonus item. If you want to get that high priority items done (git’r done), set a block of time aside, about one hour minimum, with no phones, e-mails or, Facebook and work on that priority item , only. If you need more focused time, do the same thing tomorrow and “just do it”. Although, most likely, after spending some truly focused time on your “Important” task, you’ll find yourself on a roll and will just keep going till it’s done. Funny how that works!

I think you’ll find that if you apply these simple ideas and prioritize your tasks using the matrix in my Setting The “Right” Priorities post, you’ll get much more accomplished and have much “less stress” in your life by “staying organized”.

Where Are YOU Spending Your Time?

Like taking action on items that will give you a boost towards that “next step” in your life, career or income? If so, you’re at the right place.

In today’s hectic and “information overload” world it’s very easy to fall prey to the “tyranny of the not-important” along with the ever-present “tyranny of the urgent”, which = “fighting fires”.

Is Facebook Bad For You?

The advent of e-mail and especially today’s Social Media attractions such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, can really put a crimp in your productivity. How many times have you interrupted something important to check on your e-mail or text message, follow-up on Facebook and then stay there for HOURS? All the while NOT taking action on a high priority item such as laying out the steps or making that call “that” will bring in new business.

Although the concept being discussed here was introduced over 20 years ago by Stephen Covey, it is actually even more relevant today. We can blame it on all the new “shiny objects” brought to us by the Internet daily. Facebook or, texting anyone?

A Better Way To Prioritize…

The four-quadrants of the above matrix, provide an excellent framework for differentiating and placing the “appropriate” value on the opportunities and activities in front of us. It certainly puts activities and time usage in the right perspective.

• Quadrant 1: Items here are both “urgent” and “important”. Although containing true emergencies and other urgent activities, “Fighting Fires” also resides in this quadrant. You don’t want to stay in Q-1, let’s move on.
• Quadrant 2: These items are “not urgent” but are “important”. This is where the planning, development and enriching activities reside. This is the quadrant of personal pro-activity and where you have the opportunity to gain control of your destiny. Spending more time here will not only help you build your vision but, you’ll also end up spending less time in Q-1 – “fighting fires”.
• Quadrant 3: Here you’ll place the items that are “urgent” but “not important”. This one can be deceiving as the activities seem important but, most really are not. This is also today’s major nemesis. Let’s take Facebook for instance, although it may be important for you to check in, how many times have you gone on and before you know it “hours” have passed. Yikes!
• Quadrant 4: This is where most of the true “time wasters” reside. The items are “not urgent” and “not important” and yes “just chillin” is among those. This is also where you can borrow most of the time to get the “important” things done.

A Non-Negotiable Hour…

If you’re in a high stress environment “fighting fires” and or not making progress towards your vision DO this one action: Block out time (“one” committed and non-negotiable hour per day) to engage in Q-2 activities”.

Hope this gives you some new ammo for “Setting and Keeping the Right Priorities”

P.S. To really get into the details on this topic check out Stephen Covey’s Habit #3 in “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” and the joint book with Roger and Rebecca Merrill “First Things First” book come into play.

I have a very entrepreneurial friend who spent a considerable amount of time and “hundreds of thousands” of dollars developing an Internet based product only to find out that the demand for the product was not there. Yikes! I’m not suggesting that you should “not” start on a project until all is perfect but, there’s a better way to do this. Do get started but, “start with the end in mind“.

The Moon - The End In Mind

How We Got To The Moon…

The US’s “lunar landing” mission, illustrates both points well. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 42 years (July 20, 1969) with the last landing in 1972. And if you were around then, like I was or, know the story, nothing even close to that had ever been done before. Just a few years prior, we were still flying around the country in propeller driven passenger planes.

Landing on the moon was the mission (THE END IN MIND), everything else like the launch vehicle, the tracking and guidance systems, the lunar lander, etc., had to be invented and built from scratch. Even after the giant Saturn V rocket was launched, the voyage to the moon required constant corrections, so that the capsule and lander ended up at the right place (the moon) at the right time. Remember that both the earth and moon are in motion, so it’s not a direct path, it’s more like an arc. Reminds me of an entrepreneur’s life.

What Does An Entrepreneur Have In Common with The Moon Mission?

Getting started, overcoming obstacles, finding new ways to do things, measuring and making course corrections along the way, while keeping your eye on the ultimate goal. This same principal carries over to our daily as well as our BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals) goals.

Start With The end In Mind!

The “secret” is to begin each day with the end in mind. A clear vision of what you want to achieve and the major tasks that “I” need to undertake. And as with the lunar missions, stay open to adjustments that surely will need to be made. Before starting on a project, especially major ones, ask yourself these questions:

Goal Achieved - Lunar Landing

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why do I want to do that?
• What results do I want out of this effort? This is your ROI.

And as you make progress check in and ask yourself whether you’re heading in the direction of the “end you have in mind”. If not, perhaps it’s time to rethink the objective.

Note (*): The time proven concept of “Start With The End In Mind”, is drawn from Stephen Covey, the highly acclaimed author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“

You know the one that keeps slipping between the cracks and now it’s been weeks since you first set a “must get started” date.

Is This You With the Net?

Call it what you may but, all of that sounds like “procrastination” or “avoidance”, to me, plain and simple. How do I know? Well,,, from experience.

Ahh Yes, Those “Shiny Objects”

If you’re using terms like, “I’ll feel more like doing that tomorrow” or “Not today, I work better under pressure.”  You’re in up to your neck in “procrastination”.

Stop Procrastinating and Just Get Started!

The Secret Answer…

“JUST GET STARTED” Once we start, just like I did with this post, the outlook of the task totally changes and you may find yourself actually enjoying doing what you earlier dubbed as a “pain in the you know what”. This one action has been backed up by numerous psychological studies, showing that as we make “real” progress, our beliefs about what we’re doing and ourselves also change.

Now We’re Rolling!

Once we “do” get started, the perception of the task becomes much less overbearing than we thought it to be when we “first avoided it”. And then, even if we don’t finish the task, we at least will have done something and we won’t beat ourselves up as much the next day. Anyone ever been there? We feel more in control and more optimistic. You might even say we have a little momentum going and “I’m feeling pretty good right now”. Wahooooo!

Of course, this simple advice is not the answer to all of our procrastination challenges, but it will take us a long way towards making real progress. So, “just get started” on that major project that you’ve been putting off and perhaps the next time we’ll put procrastination in its rightful place.

P.S. Eben Pagan, whom I’ve followed on my Internet journey, has an excellent program, Wake Up Productive, for entrepreneurs and especially the ones that operate in the Internet Market space. This is also a major part of a valuable read “First Things First” co-authored by Stephen Covey and Roger and Rebecca Merrill.

If the path on the right of the below illustration describes your journey to “success” as it did mine…. you’re in the right place. So, let’s fix this together.

Y

Which Path Are You On?

Once I discovered my “Sweet Spot”, the line straightened out quite a bit and it will do the same for you. Let me explain; have you ever wrestled with the following questions: “What is my passion”, “where do I fit” and “what is my ideal income producing job or career?” You know… the place where everything just seems right and you’re in the zone and “performing at your best”. I call that the “Sweet Spot”.

Let me define this a bit further. If you play golf or tennis you know when you hit the sweet spot, you hit the ball and all you hear is, “ping”; the ball flies for ever and goes in the exact direction and place you wanted it to go – everything is in balance. Feels great doesn’t it?

Finding The “Ping” In Your Life…

It’s basically the same in life, especially when dealing with “job” or “career success”. When you’re in the zone, things just seem to fall into place, you’re making good progress and all seems to be pretty well in balance and progress moves along smoothly. Simply put, this is when you’re at your best.

“OK, so how do I identify my Sweet Spot?” you may ask. The Sweet Spot is where the following four critical components: 1) Your Strengths, 2) Your Passion, 3) Your Resources and 4) The Opportunity you’re engaged in, intersect.

To illustrate, let’s draw four intersecting circles. The top one being your Strengths, opposite of and intersecting it, is your Passion, to the left and intersecting both previous circles are your Resources and opposite it and intersecting the other three is the Opportunity. The Sweet Spot is where the 4 circles intersect.

Aim to be in "your" Sweet Spot

When presented with an “opportunity”, ask yourself: “Does this hit my Sweet Spot?”

The End Results? A More Balanced Life!

Statistics show that most “successful” entrepreneurs operate in or very near their Sweet-Spot. Let me clarify “successful”, because some of us through brute willpower and force will achieve a goal but, at the cost of perhaps our health, family, friends or freedom. Your life is out of balance and perhaps may even end in tragedy. Success is about a balanced life.

In closing, I realize that there are no fast rules and there’s no such thing as “one size fits all”. We’re all individuals, endowed with our own unique strengths and talents honed over our life time and as such we all have our own individual “Sweet Spot” where we “perform at our best”.

P.S. If you’d like a copy of the full article on Discovering Your Sweet Spot, that includes the details on the four circles, leave me a note and I’d be glad to forward a copy to you. Andre

If you’re from a northern climate or have experienced the four seasons in full, you know what I’m talking about.

Spring - New Life and Hope

Summer, it’s warm, the sun is out,

the trees and plants are growing, and there’s hope for good things to come and, of course, “hey it’s vacation and perhaps, beach time” – a time to play, and enjoy, till “OK it’s time to go back to serious work and, oh yeah, a bit cooler weather wouldn’t be bad either”.

Here Comes Fall…

Soon enough along comes a bit of chill and Fall; leaves turn and eventually fall and leave the trees barren. It gets a bit cooler and perhaps a few snow flurries begin to come down and foretell what is to come.

Brrrr…

Winter!!!, which depending on where you live, brings an over abundance of grey skies, cold wind and for many – you just hunker down.

If you are fortunate and have lived in places like Colorado, winter can also bring lots of fun outdoors activity such as skiing. Even then, around late February/March you begin to wonder when it’s going to warm up and when will we see “green” again.

Then soon buds

and new bright green sprouts of branches begin to appear on trees and new hope arises as this surely is a harbinger of what is to come – Spring!!!

A most favorite and welcome season for many of us, as it brings more sunshine, warmth and new hope for a bright tomorrow.

Aren’t the seasons in nature just like life?

We go through our own seasons in life and with perseverance, prayers and positive thinking, we dig ourselves out of a long and perhaps bitter winter season and begin to notice buds on trees and rays of hope in our own lives.

Well, your spring is here,

are you noticing the buds and new growth in things you’re touching. Perhaps it’s just a matter of opening oneself up and looking for the positives going on around you. The impact of the recession has been around long enough and it’s time to move on. Don’t you think?  Many of us have been hit hard and like it or not – It is What It is. Winter is over and Spring is here – Now let’s move on.

Or as Jim Rohn (*), one of my favorite Personal Development mentors  said: “Be grateful for adversity, for it forces the human spirit to grow – for surely, the human character is formed not in the absence of difficulty but in our response to difficulty.”

P.S. BTW, I owe the idea of (*) Seasons of Life to Jim Rohn’s classic by the same name. This one read changed my own view on life and has helped me navigate many of the seasons in life. We’ll get into Jim Rohn a bit more in another post.

Have a great Spring!