Make sure you’ve got the facts

You wouldn’t dive into a pool of water without first knowing the depth, so it’s wise not to jump into a quick decision before gathering a little background data. Who? What? Where? When? How? Asking a few of these types of questions can help in gathering the info you need to make a good decision.

Think outcome – from the outset

A good place to give some thought to the desired outcome of a situation is before a final decision is made. When faced with a problem, think about the best case scenario for the outcome and try to work toward that end as you process through the issue(s),

Choose advisors wisely

Be careful not to allow yourself to be overly influenced by another’s perspective on the issue. While it’s important to get feedback from others, be discerning with regard to personal agendas that may be involved.

Develop a decision making model

Create a model by which you make all key decisions and stick by it as various challenges avail themselves.  Making key decisions the same way every time will improve the quality of the decision immensely.

Track the results

On all key decisions, carefully monitor the results to make sure the decision was sound. Closely monitoring a decision allows you to make timely adjustments. It will also afford you the opportunity to study the effectiveness of your process and apply those lessons to future decisions.

Last week, I finished reading a terrific little book by Mac Anderson titled “Charging the Human Battery – 50 Ways to Motivate Yourself.” In one of Mac’s 50 essays, he quotes the founder of LifeTime Fitness, Burham Akradi, who shares one of his techniques for goal setting. His method? Think big, start small and move fast. I love the concept!

 Think Big – and I’d add the bigger the better!

I just finished touring the new billion-dollar Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Yes, I did say a billion! What an impressive facility – inside and out. As my family and I walked through the giant structure, I kept reminding myself that at one time this magnificent stadium was nothing more than an idea in someone’s mind. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with the scope of this particular idea.

Then I thought: Hey, we’re going to dream anyway, so why not make our dreams something really huge? Small ambitions lead to small accomplishments. Think big! The bigger the dream, the greater the emotion. Remember, it’s your vision of what could be that will ignite your passion for accomplishment.

 Start Small

Just because the dream is huge doesn’t mean you’ll have to take giant steps to bring it to reality. Once your vision is clear of what you want to accomplish, start taking small, incremental steps toward accomplishment. The key is consistency. Do something every day that will move you toward accomplishment. One more phone call, one more page in your book, one less fat-filled snack. You get the idea.

 Move Fast

Don’t wait for the perfect time to start making your dream a reality. Newsflash! There will never be a perfect time. All the time you have is now. Today is the day for taking one more step toward success and achievement. Huge accomplishments are made by taking one small step, one after the other, every single day. Build momentum and don’t stop. Being consistent is the key. One small step at a time – every day.

During our tour of Cowboy Stadium, I watched the building going up in time-release photography. Every step in the building process played in fast forward. Years of construction condensed into just a few minutes. I couldn’t help but draw the analogy between building a beautiful stadium and building a successful life. Regardless of how big your dream may be, or how enormous the project, it all comes down to taking small but steady action steps, doing them quickly, and doing them every day until the dream becomes reality.

There’s simply no quick fix to success and achievement. Getting better, personally or professionally, is a matter of employing principles, developing strategies and taking appropriate action at the appropriate time.

Here are a of couple principles you’ll want to employ to help create an environment in which success and achievement can take place:

CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT

You can take life as it comes or, you can get personally involved by exerting a little influence of your own. Let me give you a couple of examples:

1. Have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish.
Come to grips with the fact that if others became successful doing what you do – then so can you. Learn what they did to achieve success, then apply those methods to what you’re doing. And guess what? They used the same approach. How do I know? Because there’s nothing new under the sun. Success and achievement are repeatable.

2. Expose yourself to the information available in your area of interest.
If you’re not learning something new about your industry or area of interest on a daily basis, you’re losing ground. Let me assure you that your competition is and, as importantly, the information about your industry or area of interest is changing, and it’s changing rapidly. You’ve got to keep up!

3. Hang around with the right people.
By the right people, I mean those folks who are doing what you want to do – and doing it right! That’s the key. There are lots of wannabees out there but not all that many who are getting it done. How do you know if they want to hang out with you? Ask them! Remember the old sales axiom: “If you don’t ask the answer is always no.” My experience has been that those who are doing things right and are successful are more than willing to share their “secrets” with you. They may want to charge you for it, but it might be worth the cost. Here’s what you’ll find when you talk to them, though: there are no “secrets,” just common sense actions and hard work.

When John Sculley was still head of Apple Computer he made this now famous observation: ” Everything we have learned in the industrial age has tended to create more and more complication. I think that more and more people are learning that you have to simplify, not complicate. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leading complicated, hectic lives is really not a new phenomenon. “Simplify, Simplify.” was Thoreau’s messageto his fellow Americans nearly one hundred fifty years ago in “Walden.” But, his advice is equally relevant today.

We have more of everything today than most of the world and certainly than most of our parents had. More possessions, more technology, more choices, more confusion, more stress, more stress related diseases and more emotional disorders. No wonder most of us are looking for some type of escape route.

I’ll take at least one more week to unpeel this onion of simplification but today I want to plant a few seeds for thought and consideration. The simplification process begins, as does everything else, with your thinking.

Odette Pollar, in her wonderful little book “Simplify Your Life,” reminds us that the process of simplification begins when you realize that the best way to “get it all done” is to redefine “all.” When we take a close look at our lives and all the things we think we have to do, we’ll find that some of those things simply aren’t worth doing.

I’d like you to spend fifteen minutes each day for the next week giving some thought to these issues:

What would your “ideal” life look like?

How does the ideal differ from reality?

What important changes need to take place to reach the ideal?

Start planning to make those necessary changes and start thinking about reducing clutter and focusing your time on those things that matter most. Next week we’ll look at some simplification specifics.

Golf is (almost) a passion for me. I love the game. What I enjoy most is the fact that the opponent in golf is not the person you’re playing with or against. The opponent in golf is the course itself. Having a good round involves using the feedback you receive during the round and making the proper adjustments.

Improving performance and productivity, in any endeavor, will involve making adjustments, based on the feedback we get and the changes that take place during the course of the day. Use both success and failure to help you get better at whatever you do. Here are few thoughts you might entertain as you assess the feedback the day is giving you:

1. What did I do to cause this?

2. What could I have done to prevent this?

3. How can I ensure that the success is repeatable, or that I learn from the failure and make the appropriate adjustments?

Take personal responsibility for performance improvement. Don’t blame the course, the club or the weather. Assess the feedback you’re getting, change what needs to be changed and take your best shot. When you do that, the score will take care of itself.

Use feedback to your advantage. Let life teach you!

There’s a great quote by Saint Exupery that says: “A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock pile when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.” You get the point, everything you can see or touch was, at one time, nothing more than an idea in somebody’s mind.

Seeing what could be, instead of what is, is the kind of creative thinking upon which all change takes place. That’s why ideas are such important things. That’s why you need to carve out time, on a regular basis, to just think about what could be.

Changing the status quo is never easy, for a number of reasons. At the top of the list is habit. Studies show that (almost) everything you do, you do because of habit. Not because you’re told to, or because of peer pressure, or because your mother told you to – but because you’ve developed a habit, that now controls you. Habits are for the most part insidious things. I hate most of mine!

Outcome Thinking – means seeing a cathedral, in your mind’s eye, that’s nothing more than a pile of rocks right now. That cathedral might be a different job, a degree or certification you need to improve your ability to serve more effectively or get that promotion you’ve been wanting. A cathedral could be a different home, a different pant or dress size, that book that’s still waiting for the first chapter to be written.

Outcome Thinking – is critical to your personal and/or professional development. But outcome thinking is of little value unless you start to…move rocks. Unless Outcome Thinking leads to “Process Thinking,” your dreams never become a reality.

Outcome Thinking and Process thinking go hand-in-hand. One without the other is like having a beautiful new car, but no gas to put in the tank. The next time you start to visualize a cathedral,grab a pen and paper and start to develop the “process” necessary to get that cathedral built. Start moving rocks!

Define the Task
Clarity is the key! The clearer you are on what needs to be accomplished, the greater your chances of success.

Select the (right) individual or team
Play to the strengths of your staff. Select individuals who’s knowledge, skills and temperament will help make the project a success.

Explain the “Why” of the delegation
Why is the project important to you or the company? Why did you choose this person, or these people, for this particular project?

Be clear on the “What” of the delegation
What are the desired results? What are the success criteria of the project?

Be clear on resources needed
Discuss and agree on resources needed to get the job done: people, equipment, money, materials and services.

Agree on deadlines
When must the project be finished? If ongoing, what are the review dates? When are project reports due?

Support and Communicate
Who needs to know what’s going on? What are the political realities? Market the project to specific individuals or to the organization.

Feedback on results
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Keep everyone informed of both progress and problems. Make adjustments as needed – in a timely manner.

And, lastly, remember, YOU must absorb the consequences of failure and pass on credit for success.

Albert Einstein once said: Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  We agree with that at Achievement Solutions, we also believe that if you’ll change your thinking, you will change your life. Here a few thoughts that may help improve the way you think.

#1 Think in terms of “WHAT COULD BE” instead of “what is.” In other words, be future thinking. In his
wonderful book “The Present,” Spencer Johnson reminds us of the importance of planning for the future.
According to Dr. Johnson, it’s the only way to make the future better than the present.

#2 Think “GOALS.” As Brian Tracy says: Goals fuel the furnace of Achievement.” Be a goal oriented
individual. Think on paper, always work from a list and always begin with the end in mind. What do you – or your boss – want to come out the end of the tube?

#3 Think about RESULTS. The only measure of what you believe is what you do. Think about what results you are looking for in any given activity. If you can’t come up with a good answer – think about doing something else – or at least a different approach. Remember, you’ll get paid for what you do – not what you hope will happen.

#4 Be a person who’s SOLUTION driven. Focus on results and solutions, instead of focusing on the problem. Remember, a problem well defined is a problem half solved. Why? Because problem definition requires “thinking” about the problem.

#5 Lastly, focus on GROWTH – yours and your organization’s. Become a lifelong learner. Think about how to improve your knowledge, skills and abilities. Life gets better when you get better. And, your company gets better when you get better. Jim Rohn says: ” Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” Imagine, (think about) what you need to do to make the future better than the present – for you and the company you work for.

Did you determine what you wanted to accomplish today…yesterday? If not, then you made a default decision to let the day determine your level of success instead of the other way around. Setting daily priorities is the key to personal leadership and making the day work for you instead of the other way around. Here are a few thoughts on setting daily priorities I think you might find helpful.

1. Plan Your Time Carefully
Time is not a renewable resource. Once today has passed, it’s gone forever. We can look back, fondly or
otherwise, but we can’t regain the day. If you want to be effective and productive you will have to plan to do the things that matter most and…set a time for doing them.

2. Evaluate Your Priorities on a Daily Basis
Things change! Our lives are not on auto-pilot. It’s all too common to watch the really important things we need to accomplish get swallowed up by stuff that doesn’t matter much. Setting daily priorities serve to focus your activity.

3. Live Your Priorities
It doesn’t do a lot of good to set daily priorities if we don’t make a commitment to honor them. Because things change and we do have to regularly adjust our schedules, we must commit to accomplish the things that matter most – in spite of daily brush fires.

Plant the seeds of tomorrow’s success and achievement today. Plan for accomplishment. Can I do that? Yes, you can do that! Take responsibility for being the steward of the time you have been given. Set daily priorities to work on the things that matter most, then commit time each day to work on them.