Struggle Less, BE More

Fertilize Your Future By Investing In Yourself

One of the best kept secrets to giving yourself an edge in business and in life is to invest in your business strengths and your personal talents and abilities while others let theirs get stagnant. 

Why it’s such a secret: By definition, it doesn’t seem that your strengths would warrant further time, attention or development. 

And therein lays the opportunity to supercharge your work.

A noticeable example of how this idea separates the successful from the satisfactory can be seen in our lawns in the spring: some are very lush and green and others aren’t.  The difference: smart people know that the fall is the best time to fertilize.  And in the fall, they did.

Fertilizing now, means greater growth in the spring.

The same can be true for you and your work.

So, where does it make sense for you to invest?

Think about what you do best, your business strengths (or personal talents and abilities) and invest in that.  Take your superb people skills and make them 20% better; Sharpen your skills in decision-making, or taking initiative or setting strategy so you become a master of masters.

Maybe it’s something you’re good at, specific to your industry.  Take yourself from being “one of the better ones” in your field to being the best at what you do. 

Surely we all realize by now that the difference between good and great is significant and perhaps our greatest areas of opportunity.

Three ideas for how to invest this fall:

(1)     education / knowlege:  take a class, do research, follow a new blog, immerse yourself in publications related to your strengths

(2)     equipment or infrastructure: upgrade the tools or facilities that help you put your strengths in play.  Give better presentations by having a better projector.  Supercharge your brainstorming by having a better conference room.  Handle customer complaints (a strength) better by having a better process for collecting them.  Etc.

(3)     new colleagues: make connections with others who can partner or play with you…or who really need what you have to offer.  Start hanging around people who are the best in areas where you are…good.  Find more people who desperately need what you consider second nature.  They will call you to a higher game.

Fertilize, invest in yourself now, so that you can reap the rewards this coming spring.  Mmmm…I wonder what a new guitar will do for my songwriting ability?

(This post was previously published in the November 2009 issue of Business Leader  http://www.businessleader.bz/ )

Stop Doing What You're Supposed To Do

 Do hazy August days leave you wishing for more internal motivation?  Get yourself going by refusing to do those “supposed to do’s” on your list.

 And instead, get more excited about your life and your work by making sure you do those things that bring you joy, and engage your passions and mission, first. Then, and only then, will you have the energy to tackle your remaining and perhaps less enticing responsibilities that you're...supposed to do.

 This idea is for you who find yourself carrying around several lists of important things you are "supposed to do" in order to get your work going, improve your relationship, get ahead, slow down, build your business, lead your team, etc.

 Few things are more pitiful than talented and smart people going around aspiring and whining at the same time.

 You can't begin to run while dragging your feet...which is what you're doing when you think about, talk about, struggle with and plod along with those things you somehow believe you're supposed to do. (And haven't yet done)

 The best thing to get yourself going: drop the stuff you're supposed to do, and start with the stuff you are eager or excited to do.

 Don't want to go for a run? Don't   Don't want to empty your email inbox? Don't  

Don't want to read that report? Don't 

 But...find something important and productive you DO want to do, and get at it.

 Then do another, and another, and another.

 You might find yourself so charged up that suddenly you find yourself skimming through that report after all.

 Or you might be on such a roll that at the end of the day, a run is just what you...want to do.

Bottom Line: You will never "should" or "ought to" yourself into happiness or achievement at work. You will experience joy and make great contributions when you find and accomplish enough want to do's. And with that momentum, you'll probably be motivated to take care of the rest too.

(This post was previously published in the August 2009 issue of Business Leader  http://www.businessleader.bz/ )

Be Remarkable To Serve Stakeholders Better

Times are good, even great, for the business that knows how to be creative in the way it serves its customers.

 

But you have to be willing to be (as author Seth Godin puts it)…remarkable.

 

I offer you three powerful ideas for serving your customers better and translating your creativity into growth:

 

1)    Create features that distinguish.  If everybody has the basics covered, you have an opportunity to create an additional feature that makes you STAND OUT.  It might have nothing to do with the fundamentals of what you offer, but it might be something that gets people talking about your product.  Think of a place for a flower vase on the VW Beetle dashboard or the egg-shell blue color of a Tiffany’s box.  What could you add to your product or service that will cause us to smile and talk about you?

 

2)    Offer experiences that wow!   People want to have amazing, positive experiences.  What can you do to elicit a “wow” from your customers when they experience your service?  Maybe you offer more than was expected.  Maybe you have a human where we were expecting a computer.  Or maybe you under-promise and over-deliver in an economy where everyone else is doing the opposite?  I even ask clients:  “What could we do that would make you say ‘wow’?  They always have an answer.

 

Perhaps the greatest opportunity you have to make me say wow is what you do when things go wrong.  If you maintain a good attitude, are proactive, and eager to make things right in the face of potential disaster…you not only distinguish yourself, but show me I can count on you in the future.  This leads to lifelong clients.

 

 

3)    Design your company to model and lead.  People want to do business with leaders and innovators.  Be different in the way you run your organization:  For example, be transparent with your financials when everyone else is not.  Or give away a product or service that everyone else is charging for.  Or be generous with your profits and bold in your philanthropy.  All of these make you stand out in your field and potential customers DO notice.

 

What can you create to force us to talk about you?  Indeed, it might be the only thing that can really assure you the kind of edge you hope for and the extraordinary growth you’ve always wanted.

(This post was previously published the July 2009 issue of Business Leader  http://www.businessleader.bz/ )

Use Bursts To Actually Get Things Done

For any of us interested in getting some big items crossed off our spring to-do list, we could take a lesson from the way cities and states have been handling significant road construction projects.

 

I'm referring to the decision to close down a major portion of roadway for 45 days.  Project managers know the value of working intensely on one stretch of road, and getting it all done in one effort.

 

In the world of work and play, I refer to this kind of focus as a "burst-" an intense focus for a short time to get something done.

 

Maybe you have a home project, a piece of client work, an initiative within your organization that you know will require an investment of time and energy...but you just can't seem to gain any momentum.

 

Take a lesson from these types of construction projects and schedule a "burst" for your own important work:

 

1)  Schedule the burst on your calendar for the minimum amount of time it will take

 

2)  Put everyone who will be affected on notice

 

3)  Clear away your other priorities and distractions so you can focus on THIS ONE (you might have to physically remove yourself)

 

As you try this approach, you'll likely be surprised by the increase in commitment that others show to the project (including yourself). 

 

The shorter timeframe and laser-like focus creates it's own energy...that will help you get things done quicker.

 

And, this kind of approach works for smaller tasks as well. 

 

What have you been trying to get done, but can't seem to start because of the "distractions" of the rest of your life?  Schedule a day, an afternoon, a couple hours, and see what intense focus can do for you.

 

Now that's an example of using your creativity to give yourself an edge.

(This post was previously published the June 2009 issue of Business Leader  http://www.businessleader.bz/ )

Don't Let The Media Define What Has Meaning For You

I'm feeling a little battered by the news I read in the newspaper and online.  And the television news isn't helping either.

I find myself being cajoled to worry about lots of little things that don't affect me or have meaning in my life in the moment.  And those little things are having their cumulative effect.

It's important to remember that in most instances the media is creating my and our reality, while at the same time claiming to be only reporting on it.

The media thrives on making more of something than really might exist.  And many "breaking headlines" these days (of which we are never without on our TV news tickers) are about the possibility of something (usually bad) happening more than what is really going on.

What does this mean for a person who wants to be at their best, who works to create in this world, who wants to continue to pursue significance and meaning?

We need to limit our intake from media and re-direct ourselves to what will inspire us and focus us on what has meaning in our lives and work.

In other words: stop or limit the media from daily programming our minds and hearts.  And make sure we are surrounded by lots of other stimuli for our own good:  our goals, our projects, our family and friends, our encouraging books and other media.

My challenges are enough for me to work on today, and my passions and aspirations are where my head and heart should be.

Reduce Your Drug Use So You Can Be In The Game

Too many of us are under the influence.

I mean we are spending too much of our days and nights under the influence of powerful mood-altering drugs that keep us from being able to participate clearly in our own lives--let alone achieve even a fraction of what we're capable.

I'm writing this while thinking of various celebrities who have essentially "checked-out" from reality through prescription (and other) other drug use: Elvis Presley, Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson etc.  Given the easy availability of such a wide variety of mood-altering drugs, I'm sure the complete list of drug users who are living only in their own reality is very long indeed.

And the path they were on did not lead to better, greater, happier.  It ultimately led to death.

Escape.  That's how it starts. But the problem is that it becomes hard to return, to find your way back, to reality, to your talents, even to wonderful parts of your life that you created.

[If you think you might have an addiction to prescribed medication, alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, I encourage you to seek professional help....today.]

But I want to encourage you to think about what has you under it's influence.  What "drugs" are you using...to escape, check-out, alter your mood, shape your reality, your enjoyment?  Here's are a few things I have experienced and observed as "drugs" and drags on our ability:

• the news
• television
• Microsoft Outlook
• shopping (for office supplies, shoes...whatever)
• Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc

Do any of these keep you from living, keep you from creating, keep you from being fully engaged in the real possibilities in front of you?

None are bad entirely in and of themselves.  In fact they are all quite useful.  But do you have a way of letting them "take you away" from yourself, your work, your life?  It is indeed, a slippery slope as 15 minutes invested quickly becomes 2 hours wasted.

In order to keep awake and pay your life the attention it deserves, a useful step is to remove that sleep-inducers that gradually lull you away from what you are here to do.

Test Post

This is a test post.