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I Will Weigh 157lbs. Hold Me Accountable!!

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I’ve spoken many times about the power of setting specific goals and holding yourself accountable.
  
It’s now time to put my money where my stomach is!
 
What better way to prove the power goal setting than to use myself as an example.
 
I weigh 177lbs. That makes me about 20 pounds overweight. I have not weighed under 160lbs since college (about 20 years ago).
 
This last weekend I set a specific weight goal for myself. However, I’m doing one more thing to make sure I stick to it. I will be committing to it by announcing this goal to all of you so you can hold me accountable.
 
Here goes…
I will weigh 157lbs by January 30th, 2010 and stay under 160lbs for, at least, the following 12 months.
 
Remember, I’m a business coach. My job is to help people reach their goals. So, if I can’t do this, what kind of credibility will that give me as a coach? That’s why having you hold me accountable is so important…and scary.  Failure is not an option for me.
 
I will be updated you time to time on my progress so you an either pat me on the back or kick me in the ass!!
 
So, I’d like to ask you to do 2 things:
  1. Hold me accountable. Don’t let me off the hook.
  2. Identify a goal that’s important to you that you haven’t been able to achieve. Make sure you have a specific goal, and then, do something scary to hold yourself accountable. Don’t let failure be an option.
Thanks for your help. Now, Iv’e got to go eat a carrot.
 
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Why Goals Aren’t Enough: What’s Your Purpose?

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I talk a lot about goals. Goals are important. Without specific goals and ways to measure your progress, it’s tough to know if you’re getting anywhere.

However, if the focus of your life is on achieving individual goals, you will remain unfulfilled. Here’s the problem…

When I ask people when they feel they most fulfilled and happy, most tell me it’s when they fulfill a worthwhile goal. However, when I ask them how long that great feeling lasts, they tell me it may only last a matter of minutes.

Why? Think about it…

Let’s say your goal is to make $200k per year and you reach that goal. For most of us, the next thought is “wouldn’t it be great to make $250k?”. Your euphoria will last a few minutes before you’re striving for the next goal. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with aggressively striving for the next goal. I just think we all need a way to feel fulfilled and happy every day, not just for a few fleeting moments after achieving a goal.

That’s why most people we know are frustrated, even if all outward signs show them to be successful (great house, nice car, large bank account).

So how can we feel fulfilled more consistently?

The answer is to discover your life’s purpose. Your life’s purpose is not something that can be “achieved”. You “achieve” goals, you “live” your purpose.  By understanding your life’s purpose, or being able to answer the question “why am I here?”, you can strive to live every day in a manner that is consistent with that purpose. 

Most people, however, have no clue what the purpose of their life is. Is it to finish my list of ” to do’s”? Make a certain amount of money? Make everyone else happy? I don’t think so.

So how so we figure out what our purpose is? Stay tuned for my next blog and find out!!

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What’s Your Recipe For Positive Energy?

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When we think negative thoughts our brains automatically scan our environment for things to justify these thoughts. That why some days start bad and just seem to get worse.

When we think positive thoughts the same thing happens. Therefore, it’s critical to know how to shift your energy from negative to positive at any moment.

What’s your recipe for creating postive thoughts and positive energy in the face of negative circumstances?

Here are some things that work for me:

  • Taking a long walk in nature (this seems to clear my mind and bring new ideas, seemingly out of nowhere)
  • Listening to high energy music (for me, nothing beats AC/DC’s “Back in Black”)
  • Reading an inspirational book or passage
  • Thinking about all of the things I’m thankful for
  • Exercising
  • Using affirmations first thing in the morning, before I go to sleep at night and anytime I feel down throughout the day
  • Meditating
  • Visualizing the life I’m committed to leading as if it’s already happened

What works for you? If you know, do it! If you don’t, experiment and come up with your own recipe.

I’d love to know what works for you. Please reply to this and let me know!!

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It Starts With An Attitude

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Ever wonder why it seems like th rich get richer and the poor get poorer? It all starts with an attitude.

Scenario One – The Rich Get Richer:

Step 1 – Attitude: Susan has a goal of achieving great things in her business and believes her potential is limitless. Her attitude practically shouts “I believe in myself and I believe in my business!”.

Step 2 – Action: Because of Susan’s belief and attitude, she takes massive action. She is an unstoppable machine.

Step3 – Results: Susan’s massive action leads to incredible results.

Step 4 – Attitude – Susan’s incredible results feed her beliefs and make her attitude even stronger.

This stronger attitude drives even more massive action, greater results and the cycle goes on…up and up and up.

Scenario One – The Poor Get Poorer:

Step 1 – Attitude: John has a goal of achieving great things in his business but is pessimistic about his potential in this economy. He sees other around him struggling. Why should he be any different?

Step 2 – Action: Because of John’s beliefs and attitudes, he takes little action. He’d rather wait and see when the economy will turn around.

Step3 – Results: Because of John’s lack of action, he sees little results.

Step 4 – Attitude – John’s poor results feed his beliefs and make his attitude even more negative.

This attitude drives even less action, poorer results and the cycle goes on…down and down and down.

What are you doing to feed your attitude today?

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You Get What You Accept

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You get what you accept.
 
What are you accepting into your life, business or career that is unacceptable?
 
Is it…
 
Your money situation? Not having enough time for what’s important? A lack of passion for your business or career?
 
Making these things unacceptable is the first step in changing you business and your life.
The second step is defining what it is you do want that’s non-negotiable. Not what your life should look like, but what it must look like.
The third step is to understand WHY your life must look that way. The key to accomplishing your goals is not in having a fool proof plan. It’s in having a WHY big enough so the plan doesn’t matter.
So…here’s what I’d like you to do RIGHT NOW.
  1. Identify the situation in your life that are unacceptable
  2. Create a vision of what your life MUST look like in the areas of finance, career, family, social, mental, physical and spiritual.
  3. Understand and document why that vision for your life is a must.
  4. Re-read your life’s vision and the “why” at least once per day.
  5. Take massive action!!!
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Invest In Your Best

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When creating and giving employee evaluations, how much time do you spend on strengths versus weaknesses? If you’re like most managers, you rack your brain to find every possible weakness and development need for the employee you’re evaluating. I remember having a hard time writing reviews for my best performers since it was more difficult to find areas of weakness. Telling them where they were doing a great job was almost an afterthought and not much more than a pat on the back.

Focusing on weaknesses might help an employee become a bit more “well rounded”, however, being “well rounded” is incredibly overrated. Employees will rarely become strong in an area of weakness. The best we can hope for is that they will rise to become mediocre. However, where an employee has talent, they can become world-class. In addition, focusing on maximizing those areas where we have true talent is incredibly motivating.

This doesn’t mean we should ignore weaknesses. By all means, if weaknesses are getting in the way of doing the job, you need to find ways to manage around those weaknesses. These can include looking for ways to get them to acceptable levels of performance, changing their responsibilities or counseling them out of your organization. But don’t expect them to become “expert” tomorrow in those areas they’re weak in today.

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Manage Your State

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What is your state of mind as your reading this?
Are you tired? Energized? Frustrated? Confident? Bored…I hope not!

Our state of mind changes dozens of times throughout the day; a boring meeting, a difficult phone call, an accepted offer, a misunderstanding with a demanding client. We know that all of these things affect our state and, as a result, our performance. But, do we understand how it affects our co-workers and staff?

As a manager, you can’t afford to let your state manage you; you need to manage your state instead. Teams tend to mirror, and even magnify, the emotions of their manager…positive and negative. If you’re confident about a situation, they’ll trust things will work out. If you’re worried about business performance, they’ll fear for their jobs.

Managing your state is not always easy. After all, we’re human and a right to be angry, frustrated or worried. My rule is that I’m allowed to get emotional about a situation for 5 minutes, behind closed doors. Then I take a deep breath and change my state. Here are some of the ways I’ve learned to change my state:

  • Smile – Sounds silly but it works. The next time you’re in a negative state, take a deep breath and smile real big. You’ll notice a change in state almost immediately.
  • Be Thankful – Think about all the things you could be thankful for; family, friends, home, situations, etc. Being thankful will help you to forget the problem of the moment and take a longer term view.
  • Ask The Right Questions – “Why me?” is the wrong question. Asking negative questions makes matters worse by causing you to dwell, unproductively, on the problem. “How can we achieve this goal regardless of the issues?” is the right question. A positive question will lead to productive, creative answers.
  • Pick a Song – After a very difficult situation last week, I was incredibly frustrated. Five minutes after blasting AC/DC’s Back in Black, I was a different person. Pick songs that “pick you up” and use them as medicine for the mind.

Learn to manage your state and you’ll be surprised at the result in your own productivity as well as your teams.

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Have Response-Ability

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A business owner’s worst enemy is BLAME. It’s easy to blame other people or situations when things aren’t going well. It’s especially easy during this current economic downturn. “My business is slow because of the horrible real estate market” or “This credit crunch is killing me”. The reason blame is so dangerous is that it takes our focus off of what’s really important – the things we can actually control.

When coaching my clients my goal is to focus them on having greater Response-Ability. Response-Ability is the ability to respond to any situation with the right action.

The first step in having Response-Ability is to stop blaming other people and situations. You need to own your results. That means, first, identifying a result in your business or your life that you’re not satisfied with. You then need to ask yourself what behaviors and attitudes led to those results. Not someone else’s behaviors and attitudes but your own.

This is often the most difficult step in the process. It’s hard for us to admit that we are the cause of our own struggles, even for a coach.

I have a fourteen year old son with Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a high functioning form of Autism. He has some really good weeks and really bad weeks. After a particularly bad week, I had a conversation with my coach. She asked me what I had done to cause the bad week. Excuse me? I didn’t cause the Asperger’s! It’s not my fault! However, being a good coach, she continued to push the issue. Finally, she helped me to understand that the biggest difference between my son’s good weeks and bad weeks was me!

The level of stress I was under in a given week affected my attitude towards him and his actions. If I was having a bad week I had very little tolerance and would “explode” easily, resulting in a very difficult week with my son. On a good week, I was much more accepting of his idiosyncrasies, resulting in a joyful and rewarding week with my son. This was an incredibly empowering realization. It was also very upsetting, realizing how many bad weeks I had caused.

Only YOU are responsible for the results in your life.  Be at cause in your life, not effect.

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Have a Good Fight!

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Does your team get along great?
Do you always seem to agree with each other?
Do you have trouble remembering your last major team conflict?

This may seem strange, but if you answered yes to these questions…you’ve got problems. A team needs conflict to evolve.

Think of it as Darwin’s theory of evolution for business. If good ideas don’t crush bad ideas, and great ideas don’t crush good ideas, a business (and its employees) will grow stagnant and die.


Why do some teams have no conflict?

  • Lack of direction – If a team has no clarity around their identity and direction, productive conflict is difficult. As the saying goes…”If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there”.
  • Lack of talent – Meaningful challenges will rarely occur if you’re consistently the smartest person in the room. Successful teams need a complimentary assortment of strengths.
  • Lack of trust – Challenges will be silenced unless your culture is one of trust and openness. Team members will be resistant to speaking up if they’re afraid of hurting each other’s feelings or jeopardizing their job.  

So go ahead, have a good fight and evolve!