Weekly Quote: Time

"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." -- Samuel Johnson, Lexicographer

"It's time to WAKE UP & realize that the habits you indulge in could be compounding your life into repeated disaster. The slightest adjustments to your daily routines can dramatically alter the outcomes in your life. Again, I'm not talking about quantum leaps of change or a complete overhaul of your personality, character & life. Super small, seemingly inconsequential adjustments can & will revolutionize everything." - Darren Hardy, Success Magazine

Too busy to get everything done? Business depends too much on you? Seems like you are drinking from a firehose all day? That "to do" list gets done but it seems you didn't accomplish anything worthwhile?

It's all about habits that we get ourselves into. It is hard to break bad habits, but it is easy, if you are committed, to develop new habits.

My coach Steve Chandler says that "busyness is laziness". In other words, if we are busy, busy, busy, all day long, we are just too lazy to do anything about it.

You see we cannot manage time, but we can manage the actions we take each day. 20% of what we do each day = 80% of the desired results. We just have to be committed that the 20% is going to be directed at Key Actions to help us obtain our goals.

How?

Commitment - you have to commit to starting new habits and keeping every appointment with yourself (blocked hour for a Key Action).

Empty the bowl - get everything out of your head and on paper, as long as you have these to-do's in your head they will stress you.

Clarity/Goals - write down a few SMART goals and the key actions to achieve them. (see Last Week's Post).

Rocks - list and prioritize the Rocks (the Key Actions).

Block - block your calendar an hour here and there each week and focus on a specific Rock/Key Action.

Focus like a laser - 1 hour of focused time = 3 hours of interrupted time.

Say no - you have to learn to say no to things that are not going to achieve your long term goals but require time - you can't do everything for everybody.

For a detailed discussion watch this 12:19 video on the subject.

Have comments to share on these weekly topics? Feel free to let me know what you think!

All the best,
Rick Wallace

Weekly Quote: Chaos

"Goals without actions are dreams. Actions without goals is chaos."
-- Japanese Proverb

First, the difference between goals and actions:

- "Making my business more profitable" is not a goal.

- "Growing my net profit by 10% by the end of 2012" is a goal.

SMART goals are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Accountability - can we make someone accountable for achieving it
• Realistic
• Time specific

So when you set goals for the business or for yourself make sure they are SMART goals.

Next, without Key Actions you just have dreams on your hands. Key actions flow easily once the goal is set. Think about your own situation. If the above was a goal for 2012, what key actions would you need to follow through on and implement to make that happen?

Raise prices, cut some costs, generate more profitable revenue by revamping your marketing, hiring a superstar sales person, firing some no profit customers, etc. Everyone may have different actions but the key is that once the goal is set and committed to, the actions will be obvious.

Do you sometimes feel you are in the midst of chaos? Maybe because you don't have smart goals and a focus on the key actions to reach them?

Listen to this audio on the subject: Clarity, Vision, Goals - 12:21

Why don't you? Too busy, don't have enough time? More on that next time.

All the best,
Rick W. Wallace

Clarity

"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it."
-- Robert Heinlein, American Novelist

Clarity. Without it, we are asking ourselves, our employees and our businesses to guess what we should be working on and where the hell we are going. If I walked around your business and asked employees "where are we going?", "what are our goals?", "what are you working on to help us achieve them?", "who is our ideal customer?", and "what's in it for you?", would I get the same or even remotely similar answers?

The leader needs to set the vision and goals for the business and communicate them on a regular basis and track how we are doing against the goals as we go along.

Steven Covey did a study and showed only about 20% of employees could answer these questions. I compare that to a 5-year-old soccer team. Have you seen one lately? 2 out of 11 even know which goal is there own, 2 know what they are supposed to do to score or even know if they are allowed by the coach to do so.

"Goals without actions are dreams, Actions without goals is chaos."
-- Japanese Proverb

Key Actions flow easily once goals are set, but more on that next time. Here is a really good 8 minute video by Success Magazine's Darren Hardy. It's a must see.

All the best,
Rick W. Wallace

2012 - Start At The End

"We read books from the beginning to the end, you build successful businesses starting at the end and defining the things you need to do to reach that end."

Start your 2012 with some new habits. "You're already working as hard as you can so why not try different", said Seth Godin. Think about the truth in these two quotes. "If you don't know where you are going you might not get there", said the wise old Yogi Berra. All these quotes hold a simple but very powerful truth. As a leader, business owner, or manager, you must write down the "end of the book" for 2012. What do you really want and are committed to achieving this year?

Write it down and make sure these "goals" are SMART goals. Think about it. How the hell can you expect to realize your dreams for your organization, and how do you and your team know what to do (and why should they care), if you don't write them down and communicate them to everyone.

Once the end of the book is written now it is time to write down the key actions you need to take to reach the "end of the 2012 book". I promise those key actions will flow, once you know the end of the story for 2012.

OR your other option is to keep working harder, reacting to the daily trivia, spinning your wheels all day long, hoping things will get better and the business will "get better".

"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it." -- Robert Heinlein, American Novelis.

Really make this year different,write down the end of the book (Smart goals) first and then the key ("things"), actions you need to commit to in order to realize that happy ending.

I know you're saying "I never followed through on the goals I have set in the past, I'm too busy to do this and I know I won't have the time to follow through with it." You are probably right! If you want to solve that problem and you are a self learner, go to my website and order my free ebook or buy the best seller "Pushing to the Front" by Brian Tracy and read my chapter (33) on The Leadership Matrix. If you need a catalyst, someone to walk you through the process, call me at 716-479-7719 and we can discuss how to get started.

All the best,
Rick W. Wallace