Skill, Will and Thrill

Please take 5 minutes and watch this interview with the founder of the Container Store. He explains, quite simply, the key to 37 years of compounded 24% growth...People. He is the poster child of 'A' Players that cost 50% more but produce up to 3 times the average player. 

Then read on how you can evaluate, coach and topgrade your own team. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppYh28BMUe8

"Don't send your ducks to eagle school."

- Jim Rohn

What is a duck? What is a 'C' Player? What's an 'A' Player? How do I know? Well, I just finished a great book by Peter Roe called "The People Puzzle". I took the liberty and pulled the following concepts from his book, while adding a few thoughts of my own to the mix. I highly recommend the book. Read on to answer the questions above and more.

Survey after survey consistently shows that US employees fall into one of these 3 categories:

1. 20% are Engaged Employees - They are committed to doing the right things, right. They are engaged with the purpose, values and goals of the leader and the group. They want to work for the common good of the enterprise, they enjoy coming to work and the work they do.
2. 20% are Actively Disengaged - These people are committed to doing the right things only when it furthers their own goals. When it comes to working for the common good they are totally uncommitted. They usually reject any attempt to engage in group purpose, values and goals and are quite prepared to do things against the common good if that gets them what they want.
3. 60% are Turning Up and Going Through the Motions - They have a lower level of competence and are not motivated to become highly competent. They also have lower levels of commitment due to lower levels of energy, self-confidence or ambition; don't or won't identify with group purpose or values.

How does your team sort out?

Here are the 3 main components we recommend accessing when sorting out your team:

1. Competence - (skill) having the ability to perform the tasks, actions and functions to achieve the desired results.
2. Commitment- (will) having the willingness to learn and improve and meet their own standards as well as the team's. It is a product of an individual belief system and values.
3. Engagement - (thrill) is the response to an invitation to care about someone else's goals, values and purpose. It is seeking an experience and making a contribution beyond oneself. It is a matter of thrill.

The first two are inherent in the person. The latter is your responsibility as a leader to create the circumstances for Engagement.

Let's look at the various combinations and how we Coach/Lead and, yes, maybe, Top grade each:

Continue to Full Article

Habits - Small and Easy - Part 3

The 3rd in the series on achieving goals via building habits.

How to Achieve Your Goals (This Simple Trick Makes Progress Easy)

By James Clear

In the last 6 months, I've experimented with a simple strategy that has improved my work and my health.

Using this one basic idea, I have made consistent progress on my goals every single week without incredible doses of willpower or remarkable motivation.

Today, I want to share how I use this strategy and how you can apply it to your own life to improve your health and your work.

The Problem with How We Usually Set Goals

If you're anything like the typical human, then you have dreams and goals in your life. In fact, there are probably many things - large and small - that you would like to accomplish.

That's great, but there is one common mistake we often make when it comes to setting goals. (I know I've committed this error many times myself.)

The problem is this: we set a deadline, but not a schedule.

We focus on the end goal that we want to achieve and the deadline we want to do it by. We say things like, "I want to lose 20 pounds by the summer" or "I want to add 50 pounds to my bench press in the next 12 weeks."

The problem with this is that if we don't magically hit the arbitrary timeline that we set in the beginning, then we feel like a failure ... even if we are better off than we were at the start. The end result, sadly, is that we often give up if we don't reach our goal by the initial deadline.

I've mentioned this idea multiple times before. For example, in making the mistake of putting performance goals before your identity or in choosing life-changing transformations over daily lifestyle choices.

Here's the good news: there's a better way and it's simple.

The Power of Setting a Schedule, Not a Deadline

In my experience, a better way to approach your goals is to set a schedule to operate by rather than a deadline to perform by.

Instead of giving yourself a deadline to accomplish a particular goal by (and then feeling like a failure if you don't achieve it), you should choose a goal that is important to you and then set a schedule to work towards it consistently.

That might not sound like a big shift, but it is.

How to Achieve Your Goals: The Idea in Practice

Most of the time, I try to be a practitioner of my ideas and not just someone who shares their opinion, so allow me to explain this strategy by using two real examples from my own life.

Example 1: Writing

As you know, I publish a new article every Monday and Thursday. Since my first article on November 12, 2012, I've never missed a scheduled date. Sometimes the article is shorter than expected, sometimes it's not as compelling as I had hoped, and sometimes it's not as useful as it could be ... but it gets out to the world and into your inbox.

The results of this simple schedule have been amazing. Our little community has grown, seemingly without effort. We now have over 1,100 people (welcome friends!) who are committed to living a healthy life and who are actively supporting one another. Onwards to 5,000 strong!

Related: If you're a new reader, you can find out what it's all about and join us for free here.

Imagine if I had set a deadline for myself instead, like "get 1,000 subscribers in 12 weeks." There's no way I would have written every Monday and Thursday and if I didn't reach my goal, then I would have felt like a failure.

Instead, we are slowly building one of the most incredible communities online. (By the way, thank you for all of the emails, tweets, and messages on fat loss, lifting weights, living longer, and forming better habits. Keep them coming! I'm always happy to get your questions and I'll do my best to help however I can.)

Example 2: Exercise

Back in August, I decided that I wanted to do 100 pushups in a row with strict form. When I tried it the first time, I only got 36.

In the past, I might have set a deadline for myself: "Do 100 pushups by December 31st."

Instead, I decided to set a schedule for my workouts. I started doing pushup workouts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So far, the only workouts I've missed were on long travel days from this trip in Istanbul and this trip in San Francisco.

I have no total pushup goal for any single workout. The goal is simply to do the workout. Just like I have no goal for any single article that I write. The goal is to publish the article.

The result, of course, is that after doing 77 pushup workouts I've made a lot of progress. If you're interested, you can  see every workout here.

Focus on the Practice, Not the Performance

Do you see how the two examples above are different than most goals we set for ourselves?

In both cases (writing and exercise), I made consistent progress towards my goals not by setting a deadline for my performance, but by sticking to a schedule.

Productive and successful people practice the things that are important to them on a consistent basis. The best weightlifters are in the gym at the same time every week. The best writers are sitting down at the keyboard every day. And this same principle applies to the best leaders, parents, managers, musicians, and doctors.

The strange thing is that for top performers, it's not about the performance, it's about the continual practice.

The focus is on doing the action, not on achieving X goal by a certain date.

The schedule is your friend. You can't predict when you'll have a stroke of genius and write a moving story, paint a beautiful portrait, or make an incredible picture, but the schedule can make sure that you're working when that stroke of genius happens.

You can't predict when your body feels like setting a new personal record, but the schedule can make sure that you're in the gym whether you feel like it or not.

It's about practicing the craft, not performing at a certain level. (We're talking about practice. Not a game, not a game. Practice.)

If you want to be the type of person who accomplishes things on a consistent basis, then give yourself a schedule to follow, not a deadline to race towards. 

Small and Easy

Habits,  routine - the second in a series of 3 from James Clear on building habits successfully.

How to Build a New Habit: This is Your Strategy Guide

By James Clear

According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on any given day.

Understanding how to build new habits (and how your current ones work) is essential for making progress in your health, your happiness, and your life in general.

But there can be a lot of information out there and most of it isn't very simple to digest. To solve this problem and break things down in a very simple manner, I have created this strategy guide for building new habits that actually stick.

Even more detailed information is available in my free guide,  Transform Your Habits, but the basic principles mentioned in this article will be more than enough to get you going.

1. Start with an incredibly small habit.

Make it so easy you can't say no.

-Leo Babauta

When most people struggle to stick with a new habit, they say something like, "I just need more motivation." Or, "I wish I had as much willpower as you do."

This is the wrong approach. Research shows that willpower is like a muscle. It gets fatigued as you use it throughout the day. Another way to think of this is that your motivation ebbs and flows. It rises and falls. Stanford professor BJ Fogg calls this the "motivation wave."

Solve this problem by picking a new habit that is easy enough that you don't need motivation to do it. Rather than starting with 50 push ups per day, start with 5 push ups per day. Rather than trying to meditate for 10 minutes per day, start by meditating for one minute per day. Make it easy enough that you can get it done without motivation.

Further reading: Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals

2. Increase your habit in very small ways.

Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.

-Jim Rohn

One percent improvements add up surprisingly fast. So do one percent declines.

Rather than trying to do something amazing from the beginning, start small and gradually improve. Along the way, your willpower and motivation will increase, which will make it easier to stick to your habit for good.

Further reading: This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here's What Happened

3. As you build up, break habits into chunks.

If you continue adding one percent each day, then you'll find yourself increasing very quickly within two or three months. It is important to keep each habit reasonable, so that you can maintain momentum and make the behavior as easy as possible to accomplish.

Building up to 20 minutes of meditation? Split it into two segments of 10 minutes at first.

Trying to do 50 push ups per day? Five sets of 10 might be much easier as you make your way there.

Further reading: I'm Using These 3 Simple Steps to Actually Stick with Good Habits

4. When you slip, get back on track quickly.

The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you lose control.

-Kelly McGonigal

Top performers make mistakes, commit errors, and get off track just like everyone else. The difference is that they get back on track as quickly as possible.

Research has shown that missing your habit once, no matter when it occurs, has no measurable impact on your long-term progress. Rather than trying to be perfect, abandon your all-or-nothing mentality.

You shouldn't expect to fail, but you should plan for failure. Take some time to consider what will prevent your habit from happening. What are some things that are likely to get in your way? What are some daily emergencies that are likely to pull you off course? How can you plan to work around these issues? Or, at least, how you can bounce back quickly from them and get back on track?

You just need to be consistent, not perfect. Focus on building the identity of someone who never misses a habit twice.

Further reading: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Seinfeld Strategy.

5. Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain.

Learning to be patient is perhaps the most critical skill of all. You can make incredible progress if you are consistent and patient.

If you are adding weight in the gym, you should probably go slower than you think. If you are adding daily sales calls to your business strategy, you should probably start with fewer than you expect to handle. Patience is everything.  Do things you can sustain.

New habits should feel easy, especially in the beginning. If you stay consistent and continue increasing your habit it will get hard enough, fast enough. It always does.

Bonus: If you are interested in more strategies for increasing your willpower and sticking to better habits, I explain all sorts of techniques and the science behind them in my Habits Seminar. 

Habits - Small is Better

"The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first." 

- Robert J. McKain

The other day I was facilitating a monthly call with one of the Mastermind Groups I work with. We were reviewing Big Wins and Issues from the prior month - it really gets the discussions going and proves to uncover some great ideas and solutions.

I started it off and said my Big Win was the success 2 Second LEAN was having for so many of my clients. I love to see programs and best practices that get results and this one sure is getting employees to engage with their work as it cuts waste and improves productivity and profits.

My Issue is how do I convince and thus get commitment from my clients to block time and schedule their weeks to work on their business, adopt and sustain habits, a routine that guarantees they will focus on the things we all know will build a better business, a more profitable one and one where people and you love to come to work.

One member of the group said "we as business owners are always too busy". Another one said, "it is like we know we need to exercise every day, we know we need to eat right but we lose the motivation, we can't discipline ourselves to do it." Another said, "we have to focus on our Core Purpose, our Why and prioritize what we do every day - based on the question does it pursue our purpose or not?"

Thus one of the members sent us this article on Habits and how to develop new ones making them small and easy to do at first. It also shows how these small changes, improvements, and habits add up over time.

This is the first of 3 articles I will share with you from James Clear on Habits and how to adopt new and better ones. 

This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and
Here's What Happened

By James Clear - Goal Setting, Process Improvement, Self-Improvement, Success

In 2010, Dave Brailsford faced a tough job.

No British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France, but as the new General Manager and Performance Director for Team Sky (Great Britain's professional cycling team), Brailsford was asked to change that.

His approach was simple.

Brailsford believed in a concept that he referred to as the "aggregation of marginal gains." He explained it as "the 1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do." His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement.

They started by optimizing the things you might expect: the nutrition of riders, their weekly training program, the ergonomics of the bike seat, and the weight of the tires.

But Brailsford and his team didn't stop there. They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for 1 percent improvements everywhere.

Brailsford believed that if they could successfully execute this strategy, then Team Sky would be in a position to win the Tour de France in five years time.

He was wrong. They won it in three years.

In 2012, Team Sky rider Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. That same year, Brailsford coached the British cycling team at the 2012 Olympic Games and dominated the competition by winning 70 percent of the gold medals available.

In 2013, Team Sky repeated their feat by winning the Tour de France again, this time with rider Chris Froome. Many have referred to the British cycling feats in the Olympics and the Tour de France over the past 10 years as the most successful run in modern cycling history.

And now for the important question: what can we learn from Brailsford's approach?

The Aggregation of Marginal Gains

It's so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making better decisions on a daily basis.

Almost every habit that you have - good or bad - is the result of many small decisions over time.

And yet, how easily we forget this when we want to make a change.

So often we convince ourselves that change is only meaningful if there is some large, visible outcome associated with it. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, traveling the world or any other goal, we often put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about.

Meanwhile, improving by just 1 percent isn't notable (and sometimes it isn't even noticeable). But it can be just as meaningful, especially in the long run.

And from what I can tell, this pattern works the same way in reverse. (An aggregation of marginal losses, in other words.) If you find yourself stuck with bad habits or poor results, it's usually not because something happened overnight. It's the sum of many small choices - a 1 percent decline here and there - that eventually leads to a problem.

Inspiration for this image came from a graphic in The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson.

In the beginning, there is basically no difference between making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse. (In other words, it won't impact you very much today.) But as time goes on, these small improvements or declines compound and you suddenly find a very big gap between people who make slightly better decisions on a daily basis and those who don't. This is why small choices don't make much of a difference at the time, but add up over the long-term.

On a related note, this is why I love setting a schedule for important things, planning for failure, and using the  "never miss twice" rule. I know that it's not a big deal if I make a mistake or slip up on a habit every now and then. It's the compound effect of never getting back on track that causes problems. By setting a schedule to never miss twice, you can prevent simple errors from snowballing out of control.

The Bottom Line

Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.

-Jim Rohn

You probably won't find yourself in the Tour de France anytime soon, but the concept of aggregating marginal gains can be useful all the same.

Most people love to talk about success (and life in general) as an event. We talk about losing 50 pounds or building a successful business or winning the Tour de France as if they are events. But the truth is that most of the significant things in life aren't stand-alone events, but rather the sum of all the moments when we chose to do things 1 percent better or 1 percent worse. Aggregating these marginal gains makes a difference.

There is power in small wins and slow gains. This is why average speed yields above average results. This is why  the system is greater than the goal. This is why mastering your habits is more important than achieving a certain outcome.

Where are the 1 percent improvements in your life?