Posted in Leadership, tagged Consequences, Focus, Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Reflection on April 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »
This has been a fast week for me. What about for you?
What benefits have you experienced from identifying and removing distractions this past week to stay focused on your project?
What do you need to do to maintain this kind of focus over time?
How could being this focused increase your production and fulfillment at work?
I encourage you to really spend some time with these questions and your journal today.
Posted in Leadership, tagged Focus, Intentional, Leadership, Passion, Personal Growth, Planning, Prioritizing, Purpose, Reflection, Relationships on April 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »
It’s somewhat warm, humid, and rainy as I write this, and I am so looking forward to this weekend.
My plans are to rest and play… mostly! And, yes, there will be some work. On my business, on Empowerment Mentoring, on Women in Leadership Luncheon prep, but mostly fun.
I have flowers to plant in my boxes out front. Need to hit a local nursery to replace a few lavender bushes that didn’t make it last year (there’s always a risk when you buy them at 80% at the end of the season and they are totally root bound in their containers!). And on Sunday, will be the highlight of my weekend: An afternoon with a good friend, lunch, shopping, and painting. Yes, I said painting. We are going to a place called Uncork and Create for Mimosa Sunday. I’ve never been, but you go and paint a picture, and while you paint you may enjoy a glass of wine and snacks…if that suits you. I’m just really looking forward to the girl time and creative outlet. Don’t get me wrong, though…this activity will push me out of my comfort zone. I’m not a “visually” creative person usually. My creative juices normally flow along the lines of words, ideas, and concepts. So, I truly welcome this opportunity to get outside myself for a bit and see what happens.
Oh, and it looks like I’ll be spending a week in June, in Guatemala with John C. Maxwell, and a number of my fellow John Maxwell Team Members, teaching transformational leadership! How’s that for the opportunity of a lifetime? I’m more excited than I can say, and as you can imagine, there’s a lot of work to do to prepare for that!
Now, it’s your turn. What’s on your list?
Who really need your attention this weekend? You? Family? Friends? People you’ve not yet met?
What really needs your attention this weekend? Is it projects, rest, relaxation…?
What thoughts do you have about the level of focus you are applying to your life?
What’s in store for you this weekend, next week, and in the coming weeks? Are you taking the steps to set yourself up for success and fulfillment?
Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you Monday!
Posted in Leadership, tagged Focus, Intentional, Leadership, Reflection, Relationships, Self-Awareness on April 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »
It’s time to get your journal out. Take some time today to reflect on what you’ve learned this week, and especially about the benefits of focusing on and improving a specific skill. Consider, also, the affect on your relationship with the person (people?) you reached out to for help.
How could your efforts in sharpening your skills, and building stronger connections, impact your production and effectiveness at work? What’s the impact on the larger organization — beyond just your role and your team?
Posted in Leadership, tagged Communication, Focus, Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Learning, Reflection, Relationships, Taking action on April 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Now that you’ve defined the skills necessary for success in your current role, and are actively working to sharpen at least one of them, let’s think about who can help you.
Who do you know who can help you deliberately develop the skills required in your role?
While you surely have an extensive network and a long list of contacts, create a list of specific people who are key players with respect to your position. Designate each one based on expertise and associate their names with the skills from the list you created yesterday. Think of them as your “inner circle” with respect to sharpening your skills in this job.
On a piece of paper, make two columns. In the left column, list your top ten skills, one per line. In the right column, list the people you identified above who can help you with each specific skill on your list.
Contact at least one person on your list today to help you with something specific.
You know, people are flattered when we recognize their skills and abilities; they want to know that others recognize their talents and competence. You can win in two ways with this exercise: First, you sharpen your skills, and second, you will likely develop a stronger connection with the people you reach out to.
What are you waiting for? Get started…
Posted in Leadership, tagged Communication, Focus, Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Planning, Prioritizing, Purpose, Reflection on April 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Good morning and Happy Friday!
Another week has flown by and we are at the end of our first week of Month Four — Focus.
This topic is a good one for me right now. I am working through the Deeper Path process, as I’ve mentioned, and it’s all about gaining clarity, developing a crystal clear plan for where I’m headed with my life’s work, which requires a lot of reflection and focus.
What about you? What are you thoughts on this month’s topic, so far?
What do you need to focus on?
Now for our Friday ritual, let’s focus on the weekend and the weeks ahead…
What really needs your attention this weekend? Is it projects, people, rest, , fun, relaxation…?
We’ve had a lot going on in our family this past week, so rest and reconnection are definitely in order. My son wants to spend his tooth fairy money on a wind-up turtle for the tubby, so we will go to Toys R Us.
Continuing preparation for the Women in Leadership Luncheon; it takes a lot more preparation than one might imagine to deliver an awesome keynote speech, and that’s my intention. I don’t want anyone attending the luncheon to walk away disappointed. I also just committed to sponsoring the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast being hosted at University of Charleston on May 10. So, I have some work to do polishing up my marketing materials for Empowerment Mentoring and a couple of Mastermind Groups (15 Invaluable Laws of Growth and Everyone Communicates Few Connect). I am still working my way through content in the John Maxwell Online University; this material is so good on so many levels, I will go through it over and over and over and over, and get something new out of it every time! Finally, I applied to be part of the team John Maxwell is taking to Guatemala in June to teach Transformational Leadership. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I’m so excited! Can’t wait to hear if I will be included in the team. If the answer is “yes,” I have a lot of work in preparation for that, as well.
What’s in store for you this weekend, next week, and in the coming weeks? Are you taking the steps to set yourself up for success and fulfillment?
Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you Monday!
Posted in Leadership, tagged Focus, Goals, Intentional, Planning, Reflection, Success on April 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Today, I encourage you to spend some time journaling about the goal you accomplished this week using your objective statement and task list.
Did you do it?
Were you successful?
Were you more aware of the big picture surrounding the task and how it involved others?
As a result, were you able to come up with a task list more quickly from the objective statement?
Were your activities more focused this week than in previous weeks?
What have you learned, so far, about focus, that you can carry forward and increase your effectiveness going forward?
Posted in Leadership, tagged Focus, Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Planning, Prioritizing, Reflection, Self-Awareness, Taking action on April 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I’m working my way through a process called The Deeper Path, led by Kary Oberbrunner, a fellow John Maxwell Team member can coach who is guiding me through this amazing process he developed with his Builder, Chet Scott. Traveling The Deeper Path is all about gaining clarity and focus.
While I have what I believe to be a lot more clarity about where I’m headed and what I’m building in my life than many others, I know I don’t have it to the degree I need it to be truly fulfilled, successful, and reach my potential. The truth is, there is so much stuff going on around all of us all day long, so much noise, so many messages to sift through, so many people clamoring for our time and attention, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. It’s easy to get lost in all the stuff. It’s easy to be busy, and yet not feel productive.
I know I’ve been there, on more days than I like to admit to. Yet, I’m aware of this, and awareness is the key. Once you have come to this realization, you have the opportunity — and the choice — to do something about it, to do something differently.
You see, busy doesn’t necessarily equate to productive. To be productive, I need to spend my time on the “right” activities. To know what the “right” activities are, I need clarity and focus!
How do we get there? Begin with the end in mind: What objective are we trying to achieve? When you can write an objective statement simply and clearly, you understand what you need to do to achieve it, when you need to do it, how you will do it, what resources (people and other) you need, and what the result will be when you are done.
Let’s put it into practice. We will create a task list that will allow you to stay focused on your project, effectively thinking through from the big picture to the details.
Across the top of a piece of paper, write your task or goal statement. Then, below it write this — and do the ranking:
Priority (1 = Low and 5= High) 1 2 3 4 5
Impact (1 = Low and 5= High) 1 2 3 4 5
Define the following:
What tools will you use to accomplish this task? List all resources — tangible or intangible, including specific people (time, money, supplies, staff, other materials, etc…)
Who will benefit or otherwise be affected by the completion of this task?
What will be the result?
When you’ve completed this exercise, use the information to draft your objective statement. Here’s an example: “By the end of this week, I will have created a comprehensive client contact file, including communication preferences, connection time-lines, product and services preferences, and known networks/affiliations, which I will use to track my business and networking activities.”
Now, take a clean sheet of paper, write your new objective statement at the top, then create your thorough task list which will allow you to meet your goal. Make notes as you work through it this week on what worked, what didn’t what you added that you didn’t need, what you needed but didn’t think to list…We’ll do some reflection on this later.
Get to work!
Posted in Leadership, tagged Goals, Intentional, Leadership, Life Plan, Planning, Prioritizing, Purpose, Reflection, Relationships, Success, Vision on April 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Good morning and Happy Friday! Time, again, for our Friday ritual: Planning for the weekend and thinking about the month ahead.
I can say, with full confidence, this week I was not just busy but truly productive in many respects. That’s not to say I completed everything I set out to this week, but certainly made a dent in my list and found myself in a place of deep introspection around my the work I’m doing with the Deeper Path Coaching Cohort.
And, after the emphasis on excellence these past four weeks, I am certainly much more aware of and intentional about how I plan for and execute my work and interactions with others. How about you? Where are you on this part of our journey?
Let’s look and think ahead into our weekend.
What really needs your attention this weekend? Is it projects, people, rest, relaxation…?
Rest is, again, on my list.
Some house projects and cleaning are calling for my attention.
Developing a team-building activity for an upcoming meeting; need to gather some supplies for that. Finishing up some projects. Have some writing to do. People to connect with. Letters to write.
The next month will be busy and filled with new opportunities. Exciting things coming my way!
What’s in store for you this weekend, next week, and in the coming weeks? Are you taking the steps to set yourself up for success and fulfillment? Are you feeling more confident about the level of excellence you/your team/your organization provide to your clients?
Have an intentional weekend!
Posted in Leadership, tagged Consequences, Doing the Right Thing, Excellence, Intentional, Leadership, Reflection on April 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Stewardship: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.
Each of us — as individuals, teams, and organizations — has been given something for which we are responsible. Historically, stewardship was responsibility bestowed upon someone to take care of another’s property or wealth — perhaps the King, a Lord, or a landowner. Essentially, the steward would manage those assets with the intent of leaving it in as good of condition as we found it, if not better. Today, we often think of this with respect to the environment, resources, wealth…Sometimes, however, we are more focused on acquiring and consuming than we are on caring for the things we already have.
The irony, however, is that we often gain more when we take care of what we have.I think back to 2008. I was moving my family from one area of Washington State to another, as I had taken a new job. We didn’t find a house we wanted to buy, so we decided to rent for a while. A co-worker told me about some new houses that had been built, but not sold (it was a tough real estate market), and suggested the builder might be willing to rent. I called and inquired; he said he would consider it, and we agreed to meet at the home to walk through it and discuss the idea.
It wasn’t long after we walked into the house that he said he would rent to me. He explained that he had taken a good look at my car before coming into the house and because it was clean and well cared for, he believed I would take care of his home; had my car been a mess, we may have been looking for a decent place to live for a while longer! Apparently, I was considered a good steward!
Your team/organization has also been given resources to manage. The question is, how have they performed?
Today, task them with a self-assessment to determine if they –as individuals — and you as a team/organization are providing excellence in the small things. Then, challenge yourself and them to go the second mile, and provide an even higher level of excellence.
Lead by example, and provide your self-assessment. As you do this, here are some things to consider:
What assets are you managing?
How are you managing them?
Are you squandering them, or are you in a good position for when the owner returns and wants an account of what you have done with what you’ve been given?
What changes can you make, to move your performance up a level?
Posted in Leadership, tagged Character, Consequences, Excellence, Intentional, Leadership, Purpose, Reflection, Self-Awareness on April 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Living not too far from Pittsburgh, it’s hard to not hear a lot about the Steelers (Note — I’m not a big sports fan, but the business is full of leadership lessons — both on the side of how to do it, as well as on the side of how not to do it; so I will, from time to time, use sports stories as examples in my blog).
I have heard a quote from Steelers Coach Chuck Noll, who said:
Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else.
Have you found this to be true in your life?
I believe it. You don’t need to do anything extraordinary or complicated. You simply need to do whatever it is you do, extremely well, with a focus on doing it at levels higher than average…with excellence.
So, what small things so you do that lead to excellence in your personal and/or professional life?
What small things does your team/organization do that lead to excellence?
Can’t wait to hear what you come up with. Hint — use the “comments” box below!
Leadership & Life Potential, LLC 