What's Significant to You?

I spent this last weekend in Galveston Texas on a family reunion. On my wife's side (the Russell family) they get together every two years to celebrate their Russell heritage. My father-in-law, Tom, has three brothers, Al, Bob and Bill. Each of the four brothers take turn hosting the family reunion, since each live in different cities. This year it was the eldest brother, Al's turn. Living in Houston, Al arranged for the reunion to be on Galveston Island, just about an hour south of Houston.

The accommodations were very nice. We rented two, 2 story houses to accommodate everyone, only about 3 blocks from the Gulf. Each house had a large covered porch for enjoying the gulf breezes. Our family stayed on the 2nd floor, which had a very nice view.

No matter which brother is the host for the event, there is always time set aside for reminiscing about growing up. The history of the Russell family goes back many years.

When their mother (Annabel Russell) passed away in 2005, the brothers divided up her possessions among the family. Some belonged to Annabel and some belonged to their father Wade's mother, Annie Lee Spain, who was born August 26, 1882. Everyone knew Annie Lee as “Granny”. Granny passed away on October 14, 1970.

Tom brought something to share with the family that he apparently discovered in his attic. He found a small, paper notebook titled “Hogarth” Drawing Tablet. It’s what appears to be an art class project of Granny’s dated November 2, 1895. It contained penciled drawings of small animals, a calendar, and other simple sketches. This is the first true “artifact” that I have seen from Granny herself. Until now, I had only heard about things through conversations at the reunions.

My 17 year old daughter, Mandy, found this piece simply amazing! Not because of its incredible art work or its amazing quality, but merely because it was 100 years older than her. She was born in 1995. The fact that she was holding something in her hand that was created by an ancestor of hers over a century ago is what astonished her.

This reminds me that you never really know how something you do or say can impact others, either intended to or not. And, you may never even know about the impact that it had. What might seem trivial and not important to you might be significant to others, even someone that you have never met. You never know the impact that you could have. This is not only true in your personal life but also true in your business.

Reflect back on the mentors in your life and consider the impacts that they had.  What did they do in particular that had an impact on you? What are some things that you have done that could have an affirmative impact on others?  What's significant to you?

Supreme Court give you FUD'S?

Man-o-man, did my twitter feeds, Facebook and email explode lately! Shortly after the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), the flood gates were opened. According to the comments, the Supreme Court is either awesome or awful. Today they made either the best decision or the worst decision in the history of decision making. (Ok, I have large diverse group of friends and followers). There were no middle of the road comments; they were heavily weighted to one side or the other. Everyone will be saved or the world is coming to an end. I suspect that many of you probably experienced similar situations.

So how much time did you spend listening, watching and having conversations about the Supreme Court’s decision today? How much time do you think your employees spent discussing the same issue? Whether you agree or disagree with the decision, not much is going to change immediately. Matter of fact, it will probably be 2014 or later before you see any impact from it. A lot can change between now and then. This is what I refer to as FUD’S; or Fears, Uncertainties, Doubts and Suspicions. You get distracted and lose focus on your business and spend time worrying about what “could” happen in the future. Don't let your fears and emotions get the best of you. Stay focused and stay in touch with your customers. They may be experiencing their own set of FUD’s at this time as well. If they see you paying attention to them and their needs and not sweating the things that you can’t control at this point, they may be more relaxed and less stressed about it.

Spend the next 30 days focusing on what you do best! Spend time planning, setting new goals and focusing on what is important for you and your business. If you do just that, at the end of these 30 days, you will be so impressed with what you accomplished, your FUD’s will have an entirely different look about them.

Don't dwell on the Supreme Court decision; focus on your mental state. You can't control their decision, you can control your mindset!

Why Keep Doing What You Don’t Like Doing... and Don't Do Well

Business owner, as your virtual business coach, I formally give you permission to stop doing tasks you dislike doing... and probably stink at doing. Most people wouldn't think this was necessary but both of us know better. Entrepreneurs around the world are caught in a vicious, habitual cycle of doing tasks and roles they dislike and that annoy them, frustrate them, and drain them.

Instead of focusing on their strengths and unique talents (which they do well and which energizes them), most owners persistent in handling the stuff they stink at doing. Why? They don't know better options and because nobody in their world provides them with tough-love coaching and challenges them on the insanity of doing tasks they dislike and don't do well. We'll change that here and now!

So here comes some in-your-face coaching. As a business owner, what do you stink at doing? That's right, let's get a bit negative and real honest to make some progress in your focus, effectiveness and results. What roles or tasks do you truly stink at? What are the things you don't do well? That you dislike doing? What activities drain your energy? What tasks do you routinely tackle at your company that go against your natural talents and abilities? Make a quick list of what you stink at doing. Got it? Good.

If you are like most of my business clients when they first come to me, you probably have dozens of low-value tasks and clutter you painfully and/or incompetently handle each and every day. You just tough it out. Why? Again, because of your habits and limiting beliefs, you know of no other way. Many of these low-value tasks you did at the start of your company and you simply failed to pass them on to others or stop doing them as your company grew. Put simply, your business evolved but your tasks and roles did not.

Odds are, like most owners, you seldom question the importance of the tasks you routinely do and seldom evaluate how wisely you spend your valuable time. Most likely, you just instinctively dive in and start doing. Therefore, you rarely reflect on, prioritize and make adjustments to the countless tasks you handle each and every day...most of them by the way are a true waste of your time, talents and energy. Sadly, you continue to do the wrong type of work. Stop the insanity!

Look carefully at the answers your wrote down on your "Tasks I Stink at Doing" list. If you aren't good at doing these tasks and don't like doing these tasks, why on earth do them? Seriously, are you nuts? Aren't you the owner? Why put up with this approach?

If you have no employees, why not finally hire someone to delegate to or at least outsource some of these tasks to third parties. If you have employees already, aren't there others in the company who could do these tasks better than you, who would enjoy them more than you, and who can do them at cheaper hourly rates than you? Most likely yes! Then give those tasks up. Let go. Dare to change your ways and challenge your habits and assumptions.

Do me a favor. For each task you wrote down on your list, write next to it YOUR COMMITMENT going forward to either drastically DIMINISH, DELETE, DELEGATE or DELAY that task. I know "delay" is a cop out, but if you delay long enough, odds are you will realize that certain tasks are not even necessary or important.

A key part of business coaching is to get owners to do what they do best and shed the rest. To focus on those tasks and roles (unique strengths and abilities) that energize you, excite you, and that you do extremely well, almost effortlessly. Unless you stop focusing on your weaknesses, you can't leverage your strengths.

As the owner, it's time to stop doing the wrong type of work and start doing the right kind of work. Instead of being so eager to do lots of things, be just as eager to drastically DIMINISH, DELETE, DELEGATE, or DELAY those tasks and roles you stink at doing. That will be a great start for better productivity, focus, results, and sanity.

Personal Accountability

Accepting accountability for your actions is a must for moving up the career ladder or growing your business. I realize that we all get busy and we let things distract us or get us off track for our goals. These can consist of simple things such as e-mails, phone calls, voice mails, memos, someone dropping by to ask a question, an assignment that doesn’t go as planned, or even newly added “to do” items on your list. These are all external factors that we have a lot of control over. I call them “walk-by’s.” We allow them to become distractions to our goals and our plans. How we handle the distractions and how we get back on track is what is important. Don’t think that these “walk-by’s” will go away, because they won’t.

Actually, they will probably get more frequent the higher you move up the corporate ladder or as your business grows. How to manage them is what you need to learn. It all comes down to evaluating your to-do’s and your distractions each day and comparing them to your goals. You should be constantly reviewing your goals each day and evaluating whether your distractions are pushing you off course. You can’t afford to review them weekly or monthly. What you will find out is that you have veered so far off course that it will take some extra effort to get back on track. You should also evaluate the distractions and determine if you should be the one handling them. Can someone else handle these issues and get the same results? If so, delegate them or refer the “walk-by” to someone else instead of taking it on personally.

Have you ever been backpacking? If so, have you ever used a compass and a trail map or perhaps a GPS? You have to stop several times during the day and check your compass direction and compare it to your trail map to verify that you are still on course. If you only checked it once or twice a day and you were veering off course, each hour that you traveled would make it more difficult to get back on course once you determined that you were off course. It’s easier to make small adjustments more frequently than one large modification late in the process. Frequent validations are so important in staying on course. It’s the same way in marine navigation as well. Personal goals and business goals aren’t any different. Develop a constant validation process to make sure you stay on track. Another aspect of personal accountability is that of responsibility. Personal responsibility is accepting all of your actions, regardless of whether they resulted in a success or an opportunity. We all step up to the plate to take credit for successes, but we have a tendency to come up with excuses or rationalizing why something didn’t go too well. It is very disappointing to see so many people not take responsibility for their decisions when something doesn’t go as planned. You commonly hear “My manager approved it,” or “It wasn’t my decision to do it.” Or better yet, no one even steps up to the plate to say anything, hoping that someone else will take responsibility for it. Excuses seem to become the distraction all of a sudden, instead of root-cause analysis and then a problem-solving plan of action. It’s easy to want to blame someone else for those actions but in reality, just acknowledge and accept what was a result of your actions, be willing to work on the solution, and move forward. Those of influence are looking for you to accept it, correct it, and advance. In most instances, they aren’t looking to fire someone over the event (although that has been known to happen when excuses start to fly). You have to take and accept responsibility for your actions if you want to be successful. You learn from your mistakes, and accepting accountability for them communicates to others that you take responsibility for your actions. As a result, you will actually make better decisions in the future. You have to start by admitting your mistakes and then follow-up by taking responsibility for them. Those who admit their mistakes and take responsibility for them are strongly viewed as keeping the best interest of the company in mind. This is a great attribute of a strong leader.

Business Coaching & The Change Process

Losing weight should be easy...right? After all, one simply needs to eat less calories and exercise more. What is complicated about that basic information? Nothing! Then it should be fairly easy and straightforward to get lean and stay that way. Wrong! Nearly all of us, out of first-hand experience, know that it's not that easy to lose weight and then maintain our ideal weight. After all, estimates show that over 70% of Americans are overweight. Why?

Weight challenges can't be due mainly to a lack of information...most everyone knows and accepts they should eat less calories and exercise more. The problem is not that we don't know what to do, the problem is that we don't do what we know we should. Knowing something and doing something are worlds apart. Very often, we interfere with our own wishes. There are usually internal issues (sabotaging beliefs, self image, stress, habits, routines, boredom, personal problems, emotional wounds, etc.) that cause us to overeat or abuse food. Until we deal with these internal issues (causes), it is extremely difficult to get our weight under control (effects).

The same thing can be said for most business owners. We know what we should be doing to have more successful businesses, we just don't get around to doing it. Our ineffective mindsets, habits, fears, time wasters, and sabotaging behaviors get in our way. Our internal world sabotages our external desires. We interfere with our own success. Like folks wanting to lose weight, most business owners lack a structured, disciplined and on-going process for positive and sustained change. We have the desire for change, but not a proven change process. We remain stuck and in a rut. That's where The Growth Coach can help.

Like weight loss, running a business doesn't have to be overly complicated...we owners just seem to enjoy making it so. To have a successful business, we simply need to serve customers well and produce greater revenue than our expenses. While that sounds easy, we know it's not. Like weight loss, running a successful business is less about knowledge and more about applied knowledge...doing what we know we should do. The difference between an intention and real action is the difference between failure and success. Thinking about changing something in your business or life is useless without actually doing something about it. You need a proven change process to help you get the results you want. The Growth Coach provides that proven and guaranteed process.

Millions of individuals get help with their weight loss each year...they need an on-going coaching and accountability system to make internal changes (causes) necessary to achieve their desired external changes (effects). They leverage a proven change process. Furthermore, the on-going accountability helps keep them honest and on track to achieve the positive change they seek. There is no shame in getting help with weight loss.

The same thing is true about getting business coaching help for your business. There should be no shame. Very few owners have the required self-honesty, discipline and structure to go about improving themselves, their businesses, and their lives. They lack a proven change process. The Growth Coach provides that! As such, every business owner needs and deserves a business coach to help make change happen. A proven coaching process to help them face reality, develop clarity of direction, create a focused action plan, and receive on-going accountability to make sure things get implemented. Again, there should be no shame in getting help. In fact, asking for help is a sign of strength and self confidence. After all, without a structured and on-going process for positive and sustained change, very little will ever change. Why settle for so much less?

You say you can make the internal changes (mindsets, habits, beliefs, etc.) on your own. Maybe...but doubtful. If you could have made positive changes on your own, odds are you would have done so already. Stop deceiving yourself. Most owners are too close to their own situation to see the truth. They have blind spots. They are trapped by old strategies and practices. They play denial. They bank on a strategy of hope. Please understand, you need professional coaching to help you close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. A business coach is an objective catalyst to help you face reality and determine what is and what is not working in your business and life. Then a business coach helps hold your feet to the fire with an accountability process to ensure you make the changes you want.

Do you want positive changes in your life and business? Then let go of your ego. Instead of insisting that you have all the answers (no business owner ever does), be open to the possibility that you may have some ineffective mindsets, beliefs, habits, knowledge, and assumptions holding back your success.

There is no shame in getting a business coach...the most successful entrepreneurs do. As well, most successful athletes have a coach. Why wouldn't you?

Start with a Goal

Have you made your New Year’s resolution's yet? Lose weight, spend more time with the kids, quit smoking, or get organized? Most of use have made some type of resolution either this year or in the past. What were your results? Did you achieve what you wanted? Making a New Year’s resolution is nothing more than establishing a personal goal. It more commonly involves stopping something that we are doing or includes starting something that we aren’t.

In the business world, we commonly utilize the S.M.A.R.T. method for establishing goals. S.M.A.R.T. stands for:

Specific — stated in clear, objective terms

Measurable — the results of the objective can be measured

Achievable — the goal is in your realm of responsibility and control

Results-Oriented — the goal should define the specific results to be achieved

Time-Bound — specific time-frame information or target deadlines are included

You should establish personal goals in your career as well. In fact, both your personal goals and career goals should be supportive of each other. Establishing and achieving both personal and career goals can generate a synergistic effect. Achieving one of your goals should get you closer to achieving another one. For example, stating that you want to get more organized at work and work fewer hours should support your personal goal of spending more time with your family and friends.

Similar to the S.M.A.R.T. method above, before you establish personal goals, you must be sure of a few things. It’s important to evaluate your goals before you commit. There are several questions that you should ask first:

Can I actually control it?

Do I really want it?

How much time will it take?

How will it impact others?

How will I measure my success?

The answers to these questions are critical if you intend to be successful with your goals. These questions are your foundation to helping you become victorious. Make sure you understand why these questions are so important.