Three simple rules to get more success

Have You Noticed That Yourself...?

The Paradox Of Our Time

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints;
we spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;
we have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgment;
more experts, but less solutions;
more medicine, but less health.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life;
we've added years to life, not life to years. 

We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet our neighbor.
We've conquered outer space, but not inner space;
we've done larger things, but not better things;
we've split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We have higher incomes, but lower morale;
we've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of tall me, and short character;
steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic violence;
more leisure, but less fun;
more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce;
of fancier houses, but broken homes.
It is a time when there is so much in the showroom windowand nothing in the stockroom.

Maybe You Need To Have A New Approach When It Comes to Setting Your Goals

Make SMART goals.

Not all goals are created equally.  In order to make progress, you should make SMART goals. SMART is an acronym for the following:

1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Actionable
4. Realistic
5. Time-Bound

Michael Hyatt has a great podcast that breaks this idea down.   Here are my top 7 goals for 2013:

1. Finish reading the one year Bible by 12/30
2. Run/walk 4-5 times per week using “RunKeeper” and track calories using “LoseIt!” until 12/30
3. Pray together as a family everyday that I am not traveling until 12/30
4. Post new content to my blog every week until 12/30
5. Launch 4-Year Regional Strategic Planting Initiative by securing funding, creating infrastructure, and recruiting personnel by 8/30
6. Increase overall student participation in my area to 575 core students through planting, building, and affiliating by 12/30
7. Speak to 3 diverse audiences and influence these groups to be World Changers by 8/30

Notice that each goal is specific and can be measured.  Each goal starts with an action verb. Each goal has a date associated with it.  When I read this list, I get excited and know that I am becoming the person that God designed me to be.

__________
Excerpts from: The secret to making progress in your life by Linson Daniel

DON'T LET FAILURE MAKE YOU A COWARD

When you know in your own mind that you've given something your very best effort and you didn't succeed, don't quit. Simply start another project. A close friend involved me in a business transaction involving a gadget which didn't sell. Fortunately, I got out before the roof caved in. My friend, however, lost several thousand dollars. When it was all over, he philosophically stated, "You know, Zig, I hate to lose the money, but the thing that really concerns me is the fear that this will make me overly cautious and a financial coward regarding other business opportunities. If that happens, then my loss will be multiplied many times over." How true, how true. 

One young man didn't let this happen to him. He was involved in an oil venture and ran out of money, so he sold his interest to his partners who stuck with it. After much time and effort, they got their break and hit a gusher. The company later became Cities Service, and we know it today as CITGO. The young man, who withdrew, later got involved in the clothing business and fared even worse than he had in the oil business. As a matter of fact, he went broke. Still, he wasn't discouraged. Later on he got into politics. Historians are already saying kind things about Harry S. Truman, the two-time failure who kept getting back up until he became President of the United States. 

Failure has been correctly identified as the line of least persistence, whereas success is often a question of simply sticking to the job and working and believing while you are sticking. If your particular job is harder than you might wish, just remember you can't sharpen a razor on a piece of velvet and you can't sharpen a man by spoon-feeding him. 

Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Many times it is just over the hill or around the corner. Sometimes it takes that extra push to climb that hill or round that curve. The wit was right when he said, "If you have enough push you don't have to worry about pull." 

President Calvin Coolidge wrote, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination and hard work makes the difference."

From: See You at the Top, by Zig Ziglar 

YOU ONLY FAIL BY GIVING UP

YOU ONLY FAIL BY GIVING UP

You aren’t licked until you quit.  To  put  it  another  way,  when  you  put  a little  hump  in "u,"  you  change  a "chump"  to  a "champ."  Let’s consider some other examples.  Jerry  West,  one  of  basketball's  all-time  greats,  was  so  bad  as  a youngster  the  neighborhood  kids  wouldn't  let  him  play  recreational  basketball  with  them.  Work and practice made the difference in his career.

Words  like  persistence,  dedication,  extra  effort,  and  the  blood,  sweat  and  tears Churchill  so  eloquently  described  as  he  aroused  England  for  Her  finest  hour  might  not  sound  glamorous,  but  they  work -and  are  prime  ingredients  in  the  recipe  for  greatness.  Realistically,  these  words  describe  the  only  characteristics  that  will  overcome  certain  obstacles.

Demosthenes,  the  famous  Greek  orator,  had  such  a speech  impediment  that  he  was  shy  and  retiring.  His  father  left  him  an  estate  that  made  him  a wealthy  man,  but  according  to  Greek  law  he  had  to establish  his  right  to  ownership  in  public  debate  before  he  could  claim  his  estate.  His  impediment,  combined  with  shyness  rendered  him  helpless  and  he lost  his  estate.  Then,  he  went  to work  and  by  sheer  dogged  effort  scaled  oratorical  heights  never  before  reached  by  mortal  man.  History  neglected  to record  the  man's  name  who  took  his  inheritance,  but  school  children  around  the  world  have  learned  the  story  of  Demosthenes  for  centuries.  It's  true:  Regardless  of  how  many  times  you  are  "down,"  you  are  not  whipped  if you  get  up  one  more  time  than  you  are  knocked  down.

From: See You at the Top, by Zig Ziglar

11 things to learn about leadership

Here are 11 things I’ve learned about leadership — mostly from much-admired colleagues, and just a little of my own experience.

Please agree, disagree or add yours…..

In no particular order:

1. Talk less, listen more. People will pay attention to what you say, just because of your position. The leader’s job is to pay attention to what other people say, especially those who think their views don’t count. Show you’re listening by acting on what people tell you, and gain their trust by giving them the credit.

2. Don’t step in with solutions too quickly. No-one learns anything new if you keep doing what you already know how to do, and don’t allow others to try. Anyway, they may find a different, or better way, and if not… mistakes are valuable too.

3. Be authentic, passionate, even emotional, about what you believe in. Share your vision and live your values. The personal is more engaging, even inspiring, than the process.

4. Don’t ‘dis’ downwards. Once a decision is made by the Board, or the leadership team, it’s yours even if you argued against it during discussions. Your job as leader is to get others to believe in, and work towards, a shared goal, not to divide opinion or loyalties.

5. I’m OK: You’re OK. Start from the position that everyone is doing the best they can, then look for ways to support and encourage them – which is so much more rewarding than finding fault.

6. Don’t be the smartest person in the room. Being a leader does not mean knowing more than anyone else. Recognise, encourage and promote others as experts. Give them the trust and autonomy to be creative and do excellent work, defined in their terms. You simply provide the direction, so that this excellent work contributes to a shared purpose.

7. Sense of purpose. Your team know what they do and how to do it, but you can make a big difference by sharing a strong sense of why they’re doing it and where it’s heading. Help them develop a broad understanding of the team’s purpose, and faith in how their role contributes to the whole. (Remember the floor-sweeper at NASA?)

8. Being right isn’t enough. A great idea is of no consequence unless you can convince others to believe it too, and then persuade them to help you make your idea a reality. The best way to do this is to make the idea theirs.

9. Focus on a few things that really matter and where you can make a difference. There may be a hundred different distractions and demands on your time and a hundred ways you could respond, but it’s the dozen carefully chosen actions that deliver the results.

10. Get out and about, and in the work. It’s hard to retain that sense of what the job’s really about when you are sitting in your office. You’ll see what people actually do, rather than what people tell you they do. And you’ll see their commitment, effort and achievements first hand, and feel proud to be part of the same team. Always inspiring, and informative, and better than any meeting!

11. Keep trying. Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t live up to your own expectations. Reflect and learn from those times when you stumble and fall over the other 10 resolutions.

Kate Farley

A leader with more than 25 years management experience in local government and the voluntary sector in the UK and USA. Kate Farley is currently working as an interim manager, with a particular interest in affordable housing, and is vice-Chair of her local school academy. Kate’s strengths lie in developing people, managing structural and culture change, transforming business processes, systems-thinking, and delivering excellent housing and customer services. Kate aims to make a difference by inspiring people to work effectively together, exceed expectations and take pride in their work. Read Kate’s blog at katefarleyblog.wordpress.com and follow @katefcondev on Twitter.

Passion for Results

The Commitment to Lead: Passion for Results

Individuals vary in what energizes and motivates them.  As leaders, you can engage others and make them want to do well for you by learning to recognize and leverage what motivates members of your team.  Communicate what you need from others and get them to commit by ensuring understanding of your directions and goals to facilitate goal attainment.  Consider the following to get others to do more than they believe possible:

• Focus on continuous development.  Help others grow and learn from their mistakes.  Also, help others see how they can raise the bar on their performance and delivery.
• Review your current goals and objectives. If achieved, could the results be sustained over a longer period of time?  For each area where sustainability is questionable, identify steps you can take or systems you can put in place to ensure the targets can be repeatedly met.
• Reflect on past meetings and conversations you have had with your team. Consider the messages and tone you set for sustainable results and continuous improvement. In your discussions around goals and results, increase the focus on repeatable excellence, highlighting how team members could personally benefit from and positively impact repeatable excellence.
• Document all primary business processes. Simply documenting the process often allows you to more easily identify where efficiencies can be found or improvements made.  Also, document the method and process for how large goals were met. Share the stories within your team and across the organization to help others learn from these successes.
• Make sure you tie others’ efforts and performance to the bigger picture.  Show people how their work is influencing the broader organization.
• Set stretch goals and standards.  Make it a goal to deliver more than requested or promised for every project or task.  Continuously challenge yourself and others to do more than you think possible or have done before.
• When members of your team go above and beyond set expectations, be sure to recognize and celebrate their efforts.  Use positive reinforcement to establish a norm of exceeding expectations.
• This process starts with you.  Don’t just deliver upon expectations; think about what you can do to truly delight your customers (both internal and external).  Make this your personal mantra!

Source: worthyleadership