I’m often asked how I manage to get so much done in any given day (which is always kind, seeing as I feel like there’s never enough time and that I’m always behind). I shot a quick video that walks you through one method I’ve been using quite well lately: which is just making sure that I keep my top business goals in focus throughout the day via some visual cues.
Does that make sense?
Have you heard the phrase ”If you want something doing, give it to a busy person“?
Perhaps you have experienced that sluggish period when you get back from vacation and discover it takes a huge effort to do anything?
There is a good reason for both. You see there is something simple that we all know but few of us act upon.
Like you I often wonder what makes people tick. I look for signs and traits. When we really look at what is different about people who are ahead of you, the answer is not at all surprising.
Success comes from doing stuff.
Note I did not say that successful people do everything perfectly, or even particularly well. Heck, every person I admire has done a lot of stupid things and made a lot of mistakes.
They are not always particularly efficient, smart, wise, or terribly good-looking if we are honest.
What they do, and what I encourage you to do, is they make progress.
Your first step is the hardest. Then you get some momentum and it becomes easier. If we pause we need to start over.
So keep your foot on the gas. Keep moving forwards.
Analysis paralysis is just as bad as blundering ahead with no thought. At least blunderers take some action!
You probably have a million ideas every week. We get stuck in our brains without turning our attention towards achieving something tangible. It could be because of fear, procrastination, or because we believe we lack something important.
We need to prepare. I get it. But then we need to move from preparation into operation, and that is when we often get stuck.
It’s not just about time management, being organised or creating the right lists. If you are always worried about that kind of stuff then you have probably prepared enough.
Make your ideas face reality. Brave it.
Get moving.
Once you are moving ahead, don’t allow yourself to slow down. Forget about perfection.Don’t make one more plan. Make More Progress (see what I did there?).
What can you do in this moment that will get you one step closer to your goal. One tiny piece of the puzzle in place. A tick in a to-do list.
Then do it.
And keep doing more.
Soon you won’t be able to stop yourself making progress.
If you need someone to hold you to your goals, then share them. Tell someone what you intend to do so they can keep you to your word.
What could you do right now? Share your thoughts and what you are going to do next in the comments …
Once upon a time, when things were getting a bit rough, someone suggested to me that we run away together to Paris
It was an extremely romantic notion and for a fleeting moment, thoughts of sitting in a café for the rest of my life eating pain au chocolat (aka chocolate croissants) sounded mighty tempting (and delicious).
But I came to the quick realization that I am not the runaway type. I am more the stand-in-the-middle-of-a-shit-storm-with-an-umbrella type, because moving to Paris or even plain-old avoiding an issue doesn’t make reality go away. You can run to the end of the earth, but if you don’t face the tough stuff, it will always haunt you.
While it is tempting to run from uncomfortable situations, problems, challenges or sometimes even opportunities, emotionally or physically taking off will not solve anything. It just distracts you from your goals and purposes. And when the going gets tough, those who will persevere are the ones willing to face the storm head on.
So, here I am to offer you a virtual umbrella to use the next time you have to face one of those storms. Hopefully, you can use it to keep as much residual crap off of you as possible, as you face the situation head on. And if you need moral support, ask someone you trust to stand under it with you. Ask nicely, and they may even hold it for you. It may not be as romantic as running away together to Paris in theory, but the best friends and partners will stand by you during the worst of times.
Every storm passes and those who can weather these storms will find themselves with the strength, experience and confidence to take on anything and succeed.
I hope that many blue skies are ahead of you, but if the storm’s a-coming, just ask- I will be happy to loan you my umbrella.
Want to turn around your view on life, success, money, and achievement? Download and listen to “Doing More With Less”, a presentation I did at Web 2.0 last year. It’s based on the principles of Evocation as taught by Stephen K. Hayes, but oriented more towards marketing, technology, and the 2.0 world rather than just strictly limited to martial artists. This 30 minute session may just change how you operate in the world for the better!
It’s easy to start something new. We buy those new running shoes and get out for a few runs in the first week. We get that book on how to sell information products and we read the first few chapters. We get interested in a new diet and we throw out the bad stuff we are eating.
Beginnings are sexy. Being invited into a new state of mind is sexy. When people take on something new, the beginning is full of instant rewards, lots of attention, and a whole shifting of what we want to be.
And then the gooey middle happens.
There’s a strange trait at play inside us with regards to this. On one side, if we have early success with anything, we tend to reward ourselves. We lose 5 pounds and treat ourselves to a pizza. We get out and run three days in a week and miss the next week, living off the fumes of our previous week’s glory. It’s built right into our heads for some reason.
Writing is like that for me. I write many thousands of words a day almost every day. But that’s not sexy. I currently write for chrisbrogan.com, for American Express OPEN Forum, for Escape Velocity, for Dadomatic.com , and for Entrepreneur magazine, not to mention my book with Julien Smith. It’s never sexy. It’s work, and it’s a grind. Writing this post is something I’m doing in between running out to get the family breakfast (because we’re running late).
The big way to maintain is to keep the bigger reward closely in mind as often as humanly possible. Put reminders everywhere. Put stickynotes all over creation telling about what you’re aiming towards. Set up email and calendar reminders. Set up weekly check-ins. Have an accountability buddy. All these things help you get closer to your goals. They help you maintain those changes.
The smaller way is to eliminate the potential for slipping backwards. That’s the hardest thing. In Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath, they talk about this in their clever explanation of how to make effective change. They call it “the path.” There’s an elephant (your emotions), a rider (your logic and intelligence) and there’s the path (your environment). It’s that path part that’s tricky. Your house might not have “bad” food in it, but when you travel, what’s to stop you? You might want to write daily, but you have two kids, a job, and many other requirements. But I swear that’s it.
Feedback helps. Rewards help. The sense that you’re getting some kind of praise for what you’re doing is the easiest of these kinds of feedback, but sometimes, people don’t give that to you simply. It’s up to you to find other ways to reward yourself and give yourself feedback. It’s up to you to lay out a larger story and give yourself “chapters” that show your progress.
I know this with all my heart: if you don’t find ways to make maintaining your changes as sexy as beginning them, nothing will happen longer term.
This is my first post on Escape Velocity, and I’m thrilled to be here. Why? Because I am in such good company. The other writers on this blog are people I have worked with and respected for years, and to have my writing published alongside theirs is an honor.
It has occurred to me that a lot of the activities I choose to engage in as part of my independent career and workplace consulting business are motivated by the desire to be in good company. Participation in this blog is just one example. Another is the Business Roundtable Springboard Project committee I was asked to join last year.
The purpose of the committee was to advise the US Department of Labor on strategies for increasing the effectiveness and competitiveness of American college graduates hitting the workforce. As a member, I would have the opportunity to share my views on this subject alongside those of Fortune 500 CEOs and well-known political leaders. There was no question that I would say yes.
Being in such good company allowed me to learn at an accelerated pace, and it also enhanced my professional profile and reputation. I also quickly recognized that being among such talented and influential individuals would allow me to do important work more quickly and efficiently. Case in point: The Springboard Project’s first deliverable, JobSTART 101, a free, 90 minute online course dedicated to providing college students and recent graduates with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in the workplace, was conceived in late 2009 and launched this week, not even a year later.
Whether you work in an established organization or are building your own business, placing yourself in good company is one of the smartest moves you can make. It may not pay off immediately, but if you add as much value as you can and are patient, the people with whom you develop relationships can take you to heights you never dreamed.
In the game of Crokinole players take turns aiming tiny disks towards a central target. Players also must aim for competitor’s disks to knock them out of higher scoring zones. It’s like the sport of curling, but played in homes on table tops rather than icy arenas.
Every move of the game has one of two intentions; score or stop the others scoring. Perhaps you will see already where I am going with this?
Yes, being aware of your niche, industry or market is important. But I would say you will be more happy and successful by aiming for your goals rather than aiming to knock out your competition.
How many times have you thought about doing something then stopped in your tracks when you see someone else has had the same idea?
Or perhaps you believe (rightly or wrongly) that other person stole your idea?
Believe me or not, but ideas are plentiful and cheap. If I could patent every idea I had while showering (that inevitably I forget as soon as I am dry) I would be a very, very rich man.
It is very rarely a great idea that makes money, more likely it is the implementation and hard work that causes the success.
Just because someone has an idea or visibility does not mean they will be able to run with it any better than you, or that their implementation makes yours worthless. Most markets are not zero-sum. Just look at how many blogs, books and magazines there are out there competing for seemingly the exact same audience.
The truth is we attract our own unique audience, customer list or fan base for any given subject because we ourselves are unique. The presence of a competitor might be a good thing, for a start they educate the market with you and second they validate your idea.
Rather than keep one eye on your competitor, keep both eyes on the prize.
In the Crokinole game, if there are more than two players then usually the group splits into teams. Some teams naturally work together well. They make their shots tactically and compliment each other. Usually though you will have one player so intent on winning at all costs that they get consumed with anything but the fun of playing. Have you witnessed this kind of behaviour? They become the judge and jury for every rule transgression, use aggressive strategies, and sulk when they lose.
We forget sometimes that just being in the game can be its own reward. “Winning” is not the only reason to take part. The winner does not have to take all. When you think this way the whole affair transforms. You have peers rather than enemies, and there can be more than one “winner”. I don’t mean this in the “let’s not keep score” kind of way many schools are turning to, but that just thinking about the game differently allows you to see positives in outcomes other than “winners and losers”.
Take my own blog for example. It is not the biggest out there in any metric from traffic to income, but I am happy with it because I have some awesome people who visit and comment and I make just enough income that I don’t have to, as yet, get a real job (though it has come close a couple of times). I don’t have to “beat” anyone else, just do my own thing.
When I first launched my Authority Blogger course, I was saddled with doubt and worry for months. I looked at where it would fit into the market, I tried to appeal to everybody, and I had conflicting stress of wanting to get out early before any competitors, but also wanted to polish, polish, polish in case any customers said negative things.
All that analysis paralysis didn’t matter when people started actually taking the course. I found out that some of my new customers had taken several blogging courses before joining mine. I realized that people didn’t want everything, they wanted to hear about growing an audience of people who know, like and trust them, and earning a living from their knowledge and experience.
My next launch eclipsed the first because I tuned in to what my customers and audience wanted and ignored the rest.
Decide what winning means for you. Serve your audience.
There are often opportunities for collaboration or learning by occasionally checking in with what your competitor is up to, but your day to day energy should be directed towards your intentions, your plan. I say “should” because we are all human and often easily distracted.
It is about turning your focus and therefore your momentum toward creating your outcome rather than thoughts that lead to destroying your enemies. Discover what you want and your audience wants.
Don’t worry what “they” are up to!
You have no competitors when what you do is unique to you.
What do you say? How do you deal with peers/competitors/nemesis? Please share your thoughts in the comments …
You get up in the morning. you get ready for the work you do. You get to the space where you work. You get your beverage and sit down at the desk, table, or wherever you make things happen. Maybe you write a list of to dos.
The day moves with velocity, but you can’t escape. Interruptions, emails, meetings, and the entire Internet calls on you for attention, interaction, engagement, participation. At the end of the day, you’ve done plenty, but not one thing you meant to do.
Back at your natural habitat, you wonder, “What the heck did I do all day?”
Then when you get to Twitter, Facebook, or your favorite networking site, you hear what all your friends are accomplishing. And …
That AWFUL song gets stuck in your head. It’s the Internet I Can’t Keep Up Blues.
That song is so pernicious and pervasive, it doesn’t need any words or any tune. It’s the flashing lights and kudos of everyone’s grand launches and accomplishments compared to whatever it is that we’re not doing. And if we’re not careful, it can become an anthem for getting stuck and never moving.
Here’s how to break the The Internet I Can’t Keep Up Blues
If you do these three things you’ll find that you suddenly have a focus, a destination, and a plan for moving forward. By sharing your intention to meet that goal, you’ll be attracting and enlisting people who have always want to help you but didn’t know what to do. Now you can tell them exactly what you need.
By taking your eyes off other folks accomplishment (which seem huge only because we’re always looking at all of the accomplishments of our entire friend group). Suddenly with your eyes on your own work. By making benchmarks and measuring your progress you’ll see yourself as moving forward. By keeping your promises to yourself, you’ll gain the confidence of a person of integrity and competence. Those two new views of yourself will telegraph to the people you might want to work with. They’ll see the new confidence, competence, and integrity in you.
Suddenly you’ll be talking about what you’re doing and not singing The Internet I Can’t Keep Up Blues, but other folks might be singing it when they hear how much you’re doing.
Make sure you show them how to get that song out of their heads too!
Liz
This guest post is from my friend, Michelle Wolverton.
You’ve freed yourself. You’ve built the platform, generated the fuel, checked and rechecked the systems and taken off into space. You’re discovering what you want and chasing after it with gusto. You’re feeling the good vibes of and working hard to attain a sense of accomplishment.
Here’s the thing. Escape velocity is a wonderful achievement. However, depending on how you handle the headiness of achievement, you need some ground support to make sure you keep your head on your shoulders.
Find a way to stay grounded. If you’ve just started on your own journey or even if you’ve been on your path for a while, you can probably think of people in your life or things that that keep you centered, give you a moment of peace or light up your world. Mine include martial arts, meditation, boxing and talking to my family and friends. And sometimes even a little World of Warcraft goes a long way.
Additionally, you need people willing to get in your face and tell you when you’re stepping over the line into something that’s unhealthy or if you start walking down the wrong path, paying attention to the wrong things. Family and close, trusted friends are good candidates. Not a gatekeeper but certainly someone who is willing to stand up to you when you’re absolutely wrong. Ideally that person is also someone who will see your point of view and give a little when they should. Someone you give permission to hit you in the face as hard as they can if necessary. When the shininess overtakes common sense, the last thing you want to do is get lost in space where the paths aren’t clear.
Sometimes we stray a little bit, we pick up bad habits, or we just make choices that aren’t good for us. If we have someone in our lives that is willing to put a foot down and say, this is a very bad idea and here’s why, we’re more likely to stay on a path that gives us the rewards we’re looking for eventually but at costs that are not too high to pay.
Michelle Wolverton describes herself as a “Geeky personal assistant learning to become more ninja warrior. Ms. Magepants, indie music lover, lead organizer of PodCamp Boston.” You can read more about Chel here.
In preparation for an interview with legendary professional skater and business man, Tony Hawk, I watched this clip from a CNBC profile. On it, Tony said that one lesson that transferred from skateboarding to being a CEO was this: “If you want to progress, you have to be willing to slam.” In case you’re not pulling ollies and riding fakey, let me translate that “slam” in this case means “crash up and make a mistake, but stay engaged enough to keep going.”
By comparison, I just read this article about Paul Graham and Y Combinator (It turns out, I know lots of people who have graduated from their process). In it, they reveal Graham’s formula for startup success: “Get up and running (bugs and all), gather feedback, tweak and grow.” It’s the same thing.
The goal is to execute, stumble, and then get it right. That’s the takeaway.
It’s probably not a great idea to just jump in the car and drive to the starting line of a marathon and think that you’ll be able to figure it out on the way. There is some prep required in life. And yet, most of us err on the side of over-preparing and never quite getting out there to execute. We want everything polished. We want our systems in place. We want to have every contingency planned. That’s great, if you don’t want to actually do anything. I just launched 501 Mission Place, an online community for nonprofits. We made some stumbles with people’s comfort levels right out of the gate. Though we all had some experience with nonprofits (Estrella runs several, John works with many, I stole Rob from a nonprofit), we still had some things we could do better. We prepared with lots of meetings, but we learned nothing until the launch.
Prepare, but try to keep the site aimed on the target of getting out there and doing it.
The Three A’s is the best thing I ever learned in customer service. Acknowledge, Apologize, Act. It works like this:
“You’re frustrated because our payment system billed you twice. I can see that.”
“I’m sorry you were billed twice by the system.”
“I’ve reversed the charge, and I’ll ask my developer to determine what happened so it doesn’t bother anyone else.”
That’s it. You don’t always have to accept blame, by the way. You can acknowledge that something happened without accepting culpability. You can apologize without saying that it’s your fault. And acting is always the most important part of it.
We often forget to really stop and apologize. We figure people know we’re sorry. Wrong answer. This is where the seeds of bad things start to develop.
Watching the X Games a few months back (the first time I ever saw any of the footage versus the highlights), it was amazing how much of the skateboarding part was just people attempting things and failing. If Tony Hawk weren’t helping narrate, I’d have had no idea why it was so interesting. I just saw people failing over and over again. But Tony pointed out all the nuances in their performances, and he told us what they were going for, and he explained what was great about when you actually landed a trick after dozens or hundreds of attempts.
Core to it all is getting back out there. Be willing to slam. Get up, dust off your knees, put on your goofy smile, and do it again.
I promise you’ll get better results than most with just this method.
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