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FranklinCovey Blog | Discipline
What are you avoiding?
As I have been contemplating the struggles that all of us go through in life, I am reminded of this powerful quote by Albert E. N. Gray:
“The successful person has the habit of doing things failures don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”
I invite you to ponder on this idea in your own life. What are the things you know you have to do but are avoiding? If you were to discipline yourself and create a plan for doing those things, would you find positive, even breakthrough rewards?
For me, I know when I have avoided doing something, I have eventually seen that I’ve paid an even higher price by avoidance. For example, when I neglect my health by not eating right, exercising, or getting enough sleep, because I find it hard to stick to a disciplined regiment, I find myself feeling sluggish and not doing my best work. When I finally subordinate my dislikes to the strength of my purpose, things turn around.
I challenge you to contemplate your life and identify something you are avoiding and make a promise to yourself that you will do it. Make a promise and keep it. Subordinate the things you dislike doing to your greater purpose. I am confident that you the more you do this, the more strength you will build-and the more success you will find. What have you been avoiding? What is the end result you would like to see in your life?
Focus Your Mind
The only way to enjoy an experience is to actually be there for it, mentally as well as physically. I’ve been at high school football games where every parent in the stands is “there” physically, but thumbing away on their Blackberry. Guess what? Everybody, including the kid you’re there to watch, knows you aren’t “there.” And how much fun are you having? You didn’t see the spectacular catch at the 10 yard line or the cheerleader stunts on the sidelines. You didn’t smell the hot dogs or feel the breeze. You sat in the car taking a call during halftime and missed the high school band version of Led Zeppelin hits. But hey, you were “there.”
I know, I know, you’re already trying to eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep, all while leading in the workplace, your family, and the community, and now I’m telling you that you must actually be mentally present for all of that? Yes. What difference does it make what you’re physically doing if you’re not experiencing it?
Unfortunately, being mentally present is no easier that staying physically fit. It takes effort. In its natural state, your mind operates much like a car radio on “scan.” It plays a little bit of one station then goes to the next station, jumping about from one song to the other. Another way to think about it is your mind is like a stream, always rolling along from one thing to another. If you stay on the surface of the water, when the winds pick up, you will be rocked about with the rapids. But if you have invested the time necessary to focus your mind, to remain present and focused, when the winds come you can dive to the deepest part of a pool, down deep where everything is still despite the rapids on the surface. And you’ll actually experience things!
Executive Mamas recognize it requires tremendous discipline to maintain mental focus on the present moment and they work at it. A couple of resources I’ve found particularly helpful (not endorsed by FranklinCovey Company, simply recommendations from Jennifer Colosimo among the many existing options) are books, audio, and practices taught by Eckhart Tolle and Eknath Easwaran.
Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Vice President of Sales and Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey
Transform Your Goals Become a leader who delivers exceptional results (part 2)
In my last post I discussed how deciding what is most important, finding your real “top-priorities,” will help you achieve your goals. Now let’s move on to the next steps #2 Candidly Assessing New Behaviors and #3 Preparing to Follow Through…
2. Candidly assess new behaviors. Jeff’s next assignment was the most often overlooked aspect of effective goal setting – identifying the leading behaviors his team would need to adopt – which is Discipline 2 in Franklin Covey’s 4 Disciplines of Execution.
Jeff and I made a list of all the driving behaviors that achieving the three goals would require of his team. The list contained existing activities that would now have to be performed at a higher level, requiring the team to identify best practices, document new standards, and develop training. The list also contained entirely new activities for which even more change was required. In the end, we identified the four highest impact behaviors from this list that would have to be fully adopted for the team to succeed.
Changing human behavior is hard, even in the best of circumstances. While it’s common for a leader to assess the staffing, technology, and expense requirements of achieving a goal, it’s rare to see an assessment of the behavioral changes it will require. Identifying this critical aspect in advance allowed Jeff to understand the magnitude of the changes and to plan accordingly. It also gave him a way to connect the activities of this team directly to the goals he had set.
3. Prepare to follow through. Despite all we had done, the most difficult aspect of achieving Jeff’s goals still remained – following through – Disciplines 3 and 4 in Franklin Covey’s 4 Disciplines of Execution.
In the next few weeks, we engaged his team in designing a scoreboard that would enable them to remain focused, as well as detecting early warning signs when progress was stalling.
We also instituted a weekly meeting in which regular communication and personal accountabilities for each member of his team could be upheld.
Jeff ultimately transformed his goals from a list of things he hoped his team could do, to a set of results he knew they would deliver. In the end, he became the leader both he, and his company, wanted him to be.
What do you think; will these 3 actions help you achieve your goals?
Author: Jim Huling, Senior Consultant, Execution Practice
Transform Your Goals: Become a leader who delivers exceptional results (part 1)
In a recent client meeting I received this comment
“I’m not sure why my company hired you, I’m really good at setting goals and I really don’t think I need any help.”
My client, Jeff was partially correct. He regularly set goals for himself and for his team. Unfortunately, he seldom achieved them – a characteristic that had led his company to suspect he was not be the leader they needed. Hiring me was a final attempt to help him.
As we continued our first planning session, I asked Jeff to share the goals he had set for the coming year. He withdrew a binder from his briefcase and opened it on the table in front of us.
“This binder contains all of our goals as a team, broken down into four major categories,” Jeff said proudly.
Over the next few minutes, Jeff reviewed the four categories, each of which contained at least five goals. Together, he had set over twenty separate goals for his team, all of which were classified as “high priority.”
When he finished, Jeff leaned back in his chair and said, “Now, do you still think I need help?” With real compassion, I said yes.
Yes, because I know there are 3 actions I knew that Jeff needed to do to reach his goals. › Continue reading
Feared Thing First
Fear and uncertainty can freeze and immobilize even the strong. Confronting your resistance by taking on your “feared thing first” everyday is the secret to navigating perilous times. This habit has allowed me to regain my sense of purpose for 2009.
We all can take advantage of the current economic uncertainty by contacting our most important stakeholders and looking for opportunities to grow our trust account with them. Many people are frozen and afraid to call their customers and other key stakeholders for fear of hearing bad news. Guess what? The bad news is there whether or not you hear it. Much better to confront reality and give your customer a listening outlet to discuss challenges and feel understood than to abandon the relationship during difficult times. Now is the time to over-communicate with your customers and other key stakeholders. Give them someone they can trust by behaving in ways that inspire trust.
Regain your momentum by doubling your contacts. Call the ones you are afraid to call first. Ask for business. Ask for referrals. Ask for favors. They are as afraid and starved for meaningful dialog as you are. Go for it. Then have the courage and monomaniacal discipline to follow up relentlessly. Don’t take non responsiveness personally. Others are frozen and need your consistent concern to thaw them. Stay with this relentless follow-up and you will be very glad you did. One of two things will happen: 1) ou will have the happy surprise of good news and will grow your business immediately or 2) you will be the first one they think of when things improve, as you were likely one of the very few that communicated with them during tough times. Make doing business at the Speed of Trust your unique competitive advantage this year. Increase your credibility by doing your feared thing first. Everyday.
Author: Greg Link, The Global Speed of Trust Practice Leader at FranklinCovey