A Simple Tool for Purposeful Work

In their book, A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time (2004), authors Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal summarize 10 years of research into managerial behavior in a wide range of companies and industries. The principal conclusion is that only 10 percent of managers work purposefully to get important work done that moves the organization forward. The other 90 percent are involved in what the authors call “busy idleness” – procrastinating, detaching from their work, or spinning their wheels in a flurry of "active inaction."

Amazing, but I find that 90 percent of people seem to believe that they are part of the 10 percent who work “on purpose”.

In all of the companies the authors studied, the leaders who knew how to take purposeful action shared two critical traits: energy and focus. Managers can harness the energy and focus to become fully engaged in their work through a potent combination of three strategies:

1. Defining goals, which provide focus
2. Mastering techniques to overcome negativity, which provide positive energy
3. Learning ways to visualize that goal, which provide both focus and energy

I was at a national meeting where a friend and colleague showed me the best productivity or “time management” tool that I have ever seen, one that I have incorporated into my business. (In fact, each of my clients now receive one of these with their materials.) While I believe it is important to have some sort of planning or calendar system, that is not what he showed me.
This was a simple yet powerful tool, a plastic folder that fits in your pocket or purse and holds two index cards. The index cards have two headings: one says “I Am A Person Who” and the other says “My Goals Are”. Under each heading, there is space to fill in your own words and statements.

The power of the pocket folder and cards is unleashed when you look at and read the cards several times each day. They constantly remind you of the positive qualities you possess and the results and outcomes you want to achieve. Most feelings of being overwhelmed, overscheduled or “adrift” come from a combination of how we think and feel about ourselves, and not having a clear idea of what we are trying to accomplish. The cards provide a constant reminder of what our true priorities are – the promises we make to ourselves. They remind us of Purpose and provide the energy and focus to stay on Purpose.

“I Am A Person Who” can refer to affirmations that we constantly need to put positive, action-based thoughts in our mind that take us toward our desired goals. It can reinforce the quality of person we are striving to become. As William James, the pre-eminent psychologist, said, “People tend to become what they think about themselves.” If you think of yourself as able to do something, you probably will do it. If you think of yourself as incapable, you probably will not.

Much is said for developing your ‘marketable’ skills and knowledge through education and training. Lately, the practice of using affirmations to accomplish a “vision” has attracted great attention in our local business community. These messages are incomplete, watered down at best. Attitudes and affirmations are the ‘great multipliers’ of the skills and knowledge you already possess. Knowledge, skills and the right affirmations alone will not consistently produce desired results, however.

The missing element in these common messages is the focus of the “My Goals Are” card, which keeps our key priorities in our life in front of us all the time. Our goals put our attitudes, skills and knowledge, and our priorities into action.

Perhaps you have been taught to “prioritize your schedules”. My experience is that the most successful people “schedule their priorities”, giving energy and purpose to each day. Clearly written goals reviewed daily keep your priorities in focus and help you avoid distractions. Affirmations reviewed daily help you become the person who is energized to achieve your goals continuously.

What is success?

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”
- John Lubbock

What do I want?

This simple yet powerful and surprisingly difficult-to-answer query reveals much about both personal and business vision. Your answers reveal how clearly you have defined your goals, or the results you want, and your desire, the degree to which you want those results.

What do you want? Your answers to this question tell a great deal about the breadth, depth and distance into a desirable future that your vision might – or might not – carry you, your career or your business. Your answer tells others about your commitment to change, and the motivation and sense of urgency you have toward achieving your stated desires. What do you want? Your answer will instill credibility and confidence within you and in others that you will achieve higher levels of success - or not.

Life is either a magnificent obsession or a meaningless odyssey.

Some people want more from themselves…, more from their work…, more from their schools..., more from their organizations…, more from their communities. They want to achieve extraordinary goals. The rest, well, they are comfortable with letting circumstances dictate their results or they are just not sure of what they want. If you cannot provide a compelling vision for success, how can you ever hope to achieve it?

"More people fail through lack of purpose than through lack of talent."

- Billy Sunday

Most of us are hired or get started in business based on our skills and knowledge. Our earlier educational experiences have created a subtle paradigm that suggests “because we learned something we can perform what we learned”. The critical element of this paradigm is that we perform at an acceptable level of proficiency. You probably have heard the adage, “knowledge is power.” Most business training is based on this paradigm, that “learning in the workshop will be transferred to performance on the work floor.” Congratulations if you already see the fallacy of this paradigm.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

- Aristotle

Knowledge is NOT power. With traditional training, learning is typically transferred at a very low rate from workshop to work floor, or from knowing to performance improvement. Clearly, knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is power. It’s not what we know or can do; it is what we actually do with what we know that determines success. Mastery comes from three elements: desire, knowing what to do and how to do it, and repeated practice until the skill becomes second-nature: habit.

As a coach, one of my core values is that "No one knows you or your business better than you." If you receive training without distinctly knowing what you want to do with the skills and knowledge learned and why that is important to you, the likelihood of you turning the learning into habits practiced daily is slim to none. This is one of the major reasons that more companies are combining traditional training with professional coaching.

Wanting something has little to do with what you know about it, however. To an extent, we're all a bit like children in a candy store - we tend to want most everything we see, regardless of what we know about it. Extending this, without knowing what we want we may never tasted the best sweetness that life has to offer.

Skills and knowledge create potential. That's why I encourage young people to become voracious readers and explorers, to participate in a variety of activities and groups, to travel, to take interesting elective courses in school and, of course, to do well in school. Why would anyone want to limit his or her potential? Try as many flavors as you can.

Of course, why would anyone want to limit what he or she actually achieves with that potential? Yet when I ask, "What do you want?" few people at any age provide lucid answers. It is as easy to hear the lack of confidence in how they answer as it is easy to hear the lack of clarity in what they say. Clarity does not come from knowledge and skills alone; it comes from the interaction of knowledge, skills, attitudes, the practice of daily habits, all of which are still limited in application and value without a well-conceived goal. Having a well-defined goal is knowing what you want.

It’s never too late to be who you might have been.

-- George Eliot

• What do you want?
• Why? How will your life, your career, your business, your community...be better off if you get what you want?
• What has kept you, so far, from getting what you want?
• What might keep you from getting what you want?

By the way, focusing on what you want does not - should not - be an act of selfishness. We exist to serve; therefore, our dreams and desires are meant to serve others as well. If you need help articulating What YOU Want that will make your life a magnificent obsession, then email askthecoach@pdncoach.com.

Can Coaching Reduce College Cost While Increasing College Success?

More isn't always better.
Especially when it takes 5 to 6 years on average for American college students to graduate with a 4-year college degree, and each year costs another $15,000+ for tuition, fees, room and board alone (at an average in-state college or university). Of course, that does not include many other expenses (books, supplies, travel, personal expenses...) and private schools may cost more than twice as much in tuition alone.

Yet "more" is, in fact, quite common. In this perspective, providing your student with the benefit of professional coaching may seem like a wise - and financially savvy - investment.

According to recent reports by the College Board about 40 percent of students graduate from college in four years. A fifth year could boost the total cost by about 25 percent. A report published recently by the Education Trust, an independent nonprofit organization, found that only 37 percent of first-time freshmen entering four-year bachelor's-degree programs actually complete their degrees within four years. Another 26 percent take either five or six years. And the remaining 37 percent either don't get their degrees at all or complete their coursework in more than six years. (read more...)

Why more? Why don't more students graduate "on time"? Reasons vary but here are a reasonable few:

• Students may either work while attending college or take time off to work to help finance their education. Either scenario often means reduced course loads, extending the time it takes to graduate.
• Many students are switching schools. The College Board data shows "59 percent reported attending more than one institution during their undergraduate education. Of students who attended three institutions, 48 percent completed their degree within six years. Of students who attended two institutions, 70 percent graduated within six years, and 92 percent of students who attended a single institution finished within that time."
• Teenagers often don't know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. The National Research Center for College and University Admissions estimates that over half of students switch majors at least once. (Ironically, many mid-career professionals who attend my keynotes and seminars confess privately that they still don't know "what they want to be when they grow up.")
• Some students will take remedial courses or fewer hours to protect their grade point averages (GPA).
• Students are sometimes shut out of popular or required courses because they didn't register in time or other students have priority. Again, this stretches out the time necessary to earn the credits necessary for graduation.
• When anyone, especially someone in their late teens or early twenties, is unsure of their relatively long-term goals they tend to drift, take a more leisurely approach to life in general and, well, let's just say they "recreate" more often. Classes don't seem to serve a real purpose, attention slips, discipline falters, grades fall and graduation is deferred.
  

Career planning and decision-making
These figures emphasize the importance of career planning and decision-making. Sure, high schools and colleges provide such services - most of the results described above occurred with students who received such counseling.

If I could save you $10,000 or more in college costs
would you be interested?
In other words, if there was a way
to increase the likelihood that you or your child
will graduate on time would you take it?

How clearly defined are the students goals? Most students drift, lose focus, change majors, change schools, extend their length of time in college and even drop out because they lack a clear sense of who they are, who and what they want to be, and how they plan to become that person. They lack a keen sense of direction; thus, their education lacks purpose. This does not have to be the case.

The answer? There is no magic pill, for sure. Many young people just have not had enough experiences to know what they like, and don't like, to have developed a passion for anything. As a result, they don't have goals they dearly care to achieve. If there is a young person in your life, get them involved in exploring the possibilities this world has to offer. Get them reading anything they will in any way you can. Don't let them lock into specific job titles; too many career programs produce this outcome even though the majority of today's teenagers will someday have job titles that have yet to be invented. Do help them begin to articulate interests, skills and activities that "bring them alive", even at the very thought of doing them.

I highly recommend 4-H involvement above most other youth development programs because of the quality of program, volunteers, professional staff support, materials and product - youth who are involved in 4-H programs for, say, 3-10 years are nearly always above average performers with a sense of personal direction. Certainly scouting provides highly worthy programs, and there are many arts, athletic and other programs (both school sponsored and clubs). Many high schools require community service, and if they don't your family should. If your family can afford it (maybe transfer money from your entertainment budget to your education budget), give your child the opportunity to travel and enjoy "peak" experiences at camps, conferences or youth exchanges both here and abroad.

Finally, with or without these types of experiences, coaching can provide the critical experience for a promising, but undecided youth (all youth hold promise). An effective coaching program will help your aspiring high school or college student explore possibilities that he or she, right now, can't even conceive or know to exist. A coach will help the student carefully develop a personal focus, a plan for success and discover passion in having the hope that comes from a keen sense of direction.

A coach can help your student discover untapped potential
- for a fraction of the cost of an extra year of college!

I continue to be amazed at the power of goals. A year ago, my 17-year-old didn't have many plans 5 minutes beyond his nose, but he has a passion for hockey. We encouraged him to research what it REALLY takes to play hockey at the highest amateur, college and professional levels of the sport. He did so, and with some additional coaching developed some very realistic long-term goals (2-3 years at this point) that will allow him to develop in his career as a player.

Here is the truly exciting part: he has a contingency plan if hockey doesn't get him a college scholarship; he has set his own personal academic, family, health and financial goals because he recognized how they affect his hockey career goals. He is a changed person - a young man with a Purpose.

Good, quality coaching will cost between $1,000 and $5,000 for the young aspiring college graduate in your life. That's a pretty small investment compared to the time and money an extra year of college will cost. And if there is a gift I want every young person to have, it is the same one I gave my son, that sense of Purpose that comes only from having a deeply personal goal that requires high expectations of oneself.

If you would like to talk about the benefits of career coaching for yourself or a young person in your life, it's never too late. Call me at 217.362.0500 for a free consultation. Ask about Rising Stars and similar programs.

Photo credits © Viktor Petö | Dreamstime.com

Dream It, Believe It, Do It

What is it you want that adds value to the world around you?

Too often we limit ourselves the very moment we conceive what it is we want. The protective, risk-averse "no-no", "don't" and "can't" conditioning of our youth is still at work in our lives and we seldom notice. This negative conditioning too often causes us to fail before we even begin.

Train yourself to think first:

• "What do I want that adds value to the world around me?"

Make it specific; get a clear picture of what success looks like and how you will know it. Then ask,

• "What are the rewards if I succeed?

• What are the consequences if I fail or fall short of my dream?"

Finally, allow yourself to consider ALL potential obstacles. (only AFTER conceiving the goal and your motivation in the form of rewards for success and the consequences of failure) Ask:

• "What might keep me from achieving this goal?"

Write down anything - everything - that comes to mind, no matter how small or how formidable the roadblock may at first seem. Then, and only then, develop your action plan.

Decisive action to overcome your obstacles
will be decisive action toward achieving your dream.

Albert Einstein said, "I want to know God's thoughts; all the rest are details." Consider the source of our dreams. Be true to the Holy Dream Creator by acknowledging your dreams, and the dreams of others. God takes care of the big stuff. It's up to us to handle the details.

Every Life Has a Reason at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.

Vision: What You See is What You Get

I am amazed at how a little change in perspective changes everything about how we see the world. And how you see the world actually determines the world you will see, how you interact in the world, including the choices you make and the results you get with relationships, work, money, family, health, etc.

I was reminded of this recently when my 8-year-old grand-niece, Kaitlyn, began wearing eyeglasses for the first time. Her whole world has changed. Poor thing, she had been having headaches that wouldn't go away and no one seemed to have an explanation or cure. Grandma did, of course, as grandmas always do. Grandma in this case is my sister, Cindy.

Cindy was talking to Kaitlyn - already a voracious reader - about school and reading and such things when it came to her: she needs her eyes checked. Sure enough, Kaitlyn's headaches have gone away with her new glasses. Something else has changed, too. She sees the world in a whole new way. Here is how Kaitlyn puts it:

"I never knew trees looked like that!"

Now we know that Kaitlyn had not been seeing well for awhile. I didn't ask, but I am assuming she may be nearsighted (myopic) if she reads so much but the trees look so differently now with glasses. Mostly, I am glad her headaches are gone and that she sees the value in reading at such a young age. And I am glad she can appreciate the beauty and detail of trees like never before.

We are all observers in the world. We make choices based on how we see the world. We can blame the world for the circumstances we face. When we make this choice we make ourselves victims, "pinballs" just reacting to all the bumpers of life. This choice nearly always lead to headaches.

Or, we can choose to take new actions based on how we see the world. This is how 95% of us approach change 95% of the time. As a coach, I work with a lot of individuals, teams and organizations who I help with leadership development, strategic thinking and planning. The most widely-used strategy involves this second choice. People decide "how the world is" and brainstorm the possible actions they can take that would bring different results. The problem with this choice is, all too often, despite enormous amounts of effort, the world very often stays the same - little changes.

There is a third choice, and this is my world of work. When we see the world in a new way, nothing is the same as it was before and possibilities for action exist that did not before. These are the "Ah-Ha" moments of life, when something "just clicks" and your world becomes clear again. I expect these moments with coaching. I look for them, whether I am the coach or the person being coached. Thomas Kuhn called these "paradigm shifts" and they have profound implications in both the physical and social sciences, and in our day-to-day lives - if we pay attention.

I meet people all the time who have, well, "headaches" of one sort or another. Or perhaps they have "seeing" problems that haven't developed into headaches yet. Sometimes they are myopic or nearsighted and can't see too far out into what their future might hold. They has lost their ability to dream or lost their hope for something more significant than what they have already achieved.

Sometimes people are farsighted or hyperopic. They dream quite well and quite often; in fact, dreaming may be second-nature to them. They may see the "big picture", but they fail to take or even recognize the day-to-day actions necessary to move toward their dreams. They may fail to make choices necessary to move in a forward direction.

Sometimes people have the equivalent of a visual astigmatism. That is, no matter what they see, up close or far away, it's a little blurry.

The process of coaching helps people to dream again and dream productively, then prioritize these dreams and clarify the most important "vital few" into goals and goal achievement plans.

A coaching relationship can be like Kaitlyn's glasses: it helps you see what the trees really look like. In fact, you may begin to see your life is full of forests, and those forests full of trees that before, you didn't even know existed.

• What is giving you headaches?
• What do you really want (to have, to do, to achieve)?
• Why do you want it? Be as honest and deeply personal as you can, even if your want is about business.
• What is getting in your way of seeing your new results? What might get in the way?

Feel free to call me for help. Together, we can improve your vision.

Time Will Tell

Are you are seeking a remarkable life, rather than mere fame or fortune? Do you want to be a valuable influence in the lives of others? Do you want to re-connect your thoughts and actions with your deepest values and purpose, and engender the same in others? Have you the courage to take action now on the things most important to you? What if you could achieve what may seem just beyond your reach?

If you are a regular follower of The Intersection of Purpose & Now, the questions above are what bring you here. If you are new, then these may or may not be questions that keep you reading or will possibly bring you back again.

One thing is for sure: Time will tell. Time, and how we use it, tells us a great deal. How can you take action NOW, with courage or not, if you don't know what you value most right now? Your relationship to time, and the choices you make with your time, says much about you. I tend to believe that the simplest way to measure one's priorities is to look at two things: your checkbook and your calendar.

If you allowed someone to follow you for a week to do a "Time Use Audit", how much would you appreciate the results?

No matter what brings my clients to make the decision to hire me as their coach, three commitment factors are always in play.

1. Financial Cost - No matter "how much", it's always more than we want to spend.


2. Time Cost - No matter "how much", it's always more than we want to spend.


3. Change Cost - Ah, if you're not willing to "spend" the right amount here, nothing else matters! Commitment to change is really what drives the other two, isn't it. If I am not committed to change, then it really doesn't matter how much I invest or value in money and time.

So when we engage - coach and person-being-coached - the subject of time is always in play. Some people call this "time management". Of course, that is ridiculous, you cannot manage time. Each of us has 24 hours in a day; it is a resource that doesn't change so it is not something you can manage. What you can manage is how you choose to use your time. It's really a matter of keeping promises. Do you keep the promises you make about time? (Most people keep their promises to others better than they do to themselves - think "procrastination"). Making better choices, keeping promises, is always a product of effective coaching:

• because we recognize far more possibilities than we did before
• and because we come to be more profoundly focused on what is truly important - what we value most.

This whole matter of "what will I do now" is at the heart of goal achievement, of living a goal-directed, On-Purpose life, of receiving value from our endeavors, of serving value in the lives of others - of living a remarkable life and living at The Intersection of Purpose & Now. Our choices with time define our values (relative worth, merit, or importance; any object or quality desirable as a means or as an end in itself). Of course, our values define our behavior, which lead us to produce the results we get and the character others see in us. Time does tell.

So if you ever wonder, "What is this coaching thing all about?", consider your time audit and the feelings you would have if you actually did audit your time for a week or two. Consider how much money you spend on entertainment in one year, then compare that number to the amount you invest in your local church or in your own personal and professional development.

There are infinite possible outcomes from a coaching relationship and you get to decide what those are. Ultimately, there is one truth that separates us all into two groups:

• Unsuccessul people prioritize their schedules.


• Successful people schedule their priorities.

Consider hiring a coach to not only explore and refine your priorities, but to begin to focus and take action toward living a remarkable life like you have never done before. Perhaps you'll join me at The Intersection of Purpose & Now.

What is Leadership Coaching, how does it relate to Customer Loyalty and what can it do for our business?

Managers are the linchpins connecting the daily actions of a workforce with business success.

Yet most people complain about the gap that exists between corporate strategy, growth, profitability and the daily work performed on the front lines. All the while, front-line employees get an "ear full" from customers and complain about their supervisors. In response, company vision, values and goals are hung on the walls, HR beefs up training and everyone hopes for the best. Yet the gap remains. Why?

Successful companies recognize the need to develop a culture in which everyone from top leaders to front-line workers will focus on value from the viewpoint of customers. Supervisors are key to enlisting front-line workers in the constant effort to identify waste in processes, make improvements in performance, while maximizing production and service. Companies do NOT succeed or fail - their people do. And nothing has a more direct impact on employee success - and the loyalty of customers - than leaders and the culture they create.

• What if your employees understood the connection between individual performance, company success and job security?


• What if employees' discretionary actions were consistently aligned with company goals?


• What if each employee improved his or her ability to discern the customer-centered value of each decision, action or behavior he or she takes on a daily basis?


• What if you could turn company interests into tangible goals, attitudes, behaviors and habits of employees?

Leadership Coaching helps you find your right answers to these tough questions.

Which Direction Are You Running?

Once again, my partner Becky Morris finds Great Questions in a simple human encounter.

I met an interesting young man a few weeks ago at a youth service. This young man happens to currently live away from his home. When I first noticed him I saw that his face was quite red and his breathing a little labored. He very proudly told me that he had run to church, almost 5 miles, because he couldn’t find a ride.

This really intrigued me so I found the time to go and talk with him a little more. Being the inquisitive type, I began asking about his life. He told me a story that would make most people throw in the towel immediately. His mother is missing, his father is remarried and his step-mother has multiple sclerosis so his father couldn’t afford to keep him any longer and sent him to this new place to live. Now I was really fascinated. What motivates this young man? I began asking his plans for the future. He very proudly told me he was a senior in high school and upon graduation wanted to attend college. He is very interested in technology and the passion oozed out of him as he spoke on the topic.

I didn’t want him to feel as though I was grilling him, so we casually ended the conversation and he joined the other kids. While my heart was heavy, and as a mother, I couldn’t help but wonder if all his needs were being met, I still realized the inner-strength of this young man. He wanted to be in the youth service that night, so he ran. It was cold; it was dark; it was dangerous as there are no sidewalks, and yet he didn’t let any of those obstacles stand in the way of his goal. He ran.

All of us are running. We are either running toward something or away from something. As you think about this ask yourself:

• What are you running for?


• What do I want bad enough that I am willing to run past the obstacles, let nothing stand in my way, no matter how difficult, to accomplish my goal?

What Does Security Look Like to You?

The following is written by my business partner, Becky Morris. She is a much more experienced parent than I am: she has been through the pain of a child giving up his blankie more often.

Every time one of my children inform me that I am going to be blessed with another grandchild I immediately begin planning a quilt for that new baby, which is soon going to be part of our family. I wait to see if the parents find out the sex, then I begin shopping for material that will be just right.

All of my grandbabies love their quilts, but no one loves his more than Korey. Korey affectionately calls his quilt his “Grammy blankie”. As a toddler, he would sit by the washer and dryer while it was being laundered because he just didn’t think he could live without it. His mom tried as often as possible to do this late at night after he was asleep so it wouldn’t be so painful.

When Korey was about 4 he was at my house one time and he said to me, “Grammy, did you know that you and my blankie have the same name?” I’m not sure he understood why he called his blankie his “Grammy blankie”, but he sure thought it was cool that we shared a name.

Korey is soon turning 7. We have begun the process of laying the blankie to rest. I have offered to keep it at my house and put it in my hope chest alongside his daddy’s favorite blankie. Seven seems so old to his parents, too old for a blankie, but Grammy knows that seven is not that old.

The bigger question is how we can explain to Korey that this blankie doesn’t really provide that much security. What about the blankie comforts him? In pondering this the last few weeks (For some reason this is a bigger deal to me as a grandparent than it was as a parent; does that make me a bad mom?) I began thinking about the things that I hold on to for security. Many of my habits of thought and behaviors keep me comfortable, but they don’t provide security. Sometimes comfort gives us a false sense of security. Comfort and security may keep us from growing further.

• Do you have any such things that bring you comfort?


• What is it about the thing that comforts you?


• How might you know when it is time to "lay your Grammy blankie to rest"?


• How would giving up some well-worn, comfortable habits, which perhaps you have outgrown, open you up to further growth, satisfaction, independence and success?