Tag: day

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Setting Priorities

The legendary French skier Jean Claude Killy once said he starts every morning with a cold shower; that way whatever happens the rest of the day can’t be all that bad. My approach to the day’s first activity is the same philosophy, so I begin weekdays with 15 minutes of stretching and 15 minutes of sit-ups and push-ups. Most of the time this requires a mental struggle to finish – as I continually remind myself, “Everything is going to be a lot better in just a few minutes.”

Whenever clients ask how to better organize their workday I recommend a similar strategy: “Focus on your most challenging project for at least 30 minutes when you first sit down at your desk; then whatever fires come up later seem a lot less daunting.” After a few weeks of adjusting your mindset, of course, this becomes habit and your productivity soars.

One of the key adjustments of this technique is to avoid checking e-mail. While this high-tech world is great, a major drawback is iPhones, Blackberrys and desktops can take over you life. So it’s important to take back some control. My recommendation is to utilize the “Dr Pepper Approach” and check e-mail three times a day. (That’s a reference to their commercials when I was a kid that suggested drinking Dr Pepper at 10, 2 and 4 provided a pick-me-up.)

Simple changes can lead you to big results. Getting more organized and putting first things first doesn’t take a complete overall… just a little tweaking. It’s a lot easier than taking cold showers. Trust me, I’m a doctor.

(Disclaimer: I’m not really a doctor, but that last line – taken from Dr Pepper’s current commercials – was too good to pass up.)

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Better Results

At dinner two nights ago, our kids took sips of their milk and said almost simultaneously, “This doesn’t taste right.” So I jumped up, went to the refrigerator, looked at the plastic container and proclaimed, “The ‘sell by’ date says it’s still good; must be your taste buds.” My wife, meanwhile, had a different attitude about this situation. She opened the other gallon purchased the same day and poured the kids new glasses. Sure enough, that milk was bad, too. Must have come from the same cow.

Our house – which is one year older than the 12 we’ve lived in it – is starting to have some big things go sour as well. By month’s end we’ll have replaced one air conditioning unit, two hot water heaters and three faucets. Like the spoiled milk, my thought is ‘How did they all know to go bad at the same time?’

In business, so much of success is about hitting expected dates of completion. Whether it’s meeting the deadline your boss asked for that spreadsheet, or delivering a product on the day you promised a customer, it’s imperative to pay close attention to the calendar. Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges my coaching clients typically face is the ability to get their team members to finish things on time.

The biggest reason for this is these leaders are better at abdicating than delegating. They hand off assignments, set off to extinguish the next fire and forget the essential piece of following up to ensure things progress on a steady schedule. Then on the due date, they pick up the phone and ask where it is. Usually, a quiet voice on the other end says, “Yes, I’m still working on that.” What follows is a hurried race for the employee to remember exactly what their boss wanted and quickly reprioritize his own ‘to do’ list.

A better approach is for you, as leader, to set firm deadlines upfront including ‘check-in’ dates where your direct reports share progress and solicit guidance and feedback from you. This tweak in your approach eliminates last-minute surprises, ensures things finish as planned, and keeps you from ending up with a sour taste in your mouth.

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In Search of Leaders

Here in Texas yesterday was primary Election Day… as Republicans and Democrats squared off to determine who represents each Party head-to-head on November 2nd. The big race was for the Governor’s Mansion. Incumbent Rick Perry beat Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on the Republican side, while Democrats chose former Houston mayor Bill White over Farouk Shami, who made his fortune by creating the CHI hair straightener.

Either Perry or White will probably do fine as governor; however, the bigger question in my mind – both here in the Lone Star State and in Washington, D.C. – is “Where have all the statesmen gone?” Political campaigns these days consist of one side chopping up the other… with minimal amount of time spent explaining “Here’s my platform and here’s how we’re going to do it.” Instead of hearing plans for change, the Great Unwashed electorate is served up regular courses of complaints and criticism.

Of course, the shouting displayed in elections leads to the inevitable stalemate by the chosen ones. That’s why Congress continues to point fingers and take sides rather than work to find common ground and take action. Grown men and women act like three-year-olds – unwilling to compromise or accept another viewpoint. Those of us on the outside looking in are left to observe the melee presented in the partisan proclamations of CNN and Fox.

Somewhere George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the founders of this nation are shaking their heads. They understood that putting the needs of the people first is Job One. They gave to receive… and 223 years after signing the Constitution their insight and approach stands as the brightest of lights. Today’s politicians would do well to take a pause and read some history. That would be a better use of their time and your tax dollars than what they currently do on a daily basis.

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In Search of the Guru

Continuing the countdown of the Top 10 things I learned this year:

#7

Go For It – A few months ago I read where Seth Godin wanted to invite a select group of 10 small business owners to spend a day brainstorming. The cost would be travel to and lodging in New York City and a $3,500 charitable donation. I decided to apply and wrote a compelling business case about why the marketing guru should pick Success Handler. He replied immediately with a personal e-mail. A week later, he sent another… notifying us we weren’t among the chosen few. While that was disappointing, it convinced me that I’m one click away from anyone on the planet. In 2010, my biggest Rock is to reach out to a lot more smart people and see what happens.

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This Gun’s for Hire

You may not recall what you were doing exactly 25 years ago tonight…but I remember where I was. At the time, I produced shows for a cable sports channel. That was shortly after MTV debuted, so my co-producer and I decided to take advantage of our access to technology and record music videos for about a month, then throw a party at my apartment complex for our friends to watch them.

A week before the big event, with the help of our director and engineer, we entered the studio after hours and recorded segments to introduce the videos. As amateur versions of J.J. Jackson and Mark Goodman, we named our program “Me and Lee TV.” Once the party rolled around, we were quite surprised – first by the number of people crammed into such a small place, and second that whenever the videos played folks would be loudly socializing…yet as soon as the two of us appeared on the gigantic 24″ screen everyone would run over and listen in silence to our improvisational comedy routine.

The reason I know the date – September 23, 1984 – is because the apogee of our production was the ‘world premiere’ of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark – and it happened to be in celebration of his 35th birthday. The Boss turned 60 today, which means most of the people at that party soon are hitting 50. While I’m amazed at how fast the years flew, today my thoughts are about lifelong friends who are always just a phone call, e-mail or reunion away, specifically Lee, Chris, Mark and Paul…

Once we made a promise we swore we’d always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in a stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
© Bruce Springsteen 1984

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