Jan 05 2015

340,666 minutes left in 2015!

Published by under Uncategorized

In 1 week, you’ll have 340,666 minutes left in 2015!

What will you do with

                             

your time this year?

 

upsidedown clock

 FACT: As of Jan. 10th, you will have already spent 14,400 minutes of this new year that you’ll never get back! QUESTION: On a scale of 1-10 (10=best), how would you rate your 2015 accomplishments so far?  ONE MORE QUESTION: What will you do with the remaining 340,666 minutes (511,000 minutes minus 1/3 for sleep) in 2015?

~~~~~~~

                                         

Can the last question really be answered? Of course not. How could you possibly know what situations and circumstances will impact your intentions? So maybe intentions are not such a great thing. We’ve heard, after all, that they pave the road to hell, hmmm. And they’re kind of like expectations, right? And expectations breed disappointment, yes?

So where does all this quibbling over semantics actually leave us? Hopefully . . . (aw, wait a minute, isn’t “hopefully” like an intention and expectation combined?). Well then, is this an end to planning as we know it? Do we throw the goals out with the posts? (A little pun there for football fans.) Do we stop having objectives to pursue?

Planning is essential, but it is not a trigger for compulsive pursuit at all costs. Why is this important to consider NOW? Because:

Entrepreneurs are business junkies.

 How do we know that strict, rigid planning fails? Because planning (i.e, goal setting) has been long proven to be successful only if the process of goal setting adheres firmly to specific criteria, and one of these is flexibility. The less flexible, the more stress. The more stress the greater the odds for failure.

There is something to be said for the thrust and direction of many, if not most, entrepreneurially-spirited engines . . . something that is most succinctly put as “living for the moment.” Entrepreneurs instinctively seek immediate gratification and are more focused on the “here and now” present moment than those in other careers.

It’s that old thing grandpa used to say about not putting off ’til tomorrow what you can do today. Entrepreneurs have a powerful need for a quick fix when things start to flounder or deteriorate, or when last week’s “high” begins to wear off. Sound familiar? It’s true.  Look around. Ask around.

Small business owners and operators have mostly learned the hard way –through trial and error and intuitive “street smarts”– that ongoing quick-fix actions are the only ones that get results, and keep businesses moving forward when the tide is changing or the current is a backwash.

But swimming upstream for any period of time can be exhausting to say the least, so the idea of taking immediate corrective/adjustment action needs, in reality, to be tapered only with the commitment to take only reasonable risks in the process, and to always imagine the worst case scenario before proceeding.

Try repetitively asking yourself the following question all during any crisis or critical period, hourly if need be:

 

“Is what I’m doing right this very minute

leading me to where I want to go?”

 

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US     931.854.0474

Open Minds Open Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

God Bless You and Thank You for Your Visit!

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May 10 2014

Healthcare Leadership Can Mean Only One Thing…

Healthcare Leadership Can Mean

                                                                        

Only One Thing… and it’s NOT

                                                                                                                                     

Obamacare or “Lean” Management

 

Thirty years of healthcare and medical practice-development have led me to conclude that some doctors, many therapists and most nurses get it! They understand that healthcare and healthcare leadership is personal, professional and passionate.

Sadly, a great many healthcare business executives and a good number of providers have sidetracked themselves into thinking that HEALTHCARE is all about slogans, smiling doctor billboards, malpractice insurance fees and reimbursement battles.

Reckless opinionated media “reporting” has drawn healthcare providers and business managers into a tangle of confusion. Talking heads thrive on using every opportunity to convolute issues, stir up doubt, be confrontational, and aggrandize politicians who support their network bosses and stockholders. It’s all a game, and we the people are losing.

Increasingly, government political (and more quietly, insurance company) empty suits are playing God. They are continually trying to convince the world that they are answering the call for qualified healthcare leadership. They, after all, proclaim to know more than we do about what diagnostic, treatment, and doctor choice decisions are best for each of us and our families.

They can live in Nevada and pretend to understand what healthcare is about in New Jersey or Tennessee or Maine. I don’t think so! They’re just protecting their own political profiles, pursuits and plans. And many top healthcare executives simply add fuel to the fire by talking and acting like healthcare is simply a maze of administrative or operational management techniques, methods, or styles that they alone have the answers to.

Well, guess what? Reality Check:

HEALTHCARE IS ABOUT PEOPLE!

You’re healthy, you want to stay healthy. You’re sick, you want to get healthy. That’s it! What part of “get and stay healthy” is so hard to understand?

What are all these other hocus-pocus theories, political scams, new tech apps, insurance deals, Congressional posturing, and media “findings” but diversionary tactics? Is it or is it not “dancing around the issues” in an attempt to look good, or to make money, or to win votes . . . instead of just sitting down and solving the damn problem?

Healthcare professionals justifiably rely heavily on emerging technology and associated improvements in methodologies like the Lean” management fad. But (and this is a big but) . . . BUT these are only tools. In the wrong hands, even a hammer can miss driving nails.

The bottom line is that leadership in healthcare

means stepping up to more than a diagnostic or

treatment provider role. It means having an

Advocacy Attitude . . . being on the patient’s side!

Imagine if every encounter a patient or patient family had with a healthcare provider could be –as was recently noted here in exemplary fashion by Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute provider and provider support staffers– a remarkable, high-five, bend-over-backwards experience . . . professional providers and caregivers acting like advocates on behalf of each patient and family!

Imagine if every patient and patient family could be trained in advance of every provider diagnostic or treatment exam to better manage anxiety. My best guess is that 3-4 minutes of every doctor exam are consumed with getting the patient to relax. With a 12-minute per patient insurance company limit imposed on the doctor in order to be reimbursed, that leaves 8-9 minutes to diagnose or treat . . . none of which ordinarily go well when distress is present. This is not rocket science. It is not a Madison Avenue branding campaign. It is not politics. It is reality.

Done correctly, these solutions cost nothing but initial investments in time and energy and perhaps some coaching. What’s the expected result? More accurate diagnostic readings and better receptivity to treatments. Happier patients and patient families (whose testimonials to others increase volume and referrals), improved staff teamwork, happier provider and staff and their families (who benefit from “take home” method values). Even happier insurance providers.

So, if skills, training and experience are all present, the “tipping point” factor comes full circle back to, yes, bedside manners!

 

It’s the “CARE” in HEALTHCARE!

 

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Oct 04 2013

Entrepreneurial Leadership NOW

ENTREPRENEURIAL

LEADERSHIP MEANS…

 

Being passionate about your ideas and making them work with the help of others. This means, of course, being emotionally committed to what you’re doing 24/7. By doing that, odds are you’ll never have to solicit and recruit others to your crusade. They will see a place for themselves and gravitate there on their own.

When that happens, others’ commitments will be more solid and grounded than if you had gone out hunting for them and then had to talk them into joining forces. It’s a fact: When people make their own decisions about what they want to do, they are happier and more dedicated to achieving results!

Often acting first and planning second. This does NOT mean rashly jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It instead suggests that over-indulgence in evaluating, assessing, diagnosing, and long-term planning (I call it “analysis paralysis”) wastes time, money, energy, and opportunities.

Entrepreneurial leaders take action, make adjustments, act again, make adjustments, and act again. Except for formal loan and investor-required formal business plans, they limit their planning to the short term — hour, day, week, month. And even those plans are temporary and flexible. Watching the finish line causes stumbling and falls.

Always responding instead of reacting. A key ingredient in the success of this pursuit is stress management. Bottom line: If you always respond instead of react, you can never over-react. If you never over-react, you will be faithfully followed. Built snugly into this thinking is this important awareness:

HOW you respond to someone who

or something that is out of control

. . . IS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL.

And we know this because? Because every behavior — yours, your employees’, your customers and prospects — is a CHOICE. It’s just as easy to choose to make a situation easy as it is to choose to make it hard. It may require some conscious stress management effort but, in the end, leadership is measured by ability to gain results through control and responsiveness!

Learning as much as you can about yourself –your SELF– may be the single most important determinant of entrepreneurial leadership because it is the foundation, the cornerstone, of each of the above criteria, and of any others you might add to the list. Without knowing what makes you tick, you cannot pretend to understand others enough to be a true leader. TALK TO YOUR SELF. Oh, and remember to listen!

Hands-on specifics? Keep a journal. Date every entry every day. Separate facing pages into “What Happened” on the left and “How I felt” on the right. This discipline helps sharpen your skills to separate fact and observation from opinion and feelings. Write, draw, diagram, paste photos, spit, whatever floats your boat. It’s YOUR journal.

Attend group and individual “personal and professional growth and development”-type discussion and counseling sessions. Take advantage of local adult education programs that focus on self-expression — from giving speeches and stand-up presentations to writing or painting or photography or music or handicraft courses. DISCOVER YOUR SELF!

 # # #

Hal@TheWriterWorks.com or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals!

Make today a GREAT Day for someone! 

One response so far

Dec 12 2011

The Holiday Stress Express

Alllllll Aboard!

 

 You been takin’ the train to less stress and strain, but the holidays got in your way? An’ now you’re just tired, maxed out and wired… and the bookkeeper tells you you’re broke? Just cha-ching up the big bucks on Visa and PayPal then go find an invisibility cloak!

~~~~~~~

Yes-sir-ee-bob! It’s that time again, only this year most small businesses (maybe 20,000,000 or 25,000,000 out of 30,000,000?) are juggling numbers just to stay alive. And if that sounds even a little bit familiar, it may be time to seriously consider changing your usual holiday habits . . . modify them or let ’em go! 

If you thought you were headed into a blog lecture on cutting back your food. beverage, tobacco and drug intake, and that you were going to get another speech on yoga, deep breathing, egg whites, broccoli, sleeping eight hours, jogging in place, and counting to 10 when you feel upset, rest assured you can keep reading.

Let’s say you’re one of those hot-shot entrepreneurs who feels the need to go to exorbitant lengths to prove your business prowess by doling out a few tons of gifts to relatives, friends, employees, and customers you want to impress. Ha! Stop right there! Rein in your fantasyland generosity. Replace it with reality. Get your brain in gear!

Reality is: misappropriated gifting and charity (however well-intentioned) can strangle your ability to be truly giving and charitable. In other words, give from a position of strength. And if you’re not there, don’t push it!

If you choke off or compromise your own resources, you limit your ability to make a difference. Yes, everyone wants or needs more. But the more you give, the more you’d better have to start with, or you end up with no more.

First off, giving is not about dollar value, it’s about thoughtfulness. Gift cost doesn’t impress people as much as gift matching the recipient. This is kind of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of gift-giving. Every great leader will tell you that–on the job– nothing motivates as well as matching rewards with true needs of each individual.

Well, with gift-giving, nothing pleases like a gift that “fits” the receiver. Giving something that’s INexpensive but that fits somone’s personal interests makes a statement that you care more than a gift that costs ten times as much but has no personal appeal. [Where do you store all those old wedding gift bowls and vases and . . .? ]

There’s never a need to try to buy your way into the favor of others (if there is, you might want to start trading off friends and family for others who simply appreciate you for who you are). This is especially true at a time when the only positive economic indicators are coming from the White House and media talking heads.

Don’t let limited financial resources limit your wisdom, or your ability to expend more effort pleasing others than trying to impress them.

                                             

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 10 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…” S”

Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

“S”…SALES STRESS 

 

Looking for the competitive edge? Want to make a difference? Small business owners and managers  can never have enough input on the “S” subjects, sales and stress. There are plenty of other key “S” subjects, like stick-to-it-ive-ness and startups, and social media and SEO … but there are also a ton of resources available on each of these subjects.

Well, I guess there are also plenty of info bites out there on the subjects of sales and stress, but it seems to me that these two S’s stand head and shoulders above the other topics for daily, immediate concern, and the need to have new info and input on an ongoing basis.

Besides, one creates the other.

                                         

Sales (the career, the quotas, the goals, and the act of selling) produce enough stress for one business owner or manager as would be needed to probably topple any six corporate muckity-mucks or any 200 government employees!

And “stress”? Actually stress –when it’s properly channeled– can be a great incentive and catalyst for sales. Stress, remember, is not always negative. We need a certain amount of stress just to sit up straight in a chair, or to be productive with our  computer keyboards (or with one another.

Dealing with negative, or over stress or distress, is typically handled by professional therapists with one (or a combination) of these tools at their command — guided imagery, deep breathing, exercise, meditation, Yoga, laughter, psychoanalysis, or role-playing, among others.

If you REALLY want to sell, get your target market to exceed the five senses (speaking of “S”). Here, for example, are mine:

Taste………. sushi

Touch…….. sex

Sight………. puppies, flowers

Sound…….. the ocean

Smell……… red wine splashed over barbequing beef

When a marketer can top –or even come close to– any of these triggers, I’m sold.

                                                

What are the triggers into YOUR five senses? How about those of your target market? How can you use words and illustrations to represent the five senses. What about “scratch ‘n’sniff” print ads, piles of ice or foam on a billboard photo, commercial background music or natural sound effects? A fast-paced “click-to” video?

Even with all of today’s instantaneous communication capabilities and daily information overload existence, nothing has ever even come close to duplicating the sales appeal of the five senses. To capture just one of these, triggers others. If I get you to imagine tasting a food product, you might very well also smell it.

Every purchase is the result of igniting an emotional buying motive. So, while burning down a small cardboard house may sell homeowner insurance, it’s also over the top. The challenge is to stay within the boundaries of good sense and reasonability when you reach out to ignite fuses to the five senses.

What is your business doing right now that takes advantage of your product or service ability to appease or enhance one or more of the five senses? How can you build on that? In other words, is “Mmmm-mmm, good!” enough… or should you also show steam rising from the soupbowl? Smiling faces of cherub children? 

                                                                           

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jun 19 2011

Life In The Fastlane

Think you have

                         

a busy business

                                         

 and lead a busy life?

                      

Think about this quote

                       

…and this 60-second bullet list!

                                                                    

 

Pretty scary stuff to be banging around your brain, eh? It’s no wonder you get yourself stressed out. Just think about the information overload comment and what’s happening in every passing 60 seconds worth of cyberspace. I mean,  any entrepreneur in her or his right mind could easily almost die or justify opting in to becoming an ostrich. 

But, no. Here you stand, taking it on the chin (and in the wallet)! You are in it, and you’re going to make it work for you because you are not a quitter, because you’ve got guts and gumption, because you believe in your ideas. What’s missing? Sometimes you teeter on the edge of not believing in your SELF. Sometimes you need a re-charge.

Well, step right up, business and professional practice owners and managers and operators and partners and investors! I know you think you’ve got a “killer” business, so I’ll tell ya what I’m gonna do: I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. Are you ready?

Here’s the deal: You stop reading newspapers and news magazines and newsletters . . . stop watching and listening to news reports and programs . . . take more deep breaths than ever before . . . think more about your family than you normally do and say a few more prayers than you’re used to . . . for 21 days!

If you fail to make something of really major importance happen for you and/or your business in that amount of time –21 days, but you must follow the news abstinence path outlined– I will devote a full blog post to promoting your business interests for free plus provide you –also free– with a professional news release you can use.

I’ll even throw in step-by-step personalized professional guidance on how to make it work . . . Over $2500 worth of professional services for FREE if you fail to succeed with the approach outlined above. No strings attached. No gimmicks. I will not try to sell you on anything else, or on any extension of services.

This is a straight ahead offer.

If you are successful, you get –free– a full 45-minute customized and personalized telephone consultation on how to make more effective and more economical use of your planned and existing marketing efforts. No strings attached. No gimmicks. I will not try to sell you on anything else, or on any extension of services.

This is a straight ahead offer. 

Deadline: You have until July 29th to stake your claim. I will expect a dated, detailed report of the steps you take and the results you produced or failed to produce. You can contact me by email or phone message anytime, and I will respond promptly.

You have nothing to lose except news

(and that never changes anyhow).

                                                      

# # #

                                                   

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Mar 23 2011

Talk To Yourself!

When all else fails, get in the

                                         

closet, or under the covers,

                                   

or lock yourself in the car

                              

. . . and talk to yourself!

 

 

Let’s face it, nobody knows more about your business than you. You can collect ideas and information from everyone who works with you, even those who work against you (like, for example, disgruntled people you once fired, or competitors, or in-laws ;<) and –as yesterday’s post suggested– single-digit-aged kids, but . . .

BUT sometimes, when you’ve got a problem brewing, that’s like sending someone else to the doctor’s office to get a check-up for you.

Only you can know what ails your business.

                                                                                             

Yeah, there’s government incompetency, over-regulation, sky-high taxes and fuel costs approaching tsunami proportions, plus other stuff that you can’t control (um, I did mention in-laws earlier?). There is, however, a whole lot you CAN control that you’ll find out about when you talk to yourself.

By the way, take notes!

Here’s how to dig deep under your skin, inside your gut (yucht!) and produce some viable solutions to the problems that threaten your business.

Follow these 17 steps to happy resolution and stop beating your brains in:

  1. Cancel your appointments for the afternoon.

  2. Find a private place.

  3. Go there.

  4. Take no hostages: no other people; no cell phones (torture, huh?); in fact, take no electronics of any kind (that means no radios, no portable WiFi’s, no leftover pieces of your dog’s Invisible Fence, no “Beam me in Scotty” magic rings!).

  5. Take some deep breaths . . . until you’ve wiped clean the slate in your head that has an agenda on it.

  6. Take some more deep breaths (can’t have too many of these!) and tell yourself (out loud) about all the things you’ve been doing right since the year started. Make a list. Yes, quote yourself! Actually write your brilliant comments down on a piece of paper.

  7. In each case, identify the key ingredient that made the situation work out positively. Say it out loud to yourself, and, yup, write it down!

  8. Are you still breathing?

  9. Next, zero in on the 3-ring target you draw. Announce out loud to yourself the number one most immediate problem that needs fixing. Write it down. Put it in the center circle. Next, state and write the number two most immediate problem that needs fixing, in the first ring, then state and record number three in the next ring.

  10. Take some more deep breaths.

  11. From your initial list of what you’ve been doing right, what key solution ingredient did you use that could be applied to your targeted issues? Say it. Write it. What’s left? 

  12. Write down what you might have thought about doing about any leftover problem(s) ten years ago. Don’t “Yes, but” yourself. Just write it down. Now put your pen and paper down, and sing a favorite song to yourself. If you can’t think of any, “Happy Birthday” works just fine. (I did tell you you needed a private place, right?) 

  13. Take some more deep breaths.

  14. Return to your target and speak out then write down three ways you could use to solve the remaining problem(s) — the first three that come to mind. Which of these is the most realistic and most practical? Need to re-invent your business? Re-invent yourself?

  15. Do it.

  16. Go back to work.

  17.  Have a great day! And remember, you have all the answers. Just reach in and grab them. And keep talking to yourself! 

 

# # #

    Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Dec 20 2010

Business as usual? Not tomorrow!

Tomorrow

                        

is the 2nd day

                      

 of the rest

                            

   of your life!  

                                                           

So, “business as usual” is an expression left over from the days of yore. Get rid of it! Click on Delete! There is no such thing anymore. No business that’s managed to survive this long into this dying quail economy has a “usual” anywhere on its plate.

This is especially true given The Great Global Warming reports whose noteriety earned an infamous Nobel Prize on the cusp of all the extreme cold temperature onsets. 

I mean, consider that business climate (as we used to know it) has been under crippling storm interferences from the Nation’s capitol, and from deadly mass media manipulations blowing out of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

If we look over here, at this gathering high pressure system in the Midwest we can probably trace back its origins to corruption in the Chicago area which was stirred up by former community organizers and regularly energized by “Hollywood’s finest” over on the left coast.

Ah, but you only (and rightfully, I might add) want the bottom line: Will it rain or snow?  

Yes. Depending on where you are, at least one and maybe both!

                                                                                  

Whatever you’ve suffered to date in trying to keep arms distance from the incompetent government’s meddling hands and from the pathetic examples set by America’s corporate giants, is bound to get worse before it gets better. But it need not get worse for YOU! That’s your choice. You have the ability to stay in control of your ship and steer it through the coming storms. 

It will take some preparation and a vigilant sense of readiness, but you know what? You’re a pro at that! You’ve proven it by getting this far. Take time this week and next to enjoy your family and rest your business brain. But don’t hang up the phone. This is the most ideal period of the year to think about direction instead of survival.

Map out where you’re headed. Check the long-range weather reports and plan course corrections accordingly. Start to look at the prospects for added revenue streams that do not stray too far from your basic business. Begin piecing together a branding strategy and approach that can take you one step up on the competition.

Look a little harder for the opportunities that are there in the corners, the ones you might have passed over before you restructured or streamlined operations. You may have to “knuckle under”! That’s an expression that does still apply. Here’s another:

Open minds open doors.

                                                               

Pay attention to proper, productive goal-setting. Pay attention to your SELF and your stress levels and your health (because the best open minds and open doors in business mean nothing if your body locked up and shuts down!) Stress, today, may not be greater than in other generations, but it’s certainly quicker, so you need keep pace –and set the pace– are you ready? Set? Go!

  # # # 

302.933.0116   Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

2 responses so far

Dec 19 2010

GOT GUTS?

Headed to 2012–and

                               

your business

                             

is still breathing?

                       

You got guts!

        

It takes more, much more, than an MBA, family inheritence, or good luck to have a living, breathing business survive this still-spiraling economy. It takes guts.

Guts? Right. You must have ’em, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Okay, enough with the backpats, where do you go from here? Yeah, into January, right. I know. But beyond that, what?

Since you’re an entrepreneur preoccupied with making your idea work, you’ll probably be doing all your gift shopping online, or running around at the 11th hour grabbing stuff off what’s left on nearby retail shelves.

If that’s not the case, and you’re a true romantic who has planned every inch, and had a thousand hours to plan and organize and wrap, you’re probably a corporate type who did all your Christmas shopping in July, and not reading this anyway.

So, here’s a thought: What about taking yourself through a group brainstorming experience —  by yourself?

                                                                                  

Is that like suggesting that you do a multiple-personalities thing? Yes, but not so close to the edge that you’ll need a shrink by New Year’s.

I’m suggesting you start with a pad and pen or pencil (if any of those tools are still within your reach). Laptops and all those other hand-heold devices just don’t cut it! They don’t give you enough time to think.

Besides a little practice with that lost art called handwriting, the experience alone could be a good stimulous (speaking of which, Red Bull isn’t a necessary accompaniment, but you may want a cup of coffee?). 

Next, turn off your cell phone; I promise the world won’t end. Then find a place where you won’t be interrupted. (HA! Talk about challenge!) Maybe it has to be a locked car in your driveway?

At the top of your page, write the one business issue that is most important for you to address in 2012.

Be realistic.

Draw a vertical line down the middle of the page.

                                                                

Put a + (plus) sign on the left and a – (minus) sign on the right. Start to write down everything you can think of (in the left-hand column) that could be a positive outcome of resolving this issue. Everything you imagine as negative on the right. Think freely.

Don’t criticize or second-guess yourself. Instead, go back over your list from the perspective of what you imagine to be your most trusted advisor or most valuable employee. How would it change?

When you’ve given these two columns about 10-12 minutes for each of your split personalities, STOP! Take a swig of coffee. Take some deep breaths. Rub your hands together briskly.

Next page: Write down the three steps you can take on Tuesday, January 3rd, to make some of that left-hand column stuff on your first page start to happen. Rank order the priority of steps.

Make some specific notes about the who, what, when, where, and how each of those three steps can/should/will occur.

Give them a timeline.

Be realistic.

                                                                           

Keep it all flexible: your rankings, your steps, your timeline, and what you expect for results (yes, without this, it’s hard to know why you’re pursuing anything) . . . flexible.

If you get close to the date and it’s not going to happen, don’t whip yourself (that’s hard to do anyway), just move the date. If the steps involve money or other people, leave them flexible enough to adjust in case things don’t go swimmingly (which as you know, they rarely do!)  

Fold up the pages. Put them in your pocket. Type them into your computer tomorrow (not today) and edit them in the process. Share the information as appropriate.

Congratulate yourself for doing goal-setting the right (most productive) way. Now make it happen! And stop worrying. Remember, you got guts!

 # # # 

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

No responses yet

Dec 14 2010

Make Something Happen NOW!

The quickest fix for

                                         

“Nuttin’s Happenin'”

                                   

. . . is to ACT NOW!

                                                               

NOW, while we’re on the cusp of

The Great American Work Slowdown. 

                                                                                                    

Christmas is just a week from Saturday. Everyone (except for rambunctious entrepreneurs–there’s some other kind?) is moving more slowly at work. The rank and file are increasingly preoccupied with office and neighborhood parties.

Could this be true? Is it just my imagination? Are you grinning nervously at that thought or at what I might be tossing your way in the next couple of paragraphs? 

                                                                                                 

Well, if you’re in that “rambunctious” crowd I mentioned, you probably wait ’til the last minute to shop, hate to waste time making the festive rounds but find that a couple of stiff drinks help make those swashbuckling business status-climbers and oozy neighbors a little more tolerable . . . and it’s all good practice leading up to that big week of dysfunctional family gift-giving gatherings! 

                                                    

Put your mouse down for a nap.

                                                                

Get up from your desk or work station or laptop, and stop reading this blog (I trust you that you’ll come back). Now, DO SOME thing. ANY thing! It doesn’t matter what you do. What matters is that you do SOMEthing.

Take a walk around the block. Eat a cookie. Take a bathroom break. Turn the music on or up. Draw a picture. Get away from the monitor and keyboard and take some deep breaths. Shake your head like a wet dog. Clap or briskly rub your hands together. Take a slug of cold water.

Appreciate that by breaking your concentration, you are also breaking some element or accumulation of stress.

Don’t quit yet. Don’t rush back to the screen. Gently close your eyes and take ten seconds to massage your temples or the back of your neck (counter-clockwise stimulates more blood flow).

Pick up a pen or pencil (you DO still have one?) and a piece of scrap paper. Write or draw or diagram the first thing that comes into your mind . . . like a creative branding theme exercise

It absolutely doesn’t matter what you record (and no one but you will ever see it anyway).

Go ahead. I’ll wait. ………. Good!

                                                        

Next, draw or write or diagram the first thought you have about something you can do at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning to pump up or booster-shot some part of your business into action right away.

Maybe it’s a new direction. Maybe it’s solving a nagging problem. Or it’s reviewing reports or articles you’ve been shoveling around, or checking websites you’ve been intending to visit, or having coffee with the new (or oldest) employee (or supplier/vendor/sales rep) and listening?

Perhaps you haven’t made enough time lately to initiate collection of customer feedback? 

No matter how small a step, just make it an ACTION step. SOME action always beats NO action! I hear from blog visitors all the time that success comes from having a bias to action. Do you? 

# # #

 

www.TheWriterWorks.com

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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