Jan 04 2016

IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK, YOU WILL HAVE 340,666 MINUTES LEFT IN 2016!!!

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Age & Aging,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Calendar,Change,Choosing Behavior,Corporate Management,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Gestalt Therapy,Goals,Happiness,Innovation,Leadership,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Productivity,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Relationships,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Stress Management,Tactics

What will you do with

                      
sleep

your time this year?

 

 

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 2016 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 2016?

~~~~~~~

 

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?”

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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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Apr 06 2011

PROMISES TO KEEP

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Politics/Gov't,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Reputation,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Small Business,Trust

Ah, yes, and yet another great 

                                                     

business lesson from

                                           

Mr. Obama

                                                                                                            

 

Just imagine where your business would be if you kept only 24% of the promises you make. Now that may be some heavy-duty food for thought, but it shouldn’t be hard to answer the question. How about: “belly-up!”? That would probably be a realistic answer. 

The sad truth is that this 24% wasn’t plucked out of the air.

 It’s what was reported in today’s satellite radio world news as the percentage of promises that Mr. Obama made during his 2008 campaign that he has actually fulfilled.

I guess, for a politician, that’s staggeringly great, but –for you or me– we’d be out of business!

                                                                                                                             

Just another reason we need to believe in (and fend for) ourselves and other small business owners. Just another reason to not trust politicians. I mean, the man was apparently counted at having made 550 some odd promises and –in the face of the good old political standby motto: “Under-Promise and Over-Deliver”– proceeded to do exactly the opposite!

Gee, great example, huh? Y’think our kids and grandkids should be taking lessons in good conduct and leadership from the man who pretends to exercise both? It’s not just a sad commentary on the times, it’s a disillusioning, amoral, disgraceful behavior pattern that surely we do not want to instill or nurture in our young people.

And, unquestionably, we cannot afford for our businesses to practice this “Promise ’em anything, but deliver less than a quarter of it” attitude. There’s just so long it can be masked with fake smiles and polished oratory. Customers will not keep lining up to buy anything. It is just not the way that honorable and smart businesspeople behave.

Even though voters have proven themselves utterly stupid time and time again, customers aren’t stupid.

Money straight from the pocket (even if it’s just a bunch of nickles) is more carefully analyzed and evaluated than the trillions none of us can relate to that slowly drain our assets and resources over decades.

                                                                                                           

So what’s a small business owner to do? Keep exercising caution as you spend, but –more importantly– exercise integrity. Be honest in your dealings with others. Win a reputation for it. Keep your promises. At all costs, even when you end up dented, honor your commitments. Deliver what you say you’re going to deliver.

And stand up for yourself, and for the authenticity you use to conduct your business, by taking a leadership role in representing to your elected officials –from your town hall to the White House– that you will no longer stand for deception and manipulation and outright lying about what will be delivered. Intentions alone don’t win OR work! 

Nip corruption and empty promises in the bud! Make more of an effort every day to serve as an example to others of what you believe is possible for your business and your industry or profession . . . and your government. When enough of us do it, enough others will sit up and pay attention.

There are 30 million small business owners in America. Surely we can make a difference. It starts with you, today and tomorrow morning. 

 

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www.TheWriterWorks.com or 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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Jan 24 2011

What Do A Do-Dah Do?

Published by under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Creative Thinking,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Gestalt Therapy,Good Health,Leadership,Lifestyle,Mental Health,Motivation,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Productivity,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Sports,Trust

Do-dah’s practice

                    

the three Dah’s:

                                               

“Shouldah”  “Couldah”

                          

and “Wouldah”

 

When did you last embark on a Dah Mission? First off it’s been said by far better men than I that the Shouldahs run together in the woods with the Couldas and the Wouldas.

All three of those Dah’s pump themselves up with regret over their conscious and unconscious choices they’ve made to reject the Dones. There’s I Shoulda Done, YOU Shoulda Done and WE Shoulda Done (whatever the stuff is that never got done!).

And, yes, there is of course the I/YOU/WE applications to Coulda Done and Wouldah Done as well.

Everyone passes this way at one time or another. Those who get themselves stuck in thinking about past events and situations that they or others mishandled (or never handled) are the ones who traditionally become and create problems for others.

Dwelling on the past is as emotionally and mentally (and frequently physically) unhealthy, as worrying about the future (which hasn’t yet come and maybe never will!).

Focusing on what might have been, on what should have been done or could have been done or would have been done, is as nonproductive a waste of time and energy (and often, money) as the underpinnings of those notions advanced by naive leaders that “HOPE” will solve all problems.

Wishing whets appetites for failure.

ACTION, not hope, is what makes things happen.

When you hear one of the three “Dah’s” worm it’s way into a discussion, treat it like a yellow caution light. Slow things down and bring attention back to the reality of the moment.

Emphasize specific steps or suggestions or directions that can be addressed. You drive through a yellow light at your peril.

And, by the way, it’s pretty hard to get where you want to go by driving in reverse, by leaving no stone unturned in assessing and evaluating and analyzing what happened that shouldn’t have, what didn’t happen, or what went wrong.

If it’s not life or death, get on with it. Take a minute to learn from experience instead of burying it under reasons and excuses, then move on. Who did what to whom doesn’t matter when forward motion is what’s called for.

We are a nation of sportaholics and we have brainwashed ourselves into analyzing things to death. We literally live for instant replays.

And just think about how much more detail we can pull out of a replay that we’ve seen three or four times. Sports talk radio stations regularly hear from callers who want to debate a game play that they’ve replayed 12, 15, even 20 times! Now THAT’s Do-Dah material. 

                                                          

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302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

“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! 

One response so far




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