The manner of "how"....

A quick thought for the weekend…

This week’s has had a huge amount of coverage of the political election in Massachusetts. One of the most important messages of this election is not about specific policies, political parties or ideology. What one of the key points that was made this week was people’s general dissatisfaction with the process of how politicians go about making laws and deals. And it extends to both sides of the aisle – remember no sex, religion or politics!

What was key was the importance that people put not only on the “what” (or goal) but also on the “how” (or process for achieving the goal). We all (myself included) get very focused on the “what”. Rarely do we stop and ask ourselves in depth questions about “how” we achieve that objective. This week the American people gave everyone a valuable reminder that the way in which you approach a goal is as important as the goal itself.

Take a moment over the next week and ask “have I thought about the manner in which I am achieving my goals?”. If you (like all of us) have neglecting this question as of late, take 5 minutes and think about the “how” of achieving our goal and the impact it can have on that success.

Remember it’s is not just where you go but the road you travel to get there.

Have a great weekend.

Don't-ing

So I was thinking on some of the gems my football coaches in high school used to tell us. I would like to share some of the all-time classics with everyone.

- “Line up in a circle”
- “Pair up in threes”
- “Gentlemen, allow me to iterate this for y’all”
- “We are gonna have an hour and a half practice…45 minutes on offense…45 minutes on defense…and 45 minutes on special teams”
- “Boys remember there are 5 ‘S’s of defensive football: Stance, Stalemate, Separate, ‘ccelerate and Tackle!”
- Player looking at a lake with the team””Sure is a lot of water out there right coach?” Coach: “yup, and that’s only on the top”

And yes… these are all true (you cannot make these things up).

But there was one comment that stood out that seemed meaningful. Especially as we are beginning the year and begin to move from thinking about goals and objectives to executing on these goals. During practice one coach used to tell us:

“Son, if you are going to make a mistake, make a mistake by doing instead of don’t-ing”

Grammar aside this one always struck a chord in me. It speaks to the power of being active. In trying to achieve any goal, big or small, you have to actively pursue that goal. And the active pursuit of a goal brings something into play that we all are concerned about. Failure. But what we should remember is that if something does not work out but we are actively trying to hit the objective – that is not failure – that is called trying or learning.

Frankly, if you try something and you see it won’t work and you say we cannot achieve the objective but that is learned from action and learning – that is not failure either that is called experience.

So the only thing to worry about is if you have an objective and you refuse to try to achieve it. That is the only failure, or as my coach used to call it “don’t-ing”.

A mistake from an action is much better than one from inaction – that is where learning and experience come from. Anything that we can actively do can make us better and grow and therefore we should not fear it or avoid it, but search it out and embrace it.

Intention and action are the fuel for our success and anything that comes from that we can make into something positive and something great. Even things that people may label with that word “failure”. So the only thing we have to avoid is being passive. If you have a choice and one involves taking action and one involves sitting back – I suggest we always look at the active step as our default choice. Yes there may be times where waiting back and not taking action makes sense but it should be the exception after thought (an action) and careful consideration because remember what the coach said:

“Son, if you are going to make a mistake, make a mistake by doing instead of don’t-ing”

That one made sense to me.

The best way to predict the future....

Now is the time of year when people want to make predictions about the future. And I am a huge proponent of that as well. Predicting the future is fun way to hone and check your thinking skills. Predictions also allows you to mentally prepare for the future by creating a picture of it so that when things begin to happen you have already started planning for it. Strategic planners call this effect “creating a memory of the future”. So as you see I am big fan of predicting the future as an exercise. But one point that is important to remember with predictions is that you may be dealing with things that are in our areas or spheres of interest we usually do not deal with things that are in our sphere of influence. Or said differently we may care about it but cannot do anything about it to impact the result.

So if you want to accurately predict the future think about the world we control. So when thinking about your predictions it is OK to look at who may win the Super Bowl or what may happen in the November elections but these are not items where will spend our energy because we have no influence. When thinking about 2010 I want you to think about what you can control and think about your predictions there. Abraham Lincoln said “the best way to predict the future is to make it” – and we should all take this advice to heart.

While we may care about many areas we should really focus our forward thinking on the areas that we can control and execute plans to make that future happen. It is very empowering to remind ourselves that we do control our futures in many ways and we should grab that ability and take advantage of it every day. So you and your team’s sphere of influence is take this time to make a bold and specific prediction in your mind, make sure you can control that prediction and spend the year making it happen. It is a great opportunity to focus on that which matters and that which you can do and drive your way to the future you want to see happen.

And our whole advantage comes from our focus and this gives us the ability to be the best in the world at what we do. So in looking forward to the year be focused on what you can control and then see that future you want and then go about making it – it really is the best way to predict the future.

Have a great weekend