Are You On Track For 2011?

Today is January 20th. You’ve had 20 days to kick off 2011 the right way. You know, MAKE A DIFFERENCE. How’s it working for you? I usually get one of three answers:

• Unbelievable! (face it, they’re lying.)
• Still In The Planning Stage (and when ARE you going to launch?)
• No, Life Still Sucks (buy them a BIG drink.)

The good news is: We’re only 20 days into the new year. You still have time.

There's one caveat, your time is running out. If you want to make a dramatic difference in your life, career, or business, you need to start taking action immediately.

Why? This is how I see a typical year (again, this is how I see it):

JAN - FEB - MAR Critical time to launch and catch your management’s or the marketplace’s attention.

APR - MAY - JUN Moving into the passing lane, accelerating forward, making significant wins. Remember, there are some school vacations and holidays mixed in here.

JUL - AUG Dead time. Everyone focused on having fun with the fam or on the farm.

SEP-OCT Another critical time to impact your management or marketplace, everyone ramping up for the fourth quarter.

NOV-DEC Almost everyone is distracted by the holidays, the weather, etc. Begin planning NOW for 2012.

When are you going to get off your butt and make things happen?

How To Start Fresh In 2011.

We humans are a wily bunch nervous animals. We sometimes let our thinking and facts guide us and other times we let our gut and emotions guide us. At this time of the year, many of us look back at the preceding year and become very critical of our status, behaviors, actions, and results. We kneel and shake our fists to the sky and promise we will change for the better.

And then we start our regular journey — we stick to our new way of life for a little while — a few days, weeks, or months. And then something trips us up — an external influencer, a forgotten promise, or our old friend . . . procrastination. At that moment, all of our fortitude, our plans, and our dreams of change suddenly disappear in an instant. And we replace them with condemnation, past thinking, and surrender. We begin to hate ourselves and think we 'lost our chance' to change in 2011.

Let's change that this year.

I teach this system to my clients every year and most of the time (even I'm not perfect) it works. Enjoy!

1. Make a clear decision on what you're going to change in 2011. Be honest and focus on what really needs changing. Start cutting out pictures of the new you — your new career, your new body, your new situation.
2. Set parameters of your journey. Get a piece of paper and write down where you are and where you ultimately want to be. When you start a trip, you always have a starting point and a destination. You need to do the same thing — make a "AAA TripTik" for your journey.
3. Break up your trip into easily attainable segments. If you are losing weight, set to lose a small amount each week. If you are going after prospects, set your number at what you usually hit each day and then increase it slightly. If you are looking for a new position, begin by targeting and scheduling lunches with key contacts.
4. Build in buffers. This is important — and where most people trip up. Life comes at us quickly and we might forget or drop the ball. Or as I say, airplanes are off-course most of the time, the pilot continuously reorients them back on course. Schedule areas/times if we miss our target, we have the ability to jump right back on board.
5. Track, Track, Track. This is the final step - monitor and measure your progress. If you go below what you plan or even forget, don't get frustrated and quit. Use one of your buffers and get right back on track. The secret is always moving forward — if you drop off, just begin again.

Congratulate yourself — you are taking the first step to change something in your life. Understand, there are going to be a lot of detractors out there trying to talk you out of your behavior, your actions, your beliefs. It always seems they pop up just at the right time when your are at your weakest and they prey on your insecurities to make fun of your plan or progress. Smile and stay on course.

Consistency is the key to your success. Like the ocean, there are soft waves and hard tsunamis, but the water still flows in and out. Keep going, stay true to your course and you will amaze yourself!

What's Wrong With Your Life?

There is a 'must-see' movie coming out in February 2011 called 'I Am', by director Tom Shadyac. It centers around his journey to answer two simple questions: "What's wrong with our world?" and "What can we do about it?"

He meets and interviews a variety of thinkers and doers — remarkable men and women from the worlds of science, philosophy, and faith. Here's the trailer:

I suggest you ensure that you grab as many people as you can and go see it in February. It will probably change your life.

Now this isn't a Rich Gee blog post until I pose a tough questions to my readers:

"What's wrong with your life?" and "What can you do about it?" Oh yes, and one more: "Who can help you?"

Yesterday, my post focused on your 2011 goals (it's right here) and one of the questions was, "What sucked in 2011?" I hoped my solutions helped you construct a plan to make those specific, sucky items go away.

But today I'm asking a more philosophical question — "What's wrong with your life?" What are the more global things that keep your success off-kilter, off-balance, or in Tom Shadyac's vernacular, 'wrong'?

And I don't want to hear, "I don't know". You know. You know exactly what it is — you're just afraid of saying it out loud. Today, tomorrow, sometime this year . . . I want you to shout it out. Loudly.

And then I want you to think of two things:

1. What can you do about it?
2. Who can help you?

Don't just sit there and wallow — 2011 is your manifesto to change it. To take action. TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

And the best part is — there are people that can help you. Your friends, colleagues, family, and yes, complete strangers that you haven't even met yet.

So 2011 is your manifesto to get out there and get back in balance. "The Shift is about to hit the fan."

P.S. As this year comes to a close, I want to say thank you so much for making my blog and my business an unbelievable success in 2010. Thank you and buckle up for some more fun in 2011!

2011: What Do You Want To Change?

Buckle Up — this is going to be a fun ride. Answer these three questions with fast, (1-2 word) specific responses . . . don't just write 'work', write 'client calls', or 'Penske Project'. Don't just write 'business', write 'BNI connecting' or 'new website', or 'product expansion'. I'm looking for you to blurt out items without a lot of introspection. I want your gut responses:

In 2010:

1. What was great?
2. What sucked?
3. What surprised you?

Why 1-2 word responses? I want this to be a fast assessment that only you will see. Keeping it short, easy and personalized will ensure you'll do it. If it was any longer or introspective, you probably wouldn't find the time.

You can't plan for the future without measuring where you are currently. It's like going on a trip — you need to have a destination, a route to get there, and a starting point. I like to start my clients with this as a starting point.

Now you know where you've been and what has happened to you, let's begin to plan your new roadmap for 2011.

In 2011:

1. Based upon what was great in 2010 - how can you do more of it this year? How can you expand it? How can you branch out to other areas? Who can help you grow it bigger and stronger?
2. Based upon what sucked in 2010 — how can you do less of this? Was it because you spent a lot of time doing it and it didn't pay off? Did you hate doing it? What else can you do to get the same or similar results? Who can do it for you so you can do other things that leverage your strengths?
3. Based upon what surprised you in 2010 — why did it surprise you? Was it an action or activity delivering much, much more than you ever dreamed? Was it something you've never done before and found it was exciting to do?  What can you do in 2011 to make your successful surprise more powerful?

These simple guideposts will allow you to either toss bad behaviors or occurrences quickly and allow you to easily identify, quantify, and deliver new growth based upon your strengths.

Make 2011 a powerful and defining moment for your career and life.