If 2019 Was The Best Year Of Your Life, What Would Have To Happen?

Take a moment and imagine it's December 31, 2019. You're sitting back in your comfy leather chair, reading your favorite book, by the fireplace sipping hot chocolate. MMMMM. Looking back over the past 365 days — you realize you had a great year. An amazing, incredible, unbelievable year.

Step One — What would make it an amazing year professionally? A promotion/raise? A huge uptick in business/clients? A new job? What would make it an amazing year personally? Travel to exotic lands? More time with the family? More time with friends? Trying out a new pastime or hobby?

I want you to take a piece of paper and write down your amazing year. What would happen? It doesn't have to be a literary classic — just use bullet points. Your focus should be on speed — get your thoughts down on paper ASAP. Then hone it down to a single mission sentence. "I will be SVP of Operations and increase my salary by 15%" or "I will launch a new line of products and increase my client base by 20%". Maybe "I will learn the piano and take my family to Hawaii."

Step Two — What do you need to do to get there? What steps do you need to take? What actions/activities/tasks? Who can help you? Map out each step you need to take to reach your vision. If you're especially motivated, add timing and deadlines to each task. This isn't the hard/scary part — you know how to get there.

Here's the scary part — to realize 'Your Best Year Ever', you will have to really push yourself. You will have to build your confidence up and combat procrastination and fear. You will be doing things you've never done before, meet people you've never believed you'd meet, and reach new heights never before imagined. You will have to work harder and smarter to realize your dream.

To do this you need Goals (step 1) and a Roadmap (step 2). But you have to keep your eye on the prize to help you modify your behaviors and talents to deliver 'Your Best Year Ever'. Put your goal on a Post-It note and post it on your mirror to see every morning. Reinforcement is key when it comes to goals — it needs to stare you in the face every day.

This isn't rocket science. Many years ago, when Elon Musk sold Zip2, X.com and PayPal, his vision was to change the world and humanity. His goals included reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, reducing the "risk of human extinction" by "making life multiplanetary" by setting up a human colony on Mars. I think he's on his way with Solar City, Tesla, and SpaceX.

You can do it too. I know you can. Oh yes, by the way, Happy New Year!

A Goal Without A Plan Is Just A Wish.

A powerful quote and image (a la Mad Men) to start off your Friday. Next steps to be the person you could have become:

1. Take a piece of paper and pen.
2. Write down what you have right now — relationship, career, possessions, friends, worth, etc. Keep it general.
3. Now write down your dreams — relationship, career, possessions, friends, worth, etc. Keep it general, but THINK BIG.
4. Compare the two.
5. Start developing paths with steps from your current state to your desired state.
6. Start moving forward. Today.

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Set Your 2012 Goals In Two Steps.

It's December. Many people are scrambling to get their end of the year targets complete. Many are trying to reach out to prospects and recalcitrant clients to make that sale. Some are lining up their teams for that final push. A select few are slowly winding down their work for the eventual hibernation during the last two weeks of the month. They all should be taking just a little bit of December to begin laying the foundation for January. And February. And March. And the rest of 2012.

Some people have no time to do it. Some dread doing it. Some are downright afraid to do it. But you and I know it has to get done.

So today, let's get it done together - I will help you do it. Nothing fancy — actually a simple process that I take all of my clients through. So here goes:

STEP ONE - Plan The Big Picture.

Take a sheet of paper (or use my template) and list three (3) things you would like to accomplish in 2012. They can be personal (better time management) or linked to your position (increase my sales by 12%). To the right, list when you'd like to get each one done (I hate the term deadline).

Don't make them too big (increase sales by 112%) or too broad (change the world). Why? The odds are stacked against you that you'll never accomplish them. Keep them small, attainable, and reasonable. If you hit them early, you can always move the target up a bit.

STEP TWO - Break It Into Quarters.

Take a sheet of paper (or use my template) and draw a horizontal and vertical line to produce four equal quadrants. In each quadrant, I want you to place a number 1, 2, & 3 (they correspond to each of Step One's accomplishments).

For each number in each quadrant, I want you to write down two things:

1. What are you going to do?
2. When will you get it done?

That's it. This is your map for 2012. It might change, but you'll feel a whole lot better if you have guideposts, activities, and accomplishments to help you along the way. You can even make it more granular by planning out each month (and each week within the month). If you feel so inclined — go for it!

Finally, this might look too simple or too basic. I agree. But I would rather have someone tackle these simple steps than do nothing.

How To Close Your Year With A Bang (and have fun too).

Here's how to make the last two months of 2011 accelerate to the finish line. But the last two months of the year are littered with holidays, the beginning of bad weather and procrastination. You can still pull out some key working strategies to make both months powerful winners for 2011.

You need to break your time down and devise a plan for each week, each day. Copy and Paste into Word/Pages and then Print this out to list what you can get done each day. So here goes:

NOVEMBER:

Week1: 1st-4th: You're down one day this week: Halloween. Planning week for the next two weeks. Strategize what needs to happen, who you need to see and what results you expect for Weeks 2 & 3.

Week2: 7th-11th - Friday: Full week - Take Action - Hustle. Hit the ground running - make things happen.

Week3: 14th-18th: Full week - Take Action - Hustle. This is the key week - keep the momentum going.

Week4: 21st-25th: Thanksgiving week. Most people are powering down - reach out to key clients and managers to thank them for making your 2011 a powerful one. Use cards (handwritten) or phone calls.

Week5: 28th-30th: Three days. Come back from your Thanksgiving time with a bang. Review what you accomplished in November and begin planning for December.

DECEMBER:

Week1: 1st-2nd: Two days. Still planning - ensure you have a solid action plan for the next two weeks.

Week2: 5th-9th: Full week - Take Action - Hustle.

Week3: 12th-16th: Full week - Take Action - Hustle. People usually start powering down - get a feel for what is happening and keep the momentum going.

Week4: 19th-23rd: This week is shot: Christmas. Take it easy - enjoy this time with your colleagues, team and family. Build deeper and stronger relationships. Take your best client out for an expensive lunch.

Week5: 26th-30th: This is your key planning week: No one is there. Work. Time to look at 2012. Make broad stroke planning goals and activities. If your boss is in, have a meeting and discuss what has to happen next. If you own your business, this is the week to lay the groundwork for a powerful 'start out of the gate' for 2012.

I've run every NOV/DEC like this for the past 10 years and guess what? I surpass my numbers every time. Plan - Hustle - Enjoy — it's the only way to sanely get through the holidays.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. How do you like this schedule? Is it practical? Let's talk. I've worked with a number of clients — and we developed a successful plan to grow tackle the last two months. If you’re not a client . . . pick up the phone and call me — I offer only one complimentary session each week.

Why Leaders Can't Coach.

"All coaching is, is taking a player where he can't take himself." - Bill McCartney When executives coach, they commonly make the mistake of downplaying their role as the boss. Confusion occurs with the associate and coaching fails.

To be clear, a boss is the one who holds people accountable for results. A coach helps people increase their skills to achieve the results.

When executives coach, they usually downplay their team's accountability for results because as a coach, they want to develop their skills. They use coaching to get them to do what they want. That's wrong.

Coaching is not a substitute for performance management. You have to do both and develop clarity with each endeavor. Ensure each team member understands their performance expectations AND coach them to accomplish those performance expectations. It's a dual role — don't mix them up.

Communicate your expectations and ensure you get full commitment.

1. Make sure they understand their goals. Get them to break down each goal and to identify the Who, What, Where, When and Why. This process will allow the How to appear. Steer them when they go off-course and ensure they will deliver EXACTLY what you expect.

2. Get them to mentally commit to their goals. Ownership is key — if they see these goals as yours and not theirs, all will fail. Impart clear accountability — if goals fail, it's their head, If the goals succeed, they get the accolades. It's that simple. If they are stuck or don't know how to do this, I show them how I do it.

3. Give them space to take initiative to reach their goals. Now be a good boss, step back, and give them space. This is a critical time where bosses tend to crowd their team members — give them adequate real estate to reach their goal.

Coach to keep them focused, on track, and to increase their performance.

1. Put yourself in their place and understand their challenges. Each team member has their own strengths and weaknesses. It's your job to understand what they are and where the possible road hazards might occur along the process. Once this is done, you will know approximately where each tipping point will occur and be available to coach them through it.

2. Work with the associate so they can plan all their steps. Get each associate to come up with a process comfortable to them to easily track their progress. The process of planning together allows you to step out of your 'boss' role and to help guide their progress as a coach. Remember it's their plan, not yours.

3. Actively coach them through the process. Develop regular meetings to discuss issues, concerns and opportunities along the way. If they are getting frustrated, help them solve each obstacle by asking questions. Do not attempt to help — this will only move the responsibility from the associate to you. Provide regular tracking to measure where they are and how much farther they have to go. Finally, help break bad behavior patterns along the way — this will help them accelerate and grow during the process.

How do you coach your team?

10 Gifts For You To Succeed In 2011.

As my holiday gift to you, here are my TEN most read & requested posts from 2010:

Set Your 2011 Goals In Two Steps.

It’s December 2011. Many people are scrambling to get their end of the year targets complete. Many are trying to reach out to prospects and recalcitrant clients to make that sale. Some are lining up their teams for that final push. A select few are slowly winding down their work for the eventual hibernation during the last two weeks of the month. How do you guarantee a great 2011?

5 Tips On How To Treat New Employees.

Whew! After a phlanx of interviewees and resumes, late nights, early mornings and lost lunches, you’ve just hired that new team member. Now you can sit back and focus back on work. Not so fast. It’s important as they’re new boss to make this transition period in their life bump- and trouble-free. It will not only behoove you, but will also ensure that your new hire is happy, engaged, enthusiastic, and motivated.

RUN OUT and Get This Book Today.

I LOVE Michael Port. Okay, I’ve never met the guy, but I do love his book. When I run into a good business book (and there are a lot of stinkers out there), I promote it. The man is a genius. He not only develops and publishes the bible on “Book Yourself Solid”, in it, he links to a workbook which is a very powerful way for one to really LEARN his techniques. I use this book everyday.

How You Sabotage Your Success.

I had to FedEx a letter to a prominent executive the other day. Easy? You have to be kidding. I used the same process I coach with my clients everyday. Same template (modified), same process, same delivery. The funny thing is, you wouldn’t believe the myriad of ways the fear, uncertainty, and doubt took over in my mind to stop me from doing this. Just watch my pain.

10 Ways To Have Fun At Work.

You work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 250 days a year, for approximately 40 years. You can either have fun or turn it into a clock-watching, tedious, and painful nightmare. Your choice.

Is Your Career A Rollercoaster Or Are You Driving It?

This week was chock full of incredible conversations with clients, colleagues, partners and prospects! All had wonderful ideas and goals. Kudos! One of the topics that I discussed with many of them was my theory that our world is changing. Are you driving your career?

What’s Killing Your Career? The Laws of Nature.

Newton’s First Law of Motion: An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by a sum of physical forces. This is the typical employee at work today. As long as they have a job, they won’t take any risks, butt any heads, or raise their hand at a meeting. In essence, they are an “object at rest”. And this employee/object will remain at rest (no movement – no raises, no promotions, no new projects, no GROWTH) until “a sum of physical forces” are acted upon it.

I Just Saw An Accident This Morning.

I commute every day on I-95, the most travelled highway in Connecticut. I was in the middle lane, trundling along at 60-65 mph, and the traffic ahead reduced their speed due to congestion. And then it happened.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office – Take Work Home Over The Weekend.

Friday just flew by. And now you packed up your briefcase with folders and ran out the door at 7 PM. You’re planning to do some work this weekend to catch up before Monday rolls around and you’re behind the eight ball. Your first mistake . . .

$14.27 Can Change Your Career. Guaranteed.

Every so often, a person comes along, writes a book, and changes the way people act. Napoleon Hill did it with”Think and Grow Rich”. Dale Carnegie — “How To Win Friends and Influence People”. Peters and Waterman — “In Search of Excellence”. Stephen Covey — “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. And Keith Ferrazzi — “Never Eat Alone”. Here's the next business bible . . .

Get set for an unbelievable new year! - Rich

What's Missing From Your Thanksgiving Table This Year?

Sweet Potatoes? Peas? Squash? Corn? No. Is it a loved one who passed away this year? Is it a family member who is serving our country overseas?

Let's all take a moment and express our love and gratitude for all the people in our lives.

But today, I would like to go a little deeper — what's missing from your INNER Thanksgiving table this year?

Have you lost your job? Have you lost confidence in yourself? Have you lost your clients? Have you lost your focus?

2010 has been both problematic and revelatory for many of my clients, colleagues, and friends. Some are up, some are down.

But the one thing we all need to remember, is that we have the ability to change. To take action. To slowly (or quickly) start turning our fortunes around to where we want them to go.

Only YOU have the ability to change where you are.

Only YOU can make the decision to begin charting a new course.

Everyone else can only be a tool to help YOU accomplish your goals. We can show you how to swing the club, YOU are the only person who must swing and hit the ball.

So at this time of the year, let's all be thankful that we have the ability to take action. The ability to change course.

And the gratitude to realize that Friday is also a holiday — spend some time that day to start taking action.

P.S. Here's a Thanksgiving gift for you to download and enjoy.

3 Ways To Successfully Attain Any Goal In Life.

You have grand designs on your future - unfortunately, you never meet your personal or professional goals. Why does that happen? It comes down to three areas - SRS or Simple — Realistic — Steps (not five, as in SMART, or seven as in SMARTER - let's keep it simple!).

What do I mean?

1. Simple - Keep your dreams simple. Don't make them too complex. If you do, you'll find you will be spending more time deciphering what to do next and questioning if you did it to completion. Simplicity is key. Also break out the goal into smaller, more attainable goals (see #3).

2. Realistic - Be honest to yourself and pick those goals that you can actually achieve. So many people go off half-cocked and attempt something grandiose or unattainable by any measure and then find themselves cashing in again on a failed project, initiative, or life goal. Then they get frustrated and angry. And they never try anything again.

3. Steps - Chunk out each goal into simple and realistic tasks or activities. In addition, look at your goal, if it is too big or unwieldy, break it up into manageable steps. An example might be, "I want to own a BMW Z4 sports car". Normal steps might be save money, research best way to purchase, buy car. A better way to break up your steps would be to have three segmented goals (with sub-goals) that build up to your main goal, ownership of the Z4:

• Finance - a. Ensure constant stream of revenue to pay all bills and have extra left over. b. Investigate a general financial goal for the Z4. c. Develop a time/payment schedule to save. d. Ensure that no unplanned emergencies arise to deplete the Z4 funding machine. e. Find a profitable 'holding area' for the funds saved that will deliver the best interest. f. Ensure your credit score remains high to garner the best interest rate deal. g. Set up goal markers to check off during this process.
• Research - a. Why do you want a Z4? b. Investigate alternatives to the Z4 - cheaper, better, other brands. c. What are the best dealerships? d. Who are the best salespeople that can educate you on the Z4 and get you the best price? e. How much will insurance be? f. What is the resale value? g. Lease or buy? h. Return policies? Warranties? i. Set up goal markers to check off during this process.
• Purchase - a. When are the Finance and Research steps complete? b. Initiate the finance process. c. Plan for any hiccups in the process. d. Sell your current car. e. Make a list of items to check when you sign the papers and pick up the car. f. Set up goal markers to check off during this process.

This is an over-simplified example to show how you can chunk out each step to cover any issue or problem that might arise, but also to move you forward during the process, making each step simple, manageable and motivational, ensuring your success.