ARTICLES
Written By Rich For You.
Go After The Puck.
As Wayne Gretzky said a number of years ago: "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."
Where do you think your puck is going to be in the next five years? Where is your career or business going? Is it thriving or flat? Where is your industry going? Growing or shrinking?
As Wayne Gretzky said a number of years ago:
"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."
— Where do you think your puck is going to be in the next five years?
— Where is your career or business going? Is it thriving or flat?
— Where is your industry going? Growing or shrinking?
These are VERY scary questions to ask on a Monday morning. Let’s be honest — when is the right time to ask?
We tend to hide in our comfort zone — we cocoon in our offices and cubicles or keep selling the same products and services year after year.
Suddenly, someone comes along and upsets the entire apple cart. They not only turn it over, they burn it down. We’ve seen it happen to many industries lately — but we keep sticking our head in the sand hoping to get just ONE MORE YEAR.
I want you to be proactive instead of reactive. Here are three actions for success:
Who is your most connected, influential or successful friend? Set up a lunch with them. You need to start surrounding yourself with success — they know where the puck is going. Do this every week.
Where is your industry, company, clients, etc. are going to be in the next 2-3 years? What’s happening? What’s changing? Who are the change makers? Learn who’s doing what and where you need to go.
Start preparing yourself. You need to get into the mindset that you’ll be moving from company to company every few years. If you own a business, you need to re-evaluate your clients, your products, and your marketplace yearly. Don’t get complacent — that’s a recipe for disaster today.
Go hit that puck. Today.
8 Things I Wish I Learned In College.
Eight things that changed the way I work.
I loved going to college. I learned a lot and grew a lot while I was there. In addition to all the facts and figures, I also learned many intangibles - how to communicate with very intelligent people, how to do real research, and how to solve difficult problems (to name just a few). But there were a few things I either missed or was never exposed to in my four years. During my 20 years in corporate management and 10+ years coaching, I found many different themes bubbling up to the surface time and time again. When it finally cut through my thick irish/polish/russian head, I made it a point of learning the best way to do them and then built each one in as a daily behavior. Here are my Top 8 (not 10, 16 or 20 - the best 8):
1. Change your game often.
Most people get stuck in rut — doing the same things day in and day out. Successful people in business are constantly assessing and changing what they do.
Read this: How To Successfully Change Your Game
2. Staying focused: the Pareto Rule.
If you are not reviewing your daily/weekly/monthly activities, you'll never get a good handle on streamlining your tasks and focusing on the important stuff.
Read this: How To Be Successful Every Day Extra credit: How To Be More Effective On The Job
3. Effective time management.
If you don't have control of your time, the days will fly by and you'll be wondering where all the time went. Just a few minutes a day will change the way you work.
Read this: Control Your Time By Designing Your Schedule
4. Communicating with difficult people.
It's a fact of life at work — you are going to run into people who are difficult to work with. They can be disagreeable, they can cause problems, or they can be your arch-enemy.
Read this: How To Deal With Very Difficult People
5. Recharging my enthusiasm daily.
No one likes to spend time with a negative person. Let's be honest, we don't like to spend time with neutral personalities either. Who do we love to spend time with? People who energize us — people with enthusiasm.
Read this: If You Aren’t Fired With Enthusiasm, You’ll Be Fired With Enthusiasm
6. Being proactive (not the face-cleanser).
Don't procrastinate and take charge of your career — what needs to be done and what can you do right now to ensure everything flows smoothly?
Read this: No Time? Focus on the Important
7. Keep people happy — under-promise & over-deliver.
This is a really hard one to overcome because we are trained at an early age to please other people for acceptance.
Read this: How To Make Your Boss & Clients Happy All The Time
8: Don't be so hard on yourself.
We drive ourselves hard and frequently pick on our actions - "That was stupid!" or "I can believe I did that!". As I tell my clients, there's a level where internal 'pushing' is good and then there's a level where it becomes a negative force in your life. If you make a mistake the first time, treat it as a learning experience. Hold off the self-recrimination for the 2nd or 3rd time you do it.
Read this: How To Never Make A Mistake At Work