Be A Time Management God.

Over the past few weeks, I've been aggregating many time management tips I share with my clients to get more done in the limited amount of time they have.

It's a mix of managing your time more effectively and dealing with that old devil — procrastination. By the way, if you feel you're the worst offender in the world, get in line. We ALL suffer from these ailments:

• Time management is really prioritizing your tasks. If you really want to get something done, block time for each task in your calendar (yes, keeping an accurate calendar is critical). Ensure you add buffer time (prep work, travel time, etc.) or your calendar will fail miserably.

• You will always find an excuse to procrastinate. Procrastination has its own in-built solution, usually involving panic and adrenaline (read this).

• Take frequent, short breaks. Falling back to regroup can help many people recharge and regain focus when things start getting fuzzy or monotonous. Go for a walk, stretch, get a coffee — move away for a few minutes and then come back to it.

• "Perfect is the enemy of good." I develop a good balance of quality and time — I schedule a strict deadline and work to it. The result won't be perfect, but it will be close to perfect every time. My articles take 60 minutes to write — they’re not Shakespeare, but thousands of people read them and let me know how many of my crazy ideas have changed their lives.

• Work for 50 minutes out of every hour. The Pomodoro technique works pretty well for me and many of my clients.

• Learn what your productivity kryptonite is. For some it's surfing, coworkers, surfing, clients, phone calls, surfing — download an app if you don’t have the willpower. There are a bunch of plugins/apps you can download to block yourself from distracting websites: StayFocusd (Chrome plugin) or SelfControl (Mac program).

• Always have a notepad handy. Write down anything/everything you may think you will forget in short form. You can then transfer it to your calendar.

• Plan out each tasks into smaller, more achievable steps. Keep your to-do lists short — meaning nothing more than 2 or 3 steps. I've found that if I follow this, there's a better chance of completing them and less chance of becoming overwhelmed and giving up.

• Go to a public place where we feel we might be judged if we are not doing work. It might be the public library, Starbucks, central conference room or the company cafeteria.

• Make a schedule of what you will do in one day and stick to it. At first, it will be difficult to accurately estimate a solid workday — but you’ll get better at it with time. Reward yourself for achieving your goals that day — you deserve it.

• Buy this book by David Allen. I read it years ago and I felt more relaxed in the first week — it really helps you to focus on the things that really need to be done.

• Find out which hours you are at your BEST. For example, I’m a morning person so I try to do critical tasks early in the morning. Many problems arise when we try to do the hard stuff when we’re not mentally/physically ready for it.

• Eliminate elements which tend to eat your time like unnecessarily long phone calls, useless chats with people, etc. Figure out what they are and cut down doing them.

• Don't play the victim. If I get distracted by something, it isn't the fault of what/who distracted me, my cluttered-brain, whatever's making me sad, or some ADHD affliction — it's my fault. I did that. Own it and move on.

• Start each day with the proper mindset. I think the song ‘Don't Stop Believin’ by Journey describes the mindset I aim for. I listen to motivating music, podcasts, or books EVERY DAY.

• Buy AirPods. They’re a giant productivity boost for me — they allow me to focus on getting important things done and they discourage wacky interlopers.

And finally, my favorite:

I construct each weekday in such a way where the only work that needs to be accomplished is incredibly important to me — like coaching my clients. Try to put yourself in a position where what you do is what you love.

How To Get Everyone To Return Your Calls.

You’re not going to believe this, but I hate the phone. You would think as a coach and someone who runs a highly successful business, being on the phone all day would be fun, exciting, and powerful. It is for coaching — I get energized! It is for colleagues, friends, and family — we can talk for hours.

It’s when I have to either cold call or play the dreaded phone-tag. That’s when I want to throw my phone out the window. Why?

Because most people don’t return calls. And if they do, they pick a time when it’s impossible for you to answer them (I think they strategically pick these times).

Let me give you a scenario that happens to me infrequently:

I get a prospect that has either heard me speak, read my articles, or has heard from a powerful friend about how I changed their lives with my coaching.

They call me up for a complimentary session, we have it, they love it, and will get back to me within 24 hours to let me know. Then they fall off the map. I try to call them and follow up leaving voicemails, email, etc.

No response.

Then one day, I was at my sales team meeting and a close colleague of mine gave me the secret to virtually compel people to call you back. And it works like a charm.

I send a short, simply worded email and end with three choices. Here’s what I write:

Dear Ryan Reynolds,

I really enjoyed our coaching session a few weeks ago. It’s rare when someone comes to me with clear business issues and the energy to deal with them. Kudos!

Near the end of our session, you were excited about coaching with me, but you said that you had to think about it and get back to me the next day. Over the past few weeks, I’ve endeavored to reach out to you via phone and email since I am holding a March coaching spot open for you.

There must be one of three reasons why we are not connecting:

1. You are no longer interested in coaching with me.

2. I have offended you in some way during our coaching session or through my messages.

3. You’re too busy with work to get back to me.

I await your response. Regards – Rich 

Within one business day, the prospect calls me at my office, guaranteed. It happens every time.

They always start out with, “You haven’t offended me in any way — I’ve just been so busy with work lately . . .”. I always listen, agree, and in the end, they become my client.

Try it — it works!

What techniques do you employ to get people to call you back?

You Can Be The Best You Can Be.

I came up with a simple and powerful tool the other day. I was standing in my office in front of a large Post-It notepad sheet with a red sharpie in my hand (red delivers intention!) — and the ideas just flowed. What did I come up with to help you be the best? To be the best you can be, there are four stages to success — Find Me, Want Me, Sell Them, Close Them. This works for the corporate executive, to the aspiring entrepreneur, all the way to the person in transition. It's simple, it's direct, and it works. Let me explain each one:

STAGE ONE: FIND ME

We go through our lives partially hidden to key influential people and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. We either sit at our desk toiling away, make cold calls to people who don't want our services, or hide at home and send out electronic résumés to closed positions. And we wonder why we aren't moving up, getting the best clients, or landing that dream job. It's frustrating.

The best businesses are easy to find - a big sign, the best location — the ability to stand out and be a billboard so millions of people can see you:

• Executive: When was the last time you introduced yourself to the leaders in you organization? Do they know you?

• Business Owner: New signage, new website, new branding — getting out and touching lots of people?

• Transitional: Keywords on LinkedIn, writing articles, hitting industry meetings, hitting the library?

STAGE TWO: WANT ME

Okay — now we are being seen by the powers that be. What do we do now? We want them to WANT US. How do we do that?

You need to develop your own personal brand that will engage your audience and get them to see your ability, your product, and your talents:

• Executive: What can you do to really help your company? If you've done it, do you brag about it? Be bold.

• Business Owner: What one thing do you do that can change people's lives or fill a hole in their life? Spotlight your brand.

• Transitional: Polish your image and brand - hit the gym, change your fashions, and show them what you can do for them. No begging.

STAGE THREE: SELL THEM

They've seen us and they want us. It's time to sell them and show them we are the best choice (this is where most fail).

You need to develop an iron-clad delivery that will make them better understand what you can do for them and that you're the only person on this earth who can do it. Find the BURNING issue that keeps them awake at night and show them how you will solve it.

• Executive: Think big - what are the real issues your company/industry are facing right now? Figure out some powerful solutions.

• Business Owner: Who are your biggest/best customers? What aren't you doing for them that will change their life?

• Transitional: It's not what you did - it's what you can do for them RIGHT NOW. Pinpoint what that is and deliver it.

STAGE FOUR: CLOSE THEM

Everyone forgets this one. They market, produce the itch, and make the sale — then they forget to close or leave them hanging.

Once you've sold them — get them to sign on the dotted line. Don't feel that it's their job to jump into the boat after you've hooked them — take them off your line and place them nicely in your cooler.

• Executive: Once they are interested in you — try to offer yourself to help them with a major initiative or pitch. You have the time.

• Business Owner: Once they are sold — make the closing process simple, easy, transparent, and fluid. It should be pleasurable for the customer.

• Transitional: Ask for the job. Get them to commit. Show them that you can leave for a better opportunity. Sign on the dotted line.

If you stick to this method and produce key deliverables for each stage — I promise you — you will be THE BEST YOU CAN BE.

How To Eliminate Procrastination From Your Life.

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” - Napoleon Hill “Why do now what can be done later?” - Rich Gee

Face it - we all procrastinate in one form or another. It might be at work. It might be at home. You might be like some of my clients and do it EVERYWHERE.

During my 15 years of coaching business owners and executives, I've found that procrastination can be simplified into four 'obstacles':

1. You don't have enough information/ability/tools to make a decision or act. This is by far the simplest one to tackle. You need to logically obtain the information needed, or required assistance, or the requisite tools to complete the task at hand. Usually we use these three areas as an excuse not to do the task. But when you look logically at the problem, it's usually quite easy to solve.

Example: I hate financials. I put it off all the time. Why? Because when I begin to bill my 20-30 clients, I always run into one client with a credit card issue (expired date, number incorrect, issuer hiccups info, etc.). And the whole billing train stops. I get frustrated (emotions).

Solution: What I now do is clearly and unemotionally call up the client and ask for clarification or another card. I used to hate doing this (see #3 too!). The client always apologizes and I'm on my way. Take the emotion out of it!

2. You find that the task at hand is too big or complex to handle in one fell swoop. This happens all the time — you have a project or initiative to accomplish, but because of the project's depth and breadth, you just don't know where to start and don't have time to finish it in one fell swoop.

Example: I have a series of webinars I want to launch prior to the new year. But there's a lot of moving parts - getting my mailing list together, developing the eBlast message, scheduling on Meetup.com and partnering with GoToWebinar.com for their services. Whew!

Solution: Break it up. Try to do small tasks in order over a period of hours or days. First, write out all the tasks that need to be done — then prioritize them with a quick estimate of how long they will take. Plug each task into your schedule (this is important). Then begin with the first one. You'll find that you will start making progress immediately AND have fun with the small tasks.

3. You are afraid of the consequences of tackling the task. This happens ALL the time - you have either let the activity wallow in the mire for so long or there is one task, person, thing that you don't want to deal with — and that is the area that causes the procrastination.

Example: I don't want to make the decision to purchase the GoToWebinar vs. GoToMeeting (one is quite expensive). So I procrastinate. It's like a dam filling up and about to burst.

Solution: Get a piece of paper and quickly list the pros and cons of the area that is holding you back. You'll quickly find that most of your 'procrastination trepidation' is emotion-based and not fact-based. Once I did this, I immediately made things happen — the dam went away.

4. You just don't want to do it. This is the biggest one of all — because deep down, we are all babies. We don't do things we don't like to do — and that is the main cause of our procrastination.

Example: As a small business owner (and a previous corporate executive), you have a bunch of things to do and it's so easy to put something off — you rationalize the activity to the bottom of your list. This is why my new eBlast isn't out yet.

Solution: Everything is important - but you ultimately need to make the decision to either do it and get it done or kill it and move on to something else. And that is the solution - flip a coin and either begin doing it or kill it. Odds are, you'll want to do it and begin using the other three solutions to start making it happen.

Conclusion: Figure out what is making you procrastinate, take action, and make it happen. DO IT TODAY.

Massive Procrastination — When You Absolutely Don't Want To Do Something.

For years many of my clients have struggled to sit down and get to work when they really, really don't want to (which is most of the time). Most are managers, entrepreneurs or in sales and they have the option of subtly putting things off and procrastinating, and often the urge not to work and surf online instead can be powerfully strong. I call that MASSIVE PROCRASTINATION. During one session, I brainstormed what I call "Activity Gambling" and it's actually been really helpful to many of my clients, so I thought I'd share in case anyone else finds it useful.

FIRST: You need two sheets. On sheet one, draw up a big running to-do list of everything you can think of that you need to do (breaking them down into small tasks). On sheet two, use Excel/Numbers/Word/Pages to develop a horizontal chart with six columns numbered 1 through 6 and 5-10 boxes under each column.

SECOND: Review your to-do list and pick six single, discrete tasks in a box under each number. Ideally, try to make these tasks take 5 minutes or less (this is the hardest part of this exercise).

THIRD: Roll a single die and do whatever task is in the column that the die lands on. Cross out that task and list another item in that column and roll again.

FOURTH: Warning: You might feel a little silly having to do this. But it works and many of my clients LOVE IT. Sometimes they really don't feel like doing anything on that list. But the minute the die is in the air spinning, they are waiting for a number to land.

CONCLUSION: The randomness and the act of throwing the die gets them moving. And once they do that first task, they can usually keep it going for quite a bit before they need a break.

2015 - Essential Tips For The Year Ahead.

This will be a 'user's guide' to help you best navigate 2015 based on the current changes in the marketplace. Headline: Business life as we know it is over. Things are changing at an ever faster rate — so you need to keep up or fall behind. No sitting still or hiding.

1. The idea of keeping your head down, working hard, not making ripples and hoping for the best is gone forever. 

The world isn't over — just the opposite — there are innumerable opportunities out there. So MANY opportunities.

How? Keep your eyes peeled constantly and stay flexible with your projects. Develop a 360° view — what's happening with management, your peers and your team? You can't stay immobile for very long — keep your view and actions constant.

Read This: Extreme Mojo (Or Driving On The Corporate Autobahn).

2. Keep as many options open as possible. 

Little or no options at your disposal invites tragedy. If you have a choice, you then have a way out of the corner you just painted yourself into.

How? If you lose a client, you should have 2-3 waiting in the wings. Keep meeting new people constantly. Keep your resume up to date. Look for new opportunities at other companies.

Read This: How Safe Is Your Career Today?

3. Keep your eye on the marketplace.

Who's up? Who's down? Why? Who are the movers and shakers in the industry? Is there a way you can meet them, get to know them, become friends? How? Start following some of your favorite companies and organizations. Read industry magazines and surf their sites. A well-informed professional is a force to be reckoned with.

Read This: Without A Doubt, The Money Is Still Out There.

4. Keep learning.

Your brain doesn't have a finite amount of space — keep filling it up with new knowledge, new experiences, and new behaviors.

How? When was the last time you read a business book cover-to-cover? How often do you read and follow the Wall Street Journal? When do you meet with peers in your industry for lunch to swap ideas, insights, and stories? You need to start doing it immediately.

Read This: 8 Things I Wish I Learned In College.

5. Take stock of your habits and behaviors.

Which ones move you forward? Which ones hold you back? Which ones do nothing? Understand these habits and begin to change them — it won't happen overnight — but a slow, focused and determined process will allow you to overcome almost anything.

How? Write down some of the habits you know hold you back — procrastination, cocooning, etc. Put in place behaviors which will counteract some of these bad habits. If you cocoon (stay in your office all day) — get out and meet new people.

Read This: How To Eliminate Procrastination From Your Life.

6. Be a billboard.

There are people who want you. They want what you can do. They want your products and services. They just can't find you. How?

Read This: How To Become Unfireable: Be A Billboard.

Don't be afraid of 2015. It's imperative you buck that trend 180 degrees and embrace your future. In good and bad times, there are people out there making a lot of money and getting promotions. You can do it too.

Don't hide. Get out there and do things that SCARE you.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. How did you like this article? Let me know. Are you interested in learning more? Let’s talk. I work with people from all over the world who need to take aggressive steps in their career — call me to schedule a test drive.

How To Eliminate Guilt About Not Doing Everything.

We all like Shiny Objects. We're attracted to them. Like moths to a flame. Whenever a new product, idea, solution, or strategy comes along, we sometimes catch ourselves getting distracted and focusing a lot of our efforts towards our Shiny Object. We want to get our Shiny Object and place it into our 'Shiny Object Repository'.

The Shiny Object can take many forms:

• A new position.
• A new car.
• A strategy a competitor is using.
• A direction recommended by friends.
• A blog post with a 'new' idea.
• A new tool (especially technology).

It can be anything. In the past, when I worked years ago in Marketing, we used to comment on how upper management would get their direction — we called it "Management by Airline Magazine". If a CEO or President saw an interesting article on one of their flights, they would always barge into my office and exclaim, "Why aren't we doing this?"

Some Shiny Objects are good. Some are bad. Let's talk about the BAD Shiny Objects.

These are Objects which take our eye off our agreed-upon strategy. The ones who allow us to procrastinate. The ones who take us from our Destiny.

Why does this happen? My theory: We develop guilt about not doing everything — we are scared we are 'not on the bandwagon' or 'not using the best product, strategy, or service'.

So we get distracted and jump ship.

It's hard to discern Good Shiny Objects from Bad Shiny Objects. The best way to do it is to have a plan, a direction, and a close deadline.

The longer out you set a deadline (say 6-12 months), the more apt you are to be distracted by external Shiny Objects. I usually keep myself and my clients within a 90-day window — it's long enough to get some meaty stuff done, but short enough to see the end game.

Don't be like one of my past clients who, during each of our weekly sessions, would be regularly distracted by what their competitors were doing and what the 'marketing' sites were saying. They would be intimidated, distracted, unfocused . . . and guess what happened? They NEVER accomplished ANYTHING.

What are your Shiny Objects? How do you acknowledge them?

How I Beat Procrastination Every Day.

I just hit 650 articles this morning. About one article every other day for five years*. WOW.

Here's the hard truth — there are two types of people in the world:

1. One who quickly writes a blog post every day. Easily. It flows out of them like a skittles rainbow.
2. One who tries to write every day. It's hard. You start to question yourself — did I write this already? Definitely not a rainbow happening here.

I'm #2. But to have a growing and robust practice, I made a commitment to myself, my clients, and my readers that I would write every other day.

I get up every morning at 4:30 AM, sit down at my laptop, and write (okay — I shower first). And I say this mantra to myself:

• Get it done.
• Don't put it off.
• Make it happen.

And at first, my 'worry' brain takes over and begins to toss out obstacles:

• You have NO ideas. You have an empty brain.
• No one is reading your stuff. Why write it and waste your time?
• You're wasting time on this. Don't you have to check email?
• You are a failure. Think of all the times you screwed up . . .
• Your old friend Procrastination stops by for a visit (the guest who would never leave). Do it later — you'll be better at it.

But then, I wipe all those BS thoughts out of my brain (because they aren't true) and TAKE ACTION. I sit down, open my laptop, and start writing. And guess what? Withing 20-30 minutes, I have a article to edit!

Yes, it's that easy.

As Eckhart Tolle calls it, The Power of Now. "Be present as the watcher of your mind -- of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations."

My interpretation — Don't let the 'busyness' of your worries take over, don't let fear creep in, and above all, don't procrastinate.

As Nike says, "Just Do It." So I write. And write. And write. And guess what?

It sucked at first. But after six months, it's a lot easier. So I keep at it.

Now to YOU:

What one thing are you procrastinating on right now? What are you putting off?

Take the first step and start getting it done. You'll find it's not that hard, or time consuming.

That's just your ego speaking.

*Here's my math:

• 104 Saturdays/Sundays and two weeks vacation give me an approximate balance of 250 working days each year.
• Total working days in 5 years: 1250.
• 1250 days divided by 650 articles equals 1.92 days. So rounding up we get every other day.

Do You Have Career ADD?

I've been wanting to write this post for many months because there's been an exponential increase in what I see happening out there in business. Are you paying ATTENTION? Are you PRESENT when you work? Do you solve PROBLEMS or do you put them off?

More and more, I see a clear divide between two types of people:

One type, let's call them the Makers & Shakers, come to work early, work with excellence, think outside of the box, take calculated risks, deliver on-time (or early), and stay true to their promises. The get the job done and ensure their bosses and teams respect them. Their clients, customers, and vendors sing their praises and they come to the job with a big smile and a positive attitude.

The other type, let's call them the Slackers & Fakers, don't live up to and fall quite short of the Makers & Shakers' level. They are late to every engagement, they do 'just enough to get by' at work, they do the same thing every day without improvement, they are usually late with all deliverables, and over-promise and under-deliver. They rarely complete what they say they're going to do and their bosses and teams regularly have issues with their performance and decisions. Their clients, customers, and vendors are slowly going away or shunning them. Finally, they come to the job with a huge weight on their shoulders and complain incessantly about all the bad luck they're having.

Which one are you? You probably say to yourself, "I'm a Maker & Shaker!". But there's a trick here.

This delineation is not a light switch — it's a spectrum. At one end are the Maker & Shakers and at the other the Slackers & Fakers. Somewhere on that spectrum line falls your present state and your future.

Look back at your current performance (it doesn't matter if you have your own business or if you work for an organization) and score where you fall within the BIG 7:

1. Regularly come to work (or meetings) early or arrive late?
2. Think outside of the box or just get by with the same old stuff?
3. Stay true to all of your promises or over-promise and under-deliver?
4. Get the job done or procrastinate and miss deadlines?
5. Boss & team respects you or they have issues with your performance/decisions?
6. Client/Customers/Vendors love or shun you?
7. A positive and enthusiastic attitude every day or a negative and complaining attitude?

ACTION: Draw a line on a piece of paper and chart where you fall on each of the BIG 7 items. Be honest!

If you have Career ADD, most of your BIG 7 items fall closer to the Slackers & Fakers end. You need to start addressing some of the more serious areas — but the best part? It's a simple choice and your state of mind. Any one of the BIG 7 can be turned around with a concerted, willful effort and repeated attention to not slack back to the dark side of the BIG 7.

It's easy to make the decision — unfortunately, it's hard to make it a habit. You have a lot of work to do.

P.S. In no way is the use of the term ADD in this blog a denigration of people who suffer from ADD. I used the term to capture an associative behavior that impacts the typical executive or business owner.

Image provided by gemsling at Flickr.

The Monster Inside Of YOU.

"We stopped checking for monsters under the bed when we realized they were inside of us." What is your monster?

What keeps you from fulfilling your potential? What keeps you from success? What keeps you from true happiness in your life?

Guess what? It's usually not someone else. It's not an obstacle we can't deal with.

It's YOU.

One of the biggest monsters is Procrastination. We put the important things off. We do the mundane and the simple and forget to do the powerful and influential.

It's evident in the way we conduct our day.

Who should you really be talking to? Don't waste your time with sycophants, half-friends, and time-suckers. Connect and get in front of those people who can change your life, your career, and your current trajectory.

What should you really be doing? Stop checking your email. Stop text messaging funny memes. Stop surfing Reddit. How can you apply yourself right now to deliver instant and absolute success to your career? What is the first step? The second? What would happen if you completed it TODAY?

If you're scared — GOOD. If you're not scared, I haven't done my job. GET SCARED and GET GOING.

Failure: How You Deceive Yourself Everyday.

Wonder why you don't get certain things accomplished? Why you hit the same obstacles every time? It comes down to a simple phrase one of my clients so eloquently related to me the other day:

"I know the little games I play with myself."

You see, we all play games in our head. I know of no one who has a personality which is so buttoned up that they perform at optimum efficiency. We think we know some people like that — but the real truth is — they play games too.

The secret is knowing what the games are and why we do it. It's the what and the why that will deliver the insight you need to move past these games.

What games am I speaking of?

Do you dodge people at work? Do you procrastinate on important things? Do you show up late to appointments and meetings? Do you let important and timely decisions lay fallow until the 'right' moment? Again — we ALL do it. So let's pick an easy one:

"I am always late on paying my bills."

WHAT: "I don't open bills until the last minute." That's the reason or the game we play.

WHY: We are afraid of having reality hit us square in the face. We know we spent a lot this month — now the bill is here and is waiting to be paid. But it might not be as bad as you think. But you'll never know until you open it.

And when you do — it immediately forces you to make a decision — where am I going to get the money to pay this? Or if I don't have the money — I have to get it. I either have to work harder or borrow from savings. AND — here's the best part — it forces us to alter our behavior to ensure it doesn't happen again.

And that's the hard part. But I want you to now place yourself in the spot of someone who opens their bills immediately, schedules or pays them immediately, and moves on. How does that sound? How does that feel? Pretty good.

So why aren't you doing it?

The Secret To Getting Things Done.

Candidly, it hard to get things done. Of course, some things are easy, but many of them are quite difficult. We are always looking for ways to do things better, faster, and with less worry and work. Years ago, I came upon one of the most simple and powerful quotes I've ever read. It's from Mohandas Gandhi, who in his 78 years of life, gave us so many great quotes (and his actions too!).

"Action Expresses Priorities."

That's it. That's MY secret to getting things done.

Think about it — All of your actions, all the things you do, all the things you deliver — set your priorities. Once you take action, you instantly decide what you want to do first. Why? People tend to act upon those things that have meaning to them.

But I think it's deeper than that. I think when you don't know what to do, you need to just take action anywhere and suddenly certain things will start to fall into place.

But that's the problem today — we don't take action. We're afraid to — we procrastinate, over-analyze, and postpone because we are sometimes afraid of action.

Because action will ensure we have to make a decision — we have to do something that is sometimes hard, or we will have to deal with the results of that action.

But what we don't realize is that action moves us forward. It propels us . . . it forces us to rocket faster and faster. And sometimes we are afraid of that.

So ask yourself:

• How can I take action today?
• What should I do first? Second? Third?
• What should I stop doing?

So the next time you are putting off something — a decision, a task, a phone-call — just think "Action Expresses Priorities".

Are You Frustrated? Good!

Work breeds frustration. It's a fact. You get frustrated when people or things knock you off balance, where you're out of control. It could be a late project, or a recalcitrant associate, or a vendor who never gets back to you.

Let's be honest — if everything worked perfectly, all the time, you would be quite bored at your job.

Did you know airplanes are off-course 95% of the time? The pilot or auto-pilot course-corrects to keep it headed in the right direction — it doesn't check once in awhile - it's an ongoing process.

Work needs course-corrections frequently. And the number and severity of the course-corrections are directly related to how much frustration you feel.

Now if everything starts to fail and you lose complete control, one of two things happen:

1. You get angry. You direct your frustration in an emotional manner towards the supposed perpetrator of the issue. You yell, you get mad, and you probably say things that are not found in the professional handbook.
2. You shut down. You lose energy and you become unmotivated. You move on to other projects and tasks and you probably procrastinate on this issue.

What would happen if you turned your frustration the other way? Instead of getting angry or shutting down, you use this situation to MOTIVATE yourself into action?

Turn your normal reactions to frustration into positive reactions.  

Next time, take a look at the more successful people at work or in your life. See how they handle frustration. The ones who are moving up quickly and are happy are the ones who figure out how to bypass their frustration and get motivated to solve the problem. They never let people and things get them down.

Let's go back to that pilot. If they got frustrated whenever their plane ventured off-course and god forbid, procrastinated on doing anything. What would happen?

Now put your career in that same situation. Is frustration, anger, or procrastination going to solve your problem and move you forward?

What techniques do you use to move you from frustration to motivation?

Many thanks to Zach Klein from Flickr for the image of Streeter Seidell.

Task Ninja: Form the Action Habit.

A lot of us get stuck in inaction — procrastinating, doing a lot of unimportant tasks to avoid the important stuff, worrying about failing or about being perfect, having a hard time starting, getting distracted, and so on. It’s time to start forming the Action Habit instead. Get all Ninja on your actions. By Leo Babauta at Zen Habits.

And it’s really not that hard if you focus on it for a little while. Like any other habit, start in small doses, little tasks, just short bursts, and then build on that momentum.

Some quick steps for forming the Action Habit:

1. Figure out your key actions. Focusing on the right actions is just as important as the doing. Don’t spend a lot of time in this step — just quickly decide your Top 3 actions for today.

2. Pick one key action, and visualize the outcome. How will it look when you’re done? Again, don’t spend a lot of time here — just form a quick picture in your mind.

3. Just start. Tell yourself, “Do it now!” Make it a mantra. Don’t mess around with tools, with distractions, with anything that will get in the way of doing this task. Strip away everything but the task, and get going!

4. Focus on the moment. Just be in this task, don’t worry about the future or what mistakes you might make or might have made before. Just focus on doing this task, as best you can. Immerse yourself in it.

5. Get to done. Complete the task. Feel good about it! Pat yourself on the back!

Now repeat with the next task. The more you practice this habit, the better you get. Do it in small doses, and keep practicing. You’ll fail sometimes. See the next section for how to deal with that. But don’t let failure stop you — just practice some more.

Barriers to the Action Habit: But what if you’re having trouble actually taking action? Some quick thoughts:

Don’t worry about perfect. Too often we want to create the perfect plan, but while it’s important to know where you’re going, it’s more important not to get stuck in the planning mode. And while it’s important to do your best, perfection isn’t necessary.

Stop fiddling. Are you messing around with your software or other tools? Are you playing with fonts and colors and other non-essential things? Stop! Get back to the task.

Remove distractions. Turn off the phone, email, IM, Twitter, etc. Shut off the world around you, and just focus on the doing.

Improve it later. Just do it now. You can make it better later. Writers call this the sh*tty first draft — and while it sounds bad, it’s actually a good thing. You’re getting it done, even if it’s sloppy.

Break it into smaller chunks. Sometimes the task is too intimidating. If the task takes more than an hour, start with a 30-minute chunk. If that’s too big, do just 10 minutes. If that’s too hard, do 5. If you have to, just do 1 minute, just to get going.

Stop thinking so much. Thinking is a good thing. Overthinking isn’t, and it gets in the way. Put aside all the thinking (analysis paralysis) and just do.

If you can’t do something … figure out why. Maybe you don’t have the tools. Maybe you don’t have the authority. Maybe you need something from someone else. Maybe you’re missing some key info.

Maybe you don’t know how to do something and need to read up on it, or be taught how. Maybe you just don’t want to do it, and you should drop it altogether. Figure out what the barrier is, and solve it.