What Are You Afraid Of . . . Failure Or Success?

At some time in our careers, we self-sabotage. We know we need to do 'A' to move forward, but somehow we find ourselves doing 'B'. And 'B' isn't as good as 'A'. In fact, 'B' might make us take a number of steps backwards. But we do it anyway.

Why? Fear of Failure & Fear of Success.

Fear of Failure is simple - we don't want to attempt something if we feel that it's going to fail in the end — a sales call not attempted, a higher price asked, etc. We retreat to that safe, warm, and fuzzy place in our heads that takes us away from all possible failure scenarios. Unfortunately, you might be wrong — that call or price might be accepted and you suddenly move forward at a blinding speed with your career . . . and that's where fear of success steps in.

Fear of Success is even more insidious and calculating than fear of failure. It hides in the deep recesses of our psyche and when it comes out, we usually don't even notice it. Fear of Success sabotages our ability to make great leaps forward in our career by preying upon our irrational fears.

So how do we fix this?

Fear of Failure - Just do it. Most of the time, we are just putting up obstacles to procrastinate and hide of the pain of rejection. But the reality is that you usually have a better chance of acceptance is you just take action. Also - the rejection is not as bad as you think - so just do it.

Fear of Success - Get real. Most of the internal stories we tell ourselves are based upon fantasy. If we lose weight, we'll cheat on our spouse . . . if we get that big promotion, we'll never see our family again . . . and on and on and on. Sit down and list all the irrational ways you fear success, write them on paper. Then take each one and dissect it with a clear head and only use FACTS. You'll find that most of your fears are highly irrational and not based in the real world.

Now go out and face the world without fear!

Three Major Mistakes Many C-Level Executives Make.

Look, your job is hard. Probably one of the hardest in your company. But then again, you are the best and most highly decorated/compensated employee too. But you're human and sometimes it hard to lead and execute perfectly. Over the past 10 years of advising C-Level executives, here are three of the more frequent mistakes made in your day-to-day endeavors running the whole 'lemonade stand':

1. Trying to do everything, not honing in on your talents.

A frequent occurrence since everyone that works for you thinks that you can solve all their problems. Or when issues, obstacles, and opportunities come at you from many directions, it hard not to say no. But you have to say no.

One way to fix this problem is to either say no, or not now. But that's hard to do. The best way to fix this issue is to delegate it to someone below you. You first need to know what key strengths your people exhibit and then you have to apply certain communication/management skills to pass on the task. Then ask them. Most of the time, they are dying to work on more complex/challenging stuff, especially your 'stuff'. Then you can go back and work on things that compliment your talents.

If you don't do this, you'll find that your days are filled with an avalanche of decisions and tasks, many that you're not the best at. And that spells trouble.

2. Less focus on planning, more focus on quick decisions.

When time is short and your to-do list is long, we tend to make more 'shoot-from-the-hip' decisions rather than planning ahead of time. Again, this is a hard thing to do in today's marketplace.

One line of attack is to clearly define key recurring areas that frequently need addressing and to bring your team together to plan for them, rather than waiting for something to blow up. You can segment them into client-based, financial-based, operations-based, marketing-based issues and have key, qualified people responsible to lead the charge. Once areas are planned and options are defined, it's much easier to chart your course in a more educated fashion.

If you don't do this, you'll find that you will spend more time substantiating your decisions with higher-ups, direct reports, and clients and realizing that many unplanned decisions usually aren't the best ones to execute.

3. Not asking for input from multiple sources.

This is the biggest and most important one — and it also aligns with the previous two mistakes. As you get comfortable in your position, it's really easy to insulate oneself from other learned sources when managing, leading, and running the business.

One way to eliminate this mistake is to actively and frequently reach out to people and ask them their opinion on a strategy, direction, or decision. They could be mentors that you've established, previous colleagues that you've worked with, key direct reports you can trust, and even employees that you never talk to. You'll be surprised with their answers — you might find that their line of thinking is completely different from yours. And it might be better!

If you don't do this, you'll slowly find that many people around you will be able to telegraph your position immediately (since you always make the decision) or they shut down completely since you are asking them for advice. Take a chance — listen to other sources.

Do One Thing Today That Scares You.

Do one thing today you've been procrastinating on that scares you. Anything. Why?

• You get something done (duh . . . Rich).
• It's the only way you grow (okay, I see where you're going).
• You will feel better about yourself (big win here).

Most of the time, we get down on ourselves when we don't get key stuff done. We are also even harder on ourselves when we hold ourselves back on the most important stuff.

And that feeling and those behaviors take a subtle toll on our confidence. Your confidence is one of the major players in your success in business and life. It's what drives you and makes you attractive to others. You do not want to deplete it — you want to nurture and grow it. So you need to do SCARY things.

It's the only way you will grow your confidence level. So how do you do it?

• Call that one person that you are afraid of calling or you've been putting it off because your 'not prepared'. Just call.
• Make an appointment with an influential mover and shaker. Today.
• Start something that really scares you. An exercise program. Dancing. Singing. Speaking. Something.

It's doesn't matter WHAT it is. It's the action of just doing it that builds your confidence level. And that's a good thing.

Are You Sleeping At Work?

The past few posts have been a bit long, so this one will be concise and blunt. I run into many people at my workshops who are unemployed. When I offer a FREE coaching session to help them, a few balk. Why? I think:

• They like unemployment (stay with me here).
• They want someone else to do the thinking and searching for them.
• They are afraid of doing it themselves.
• It's easier to not make a decision/do something rather than making a decision or acting on an opportunity.

Why does this happen? Because they lived on the corporate teat for the last 20-25 years. What do I mean by that?

They got lazy at work. They did the same thing every day — hoping and praying (as the world changed around them) that no one would notice.

Unfortunately, someone did. And they were let go from their job. Now they are desperately looking for a new  job just like their old job. They are looking for a new job just like they worked for their old job — they're telegraphing it in.

I'm not saying that they didn't work hard. They probably did. But they didn't work SMART. They didn't push themselves into KEY initiatives or projects that would change the company. Or developed a process that saved the company a lot of money. Bottom line - did they affect the growth of the business, save a lot of money, or change the game? No. They sucked on the corporate teat.

Let me say that again — are you:

• Affecting the growth of your business? Talking to a new major client? Releasing a new product?
• Saving your company a lot of money? Cost cutting, streamlining, better allocation of resources?
• Changing the game? Orthogonal thinking, coming up with major ideas/solutions that no one has thought of?

What's funny is that these unemployed people are now moving from the corporate to the federal/state/city teat. They can't find a 'safe' job in corporate — so they hope to find a 'safe' job in a public position. Unfortunately, I see that cost-cutting will start to matriculate down into these areas too in the next 5-10 years. So guess what? These 'safe' jobs are not really safe.

So don't sleep at work. Impact the growth of your business. Save your company a lot of money. Change the game. Start TODAY.

Corporations? Dead Or Dying In Five Years.

Corporations are changing all around us — it's just that we don't see it happening. Not until it happens to you. There is a 'perfect storm' of many major influencers affecting the typical corporation of today. Let me go back a little in history . . .

• The first corporation came into existence in 1347 (Stora Kopparberg).
• The first modern corporations started in the early to mid 19th century.
• Corporations as we now know them (glass office buildings, desks, water coolers, etc.) thrived right after WWII and into the 50's/60's.

The majority of boomers and millennials were brought up with the idea to do well in school, go to college, graduate and get a good job in a corporation. Then very quickly afterward comes marriage, kids, grandkids and social security (hopefully!). The corporation would look after you if you kept your head down, worked hard, stayed late, and never caused trouble (see Linchpin).

In the 1990's something arrived called reengineering. This upended the typical unspoken agreement you had with the corporation. All bets were off. Corporations began review efficiencies EVERYWHERE. And if they found them, the answer was to remove the chaff and redistribute responsibilities to the remaining staff.

Unfortunately, reengineering went away as a process and was wholly subsumed into the functioning practice of the corporation. No longer was there a single great 'vetting' of the chaff, it happened EVERY YEAR. Odds are, every able corporate type has been laid off based on one stupid corporate reason or another. Before this happened, getting fired had an enormous stigma. No longer — everyone has that 'A' on their soul.

Now fasten your seatbelts — here is when it gets fun. Present day . . . seven disparate areas are merging together:

1. Corporations still practicing slash and burn with employees on a regular basis (CFOs have the ear of the CEO and board).
2. Worst recession hits since the great depression (mass firings, low personnel in-house, anemic hiring).
3. Technology accelerates to allow virtual workers (laptops, wi-fi, iphones, ipads)
4. Boomers are retiring - Millennials are taking the stage (more focus on work/life balance, less hours/smarter work).
5. Benefit outlays are rising exponentially (there is a breaking point - workers want them/companies can't afford them).
6. Facilities are really getting expensive (Rent, HVAC, Security, Ergonomics, Networking, Phones, Cafeteria, Gym, Parking, Grounds, etc.).
7. Unintentional entrepreneurs (those fired in the last two years) are becoming consultants, looking for work ANYWHERE.

This begs the question: Why employ permanent workers at all?

Think of it — why not bring together required workers when needed for projects and initiatives and let them go when it is done?

Many departments can be easily outsourced or eliminated - Finance, IT, HR, Marketing, Sales, Events, Customer Service, etc. What does that leave? Management, Operations, Production? And those groups could be culled down significantly to a point where a small group of key executives rally the vision and leverage temporary teams to execute that vision.

It's already being done - think of how a movie is shot. A studio/director has a vision on filming a movie. Over the next 6-12 months, an incredible amount of highly skilled professionals are brought together (from many different areas) to build this film. The production hits an apex and then this huge group is then slowly whittled down to nothing when production is complete. Why can't this model be applied to business?

It's the perfect virtual company. Help is brought on based on experience, knowledge, and aptitude. Not seniority. You might say, "Where's the dedication? Where's the loyalty? Well . . . you're kidding yourself if you think that your company is loyal. And day by day, year by year, employees are becoming more disaffected and disloyal as corporations treat them like chattel. They hate you as much as you cheapen them.

Now you might think this is a bad thing. A negative thing to happen. I disagree - in fact, I think the exact opposite.

In my next blog post, I will present why it should happen and what are the real hidden benefits to all parties.

Push Yourself Just A Little Bit & You'll See Incredible Results.

A great business story presented by my BNI sales team: What's the boiling point of water? 212° Fahrenheit.

What do you get when water boils at 212°? Steam.

What does steam do? It moves huge locomotives. It turns powerful turbines. It heats millions of homes.

What is water at 211° Fahrenheit? Warm water. (okay . . . very warm water)

But not STEAM.

How many times do you stop at 211° in your life? In your career? In your business?

All you have to do is to just push yourself a little bit and you will produce STEAM in your life, career and business. What could you accomplish with increased energy, ideas, contacts, opportunities or prospects in your life?

Make the choice: Warm Water or Steam?

How To Get Clients.

I've been busy the last few weeks. In addition to coaching a full practice of clients, my action team meetings started this week (say goodbye to Monday nights). So the production end of my business is 'full-steam ahead'.

But I also got up early every morning over the past two weeks (4:30 AM) to attend various networking/sales meetings to spread the word of the Rich Gee Group.

And I gave a major presentation Thursday to a business group (50+ executives) about how to market themselves. It was a big hit for me - most attendees gave me a 4 to 5 rating (on a scale of 1-5).

So the 'development' end of my business was in full gear too. What did it deliver? I received an avalanche of interest in my coaching and my phone has been off the hook. In addition, my site numbers are through the roof and I have a pack of new business cards that can choke a horse (all to enter today into my contact list for eBlasts).

Why am I telling you all this? Not to brag (even though it is bragging . . . ). But to illustrate HOW TO GET CLIENTS.

Get out there and SHAKE HANDS. Get out there and be visible. Get out there and BE A BILLBOARD.

You are the product - get others to meet you, talk with you, experience you. "Take you out for a test drive" as I call it.

Don't hover over your laptop all day. Get OUT and MEET people. It's that easy.

Are You Losing Your Game? Time To 'Adjust' It.

From Greg Couch in Paris:

"Venus Williams just keeps letting this happen to her, and she throws up her hands as if there is nothing she can do about it.

She had been playing her best tennis in years, and had a shot at moving to No. 1 in the world rankings, where she has spent just 11 weeks in her long career. And then she had an off day Sunday. Now, she's gone. Williams lost 6-4, 6-3 to Nadia Petrova in the fourth round at Roland Garros. It's clear now why Williams has never won the French Open, and never will. It's not about a lack of ability or comfort on clay.

It's unbelievable that someone who has been so great for so long would allow herself to play for all these years without a safety net. She has no adjustments to make, no alterations.

On hot days, the red clay is fast and on cold days it's slow. On wet days, even stickier. On Sunday, it was raining and windy, too. Nothing stays the same, and even on the best of days, you can't just impose physical strength on your opponent, the way Williams plays. The ball slows down when it bounces in this dirt, and gives players a chance to catch up to the power.

Sometimes it happens? Then why not be ready for it? Don't you have to make adjustments?"

Greg is spot on with Venus. Now here's the kicker . . . he sounds like me when I first talk to my clients. Things have been going so well for so long, then all of a sudden, everything falls apart. It's like their career or business just had a 4-6, 3-6 game and they don't know what to do. They've been playing their power game all along and the whole world around them has changed.

And it hits you smack in the center of your face just like a tennis ball. You suddenly realize that you no longer are employed, you're handling multiple positions that have been eliminated, or a majority of your clientele have disappeared. How do you fix this?

It's called FLEXIBILITY. LIMBERNESS. AGILITY. React to external conditions as they change (and you can bet your bottom dollar they will) and take steps to be flexible, limber and agile.

Here are some tips:

• Keep your eyes open. Major career or business changing events usually don't happen in an instant. There are predictors and subtle changes that should be alerting you. People just don't listen or they obstinately keep their eyes closed to the problem(s). When you see something begin to happen, take some time out to look out on the horizon. What is changing? For the better? For the worse? Who's leaving the company? What projects are being cut? Who is disappearing from certain projects?
• Set goals. It's that easy. Most executives and business-owners don't have goals. They just trundle along with no targets to hit. You're asking for trouble. Businesses - look at your last 12 months gross revenue, pick your three best months, average them and that is your current target for each month. If you want to be agressive, raise it by 5%. Executives - How is your project/department progressing? Are you hitting your deadlines? Are you receiving increases when you hit something out of the park (great review)?
• Have a plan in case things change. If the environment is going south, have a backup plan. Businesses - What is another customer base you can tap into? Why aren't you hitting them already? Executives - Is your resume up to date? Are you actively having lunch with colleagues outside of your company to survey the marketplace?

If you begin to attempt just one of these tips and MAKE ADJUSTMENTS, you'll find that you'll be winning the matches, rather than going home a loser.

Hard Time Getting Started On Monday? Try This.

Whenever I have a dip in energy or productivity, I watch 30 to 60 seconds of this video. It works.

The Coolest Way To Get A Job. BY FAR.

Smart Things People Do At Work - Acknowledgement.

The number one reason why people enjoy and stay at their jobs is not money. Of course you do work FOR the money, but when employees are asked about what motivates them about work - acknowledgement tops the list every time. Quick question: Do you regularly and specifically acknowledge your direct reports?

Regularly: Not once a year - a more frequent basis would suffice. Specifically: Not a generalized statement: "You're doing a great job!" But a more specific one: "The way you handled the meeting today - you've come a long way. I'm so proud of you!".

When it comes to acknowledgement, do these four things:

1. Gratitude: Show real gratitude and insert it into your acknowledgement.
2. Honesty: Be sincere. No joking. Don't be flippant.
3. Focused: Get them alone, or catch them off-guard — "I need to speak to you . . . "
4. Enthusiastic: Don't make it sound like they are being fired. Smile. Make them feel the energy!

And don't go around the table or office and acknowledge everyone at the same time — that defeats the purpose.

If you regularly and specifically acknowledge your direct reports, you'll find that you will have a more energized and determined team. And how much does it cost? NOTHING. Start doing it today.

Everyone For Themselves OR The Sinking Boat Syndrome.

Years ago (I'm talking 1970's - 80's), there was a common bond that held groups together. Things like citizenship, affiliations, or just plain ethics. Today, all I see in the media, business, and life is a habitual replaying of a sinking ship - everyone for themselves - and screw the rest.

We as a nation have to come to grips with reality - our family has been spending too much for too long - and the credit card is due. We can't flip the balance to another card - we have to begin paying down our balance or face bankruptcy, foreclosure and ruin. This is prevalent at the national, state, and local levels. Folks - there are three choices (and only three choices) when it comes to this situation:

• Increase money coming in (raise taxes).
• Decrease money going out (reduce benefits).
• Cut services (employees, depth & breadth of programs).

That's it. It's that simple. Unfortunately both political parties cannot bring themselves to make these hard changes. Why? Because they fear for their political lives AND hope that someone will come along with another credit card to help them bounce the balance.

From a business perspective, there are many managers out there that manage to save their own skin - and no one else's. They are risk-averse and toe the company line like a deer in the headlights. No innovation, no risk, no ideas - and they change direction as often as the wind blows to ensure that they maintain their bonuses and status quo. In business there are three states also:

• Growing
• Flat
• Shrinking

But I maintain that there are two - you are either growing or shrinking - up or down - because flat is not an option for long if you want a healthy company. To grow is to take risks, compete, try new things, grow successful programs . . . think different. I only see this happening in a smattering of large companies and many startups (who will probably eat the lunch of the big fish very soon  . . . Google?).

And this affects our homes, neighbors, friendships too. We are too busy, too unfocused to help one another. It's time we begin to reach out and personally help one another - that's why we are on this earth. Think about it.

I heard that many people are leaving the U.S. because they feel that the government, our states, and our cities are dysfunctional.Why not stay and try to fix it? They are more interested in saving their bank accounts so they can buy another boat.

Bottom line - stop thinking like you're on a sinking ship - because if you do - EVERYONE GOES DOWN. Trust me.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office – You Speak & Don't Listen.

This is a fast one - so keep up with me . . . Most bosses speak more than they listen. They think they know everything. They push their views onto their staff any chance they get. And that's STUPID.

1. Shut up.
2. If you must speak, ask questions.
3. Then LISTEN.
4. Ask more questions. LISTEN.
5. Then ask your people, "What do you think you should do?"
6. That's it. They don't want to hear your stories. They don't want you to tell them what to do.
7. They want you to guide them.
8. That means that you ask questions (to get them to think about the options), LISTEN (to give them time to weigh the options verbally), and then ask them what they should do (giving them the ability to guide their own work and empowering them).

When you do this - you are actually motivating your team - allowing them to take charge of their work. This also allows you to be part of the process - to gently guide them when they might go off course or pick them up when they fall down.

So next time you have an opportunity to pontificate - Shut Up, Ask Questions, and LISTEN. You'll thank me.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office - You Micromanage Your Staff.

Everyone hates micromanagers. Then why do we keep running into them? Why are they our bosses? It's like a bad stomach virus. If you are a manager, odds are that you micromanage someone, or some project, or some group. Why do you do that?

One word: INSECURITY.

You are probably insecure about something, someone, or some process that is either uncomfortable or out of your knowledge zone. And because it is, you spend more time than you need on it. Much more time.

How do you let go of that bicycle seat and let that person, project, or team ride off into the sunset? It's easy - you need to feel comfortable, not them. So do this:

• If it's a Person - there is probably something about them that you don't trust (because micromanagement comes from not trusting someone). Once you figure that out - let's say it's their attention to detail - work with them on this. Bring it to the forefront and discuss it with them. Give them more and more difficult  tasks that stretch their abilities. If they succeed, you can pull back. If they fail, you're there to pick them up (get that? let them fall!).
• If it's a Team - there is probably something about you that you don't trust. You need to see a coach and figure that out. Candidly, I've coached a lot of upper management types and when they suffer from micromanaging their team (feedback from a 360 assessment), they usually have deep trust issues (from being severely burnt in the past) and have to slowly reliquish control.

But that's easy. Start with your stars and give up control slowly. You'll see that you will have more time for the more complex parts of your job.

Enjoy the journey!

Stupid Things People Do At The Office - You're Always Late.

I know you're busy. We all are. Does it seem that you never get ahead of the curve? That you are always late for almost every meeting, appointment and even getting to work?

Let's look at why it happens in the first place:

1. You think you're special. You're not. You are just like everyone else. Start treating people with respect.
2. You're on a long-term ego trip. Even CEO's show up on time to meetings with the lowest employees on the corporate totem pole.
3. You want to look important. It doesn't make you look like "executive material" (i.e., no time for the peons). It makes you look like an ass.
4. You forget about the time. Sorry, that's not an option. You are an adult — start acting like one.

Get it through your head — you hate it when people are late for  you — don't do it to them. Being on time or early shows respect. AND - it allows the meeting to possibly end early.

Here are some quick tips to stop that from happening:

1. Set all clocks that you monitor 5-10 minutes ahead. I know that it's stupid - but it works.
2. Buffer time around meetings. If you bump one up against another, you won't have time to get to it. And you will then have time to hit the bathroom.
3. If you're too busy, try to cut out some lower priority meetings. See this post.
4. Get up earlier if you are always late to work. You miss the later traffic AND you get more work done before normal work hours begin.

Being late isn't a personality defect, most of the time, you just don't care. Start caring.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office – Work Overtime.

Statistics show that 75-80% of the corporate workforce works late 1-3 nights a week. Don't get me wrong here bucko — there are times during the year when you do need to work late — emergencies or a deadline deliverable to a client. Most of the time — working late is due to one of three reasons:

1. Poor Planning - On your part or your bosses. Remember the phrase: "Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine?"
2. Time Management and/or Procrastination - You spend work time on unimportant activities and push the more important stuff to later in the day.
3. Showoff - The need to portray to management, the board, your clients, your peers, your staff, or even your family that you are a "hard worker".

Which one are you? Are you a composite of two or even three of these? I was. And it took me YEARS to realize this.

If you can't fit your position into a 40-50 hour window (that's working from 7 AM to 5 PM each day), you need to change a few things. So here goes (in no special order):

• You need to SDR - Streamline, Delegate, or Retire - You probably do too much. Leverage your staff and others to pick up the simple stuff. (check out my post)
• You go to too many meetings (see this post from last week on meetings).
• You haven't set specific boundaries with your boss. You need to train them just like a dog. I'm not kidding - if they try to catch you at 5:30 for an 'important talk' every night, you need to let them know that they can talk to you in the morning.
• Stop goofing around at work. No surfing, no personal phone calls, no wandering the office for casual conversation. Do your work! Check this out.
• Stop procrastinating. Work on the hard stuff first. Break it up into manageable chunks and get it done. Check this out.
• Leave at a reasonable hour. 5 or 6 PM is fine. I know people will notice. But at the end of the day, leaving work to get home for more important activities is critical to your long-term happiness. Work is important — but life springs eternal!

Stupid Things People Do At The Office – Eat At Their Desk.

Do you eat at your desk often? I know you do it. All the time. When 12 Noon rolls around, you think, "I can run down to the cafeteria, grab some lunch on a tray, and run it back up to my desk so I can catch up on email."

That's Stupid.

Candidly, you really need an extra 30-45 minutes to cover email? Email where 60-70% of it is unimportant? (read my previous post on email behaviors)

Here's an idea — go out to lunch. Meet someone outside of the company. Why?

• It gets you out of the building. Anything that changes your location changes your perspective.
• It gets you connecting with colleagues OUTSIDE of the company that you currently work for. You never know - you might meet someone that might offer you a better job. Or you might meet the perfect person to hire for that new project.
• You meet new people. New ideas, new viewpoints, new humor, new stories.
• You get to eat great food - the worst restaurant is usually better than the best cafeteria. Yum!
• You get to see the sun. Vitamin D - here I come!
• You breathe FRESH air. You get exercise outdoors. You might get a better parking spot when you return!

Bottom line — get out, connect with new people and you will see your career blossom. Stay indoors, cocoon in your cubicle, and you will see your career atrophy. Trust me.

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. First — Do you really need to bring the work home? Or do you need to be 'superhumanly' productive to succeed at work? Do you find that you ALWAYS bring work home? Make the hard choice - what would happen if you left those folders at work? Try it - you'll like it. Bottom line - you don't HAVE to bring them home EVERY weekend.

Second — Can you attack the work first thing Saturday morning? Get up at 6 AM and work until 9 AM - a three full hours. Then you have the rest of the weekend to relax and enjoy yourself. If you are like most people, you bring the work home and let it sit until Sunday evening and worry about it all weekend. Don't do that - attack it first thing and then have fun.

Third — Can you streamline your work down to a manageable hour? Instead of just diving into your work and watching the hours tick by - what is the most important thing that needs to be done and can it be finished within one hour? When we have an unspecified amount of time to work, we tend to meander and waste a lot of time. Give yourself a set amount of time (1-2 hours) and see how much you really can get done under a strict deadline.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office – Meetings.

What's the worst thing that could happen to you at work other than being fired? That's right going to MEETINGS. Just think of sitting today (on a Friday) cooped up in a windowless conference room at 3:30 PM for another hour. Lights dimmed, watching slide #65 with 15 bullet points? Droning voice? Closed door - really hot - the person next to you getting ripe? Is that what you dreamed about when you graduated from college?

Meetings. They suck the lifeblood right out of your body. Here's a little tip — don't go.

That's right. Flee . . . run away. You have better things to do with your time.

If you are an attendee to a meeting:

• Try to decline. You probably don't need to attend 25-50% of the meetings you go to. Why? Because most meetings are either superfluous or your attendance will not add any value to the discussion.
• Arrive late — Leave early. Don't just do this, it's impolite. Let the organizer and some key people know that you will be doing this. Then you still get the gist of the proceedings AND cut your meeting time by 25-50%.
• See if you can change the meeting into a short one-to-one discussion. 75% of meetings are too formal, go on much too long, and allow the more mentally challenged executives to run their mouth for hours. Edit it down. If all else fails:
• Keep the meeting on point. If the meeting organizer is not organized, you take the lead and keep people on point. They will love you for it.

If you are running the meeting:

• Cancel it. Do you really need to have this meeting? Can it just be a short conversation between 2-3 people?
• Shorten it. My experience in corporate (20 years) tells me that most if not all meetings are always too long. If you've scheduled an hour, make it 20 minutes. 30 minutes? Make it 15. Any more than an hour, shame on you!
• Get rid of the chairs. Make everyone stand around a whiteboard. Act like a sports coach - ask questions - make decisions. With no chairs, people will want to get out of there ASAP.

Smart executives regularly turn down at least 50% of the meetings they are invited to. That's how they have time to do all the cool things they want to do AND get their work done.

Love to hear your thoughts – comment below or email me anytime! – Rich

Gratitude Should Be YOUR Attitude.

Most executives believe that their hard work — and only their hard work — got them to the position that they now sit. All the hours, all the meetings, the handshaking, the brainstorming, the late-night dinners brought them to the exact spot that they are in at this moment. Sorry to burst your bubble. But there's more.

Your colleagues. Many people that have worked under you, the peers beside you, and yes, the many bosses above you that helped you get to the spot you're presently in.

Time to begin thanking them. Take the next 30 days and each day, reach out to one of them with a 5 minute phone call and let them know how important they are to you. That's leadership.

5 minutes - it will make someone's day.