A Simple Tool for Purposeful Work

Posted on April 29, 2009 by pdncoach

 

In their book, A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time (2004), authors Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal summarize 10 years of research into managerial behavior in a wide range of companies and industries. The principal conclusion is that only 10 percent of managers work purposefully to get important work done that moves the organization forward. The other 90 percent are involved in what the authors call “busy idleness” – procrastinating, detaching from their work, or spinning their wheels in a flurry of “active inaction.”


Amazing, but I find that 90 percent of people seem to believe that they are part of the 10 percent who work “on purpose”.


In all of the companies the authors studied, the leaders who knew how to take purposeful action shared two critical traits: energy and focus. Managers can harness the energy and focus to become fully engaged in their work through a potent combination of three strategies:

  1. Defining goals, which provide focus
  2. Mastering techniques to overcome negativity, which provide positive energy
  3. Learning ways to visualize that goal, which provide both focus and energy


I was at a national meeting where a friend and colleague showed me the best productivity or “time management” tool that I have ever seen, one that I have incorporated into my business. (In fact, each of my clients now receive one of these with their materials.) While I believe it is important to have some sort of planning or calendar system, that is not what he showed me.
This was a simple yet powerful tool, a plastic folder that fits in your pocket or purse and holds two index cards. The index cards have two headings: one says “I Am A Person Who” and the other says “My Goals Are”. Under each heading, there is space to fill in your own words and statements.

The power of the pocket folder and cards is unleashed when you look at and read the cards several times each day. They constantly remind you of the positive qualities you possess and the results and outcomes you want to achieve. Most feelings of being overwhelmed, overscheduled or “adrift” come from a combination of how we think and feel about ourselves, and not having a clear idea of what we are trying to accomplish. The cards provide a constant reminder of what our true priorities are – the promises we make to ourselves. They remind us of Purpose and provide the energy and focus to stay on Purpose.

“I Am A Person Who” can refer to affirmations that we constantly need to put positive, action-based thoughts in our mind that take us toward our desired goals. It can reinforce the quality of person we are striving to become. As William James, the pre-eminent psychologist, said, “People tend to become what they think about themselves.” If you think of yourself as able to do something, you probably will do it. If you think of yourself as incapable, you probably will not.

Much is said for developing your ‘marketable’ skills and knowledge through education and training. Lately, the practice of using affirmations to accomplish a “vision” has attracted great attention in our local business community. These messages are incomplete, watered down at best. Attitudes and affirmations are the ‘great multipliers’ of the skills and knowledge you already possess. Knowledge, skills and the right affirmations alone will not consistently produce desired results, however.

The missing element in these common messages is the focus of the “My Goals Are” card, which keeps our key priorities in our life in front of us all the time. Our goals put our attitudes, skills and knowledge, and our priorities into action.

Perhaps you have been taught to “prioritize your schedules”. My experience is that the most successful people “schedule their priorities”, giving energy and purpose to each day. Clearly written goals reviewed daily keep your priorities in focus and help you avoid distractions. Affirmations reviewed daily help you become the person who is energized to achieve your goals continuously.
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Posted in affirmation, energy, focus, goals, managers, productivity, Purpose | Leave a comment

What is success?

Posted on April 27, 2009 by pdncoach


“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”
– John Lubbock

What do I want?

This simple yet powerful and surprisingly difficult-to-answer query reveals much about both personal and business vision. Your answers reveal how clearly you have defined your goals, or the results you want, and your desire, the degree to which you want those results.

What do you want? Your answers to this question tell a great deal about the breadth, depth and distance into a desirable future that your vision might – or might not – carry you, your career or your business. Your answer tells others about your commitment to change, and the motivation and sense of urgency you have toward achieving your stated desires. What do you want? Your answer will instill credibility and confidence within you and in others that you will achieve higher levels of success – or not.

Life is either a magnificent obsession or a meaningless odyssey.

Some people want more from themselves…, more from their work…, more from their schools…, more from their organizations…, more from their communities. They want to achieve extraordinary goals. The rest, well, they are comfortable with letting circumstances dictate their results or they are just not sure of what they want. If you cannot provide a compelling vision for success, how can you ever hope to achieve it?


“More people fail through lack of purpose than through lack of talent.”

– Billy Sunday


Most of us are hired or get started in business based on our skills and knowledge. Our earlier educational experiences have created a subtle paradigm that suggests “because we learned something we can perform what we learned”. The critical element of this paradigm is that we perform at an acceptable level of proficiency. You probably have heard the adage, “knowledge is power.” Most business training is based on this paradigm, that “learning in the workshop will be transferred to performance on the work floor.” Congratulations if you already see the fallacy of this paradigm.


“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

– Aristotle


Knowledge is NOT power. With traditional training, learning is typically transferred at a very low rate from workshop to work floor, or from knowing to performance improvement. Clearly, knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is power. It’s not what we know or can do; it is what we actually do with what we know that determines success. Mastery comes from three elements: desire, knowing what to do and how to do it, and repeated practice until the skill becomes second-nature: habit.


As a coach, one of my core values is that “No one knows you or your business better than you.” If you receive training without distinctly knowing what you want to do with the skills and knowledge learned and why that is important to you, the likelihood of you turning the learning into habits practiced daily is slim to none. This is one of the major reasons that more companies are combining traditional training with professional coaching.


Wanting something has little to do with what you know about it, however. To an extent, we’re all a bit like children in a candy store – we tend to want most everything we see, regardless of what we know about it. Extending this, without knowing what we want we may never tasted the best sweetness that life has to offer.


Skills and knowledge create potential. That’s why I encourage young people to become voracious readers and explorers, to participate in a variety of activities and groups, to travel, to take interesting elective courses in school and, of course, to do well in school. Why would anyone want to limit his or her potential? Try as many flavors as you can.


Of course, why would anyone want to limit what he or she actually achieves with that potential? Yet when I ask, “What do you want?” few people at any age provide lucid answers. It is as easy to hear the lack of confidence in how they answer as it is easy to hear the lack of clarity in what they say. Clarity does not come from knowledge and skills alone; it comes from the interaction of knowledge, skills, attitudes, the practice of daily habits, all of which are still limited in application and value without a well-conceived goal. Having a well-defined goal is knowing what you want.


It’s never too late to be who you might have been.

— George Eliot

  • What do you want?
  • Why? How will your life, your career, your business, your community…be better off if you get what you want?
  • What has kept you, so far, from getting what you want?
  • What might keep you from getting what you want?

By the way, focusing on what you want does not – should not – be an act of selfishness. We exist to serve; therefore, our dreams and desires are meant to serve others as well. If you need help articulating What YOU Want that will make your life a magnificent obsession, then email askthecoach@pdncoach.com.

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in career, desire, goal, goals, potential, questions, results, values, vision, what do you want | Leave a comment

Can Coaching Reduce College Cost While Increasing College Success?

Posted on April 23, 2009 by pdncoach


More isn’t always better.
Especially when it takes 5 to 6 years on average for American college students to graduate with a 4-year college degree, and each year costs another $15,000+ for tuition, fees, room and board alone (at an average in-state college or university). Of course, that does not include many other expenses (books, supplies, travel, personal expenses…) and private schools may cost more than twice as much in tuition alone.

Yet “more” is, in fact, quite common. In this perspective, providing your student with the benefit of professional coaching may seem like a wise – and financially savvy – investment.

According to recent reports by the College Board about 40 percent of students graduate from college in four years. A fifth year could boost the total cost by about 25 percent. A report published recently by the Education Trust, an independent nonprofit organization, found that only 37 percent of first-time freshmen entering four-year bachelor’s-degree programs actually complete their degrees within four years. Another 26 percent take either five or six years. And the remaining 37 percent either don’t get their degrees at all or complete their coursework in more than six years. (read more…)

Why more? Why don’t more students graduate “on time”? Reasons vary but here are a reasonable few:

  • Students may either work while attending college or take time off to work to help finance their education. Either scenario often means reduced course loads, extending the time it takes to graduate.
  • Many students are switching schools. The College Board data shows “59 percent reported attending more than one institution during their undergraduate education. Of students who attended three institutions, 48 percent completed their degree within six years. Of students who attended two institutions, 70 percent graduated within six years, and 92 percent of students who attended a single institution finished within that time.”
  • Teenagers often don’t know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. The National Research Center for College and University Admissions estimates that over half of students switch majors at least once. (Ironically, many mid-career professionals who attend my keynotes and seminars confess privately that they still don’t know “what they want to be when they grow up.”)
  • Some students will take remedial courses or fewer hours to protect their grade point averages (GPA).
  • Students are sometimes shut out of popular or required courses because they didn’t register in time or other students have priority. Again, this stretches out the time necessary to earn the credits necessary for graduation.
  • When anyone, especially someone in their late teens or early twenties, is unsure of their relatively long-term goals they tend to drift, take a more leisurely approach to life in general and, well, let’s just say they “recreate” more often. Classes don’t seem to serve a real purpose, attention slips, discipline falters, grades fall and graduation is deferred.

Career planning and decision-making
These figures emphasize the importance of career planning and decision-making. Sure, high schools and colleges provide such services – most of the results described above occurred with students who received such counseling.

If I could save you $10,000 or more in college costs
would you be interested?
In other words, if there was a way
to increase the likelihood that you or your child
will graduate on time would you take it?

How clearly defined are the students goals? Most students drift, lose focus, change majors, change schools, extend their length of time in college and even drop out because they lack a clear sense of who they are, who and what they want to be, and how they plan to become that person. They lack a keen sense of direction; thus, their education lacks purpose. This does not have to be the case.

The answer? There is no magic pill, for sure. Many young people just have not had enough experiences to know what they like, and don’t like, to have developed a passion for anything. As a result, they don’t have goals they dearly care to achieve. If there is a young person in your life, get them involved in exploring the possibilities this world has to offer. Get them reading anything they will in any way you can. Don’t let them lock into specific job titles; too many career programs produce this outcome even though the majority of today’s teenagers will someday have job titles that have yet to be invented. Do help them begin to articulate interests, skills and activities that “bring them alive”, even at the very thought of doing them.

I highly recommend 4-H involvement above most other youth development programs because of the quality of program, volunteers, professional staff support, materials and product – youth who are involved in 4-H programs for, say, 3-10 years are nearly always above average performers with a sense of personal direction. Certainly scouting provides highly worthy programs, and there are many arts, athletic and other programs (both school sponsored and clubs). Many high schools require community service, and if they don’t your family should. If your family can afford it (maybe transfer money from your entertainment budget to your education budget), give your child the opportunity to travel and enjoy “peak” experiences at camps, conferences or youth exchanges both here and abroad.

Finally, with or without these types of experiences, coaching can provide the critical experience for a promising, but undecided youth (all youth hold promise). An effective coaching program will help your aspiring high school or college student explore possibilities that he or she, right now, can’t even conceive or know to exist. A coach will help the student carefully develop a personal focus, a plan for success and discover passion in having the hope that comes from a keen sense of direction.

A coach can help your student discover untapped potential
– for a fraction of the cost of an extra year of college!

I continue to be amazed at the power of goals. A year ago, my 17-year-old didn’t have many plans 5 minutes beyond his nose, but he has a passion for hockey. We encouraged him to research what it REALLY takes to play hockey at the highest amateur, college and professional levels of the sport. He did so, and with some additional coaching developed some very realistic long-term goals (2-3 years at this point) that will allow him to develop in his career as a player.

Here is the truly exciting part: he has a contingency plan if hockey doesn’t get him a college scholarship; he has set his own personal academic, family, health and financial goals because he recognized how they affect his hockey career goals. He is a changed person – a young man with a Purpose.

Good, quality coaching will cost between $1,000 and $5,000 for the young aspiring college graduate in your life. That’s a pretty small investment compared to the time and money an extra year of college will cost. And if there is a gift I want every young person to have, it is the same one I gave my son, that sense of Purpose that comes only from having a deeply personal goal that requires high expectations of oneself.

If you would like to talk about the benefits of career coaching for yourself or a young person in your life, it’s never too late. Call me at 217.362.0500 for a free consultation. Ask about Rising Stars and similar programs.

Photo credits © Viktor Petö | Dreamstime.com

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in coaching, college, cost, education, goals, graduation, student | Leave a comment