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Sunday, April 11th, 2021

You’ve Got to Dream While You Eat.

There’s nothing more important … or more challenging … than the need to balance short-term results with long-range plans.

H ow is your organization focused? Are you encouraging long-range thinking or only what happens this week?

Do you have the Attention Span of a Mosquito?

How often are you distracted from a specific task … or distracted simply by knowing there are too many distractions?

When was the last time you pulled out that blank sheet of paper to THINK, you know, that old-fashioned approach to problem solving and the creative process?

Do you get why some people think Google is making us stupid?

All of these notions are but variations on a theme … our increasingly short-term focus.

Keep reading to make sure you have a longer term perspective

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Wednesday, April 7th, 2021

The Ante is Simple. Action!

Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel, wrote the book, Only the Paranoid Survive, a testament to his relentless drive and devotion.

Two of the quotes attributed to him are a good way focus your energy … and to be reminded: Don’t Let Hope Become an Embalming Agent … and make sure ACTION IS the cornerstone of your success.

“You have to pretend you’re 100 percent sure. You have to take action; you can’t hesitate or hedge your bets. Anything less will condemn your efforts to failure.”

Question: What’s keep you from taking action to move forward?

How would you answer that? Let me know and we’ll build on that to expand our discussion of these ideas and concepts. If you’re active there, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can also find me on our Building a Business page on Facebook or on Twitter.

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Sunday, April 4th, 2021

Don’t Let Hope Become an Embalming Agent

Hope isn’t a strategy. Action IS!

For most of us, Spring is the time of the year when hope springs eternal. The sun is out … the flowers are blooming … and this year it seems we’re finally emerging from the worst pandemic in our lifetimes.

But maybe your initiatives are starting to drag?

The gum does kinda lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight, doesn’t it? We struggle to keep the engine stoked, but we don’t get far before we discover it’s much easier to start than to finish.

We begin to feel some of the air already coming out of the tires, and begin to wonder … “where did that new-found energy go”?

What’s that whimpering sound?

It comes back to that whimpering sound of “hope springs eternal.” Read why Hope is a poor excuse for a strategy….

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Wednesday, March 31st, 2021

The Power in a Blank Sheet of Paper

Brain Most of the time when we sit down to work, maybe in our favorite chair, we have a stack of papers or files and a list of some kind.

We then proceed to “work” as we’ve always defined it … plow through the stack and “get ‘er done”.

Try a different approach

This time, sit downt with blank sheet of paper, as I did again this morning. Nothing else.

Then, just sit back and noodle on the issues that are clogging your brain and keeping you up at night. … with  NO preconceived notions about them. Remember, you paper is blank so far.

You’ll be amazed at how your mind starts to do it’s favorite thing … and the thing it does best … adding some intellectual firepower to solving problems.

Give your brain some space to work

Our brain is not really that good at filing, sorting, recording and remembering what we need at the precise moment we need it. Continue Reading…

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Sunday, March 28th, 2021

Not enough resources … or Not Resourceful?

Resourcefulness has nothing to do with access to resources.

W e have more resources than ever before. That’s not what makes us resourceful.

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Early this morning, I headed to a favorite place just down the street to bring home a couple of lattes for my wife and me.

I think Jefferson or Franklin … or maybe all of our forefathers  … was looking down at that moment, shaking their heads in wonder.

I’m pretty sure they looked a little disgusted at our (my?) lack of self-sufficiency.

Would You Work This Hard for a Cup of Coffee?

Our ancestors would have awakened in woolen underwear, stepped onto a cold wooden or dirt floor, and would have gone outside to chop some wood to start a fire in the cook stove or build a campfire with a few nearby rocks.

Don’t mistake resources for resourcefulness. Keep reading ….

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Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

It isn’t Technology Creating all the Distractions. It’s us.

It would be easy to make technology our enemy and blame it for all of the distractions that keep us from getting things done.

N ice try, but this is an age-old problem that’s on us, not on the technology that surrounds us.

Screaming about distractions and the lack of productivity didn’t help them in ancient Rome, either.

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For me, I’m hooked on the “deep work” concept these days, blocking certain parts of my day when I’m ONLY going to do one thing at a time, like writing this blog post. No distractions but a dedicated effort to “eat the elephant” and accomplish what’s most important today … and each day.

I’m not going to wonder what’s happened in my email inbox or in my social media accounts since the last time I checked.

ACTION ITEM: Something that works well for me is to turn off all notifications. Instead, establish and follow a strict schedule to check your email and social media accounts 3-4 times/day, less if possible. Otherwise, ignore them. They will be there when you’re ready. Remember: Your inbox is someone else’s to do list FOR YOU. Use your own.

In fact, I’m closing down e-mail right now. I’m ignoring all of my social media connections, putting on a little Norman Brown and Ahmad Jamal jazz in the background, a fresh cup of Philz’ Jacob’s Wonderbar dark roast coffee. Life is good … isn’t it?

If I could only focus ….

Oh, if it were only that simple, and I could keep blocking out all those pesky little distractions.

Keep reading to learn about DISTRACTIONS IN ANCIENT ROME …
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Sunday, March 21st, 2021

The Single-Word Concept You Can’t Live Without

PREPARE to Win … or get ready to get your butt kicked!

In our travels, we’ve seen plenty of obstacles to success, from making the tough decisions to staying focused on execution.

As if all that isn’t enough, there are still a few more barricades around the corner.

Lack of preparation is one of them.

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Do you hold your nose when you hear the word Training?

Some of you probably want to hold your nose when you hear the word training, but you couldn’t be more mistaken.

Training may not be the sexiest term, but when you think of it as education and learning … it equates to Preparation, one of the key differentiators among the most successful companies.

How many people have the will to lose?

Keep reading to embrace the key to success

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Wednesday, March 17th, 2021

What’s Keeping You from Making the Tough Decisions?

One of the most pervasive challenges that arises in my coaching sessions with CEOs and other business executives is the struggle to make the tough decisions.

It’s a deadly disease that cripples personal productivity.

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It’s usually a decision that’s already been resolved — silently, often deep in the psyche — but we don’t announce it, we don’t execute it and no one really knows the decision has been made at all.

What’s the impact of indecisiveness?

This is a high stress point for executives. These delayed decisions constantly beg for attention, but as we drop these pebbles of indecision in our backpack, it gets heavier with each step.

Carrying around the burden of these unexecuted decisions is a malignant tumor that can be fatal to both executive effectiveness, productivity and health.

Jack Welch said it best:

“You gain nothing by showing uncertainty and indecision”.

You’re squandering valuable time

These agonizing delays also hijack valuable time from the organization.

Keep reading to Learn How to Overcome Decision-Making Paralysis

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