The post The Real Value In Hitting A Bucket Of Balls! appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>
Have you ever noticed that when you allow yourself to look beyond the obvious, you can learn some cool stuff from the most interesting places. Last weekend we headed across the state of Oregon into Idaho to visit family for the Easter Weekend. I learned a few unexpected lessons while there.
I guess my journey over the last few years has taught me that we miss out on a lot of opportunities and lessons simply because we don’t take the time to look around and really see what’s going on. It’s amazing what you can learn when you start looking!
My brother-in-law, Scott, suggested that he and his son Sam and me and my son Scott go hit a bucket of balls at the local golf course. Spring seems to finally be showing up and it sounded like a great idea.
We picked up our buckets from the clubhouse, filled them up and headed over to the driving range. I have a set of clubs and have been playing golf on and off since High School but the lack of consistent play pretty much leaves me reinventing my game on an annual basis.
As I watched the others hit and began hitting my own bucket, I actually tried to focus on my swing and then it struck me that golf is a lot like most of the challenges we have in life. I may lose some of you here, but golf is only a game, really, it is. Some of us just take it more serious than others.
What I found interesting is that we can use some of the same principles in improving our golf game as we can in improving our life and here are four of them:
WHAT DO I NEED TO START?
Well, if I want to improve my golf game, I better start playing more consistently. Dusting off the clubs two of three times a year does not a golfer make.
If I want to improve my life, I need to follow through more consistently and I’m not referring to my golf swing.
WHAT DO I NEED TO STOP?
Several years of slicing and hooking have centered my focus on trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I should be focusing on what I need to do right.
In life, I need to move away from deficit based thinking and focus on the assets I have instead of the deficiencies. Making what I already do right better, will eliminate the bad stuff without even thinking about it.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO LESS OF?
Like many golfers, I spend way to much time thinking about the next swing. Too many moving parts and too many options. Limit the things to work on to one or two and take care of them first.
In life, it is no different. Too many things I want to do, which translates to not doing any of them very well at all. Less shiny squirrels and less options reduces the noise and clutter and brings clarity to any situation.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO MORE OF?
Simple – create better habits. Habits come from repetition. Driving range, putting green and chipping from the fringe. Practice, practice and then practice.
Now I realize life is not practice but this I know – the more I do something, the better I will get at it. This goes for good things and bad. What do I need to do more of? The things that really matter. The things that make a difference.
Look at that – a simple bucket of balls at a golf course and look what I learned from it. A couple of questions to leave you with …
What opportunities are you currently missing out on in your life because you are simply not taking the time to notice them? [Tweet This]
Maybe the more important question is what are you going to start, stop, do more of or do less of in order to see them and act on them?
***********************************************************************
===> JOIN THE “LEADERSHIP BY INVITATION” LAUNCH TEAM <===
Click here to get a copy of my Kindle Book “The Manifesto Of An Influential Leader”
Don’t miss a single post from Building What Matters by subscribing at the top left of this page.
Help support us by clicking here and Liking our facebook page
Barry Smith 4/25/14 photo courtesy of amazon © Building What Matters 2014
The post The Real Value In Hitting A Bucket Of Balls! appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>The post Scan-Snap-Savor And Re-Program Your Results! appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>
One of the segments we added to The Platform Builders Mastermind Group this year was a “Leadership Spotlight.” During one segment of our call each week, we feature an author or leader and focus on their current projects or activities.
This week we had a great call and were honored to have Dr. Kathryn Cramer join us who recently released her seventh book, LEAD Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders See, Say and Do.
The latest in Dr. Cramer’s Asset Based Thinking (ABT) series, LEAD Positive pack a tremendous amount of great content on how to be courageous, resilient, and optimistic as we as leaders, can produce significant and lasting change in both our personal and professional lives.
This book is full of concepts and ideas that will no doubt change the way we think, and result in raising our leadership lid. Dr. Cramer suggests that we, by nature, are wired to “avoid harm” and therefore react faster to the negative than we do to the positive. Over time, this creates a negative bias in our thinking. But we have the power to change that!
One of Dr. Cramer’s ABT exercises really caught my attention. The Scan-Snap-Savor exercise, although simple in concept, has the potential to completely change the way we think. See what you think …
SCAN
Dr. Cramer suggests that we look for a positive fact that is either happening right now or in our immediate past. Then focus your attention on one of three areas, self, others, or situation. In Dr. Cramer’s word’s, “The self scan requires you to look for your own leadership strengths, capabilities, efforts, and skills that are showing up in the present moment to move things forward.”
To me, this sounds like “short-term version of the Law of Reflection. Dr. Cramer points out that, “The situation scan leads you to zero in on the emerging dynamics working in your favor.” How cool is that! All we have to do is think positive and the energy pulled from that thinking will produce positive results. The power of positive thinking ring a bell for anyone?
SNAP
I recently heard Dr. Cramer describe this part of the equation as taking a mental picture of that positive fact that you focused on the the scan step. When we develop that positive image in our mind just like downloading pictures onto you computer. They are stored there for your future use.
Again, a pretty straight forward concept – visually snap the picture and download it to your cranial hard-drive. (Tweet This) I see it like this, if you don’t take the picture, you are going to have to recreate the image to access that “positive” memory. In today’s warp speed society, we simply choose not to take the time or energy to do it and default to the negativity bias we already have.
SAVOR
This is the difference maker. Before you store away that mental snapshot, spend 30-60 seconds “savoring” it. Remember a hundred years ago when film had to be developed in a liquid solution? It had to soak in that stuff until it fully developed. Dr. Cramer has brought that concept back to life and you don’t even need a dark room.
Follow her advice and, “Let the full measure of the experience sink deeply into your implicit memory. Savor it. In less than 90 seconds, you have allowed yourself to step outside the hustle and bustle of the day.“
Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Maybe it’s time you trade in that old camera that doesn’t seem to be working for you and pick up a new one that takes the type of pictures that will get you the “POSITIVE” results you have been looking for.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Pick up a copy of LEAD Positive and start using your manual focus option. You just might like the increased quality of the pictures you’ve been taking!
***********************************************************************
Click here to get a copy of my Kindle Book “The Manifesto Of An Influential Leader”
Don’t miss a single post from Building What Matters by subscribing at the top left of this page.
Help support us by clicking here and Liking our facebook page
Barry Smith 3/26/14 photo courtesy of the Weaving Influence © Building What Matters 2014
The post Scan-Snap-Savor And Re-Program Your Results! appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>The post The Power Of Urgency – Leveraged Action appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>
This month in The Platform Builders mastermind group we are working our way through “The Power Of Urgency – Playing to Win with Proactive Urgency” by William Keiper. John Maxwell teaches that the greatest gap is the gap between what we know and what we do. I believe the Proactive Urgency that Keiper is talking about can close that gap.
In Part two of The Power of Urgency, Keiper takes a deep look into the idea of Playing to Win with The Power of Urgency.
“Your current state is a perfect reflection of your prior decisions.” – William Keiper (Tweet This / Post to LinkedIn)
In this, the final of three posts, I want to offer up Keiper’s thought provoking take on the idea of Proactive Urgency. Keiper ends each of the 17 chapters with an “Urgency Rule” and I want to highlight a few to set the frame for Part 2 of the book.
Urgency Rule #12 – A purposeful commitment to acting with pro-urgency is a sustained, continuously renewed promise manifested in your bold actions. This ongoing promise leaves no room for fakery, conformity or false consensus.
I love this quote from Keiper, “The path of least resistance will always be crowded with those who occupy half-numb, half-lived lives.” Commitment never follows the path of least resistance. Commitment will require you to step outside of your comfort zone and do the things you have never done before to become someone you have never been before.
Urgency Rule #14 – An initial decision, no matter how good, immediately becomes a prospect for an adaptive decision based upon new inputs. Be the best challenger of your own decisions.
How often do you challenge your own decisions? Be honest! In almost everything we do, we can do better. There are very few decisions that we make in life that would not benefit from asking these challenging questions:
- What do I need to start?
- What do I need to stop?
- What do I need to do more of?
- What do I need to do less of?
- What am I missing?
If we made better decisions and became just 1% more productive each week, we would increase our productivity by more that 50% every year.
Urgency Rule #17 – Proactive urgency is personal. If pursued with clarity and commitment, it will transform your work, your life and the lives of those around you.
There is that word clarity again. If you have heard me speak, you know how important I believe clarity is in everything we do. Lack of clarity brings confusion and lack of focus. Focus is what keeps you on the right path. Knowing where you are and where you are headed are the keys to getting there.
The question: Have you really committed to reaching your goals or are you still playing small and working through the path of least resistance?
The challenge: Choose a goal you are working towards and fully commit. If you are not struggling, you are not growing.
***********************************************************************
Click here to get a copy of my Kindle Book “The Manifesto Of An Influential Leader”
Join me on the STOP CHALLENGE CHOOSE 12 week health transformation
Don’t miss a single post from Building What Matters by subscribing at the top left of this page.
Help support us by clicking here and Liking our facebook page
Barry Smith 2/27/14 photo courtesy of amazon © Building What Matters 2014
The post The Power Of Urgency – Leveraged Action appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>The post Are You Really Answering The Question? appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>
I haven’t written about this topic in a while but thought today would be appropriate. Today begins another week long event that happens twice a year. The John Maxwell Team Live Certification event is like no other that I have ever been involved in.
There is huge added value for an incredible team, and of course teaching from John himself. This will be my fifth trip to the event and I will be joining about 200 of my returning friends and colleagues. In addition to them will be over 400 that will be attending for the first time.
I have been watching the posts over the last month reading about the excitement, anticipation and even a little bit of fear. John Maxwell has taught is that if you want to do something you’ve never done before, you need to become someone you’ve never been before. (Tweet This / Post to LinkedIn)
That’s a pretty powerful statement if you ask me. Many of my teammates were already coaches, speakers, or trainers when they joined the team. For many others, these are areas they may have never explored before and were simply drawn to the team because of the focus on leadership and access to John’s wealth of knowledge on the subject.
You know I love questions! As my own level of awareness has increased over the last few years, I have become much more intrigued with the answers as well. There are always many questions at the live training event and I want to take a look at three of the answers that cover a multitude of those questions.
YES, AND …
Life is not black and white. It’s not yes or no either. I have experienced the value of taking a yes or no question a step further. Let’s face it – yes might be the right answer, but is it the best answer? I have found that yes can almost always be followed up with “and.” The “and” is the opportunity to add clarity.
And as far as I am concerned, we can always use more clarity. So the next time you answer “yes” – see if putting an “and” after it can get a better answer.
IT DEPENDS
Well many times it does depend. “It depends” is a way to force a better question. It forces you to add some clarity in the question itself. A better question will always result in a better answer.
Our culture has put us into an immediate gratification mindset and when you think about it, all this has done is create an environment in which we grab the first response that moves us forward. The problem is, that sometimes that forward is in the wrong direction. Make sure you know what it “depends on” before moving on.
JUMP, AND BUILD YOUR WINGS ON THE WAY DOWN!
I love this one. It has all but become the mantra of the John Maxwell Team. So many of us let fear hold us back, and not only from the things we want to do, but from the things we were meant to do. I’m not suggesting we be irresponsible and take action without thinking first. I’m suggesting that you think first and then take action, even when it scares you. Like I said earlier, the only way we can do things sometimes, is to DO IT AFRAID!
Dieter Jansen, one of my teammates that I recently took through our 90 Day Success Roadmap program, posted this earlier today as he prepared to head north from Capetown, South Africa:
“Never been to a live event, never been to a think tank. I have so many questions. But being confused is OK once you get used to it. You meet such nice people along the way…”
How beautiful is that! What a great attitude! Isn’t amazing how things can change just from adding a little positive perspective and suspending the need to know how. Those are the words from someone willing to step outside their comfort zone. My prediction for Dieter … Success!
The Question: What question did you answer recently with “yes” and yes was only the right answer?
The Challenge: Re-visit that answer and add the “AND”
***********************************************************************
Click here to get a copy of my Kindle Book “The Manifesto Of An Influential Leader”
Join me on the STOP CHALLENGE CHOOSE 12 week health transformation
Don’t miss a single post from Building What Matters by subscribing at the top left of this page.
Help support us by clicking here and Liking our facebook page
Barry Smith 2/17/14 image by author © Building What Matters 2014
The post Are You Really Answering The Question? appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>The post Effectiveness Is A Path To Results – Not Productivity appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>
This was one of those blog titles that I plugged in a few weeks ago because I thought it would be a good topic for one of my upcoming posts. As I opened up wordpress to start in on the post I had to laugh. This is a picture of my desk at the exact moment I logged in. Appropriate subject? Ya Think!
I have been very transparent about my “comfort zone” when it comes to my work space. Most of my life, I have had a million things going on, finishing very few of them in a timely manner, but feeling achievement by getting lots done. Right? I guess it’s a matter of perspective. Checking 30 items off your list in one day may appear to be a huge success. But if you had three hundred items when you started the day, maybe not so much.
Being Busy And Productive Is Not Enough
I have learned a lot about the difference between being busy and being productive over the past few years and it has helped. In my defense, I have been working diligently on getting the draft done for my new book, Leadership by Invitation, and earlier today, I was pulling quotes from several different sources (as you can tell) but my desk still ends up like this at least once a week. I guess old habits are hard to break.
For the most part, I have turned being busy into being productive, but with that success (if you can call it that) I have come to realize that there is a new level in achievement. That comes form moving from productivity to effectiveness. Now you might think that these two words mean relatively the same thing. Well, not in my world. And here is why.
Success Comes When We Move From Productive To Effective
As I have focused in on living out my purpose – “building what matters – people!” – I have realized that we can be very productive, while at the same time not be effective at all. Huh? In my book, I talk about strategies and vision that produce results. These results are based upon a specific purpose. Do you see where I’m going with this?
I can be very productive, take out the trash, wood on the fire, shovel the snow off the driveway and so on. All of these are productive, but really don’t connect back to my purpose. Based on my experience, many people out there are lost somewhere in this state of confusion. They get busy with a list, over time that list grows (with many items serving other people’s purpose rather than their own) and they lose sight of what they really want to accomplish.
So what can bring clarity to all of this and help you maintain focus on fulfilling your purpose? In a few months you will be able to read the long version when the book comes out, but here is a snapshot for you that might help you get headed in the right direction.
How To RSVP Your Way To Success
Be clear on your VISION. What do you really want? If you are in a leadership position, and you are, what vision are you casting to those around you? Are you even casting a vision?
Once you identify that vision, you need to determine your role in achieving it. That’s right, your purpose. Identifying and understanding your PURPOSE is what brings additional clarity to the big picture and helps you to stay on task. (Tweet This / Post to LinkedIn)
Now that you have a vision and understand your purpose in fulfilling that vision, you need a strategy to achieve that vision and fulfill your purpose. The right STRATEGY is what keeps your work not just productive, but effective.
Now that the strategy is in place and you are casting your vision and fulfilling your purpose, take a look at the RESULTS you are getting. If they are not what you identified within your strategy, make the necessary course corrections and stay at it.
There is a quick look at what’s coming up in much more detail, but I believe that even taking a little time right now to see how your current condition or circumstance fits into this framework, might just make a difference for you.
The Question: Are you being productive or effective?
The Challenge: Take a look at your activities and find something you are doing in which you can move from being not just productive, but effective.
***********************************************************************
Click here to get a copy of my Kindle Book “The Manifesto Of An Influential Leader”
Join me on the STOP CHALLENGE CHOOSE 12 week health transformation
Don’t miss a single post from Building What Matters by subscribing at the top left of this page.
Help support us by clicking here and Liking our facebook page
Barry Smith 2/10/14 photo by author © Building What Matters 2014
The post Effectiveness Is A Path To Results – Not Productivity appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>The post WILTW – Finding The Clarity You Need To Close The Gap appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>
Here we are … “What I Learned This Week” Friday. Along with the usual stuff this week, I spoke with a handful of corporate executives, attended a few webinars and participated in a few mastermind groups. The theme this week in just about everything I did was CLARITY.
For me personally, clarity was the difference maker in my transition out of the construction industry. I mean it’s hard enough as it is to try and stay clear and focused when you only have one job. Going from one to another, and one that is completely different, produced a lot of fuzz in my vision for a really long time.
I think the most significant thing that was missing early on was guidance. I was trying to do it all myself and well, you can probably guess how that turned out. When I became part of the John Maxwell Team, I not only was connected to John himself and an incredible roster of teammates, but a mentorship team that has been invaluable in my successful transition.
One of my teammates, Kary Oberbrunner, who was coaching and mentoring in his own business took me a step further by introducing me to a framework that included an Overarching Vision, Purpose, Unifying Strategies and a Scorecard for Significance. If you want to know more about that framework, let me know, but the end result was gaining the clarity that I had been lacking that brought my world back into focus.
I said clarity was the theme this week, but it came in different forms and I offer these up to see if your world currently resonates with any of them.
I’m not sure where I am so how can I possibly know where I’m going?
You have to start somewhere, right? Well it only makes sense to start where you’re at. I have found that if you find yourself in this situation it’s because you’re lacking a benchmark, nothing to define your current condition. I love the idea of starting with the end in mind. Do you have a vision for your future?
Look, I will be honest, if you don’t know where you’re going then it doesn’t matter where you are. Knowing where you want to go allows you to establish what the difference is between the destination and where you currently are. A destination provides the clarity to map the course to get there.
I’m too busy to figure out where I want to go. I can barely take care of today.
I know some of you are in this category. I won’t pretend to minimize your current workload or responsibilities, but this I know – if you don’t know where your going, it really doesn’t matter where you end up. If you don’t have a plan, someone else will make one for you and if you didn’t know this already, they don’t have much planned for you.
Clarity doesn’t just happen. It comes from strategically planning out the steps you need to achieve a desired result. And it only starts there. Once you have that plan, you need to work it. Clarity is the glue that holds a plan together and makes it stick! (Tweet This / Post to LinkedIn)
I’m not quite ready for clarity, I need to take care of a few things first.
Really? Doesn’t that, in itself, suggest that clarity is needed? The time for clarity is now. Remember earlier when I said BEGIN with the end in mind. Last time I checked, the beginning is usually the first part. My point is that the next move is your most important because it sets the stage for the rest.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you need to take care of a few things before you create and implement a plan. Those “things” should be part of your plan. Start now with the plan you want to execute. Be strategic and specific with every move.
My guess is that you fit into at least one of these three scenarios, maybe more. This week I mentioned the gap between what we know and what we do. Clarity can close that gap.
The Question: Which of these scenarios are you currently in?
The Challenge: Before going back to whatever it was you were doing, take just 15 minutes and come up with one action item you can take immediately to improve your current condition or circumstance.
***********************************************************************
Click here to get a copy of my Kindle Book “The Manifesto Of An Influential Leader”
Join me on the STOP CHALLENGE CHOOSE 12 week health transformation
Don’t miss a single post from Building What Matters by subscribing at the top left of this page.
Help support us by clicking here and Liking our facebook page
Barry Smith 2/7/14 photo by author © Building What Matters 2014
//
The post WILTW – Finding The Clarity You Need To Close The Gap appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.
]]>