Tips to Not Getting Sucked In....

I consider myself to be a nice person.
Too nice.
I am always getting myself involved in something that usually ends up being a time killer for me, taking me away from what I really should be doing.

Actually, I used to be that way. Over the past few years I have been cautious in where I commit my time. So I made huge improvements in not letting myself get involved in time killers.

I make an effort to not get sucked in.

Sure there are times when you need to help a friend, business associate, family member or another important person in your life and that should always take precedence.

Are there things that you can do to make sure that when those types of things come up, you can help without feeling like you got sucked into something that you never should have gotten involved in to begin with? I have a found a few things that work to help from getting sucked in.

When reviewing a project, program, or organization to get involved in consider the following:

Does it fit with your personal mission and vision for where you are and the direction you are heading with your business, life, family?

Do you need to take time to develop some new talent or skill or does it naturally fit with a talent and skill you already posses?

Are you passionate about this?

Will this help you grow in the right relationships with the people that you want to be in relationship with. (it never hurts to meet new people, but sometimes new people can steal more time for the wrong reasons)

Do you fully understand what is required of you?
Is there a time commitment?
Are you fully aware of what the time commitment will mean to other commitments already existing in the life you live?

Is this something that fulfills a purpose or passion in your life that you have always wanted to explore?

Is your involvement based on the involvement of other friends, family, co-workers? Do they understand the commitment???

Asking the above questions will help you determine if signing on to a new program or project can lead you to success and help avoid you just being sucked in.

Routines

What is it about changes in our routine that makes us want to run for the hills and hide in a cave?

It seems that I am bound and determined to go through each and every day totally different from the previous day.

I used to have a routine. Stuff I did at the same time every day. Each day of the week. Now, not so much.

Are things out of balance?
Are the wheels coming of the cart?
Are the monkeys that secretly help me direct my ship all jumping overboard?

No...I don't think so.

I think it's that this is the day and age we live in. My life, your life, the life of those around you may never be subject to routine again. And I think that's okay.

It's okay if Monday is different from Tuesday which is definitely different from Saturday or Thursday. It's really okay if you thought you could do the same things at the same time each day and now realize that you can not.

I think we need to stop worrying so much about getting into the routine of living everyday and go about just living everyday.

Sure we need to plan and make lists and check things off of lists. That just common sense. But I don't think we need to plan, plan, plan every single day down to the minute.

A little secret about a change in my routine....
I used to routinely, without fail, write all of my appointments, contacts, notes and task lists down in my Franklin Planner. I recently got a new Palm Smart phone. While the smart phone does make me feel, well, less than smart at times, it has become a great tool to get me out of my routine. I use it now for everything, all of my appointments, calendar, contacts, oh yeah and it's a cell phone too. I don't have to carry my planner anymore. This has lightened my load a great deal in the briefcase.

My new routine though...remembering to sinc the phone! (ok, so there is a catch) but it was a nice move on my part to push me into getting more into the technology age that we are living in. Pushing the boundaries and barriers of my routine has turned out to be a great learning experience.

Are there barriers and boundaries that are holding you back in the form of a routine. Is there a change that you should try? What can you do to push yourself beyond being reliant on a daily routine?

On Line Networking

It's been quite some time for me to post. There's been a lot going on and I guess I totally left behind the entire idea of why you have a blog to begin with...to tell people how busy you are. I am getting ready for some big trips and some big coaching thigns are on the horizon. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out through the end of the year.

I wanted to take a moment to chat a bit about online networking. I have been spending alot of time on facebook. Probably too much time on facebook, but I have made some interesting connections there. In my upcoming travels I will be leveraging some of those new friends and taking the opportunity to meet with them and do some business. People I have never met and didn't even know...now have become linked to me and can be valuable resources.

Online networking is good too because I do not have to be any where at any specific time to do it. And I like that...I like that alot.

So tell me, what is your favorite on line networking site...facebook? myspace? linked in?
Which one works best for you and why?

Leadership - It's in YOU!

I have a friend that is struggling with leadership right now. He feels a great deal of pressure to lead and step up to the plate in a job that he has had for many years. Times have changed a bit in his organization and now there is tremendous opportunity for him to lead.

The problem...he doesn't see it in himself to step up and lead. Even though he has been leading for a long time. He has the qualities. He has a vision for what he wants his team to do and understands the mission that drives the organization. Others see it in him. He doesn't see it in himself.

Not everyone was born to be a leader. For some, leadership is a natural calling, for others it comes with experience, time, trial, and error. For some it's in their DNA, some learn it and gain leadership through experience. I would also agree that there are a number of people that are in leadership positions that should not be. More in some organizations than others I am sure.

But what do you do when others see in you what you do not see yet in yourself? I say yet because I think once someone else sees it in you, you can't deny it's there for very much longer. It will begin to show and reveal itself to you in more and more ways. I think this is true for leaders, even when they think they are not leading, they are. And they are probably doing it quite well.

So how do you get comfortable bringing out the leader in you? Start small and stay consistent. Don't change how you do things, continue to work harder and smarter on how you what you do well. Begin to look for little glimpses in yourself of what is already there. Journal it, document it somehow and learn from it. Get comfortable stretching yourself further in those situations.

There's a leader in you that is waiting to come out....suppressing it only sets you off in the wrong direction, and you and your organization will lose your vision, mission, and purpose, quickly.

Don't fear the leader already in you.

Ownership

Recently I have noticed something taking place in business conversations.

Lots of assumptions and excuses are being made about how businesses will be impacted by the economy. Owners seem to be looking to everyone but themselves for reasons as to why things are "slow" for them. I have talked to a few business owners that seem to "get it." They know they are in for the long haul and that if they want to stay in business - they, themselves will figure out how to do it. The problem though is that a lot of small business owners do not seem to want to take this type of ownership in their businesses when the going gets tough.

Ownership is a big thing with me. Being responsible is another. I am not a fan of owners that assume they have all the answers about their business but even more so I really have a difficult time with owners that place blame or offer excuses. This includes things like not knowing or understanding key elements of what makes your business successful. How can you not take ownership and capitalize on the things that really make a difference in your business?

After all - you got yourself into this, how can you not take ownership to either make it work OR call it quits and move on to the next "thing" that may be for you?

Seriously folks, the economy is what it is (for now) and what you have to do is to know more about what works in your business more than any consultant, coach, financial planner, banker, CPA, lawyer or any other professional you seek advice from. YOU need to take ownership.


Once you get the concept of ownership down...you will be setting off in a direction that will lead to success.

Why friends are always better...

Today I had the great opportunity to have lunch with three friends. These folks started out as being part of some of the same professional networking groups and now we have just kind of evolved into more of a friendship relationship.

Today I learned from this group of friends that:

One has a husband that needs a special type of prescription medicine just to stay alive

One has a husband that shops at Aldi and loves it

One took her soon to be ex-husband's pristine vet out for an afternoon drive in a driving rain and mud storm and let it set for three days so the mud would get nice and solidly set all over it. (note to self, don't ever "unfriend" this friend!)

I learned about their other social activities, what other groups they are in and how they spend their free time.

I learned that one doesn't like to force smiles all the time, because she doesn't want to be fake. I learned that each of them has in their past the opportunity to stand up for themselves in business and did so with lots of class.

We didn't "pass" any business today, there was no pressure to fill out slips, sign attendance sheets or be accountable for or to any weird networking rules. It was just plain fun. We were just being ourselves. We really learned about how we could help each other. We made suggestions and had great, honest discussion about our businesses.

I have done business with two out of the three friends and will look for ways to do business with all of them. Not because of a sense of obligation but because on a Monday they took time out of their business day to have lunch and just chat.

It was great fun and I am looking forward to the next time we get together. At the end of the lunch we didn't all whip out our calendars and set our next date...we simply left each other with a see you soon, have a great week departure.

Yes, we will definitely be getting back together soon, no doubt about it....that's what friends do. And in business friend relationships are always the better relationship to have! You can move mountains when you have friends - they are always better!

Breaking Up is Hard to Do....

Last week I had to make the decision to leave the BNI group that I joined last year. Because of the great new directions my coaching business is now going in, it was going to be difficult to maintain a good attendance record. It was either leave now or end up being asked to leave because of not being able to attend or find subs. It would not have been fair to me or the group to continue so I decided better to leave now.

The choice seems like an obvious one and one that I knew I was going to have to make. But in thinking this through I thought of a couple other organizations that I really need to let go of, some business connections that I needed to give up on that never really "connected" and some extra-curricular activities that were just becoming time stealer's. In one 48 hour time period I was able to clean up a bunch of these items and end some things that were just in need of ending.

Sometimes we have to do that. Not long ago friend and fellow blogger Angie Weid blogged about what it can mean to your life to just learn how to say, "NO." This is so true and in my case it was just learning how to say - "good-bye" to some of those things that for whatever the reason, you just have to say good-bye to.

So what types of things do you need to say good-bye to? If you "broke it off" with these things would that leave more time in your schedule to build your business, pursue your goals and dreams?

Breaking up is hard to do, but sometimes it means that there are even greater plans and successes that lie ahead.