Kolz Blog

This week's podcast is with John Maxwell, author of The Difference Maker. I had a chance to talk with John for about 30 minutes about the power of attitude. The subtitle for the book is "Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset". We talk about what attitude is, what attitude can and cannot do for you, and the five things that can negatively impact your attitude. mp3, 27:21, 18.8MB

Due to some health issues in my family the last couple of weeks, I have not been able to post on Friday’s as I have been. Fortunately, everyone is getting better, and I will once again post my leadership columns this coming Friday. Until then, here is a good read. I often receive forwards from one of our executives from Dr. Alan Zimmerman. Last Tuesday’s tip hits particularly close to home for those who are into goal setting. - Jason Tip: “Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I’ll give you someone who will make history. Give me someone without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk.” J.C. Penney Dr. Alan Zimmerman’s Comment: How true! Few things in life are more powerful than goals. Look at the Japanese people. After a devastating defeat in World War II, the Japanese leaders in government, business, and industry said “Let’s set a goal. Let’s become the number one nation in the production of textiles. And let’s accomplish this in a decade.” They did it. In 1960, the Japanese set the impossible goal to become the number one nation in the production of steel. An impossible goal you might think, because Japan had no iron ore, no coal, and no oil. But they did it again. In 1970, they set another goal–to become the number one nation in the production of automobiles. Again they did it, although it took them one year longer than they expected, achieving their goal in 1980. Then in 1980, they established the goal of becoming the leader in the production of electronics and computers. I don’t have to tell you what happened. From my 36 years of work as an educator and professional speaker, I can tell you absolutely, unequivocally, if you don’t have definite, written goals for every aspect of your life, you are not getting anywhere near what you could be getting out of life. You’re cheating yourself, your family, and your organization. I’ve had the privilege of working with more than a million people across the world. I know that people who set goals have more money, more success, better jobs, better families — in a word, they are HAPPIER. I know that the real achievers in life do three things: 1) they set goals, 2) they have a plan for achieving their goals, and 3) they put their plan into motion. 1. List everything you want to be, do, or have. Decide what you want — not what you think you want, or might want, or what someone else thinks you should want, but what YOU really want! Close your eyes and imagine your ideal self, possessing all the qualities you would like to have. Then write down the type of personality and the inner qualities of character you want to develop. List 8 to 10 qualities. Continue the process by defining the kinds of things you want to have. Write whatever comes to mind for each of 10 categories: physical, career, family, social, financial, recreational, spiritual, mental health, personal growth, and lifestyle. Don’t think about it too hard. Don’t worry about the feasibility. The purpose of this first step is to loosen you up and get you in touch with your DREAMS. Take an hour to do this step. 2. Prioritize your dreams. Count up the total number of items you listed. Divide by 3. If you listed 93 items, for example, a third would be 31. Looking over all your lists, place the letter “A” by the 31 items that would be a top priority for you, items that are absolutely necessary for your happiness and success. Use the letter “B” to designate your second level of priorities. Put the letter “B” by the 31 items that would be very nice to have but are not nearly as fundamental as your “A’s.” Lastly, place the letter “C” by all remaining items. A “C” doesn’t mean that it’s not important, but it is something you could live without or could put off for a while. 3. Balance your dreams. Don’t make the mistake of having only one dream, such as career success. If you focus all your energies on one goal, chances are you could achieve it, but your life would be a mess. I’ve seen too many people have just one goal, such as making a million dollars. They make their million and then find out their health is gone, along with their spouse and kids. So balance your dreams. In plain terms, that means you should have at least one “A” or “B” dream in each of the categories we discussed. You should have at least one quality you want to develop, and you should have something in the 10 other categories. No category should be overlooked. Likewise, no category should be overbooked. If you have 9 “A” or “B” dreams in the career category, for example, and only 1 thing in the spiritual section, you’re going to feel something is missing, even if you achieve all your dreams. So double check your categories to make sure they are somewhat even in terms of quantity and quality. 4. Avoid the temptation of trying to do everything. Select one — and only one — dream from each category. Pick the one you REALLY want and you’re also motivated to do something about it. That doesn’t mean you ignore all you other dreams. You keep your lists; you refer to them frequently, and keep them in mind. Once you’ve accomplished your selected items or they’re in pretty good shape, you go back to your lists and select something else to actively pursue. 5. Turn your dreams into goals. You do that by writing out your goals. Yes, you must write them out. The research is very clear. If you’re not willing to write out your goals, you probably won’t achieve your goals. The act of writing shows your commitment. You are doing more than wishful thinking. And writing gives your mind a sense of direction. You’re telling your subconscious mind that of all the millions of possibilities out there, these are the few you would like. When you write out your goals, make sure your write them appropriately. Make them specific. Write down exactly WHAT you want by WHEN. Make them achievable. Cast them within the realm of physical reality. Be able to visualize them. And make them controllable. Your goals have to be something over which you have control. You can’t write a goal of winning the lottery, but you could write a goal about making more money. 6. Take daily action steps. Once you write out your goals, you must spend a little time on them each and every day. Part of that time is simply spent on thinking about your goals. Your mind works on those things that it thinks about. Beyond thinking, outline an action plan for each of your goals. There’s nothing more motivating than having a list of action steps that you cross off as you get closer and closer to accomplishing your goal. One way to do that is to outline a series of mini-steps for each of your goals. A mini-step is a 5, 10, or 15-minute step you take each day on each of your goals. You commit yourself to taking some action on a regular basis. Some days it will only be 5 minutes; other days you’ll get excited and spend a whole hour on a particular goal. That’s okay. The key thing is you’re making visible, measurable progress. 7. Celebrate. If you follow these steps, you’ll have more success and more joy than ever before. So you deserve to celebrate your victories. Besides that, celebration revs up your mind and pumps up your spirit. You’ll be more than ready to go ahead and tackle your next goal. Action: Most people don’t get everything they want out of life. They don’t even think it’s possible. They’re the sad ones who get by when they could get up. I encourage you to take an hour this week and an hour next week to lay out your goals as I’ve outlined above. If you do nothing else, you’ve at least put together a roadmap as to where you want to go. And that alone will give you more success than simply “winging it” without a roadmap. Make it a great week! Dr. Alan Zimmerman

This interview is with Tom Rath, author Vital Friends: The People You Can't Afford to Live Without. This book is the culmination of 10 years of research by the Gallup Organization on the importance of friendship in the workplace. This is a short interview relative to some of the other podcasts I have done, but cover a ton of great stuff. You'll heard Tom and I talk about how workplace friendships can improve business performance, how friendships can improve your health, and how different friends play different roles in our lives. mp3, 23:28, 16.1MB

Today, the David Allen Co. has announced a new membership program for GTD zealots. It is called GTD Connect. The details of the program are listed on their website. It includes members-only library, website and forums, quarterly newsletter, 4 teleseminars with David Allen, 25% discount on live events, and special store pricing. All for the low, low price of $48.00 USD per month. Yep, for a mere $576/year, you can have the joy of all of the above stuff. Now, me, I am not going to ‘connected’. I can be a LOT more productive with my blog here, 43Folders forums and other resources around the internet, and spend that $500+ dollars on something else. I am thinking that David Allen Company is almost putting GTD out of reach for the normal, everyday folks like us. It seems that there pricing structure starts at about $500. Luckily, there is enough grass roots members of GTD that there is no shortage of information and help available…all for FREE! - Michael

Lead Up Principle #8 in John C. Maxwell’s book The 360° Leader is about becoming a go-to player. Often you hear people refer to athletes that perform well in the clutch as “go-to players”. This basically means that a player gets the job done when pressure is on. What separates the Michael Jordans, the David Ortizes, the Tiger Woodses and the Ronaldinos of the world from all other athletes? There is a passion within them that refuses to give in to pressure. They manage to treat pressure packed situations with a calmness and skill that few possess. For leaders in the middle of an organization, becoming a go-to player can be the difference between a career of mundane low skill work, and a lively career full of opportunity to excel…facing new challenges. What characteristics make a go-to player?

1. Go-to players produce when the pressure is on.
2. Go-to players produce when the resources are few.
3. Go-to players produce when the momentum is low.
4. Go-to players produce when the load is heavy.
5. Go-to players produce when the leader is absent.
6. Go-to players produce when the time is limited.

Ask yourself if you are a player that steps up and makes things happen when they must. When the chips are down, leaders step up. You will also find out if a person is stepping up to get ahead, or if they are stepping up for the good of the organization. Be a go-to player in your organization. - Jason

David Seah has posted his comments on my answers to his questions regarding the adaptation of the Printable CEO (PCEO) for the IT industry. Read David’s thoughts then read on. I totally agree with David’s assessments of the Dilemma of Support and Customer-Facing Support wholeheartedly. I feel, and have felt, that way much of the time in my various flavors of IT work that I have done in the last 10 years. I am not so sure that I agree with his statement that my goals are “defensive”. For example, there is a lot that goes into creating an infrastructure that allows SrVP X to get to the Internet. I can guarantee you that SrVP X does not care how it gets there, he just knows that it does. But the day that it does not get to the Internet, it is IT responsibility to get it fixed. SrVP X is not going to go in and trace the problem because he has a good understanding of the infrastructure of the company. Another thought is that every company does not have the need for the “latest and greatest tools”. Most universities have a number of measurement devices that only run on Windows 98. It blows my mind, but it is true. So giving them Windows XP would actually kill them in the water. One rule in IT is never upgrade as soon as something comes out. That is especially true for Microsoft products. You are only looking at a number of long nights to get things back running. And the last point about showing the organization how IT is making it more productive is almost impossible to measure. Sure we could cut off all of the IT things and go pen and paper for a week, then people would be groaning about how sloooow everything takes…BOOM! IT makes people more productive. Maybe there is no way to measure tangible achievement in IT. It is so reactive that, by its nature, it is hard to track. I will think on it a little more before I give in to the idea that IT is not made for the PCEO. - Michael