Sharpen the saw!

Stephen Covey is a wonderful person and a great author. I like his habits book but like most books the materials only work when we apply them to our lives.
Last week I did the sharpen the saw exercise by taking a short cruise to think, reflect, and relax before the very difficult spring that I have ahead of me at work. I was actually expecting that I would not be able to relax and put work behind me - but was very pleasantly surprised how easily that did in fact happen.
Another great discovery - my ability to think clearly has improved dramatically. No I'm not now among the great thinkers of our times, but I do find that the issues that were un-resolved before I took the time away were now able to be thought about and viewed much differently. In fact, I've mentally resolved most of them to my satisfaction.
Now I'm not suggesting that this method will work for everybody on absolutely everything that you have on your mind, but at least in my case it has worked beautifully.
You may want to consider trying the process. It doesn't have to be a cruise or even a week long vacation - it could simply be one or two extra days off around a weekend that you completely unplug and disconnect from the rest of the world so your mind can relax and recharge.
Try it - you may like it. I know I did and I plan to take a day or two off on a regular basis during 2012 to keep the sharpening project going for me.

These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve

Motivation/Follow-Through with Check Lists

Life is like an untraveled trail with some very complex twists and turns. Many activities are detours that lead back to that pit of quicksand and mire. My mind easily turns to muddled thinking and disorganization. Just as an example, take the New Years Resolutions.
Are you trying to keep your New Years Resolutions and finding that some are already slipping? I doubt motivation is your issue - most likely, (at least for me) it tends to be my follow through, or lack of the same. My intentions are great, but somehow between getting out of bed and back into bed again, traveling that complex train, I just seem to "forget" the great list of resolutions and the priorities I wanted to accomplish them.

In walks the most humble of all Quality Control devices - the dreaded Check List!

Now as a pilot I know and use my checklist to fly the airplane without fail - it's not that I don't know or remember how to fly or what order to accomplish things in - its just that when my mind is working on keeping the aircraft flying sometimes I miss or forget something that should be routine and simple. Turning off the fuel pump after take-off is a prime example. It doesn't "hurt" anything, it just gets overlooked sometimes while I look for traffic. The same thing happens in my daily life which is why I find I must use a check list for most of the things I routinely do, even on a daily basis, or else small, simple things just don't get accomplished. In aviation the small things generally lead to major failures somewhere down the line.

I see the checklist used not only in aviation, but also medicine, design and construction projects, investing.......... There are even books written to convince us to use a checklist:

18 Minutes to Find your Focus, Master Distraction, and get the Right Things done by Peter Bregman. And of course, the best one: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande - a doctor who proves to you beyond a shadow of a doubt why it is absolutely mandatory to use a checklist.

But you reply - I'm in the tile and flooring business! Why would I need a checklist? Trust me, after nearly 40 years in that industry I find it absolutely mandatory in that business too. Here is an example of a checklist that maybe would make sense when putting your installers out the door in the morning:

• What do you understand this job priorities to be?


• What concerns or ideas do you have that we haven't discussed already?


• What are your key next steps and what is your timetable for accomplishment?


• What else do you need from me to make this job a success?


• Are there any contingencies we need to think about or plan for now?


• When will you check in on your progress and issues?


• Who else needs to know our game plan? How do we communicate that to them? When?

Does it take time to go through the checklist? Sure - maybe 5 minutes. But compare that to the hours saved in frustration and stress when the job is screwed up!

So a checklist not only reduces mistakes, saves stress, and frustration (on all sides) it also will absolutely save time.

Try using your own version of a checklist for just ONE WEEK - see if I'm wrong here.

Steve

Where are you headed in 2012?

There's a story about a man riding a horse, galloping quickly. It appears he's headed somewhere very important. A man standing on the side of the road shouts, "Where are you headed?" The rider replies, "I don't know, ask the horse!"
Is this your story? Are you riding the "horse" of your habits with no idea where you are headed? Maybe it's time right now to take control of the reins, and start moving your life in the direction YOU want to go. I mean, REALLY WANT to go!
The choice is YOURS. You control your thoughts, which should control your actions. If you have no clue or idea where you are heading in 2012 then now is the time to stop, THINK about it, and decide.
You are able to do whatever YOU decide you want to do. It is truly up to YOU.
If you truly don't believe you know HOW to do this, either call me or email me and I will point you in the correct path so you can learn.
No judgement from me, just help if you request it.
Steve

Are you a golfer?

Are you a golfer? I'm certainly not, however, when I played golf, I thought I was doing pretty well just to get the ball somewhere on the putting green.
The truth be told, my main goal was to reach the green without majorly embarrassing myself, so I was satisfied even when my ball made it somewhere near the fringes.
One day a local golf pro told me that the key difference between an average golfer and one who is excellent is this: The truly great players shoot for the hole, not somewhere near the hole or somewhere on the green. They aim directly for the hole.
He told me, “You should make the hole your goal.” My intelligent, thoughtful response was, “Yeah, right! That’ll be the day.”
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to hit the hole, so I didn’t even try. The reason so many of us get stuck, unable to move deeper into whatever we attempt is because we don’t think it’s truly possible, at least for us. And so we don’t even try.
For 2012 one of my wishes is for everyone who has a huge dream to make the honest attempt to reach the dream. While thinking about this I realized that my golf game mistake was the exact same mistake many others make with their dreams. Now I don't ever dream of being a great or even good golfer - I just don't care for the game that much. However, I do want to be a better pilot and I do have several other things that I want to improve at doing - and for those items I need to "shoot for the hole" rather than just aiming for the fringe and being satisfied.
My New Years Wish for you is to "SHOOT FOR THE HOLE!" and to have a very Happy 2012.
Steve

Relaxing over the Holidays

I wrote earlier this month about making and working a plan for 2012. I've already completed the outline of my personal plan - but with me it is not just a written piece of paper but rather a living document that gets reviewed regularly and updated as needed.
As I sit here at home this last week of 2011 enjoying a week of vacation and visiting with my daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughter I realized that I wasn't really living my plan. Worse than that, I haven't been for the past several years! You see I always have God first in my plan, then family, then personal items and secure it all with work plans.
It dawned on me, rather shocked me, that for the past few years I haven't used all my vacation time that my company, USG Corp, is so generous to provide. This year is no exception. I am losing almost 2 weeks of vacation, again this year, and that just isn't fair to anyone.
I violate my family plan by shorting them of time together, and I violate my work plan because as we all really KNOW but sometimes forget to admit, that I don't do my best work when I'm tired and not really refreshed and recharged - which by the way - IS the PURPOSE of the company providing vacation time.
So I've just taken advantage of a fantastic opportunity to book a 5 day cruise with another couple during the month of January because the price was just way too cheap to pass it up! $219 per person for 5 days of cruise, including all taxes and fees! When you figure the cost of food and entertainment as well as the sleeping accommodation's, you can't even stay at a Motel 6 for that cheap - even if they do "Leave The Light On."
So this year, maybe for the first time ever, it is my plan and intention to spread my vacation time out and find real bargains so that not only do I recharge and refresh, (my work goals), I also meet my social, personal, and family goals, and have fun all at the same time.
What about you? Have you started on your plan for 2012 yet? Reviewed it? Thought about it?
No time like NOW to start so that 2012 will be the Best Year Ever for you.

Back to my family and easy chair now............
Steve

Success for 2012 hints.

Want big success in 2012?

It's as simple as football. 1. Know the rules. 2. Know the Playbook. 3. Execute.
You do know the rules don't you? Do you follow them?
What about your playbook? You have one don't you?
Execution is where most folks fail. They just keep getting ready to get ready but never seem to actually get into the game with action.

As a pilot we talk about "Flying in the Soup." Which means flying your airplane in poor weather conditions. Sometimes life provides us with poor conditions also - so here's what you need to do to overcome this.
1. Know the rules. 2. Know the playbook. 3. Forget your feelings. 4. Trust and believe your instruments.
Now the first two are the same as football. Number 3 means you can't rely on just how things feel when you fly - you must have accurate facts. Where do you get the "Facts?" From number 4 - trusting and believing your instruments. Same easy steps as football without a sight or vision reference. Much as the economic conditions we experienced during 2011.

Success in 2012 is really just about taking common sense steps that you already know and applying them plus doing the execution, even on those day's you may not feel like it.
As the shoe company said: "JUST DO IT!"

Merry Christmas to All.
Steve

Fast Start 2012

Hopefully everyone found last Monday's post on The Compound Effect - interesting and useful. Carrying forward in that same light, I would like to suggest that you consider taking time right now to carefully craft your "plan" for 2012.

My "plan" which I update regularly, but at least annually, includes the following items:
My personal vision statement
My Life Purpose statement
My Roles and Goals statement
My Accountability Checklist
One final item that I found helpful for me is a list of my strengths and weaknesses so that I can remain aware of both and plan to utilize my strengths while supporting my known weaknesses with others help.

Probably the single thing that I do that is critical for me is to plan and execute a daily Quiet Time. This is the time when I set myself apart to review and pray about everything going on in my life. I try to accomplish this in the mornings, but since my schedule requires flexibility I find myself doing my quiet time at various times - sometimes mornings, sometimes evenings, and sometimes even during my lunch time at the office. The critical thing for me is to DO IT!

If you have interest in any of the above planning items or tools, please contact me directly via email and I will share my statements and plans with you. It sounds overwhelming when you read this, but believe me, once you start it becomes so very easy and after you have carefully crafted your plan updating it regularly is actually quite fast.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Steve