Leaders – Fire yourself.

As a leader, what are you doing that YOU should not be doing?

What are you spending time on that other people can do?

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done (BY YOU)  at all.” – Peter Drucker

Be honest – why are you doing these tasks?  Fear?  Stop being a weenie. 

Ego?  You think you are in control or have power because you do that….or you think you are the only one who can do it (well) – Don’t kid yourself.  Other people can do many things you do now.  In fact, they would LOVE to.  Ask them.

Let’s get better.  Delegate many things that you do now.  Outsource.  Hire. 

Ok cool. You’re fired. There. I did it for you.

Now how can you help your organization much better?  Elevate your contribution.

Stop looking at what is and start looking at what could be.

What higher-value work/projects can you do if you had the time?

A few moves produce all the results.

What are they for you?

Balancing Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

Happiness is satisfaction.  Happy people don’t tend to change their worlds much.

Ambition is dissatisfaction.  Ambitious people want to grow, fix, learn and change things – so they can be happy.

Learn to be both at the same time.

Be happy while you are working to make things better.

Do not suspend happiness until the world is just as you wanted it to be.

Satisfied and dissatisfied – what blend are you?

Incorrect assumptions lead to bad decisions

To set things right you have to see things right.

To make a good decision, you need to question your assumptions.

When I look back at the big mistakes I have made and had to fix later, I can see that I made assumptions I should not have.  

Sometimes you say “This situation worked, so the next one with a different person will too.”  But people are different.

“This worked in this business, so it will work in another business too.”  But businesses are different.

You might assume that people will perform to your optimistic expectations.  

Any projection on a spreadsheet is full of assumptions.  

Sure, sometimes you have to have faith and try it and learn and make corrections as you go.

But still, the less you assume, the better.  

April Fool’s Day Sucka!

If you fell for my final farewell yesterday, well, good for me – I fooled you on April Fool’s Day!

I have no intention of discontinuing Think Daily right now.  April represents the 17th anniversary of Think Daily!  250 messages a year, and 250 for Think Daily for Businesspeople – that’s a lot of thinking!  8500 messages!

Think Daily is free.  I have never shared anyone’s email address.  I have never tried to sell anyone anything.  I am just trying to be of service.

After being in business for 44 years, and growing, challenging, crashing, conquering, struggling, witnessing, learning, observing, giving, receiving, loving, trying, building, and experiencing so much, I feel I can share and save someone else some time, pain, and effort in their own life.

I have been the recipient of the wisdom of others through their books and recordings.  It has made it easier to recognize what works and to see patterns over the ages.  Think Daily is my version of keeping wisdom moving forward.  I hope you can find a way as well.  It doesn’t have to be as grand or as often, but maybe you can help one person deeply.

No desire – no accomplishment

The starting point of all success is a deep desire. 

Without desire, nobody can help you succeed.

Nobody can want something for you badly enough to make up for the fact that you don’t want it.

This includes success, health, adventure, happiness, or anything else.

You won’t get very far chasing someone else’s dream either.  

The first thing you have to ask yourself is “What do I REALLY want?”

95% of salespeople wing it

Most salespeople meet a prospect and say the first thing that falls out of their mouth.  Then the second, and the third, and so on.

The way your company is depicted, and the service and experience your company gives to people before they make a buying decision varies widely.

Is that what you want?

What training do you have to see that it is a quality interaction, with continuity from prospect to prospect?

How will you know when it is accomplished?

People take you at face value

You can tell a lot about a person by how they present themselves to the world.

Who dressed you this morning?  Who grooms you?  

We all look at someone and make assessments.  

Who are we to argue with how someone presents themselves?  They know themselves best.  If they wanted to be someone different they would present themselves that way.

How are you presenting yourself to the world?  

How do you feel about yourself?

People can sense how we feel about ourselves.  This is important for everyone.  If we don’t feel good about what we are doing, how our life is going, about our own behavior and what we do when no one is looking, then we will project that outwardly in a host of tiny ways.  

Since the world is our mirror, it leads to life in an ugly unhappy world.

As leaders, managers and salespeople, we are trying to influence others.  But if they know we are not even happy with ourselves, then they will resist our influence.  

Work on yourself before you try to work on others.  If you spend lots of time on it, it’s a valuable and worthwhile investment.

Make you proud of you.  

Then go out and help others.

The half-life of the information you consume

Most people are drowning in information, but starving for wisdom. 

“Half-life” means the time it takes for a quantity of a substance to reduce to half of it’s initial value.  In other words, the amount of time for half of it to be gone.

What do you read, listen to and watch?

What is the half-life of that information?  Low-value information is that which is not important tomorrow.  Some people listen to and watch things that have zero value (or even negative value) tomorrow.  The half-life is hours.

High-value information lasts much longer.  Successful people pay attention to things that will matter tomorrow, and next week, and next year.  They learn things that other things (learning, understanding) can be built on.

If I learn something that is timeless to be a better leader or have a better business, that is a great use of my time.  

On Think Daily, I try to write about things that have enduring value.

What is the half-life of what you pay attention to each day?