The "I am good at this" affliction

Leaders – What are you doing well, that you should not be doing at all?

The old you thought it was the right thing to do

You did things yesterday because you thought it was the right thing to do.  You were doing your best.  It’s your best idea.  You’re getting __X__ results and you are at your limit – you have few and limited new ideas on how to get better results in your business.

What got you here, won’t get you there.  You’re already getting the results what you are doing now will produce.  If you want something better/greater/smoother, then something different is required.

I’d say it’s time to learn something new.  It’s always time for a leader to learn something new.  Because if you are stuck, your business is too.

What topic from who will you read/watch/listen to today?

Are you addicted to hard work?

Has your brain made a hard connection between working very hard/very long and multi-tasking like crazy – and survival and success?

(This is advice for leaders) 

Break this connection.  If you don’t you’ll stay small and work too many hours.

You get paid for the results your organization/team gets, not for what you do.

You don’t scale.  Your business does.  You are the architect and leader of the strategy and people in it.

Right?

Too busy to think

If you don’t think well, you can’t take the best action on the best things. 

All action is preceded by thought.  Some people think that thinking is not work.  But it is a very important part of good work that will take you where you want to go.

If you are very busy all the time, moving your body and rushing to complete tasks, you can’t think well.

A leader is must think well.  Make time.  Think. 

Old habits from an old life

Your habits were created for a life you no longer have or want.

Habits are great to get you to one place, but when you want to go to the next place, your habits hold you back.

Stop your old routines.  Start habitually reading and learning and acting on new things related to what you want and where you want to go now.

What habits do you have to stop?  

What habits will get you to the next desirable situation?

Your "new job"

Working a lot?  You know how to do the work – that’s the probem.  You started a business that does the work and now you own a job.  You never shifted to the new job which is the leader.

Until you start doing the new job of building a team of people that gets great results with customers and each other, you won’t grow much.

It’s a mindset shift that makes all the difference.  

Dress for Influence

Who do you want to be but aren’t now?

Who are you trying to influence?

Today, are you dressed like the person you want to be would dress?

Leaders – Edit your job

As an entrepreneur who cares about everything in your business, what you define as your job can get too big easily, especially as you grow and each part gets bigger. 

If your job does not fit into ____ hours, you have not edited well.  (In that last sentence, insert a number of hours that allows you to live a full life with time for family, friends, recreation, physical fitness and fun – 40?, 45?, 50? 35?)

The work has to get done and you are an “expert” at it (you think).  So what do you do? 

Delegate to other people.  Don’t have others?  Get some.  Can’t afford it?  Raise your prices or change your business model.  Don’t think the people you have can do it?  Don’t kid yourself.  They can do more than you think – you just have not trained them, believed in them, empowered them and trusted them.

Stop doing so much.  Use your ideas, not your time.

Observe

“You can’t simply see, you must observe” – Tom Matthews

Seeing is one thing.  Hearing the words is easy.  Hearing what is not said, or where it’s coming from, and observing what people are really doing and how they feel is another.

It’s what Attila meant when he said “know the temperament of your camp”.  (The is a fantastic and old audio program called “Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun”.  If you can find a copy you are lucky!)

Making the right call takes a second.  Knowing what call to make takes lots of time.

Are you a good observer?

Be available.

A leader who is not available will miss a lot of feedback, ideas, opportunities, and be seen as more important than his team members – and that is not good.

Are you available?