The Chain of Camaraderie (Guest Post)

The following is an excerpt from Find the Fire by Scott Mautz- enjoy!

THE CHAIN OF CAMARADERIE

By Scott Mautz

If we were disconnected from our nuclear family, it would weigh on us tremendously, making it almost impossible to feel inspired each day. This isn’t hard to understand given how sacred we hold the family unit (even after they’ve told us for the ninth time how to live our life).

Interestingly enough, research indicates that we’re actually spending more time with coworkers than family though; true of almost 80 percent of people who work thirty to fifty hours a week. So, it’s probably not surprising that research also indicates we’re increasingly viewing our co-workers as direct extensions of our family.

By default then, being disconnected from our co-workers is growing increasingly problematic for us.

And when we do truly connect with our work compatriots, research clearly indicates that it can indeed make us more passionate about and inspired by our work. These stronger one-to-one connections add up to a greater whole as well. Studies show that top rated places to work (with an inherently inspired work force) share a sense of camaraderie as a key ingredient in their success formula.

Furthermore, neuroscience research indicates that our brains are actually hard-wired to connect with others, so being disconnected from co-workers is not only an inspiration-killer, it’s fighting mother nature itself.

That might explain the astounding “add-on” effects of camaraderie in the workplace; 40 percent of survey respondents named their co-workers as the top reason they love working for their company, 66 percent said those positive relationships increased their productivity, and 55 percent said they helped mitigate their on-the-job stress levels. 45 percent said that camaraderie with co-workers led to more Xerox-facilitated pictures of butts.

Another study showed that the factor most closely linked to physical and mental health at work is the support of co-workers – and not things you’d expect like the number of hours worked.

The key, then, is the strength of the connection that you forge with your co-workers. Even if you wouldn’t call yourself disconnected, there is always room to strengthen the bond – like in all those buddy-cop movies. To induce inspiration and beyond requires going beyond – from mere collaboration to camaraderie.

About Scott Mautz

Scott is the CEO of Profound Performance – a keynote, workshop, coaching, and online training company that helps you “Work, Lead, & Live Fulfilled”. He is also a Procter & Gamble veteran who ran several of the company’s largest multi-billion dollar businesses, including their single largest, a $3 Billion Dollar division.  At P&G, Scott consistently transformed business results and organizational/cultural health scores along with it.

Author of upcoming book, Find the Fire: Ignite Your Inspiration and Make Work Exciting Again, and award-winning keynote speaker and author of Make it Matter: How Managers Can Motivate by Creating Meaning, a book that’s been named “The 2016 Leadership Book of the Year – First Runner Up” by Leadership & Management Books and a “Best 30 Book of the Year” by Soundview Business Books.

8 Tips for Riding the Mood Elevator (guest post)

8 Tips for Riding the Mood Elevator

By Larry Senn

The Mood Elevator is an illustration of the human condition; it is our moment-to-moment experience of life. We all ride the Mood Elevator every day, take a moment and identify what floor you are on right now.

The Mood Elevator map is based on my own experience, as well as input from hundreds of groups and tens of thousands of people who have attended seminars that Senn Delaney, the culture shaping firm has put on over the past few decades.

Look at the top of the Mood Elevator and think of the times you’re more likely to be at those levels. It could be when you hug your children at the end of the day, it could be spending quality time with your significant other, or it could be when you accomplish something at work. We all, of course, would love to live on the higher levels but that’s just not realistic. As part of the human condition we will experience loss, stress, financial insecurity and other events that will cause us to drop down to depression, anger, and stress.

In my new book The Mood Elevator, I provide a variety of tips and tools that will help you better understand your human dashboard as well as help you navigate the daily up and down ride of the Mood Elevator.

Here are 8 tips to help you better ride The Mood Elevator:

1.      Know that to be human means you will ride the Mood Elevator and visit each and every floor. Don’t expect to live at the top of the Mood Elevator all of the time, cut yourself some slack when you drop down.

2.      Learn to recognize the feelings that accompany any unhealthy normal thinking or thought patterns, and make them a loud bell. When you start experiencing feelings like: impatience, anger, anxiety, excessive intensity, neediness, disconnection, and self-righteousness it’s a good indication that you’re sliding down the Mood Elevator. When you recognize this, you can take some corrective action to avoid an unhealthy normal.

3.      Use pattern interrupts to change your thinking and your feelings. Pattern interrupts are anything healthy tactics that can help you escape your spiraling negative thoughts. They can include exercise, calling a good friend, watching a funny YouTube video, or getting a good night sleep.

4.      Feed the thoughts you favor, not those that drop you to the lower floors on the Mood Elevator. If you find yourself reminiscing on a negative event in the past, or fixating on a mistake you made at work or might make at work in the future- recognize that your thoughts are going negative. You can identify your thoughts based on your feelings, if you’re feeling worried- it’s probably because you’re having worried thoughts. Use a pattern interrupt or think about something you are grateful for to break that train of thought.

5.      Take better care of yourself and remember to stretch and recover with exercise, sleep, and time off. We are more likely to catch colds if we are run down physically, and we are also more likely to catch bad moods when we are run down physically. Exercise has many mood boosting benefits and eating the right foods can help keep our energy levels up which improves our moods. Have you ever noticed how life can look so much better after a good night sleep? Getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night can drastically help us stay up the Mood Elevator.

6.      Maintain a gratitude perspective, count your blessings daily and be grateful for life itself. Even when life doesn’t look as good as we would like it to, there are always things to be grateful for. Those who choose to look at life with gratitude are happier than those who don’t. Try starting a gratitude practice by making a daily list of what you are grateful for.

7.      Remember that your thinking is unreliable in the lower mood states; delay important conversations and decisions; don’t act on your unreliable thinking, and don’t take your lower mood state out on other people.

8.      Have faith that when you are down the Mood Elevator; this too shall pass-just like the weather. The sun is always up there; the clouds can obscure it, but they will pass as will your low mood.

About Dr. Larry Senn

Dr. Larry Senn pioneered the field of corporate culture and founded in 1978, Senn Delaney, the culture shaping unit of Heidrick & Struggles. A sought-after speaker, Senn has authored or co-authored several books, including two best-sellers. His newest is The Mood Elevator (August 2017), the follow up to his 2012 book, Up the Mood Elevator. You can learn more about Larry and his work at his website, www.themoodelevator.com.

The Key To Peaceful Relationships: Honoring Separate Realities (guest post)

The Key To Peaceful Relationships: Honoring Separate Realities

By Dr. Larry Senn

Think about the last argument you had with a loved one. Chances are, it was because you saw, experienced, or truly believed something that was different from the other person. Most confrontations, arguments, break ups, and irritations stem from seeing things differently from others.

Many of this day to day irritation, anger, blame, and self-righteousness (as well as anything on the bottom half of the Mood Elevator) can be avoided by a simple concept called Honoring Our Separate Realities. A lot of needless conflicts can be avoided if we just remember certain truths about life:

·         Things are not always the way they appear to us

·         Others inevitably see things differently

·         Our views and judgments are shaped by our backgrounds and experiences, as are the views and judgments of others

·         It’s generally impossible to say who is “right” or “wrong” when matters of opinion and perspective are involved

Everyone lives in a separate reality- and the only reasonable thing we can do as mature individuals is to respect those realities. If we don’t respect other’s realities, we risk living on the judgmental/blaming floor on the Mood Elevator- in this stage you will be much more argumentative, irritable, and angry. In addition, if you truly believe you are right and others are wrong all the time you will experience much less growth and learning because you believe you have all the answers and won’t be open to new ideas.

How do we honor other’s realities?

• As with most things, the first thing is to be aware that every person sees the world through their own set of glasses and their viewpoint has been determined by their beliefs and life experiences. What they see is what they see. It’s not right or wrong; it is what it is. This doesn’t mean that you can’t eventually have a conversation with them to understand how they see things but the conversation will go much smoother if you first understand that what they see may be very different from what you see and that’s OK, and to be conscious that practicing this principle can lead to increased happiness and more time up the Mood Elevator. We’ve heard the phrase, “Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?” That doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be both, but the focus should be on being happy. So how do we do that?

The next step is to pause when we hear someone saying something we disagree with. Then ask yourself the following questions internally.

·         What is their thinking? Why do they see it differently?

·         How has their background, their experiences, or their education shaped their worldview so that they perceive something I don’t perceive?

These questions shouldn’t focus on who is right or who is wrong. These questions serve to open your mind to understanding how that person sees the world as well as opening your mind to new information, perspectives, and even relationships if you allow yourself to try to see something from a different perspective.

Another way to honor others’ realities is by being conscientious of how you communicate with others. By making it clear that what you are saying reflects your personal point of view rather than implying to others you know the absolute truth- you’ll come off as less dogmatic and certain. Use phrases like:

·         It appears to me…

·         The way I see it…

·         From my point of view…

·         I think…(versus I know)

·         If I’m not mistaken…

·         I may be wrong, but…

By taking the time to listen and communicate in a way that will help guide you to honor other’s realities you will experience more time up The Mood Elevator. As with many pointers out of my book, use your feelings as your guide. When we are overly certain about our opinions and ideas, we tend to experience such feelings as defensiveness, judgment, self-righteousness, and impatience with others. Become acquainted with these emotions and learn to recognize them when they pop up. They are signs that you have stopped listening and learning and instead are shutting out people and possibilities. When this happens, stop talking, sit back, take a deep breath, and try to shift to a mood of curiosity and interest.

About Dr. Larry Senn

Dr. Larry Senn pioneered the field of corporate culture and founded in 1978, Senn Delaney, the culture shaping unit of Heidrick & Struggles. A sought-after speaker, Senn has authored or co-authored several books, including two best-sellers. His newest is The Mood Elevator (August 2017), the follow up to his 2012 book, Up the Mood Elevator. You can learn more about Larry and his work at his website, www.themoodelevator.com.

FUTURE NOW—The Inaugural Issue (Guest Post)

FUTURE NOW—The Inaugural Issue

by Ben Hamamoto

For a decade, we’ve been talking about a future where we’ll have computers on our wrists, in our eyeglasses, even implanted under our skin. Today, that future is here.

From gold-plated Apple Watches to the much-mocked Google Glass to vibrating fitness tracking wristbands available for $30 a piece in a 3-pack at Costco, wearables have gone mainstream. We now have the technology to put computer power and Internet-connectivity pretty much anywhere in, on or around our bodies. And it’s clear that, in a decade, this technology will become exponentially more powerful and accessible. But what’s less clear, is why we would want these body area networks, how we’d arrange and configure them and what we’d use them for.

As part of our 2015 Technology Horizons research into Human+Machine Symbiosis, (the evolving relationship between humans and machines), we set out to answer this question. And the answer we found is the “New Body Language,” an exploration of how technology in, on and around our bodies will help us express ourselves, connect our communities, alter our anatomies, and help us fulfill our longstanding and deeply human intentions and aspirations. We’re pleased to make this body of research public in the inaugural issue of Future Now, IFTF's new print magazine.

Most pieces in this issue focus on the human side of Human+Machine Symbiosis—how body area networks will augment the intentions and expressions that play out in our everyday lives. Some pieces illuminate the subtle, even invisible technologies that broker our outrageous level of connection—the machines that feed off our passively generated data and varying motivations. Together, they create a portrait of how and why we’ll express ourselves with this new body language in the next decade.

About Ben Hamamoto

As a research manager at IFTF, Ben uses insights from his background in journalism covering issues of race and inequality to explore how well-being is shaped by social and environmental contexts. He has researched the future of food technology, environments that enhance well-being, and the design of healthy places, and he has an ongoing interest in narrative and health, the meaning of place, and equity and social justice. In addition to his work at IFTF, Ben contributes to the Nichi Bei Weekly and edits the National Japanese American Historical Society’s official magazine, Nikkei Heritage.

About Bob Johansen:

Bob Johansen is a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley. For more than 30 years, Bob has helped organizations around the world prepare for and shape the future, including corporations such as P&G, Walmart, McKinsey, United Rentals, and Syngenta, as well as major universities and nonprofits.

The author or co-author of ten books, Bob is a frequent keynote speaker. His best-selling book Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present was selected as one of the top business books of 2007. His latest book is The New Leadership Literacies: Thriving in a Future of Extreme Disruption and Distributed Everything discusses five new leadership literacies—combinations of disciplines, practices, and worldviews—that will be needed to thrive in a VUCA world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. 

3 Ways to Ensure Your Business Grows at the Right Pace (guest post)

Excerpted from Pacing for Growth: Why Intelligent Restraint Drives Long-term Success, by Alison Eyring (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2017)

3 Ways to Ensure Your Business Grows at the Right Pace

It’s difficult to know what the “right” amount of restraint is for a business. Sometimes, leaders lead with too little restraint, sometimes with too much. What’s clear is that it’s really, really hard to get it just right.

One reason it’s so hard is because we are leading organizations, and an organization is a complex combination of many interconnected systems. An organization is like the human body, which is an amazing structure of 11 different, interconnected systems. Take the respiratory and circulatory systems, for example. The respiratory system brings air into the body and removes carbon dioxide. The circulatory system picks up oxygen in the lungs and works like a transportation system moving blood filled with oxygen throughout the body and then taking waste in the form of carbon dioxide back to the lungs to be exhaled. These two systems have to collaborate and have clear touchstones. One interfaces with the external environment and the other is an internal system. If the air quality is very poor, both suffer. If the body is sick, they are both impacted. If the body is very healthy and strong, they work better, together.

Endurance training systematically increases the capacity of our complex body to withstand the stress of training without breaking down. Just as bodies are impacted by the external environment and the health of the body itself, organizations also are impacted by external forces like government regulations, new technologies, competitor activity, and consumer preferences as well as the overall culture and health of the organization.

A company that anticipates external changes and effectively adapts is more likely to survive over the long term. This is why endurance training is an excellent parallel for how to increase a company’s growth capacity. Leaders who act like endurance athletes can systematically increase the capacity of their organization to execute their day-to-day business as they build capacity for the future— without damaging people and the business itself. Part 1 of this book builds off the endurance training metaphor to explore how leaders can push their capacity to the limit, but no further.

Principle One: Capacity Determines How Far and Fast You Can Go

Maximum capacity is the highest level of performance at which a system can perform without breaking down. It’s more than the sum of individual skills or attitudes, or the physical capability of a building or piece of equipment. When we understand the gaps between performance and capacity, and how maximum capacity in the future will be different from today, we can create a program to build capabilities that increase capacity. In turn, this process allows us to avoid “boom-splat” cycles of growth. When we break that painful pattern, we conserve human and organizational energy and resources to spend on building a base for sustained growth in the future.

Principle Two: The Right Capabilities Increase Capacity Capabilities are the power and practical ability to perform or execute a given task. To build capacity for growth, we need to master a few critical capabilities at the individual, team, and organizational level. Each business will have a small number of unique capabilities required by its strategy. In addition, our own and others’ research shows that there also are certain capabilities that predict growth. In this book, I focus on two capabilities that help to increase adaptability and speed: outside-in thinking and customer-aligned innovation. Building the right capabilities for growth allows leaders to increase capacity to execute the day-to-day business as it also builds capacity for the future.

Principle Three: The Right Pace Wins the Race

Pace is the speed at which we can perform for a given distance or period of time. As business leaders, we can push our organizations and people to go really fast for a short period of time, but if we go too fast for too long, we burn out our people and burn through our cash and other resources. In a race, we need to conserve some energy to maintain a fast pace and we need perseverance to sustain this pace even when it becomes uncomfortable. On the other hand, in training, we vary pace significantly because this triggers different development outcomes like strength or cardiovascular fitness. When you can train at “race pace” and can recognize “maximum effort,” you can pace yourself, your team, and the business to execute your strategies—and at the same time build new capabilities for the future.

Intelligent Restraint helps us manage the complexity that growth brings.

Where can you release more capacity for growth?

Alison Eyring is a global thought leader on building organizational capacity for growth. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Organisation Solutions, Alison has 25 years of experience in large-scale organization design and change and executive development. She works closely with global leaders and their organizations, including Royal/Dutch Shell, BHP Billiton, Chubb Group of Companies, NEC, and Thomson Reuters. She also serves as an adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore. Her book, Pacing for Growth, will be released in early 2017. 

Extra Credit for Your Ego (guest post)

Extra Credit for Your Ego

By Nate Regier

I’m so proud of my daughters and their fine academic achievements. They’ve mastered the art of extra credit. Sometimes one of them will score well over 100% on a test by taking advantage of the extra credit option. Smart!

Our egos also like getting extra credit. It’s called Rescuer-Based Helping.

I see someone else in need. Perhaps they are struggling to figure out an assignment, or express anxiety about a relationship in their life. The compassionate me knows that the best thing to do is offer support, don’t try to fix it, and provide assistance only if asked.

And my extra-credit ego can’t let opportunity pass. So I jump in with unsolicited advice. The way I go about it sends the message that other person would be better off if they appreciated how helpful and smart I am. If they play the game, my ego gets extra credit.

Here’s the dark side…my ego is so invested in getting that extra credit that if things don’t go well or the other person doesn’t appreciate or want my help, I throw a fit. Whether I verbalize it or not, my ego is yelling things like:

Hey, I was just trying to help.

Come on, you know it’s for your own good!

You’ll thank me later!

Symptoms of an Extra Credit Ego

My ego just can’t let it go. It has this obsessive need to be recognized and appreciated. You know your ego is seeking extra credit if you experience any of these symptoms.

• Increase in anxiety or compulsion when people don’t listen or take your advice.
• You easily turn against people and criticize them when they don’t take your advice.
• You push yourself on people, even when they don’t seem to want it.
• You convince yourself that you are doing it for their benefit.

Your ego doesn’t need extra credit to survive. It can earn a good grade through compassionate accountability.

Tips for Practicing Compassionate Helping

Disclose your motive

·         Before you try to help someone, identify why you are doing it. What was stirred inside you that compelled you to want to help? Why is it important for you to help and be helpful? Who is this about?

Ask permission

·         It’s OK to want to help, with permission. Non-consensual helping is all about ego seeking extra credit.

Let go and move on

·         Whether they accept your help or not, walk away without strings attached, no judgment of yourself or the other person. If you can’t let go and move on, your ego is seeking extra credit.

About Dr. Nate Regier
Dr. Nate Regier is the co-founding owner and chief executive officer of Next Element, a global advisory firm specializing in building cultures of compassionate accountability. A former practicing psychologist, Regier is an expert in social-emotional intelligence and leadership, positive conflict, mind-body-spirit health, neuropsychology, group dynamics, interpersonal and leadership communication, executive assessment and coaching, organizational development, team building and change management. An international adviser, he is a certified Leading Out of Drama master trainer, Process Communication Model® certifying master trainer and co-developer of Next Element’s Leading Out of Drama® training and coaching. Nate has published two books: Beyond Drama and his latest work, Conflict without Casualties.

A Most Ernest Proposal (Guest Post)

The pigs are running the farm. So begins the story of Farmer Able. Everyone on his farm -- people and animals alike -- are downright downtrodden by him. He's overbearing and compulsively obsessed with profits and productivity. He's a typical top-down, power-based manager, forever tallying production numbers in his well-worn ledgers. But the more he pushes the hoofs and horns and humans, the more they dig in their heels. That is until one day when he hears a mysterious wind that whispers: "It's not all about me." Can he turn things around and begin attending to the needs of those on his farm, thus improving their attitudes and productivity?

The following is an excerpt from chapter 24 of Farmer Able.

A MOST ERNEST PROPOSAL

That evening, as Farmer Able walked back toward the house, the gentle wind kicked up again. He sensed a bouquet in the air as the wind swirled through the blossoming orchard and then encircled him. He had never noticed that sweet smell before. He had operated like old man Guthrie often quipped, “If you put your head down, get your back under it and keep your nose to the grindstone, that’s a pretty uncomfortable and unproductive way to work.” Now with his newfound freedom, those trees brought a fragrant new promise.

Things were not just looking up on the farm. No, they were growing broader, wider and deeper. Farmer Able wasn’t tallying life simply by pound, bushel and acre. The wind offered a new yardstick to measure things: The way to grow the harvest was more important than the harvest itself.

There it was, plain and simple. Every drop of milk produced, every field plowed, every egg laid—even every kernel of wheat or corn grown—meant nothing, if the way it was achieved was wrong. The greatest yield came from the nobility inspired in every hoof, horn, hand and feather.

As these thoughts whirled around him, brought on by the wind and the perfume of apple blossoms, the farmer smiled a knowing smile.

He heard another breathy utterance: Ours is yours. This he did not have to think about. Farmer Able knew immediately what it meant.

The next day he went straightaway to Ernie. “I was mistaken about the chickens,” he said.

“Ohhh-kaaaay,” Ernie said, knowing this was true but not feeling it was his right to fully endorse the point.

“And I had the wrong idea about how to get the horses stepping out as a team.”

“Well …”

“Go on. You can agree I had blinders on. But hopefully I’m seeing things more clearly now.”

“You do see a lightning bug best in the dark,” Ernie said.

Farmer Able had to smile at Ernie’s insight. “You were illuminated in a lot of this before I was. Now I need to fan that flame.”

“Ohh-keedoke,” Ernie said, not sure where the farmer was going.

“What I’m saying Ernie is this: I want to put you in charge.”

“In charge? Of what?”

“Of making things . . . the way things oughta be. Bringing out their best.”

Ernie was a bit intimidated by the idea of taking the lead.

“You certainly know your stuff,” the farmer urged. “And you also have heart.”

Ernie perked up. “Actually, I’ve always just followed my nose. That’s what a horse does. And a cow for that matter.”

Clarice and Harry, who were listening to this exchange, glanced over at each other. They’d never really agreed on anything. But when you have two eyes staring out over schnozzles as big and commanding as theirs, what Ernie said made perfect sense.

“I want to incentivize you, too.”

“I like that word,” Ernie said.

“You keep that egg output rollin’ in, I’ll give you a share. You figure the best way and make the changes necessary to get those fields planted and growing, and I’ll share some of the harvest.”

“I appreciate the generosity, but that’s sure going to cost you.”

“Not really. The way my new pencil figures it, I’m giving you part of an increase that wouldn’t be there if you hadn’t increased it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. It’s like what grandma Flora Belle always told her pickers when she paid them based on output. She’d rather have 90% of somethin’ than 100% of nothin’.”

“Yep, but I don’t want to stop there. Let’s open up this cistern to the wider world.”

When this phrase “the wider world” came out of Farmer Able’s mouth, this Old Dirt shook. It wasn’t an earthquake. It was just rumbling applause. The cows, horses and chickens felt it, too. But it didn’t stop there. Farmer Able wanted it to ripple far and wide . . . out from his acreage . . . to the county . . . from farm to shining farm. Because when a human agrees with the larger workings of the universe, it just can’t help but resound with hearty agreement.

*****

Art Barter believes everyone can be great, because everyone can serve. To teach about the power of servant leadership, Art started in his own backyard by rebuilding the culture of the manufacturing company he bought, Datron World Communications.  Art took Datron’s traditional power-led model and turned it upside down and the result was the international radio manufacturer grew from a $10 million company to a $200 million company in six years. Fueled by his passion for servant leadership, Art created the Servant Leadership Institute (SLI).

To learn more about Art and his new Servant Leadership Journal, as well as his book on servant leadership, Farmer Able: A Fable About Servant Leadership Transforming Organizations And People From The Inside Out, endorsed by Stephen M.R. Covey, Ken Blanchard , and John C. Maxwell , visit www.servantleadershipinstitute.com .

Put the Pressure on Yourself (Guest Post)

Put the Pressure on Yourself

By Brian Tracy

The following post is an excerpt from chapter 13 of Eat That Frog.

A word about frogs… It has been said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Your “frog” is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.

Put the Pressure on Yourself

The world is full of people who are waiting for someone to come along and motivate them to be the kind of people they wish they could be. The problem is that no one is coming to the rescue.

These people are waiting for a bus on a street where no buses pass. If they don’t take charge of their lives and put the pressure on themselves, they can end up waiting forever. And that is what most people do.

Only about 2 percent of people can work entirely without supervision. We call these people “leaders.” This is the kind of person you are meant to be and that you can be, if you decide to be.

To reach your full potential, you must form the habit of putting the pressure on yourself and not waiting for someone else to come along and do it for you. You must choose your own frogs and then make yourself eat them in their order of importance.

See yourself as a role model. Raise the bar on yourself. The standards you set for your own work and behavior should be higher than anyone else could set for you.

Make a game of starting a little earlier, working a little harder, and staying a little later. Always look for ways to go the extra mile, to do more than you are paid for.

Your self-esteem has been defined by psychologist Nathaniel Branden as “the reputation you have with yourself.” You build up or pull down your reputation with yourself with everything you do or fail to do. The good news is that you feel better about yourself whenever you push yourself to do your best. You increase your self-esteem whenever you go beyond the point where the average person would normally quit.

One of the best ways for you to overcome procrastination and get more things done faster is by working as though you had only one day to get your most important jobs done.

Imagine each day that you have just received an emergency message and that you will have to leave town tomorrow for a month. If you had to leave town for a month, what would you make absolutely sure that you got done before you left? Whatever your answer, go to work on that task right now.

Another way to put pressure on yourself is to imagine that you just received an all-expenses-paid vacation at a beautiful resort as a prize, but you will have to leave tomorrow morning on the vacation or it will be given to someone else. What would you be determined to finish before you left so that you could take that vacation? Whatever it is, start on that one job immediately.

Successful people continually put the pressure on themselves to perform at high levels. Unsuccessful people have to be instructed and pressured by others.

By putting the pressure on yourself, you will accomplish more tasks better and faster than ever. You will become a high-performance, high-achieving personality. You will feel terrific about yourself, and bit by bit you will build the habit of rapid task completion that will then go on to serve you all the days of your life.

Brian Tracy is one of the top business speakers in the world today. He has designed and presented seminars for more than 1,000 large companies and more than 10,000 small and medium- sized enterprises in 75 countries on the subjects of Leadership, Management, Professional Selling, Business Model Reinvention, and Profit Improvement. He has addressed more than 5,000,000 people in more than 5,000 talks and presentations worldwide. He currently speaks to 250,000 people per year. His fast-moving, entertaining video-based training programs are taught in 38 countries.

Brian is a bestselling author. In addition to Eat That Frog, Brian has written more than 80 books that have been translated into 42 languages, including Kiss That Frog!, Find Your Balance Point, Goals!, Flight Plan, Maximum Achievement, No Excuses!, Advanced Selling Strategies, and How the Best Leaders Lead. He is happily married, with four children and five grandchildren. He is the president of Brian Tracy International and lives in Solana Beach, California. He can be reached at briantracy@briantracy.com.

The 9 Ways Problem Solvers Distinguish Themselves (Guest Post)

The 9 Ways Problem Solvers Distinguish Themselves

By Nat Greene

Most people are not great at solving hard problems: they are either intimidated away from solving them in the first place, or attempt a few solutions that fail. After failure, they learn to live with the problem or create an expensive or tedious work-around. People fail even when they are smart, educated, motivated, and armed with a problem-solving process. The reason they fail is that they ultimately revert to guessing at solutions.

The way that great problem solvers distinguish themselves is by employ a more powerful set of behaviors. They approach problems fundamentally differently than others, and allows them to decisively identify the root causes of the hardest problems, and solve them permanently. If you want to get better at solving a problem, learn from those who do it well.

Here are the 9 behaviors that great problem-solvers use to solve hard problems with skill and panache:

1. Stop guessing. Stop taking stabs in the dark and just trying things out. After a few ineffective guesses at a hard problem, you’ll realize it’s time to try something new. But if you don’t have a way to work out a solution, chances are you’ll fall back on your old habits and the problem will go unsolved. That’s where the other eight behaviors come in. They will help you to address the problem effectively instead.

2. Smell the problem. Step away from your desk and get into the field. Use your natural senses and the tools already at your disposal to assess where the failure started and the pattern it took. Don’t bury yourself in reams of data. Ask relevant questions about that specific problem. This behavior may solve some moderately difficult problems right away. For harder challenges, it’s a critical step towards a solution.

3. Embrace your ignorance. Most people try to solve problems using the knowledge they already have. But it’s what you don’t know that matters, not what you do. Great problem-solvers embrace their ignorance. Instead of trying to protect their reputation as an expert, they ask questions others might find “stupid.” The behavior shatters old assumptions you have about the problem, so you can look at it with fresh eyes.

4. Know what problem you’re solving. Often, people work on the wrong problem entirely by making some implicit assumption about what’s causing it. But if you don’t know what the problem really is, you can’t fix it. Great problem-solvers take the time to define the problem in an accurate, precise way. Instead of jumping to conclusions, they take careful measurements. They invest the time to observe it so they know exactly what’s wrong.

5. Dig into the fundamentals. Learn how the process works, including the basic science behind it: every process and problem obeys the laws of science. Understanding that science is critical to discovering what’s causing the problem. Focus on how the process controls the specific problem, rather than try to wrap your arms around the entire process at once.

6. Don’t rely on experts. Too often, people delegate problem solving to internal and external experts. While experts are critical to understanding a complex system and its underlying functionality and science, they may not be as well positioned to solve the problem for you. The best problem-solvers always view experts as collaborators rather than saviors, and drive the search for solutions themselves. 

7. Believe in a simple solution. It might be comforting to believe the solution to a complex problem will be just as complex. Thinking “it’s just really complicated” makes it easier to give up before going through the necessary rigor. But great problem-solvers are tenacious. They won’t stop until they’ve gotten to the root of the problem — and that’s where the easiest, most economical solution will emerge.

8. Make fact-based decisions. Making a decision that’s based on opinion, a vote, an authority, or any other subjective system is a form of guessing about what to do next. Great problem-solvers insist on using only the facts to make a decision about a problem. They also relentlessly verify what they are told, and

check data streams to ensure that what they’re seeing represents reality.

9. Stay on target. When they deep-dive into a problem, people frequently seek to find as many potential causes as possible, so they can test them all. But this approach will waste time and resources. A hard problem has hundreds or thousands of potential root causes; it’s unlikely the true root cause will be in that long list. Great problem-solvers measure the drivers that most immediately control the problem, and then rule out as many variables as they can, as early as possible. This keeps them efficiently on-track and focused.

Great problem solvers avoid guesswork, taking a structured approach that reveals how the failure happened. By applying these 9 behaviors, they get a lucid picture of the problem, and stay targeted on an effective solution. And that takes care of another problem we all have: getting better at solving problems in the first place. Whether you’re tackling a production snafu, a crisis at home, or any other challenge, these are 9 behaviors that work.

            Which behaviors are your greatest strengths? Find out with this online quiz.

Nathaniel Greene is the co-founder and current CEO of Stroud International, and author of Stop Guessing: The 9 Behaviors of Great Problem-Solvers. Nat has a Masters of Engineering from Oxford University and studied design, manufacturing and management at Cambridge University, in addition to executive education coursework in Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management program.