Rising To The Challenge

 

 

A lesson learned …

My wife and I, with a group of friends, were recently in Provence, France on a cycling holiday. On one of the days, we had the opportunity to ride to the summit of Mont Ventoux. This is one of the climbs that is frequently included in the Tour de France cycling race. Now, to be absolutely clear about this, we were not racing. We weren’t even in a hurry! Our objective was simply to reach the summit.

This is a mountain that is geologically part of the Alps. The top 500 metres are devoid of trees and the name Windy Mountain is well deserved. We had read that wind speeds of over 300 km/hr have been recorded and that the wind blows at 90 km/hr 240 days out of the year. Furthermore, at 1900 metres elevation, the temperature can be downright frigid.

With the above as our understanding, we were nervously anticipating the day of our ascent. Had we packed sufficient clothing to stay warm? Could we do it?

Fortunately for us, the day of our ascent was one of the 120 non-windy days!

It turned out that the ride to the summit wasn’t as difficult as we had conditioned ourselves to expect. But, it is interesting to me to reflect upon the thinking that preceded the actual ride. It wasn’t too hard to think that a number of plausible excuses for not going would avail themselves on the day of the ride.

And, that causes me to wonder “how often do we let ourselves get overwhelmed by the possibility of an obstacle”?   How often do we pull up short without having taken the time to consider how we might overcome that particular obstacle?  How often does our fear of failure prevent us from even trying?

I like to think that obstacles are meant to challenge us and without a challenge, how can we know the satisfaction of accomplishment?

I can tell you that it was very satisfying to know that I’d succeeded in riding to the top of Mont Ventoux and it was also very satisfying to reap the reward of the accomplishment.

The view was spectacular!

Brian Tracy on Goals 2014

I’ve just finished listening to Brian Tracy discuss goals and how to make 2014 your best year ever.

For me, there were some very simple, yet practical takeaways from his presentation.  Not least among them was his suggestion that we need to be clear about our goals but flexible about our process to achieve them.  I wonder how often our personal experience bias gets in our way and prevent us from being as flexible as we could be?

It was also interesting to think about the three major obstacles that prevent goal achievement, as presented by Brian.  He suggested that they are:

1) Comfort zone.  We become complacent about our status and progress.  Overcome this obstacle by committing to doing something different.

2) Fear of failure.  This will paralyze us into inactivity.  Commit to failing fast and learning from the failures.  Self correct and then repeat the process.  Failing fast and early in the process will keep the cost of failure low.

3) Path of least resistance.  Taking the easy route might sound compelling but how many times will we miss opportunities because they are disguised as hard work?

Brian also reiterated his 10 goal method.  He particularly focused on developing a list of ten goals and then identifying the one goal that will have the greatest positive impact on your life.  Move it to the top of your list and then do something.  Get started and keep going.

One of the great anchoring questions that he posed to the audience was:

“is what I’m doing creating value or generating revenue for my business”?

Of course, if our answer is NO, then surely we should ask ourselves, “why am I doing this”?

I’m always impressed by the breadth of ideas and suggestions that Brian makes available during his teleconferences.  These sessions are designed for FocalPoint coaches but we are encouraged to invite guests to participate.  If you have any interest in being made aware of future Brian Tracy presentations, let me know.

Get Uncomfortable!

Here it is.  It is early January 2014 and many of us have been thinking about our goals for the new year, or we are about to spend some time doing so.

Why don’t we decide to make this the year in which we challenge ourselves to do something different?  As you think about the activities that you were involved in during 2013, what comes to mind regarding the following:

1) do more of some things

2) do less of some things

3) start doing something completely new

4) stop doing something that you currently do

In particular, what actions could you take that are completely new for you?  What new skill would make a dramatic impact on your career or your business?

Many of us allow fear and doubt to become such large obstacles that we are constrained from trying something new.  We suffer from the fear of failure and/or the fear of rejection.  These are natural fears that many of us acquired a long time ago and they are very resilient.  They are very adept at paralyzing our good intentions.  As a result, the outcomes that we might have envisioned for ourselves simply wither because we fail to take the action necessary to move them forward.

It doesn’t have to be this way.  We can bolster our courage and our confidence by acquiring new skills and knowledge. We can recognize that failure frequently precedes success. We can make a commitment to ourselves to try something new.  Write it down.  Keep it in front of yourself. Be persistent.  Above all else, take action in your intended direction.  It will likely be uncomfortable but it will be worth it!

Opportunity Awaits

The coming of the year-end brings to mind the annual rhetoric that surrounds New Year’s resolutions.  You know, …. I’m going to eat less, exercise more, do the things that I didn’t do last year and, oh yeah, be a better person.  I do know that the number of people who come out to exercise classes will go up in January.  Then in February, it will be back to the familiar committed faces.

As a business coach, I can’t help but equate personal resolutions to the goal setting process used in many businesses.  A New Year’s resolution speaks to me of an outcome (output) for an individual.  In the same way, a business entity identifies results that it wants to achieve in the upcoming year.  So, individual resolutions and corporate results can be likened to the outputs from some ‘work process’.

Within a business, the desired outputs (resolutions) are the key company results.  These are the outcome of the collective actions of everyone in the company, during the period in question.  The employees need to focus their attention on achieving the inputs (action steps) for which they are uniquely accountable.  The necessary action steps must be identified and completed in order to have any possibility of gaining the outputs.

A potential problem that frequently confronts the individual pertains to the resolution itself.  It might seem too daunting in the cold light of January.  We might already be thinking that we need to do some backtracking.  But first, lets ensure that our resolutions meet the SMART test.  That is, they have to be Specific, Measurable, Aligned with our values, Realistic and Time based.  If they are not, we should ask ourselves ‘am I really committed to these resolutions’?

With SMART resolutions now in place, our focus needs to shift to the identification of some number of intermediate steps.  These are the action steps needed to complete the resolution.  So, for example, I intend to exercise more frequently (resolution) but before I can do that I have a number of decisions and actions that need to be completed (for example – determine frequency, location and type of exercise).

When you’re thinking about your New Year’s resolutions this year, remember that action steps precede outputs.  If we only think in terms of outputs, then we are engaged in the activity of dreaming.  This might be enjoyable, but it is unlikely to produce the desired results.

Finally, keep things in perspective.  Make your resolutions and action steps SMART and remember that the objective of ‘eating an elephant is accomplished one bite at a time’.

Is That So?

I was recently listening to a CBC radio program in which a neurologist (David Perlmutter) was talking about the harmful effect of carbohydrates and sugars on the brain.  As I understood the discussion, the body’s defensive mechanism against carbs and gluten is inflammation.  It was this inflammation that had the neurologist concerned.  He attributed the onset in later life of brain degenerative issues such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease to the inflammatory effects of carbohydrates and gluten.  He also indicated that excessive carb intake contributes to ADHD, heart disease, diabetes, depression and obesity.  His bottom line was that our dietary choices shall have a huge impact on our future quality of life.

Interestingly, a second scientist (Carol Greenwood) spoke to the benefits of carbohydrates and whole grains.  Her general take on dietary choice was one of balance.

Hmm.  What to believe?

I have started to count my daily carbohydrate intake and intentionally kept it under the suggested daily intake of about 260 grams.  Coincidentally or not, I have shed about 3.5 lb over the past five days, in combination with four exercise outings.

Part of my purpose in writing this blog is to point out a related (at least it is in my mind) but different subject and that is the idea of life long learning.  My interest in learning new ideas about diet is equally applicable to my overall interest in life long learning.  As a business coach, I find that most business subjects/concepts/ideas have relevance outside the workplace.  But the important point for me is having an attitude towards life long learning.

For a long time I’ve felt that I like the idea of being smarter tomorrow than I am today.  For this to happen, I have to be open to the possibility of learning.

I would encourage everyone to embrace the benefits that come with learning.

BIZBUZZ – S. Godin, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

This is episode 1 of my version of BIZBUZZ.  I stimulate conversations that challenge business owners to consider new possibilities and to act boldly.

This video highlights some of my selections of the most significant comments made by Seth Godin in his book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.

Hi, I’m Gary Brown a FocalPoint business coach.

Welcome to BIZBUZZ.  This is my attempt to help you generate some buzz in your business.

I’ve chosen to comment on Seth Godin’s book entitled Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

I really enjoyed reading this book and I found a number of very thought provoking ideas and suggestions.

I’d like to comment on three of them.

The first is the overall emphasis on differentiation.  Godin says this OUT LOUD when he claims that the opposite of remarkable is very good.  This bears repeating … the opposite of remarkable is very good!  If you think of a scale that has remarkable at one end and say, mediocre on the other end, how many of us would have placed our business on the wrong side of very good?

My second take-away is that it is safer to be risky than to play it safe.  In a crowded marketplace, Seth Godin suggests that playing it safe, or fitting in, frequently leads to failure.  Are we prepared to exchange safety for riskiness?

Finally, my third choice is the suggestion that your marketing message needs to be targeted towards the innovators and early adopters in the marketplace for your product or service.  Godin describes your message as an ‘ideavirus’ and your task is to find the early adopters who are most likely to ‘sneeze’ your message onwards.  Consequently, he strongly suggests that you avoid a marketing message that is aimed at the general marketplace.  It’s a waste of your resources.

That’s it for the Purple Cow and for me.

Let me know if this produces any insights for you.