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FREE ARTICLES
The Purpose Centered Leadership
Steps To
"ACHIEVING MORE IN 2004"
By Art Jackson
It's an old story. One you heard as a child.
A hare and a tortoise decided to race. The hare
had the potential, but the tortoise had the discipline.
As the hare stopped for a break, the tortoise
went past him and eventually won the race. When
I heard this story years ago, it demonstrated
the fact that we could work slowly, but if we
are disciplined, we will eventually get there.
We now know that we need both efficiency and
discipline if we expect to make it. But let's
look at that story again. Suppose the real message
from that story is "when your competition is
taking a break, that's the time to put in your
best effort." Let's look at that theory and see
how you can make it work for you.
Fight Hardest When Your Competition Is Resting
When I was in college, I had opportunity to fight on the college's karate
team. The trainer we had working with the group indicated that most of
the time, fighters come out and try to "feel" the other fighter out before
they do anything significant. And yet, years of experience indicate that
the first part of the fight is the best time to give it your all, while
your competition is waiting to get a feeling. It's a fact that the NFL
Super Bowl is most often won by the team that scores first. He who draws
first blood · wins.
The beginning, that's the time to really put in your best effort because
you can catch them, sleeping. Now I wasn't one of the strongest fighter's
on the team and I often made up for that by being incredible slow. So catching
my opponent sleeping sounded like a really good idea to me.
Sounds like one of those 'duh' statements doesn't it. The best time to
get ahead is when everyone else is taking a break. If the competition has
decided to take it easy, why not take advantage of the situation by putting
in your best effort?
Now there's another benefit to working hard when the competition is taking
a break. Your greater effort creates an impression in the minds of others.
The football great Walter Payton was known for having a personal pre-season
conditioning program that was simply grueling. It was a highly publicized
effort that capitalized on the saying "whatever doesn't kill us makes us
stronger." Payton spent hours working hard before everyone else got to
camp making sure he was ready for the season. I wonder what affect that
had on would-be tacklers during the season? I wonder if they pulled up
just a little before the impact with the thought "if he'd do that to himself,
what's he willing to do to me" rolling around in their heads? So your greater
effort during everyone else's rest time will put all kinds of impressions
in the minds of superiors, clients and most of all your competition.
That's why I'm writing this article at this time of year. Let's be honest.
Most people end their year the last Thursday in November. You know · Thanksgiving.
We have even started to call it the 'holiday season'. Most people turn
their jets down to idle and just sort of exist till after the New Year.
And after the New Year, these same folks figure it doesn't make sense to
work hard right out of the gate, so they don't actually get into it until
somewhere around, oh March. Now that's bad for them, but it's great for
us. While they throw in the towel, you and I are going to position ourselves
so that when they wake up, they can't possibly catch us. Just remember
this quote that I saw recently on a T-shirt. "If you're not the lead dog,
the scenery never changes." So lets make a decision to be the lead dog.
Here we go!
There are seven steps in the Purpose Centered Leadership process. If followed,
this process can give you such a substantial lead over your competition
that you'll find a significant number of competitors that will simply decide
not to contest your lead position.
They are:
1. Assessment
2. The Courage To Commit
3. Be Ye Transformed
4. Discovering Your Determined Purpose
5. Synergy Between Your Calling And Your Vocation
6. Planning
7. Implementation
Let's get started.
STEP ONE - Assessment
Sit down and write a plan to drive to New York City, NY. Make it as specific
as you can. Put in all the exits and all the turns you need to take. Now
it would probably help if you had some idea where you were starting. You've
got to know where you are if you expect to develop any reasonable planning
to go anywhere. Before you can decide how to get where you want to go in
2004, you need to know where you are right now at the end of 2003.
Where were you last year at this time? How far have you come since then?
How did you go about doing it? What habits do you have that held you back
last year? Answer these questions and you'll have a good idea where you
are right now.
Pay special attention to those habits. We often revert to old habits because
they form a part of our comfort zone. Not long ago, I watched the movie
'The Shawshank Redemption'. A profound incident occurred after the death
of a character named Books. He committed suicide because he couldn't deal
with living outside the prison. Contemplating the suicide, another character
stated, "These walls are funny things. When you first get here, you hate
them. Then after awhile, you get used to them and then you come to depend
on them."
It's the same with our comfort zone. When we were children, we hated the
idea of routine, doing the same things over and over again. Then after
awhile, we got used to and ultimately came to depend upon our comfort zone.
It's the place were we feel safe and less vulnerable.
You can break the cycle of stagnation and come out of your comfort zone
through assessment. Use this assessment to discover the old habits, unhealthy
relationships and unproductive attitudes that sabotage your efforts to
achieve greatness.
There are four areas to examine when it comes to this kind of assessment.
First, what's your level of spiritual development? You know on a scale
of one to ten? Are you one of those people who rely upon those things found
in the spirit? Or do you normally think about spiritual things at funerals
and weddings? Have you ever thought about taking a spiritual course?
Second, where are you in terms of personal development? Look at both formal
and informal education. Look at your level of experience. Do you have everything
you need in order to move forward? Is there a need to get into some new
programs? Would distance learning be an option? We often believe that we
don't have enough time to do any additional personal development work.
But quite often, if we take a good hard look at how we spend our time,
we'll discover that there is time in there to do the things that are necessary
to make a real change in our lives.
Third, assess your level of activity in service achievement. Service achievements
are your charitable efforts. Those things you do to give back to the universe.
One of my favorite speakers, Zig Ziglar, says "you can have everything
in life you want if you're willing to help enough other people get what
they want." A very true statement. I can't tell you the number of times
that I've gotten some great opportunities that can be traced back to some
service that I provided to someone else. You see the universe always pays
off its debts. So if the universe owes you, you will eventually get paid.
Finally, look at your personal achievement. Personal achievement is most
often the achievements that you've had in your present vocation. What have
you achieved over the last year in your professional work? Are you one
of the principle players in your organization? I've heard it said that "you're
either at the table or you're on the table." If your employer won't feel
any pain in letting you go, then quite simply, sooner or later they will
let you go. You always want to be in a position where if your name comes
up, management will move heaven and earth to keep you. Letting you go
Check also to evaluate your time management techniques. Every moment you
spend is either a productive moment or a wasted moment. And if you allow
too many wasted moments in your life, you will find a pattern that hold
you back from tremendous accomplishments.
What about low self-esteem? Have false self-opinions been holding you back?
Suppose you spend some time now asking other what they think is good about
you. We often get surprised to find out that others see tremendous possibilities
in us. This might be just the year to start lifting your self-esteem to
a productive level.
One last area to look at. Fear. What are you afraid of? It is often our
fears that make cowards of us. Fears cause us to shrink from the great
mission that was given us at birth. Here's a thought. Refuse to be afraid.
Of anything! Pick out something small to use as an experiment. Make it
something that holds a little fear for you. Develop a list of what might
happen. Your worst fears. And then simply step out on faith. Now notice
what really happens. Are any of the results anywhere near as bad as what
you thought might happen? Most of the time they aren't. Now do it again.
Here's a good report card so you can rate yourself. It will eventually
become your plan for future greatness.
|
Item |
Rating
(1 - Low 5 - High) |
Notes |
| Absence of
Unproductive Habits |
|
|
| Spiritual Development |
|
|
| Personal Development |
|
|
| Service Achievement |
|
|
| Personal Achievement |
|
|
| Tim Management |
|
|
| Self-Esteem |
|
|
| Absence of
Fear |
|
|
| Other
( ) |
|
|
| Other
( ) |
|
|
I hope this helps you start to get ready for
2004. I'll be back soon with Step Two, The Courage To Commit. If you'd
like some additional help getting ready for the coming year, please feel
free to visit our web site:
www.eaglesnestpm.com
THE
EAGLES NEST THE EAGLES NEST THE EAGLES NEST THE EAGLES NEST
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Thanks for your time and
remember · your wings are waiting!
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Eagles Nest Performance Management
Phone: 703-680-3203 Fax:
703-730-0413 Email: enpm@eaglesnestpm.com
14540 Colony Creek Ct., Woodbridge, VA 22193 |
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