This month’s question is:

Are there a series of steps I can take to improve my levels of personal success?

This is one question that I get asked quite often? And to be honest, it is a question that can be answered in a variety of ways, all of which would be probably correct in their teachings.

What I am going to outline is series of steps and considerations that I believe will go a long way in helping you develop your success, but developing it from a solid base and in a specific order of advancement.

We will start with the foundation and work our way up:

1. Personal

Our foundation for your success is based on the key elements that make you who you are or who you want to be.

Areas such as:
• Values
• Morals
• Ethics
• Standards
• Principles
• Character

All of these have significant role to play in either helping you identify who you are and what you are about, or they become a guidance mechanism towards what you should do and how you should do it.

These elements help identify who you are, what you stand for and what you are prepared to stand up against. Without them your success or future will have no significant foundation from which to grow.

2. Technical

With each and every aspect of life there is a certain skill set that will be necessary to see your success eventuate. Obviously the element of experience will have significant impact. Both general life experience and specific experience related to what you are pursuing. The great thing about experience, is that it is work in motion and that motion can either be slowed or accelerated, depending on the person involved and their desire to increase their levels of experience.

Other technical factors could include:
• Skills
• Knowledge
• Ability
• Aptitude

3. Knowledge

Knowledge is a very broad subject as like experience, there is both specific and general knowledge. But for the perspective of developing success, your knowledge should be based around the areas of:
• Direction
• Goals
• Understanding
• Expectation
• Resource

4. Vision

The elements of vision once again can be diverse, with each having a significant role in the development of your success. And although similar in some respects, there are also some differences that make each area equally important.

Aspects such as:
• Visualisation
• Imagery
• Insight
• Awareness

Should all be considered when looking at the development of this stage of your ladder of success?

5. Psychology

When the subject of psychology comes up in discussion, about its place in performance, more often than not, the discussion soon moves to the subject of motivation and although motivation is a critical component, there are other components that are equally important.

Areas such as:
• Attitude
• Mindset
• Belief

6. Resolve

I believe it would be a safe bet to say that your success or the pursuit of it is not going to be smooth and consistent journey. There will be times when you question the goals you have set yourself, you will question your ability, you will ponder the price, you have to pay to see your success realised and it is at these times, you will need a set of qualities that highlight your level of personal resolve.

Qualities such as:
• Focus
• Attention
• Concentration
• Application

7. Obedience

The next step in the ladder of success that I see as being important is the skill of obedience.

And when I say obedience I say it in the context of:
• Discipline
• Commitment
• Dedication
• Perseverance

8. Emotional Control

The last rung on the ladder of success is the skill of emotional control. The ability to deal with external factors that if you allow them, can and will have a huge negative impact on you and therefore, your ability to reach the levels of success you are pursuing.

When you think about the areas of emotional control you should consider start with these:
• Fear
• Anxiety
• Conflict
• Obstacles

Obviously, there are many more considerations you should contemplate as you go about developing your levels of success. What I have outlined in the Ladder of Success is a set of factors that I believe are paramount in the pursuit of success, no matter what the definition of success is. They are outline in an order that will build your success in the right chronological order.

But regardless of whether you choose to build your success on the principles I have outlined, or you choose a completely different method remember:

The Journey Continues!

I am quite sure that we all recognise that the element of change is a regular part of everyday life.

Therefore through answering this month’s question of:

Something around change management - and breaking through resistance to change.

I hopefully will be able to provide some information that will be able to be used in a diversity ways.

So to be begin with I would imagine that you have heard the saying ‘change only comes out of necessity’? The foundation to this statement is based on the fact that necessity is either externally demanded or internally generated. Change either comes from drastic actions or an evolutionary adjustment or adaptation.

The one thing to remember as you go about dealing with change, is that it is happening around you in more areas than you probably care to imagine and in many facets of life. What was the norm yesterday will no longer be relevant tomorrow. (Think about that computer you bought last year?)

Therefore your ability to deal with change has a huge bearing on how change will be addressed and handled within all aspects of your organisation.

Studies have shown that it is not necessarily bad ideas or technology that are to blame for the failure of change but more often than not, it is the human element that is the cause of failure associated with the concept of change.

The first aspect to know and understand is; will those around you be masters of change or slaves of change? Those that decide to be masters of change will work hard to make sure that the implementation of change is a positive experience for all who are touched by it.

Where as on the other hand, those that fight the process of change usually end up becoming a slave to change. By this I mean, that they are constantly held back because they continue to fight change, and in most cases for all the wrong reasons.

In many instances the acceptance of the process of change is dependant upon those affected by the change having trust in those that are introducing and are responsible for leading the team or the organisation through the element of change.

The steps of change:

6. Ownership
5. Commitment
4. Desire
3. Understanding
2. Reluctance
1. Fear

The six steps above represent the evolutionary process associated with the acceptance of change.

1. Fear

In many cases change has an ability to promote the emotion of fear. That fear is usually generated because of the fact that:

a. Those involved do not understand the reason for change or the benefits of the change.

b. Those associated with the change do not believe in the leaders ability to deal with the element of change.

c. Those affected by the element of change don’t have a great deal of confidence in themselves to be able to operate under the direction or conditions that come about because of the change.

2. Reluctance

After the initial emotion of fear has been removed by a better understanding of the impending change. Those affected by change begin to look at how they will be affected. Regardless of wether the level of affect is small or large the reaction is usually the same.

Most people do not like change or what it brings and therefore the initial, almost non-conscious response is one of reluctance. However once the questions of:

WIFM – What’s in it for me?
WTA- What’s their agenda?
AIGS – Am I getting screwed?

Have been answered to a positive conclusion then the reluctance will correspondingly begin to dissipate.

3. Understanding

By the time the third stage has been reached, those affected by the change will have overcome their initial fears, they will have realised there is no need to be reluctant to the process of change.

The reason being is that they have a greater and more extensive understanding of the theory, rationale and benefit associated with the change.

Sometimes this elevated understanding will come from a communication and follow up from those driving the change. But more likely the acceptance will come about because for numerous self-generated reasons they have brought about an increased understanding of the change.

4. Desire

Because those affected by the change can now see the benefits of the change and hopefully, not just as it benefits them. Although in many cases the level of acceptance will be dependant upon the level of individual benefit.

They will have an increased desire to see the change implemented and the benefits generated.

5. Commitment

Once the desire is there to see the process of change implemented there is a corresponding commitment to both the process associated to that implementation and also a huge commitment to the outcomes that hopefully the change will deliver.

6. Ownership

Because of many reasons, overall benefit being the main one, by the time those affected by the element of change have worked their way through the evolutionary process and have reached stage six, they have an ownership to both the process of the change, but more importantly an ownership towards the results the change will bring.

It is ironic that the most influential step (ownership) in the ability for change to be successful and to generate success is the last one.

But the important thing to remember here is that there is no specific timeline associated with this evolutionary process. As a leader the quicker you can take those you lead, without missing any steps of the evolutionary process, the quicker the benefits of the change will be realised.

Ultimately though the acceptance of change is dependant upon the mindset of the individual.

As I said earlier there are two different forms of change:

1. Change that is communicated to you
2. Change that is communicated by you

Change other than self generated change usually brings with it it’s own set of stress. Change is one of the major causes of stress. Stress is not from the change itself but from our reaction to it.

Many times that stress is caused because most people react to change as though the change is directed at them personally. We are habitual by nature and therefore any change that is put to us affects our habits that in turn, create in us a negative mindset that the change is personal.

However the much needed positive mindset can and will be influenced at times by external forces that allow you to see certain benefits, therefore allowing you to more easily adapt to the practicalities of the change.

There is a series of Peaks and Troughs that you go through in regard to the acceptance of change:

The most important position for the mindset of the individual in the acceptance of the need to change is that you do not know it all and you do not have it all. Get this part right and the process of change might not be easy but it will be easier.

Here are some of my observations in how people deal with change:

• Most people change just enough to get away from their problems, but not enough to solve them.

• Most people want to change their circumstance to improve their life, rather than changing themselves to improve their circumstances.

• Most people change because they feel the pain and not because they see the benefit.

• Most people do not like having to pay the price associated with change. They are not that thrilled with what the change might bring, but they absolutely detest the price required to bring the change about.

• Most people look upon change as an uncomfortable thing that has to be done rather than a beneficial thing that can be done.

• For most, how they view change and everything associated with it will determine how successful that change will be.

The Journey Continues!

Inspiration is an interesting phenomenon. Sometimes you are aware of either the opportunity and/or your ability to inspire someone, whereas in other areas you are an inspiration for people you have never met.

Some people choose to be an inspiration or at least are thrown into a circumstance where they need to be an inspiration and through either one of these situations attempt to exhibit certain traits; behaviours and attitudes that they anticipate will be inspirational for others.

On the other hand others will just get on with life and through what they do and how they do it will inspire others to greater levels of personal and professional success, satisfaction and pride.

Therefore this month’s question of:

How do I inspire others?

Is one where the answer can involve any number of different facets, attitudes, circumstances and situations? I will attempt to give you a brief insight to a number of my key considerations.

1. Don’t over rely on external means

I don’t know how many times I have been asked to present to a group, with the expectation being that through a 45 min talk inspire them to greatness for the next 12 months or so. Now I like to think I am reasonably good at what I do, but the reality is that me or anyone else for that matter will not through one 45min presentation be able to inspire anyone over a prolonged period of time.

The other area that I continue to see teams, organisations and leaders over rely on is Mission/Vision statements. Like most things other individuals, presentations, situations and writings will to a certain degree inspire people. However if you develop a Mission/Vision statement to put it in a nice frame and hang it in the meeting room or displaying it on everyone’s coffee mug and in the process expect it to be powerful enough to inspire greatness then you will in most cases be bitterly disappointed.

Now I am not saying that you shouldn’t do these things but what I am saying is don’t over rely on these or similar situations to be the main source of inspiration for those around you. At best they will be reminders or triggers to certain aspects that could have an ability to inspire.

2. Use your greatest resources

There are three resources that you have right now that can play a very significant role in aiding the inspiration of others.

a. You
Once again never underestimate the affect you have on those around you. But remember this applies both positively and negatively. What you do, how you do it. And how often you do it will determine to what degree and in what ways you inspire others.

Validation of feelings is the greatest accolade we can afford another person. Spend time with others and in doing so show them their true worth, simply by highlighting how good they are and how they are good. Through this interaction you will provide them with a key source of inspiration.

b. Team
The team of individuals around the person seeking inspiration will have an opportunity to play a considerable role in the level and significance of that inspiration. Once again simply by being themselves, doing what they are required to do and looking after those around them will inspire other individuals to do the same.

When we see greatness, success and unselfish behaviour in others it does have an ability to inspire the pursuit of greatness and success for ourselves.
To help inspire others understand and utilise the circle of influence that sits around them. That is know the people that inspire them and why and where appropriate utilise that resource to help inspire the individual you are looking to help.

c. Environment/Culture
If the environment is right inspiration will flow and flow at a great rate. If there is a sense of purpose, a preparedness to get on with the job, a feeling of camaraderie, and sense of pride in what they do and how you they it, chances are most will be inspired to bring their A game to the arena every day.

The environment/culture around the individual will either help or hinder the process of inspiration. Create and culture and an environment that will provide inspiration to all who are associated with it.

3. Inspiration can come from within

In the August edition of The Full Nelson I wrote:

Where do you draw inspiration?

What is it that, when you see it or hear it, gets the adrenalin flowing?

What aspect of human endeavour causes you to be motivated?

What aspects of life cause your skin to tingle?

I want you to think about the answers to these questions and think about them carefully. It is important that you know the answers to these and other similar questions.

But as we have some time while you think about the answers to those questions, if I may, let me ask you another:

Do you ever recognise that things that you have done also inspire, motivate and fire up others who witness them?

Chances are that the humility within you will stop you from being honest here; but I really think it is important that you recognise these aspects of self, that you sometimes look for from others.

Now from my perspective, the two main reasons that you do not always recognise the significant achievements in your life are:

(1) Because they’re about you and perhaps you don’t see what you do or how you do it as anything special; and

(2) As a first time witness, you don’t usually get the exhilaration of seeing the finished product or end result.

It is great that you can find aspects of life from which you draw inspiration motivation and purpose. But as you do, never discount the things you do and how you do them. Don’t ever miss the opportunity to be true to your standards and self, but at the same time never sell yourself short.

If it is OK for others to draw the inspiration and motivation from you, but it is also OK for you to draw inspiration and motivation from the same source.

Now this is not about ego or being full of your own self-importance, or thinking you are better than you are. It is about taking the time and, in the right way, recognising the things that you have done and how well you have done them.

Recognise the things that you have done and done well — the things that have made a difference to your life and no doubt a difference to the lives of those around you. As you do take that step back to recognise all things good that have your footprint on them.

4. Create clarity of purpose

Not as in why they need to be inspired. But more along the lines of how they will be inspired.

As a coach one of my main ambitions and focus was to work with the people I was around to identify a sense of purpose, a set of goals and a set of achievements that they would take great pride in pursuing and achieving.

However I don’t think inspiration will come from the intricacy of a plan, or the identification of a goal. But I do think that the significance of achievement of goals or prospect of reaching the heights to which one aspires will create some level of inspiration, but not necessarily prolonged inspiration.

Outcome, goals achievements. What you get from them, what you become by the pursuit of them will all lead to a certain level of inspiration?

Purpose if identified properly. Purpose if understood correctly. Purpose with true significance will provide inspiration each and everyday simply because that purpose provides the gravity behind what is done, the standard to which it is done, the respect gained through what is achieved, and what will be accomplished each and everyday.

So as I said earlier there are a thousand and one ways you can help inspire others, however before any of it has a chance of working the person must be positioned the be an active participant in the process of going forward. But through some of the things we have outlined and through some of the ideas you have you will soon have those around you moving forward in the excursion of life.

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question:

What is the right balance of head, heart and guts as a decision maker?

I know what I am about to run through will look like I am not prepared to give a definitive answer to a great question. I don’t want it to look that way, but too some it might. The reason being; that in my opinion there is no set standard of balance between Head, Heart and Guts when it comes to decision making or anything else for that matter.

However, I do believe it is important that all three become part of any decision making process. Ultimately though, the right balance will depend upon many different considerations.

Considerations such:
The situation
The outcome
The influences
Available information
Level of risk

On the other side of the ledger you would need to consider:
Your personality
Your leadership style
Your vision and focus
Your experience
Your levels of understanding
Your past decision making process

As you can see there are numerous factors that would need to be considered in the process or structure of your decision-making. However, there is also an opportunity, and in many cases, a real and relevant need to include the aspects of Head, Heart and Guts.

Now with that stated, I would also suggest the idea of a weighted scale that allows you to use all three elements of Head, Heart and Guts, but to what amount of each would depend upon the appropriateness of each area, as their relevance, significance and appropriateness will vary from decision to decision.

The reality is that you will operate from a different perspective in your decision making depending on a wide a variety of considerations, not to mention pressures, levels of clarity, understanding and information processing. One cannot use the same style of decision making every day. The need for diversity of approach changes moment-to-moment, situation-to-situation, and decision-to-decision.

We can always do better as decision makers, whether it is professionally or personally. But as you continue to develop yourself, your thinking, your understanding, and therefore your decision-making, it is vitally important to stay true to yourself.

Each and every decision you make must have your DNA attached. It should be easy for anyone influenced by the decisions you make to see you in how the decision has been reached and why.

They may not always agree with your decision, but their level of unease is somewhat reduced, simply because they can see your consistency of approach in the decision that has been made and through the process that led you to the decision.

As a leader of people, each and everyday you will be placed in the position of chief decision maker and those decisions need to be made based on some type of criteria.

Many times that criteria is developed through your past experiences, it is aided by a system or structure, or it can be helped by the information you have available.

I would also suggest emotion to some degree will be involved in your decision-making procedure.

The skill is not to remove or ignore the emotion, but to truly understand the level of emotion involved and its ability to influence you.

You should have a sense of understanding about you and your tendencies towards the emotional aspects of decision-making. That understanding at the very least is to guard against your own worst tendencies.

Let’s look at it this way. If you’re over optimistic, you’re likely to gloss over the threat of things going wrong. If you’re pessimistic, you might have a tendency to dwell on the negatives. And if you’re greedy, you might be so tempted by potential rewards, that you overlook risk altogether.

Probe the basis of your belief. We often make decisions based upon our assumptions, be prepared to test those assumptions against the reality of the situation. Test your opinions by looking for information that challenges your beliefs, rather than looking for information that supports your opinions.

Be prepared to look at your areas of expertise, your beliefs and your philosophies, and honestly assess the restrictions. Search for examples. Identify situations or individuals that have faced a similar decision. Evaluate their experiences to better prepare for your own decision. Watch for over confidence in yourself and others when you venture outside your individual perspective.

If at all possible, do a partial test-run. By this I mean, create a scenario in line with your overall objective, but only do part of the overall decision just to see how it might unfold.

Within the process of making decisions, it is vitally important to look further than one step ahead and to also take into consideration all future options.

Continually and consistently search for new information or insight which may help you in the decision making process. As long as you know where to search for the relevant information - and can verify the accuracy of what you learn - you will be well positioned to see all sides of an issue and make a sensible judgment.

The most effective decisions flow from your ability to surmise the right information, to read the situation correctly and to ask the right person the right question at the right time.

You should also consider: What are the costs associated with this decision and are the benefits worth the cost?

We’ve all heard stories of leaders or we know someone that has for whatever reason, decided to take a rather large risk and from that action, have been able to deliver some outstanding results. Basically, they were willing to make bold decisions with no real understanding, if the outcome they were pursuing would ever be attained.

However, the reality is that most successful leaders take a balanced approach to risk. That is; they accept that risk is inherent, but they make a sharp distinction between calculated risk and careless risk.

They look at a couple of key areas to help them make the distinction, areas such as:

1. Identify the cost
You have to be clear about your viewpoint, theories and assumptions and think through the potential consequences of any decision you make. Ask yourself what could go wrong under any and all circumstances, both internally and externally, and then evaluate the potential effect and magnitude.

Before deciding, picture the expected outcomes of your decision and mentally forecast the ramifications of your chosen course of action.

2. Diversify your approach to reduce the risk
Without turning your back on any element of risk, make sure that you put the context of risk into the bigger picture. That way you can offset risky decisions, ventures, or initiatives with more predictable outcomes.

3. Know when, how and where to read the warning signs
Make a point of understanding, monitoring and analysing the aspects that a favourable outcome of your decision depends upon. Work hard to detect if things aren’t working, as you believe they should be.

Makes sure you have created a network of people that can help you monitor the situation or hold you accountable to the things you should be monitoring.

So hopefully from what we have outlined, you can see that there is a role for Head, Heart and Guts both individually and collectively in your decision making process. To what degree you use any or all of them, is a decision best left to you once you have considered they types of things we have just worked through.

The Journey Continues!

This months questions:

What should I do to prepare for retirement?

Now my answer to this question is one that is applicable to many different transitions of life. Situations such as, when you are preparing to leave high school, when you are looking to change occupations, when you are looking to enter into a new relationship.

I will work my way through a few key points to attempt to give my perspective on what should be considered in these types of situations.

1. Think what before how

We will start with what; in my mind is undoubtedly the single most important point to a successful transitional shift. Most times when people are planning a transition in their life, they start to look at what they are going to do. And when you think about it, this type of thinking does make sense. However the biggest problem to overcome when making a transitional shift is how will the new aspect be able to replace the old. E.G Will what you do in retirement, provide similar things to what you did prior to retirement.

So my suggestion is when you begin the process associated with making a transitional shift in life, to start by looking at what is it you want to get from the experience as opposed to what are you going to do to gain that experience?

When I say what is it you want to get from the experience, I say that so you look at the question from a number of different angles.

Financially
Spiritually
Physically
Emotionally
Holistically

The reality is that regardless of what the things you are looking to gain from the experience end up being, there will be numerous methods by how that can be delivered.

For instance if you were wanting to get the following from the experience of retirement.

Fun
Challenges
Freedom
Relaxation
Personal growth
Unstructured
Sense of purpose

There are probably numerous pursuits that you could do that would provide these types of benefits. Some would suit you, your personality, your circumstance, your budget, and your wants and needs, where as others would not.

Work your way through the ones that will do it the best and all of a sudden, you have a transition that has you doing the things you want to be doing and providing you with the things you want to gain from doing it.

2. Where you end up

You have probably heard it said a few times but for me whenever we are looking to make transitional changes in our life, it is not that important where you start but it is important where you end up.

Retirement (like the other situations outlined) is an evolutionary process it will continue to provide great excitement, achievement frustration, happiness challenges no matter what. And that and so much more is what is going to make it a wonderful and enjoyable experience.

As time goes on you will continually see yourself going to different places both geographically, spiritually and personal growth wise. You will see yourself at times being a long way from where you started and that is OK.

3. Be an active participant

Life and what comes with it will be to some degree a master and servant relationship. In good times chances are you will be the master, in less than good times the reverse is usually the norm. You need to be an active participant before, during and after any aspect of transition within your life.

Don’t sit around waiting and hoping that good things will come your way, that your retirement (or anything else for that matter) is going to be all that you want and more. If you want great things to happen in your retirement years then do what needs to be done to see it happen.

4. Have a great circle of influence

When we are going to make a transition, any transition in life for that matter, there are usually a group of people we go to for insight, advice and to gain information and perspective and in doing so, allowing us greater clarity about the situation and how we feel about it.

Make sure your selection of go to people is based on experience, relevance, honesty and perspective. The last thing you want when you are making a serious decision in relation to life is a YES person or group. You need quality information and perspective, not just friends giving you heartfelt pity.

In regard to the specifics of the transition of retirement, you will need a group of professionals (usually financial) to help you with some of the decisions that you will need to make, once again choose carefully.

5. Don’t limit yourself

I would imagine that somewhere though our interactions you have heard me say that the only limitations we have in life are the ones we put on ourselves. Be prepared to push away the barriers, to go to new places and to enjoy the experience.

Don’t sit back and use the type of thinking that life, as you know it ends when you walk away from the work force. Rubbish, absolute rubbish. Life goes to new and exciting places when you decide it does.

The day you begin any new transitional shift an entirely new chapter begins for you. A chapter that can be whatever you want it to be, as long as you know what you want, and you are prepared to go do what it takes to deliver it.

Don’t ever limit yourself to what any aspect of life can provide because as soon as your thinking becomes limited, there is a corresponding limit to what you will get.

Life and what you want from it will always be provided. That is; if you are prepared to make it happen.

And as you do remember:

The Journey Continues!

This months questions:

Bill, does it get easier?

Fundamentally my answer is hopefully, no it doesn’t.

Now hang on a second before you start having a major meltdown because of what I just outlined, please allow me a chance to explain myself.

The reality is it does get easier however I hope as ‘it’ (and ‘it’ can be whatever you want it to be) is getting easier you are continuing to push the limits, to explore new situations, taking the most of every opportunity and an ongoing commitment to seeing your potential realised, so that it probably doesn’t get that much easier.

It should never be easy. However it should to some degree and at certain times to some slight degree, get easier.

I say that based on the fact that as we face the challenges of life weather they be personal, professional, educational, or spiritual, we become better educated, better skilled, more knowledgeable, with greater insight, competence and efficiency.

No doubt there are times when we probably don’t see that we are making progress or that we are getting better and that things will never get easier. It is at these times when we must look at our situation and ourselves and change our perspective.

We can at these times either see a hole or a donut, the glass is either half full or half empty.

It all depends on how we, at these times, view the world, ourselves and the situation that stands in front of us.

Now I am not going to get into the law of attraction, or the concept of positive thinking (not that I have anything against either), but I in times, like these, always remember the words of one of my mentors Bill Sweetenham when he would tell me “You are getting experience that no-one else is.”

I must admit at the time due to the challenges, the trials and tribulations he had organised for me, I did find it hard to see the positive side of it, however he kept throwing me these situations and the line about experience and I somehow managed to get through each one. And in doing so, became further skilled, knowledgeable and increasingly better in dealing with my perspective and in the process how to handle the situations he presented to me.

In the early days of learning, it is sometimes hard to see that we will ever become truly competent to handle certain situations of life, however in my experience, we tend to travel through four (4) cycles of learning, development and competence.

Let me explain it to you like this:

4×1-2 Year Development Plan

Years 1-2/3
Usually many problems and situations. Usually you have 1-2 methods to fix the problem or overcome the situation, which allows you something like a 50-50 success rate.

Years 2/3-4/5
During this period you will have fewer problems and difficult situations to deal with. This is brought about by the skills and learning from your first cycle of development. However, this second stage of development is not totally devoid of testing times, difficult situations and stressful circumstances.

At these times you now have an expanded arsenal of problem solving, situation rectifying and difficulty resolving skills. Basically you will have 4-5 methods to fix or overcome the situations that sit before you. Therefore your rate of success begins to increase.

Years 4/5-6/7
This is probably one of those periods where things do get easier. The reasons being that you have very few if any problems. Why? Because you are now skilled enough to cut off the problems, circumvent the difficult situations before they even happen. Your success rate during this stage is very high.

Years 6/7 and onwards
Now we come to the interesting parts of the journey of self-development. Things kind of become easier in some ways, but not really. Once again let me explain.

There are problems, situations and pressure filled situations. The difference being this time you create them!

What I hear you say, ‘Bill have you lost your mind?’

I spend all my time becoming skilled enough to remove these situations and now I am creating them myself.

Why would I do that?

Easy.

You have become that skilled at your leadership, your problem solving skills, your situation rectifying abilities that you now create problems, situations and stress so you can use them to teach others how to deal with them.

So I know it is a long answer to a quick question, but my real answer is this. I would hope that it doesn’t get easier for you. Why? Because I would like you to continue to push the limits, to explore new situations, taking the most of every opportunity and in the process, you have an ongoing commitment to see your true potential realised.

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question:

What keeps you so motivated now that you’re out of hands-on coaching?

Now before I bore everyone to tears with the ‘this is what I do’ routine, let me say that the answer to this question has relevance to everyone.

The reality is my answer to this question took me quite a number of years to formulate to a point of total clarity.

Time has shown that I have not done any hands-on swimming coaching for seven years. But, it has also shown that each day since I retired from professional swimming coaching, brings with it all that I would want or imagine.

And this is; not by chance but has come about through as I said previously, a long process of self-discovery and understanding.

One of the things I spend quite a bit of time doing these days, is talking to people about is: ‘what are they really looking for?’

from:

• Job
• Life
• Travel
• Interests
• Faith
• Relationships
• Education
• Hobbies
• Sport

It was at the time I was contemplating life after swimming coaching, that I decided to take some of my own advice and hence, started asking myself, ‘what was it I really wanted from something that I was going to spend copious amounts of time and effort doing?’

As I commenced this journey of self discovery, one of the first questions that I asked myself was: “Did I get into coaching because of my interest in the sport of swimming?”

Now, some seven years post my swimming coaching career, I really do understand that although I did enjoy the sport of swimming, it was not the main reason I got into coaching swimming in the first place.

So with that question answered and understood, I then started to look at what was it I was really looking to do as a professional career?

So as I was contemplating what was going to be the next phase of my professional life. I soon realised it was more important to outline what it was that I was really looking to gain from the experience, as opposed to: ‘what it was I was actually going to do.’

Areas that started to jump to the front of mind:

• A measure of achievement
• A sense of purpose
• To be able to help others
• A degree of challenge
• A fun and interesting experience
• A magnitude of happiness
• A degree of respect
• An element of pride
• A level of self defined success
• A scale of remuneration
• A degree of control
• A quantity of flexibility

I spent many hours exploring every aspect of what I wanted to gain from a new profession.

What did I want to gain emotionally?
How would I learn from the experience?
What was I looking for a far as contentment was concerned?
Professionally how would I benefit?
How would it assist/grow my role as teacher/coach?
Spiritually how would I profit?
How would I be stimulated?
What growth as a person could I expect from the experience?
What would it bring to our family and our family life?
How and why was it going to be enjoyable?

Once I had outlined and truly understood what it was that I really wanted to gain from the experience, I could then begin to look at what opportunities were available for me, to get these rewards and outcomes.

Like most situations, there were numerous choices available for me to pursue in the next stage of my professional life.

The reality was though, the more I outlined what I was really looking to obtain from the next stage of my professional career, the more I realised that the vehicles to deliver all that I was looking for were getting less and less. However, in the process my understanding and clarity of what I really wanted to do was becoming greater by the minute.

As my list, my understanding and my clarity grew, it became really obvious the one thing I really wanted to do was work with people to help them get better.

When you think about my past as professional swimming coach, the answer becomes a bit of a no brainer. But then again, when you look at the fact it was not my love of swimming that got me into swimming coaching in the first place. The answer becomes even more obvious.

So was there a real need to go through the process of really understanding what I was hoping to gain from a new professional experience?

Absolutely.

And that is the main point of the answer to this question of: What keeps you so motivated now that you’re out of hands-on coaching?

My motivation, happiness, enjoyment etc comes about each and everyday from what I do. And this does happen on a day to day basis, simply because I took the time to first find out what it was I really wanted to gain from the experience and then second, from outlining what were the opportunities or professions there were available, to deliver what I had decided I wanted from the experience.

Seven years down the track I would have to say I am thankful for doing the groundwork, because I wouldn’t swap what I do for anything. Achieving your goals and in the process, helping others achieve theirs has to be one of life’s most rewarding experiences. However in saying that, I also know that as I do:

The Journey Continues!

I will use today’s posting to continue to answer the questions I was asked as part of our 2006 annual newsletter survey.

The question was:

How can you help me become a more effective Leader/Manager?

It’s a great question. But one that is a little difficult to answer. Difficult simply because there are so many considerations that need to be taken into account, but let’s see what we can summarise for you.

1. What is Better?

Before we can even to begin working on the process of being better, we need to ascertain what is better?

Better as it relates to:
• Your role
• The needs of those you lead
• The levels of predefined outcomes
• What the competition is doing
• What your marketplace is about
• The culture within your team/organisation

So we first work hard to truly define and understand the needs of the position and then we start to look at how you stack up against that definition and understanding.

Once we have a better understanding of the needs of the position, we then start to look at the specifics of you and where you are at. Areas such as:

2. Philosophy of Leadership/Management

This is all about you and who you are as a Leader/Manager. What you are about, what you stand for, what you are prepared to stand up against.

These are insights of you that need to be defined, outlined, understood and evaluated.

Defined in as far as what are the qualities, values and standards that make up your style and philosophy as a Leader/Manager?

Outlined so that we know each area and what is the rationale behind each aspect. Understood so that we truly know them front to back and all points in between.

Evaluated in that we look at what you have. How it works for the situation you are involved with?

Then from that evaluation what we go forward with. What needs to be changed? What needs to be removed and what needs to be added?

All of this allows you to know you as a Leader/Manager and through this how you will do what you do and in doing so, allow those you lead/manage to know and understand you as a Leader/Manager.

Your philosophy will bring a consistency of approach to those you lead.

3. Where are you heading

Vision, plans, goals, strategies. We need to work out where you are heading, what is it you want/need to achieve.

Basically we break it down utilising the goal-setting model I outlined in an earlier posting.

Outcome-The what
Process-The how
Reason-The why

By going through this we identify a blueprint from which to work toward.

4. Influence

We take our time and pay due diligence to evaluate how it is you influence those you are entrusted to guide.

Is your influence there because:
• You are the boss
• You are a good person
• People trust you
• You coerce people into doing things
• People commit to you and where you are heading

There are many reasons why people will be influenced by those that are entrusted to lead/manage them. Some are more successful than others and this success could be for many reasons. Our job is to find out why and then how we can improve on how, why and when you influence those you lead/manage.

5. The person you are

You will be at your best when you are being you. We need to find out the person you really are.

What are you personal?
• Values
• Standards
• Ethics
• Morals
• Traits of Character

We make sure you are the person you think you should be and if not, we create a plan to start working towards the person you want to become.

But at the same time, we don’t make you into something you are not. We make sure we are making the best that you can be and at the same time, we develop confidence in you to be you.

So that is a quick five-point insight to some of the areas that I would work with you on to allow you to become a better Leader/Manager.

But as final comment, remember:

Leadership is what you do with somebody, not what you do to somebody. It is not about you it is about the people you lead. So there would be an entirely other set of considerations we would need to outline, understand and evaluate.

The Journey Continues!

Question No 2 from “The Full Nelson” 2006 end of year survey was:

“How to keep yourself and others motivated when the job is essentially the same thing each day?”

Oddly enough, this is a question that I get asked quite often. The context in which it is asked, can range from an aspect of motivation, to concepts associated with leadership and into the area of choices of profession.

Whenever I am asked this question or something similar I always reflect on the time I spent as professional swimming coach.

For it was at this time (twenty years) that each and everyday I basically had to come up with ways to overcome the boredom, monotonous, repetitive, but demanding nature of the everyday challenges of training for the swimmers I was working for.

There were many different ideas, structures and processes that I used to help me in this endeavour.

Aspects such as:

• Variety of workout structure
• Variety of training venues
• Variety of training partners
• Variety of focus within the training sets
• Variety of challenges
• Variety of technique
• Variety of motivation
• Variety of effort and intensity

Now it would not be hard after looking at this list to say the answer to:

“How to keep yourself and others motivated when the job is essentially the same thing each day?”

Is ‘variety’ and to be honest, it would be a great answer, but it would not be the way I have or would answer the question.

My answer to this question is probably the complete opposite of variety in that my answer is based on consistency, or more of the same.

My answer to this question is the key focus that I make sure that is at the forefront of my thinking as I go about constructing success strategies for any person, team or organisation that I am working with.

My answer is simply this:

“What and how do we work on today to make sure that we are better at it than what we were yesterday?”

My strategy is simple. Put something in front of the person, teams or organisation that I am working with, that we can work on being better at than what they were yesterday.

Sometimes that “something” was big, sometimes it was small. Sometimes it was obvious, where as at other times not so much. Sometimes it would make a significant difference where in others the difference was minimal.

I have always worked hard at building the rapport and understanding with the people I work with, so that when I ask of them or when I tell them something that is important, then hopefully the respect within our relationship will allow them to believe in me and therefore, they believe in the significance and importance of what I am outlining or asking of them.

Now, this may seem simple and the reality is to some extent it is. But that simplicity is dependant upon certain qualities, particular motivations and specific disciplines.

First, the quality that needs to be present is that the person must want to be better. Once again, sounds like a no brainer and to some degree it is. Most people do want to be better, but not everyone wants to do the work that will allow them to become better.

Therefore one of the specific disciplines needed is the preparedness to do what is required so that today you are better than what you were yesterday.

The motivation needs to be based around maintaining a personal sense of pride. The particular pride connected with developing the skills you are blessed to posses or the opportunity to develop new ones.

I would make sure at the end of every session, there was some type of individual debriefs and feedback, basically what had been done well in the session and then the areas that could be improved upon.

The next session I would outline the content and context of the training session to the group and as soon as everyone understood their particular parts of the workout, I would then commence talking to each individual and reintroduce a particular area that we identified from the session before that they should work and focus on during this session.

Consistency of Approach. Consistency of Discipline. Consistency of Improvement.

It gave the individual the understanding that although the session maybe generic to some extent, their were particular areas, specific focus and certain detail that was for them and them alone.

It had them knowing that they were just not making up the numbers and that I had looked at particular ways and specific areas where they needed to focus, work at and commit to and therefore improve upon.

I made it about them.

It was about their future, their career, their results, their improvement, their goals, their pride, their focus, their achievement, and their motivation.

I provided the opportunity, the understanding and the vehicle for them each and everyday to be better than what they were yesterday.

The same opportunity exists for you right now. So the real question is “Will you take and make the most of this opportunity or not?

The Journey Continues!

Well David, as a follow up to my original post when I answered the question of:

“How can I get the best performance out of myself and what do I need to do to achieve this outcome?”

Let me see if I cannot use an everyday event to further clarify the goal-setting model

and in the process show how it can be used to aid you in your goal setting endeavours.

1. Outcome (The What)
Lets say, for example, your outcome goal was to lose weight. The first thing I would ask is your goal to really lose weight or is your goal something else?

When you think about your goal, what is it you visualise or see? Is it standing on the scales victorious at the thought of losing 4, 5, 6 kilos? Or as you think about your goal of losing weight, you see yourself getting into a smaller size of clothes? Or perhaps you see yourself going out on a date with the partner of your dreams? Or do you see yourself being able to achieve some fantastic athletic pursuit or is it something different but similar?

The reason I ask is to make sure ‘what’ you are pursuing is your true goal. Because if you say it is about losing weight, but when you dream about it, you see something else (eg. the date, the clothes, the athletic achievement etc) then the reality is that your true goal is the something else and the losing weight just becomes part of the process to the attainment of the goal.

So it is important to make sure what you are pursuing is what you really want.

We will take it as given you have identified the goal of losing 5 kilos as your outcome goal. Next is to make sure there is an accountability process associated with the goal of losing 5 kilos, otherwise you will end up giving yourself the chance to lose 5 kilos soon. But what is soon?

So we will expand your goal so it becomes that by July 31st you will weigh 77 kilos. Which is now time lined and is now a specific goal on a specific date and is able to be measured and tracked.

Now lets move on to what is our second stage of the plan to weigh 77 kilos by July 31st.

2. The Process (The How)
The process is what is it going to take to see your goal of weighing 77 kilos by July 31st become a reality. What are the areas that need to be outlined that when each of them are put in place and followed, will take you to where you need to be to see your goal attained.

Lets outline some key process goals and strategies:

a. Diet
• Structured meal times
• Improved quality of food intake
• Reduced fat intake
• Change in fluid intake (reduced sugar drinks, Increase in water intake)
• Meal plan (more meals, higher quality meals, meal times)

b. Exercise
• Structured exercise routine
• Gym (core strength workouts, general strength workouts)
• Cardio exercise (walking/running, exercise bike, treadmill)
• Pilates, yoga,

c. Lifestyle changes
• Improve amount and quality of sleep
• Reduce Stress creating activities
• Instigate some personal time (family time, weekly date with partner)
• Allocate time for Professional development (reading, Conferences, online courses)
• Outline and implement relaxation activities (spa, massage)

d. Checkpoints
• It is important to make sure you have set out specific times where you can check on your progress to make sure you are on track. The more you understand where you are at and why, the more you are in control of the situation and of your outcomes.

e. Support system
• Who is going to help?
• How are they going to help you? (Make sure you discuss this with the person involved)
• Is there anyone who has experienced what you are about to so you can get a specific perspective of what to expect.

One of the most important aspects to goal setting is to truly know the price you have to pay to achieve your goals. This is one of the key objectives in outlining the process. What do you have to do to see your outcomes realised?

Now that we have the outcomes (The What) identified and we have outlined the process (The How) it is now time to outline ‘The Why” it is you are pursuing this goal.

3. The Reason (The Why)
Many people respond the same way when I ask them: “Do they know why they are pursuing their goal?”

“Of course I know why I want this goal!” The reality is they struggle to give me 4-6 reasons why they want to reach their goal.

In your goal of weighing 77 kilos by July 31st lets outline a few reasons why this goal could be important to you.

• Better health

• Live longer

• Better fitting clothes

• Want to play competitive sport

• Want to be able to play with your kids more

• Get a date with the partner of your dreams

• To live a more disciplined life

• To look after yourself

• A better quality of life

The reason why it is important to outline these now, is so you know how important these goals are to you.

It is important that your goals do mean some thing to you because somewhere, sometime, things will get rough and you will question why you wanted to achieve these goals. It’s at this time you look to the reasons that you outlined as to why you wanted to pursue these goals in the beginning and some but maybe not all, are still good reasons now and this will be enough to get you back up and going in the pursuit of your goals.

So David I hope this has given you a brief outline of how you can use the system in an everyday type situation. If there is more information you require just drop another question or comment and we will see what we can do to answer it.