Success

Planning for a successful career

soccer planning diagramI have watched my son play soccer since he was young. I have to admit, all of these years it seemed like a lot of running and kicking but I never caught on to the planning that goes on before and during every match.

This last year was different. My son started playing high school soccer and his coach is a former international semi-professional player. This was also the year of the World Cup that is played every four years, and we watched every game we could. We attended several professional matches in person. My son even bought the Xbox version of the World Cup and began the arduous process of teaching me how soccer is really played.

Here is what I learned. The successful soccer teams plan for success.  They have plans for offense and plans for defense. On offense they position themselves across the field so they can pass and have opportunities to score a goal. They plan each play so that each player is in the right position to make or receive a pass, and if that plan does not work, they pass the ball back to the defense or the goalie and start a new plan. On defense each team plans the location of their players to provide opportunities to block the pass and switch to offense. In soccer this all happens very fast, but for the successful teams it is all planned.

I learned that this level of planning extends beyond each goal and each match. It is also done with an eye on the season’s rankings and for accumulating points to qualify for the next World Cup. I hadn’t realized how much soccer was like planning for a successful career. Small wins, lead to bigger wins, which lead to the biggest win.

I have seen first-hand in both areas now that Winston Churchill was right when he said, “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”

How have you done planning for a successful career? Many find themselves out of school in their twenties with their first job and no plan; wondering what direction to take in their career. Or maybe you have been working for ten or fifteen years and don’t feel like you have your dream job. What can you do to get on track and have a successful career?

Here’s the secret to planning for a successful career:

Begin With the End in Mind  For soccer the end could be the World Cup. For Landon Donovan, all-time leading scorer for the U.S. National Team it was something more. He said, “Most of us are in this more than just for playing soccer. We’re in it for the bigger goal, to move it along for the next generation.” Donovan wanted to win, but he also wanted to broaden the popularity of the sport in the U.S.

You have to decide what your ultimate goal is so that you can make decisions that will help you reach it.

In his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey uses the analogy of climbing a ladder as activities we undertake. We often hear about people who are climbing the ladder of success. Covey’s main point in this area is before you begin climbing you have to define success.

“If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster.” – Stephen Covey.

A successful career begins with defining what you want to accomplish with that career. Do you want to have reached a certain position? Do you want to have worked for a certain company? Do you want to be known for having helped others achieve success? What will say success to you?

Plan short steps that move you in the right direction. In soccer, you only reach the World Cup if you win enough matches to qualify. To win matches you have to score goals and stop your opponent from scoring goals. Sounds simple.

But winning all you plan doesn’t always happen. That is why a good Plan B, is just as important as a good Plan A. James Yorke once said, “The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.”

So go ahead and begin planning for a successful career. It doesn’t matter if the first steps you take don’t necessarily work out. You will learn, adapt and move forward. Remember a goal without a plan is just a wish, and a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

You make progress towards a successful career when you take short steps to move you in the right direction. What do you need to know to move closer to your goal? Who do you need to know to move closer to your goal? What should you do first to move closer to your goal?

Commit to attaining the short steps.  Having goals and plans to reach them is just the beginning. You have to execute your plans every day. Argentine soccer great Lionel Messi said, “You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” Make a commitment to do what it takes to achieve the plans you decide on.

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” – Peter Drucker

You achieve a successful career by making the investment in hard work.  What are you willing to do to achieve your goal?  What are you willing to give up to achieve your goal?

Success in soccer or in your career or in anything you want to accomplish in life, only comes trough planning for success.

 

Why? Understanding leads to success.

understanding

There are always rules to be followed in life. Most rules were put in place by well-meaning people who felt that the rules were needed to right a wrong, protect from injury, or create agreement between two or more parties.

Over time, we can forget the wise words of Franklin D. Roosevelt who said, “Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.”

I call the principles the “Why’s” behind the rules.

Without the wisdom of why the rules were made – understanding of the intent of the rules, and knowledge of when to apply the rules – we rely on the strict wording of the rules instead of the spirit of the rules.

Now, I am all for rules in the right circumstances. I like being confident that the car coming down the road isn’t going to keep driving right through the red light and hit my car broadside just as much as the next guy. But, many rules are not that simple.

No one can possibly think of every nuance when writing rules and we can be fooled into letting the rules rule our lives and stop using good judgment to make good decisions.

Without understanding the “Why’s” behind the rules, the individual settles on “Because I…”
Because I always follow the rules
Because I was taught to do it this way
Because I was told to do it this way
Because I don’t want to change the way I have always done it
Because I am not responsible for the outcome, just for following the rules
Because I am not the expert, someone else is

What can we do when we understand the “Why’s” behind the rules?
We can see the vision – It’s easier to be motivated to accomplish a grand vision then a task
We can support the vision – It’s easier to encourage others toward a common vision
We can successfully achieve the vision – It’s easier to get back on track when you see the big picture

Maybe a more apropos title for this article would have been – Do you follow the principles? The answer to that question would be: Not unless I know what they are.

Getting there is not the same as staying there.

staying there

Everyone has accomplished something in their lives. We can all remember a specific time where we persevered, pushed forward, gave it the extra effort and reached a goal. Maybe for some it was only once, while for others it has been a series of accomplishments, one after another. What is the secret to consistent success? Why do some continue to reach the peaks while others struggle after their first success?

Here are some truths that have to be faced to achieve consistent success:

Getting there is more fun than staying there.

Getting there is a new experience, staying there is more of the same.

Getting there has an end, staying there is endless.

When you face these truths, and realize the impact they have on your success, you can find the secret to consistent success in your life:

The secret to consistent success is to turn all of your staying there opportunities into getting there opportunities.

Dream a new dream every day. Set a new goal every day. Achieve a new success every day.

Remember what C.S. Lewis said, “You are never to old to set another goal, or dream a new dream.”

What and How – Words that limit or boost your confidence

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What stops you’re chances for success? More to the point what keeps you from even starting to take advantage of the chances that do come? The answer is confidence, or rather a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence in your ability to succeed will surely keep you from succeeding to your fullest potential.

Why do some people lack confidence in their abilities where others seem to be overflowing with it no matter what situation they are in? The answer is very simple:

Successful people focus on confidence boosting behaviors while others focus on confidence limiting behaviors, and the difference between the two behaviors are the words “What” and “How.”

Confidence limiting behaviors
Focusing on “What” to think
Focusing on “What” to do

For specific situations, with specific conditions many people have learned exactly “What” to think and “What” to do. However, if either the situation or conditions change, they no longer know “What” to think or do. This causes a real lack of confidence in one’s individual abilities to succeed.

Confidence boosting behaviors
Focusing on How to think
Focusing on How to do

If instead you invest time learning “How” to think, and “How” to do, then no matter the situation or circumstance, your confidence will remain high. People who consistently succeed know that they know “How” to succeed.

If: Problems that can change the world

problems are not stop signsWhen I had the thought to write a series of blog posts about small words that can change the world, the first one that came to mind was “If” – here’s why. No sooner did I sit down to begin writing when I questioned if I could write such a series.  Sure there are lots of small words, but how many can I write something meaningful about? I wondered if any of the posts would be captivating, or even interesting.  I pictured readers receiving the email with a new post and asking if I had run out of ideas for posts.

I finished the first blog post in the series on small words that can change the world – it’s about the word “If.”  You can decide if I made the right decision.

If: The problems. We have all heard that nothing worth having in life comes easy.  That sounds good to say when you already have something, but it’s still a bitter pill when you are striving to achieve something new.  When you are facing challenges in your life, the word “if” is a magnifier of all the potential problems.  “If” is what might happen that will cause you to fail.  “If” is the roadblock that might keep you from finishing.  If you believe the problems and obstacles that come with “If” are inevitable, you won’t even start.

If: The possibilities.  The fact that problems may come is not new and not only a reality for you.  Retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, “Leadership is solving problems…”  You will have problems and you should expect to succeed anyway.   Therefore, the “Ifs” in your path are good things.  They raise your awareness of what might happen and if you don’t deal with them they could derail your success.  As Robert Schuller said, “Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.”

So go ahead, let those “Ifs” flow.  Get it all out in the open and figure out how to succeed in spite of the potential problems.  Like Albert Einstein said, “Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.”

 

Leadership: If you want more – give more

you can have everything you wantHow can leadership be about giving more to get more.  Early in my career I had two questions about this when my mentors shared this philosophy with me. First, I questioned whether I would get more by giving more – would this actually work?  If I focused my efforts on giving more than I received how could that end up as my success?  From an accounting point of view, if more goes out than comes in that gets recorded as a loss.  Second,  “Let’s assume that it did work,” I said. “Isn’t my success the wrong reason to give more?  After all helping others it is just the right thing to do.”

Then I heard the great Zig Ziglar say, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want” 

I confirmed this concept does in fact work, and not just for you as the leader.  This concept works for everyone on your team, your company, the shareholders, and the community.  Giving more to everyone around you than they can give back is the path to success.

Here are the three areas of leadership where you can get more by giving more:

If you want to be successful, ensure the success of others. Your success is nothing but the cumulative success of every person on your team.  The sooner you realize this the closer you are to success.  Think of the football coach.  His success is absolutely defined by how well his assistant coaches coach, how well his players play, and with what level of expertise everyone on the team performs.  His job is to find and lead the best people in every position.  No matter where you lead, your success depends on the performance of everyone around you; your job as the leader is to do everything you can to ensure their success.

If you want to be recognized, recognize others.  Everyone likes to hear “Good Job!” And every leader should praise their staff – that is the minimum. You should also recognize the accomplishments of your team to others – after all they did the work.  This activity will bring more well deserved recognition to your team, and spread the word about their potential for future opportunities.  This will also highlight your accomplishment in building and leading a strong team.

If you want to be promoted, promote others. You cant do more until what you do is being done by someone else – it’s a simple as that.  Strong successful leaders strive for more responsibility, and opportunities to make a greater impact.  If that’s you, then working with your team to get them ready to take your job is a sure way to get yourself ready for the next opportunity.  It also gives the strong successful leaders on your team the same chance to take on more.

So Leaders, if you want more  – give more.  It’s just like Bob Burg said in his book, The Go-Giver, “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.”

 

 

Diverse ideas: All of us are smarter than one of us.

diverse peopleFor a leadership team to be successful you have to all be focused on the same goal – but there are multiple paths to each mountain.  Some leaders surround themselves with other leaders who could be mistaken for their mirror images and don’t get the benefit of diverse perspectives.  When this happens, every new challenge has only one solution: the ones we already know.

Each individual is limited by their own knowledge and experience in their ability to offer solutions to problems.  But each person has a diverse set of strengths formed by their abilities, knowledge, and experience.  When people with diverse strengths are brought together, the ability to offer multiple solutions to problems becomes possible.

In my book, The Leadership GPS, we follow Brian Alden as he fills his team with leaders who have diverse perspectives and he finds that success comes much easier. Brian learns that he doesn’t have to be the one with the best answer; he just needs to find the right answer.

An ancient Japanese proverb sums this up well: “All of us are smarter than one of us.”

Success comes from a habit of hard work

HabitVince Lombardi said, “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” How does winning become a habit? Sarah Knowles Bolton, a press correspondent and author of the late 1800s, wrote several books that summarized the lives of successful people: statesmen, artists, and scientists, to name a few. In her research she found that “The victory of success is half done when one gains the habit of hard work.”

In my book, The Leadership GPS, Brian Alden is building a new team and needs successful leaders.  His grandfather, Michael Tennyson, teaches him that, “Leaders with a history of success have developed a habit of working hard to achieve their success.”

 

Leaders, you are the heroes of the day.

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All throughout our lives we have heroes. These are people we look up to who fill a need that is the driving influence at specific times.

When we are children we need security through food, shelter, clothing, and most importantly, acceptance and love. Our heroes as children are those that provide for these needs and seem to know what we need before we do. For many this was your parents, or for others it might have been grandparents or other relatives. Still for some it could have been foster parents or group homes. Whoever provides for the security of children are heroes.

As adolescents we look for our individuality. We need to grow and learn and start to feel self sufficient in small ways. Our heroes during this time are our teachers. Many a teacher has opened the eyes of a young student to see the world around them. Most of us have a teacher that we remember for their ability to provide this window to knowledge in their classroom.

Young adults are seeking the future ahead of them. They want to know how they can make an impact on the world. Heroes at this time are often larger than life people who are known for their talent and influence – Superstars, might be one way to describe them. These can be famous people in sports or music. It could even be political figures or those that are the face of issues such as world hunger or poverty. They are all people who provide an example of significance.

When you are leading a team, you are much more than a goal and priority setter – You are a hero in the eyes of your team members.

You are the one who provides for their security. Your team members’ job, their livelihood, depends on the decisions you make and the opportunities you pursue.

You are the one who provides the window to knowledge. Your team members learn from your words and actions.

You are the one who provides an example of significance. Your team members will rally behind the vision you champion.

Leaders, you are the heroes of the day. I challenge you to walk worthy of the position you have, and the potential for life changing impact you can make.

Hope – It’s not what happened, it’s what’s going to happen.

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Every day we deal with success and disappointment. We often spend time wringing our hands over what didn’t work instead of investing our time planning to repeat what did work. Hope is not just a wish that things might somehow work out. Hope is something deep inside that points us forward to reach for what we know can be.

How does hope work? Why does hope work? Read on for the three reasons you should hope.

Hope doesn’t leave. Hope isn’t a passing thought, or something you have to earn. We were made to hope for a future, therefore you already have hope and will always have hope – you just need to tap into it.

Hope is not a dream but a way of making dreams become reality.

Hope doesn’t quit. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall down, hope never throws in the towel. Hope doesn’t guarantee success at each step, but it enables you to take the next step towards success.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hope doesn’t look back. Hope only works in one direction – forward. There is no reverse, in fact there isn’t even a rear view mirror, only an enormous front windshield so you can see all of the possibilities.

“A whole stack of memories never equal one little hope.” – Charles M. Schulz

Remember, hope isn’t concerned with what happened, only what’s going to happen.

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