Seth Godin

Don’t have a mind full of things. Instead, be mindful of the important things.

Dean Kamen, inventor of the AutoSyringe and Segway and a member of the Inventor’s Hall of Fame discussed focusing on important things when he said, I do not want to waste any time. And if you are not working on important things, you are wasting time.” And if you want to know what things are important, Kamen goes on to say, “I don’t work on a project unless I believe that it will dramatically improve life for a bunch of people.”

Focusing on what’s important is a full-time job. For this to work you don’t get to do this once and expect everything to work out. Success will come from the many choices you make each day that lead to accomplishing the important things.

Listed below are the three important choices you’ll face each day:

Eliminate what’s not important. You can’t do everything in one day. Be realistic and make your to do list only that which is a must do – then stop thinking about the rest for the day. Keeping things that you hope to get to on your list will only lead to frustration. You’ll have another chance tomorrow to consider what didn’t make today’s list, but that’s tomorrow. Author Seth Godin correctly points out that, “Until you remove the noise, you’re going to miss a lot of signals.” When you have too many things on your mind you can’t pay attention to all that is important.

Elevate what’s important. Now that you have only important things on your to do list, you should prioritize that which is most important. The first things on your priority list must be those items that support and strengthen your ability to accomplish the rest. By that I mean Exercise: walking, jogging, yoga…the format that gets you going. Education: reading, listening, experiencing new information…the format that keeps you growing. Evaluation: thinking, writing, recording your thoughts…the format that keeps you knowing. Jim Rohn summarized it in this way, “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Make sure you’re ready to take care of the important things.

Celebrate achieving what’s important. With your to do list focused and prioritized to the most important things, you are bound to succeed – in the end. Recognize that everything we do, even if it is important things, won’t always work the first time, or second time for that matter. With diligent effort, you will succeed if you keep focusing on the important things. It’s not a matter of what you are trying to accomplish, it’s only how, and you’re always one decision away from a totally different life. Successful inventor Dean Kamen says, “Most of the time you will fail, but you will also occasionally succeed. Those occasional successes make all the hard work and sacrifice worthwhile.”

Focus – What should you stop looking at?

focus - what not to look atWe just bought a new camera. My daughter was showing us how you can change the picture so the subject is in focus and the background is blurred or the background is in focus and the subject is blurred. It’s a really neat effect that makes the same scene look totally different in the two pictures.

I think this is the same way in life and in work. Some people look out and see too much to do and say there is no way to get this all done. Other people see only what they choose to do and blur out the rest. The same scene looks totally different to each viewer.

Don’t focus on everything. In a good way there is always enormous opportunity to improve, enhance, or create almost anything and everything – and someday, someone should do that – maybe you. For now, some of those opportunities are less important than others. If you try to accomplish all of them or even a lot of them, you are likely to make only marginal progress for a very long time.

“Sticking things out is overrated, particularly if you stick out the wrong things.” – Seth Godin, Whatca Gonna Do With That Duck?

Do focus on what’s essential. Figure out which of the everythings are the best things and stop looking at the rest. Stephen Covey says you can’t manage time, you can only manage yourself within the bounds of time.

“The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Stephen Covey

Do what you focus on well. In his book on Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson said, “Jobs insisted that Apple focus on just two or three priorities at a time.” Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad…Just some of the successes that come from focus.

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” – Warren Buffet

Presentations that make a difference

presentationsPresentations are not just opportunities for you to talk, show some numbers or pictures, and maybe get a laugh or two; they are much more than that. Let’s start with what a presentation is. It can be when you are up in front of a room with people listening to you talk about a specific topic. It can also be project meetings, one on one meetings, hallway conversations, and social media posts which are just as much presentations as the front of the room kind and deserve the same kind of preparation and intention.

With that definition in mind, the ultimate goal of each presentation is to cause something to stir in the audience so that each person leaves with a new idea, new goal, or new challenge. Your presentation is a chance to make a difference in someone’s life.

I keep these three ideas in mind as I prepare for each kind of presentation and throughout each presentation because sometimes you have to read the audience and adjust.

Who is the audience? Before you present, you need to know how many people you will be communicating with and their familiarity with the topic. If it’s a small groups of experts, then it will be an in depth discussion on a few points while a large group with little familiarity will mean an overview. Every presentation should be tailored to the audience and not be a rote reading of the same facts and telling of the same stories.

We’ve come to understand the power of knowing your audience on social media – everything is targeted to the finest detail possible – you should do no less for your presentations to the degree you can. If you stop and think about it, you likely know enough about most of your audiences to make it personal so your presentation makes a difference to them. 

“The most important thing to remember is you must know your audience.”– Lewis Howes

What does your audience need? Now that you know who your audience is, you should answer these questions: Why are they attending this presentation? Why should they care about what you are saying? If this is a hallway conversation on the way to lunch the answer to these two questions is: Because you were walking in the same direction, and you struck up a good conversation on the way. On the other hand, if it is a project meeting the answers are likely: To get or share an update, and because you have information/resources/approval authority they need.

When it comes to audience needs, think big picture and small picture. What are their career goals, personal goals, what happened today? You have to take all of this into consideration to have a presentation that makes a difference. Even if it is just a walk to lunch.

“If you target audience isn’t listening, it’s not their fault, it’s yours.” – Seth Godin

How can I add value to the audience? You know who the audience is and what they need, now it’s time to plan how you can deliver that to them. I believe that the presentation process works best when the audience is not given the answer but is lead through a series of stories, questions, challenges in which they find their answer. It’s not enough that you are passionate about your topic, your audience needs to be passionate for themselves.

Frank Capra, the director of It’s a Wonderful Life, and other great movies said it like this, “I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when the actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.”

Take your audience through an experience in your presentation where they can find their answer.

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Carl W. Buechner.

 

Are you really ready for a change?

change machineIt has been said that people are only ready to accept the need for change when the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of changing. Robert Brault opined, “We want the life we have now, only happier,” but alas, it doesn’t work that way.

When change comes, and it comes to everyone, we all react. There is a Chinese Proverb that separates our reaction into two extremes, “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.”

I think we make change harder than it has to be. George Carlin had the right idea when he joked, “I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed.”

Now it’s not that easy, but there are steps you can take if you are really ready for a change:

Identify what you need to change.

I had a doctor who once told me that my headache was not due to a deficiency in ibuprofen. The headache was the symptom, the cause was the way I was exercising…that is what needed to be changed.

If you are really ready for a change, don’t settle for symptoms. Dig in and get to the root cause and change that.

“Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances.” – Jackie Chan

Identify what you need to do to change.

The only thing we can control is ourselves, our actions, and our reactions. Any type of action that is taken in an effort to change anything must therefore involve you.

Focus your efforts of change on yourself and being the best you, you can be.

“I think the most productive thing to do during times of change is to be your best self, not the best version of someone else.” – Seth Godin

Identify what you will do after you change.

Congratulations! You are new and improved. Your life is better, you see things more clearly, and your outlook is positive. Now that you have changed, what’s next?

Change can’t be just about you. Take advantage of what you have learned, and what you can now do and help others with your newly developed talents.

“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” – Peter Drucker

There’s leaders, and there’s everyone else.

leaders know the wayWhat separates leaders from everyone else? It isn’t the title, or the authority. It isn’t even a long history of successful projects, or even companies. It’s five simple things that most people do at one time or another in their lives, many people do frequently, and few people do consistently. Read on and see if you can identify yourself in these five traits:

Leaders seek the future. “What can this become?” Is a question that leaders ask of themselves every day. “I can do this if…” is a statement leaders make every day. “Step one is…” begins the plans of every leader reaching their goals. Leaders are always moving forward to how they envision the future.

“Transformational leaders don’t start by denying the world around them. Instead, they describe a future they’d like to create.”­ – Seth Godin

Leaders set the vision. Once the future is envisioned, leaders decide how they and everyone around them will get there. Leaders have a very clear plan on the direction to move, the role everyone will play, and the outcome at each step.

“Leaders make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is not leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to changes things for the better.” – Harry Truman

Leaders serve others. The ultimate goal in the life activities of a leader is to better the situation of everyone they come into contact with. This is all done in the pursuit of the future goals, following the visionary plan, however it is accomplished through helping others succeed to their fullest extent.

“True leadership lies in guiding others to success. In ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well.” – Bill Owens

Leaders develop future leaders. When one task is completed, one project achieves its objectives, one team wins the prize, or one company leads its industry, one moment of success is marked in time. But, the accomplishment of developing someone into a leader who also develops future leaders, sets in motion a series of successes that are endless.

“As we look out ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others” – Bill Gates

 

 

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