Think As Inc

Aligning Your Resources

A store decides that it wants to sell more shoes.  So, marketing advertises formalwear.  Sales pushes jewelry.  The CFO tracks cosmetic sales.  Obviously, this store is not aligning its goals with its business resources.  When you pick your goals, make sure you don’t make the same mistake.  You have four key resources that must be aligned to achieve maximum impact:

Focus your mind.  Your mental concentration is a resource for mapping out strategies, finding solutions, and envisioning success.  Are you frittering it away planning mundane tasks, watching TV, or worrying?

Harness your energy.  If you’re reading this column, hopefully you get inspired to act to further your goals.  Your day-to-day actions are a resource you control.   What can you do TODAY to further your goals? 

Make the time.  You block out 40+ hours per week to further your employer’s goal.  How much time have you set aside for your own goals? 

Invest your money.  Many of us casually spend several dollars a day on a newspaper or a snack that becomes hundreds of dollars over the year.  Then, we want to lose weight, but we can’t afford that trainer, class, or video.  How much money are you investing in your goal?

A friend of mine wanted to write a novel.  She was a business consultant, so writing fiction was not her background.  She focused and set a firm end date.  She wrote and edited daily.  She set aside two hours a day for most of the year.  She turned down projects to write (essentially investing this foregone money into her goal).  She finished her book.  She is also head of her own corporation, married and the mother of two small children.  She aligned her resources and found the focus, energy, time and money to reach her goal.  Why not you?

Special Reinforcements for Stubborn Goals

We all have stubborn goals – the ones that we want to accomplish, but that we somehow never seem to do.  Losing those pounds, working out regularly, and building that nest egg are some common stubborn goals.  For these tough goals, the achievement itself is obviously not enough incentive.  We need to call in special reinforcements to kick us into gear:

Reward yourself for doing nothing.  Attach something you really want to progress on your goal.  If you like massages, get a weekly massage for every week that you hit your weight loss/ exercise/ diet/ savings goal.  However, the key to this strategy is to get the massage BEFORE you even start your goal and to do this regularly in the first few weeks of your goal, whether or not you make progress.  A key mistake people make is to withhold their reward for only when they’ve accomplished their first big step.  Instead, use the early rewards as a taste (and potent reminder) of things to come.  Once you realize how great the reward is, you will not want to give it up, so you will stick to your goal.

Double the deterrent.  Sometimes knowing how many calories are in that junk food is not a strong enough deterrent.  But what if you count calories AND dollars?  Add up the dollars spent on junk food, and see if the money wasted (or the combo of the money plus calories) affects you more than just the calories.  Perhaps when you see that junk food adds not only to your waistline, but also to your debt load, the double deterrent will turn you onto your goal. 

Scare yourself into submission.  If you need to lose weight, read articles on the Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other ailments related to obesity.  If you need to work out, get familiar with how much bone density and muscle mass is lost with age.  If you need to save more money, read stories about bankruptcy and falling on hard times.  It would be great if we were inspired to change for purely positive reasons.  However, a dose of negative reality might do the job even better.

The Momentum Of Luck

Some people get all the breaks.  Conversely, once you get up on the wrong side of the bed, everything seems to go wrong.  There is a momentum factor to good and bad luck.  If you think about various times in your life, you will see times when you were getting all the breaks and times when nothing seemed to go right.  The times when things go well make you confident, and this confidence gives you power, and this power makes more things go well.  We must take advantage of this momentum of luck.

Shake off bad luck as soon as possible.  When you are down, you notice problems.  When you are hopeful, you notice opportunities.  If you focus on maintaining hopefulness, bad luck will turn more quickly.  If you’re down, watch a comedy, call an upbeat friend, treat yourself extra well – whatever works to get you humming again. 

In the professional arena, the momentum of luck can propel a career.  We all get breaks along the way.  The “lucky” few are actually the few who take advantage of these breaks.  Recognize good fortune in however small a package it may now seem (a different role, a new client).  Let luck propel you to new experiences, new relationships, and new opportunities for good luck.  You don’t just have to work harder (although that helps).  You also need to welcome the luck that comes your way.

If you’re not lucky, change your luck.  Do something new.  Have you met anyone new lately?  Have you checked out the new business in your neighborhood?  Have you listened to what people around you are talking about – is there a new market opportunity, a better way to do something, a potential career opening?  Pay attention.  Look for the upside.  Are you feeling lucky yet?

Dealing With Setbacks

Flexibility is critical to sticking to your goals.  This is not contradictory.  Flexibility is not giving up.  Flexibility gives yourself the freedom to choose the best path to reach your goals.  Achieving goals is not a linear process.  There are setbacks and plateaus along the way.  To overcome these, you need flexibility in three key areas 

YOUR STRATEGY.  You need a strategy for achieving your goal.  However, your strategy may not work.  When I set out to lose weight, I adopted a weight training regimen from a respected fitness magazine.  It wasn’t working, and a trainer suggested an alternative.  It was contrary to what I was doing, but it worked!  Stick to your goal, not to your strategy.  Be flexible enough to adapt your initial plan when necessary. 

YOUR TIMELINE.  It’s good to have a timeline for achieving small successes along the way to your ultimate goal.  If you want to lose weight, target one pound at a time.  However, successes don’t always come regularly.  You may hit a plateau, where you keep working, but nothing changes.  You need extra time to pull out of these plateaus.  Be flexible and patient, so you don’t just throw out your goal with your initial timeline.

YOUR ASSUMPTIONS.  When you pick a goal, it is because you have certain assumptions about what it means to achieve it.  Sometimes you’re wrong.  Weight loss was my goal because I was more confident at a former, lighter weight.  However, after achieving my target weight, I still wasn’t confident.  My goal expanded and included trying new styles, improving my posture, and reaching a healthy weight.  Flexibility means realigning your goals to your true needs, so what you get in the end is what you really wanted.

Finding “It”

When we kick off the new year, we probably pick resolutions that we hope we’ll stick to and achieve.  Sometimes goals are not achieved because they are set too high too soon (e.g., lose five pounds in one week).  The wrong goal can set you back.  Therefore, before you can even think about sticking to it, you need to carefully define your “it” 

GO WITH WHAT’S INTERESTING.  In a previous newsletter, I outlined an exercise to identify 100 dreams.  When you have 100 (or more) dreams, you don’t need to feel pressured to pick the right one.  Instead, you have many paths to fulfillment.  Go with what moves you right now.

BE REALISTIC ABOUT YOUR TIME.  If you just started a new job, you need time to establish yourself in that company.  That may mean working harder and longer hours to learn the ropes.  Now may not be the best time to sign up for all those classes you’ve always wanted to take.  Overextending yourself may demoralize you.  Put extra time in your schedule for new goals to take longer than they should.  Don’t choose goals that have a time conflict with your current schedule.

LET YOUR GOALS REINFORCE EACH OTHER.  If your list includes getting fit, learning to cook, and saving extra money, take a healthy cooking class and walk to work to save the extra money.  While you work towards your cooking and savings goals, you work towards your fitness goal.

START RIGHT NOW

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.  –  Anonymous 

Have you missed the momentum of January for your New Year’s resolutions?  Did Valentine’s Day pass with you again not sending cards to your loved ones?  Did you not get your finances in order as you promised you would do after last April’s tax filing? 

In the short term, it may seem like you’ve missed the boat.  In the short term, there are specific circumstances that make it seem like the opportune moment has passed.  But in the long term, there are many short terms.  There will be other circumstances that will make the opportune moment to fulfill our goals come around again.  In this way, there is not only one opportune moment to start on our goals.  We just need to start, and there is no better time than right now.

We are not destined to just one ending for our story.  We craft our own ending day in and day out by what we actively do.  If we spend our days lamenting our past and what we did or didn’t do, then our end will be based on our past.  But if we start on our goals right now, then we change the outcome for ourselves.  This doesn’t ensure a happy ending or that we’ll meet our goals exactly as we planned.  But at least we’ll be the hero of our own story.

THE PERSONAL AUDIT

Daily life is a series of decisions:  how we spend our time, how we spend our money, how we focus our energy.  Time, money and energy are our key resources.  Yet, we may not realize how our daily decisions squander these precious resources little by little.  To get control over these daily decisions, it is helpful to audit how these resources are spent:

TIME AUDIT.  For at least a week (and longer is ideal), write down what you spend each half hour doing.  Don’t censor yourself; if you find yourself logging in many hours of television, don’t omit these to look good.  It is this insight that will help you manage your time better for the future.  After logging your activities, identify time-wasters and make a list of what else you’d rather be doing.  When you next find yourself tempted by one of the time-wasting activities, substitute an activity from your priority list instead.

MONEY AUDIT.  Some credit card companies provide an annual purchase summary, and you can see how much you spend in a variety of categories.  If you don’t get this summary, calculate it yourself for a few months’ worth of credit card statements.  Review past checks and categorize these expenses.  Spend a week logging in all cash purchases and categorize these expenses.  This will give you a picture of how you spend.  As with time, identify money drains and alternative priorities.  Before you buy anything again, ask yourself if it is a priority.

ENERGY AUDIT.  Using your time audit, assign each activity to the priority in your life that it supports.  For example, taking the kids to school would be a family activity.  Paying bills would be a finance activity.  Laundry would be a household activity.  After you categorize these activities, calculate how much time you’re spending on each priority.  Are your energies placed on the things that really matter?

Once you complete this personal audit, you will see how much power you have over your time, money and energy, and you will make conscious decisions that align these resources with what you really want.

MIXING IT UP

You may want to emulate what a successful person does, so that the same success comes to you.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since you want to learn from successful people and not reinvent the wheel.  However, one person’s success formula may not apply to your specific circumstances.  Furthermore, if everyone follows the formula, it becomes average, and true success requires something beyond average 

For example, when I tried to lose my post-pregnancy weight, I diligently followed the fitness magazines.  These tips worked, up to a point.  Then, I hit a plateau, and the things I was doing before that successfully dropped the pounds were no longer working.  A trainer at my gym noticed that I hadn’t changed my routine and advised me to mix it up.  I ended up following a completely different approach, but it worked for the remaining pounds.  Now, after following that approach for some time, I realize that I need to mix it up again. 

Success is self-correcting.  Even though something works, it won’t work all the time.  Not only do you need to find a success formula that works for you and your specific goal, but you need the flexibility to ditch the formula and try something new.  If you think you’re doing the right things but not getting the result you want, mix it up.  A success philosophy is only right for you when it gives you the results you want.

CHANGE YOUR LIFE

The phrase, “life-changing experience,” conjures up images of extreme joy or of undue hardship.  Therefore, the act of changing your life implies momentous decisions involving career transition, financial risk, and emotional upheaval.  Actually, changing your life can be a series of small actions that together lead to big change.  These small actions require no resignation letter, no lien on the house, and no melodrama.  However, changing your life even in small steps does require an open mind and a willingness to start today.

You need an open mind to put yourself first and to not feel selfish about doing so.  Your boss, partner, kids and friends will be thrilled because you will be so much more fun to be around.  Small actions that put yourself first: 

book that doctor’s appointment for whatever has been ailing you and, if nothing ails you, get a physical;

finally book that eye checkup;

see a live show or sporting event and savor the rush of the crowd around you;

rent that movie, read that book, or visit that museum on your I’ve-always-wanted-to list;

eat your favorite food slowly;

put an object of beauty (e.g., flowers, painting) in your workspace;

reserve a three-day weekend with no plans;

take care of a nuisance on your I-must-attend-to-that list (e.g., tailor those pants, frame that photo);

open a retirement account or stick an extra $50 in your existing one;

write a thank you letter to your partner/kid/best friend (yes, even this one’s for you b/c it will remind you how lucky you are);

enter appointments in next year’s planner for next year’s dates with yourself.

You need to start today because change feeds on momentum.  Lack of change feeds on inertia.  If you get moving now, whatever baby step you choose, you put the process in place.  Plan one small action each day.  In a week, you’ll feel energized.  In a month, you’ll be renewed.  In a year, you will have 365 rich experiences that you made happen, and you will recognize your power to change your life in the direction you choose.

FOCUS ON THE UPSIDE

The all-time strikeout leader in baseball is Reggie Jackson, followed by Babe Ruth.  Neither player is remembered as a strikeout leader.  Still, people hear stories of great success coming only after great struggle, and this is not enough to encourage them to go after their dreams.  The potential downside of failure often greatly outweighs the potential upside from success.  Here are some tips to focus on the upside, so you do go for your dreams:

Confront the downside.  What are the specific consequences of failure to meet this goal?  How much money will you lose?  How much time will you have invested?  How much notoriety will this bring?  Really visualize for yourself the worst possible downside, and make specific plans on how to mitigate the consequences.

Confront the upside.  What are the tangible effects of success at this goal?  Express it in pictures that you hang on your wall.  Write it down in a journal that you read regularly.  Tell friends what it means to you.  Keep your upside in your sight, your mind, and your words, and it will seem more reachable.

Replace one fear with another.  At some point, we need to just take our shot.  You may never get over your fear of failure, but you could replace it with a greater fear of never knowing.  Think about what it would mean for you to never know what happened if you tried.  The prospect of living with a what-if is not very appealing.  Focus on the regret, remorse, disappointment, shame, sadness, etc. of not even trying, and you may find these feelings worse than any downside from failure.

Reggie Jackson wouldn’t be a Hall of Famer, baseball icon, and candy bar, without also being the strikeout leader.  Putting himself in the game meant downside, but also great upside.  If you never take your shot, nothing will change.  Is the life you have now exactly the way that you want it to be?  If not, take aim.