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Today's Quick 2-Minute Podcast Tip:
"Luck comes to a man who puts himself in the way of it.
You went where something might be found and you found something,
simple as that."
- Louis L'Amour, To the Far Blue
Mountains
I had the pleasure this past Saturday of joining an executive coaching client on a local group bike ride. As a cycling enthusiast, I always welcome such opportunities, and have a number of clients who are excellent riders.
Our route was north out of Naples, Florida up the coast to the Ft. Myers beach area - a 40 mile round trip ride -- most of the route being on a small strip of land between the gulf to the west and the bay and river to the east -- a scenic and very popular route, and the only route connecting the Naples beach area with the Ft. Myers beach area. There are also about five bridges each way -- giving us an even better view of the waterways.
As we rode north, we encountered a number of other small groups of riders, noting that two or three were ahead of us. At the 20-mile halfway point, we turned around to return south and found a nice tailwind that allowed us to pick up our pace a bit. About 5 miles into the return trip we began approaching a draw bridge and began to slow down our pace.
We noticed a crowd of people standing at the top of the bridge and a line of stopped cars leading up to the bridge. As we got closer, we realized that all of the people at the top were other cyclists on their way back south. We rode up along-side several of those and were told that the draw bridge was was "stuck" in a partially open position and that traffic had been stopped by the bridge officials until it could be fixed.
So....we waited. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes -- this was NOT looking good and was not how we all had planned to spend our Saturday morning. The line of cars grew longer, some turning around, but no "action" on the bridge situation.
A few minutes later, a police officer drove up, got out of her car, and informed us that it MAY be 30 minutes before an electrician would arrive to fix the bridge mechanism, and perhaps longer than that to actually fix it. Not good news. It was getting hot; there was no shade, and we had already ridden 25 miles, with limited water remaining in our water bottles.
What to do? We considered our options: (1) Wait, or (2) Turn around and head north and take the long way home, which would be an EXTRA 20+ miles. All of us -- approximately 20 fellow cyclists -- considered those options. A small group turned around and said they would find a place to stop and eat breakfast and just wait it out.
My CLIENT had another
idea .... He walked his bike up to the crest of the
bridge ... to review and confirm the nature of the "situation."
How bad was the "obstacle?" How serious was it really? WAS it
impassable for a bicycle?
The rest of us FOLLOWED. We were all curious.
At the top, we noted that the draw bridge had, in fact, malfunctioned, but there was only an eight inch (maybe less) step down from the movable platform of the draw bridge (with no "gap") to the cement-way of the south side of the bridge (an obstacle for a car, NOT a bike). We simply stepped down, got on our bikes, looked at each other with a subtle sense of embarrassment, and rode south .... back to our starting point.
Lesson learned:
Many of the cyclists we encountered at the bridge that morning were business owners and executives -- leaders in their own right. I knew all of them. We also had at least one executive coach in the group ... that being me.
But .... only one of us LEAD in that situation. The fact that is was my client was a great feeling. He beamed with satisfaction that he had taken the initiative and LEAD the way to a successful resolution.
What situations are you facing where there MAY be assumptions that COULD be questioned? Take the initiative .... investigate, ask, confirm, then reconfirm.
The solution may be EASIER THAN YOU THINK!
Be Proactive -- Think like a leader. Work hard to stay "one step ahead" of your clients (and your boss). Anticipate next moves .... think ahead. Take the time to outline likely next steps; you'll be more prepared and you're more likely to come to the table ready with solutions and ideas.
Think LIKE your boss. Think LIKE your clients. Put yourself in THEIR shoes and anticipate their next moves, their needs, their likely issues.
NOW - Do something today to take action focused on those anticipated moves -- demonstrative your initiative, show you care, create value.
As an amateur cyclist and former road bike racing enthusiast, I am all too familiar with one of the sport's toughest and most lung-busting workout routines, popularly known as "interval training."
Interval training consists of two elements: (1) working HARD at a heightened level of effort for a predetermined period of time and (2) fully recovering between the interval and/or sets of intervals. Work hard, then rest; work hard, then rest; repeat till done.
The payoff? .... Interval training DOES work -- in fact, it works VERY well ... significantly improving your performance and speed when done correctly. Nothing else compares.
The secret? .... Without the REST and recovery between the hard efforts, those hard efforts can NOT be optimized -- top end performance and peaks of effort can simply not be reached, consistently, and breakthrough improvement can NEVER be achieved. Recovery is key; it's an ESSENTIAL ingredient of the process.
By the way, this same principle applies to strength training in the gym -- which is why body-builders build in rest days between focusing on specific body parts. In fact ... ask around -- talk to any athlete, regardless of sport, and you'll find that "interval training" or it's equivalent is a key component of achieving breakthrough performance in that sport.
WIIFM? .... What's In It for ME?
So ... What does this mean as it relates to our WORK LIFE? Can we apply interval training to achieve breakthrough performance at work? YOU BET .... here's how....
Build Interval Training Into Your Workday ... Every day:
Plan your upcoming week with "interval training" embedded in your work day. Adjust the interval periods to suit the level of effort required for the task at hand. For longer work intervals, allowing for slightly longer rest periods. Remember though .... REST between efforts IS THE KEY.
THE PAYOFF -- Optimum levels of productivity .... You'll get maximum done in minimum time .... I guarantee it.
Try it!
How will you build YOUR day tomorrow to
incorporate interval training into your work day?
"Vigorous writing is concise." - William Strunk Jr. - "The Elements of Style", 1919
Many companies are tapping the power of their employee base to help create useful, relevant and brand-centric content for company blog sites. In that regard, I have advised my coaching clients to consider establishing and communicating guidelines for blog article writers to help enhance readability, "gravity," and consistency of general "look and feel" of posted articles.
Commonly communicated guidelines include the following, which you'll generally note when reading articles posted on many of the more popular blog sites:
My wife and I are making preparations for our annual late summer trek to the North Carolina mountains to help move our son back into his college accommodations for the upcoming school year. He's opted to live in an apartment this year (his junior year) as opposed to a dorm room, so the move in process is a little but more involved this go-round.
Our plans are to work three days this week, then head out up on Thursday morning, leaving our house-sitter behind to watch the animals. We're wrapping a family vacation around the whole trip.
In planning my week this week, I seem to be doing a particularly thorough job of filtering out the REALLY IMPORTANT things that need to GET DONE before we leave -- both work-related things and personal things. I've identified those things, and I've ensured I have sufficient time ON MY CALENDAR to get those things done.
I then stopped and stepped back and asked myself.... "Why am I not this thorough and focused EVERY WEEK -- vacation or not? Wouldn't I have much better chance of focusing on the MOST IMPORTANT things and getting them done? Absolutely!"
So, my commitment coming back is to apply the "Pre-Vacation Planning Process" I went through today to EVERY WEEK, on EVERY MONDAY going forward. So, here it is for anyone interested:
The Pre-Vacation Planning Process (that REALLY applies to EVERY WEEK's PLAN):
LinkedIn continues to accelarate in its popularity as THE online networking and social media application for business and professional use. I recently came across an EXCELLENT article -- targeting college students -- that equally applies to ALL USERS of LinkedIn -- Me too! You too!
The articles offers 48 essential LinkedIn tips -- including some you probably haven't considered before. Check them out by clicking the link below, and special thanks to Jasmine Hall at "Online Colleges.net" for providing this list.
I have a couple of executive coaching clients who share a great Monday morning habit -- one that really sets the tone for a positive week. It's a great way to kickstart the week and inspire your team members. It involves four simple steps:
Keep your "drop by's" brief and focused on the positive feedback. Smile .... let them know you really appreciate them. Just a few minutes each is all it takes.
The Outcome? .... You'll feel great, they'll feel great, and they'll pass on the positive energy ... in some way ... to others in their circle.
What are you waiting for?
Connect with Andy:
www.AndyOnLinkedIn.com
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