Content for your search for

What is Takes - The 3 W’s of Success

October 18, 2007

As the current Rugby World Cup comes to a close in France, it holds a great many lessons for business, leaders and the community about the commitment, attitude, and courage that it takes to perform at your best and achieve outstanding goals.

What does it take to achieve at a world class level? To even compete requires a focus that is seldom found in other arenas.  From the Wallabies world record holding George Gregan to the new and youngest members like Barrick Barnes, it is more than just a spark that helps them win.

In watching and listening to these individuals, there is a common thread that runs through them all.  It is as simple as three W’s, but it’s by no means easy.

This can be presented as a three part model—Why, What, and Will—and you can harness it to achieve your own success and reach your own goals.

Generally when seeking success or setting goals the what is the W that gets the attention first.  What is it that we want to do?  This can be anything from running a marathon, to achieving a promotion, or having a happy life.  The key to achieving your what is to be able to clearly articulate exactly what is it you want.  The athletes are able to see, hear, feel and smell the experience they are intending to create.  They know in advance how it will BE.  Did you notice the intensity in the World Cup players before each game?  They were rehearsing it in their head.

Even though the what is the thing that we automatically jump to, without a why it will only be a very shallow success, if it achieved at all.  It is my belief that in fact the why should come first.  I have seen the benefits for individuals that understand who they are and why they make the choices they do.  They then link in the appropriate what in order to more fully express the why.

So you know what you want and why you want it, so it there anything left.  Yes.  Will!  This is not willpower but the opposite of won’t.  Will is a choice (just like most other things) and you need consciously make the choice and commitment to see your goal through.  I wonder how far our leaders in sport, business and life would have gotten if they had not had the will to stick with it.

So there you have it!  Why not pick one things that week that you will apply the what, why, will model with.

Posted by obm | Filed Under Achieving Goals, Leadership, Teams, performance, success | Leave a Comment 

Does Busy-ness effect the health of your Business?

October 9, 2007

You know how it goes— quickly eating lunch whilst taking that last minute phone call, doing preparation for the meeting starting in 5 minutes, and at the same time thinking where you will be having dinner this evening.

Busyness Chasing PaperThis behaviour does nothing for your concentration, productivity … or indigestion.

It seems that the speed of technology has also had an effect on the speed in which we attempt to run our lives. It is so fast that activities are running into each other. But as human beings, not computers, our capabilities as “multi-tasking machines” is limited. Research has proven that your memory is considerably reduced by attempting to concentrate on more than one activity or stimulus at a time. Try it yourself—try to memorise a list of numbers or names whilst someone is talking to you about a separate topic.

Trying to be all things to all people at work is not a recipe for career success. On the contrary, continually worrying about schedules and deadlines and multiple projects only makes you rush. And rushing, as you’re bound to find out sooner or later, means more mistakes and lower quality work.

Many people complain that they just don’t have enough hours in the day to meet all the competing demands they face. But the problem is not so much one of time management as one of unrealistic expectations. These people have a bad case of ‘the shoulds’. Their entire focus is on what they should be doing or what they think other people believe they should be doing.

People with ‘busyness disorder’ typically:

  • rush
  • tackle up to 15 to 20 different projects at once
  • work more than 12 hours a day
  • work weekends
  • can’t say no
  • have appalling diets which lead to extremes in body weight

Most don’t even recognise they have a problem. They fail to see the connection between their behaviours and current or potential health problems.

How did we get here?
People plagued with ‘busyness disorder’ basically suffer from the effects of the modern world, with its combination of high technology, materialism and ‘profit at any cost’ mentality.

There is a high focus on achievement gained from external motivators such as salary, car, houses and possessions. But when you rely on external motivators alone you may not reach the happiness you are searching for and keep on striving for the next thing, not knowing that what you are looking for is right in front of you.

The “big picture” focus is a shift to internal motivators such as satisfying values and emotions, gaining a sense of confidence, fulfilment and self worth.

Getting off the merry-go-round
The way to take control of your life and rid yourself of busyness is to say no. There are also techniques such as that developed by US motivational expert Timothy Gallwey, who advises people against knee-jerk reactions to work demands. Gallwey’s STOP technique stands for:

  • Step back
  • Think
  • Organise
  • Proceed

The more you try to squeeze multiple activities in the same time/space, the less productive you will be. Some of you will say that this is easier said than done, and I would agree, but there is one straight-forward response that will go a long way toward keeping you focused on what is important, and give you the time to give each activity its full focus. That response is “No” or Not now”.

The bottom line is really about putting your desire for less ‘busyness’ into action. The real key is that you can read as many articles as you like and you can believe in the principles of change but until you take action it is meaningless.

Try this :

  • Ask yourself what’s the worse thing that can happen. Let go of the notion you must meet every single expectation and for everything to be perfect.
  • Learn to prioritise. Make lists and stick to them.
  • Lower your expectations. Accept that you have limitations and learn to live with them.
  • Focus on one thing at a time. Learn to value quality rather than quantity.
  • Pay attention to your health. Your body could be telling you to slow down.
  • Get professional help if ‘busyness’ is threatening your health.

Busy-ness is a direct result of not understanding our own limitations, and the time we have to allocate and is required by each task. Are you looking for success through doing more ? If so then you may find yourself slowing sinking into a position of fatigue, ineffectiveness and frustration.

Posted by obm | Filed Under Busyness, Productivity, Time Management | Leave a Comment