Why stretching outside your comfort zone is a good thing

Think you have big goals? Several years ago, I read an article in Wired magazine about a long-distance runner named Dean Karnazes.

Get this:

·    He ran fifty marathons in fifty states on fifty consecutive days.

·    He once ran 350 miles in three days—without stopping and with no sleep.

·    He’s run the Badwater Ultra Marathon eleven times. It starts in Death Valley, 250 feet below sea level and concludes, 135 miles later, halfway up Mt. Witney, at 8,360 feet. He won the race in 2004 on his fifth attempt.

·    He runs 100 to 170 miles a week.

·    He couldn’t find time to run 4-6 hours a day, so he began sleeping less. He currently sleeps four hours a night.

·    His resting heart rate is 39 beat per minute!

In another interview in Outside magazine, Dean makes an important point that many of us have forgotten:

Western culture has things a little backwards right now. We think that if we had every comfort available to us, we’d be happy. We equate comfort with happiness. And now we’re so comfortable we’re miserable. There’s little real struggle in our lives. Little sense of adventure. We get in a car, we get in an elevator, it all comes pretty easy. What I’ve found is that I’m never more alive than when I pushing hard and I’m in pain, and I’m struggling for high achievement, and in that struggle I think there’s a magic.

This rings true for me. I think there are three reasons why we should embrace discomfort by stretching outside our comfort zone, whether we deliberately choose it, or it simply happens to us.

1. Comfort is overrated. It doesn’t lead to happiness. It makes us lazy—and forgetful. It often leads to self-absorption, boredom, and discontent.
2. Discomfort is a catalyst for growth. It makes us yearn to something more. It forces us to change, stretch, and adapt.
3. Discomfort is a sign we’re making progress. You’ve heard the expression, “no pain, no gain.” It’s true! When you push yourself to grow, you will experience discomfort.

A few months ago, I started a daily practice of meditation. It sounded easy enough. Boy, was I wrong! It has proven to be incredibly challenging to sit for thirty minutes straight. But that’s the very reason I value it. I feel like I’m making progress by doing something that isn’t easy for me.

The bottom line is this: we can either be comfortable and stagnate or stretch ourselves—become uncomfortable—and grow. We may think that comfort leads to happiness. It doesn’t. Happiness comes from growth and feeling like we're making progress.

(Check out our post on the 'Progress Principle': http://is.gd/KlA7uB )

“Get out and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone.”

                                                                       --Bob Parson, Digital Entrepreneur

Adapted From M Hyatt

30 Ideas for “Goal-Getting” in 2012

Many of us are looking into the new year and thinking about the things we want to change and/or accomplish. Resolutions or goals can be powerful catalysts for improvement. The big challenge for a lot of people is keeping themselves focused on the prize and motivated until they fulfill their resolution or reach their goal.

Most folks know the mechanics of goal setting.  What they may not know, remember or apply are the principles for "goal-getting."  These ideas are not new but they are important because they address the motivational side of keeping New Year's resolutions and reaching organizational, team or personal goals.

1. Focus On What Will Bring Out Your Very Best

Take the time to think about what stirs your passions, inspires you and gets you excited about the future. It is important to remember that goals are maps; they will guide you towards your success – the more detailed your goal setting the easier it will be for goal getting. Also, when you are in the goal setting stage understand that the goal must be better than your best yet – but it must be achievable.

Here's a 1.5 minute video that has a very powerful goal achieving technique:

Click here: YouTube - Brian Tracy: If You Could Achieve One Goal in 24 Hours

2. Think Like A Person of Action, Act Like A Person of Thought
No matter how bad you want it to happen, change will never result from thinking alone - you must take action. The world is swimming in dreamers, but only those who act on their desires achieve truly remarkable results.

3. A Daily Habit to Begin Today
Set aside at least 15-30 minutes each night or morning to review your day and plan for the next. It's a simple way to add an element of control to your life. Also, beginning this habit today will help tremendously when you begin to work toward your exciting and inspiring goals.

4. Mix It Up
The wrong routine can spell failure for your goals. To make sure this doesn't happen to you, add at least one new step to your daily routine to help break up the pattern. One new activity will set the stage for many more in the future, making it possible for you to break free of any negative routines.

5. Get Enthusiastic About What’s to Come
You are on your way to reaching your goals. Now is the time to get excited and inspired about what your future holds. Imagine achieving your vision -now make it happen!

6. Raise Your Standards
It's time to raise your standards. It's time to expect more out of yourself than anyone else. Accept nothing less than your absolute best in all that you do and you'll have no problem achieving your goals.

7. Take Ownership
Before positive changes can take place, you must take responsibility for your actions and outcomes. You are in control of your future and are the primary one who can guarantee results. If you give up control and ownership of your life, you will never enjoy the amazing opportunities that life offers to us all.

8. Whom Do You Admire?
Make a list of at least three people that you admire. With your list in hand describe what it is that you most respect about each individual. Often pinpointing what we admire in others offers insight into what we wish to become ourselves.

9. The Moment
Remember a time when everything seemed to be going just right? When nothing could get you down? When you thought to yourself, 'This moment, right now, is what life is all about.' We all have moments in life when we feel we are at our best, but most people don't utilize them. Use the special moments in your life to bring to light goals and desires that are sure to fulfill your needs. Learning from and building on these times will help you create magic moments on a daily basis for the rest of your life.

10. Get Specific
In order for you to create lasting change, you have to be super specific about what you want. Vague ideas just won't cut it. The more specific you make your desires, the easier it will be to act on them. Cloudy hopes create obstacles. You have to know exactly what you want, down to the smallest detail.

11. Small Steps to Big Success
While the nature of your goals needs to inspire, you must also recognize the fact that it takes only small steps to create big changes. The goal will lead the way, but it won't come in one giant leap. Small steps, carried out each day, will bring you to the destinations you seek.

 

12. Search for Success Stories
The stories of individuals overcoming all odds and achieving their dreams surround you. Seek out and make these stories a part of your life. You are not alone in your search for success and significance. Knowing that others have succeeded in the past can be enough to motivate you to achieve the next level of results.

13. Measure Your Progress
As you begin putting the pieces of your plan in place, be sure to measure your progress along the way. Doing so will help to keep you motivated to achieve the goal as you see real improvement taking place. You will also be able to recognize troubling areas that need more attention or successful methods that could be spread to other aspects of the goal.

14. Essentials of Change
It doesn't matter what you want, someone at sometime throughout history has desired and achieved the same thing. Not only does this prove that your goals are possible but also that you have what it takes to make them happen. People have done so much with so little, proving that the essential requirements of creating change are within you.

15. Become Aware of Your Thoughts
The wrong thoughts played enough times in your mind can sap the strength of anyone's confidence. Become aware of the things you say to yourself. Every time you come to a negative phrase stop yourself, refute the belief with logic, and replace it with a strong and empowering thought.

16. What's Holding You Back?
Take time to really think about what's holding you back from working toward and achieving your goals. Too often people get a 'feeling' and quit on their dreams. You can't fight or solve a vague feeling, but you can solve a specific problem. That's why it's critical for you to zero in on exactly what's holding you back from the level of achievement you want.

17. Share the Excitement
Don't keep your plans for a better future to yourself -share the excitement with those who will not see it as bragging or your ego taking over. This will make the goal more tangible, and include others in the picture who will ask about your progress and keep you heading in the right direction. Never underestimate the power of peer pressure.

18. If Not Now, When?
This is a simple method to adding a powerful boost to your goal-achieving project. People are gifted at the art of rationalization and procrastination. To put a stop to them ask yourself, 'If not now, when?' If you're honest, and I know you will be, you'll realize that now is as good a time as any to begin moving toward a better life.

19. Excuses Have No Uses
Excuses are scapegoats. They cover up the truth so we don't have to face it. You already know this isn't the way to a happy and successful life. You have to put a stop to excuses once and for all. Every time you catch yourself using an excuse to cover up the truth about why you aren't working toward your goal (e.g. I don't have the time), write it down along with at least three solid reasons why your excuse is completely wrong. And never use it again.

20. Fear is Part of the Puzzle
If you're waiting for a guaranteed success, you'll be waiting for the rest of your life. Fear is part of the process of success - there's no way around it. You might think that the people you look up to are free of fear as they work toward their goals you are mistaken. Everyone feels fear when they take a step outside of their comfort zone, the question is whether or not you keep going.

21. The First Step
A single step in the right direction is all it takes to put in motion great things. Every written masterpiece begins with a single word on a page. Every long journey begins with a single step. The things you desire most will be no different. Write down on a clean sheet of paper the absolute first step your goal requires - then do it.

22. The Truth about Change
You will fail. Not once, not twice, but many, many times. This is how the game works. Believing that you will be able to achieve a big goal without a hitch is like believing you can play perfect golf without a single step on a course. It's not negative, it's reality. A winner uses this as an advantage. When something doesn't go according to plan an adjustment is made and the process resumes. A short-term setback will never bring an end to your aspirations.

23. Create a Specific Strategy
When you know exactly what you want, you have to know exactly how you are going to get it. Just as a vague idea of what you want will never lead to success, a hazy notion of how you will achieve your goals will bring about the same fate. Super specific strategies will result in success. Anything less will make improvement difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy.
                   

24. Intelligent Action
Action is key to change - but not just any action. Eating unhealthy foods is action, but it is definitely not the kind of moves you should be making if your goal is to get in shape. The secret is to take intelligent action. Learn how to make the right moves and you'll be on your way to enjoying an amazing quality of life.


25. Windows of Opportunity
What you see today will not necessarily mirror the picture of tomorrow. In other words - things change. You can never know for sure how long the opportunity to act will offer itself. It could vanish tomorrow or in twenty years. The point is: Today is the certainty in your world. Make the best of it.

26. Learn from Your Mistakes
When things don't work out exactly as you had planned (this will happen) don't waste the opportunity to learn something. A short-term failure is a good thing – it teaches you how 'not' to do something, which will bring you closer and closer to the solution you seek.

27. Constant Curiosity
Be curious. The world can be a truly amazing place when you take the time to look around and learn about it. Read, converse, observe, listen, and discover the miracles that surround you. Constant curiosity is the habit that is sure to get you excited about your world, your work, and your future.

28. Your Contribution

What are you going to contribute to the world after you have gone? Living an extraordinary life requires thinking beyond yourself and giving back to the world in some way. What will your gift to the world be?

29. Starting in the Right Direction

You may not realize it, but you've already taken a massive step toward success. Simply reading these words demonstrates your success in the New Year. Now that you've taken the first step, keep it going day after day, month after month, year after year.


30. Enjoy the Ride
While you're working hard to achieve your goals, it's important to enjoy the experience. Don't just focus on the results. It's like taking a road trip through beautiful country with your eyes closed thinking only about the destination. You'll miss out half the joy of success if you forget about the experience of it all.

All the success!

PM in the AM

Plan for Success in 2012

Simple, Effective Steps for Goal Setting in 2012

Goals inspire the plan, the plan sets the action, the action gets the results and the results achieve the success. And it all starts with one word, goal.

Robert H. Schuller describes four kinds of people:

·    First come the opt-outs. These people wing it. They set no goals.

·    Second are the hold-outs. They have a dream, but uncertainty makes them afraid to respond to its challenge.

·   The dropouts are third. They start to make their dream come true, but when the going gets tough, they quit.

·    Finally, there are the all-outs. These brave souls know where they’re headed and do what it takes to get there.

Goal setting is not rocket science (like most things). It’s just that many people do it in a half-hearted manner or don’t do it at all.  Winners make goals, others make excuses.

Goals can motivate a workforce, an individual employee, or even a manager, as long as they’re well thought out and not too complicated.

There are several methods for setting goals. Here's one that can be used for simple individual goals or complex organizational goals. The example provided is goal setting for an employee.

Get real. Choose specific goals that apply directly to the employee’s performance—nothing too vague or overwhelming. If you’re not sure whether a possible goal is clear enough, ask, “How will we know when you’ve succeeded?”

Narrow your focus. Select one goal at a time to work on. You don’t want your employee to be balancing too many tasks at once.

Define your objective. What results do you hope to achieve? These should be measurable and concrete to eliminate any ambiguity about what the employee is working toward.

Draw up an action plan. List the steps necessary to reach the goal. You and the employee may have to break the goal down into segments if your list of steps grows too long. But you need to know exactly what’s required so the project doesn’t bog down as you try to move forward.

Set a deadline. Open-ended goals aren’t very motivational. Identify a due date that’s realistic but ambitious so the employee has a sense of urgency about completing the tasks involved.

Schedule the steps. Work with the employee on deciding when specific actions will take place: “Jan 15. 1, recruit designers for new product . . . Jan. 25, present first prototype . . .” and so on. This will help the employee stay on course and help you to monitor progress.

Check out our 30 Ideas for Goal 'Getting' in 2012 post by clicking:  http://is.gd/GH6rN7

Happy New Year!

PM in the PM


For more information about creating organizational, team, and individual success in 2012 contact us at smartdevelopment@aol.com and smartdevelopmentinc.com

Handling your Gen Y employees' high expectations

If you feel that your 20-something employees have high expectations regardless of their limited work experience, you’re not alone. A survey of more than 2,500 hiring managers and HR professionals by CareerBuilder.com found the same feeling. High expectations are fine, but what if you have to say “Not yet” because your young employees are short on qualifications? Or because your company, like many, can’t immediately satisfy every demand? The best bet is to explain the realities carefully and develop other options to offer:

·    Expectation: High wages and rapid raises. Be clear and specific about salary structures, and don’t just say, “Those are the rules.” Provide an updated job description and demonstrate how quality and productivity are measured, showing employees what—and how long—it generally takes to earn higher compensation. Help employees work out plans to improve their qualifications. In the meantime, use short-term recognition, rewards, and bonuses to verify that you’re paying attention.

·    Expectation: Rapid promotions. Explain the experience, skills, education, and results needed for promotion. Help each employee create a plan to meet those requirements. In the meantime, pair younger employees with experienced workers who can explain how to go about on-the-job learning and improvement in your group.

·    Expectation: Flexible work schedules. As with salary increases, explain the amount of flexibility and time off available in terms of the amount of work to be done, not in terms of rules. Be creative about finding ways employees can generate days off. For example, can workers who are highly productive or who beat their deadlines earn extra days of vacation?

All the success!

Peter Mclees

Sharpening Your 'Blade' for Improved Results

A Parable about Performance

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job from a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the working conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees "Congratulations," the boss said. "Keep up the good work!" Very motivated by the boss’ words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees.


 Day after day he was bringing less and less trees. "I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked. "Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees..."

Lesson- Investing in improving your teams' skill development will improve short-term and long-term results.


Work pressures and competing budget demands make it challenging to allocate the time and money for development activities. However, unless companies and individuals prioritize activities they may over time lose their competitive edge.

All the success!

PM in the PM

For more information on developing your team of leaders visit us at smartdevelopmentinc.com

                               Follow me at Twitter  http://twitter.com/petermclees

Check your internal communication IQ

Maybe you can articulate a forward-thinking vision that wins over your customers and shareholders, but if you struggle with internal communication, you won’t get very far motivating your workforce to bring that vision to life. The key to getting your message across is understanding what’s important to your workforce.

 

Take this quiz to identify gaps that you’ll need to fill in order to communicate effectively:

·     Do employees feel you care about them as individuals? Get to know their career ambitions, outside interests, and personal history to show you don’t think of them as cogs in a great machine. Let them know you want to see them achieve their personal goals, not just company objectives.

·    Are you part of the team? Employees shouldn’t feel that they’re held to a higher standard of behavior and performance than their managers. Set the right example, and pitch in to help as necessary to show that your commitment is just as strong as theirs.

·    Do you communicate respect? Consider your employees’ feelings when you speak to them, write emails, or otherwise communicate with your workforce. Take their ideas and opinions seriously—don’t belittle them or act as if you’re the only person capable of understanding priorities.

·    Do you give effective feedback? Your goal when giving feedback should always be to help employees improve their performance. Explain how feedback benefits them, and don’t give the impression that you’re just reminding them that you’re the boss.

·    Does your behavior support a positive goal? You won’t win the trust and support of your people with constant criticism or micro-management. Consider every action you take in the context of your desire to improve performance, the workplace, and your organization’s goals.

All the success!

PM in the AM

The outrageous cost of a bad hire

The financial costs can be huge, but the soft costs are significant as well.

Would you believe that the true cost of a bad hire is $840,000?

And while the cost is certainly something organizations should be worried about, TLNT.com’s Lance Haun believes there’s two other things to blame for the issue of bad hires: inaction and lack of will to change.

“The inaction part is the easy one. If you let a bad hire sit on your payroll for 30 months, that costs real money — money your executives should see,” he notes. “If you can make a quicker decision once you really know someone is a bad hire, that will save not only that real money but also all of those soft costs that are harder to calculate, like disruption and opportunity cost.”

How can you best fix the situation? He suggests firing the bad hire as soon as you know they’re not working out (and giving him or her a generous severance package). He also says to “hire better, as often as you can, no matter the cost.”

Check out this infographic by Resoomay to see what a bad hire will truly cost your company.

All the success!

PM in the AM