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Jim Collins is credited with saying, “If you have more than 3 “top goals”, then you will not make any a priority.”
Review your goals list. Narrow it to your Top 3. No more. Stay focused on those.
We know from research tinto successful people that they ALL have an obsessive focus on one goal. Not three goals… Consider Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr, anyone in any history book. They had one goal. Only one. Only 1.
So, what is your 1 top goal?
There are only 2 times each day when you are alone with your thoughts. No distractions. No chaos…
1. when you wake up and think…
2. when you go to sleep and think…
So, it should be no surprise that, throughout recorded history, wise people have urged people to ask these two questions daily:
1. Who can I help today? Let that answer lead you into a life of service.
2. What am I thankful for today? Let that answer lead you to a life filled with gratitude.
Although I am not the wisest person in the world, I have practiced these two questions every day for decades. The answers have helped guide me. Perhaps they will guide you also.
How do these answers help you live with gratitude?
The Reticular Activation System (RAS) is that part of our brain that registers when we hear / notice something familiar amid distraction. Imagine being in a crowded supermarket. Then you hear your child cry out your name. Your RAS immediately kicks in. Endorphins and blood flow increase. And you respond to the stimulus…
What we measure leads to change. Ask any MBA. Ask any manager.
Try this 30-day goal setting activity described by Brian Tracy. Get a spiral bound notebook. Label it “My New Best Friend.” On page one list your top 10 goals. Then turn the page and set it aside. Repeat on days 2-30. On day 31, review the patterns. Look for patterns.
Your RAS will help you. Then share your observations with your coach or accountability partner.
What did you notice?
…is as smart as eating pasta without a fork. You can get something done. But it’s messy.
Assessments define coaching success for several reasons. At an organizational level, we define patterns, norms, needs, oddities. At an individual level, we determine job fit, strengths, career path, succession, potential value.
Recently I met a consultant (with an undergraduate degree from Harvard College) who stated, “I don’t need to use assessments in my work.” I discarded his opinion. Rubbish.
We always use assessments. The data is invaluable for coaching and consulting.
How about you?
Reason #11. Graduate School.
When doing my graduate research at Dartmouth College I was obsessed with risk-taking behavior. Key questions included: Why do we intentionally embrace a known risk? What causes us to embrace more risk in academics or business or interpersonal choices? How do we encourage constructive risk tolerance, risky shift, and risk taking behavior?
At the time I was teaching high school English in a boarding school in New Hampshire. Like every faculty member, I was required to embrace the “triple threat” requirements as a teacher, dorm parent, and a coach. I supervised a dormitory house with 12 9th grade boys. I coached soccer and x-c skiing. I taught rock climbing, whitewater canoeing, winter camping, outdoor adventures. I ran a January program that was designed to “foster risk taking” in academics and socially constructive outdoor adventures, which included a 3-day mandatory winter camping expedition called “Sophomore Wilderness.” And I met a lovely woman that I was not supposed to date– because she was on the faculty. And we dated. Got engaged. Then married, on Lake Winnepausaukee. Some 23 + years ago. Like the students and other faculty, I embraced risk.
My research required that I develop an assessment of adolescent risk taking behavior. Based upon recent related research and validated approaches. Then test the questions on hundreds of adolescents at summer camps, and at two independent high schools.
I found that adolescents described self-esteem in multi-dimensions (such as physical, social, academic, etc.) But adolescents did not discriminate between types of risk in that way. They only discriminated between socially constructive risks (helping others, talking to a teacher, etc) or socially destructive risks (taking drugs, sexual activity, etc.)
Some 25+ years later I remain fascinated by several facts:
1. Adults act like those adolescents. Adults discriminate between socially constructive and socially non-constructive risks.
2. That instant between a stimulus/trigger and a response/action defines our career success.
3. Coaches/consultants can help adults determine what is safe or risky, and what is productive or not.
4. I remain continually surprised and puzzled by that opening question: Why do people intentionally embrace a known risk?
What do you think?
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