Right Place + Right Time = Pure Luck. Notsomuch!

"WOW! That happened to you. You must have been in the right place at the right time!"

At some point in your life, someone has probably told you how lucky you were to be in the right place at the right time. Sure, every so often, we get truly lucky in life and happen to have the experience of a lifetime. But I would argue that most of our "right place at the right time" moments are not luck. Bob Hope said it best:

“I've always been in the right place and time. Of course, I steered myself there.”

The next time you find yourself in the right place at the right time, think about how you got there. Chances are you put the wheels in motion and created the circumstances. It wasn't pure luck. It was the realization of a goal.

As 2011 comes to an end, take some time to think about this year and the ways in which YOU orchestrated those memorable "right place at the right time" moments. What stands out the most?

And if you haven't had many "right place at the right time" moments this year, think about how you're going to steer yourself in 2012. Will you start the year by writing your goals down and developing action plans? Will you spend the necessary time to find clarity about your life's purpose?

Or will you just keep your fingers crossed and hope for a stroke of good luck?

Multi-Tasking is a Myth

This morning I read a fantastic article from Inc. Magazine called "7 Things Highly Productive People Do." We're all trying to figure out ways to be more productive. And some of us buy into the myth that multi-tasking is possible.

Here's what the Inc. article had to say about the topic:
"Stop multi-tasking. No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoned. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women)."

So now I know that trying to multi-task is actually making me stupid. Great. Surprising? Not so much. I typically feel dumber when I'm trying to do too many things at the same time. This is when important details fall through the cracks and mistakes are made. We've all been there. We reply to all and make a fool out of ourselves. We misspell "assess" in a report, and now it says "asses." It's never a good scene.

I am always annoyed when I see job descriptions that list multi-tasking as a skill they'd like a new employee to have. Yes, it is possible to do more than one thing at a time. As a mother, I absolutely know that at times my role calls for me to do several things at the same time. I'm cooking dinner, while setting the table, calling my husband to remind him to pick up milk on his way home, and supervising a brother and sister who have waged war against each other.

It is physically possible to multi-task. I can do more than one thing; I just can't do more than one thing WELL, and I often can't finish multiple things at the same time.

Essentially, people who think they're multi-tasking are good at starting things, but not always good at finishing them. Someone once told me that saying that you're multi-tasking is a "polite way of telling someone you haven’t heard a word they said." I find that to be true. Have you ever tried to multi-task during a meeting at work? When the meeting ends, you realize you have no idea what was discussed (and you pray that someone else paid attention and took notes).

Henry Ford had a great perspective on multi-tasking. He didn't find it to be a strength we should seek, but rather a weakness we should know exists. He once said, "A weakness of all human beings is trying to do too many things at once."

What do you think? Have you bought into the multi-tasking myth? What proactive steps can you take to get out of the multi-tasking cycle?

Source:
7 Things Highly Productive People Do by By Ilya Pozin, Inc. Magazine
Article Link: http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/7-things-highly-productive-people-do.html

One Player Can Be a Game Changer!

It has been noted time and time again in this blog that SOS Leadership is committed to developing leaders that make a difference. In society though this common question always seems to come up: Can one leader, one person, one player really make a difference?

Constantly, whether it is at work, home, or school there are always things that people wish could be better. Most times, people realize that change is needed, but they never take the action to implement those changes; or even bring up the fact that changes need to be made. I know that I have been in that position before. In the past, I chose to be a spectator and not get in the game. I figured I was only one person who stood no chance at making the changes that I thought desperately needed to be made. At the end of the day I was not willing to be a leader.

As I have matured it has become clearer to me that one player, one leader can be a game changer! It only takes one team player to step up and be a leader for change to occur. Of course, it is important for the whole team to follow that leader and want the same change to make a positive impact, but one team player is all that is needed to start the implementation of change.

Baylor University’s recent Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Robert Griffin III, is a prime example that one player can be a game changer. RG3, as known by most, took a school that has rarely been praised for their football ability, and over night put not only Baylor, but also the city of Waco, TX on the map in a positive way. This tremendous accomplishment was done with one player stepping up and one coach who believed in him. Baylor Head Coach Art Briles said: “This outcome, in our minds, wasn't by chance -- it was by design. Robert has been preparing himself to be the best he can be for four years at Baylor. This award is the result of Robert's dedication and discipline and the support of our team and football program. This is the exclamation point on the direction of Baylor football and Baylor University." RG3 proved one player is all it takes to propel a team to greatness!

Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” So my question to you is, will you decide to step up and become a game changer? Will you accept the call to leadership?

I “Got Motivated…” Now what?

A couple weeks ago, my colleagues and I attended the Get Motivated seminar in Austin. SOS partner, Amber Fogarty provided a few key takeaways in her seminar follow-up blog, but I have more to add.

One thing that struck me was that 17,000 people attended this daylong event. They heard great speakers like, Lou Holtz (who was by far the best of the day), Bill Cosby, Mary Lou Retton, Colin Powell, and Rudy Giuliani. The speakers said mostly the same things, but they all said them well. Everybody in attendance seemed pretty darn motivated to me, but if that was the case why didn't anything or anyone change the next day?

I imagine those 17,000 people got excited, got inspired and got motivated, but the next day went back to business as usual. The reason for this is that an event like Get Motivated, although fun and at times useful, does nothing more that plant a seed. You cannot create positive change in your life or your business at a one day event. It takes clearly defined goals. It takes action plans. It takes hard work. It takes repetition. It takes commitment. None of those things were results from attending the Get Motivated seminar, but hopefully some people came out of it motivated to do all of those things.

At SOS, we help leaders get the most out of themselves and those they lead in order to get better results. We talk about a lot of the same things that the great Get Motivated speakers spoke about, but we help our clients go further than a one day event. We help them grow because we are as committed to their growth as they are. This is why we are so successful. One of our clients increased sales by 53 percent this year in a “down” economy. Another doubled the size of their staff while completely changing their culture in a positive way. Another client almost quadrupled their revenue.

All of our clients would probably say they “Got Motivated” by the work they did with SOS. But more importantly, they would say they “Got RESULTS!” So if you went to the Get Motivated seminar or any other one or two day event and were motivated to make changes in your life or business, give us a call (512-992-2985). We can help turn that motivation into results!

Developing Better Habits

In our work with clients, we talk a lot about developing better habits. In fact, when people ask me to tell them more about what SOS Leadership does, I often reply, "We're in the habit change business." We feel that habit change is inherently connected to leadership development.

The most basic definition of leadership is influence. As a leader, the way you influence others, and ultimately lead them, is your personal choice. With that choice comes great responsibility.

In our Seeds of Success program, we define the responsibilities of leadership. The first responsibility is one that can bring a certain amount of pressure and anxiety when we consider it in light of our weaknesses and bad habits:

People become like their leader.

When I think about this, at times it makes me feel sick to my stomach. Yes, there are many positive traits that I wouldn't mind others learning from me, but there are just as many negative characteristics that I don't want to pass on to anyone, especially those who consider me to be a leader in their lives.

But what can I do to develop better habits? How can I overcome habits that have developed over many years?

First and foremost, I have to name them. Yes, I have to say out loud what habits I need to change and why. As Nathaniel Branden once said, "The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." Reflecting on Nathaniel's words, I know that this is easier said than done. For the most part, we are all aware of our shortcomings, but we don't necessarily accept them. I agree that we have to understand and accept that we are the way we are today; however, beginning right now we can commit to becoming a better version of ourselves.

SOS co-founder Bill Moyer reminds our clients often that the past does not equal the future, but the past does equal the present. We need to understand where we've been in order to fully commit to changing the future.

Once we are aware of the habits we want to change and have accepted that change is desired and necessary, then we have to make a commitment to developing better habits. This includes developing a written goal, complete with an action plan, for each habit we want to develop. The plan should identify the benefits to be gained by developing this particular habit, as well as the losses to be avoided if we do not change. Beyond that, the plan needs to spell out each obstacle and how to overcome it, as well as how we will track our progress and who we will ask to hold us accountable.

Don't underestimate the power of tracking and accountability. These are vitally important components of your plan and will help you to always be aware of your progress and challenged when you get off track.

So what habits will you commit to developing (or changing)? In the words of Aristotle, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." A new year is the perfect time to make a change. Go for it! Become more excellent!