One of the first self-improvement books that I ever read was Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles. To say this book changed my life is an understatement. Reading this launched my interest in improvement and really laid a foundation for improvement that still impacts me today.
In the first chapter he talks about taking responsibility. He says “One of the most pervasive myths in the American culture today is that we are entitled to a great life – that somehow, somewhere, someone (certainly not us) is responsible for filling our lives with continual happiness, exciting career options, nurturing family time, and blissful personal relationships simply because we exist.”
Read More
I love reading about the systems and habits of the U.S. Navy SEALs. To me they embody the most efficient and effective teams and individuals in the world. Their ability to work with a small number of individuals, in the most dangerous places on earth, and still accomplish complex missions amid chaos is astonishing.
But I have found that many people assume these individuals are undisciplined cowboys who use aggression and muscle to accomplish tasks. But the more I study their tactics the more I realize that they rely on a highly disciplined and systematic approach to what they do.
Read More
Change is something that everyone experiences. Change is there before every major event in our lives. Change is there during some of the most difficult times of our lives. Change is also there throughout moments of our lives that don’t have major significance.
But how people react to change is always different. Some charge right for it in order to maintain the image of control. Some avoid it as much as possible because of its natural uncertainty.
Read More
I am reading a book written by two Navy SEALs about leadership. It is a very interesting look at extreme leadership. Most people understand leadership in basic, business settings. But the battlefield is much less forgiving of mistakes and requires a much more thorough understanding of how to lead.
I enjoy reading about the lessons that they learned because they often apply to business as well as their military experience. But I often find that society’s opinion of the military is incorrect.
Read More
We tend to look at things linearly. We see cause and effect, beginning and end, start and finish. But the reality is that we tend to ignore most of the system in order to try to understand reality.
One of the best resources for understanding this limitation and how to adjust your thinking to better understand the full system in various situations is Donella Meadows. In her book she describes the limitations that we have when we ignore the full system.
Read More
Years ago I attended a seminar with a successful business owner. He went through his presentation and provided a lot of great insight into running a business.
Towards the end of the presentation he made a statement about success that is very true. He said that his way isn’t the only way to be successful at business. The reality is that there are a lot of ways to be success, this just happens to be the only way he knows.
Read More
One of the keys to being able to improve your systems and habits is to rely on simplification. By simplifying we can focus our efforts on the essential elements. We also avoid overcomplicating things and creating unnecessary obstacles.
In Extreme Ownership – How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, authors and former SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin outline a situation while fighting the war in Iraq. They don’t shy away from their emphasis on simplification.
Read More
When I was attending Kent State University studying psychology and justice studies I did an internship at a juvenile detention center. I learned a lot and got to experience the corrections industry but what I remember most and will never forget is one specific incident.
Despite just being an intern, I was able to take part in much of their training. The training provided various situations, where the officers had to work as a unit to take control of chaotic situations. But the training seemed to be just training to me and I thought, surely, if something were to happen it is about reacting not trying to follow some training class instruction.
Read More
With football season winding down I figured I would share 2 quotes from Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest football coaches of all time. He has a lot of quotes and was known as a tough leader who demanded the best from his teams.
The first quote is “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”
Read More
The other day I was talking to a friend who just got promoted at his company. He was talking about the struggles he is having getting the team to adjust to his leadership style.
He described several situations and complained that his staff just couldn’t work in the way he needed them to. At first I thought he must have a difficult staff but after several minutes I realized something.
Read More
In my Toastmasters meeting yesterday we discussed New Years resolutions. When one of the accounting professionals was asked about goals for 2016 she quickly said that the accounting profession has their busiest time at the beginning of the year so she doesn’t worry about goals until spring.
She also mentioned that the cold weather in Cleveland is very unmotivating and she gets motivated once the weather gets a little better and the days become a little longer.
Read More
This morning I was reading Project Management JumpStart by Kim Heidman and I came across a section on gaining trust and respect from team members while leading a project. Several “tactics you can put into practice today to help build trust and respect with your teams” were listed.
I found it insightful yet I immediately felt that it makes it sound very easy to build trust and respect but in reality is extremely difficult. Here are a few of the tactics she mentions: Do what you say you will do, lead by example, be honest, be on time, clearly define the goals of the team and hold team members responsible.
Read More
January tends to mean a fresh start and a new chance to reach goals. It means resolutions and closing last year’s books. It means we are past the holidays and time off and getting back to our routines.
This year, instead of setting new goals or trying to come up with a new resolution, take a different approach. I’ve written in the past about why resolutions don’t seem to stick and why setting goals isn’t as effective as people assume.
Read More
You have a new goal. Maybe you want to start a company, start a new workout routine, quit smoking, earn an advanced degree, write book or finally start eating healthy foods. You know what you want to achieve, you set goals, you know how to do but you just seem to keep putting it off.
Why is getting started the hardest part? Why is it that we can know what to do but can’t really do it?
Read More
There is a famous quote by Albert Einstein in which he defines insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Many people quote this as a call for change.
But I think that this may be simplifying things a bit. I don’t think he meant to constantly move to different things, but rather to understand when something isn’t working and to move on.
Read More
Lately I have been focused on studying to obtain my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Two themes have really stood out to me as being applicable in helping us achieve our personal goals, as well as playing a crucial role in project management.
Continuous improvement is the idea that we need to be constantly improving. We need to make incremental improvements and do them over and over. The other concept that is applicable to our personal goals is Agile Project Management. Agile was born out of the software development industry where they realized the long project management process were ineffective because they needed to quickly see the results and make changes. They weren’t able to predict every aspect of the project in the beginning so they shortened the time from concept to launch.
Read More
Most people make judgments based on events rather than on process. We judge a sports team by wins and losses, we evaluate scientists based on their discoveries and we rate artists based on the sales of their albums. But the events don’t always tell the full story.
In the book Sidelined by NFL football coach Chuck Pagano, he describes his journey after being diagnosed with cancer. He was talking about a few specific games while he was in the hospital and then said, “However, as my cancer experience testified, events don’t always go as planned.”
Read More
While I was obtaining my MBA I had an instructor who used to always say, “a strength overdone becomes a weakness.” She emphasized that we need to be aware when we take something to the extreme and the ramifications of doing that.
I didn’t believe her when I first heard this. I have always been of the belief that we need to maximize our strengths. By leveraging our strengths we can achieve much more than if we simply try to fix our weaknesses.
Read More
There is a wealth of information online. It astonishes me how easy it is to find almost any piece of useful or useless information through Google. I have used YouTube videos to lean how to iron my clothes, fix my furnace and publish a book.
But utilizing groups can also be dangerous. Too often, in a small group setting, the squeaky wheel gets oiled. In other words, those in the group that are the loudest often get more attention than those who aren’t as vocal.
Read More
One of the most incredible things about studying systems and habits is realizing just how common it is to rely on these concepts. The more I read the more I realize the connection.
The connection isn’t just from a few industries or a few biographies. Over and over as I try to learn about people I find the principles of systems and habits alive in their stories.
Read More