Are You Leading or Lagging? How to Take Productive Measures

It's true: what you measure matters. 

For starters, measuring something means you're paying attention to it. That alone is a big deal when you consider the daily deluge of information coming your way. When you measure something, you're singling it out. You're focusing on it. You're elevating it above the rest. You're giving that bit of information prominence and priority. You're saying it matters more. 

So, it stands to reason that people should measure the results they most want.

Want to lose a few pounds? Measure your weight.

Want to increase revenue? Measure sales.

Want to save money? Measure expenditures.

Want to become a more prolific writer? Measure the number of words you write. Or chapters you finish. Or papers you publish.

Want to provide your customers with great service? Measure their satisfaction.

Unfortunately, there's a sneaky flaw in this measurement method. It puts your attention on the wrong thing: the result. And there's nothing you can do about a result. It is what it is. It's a done deal.

Ironically, in an effort to make a result matter more by measuring it, you perpetuate powerlessness.

The measurement will make you either pleased or disappointed. Happy or sad. Proud or ashamed. Excited or frustrated. But this measurement will not position you, prime you, or empower you to achieve the result you're after.

Why? Because you're looking in the rear view mirror. Your eyes aren't on the road.

And while it's useful to see what happened, that kind of measurement is retrospective. It's a "lag measure." You're measuring something after the fact. Fait accompli. Que sera, sera.

If you want what you measure to matter, then measure the action that's most likely to lead to the result you want, or what is known as a "lead measure." Lead measures put you back in the driver's seat. You're measuring the action that matters most in achieving the result you want. 

Consider productive habits, like exercise, or meditation, or flossing. These are lead measures. You've assessed that when you do that action repeatedly over time (habit), you have a high likelihood to achieve a particular outcome you want. 

I'm a member of a women's entrepreneur group called Women Who Wow, led by (awesome) business coach Michelle Pippin. She's a passionate and persistent advocate for "daily selling" - doing sales-related tasks each day. Why? Because it leads to an easy, inevitable flow of revenue. Daily selling is a lead measure. The more days that you engage in simple selling tasks, the greater likelihood in growing revenue. Make it a daily habit and watch your earnings rise.

While this may sound like common sense, it's often overlooked. It's easy to get fixated counting money going up or down. But you do this at a cost. You relinquish your agency to do something about it. 

It's easy to watch your weight going up or down. But that measure has no power over the scale. 

Yes, lag measures have their place. They are important. They help you determine if you're on track and making progress. Lag measures also help you verify the efficacy of the actions you're taking (i.e., are your lead measures really leading you there?)

Lag measures are easy to fall back on because they're obvious. Lead measures, on the other hand, take a little ingenuity. Basically, you're taking the result you want and re-engineering the path to get there. What action or actions, the more you do over time, increase the likelihood of achieving the result you want? The more I do x (action), the more likely I'll achieve y (result). 

To qualify as a lead measure, it must be predictive (likely to lead you to your goal) and something you have control over (i.e., you have control whether or not you do it). 

Let's put this into action... 

The Result (LAG MEASURE)

Start by identifying the result you're after, the goal you want to achieve. Ask yourself: What is one thing I want to accomplish, attain, maintain, improve, etc.?

This is your destination. This is your lag measure.

 

THE ActioN (LEAD MEASURE)

Once you identify the result you want, ask yourself: What action or actions that, the more I do consistently (e.g., daily, weekly), the more likely I am to achieve this result? 

This is how you will get to your destination. This is your lead measure.

(You may need to start by brainstorming a list and then selecting the action or actions that you determine have the greatest leverage and efficacy in getting you to your destination.)

For example,

Want to lose weight? Then, measure the number of days you stay within a specific calorie count. Or, measure the number of days you exercise for 30 minutes. 

Want to make progress on that strategic work you're not getting to? Measure the number of days you block out time on your schedule for that work - and then follow through. 

Want get a new job? Measure the number of resumes you send out each day. 

Want to have money for a down payment on a home? Measure the number of paychecks you set aside a percentage of your earnings. 

Want to be less stressed? Measure the number of days that you meditate, or exercise, or leave work on time.

Want to write a book? Measure the number of days you show up to write.

Want to run a marathon? Measure the number of days and the distance you run.

Apparently, comedian Jerry Seinfeld knows about the power of lead measures.

Years ago, when the sitcom Seinfeld had just started, software developer Brad Isaac met Jerry Seinfeld at a comedy club in New York. Isaac recounted his interaction with Seinfeld to Productivity Hacker.

He asked Seinfeld if he had any advice for a budding comedian. Seinfeld said that the way to be a better comedian is to write better jokes. And the way to write better jokes is to write every day. And then he gave Isaac his technique: He has a big wall calendar that includes the entire year. Every day that he writes he uses a red pen and marks a big "X" over the day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.... Don't break the chain."

Don't break the chain. Seinfeld understands the power of lead measures. And what makes his lead measure work is that he makes it visible. He posts one simple lead measure - days writing - and this motivates him. 

In the book The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals, the authors speak of the importance of tracking lead measures, of keeping score:

People play differently when they are keeping score... They truly understand the connection between their performance and reaching their goal, and this changes the level at which they play.... They now want to win.

Years later, in an interview for NBC Nightly News, Seinfeld said:

If you’re more interested in what you have achieved or what your financial position enables you to do than that thing that got those things, then you’re screwed.

If you're serious about achieving your goals, then lead measures are no joking matter. 

What you measure matters. 

Process matters. Action matters. Consistency matters. Measure that - because that is where your unparalleled power is. 

Focus your attention on those efforts that will automatically deliver your goal to your door. Measure it. Then achieving your goals won't be hope or happenstance. You won't be measuring yourself against the unchangeable past. You'll be taking the lead and fashioning the future you want day by day. 

So, what do you want? And what will be your lead measure?

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Hey, you! Are you a go-getter, do-gooder, mover, shaker,  or a candlestick maker? 

Then, by all means, come join Productivity Power, a private Facebook Group focused on the art of accomplishment, the craft of productive work, the technique of creating the life you want. Join your crowd over at the Productivity Power Facebook Group. 

Do You Have a Spine? 15 Ways to Exercise the Posture of Productivity

Ever think about your spine?

Well, whether you think about it or not, the spine sure is a nifty feat of engineering we rely on. For starters, it allows us to stand upright despite the forces of gravity. It supports the head (with that big brain inside) and that alone may be worth its weight in gold. With the head perched on top of the spine, we can see into the distance, which does come in handy, even though we’re mostly looking at our phones these days.

The spine makes it possible for us to move, navigate space, change direction, and reach for that low-hanging fruit or for the stars. And that’s just what meets the eye. 

Under the hood, the spine protects the spinal column, a kind of switching station for the nervous system – sending important (often life-saving) messages where needed.

In short, the spine supports agency, the capacity to act.

When people euphemistically refer to having a spine or backbone, they're speaking of this posture of self-agency, of impact.

It's easy to surrender to the sometimes crushing weight of demands, expectations, emails, meetings, commitments, obligations, interruptions, and distractions. We can end up ricocheting our way through another busy day, only to end up unsatisfied, or defeated, or wondering what we actually accomplished.

To be productive in today's world, there's no way around it: you must stand up to these daily forces. You have to have a strong spine to navigate the day. 

Here are 15 ways to keep your spine strong, and maintain the ready posture of productivity. 

 1| Know What You Want and Why 

Purpose is the clarifying engine of productivity. I'm not talking about life purpose or the big goals - those are important, though sometimes they stay too conceptual or pie-in-the-sky. 

I'm talking about purpose translated on the ground in your day-to-day work and life. Where purpose meets the road. Where purpose shows up in your actions and tells the truth.

Understanding your intent gives you a new center of gravity, so that you don't get pulled in a million directions, or confused or coerced by outside forces.

When you plan your day, get clear about what you want to achieve out of each task - and why that is important. I know this sounds basic, or understood - but it's so easy to leave this out of the daily equation.

For example, look at your meetings. Why are you attending? Seriously, why? What is something you want to gain or achieve from the meeting? Do you want to contribute an idea you've had? Do you want to clear up confusion?  Do you want to learn about a topic? Do you want to demonstrate your support? Specifying in advance exactly what you want to get out of the meeting - and why that is important to you - will amplify your attention and results.

Make it a habit to pause periodically for a split second to confirm "the why" behind what you're doing. This simple technique alone will help you move through your day productively, intentionally, upright. 

And if there are activities in your day that the reason you come up with is "because I have to," dig a little deeper. If you truly do "have to," how can you find something that would restore its value for you? What's a reason that would enable you to give your full consent to it? You may be surprised how this simple "head game" can re-up your motivation and impact.

Note: "Because I have to" is not the language of agency and is a red flag that you're headed into spineless territory.

 2| Believe something

What is your perspective? What matters to you? What do you care about? What do you stand for? What do you stand against? What do you believe? What is your opinion?

Understanding your values, point of view, and what is important to you will give you clarity to navigate the day. 

Here's a super-simple way to access greater conviction and clarity: Brainstorm a list of what matters to you in your professional and personal life. Revisit and revise. Keep it alive. It will help you make the small and large decisions.

People often assume they, of course, know what they believe, or their opinion. However, it's a noisy, loud world out there. It's easy to lose touch with your own voice when everyone else is speaking.

Do you have a strong belief about the direction of a project? Stand up for it and see what happens. Your stand may draw new information or creative solutions from others. And maybe, you'll change your stand (remember, the spine is not rigid. It is incredibly flexible.) But the important thing is: you will be standing, moving, progressing.

Wishy washy is not the posture of productivity. 

 3| Follow a Method

Look to the highly accomplished in any field - whether athletes, artists, authors, academics, or entrepreneurs  - and you'll likely find they follow a method of some kind. They have a systematic way to approach their craft, their work. They don't wait on inspiration, perfect conditions, or feeling like it. They don't leave their efforts to chance.

Instead, they use the architecture of regular disciplines to construct and propel their day. Their method is their spine. It allows them to move forward, shift directions, bend, reach, and not succumb to the fickle fury of mood or that constant stream of email.

What disciplines do you have (or can you adopt) that will protect your focus, time, and efforts? Do you have an exercise routine? Do you go to sleep by a certain time? Do you have a method for defining and prioritizing your work? Do you have rules you follow related to email or to meetings? How do you determine what to do, when - for your best performance? How do you organize your week? 

With a clear method, you can move your way through the madness, and make daily progress.

You likely have a method - perhaps without realizing. Strengthen it by making it a deliberate way that you work. And then, test and tweak your method. Find the habits that make the most of your day and energy - and make them your method.

 

4| Make Decisions

Decisions are the meter of progress. Want to move forward? Then, make a decision. Every day, you're confronted with so many decisions. Yet, it's easy to put them off for another day.

I've found that people often avoid making decisions for two main reasons: 1) They don't want to limit their options; or 2) They don't want to make a mistake.  

Here's the interesting thing about decisions. They almost always help you move forward, even if the decision is "wrong." It is far easier to redirect when you're moving than when you're standing still, paralyzed. 

Making decisions magnifies your sense of impact, which turns the biochemical dial of motivation. When you're stuck or apathetic, the hormonal chemistry of motivation drains - only compounding your inertia. 

How to get better at being decisive? Start small. Really small. Start in your inbox.

Don't read an email and then move on to the next. Decide your next move. Will you respond? Will you decline? Will you delete? Will you accept? Or agree? What do you need to do? If you aren't in a frame of mind or setting to make decisions, don't look at your email. Email should be about making a decisions and moving on.

If you do this with you inbox, you'll build your decisive muscle, which will give you the spine and support you need for those big decisions. You will be moving forward, pivoting when necessary, redirecting if needed - progressing all the while. 

5| Work with Your Mindset

Do you know where your mind is set?

Action follows thought. And so thoughts are powerful levers of action and performance. 

Thoughts direct how you see the world and, therefore, the options for action. Think differently and you can see new options.

Think something is impossible? Or that you'll never change? Or they'll never change? Or this is the only way to do something? Or this is the problem? Well, it might as well be true, because other realities will be hidden from you. You're confined to the field of your thinking. 

Understanding your own thinking and refining your mindset is a linchpin of productive performance. Being creative with the story you tell yourself about a situation, problem, or person, will help you move in the direction you desire.

I love the art of reframing - taking a situation that has all the indicators of being stuck one way - and considering how to frame it so that it features something else that opens up another perspective, another reality.

Let's be clear: reframing is not lying, nor is it glossing over or magical thinking. Reframing is rigorously questioning assumptions and considering what else may be true. As a result, It can set a new course, uncover new solutions, and prompt effective action. 

Here are some questions to uncover and adjust your mindset related to a situation or challenge:

What is the story I'm telling myself about this situation?

What is another story I could tell myself about this situation that would be more productive? 

How might someone else look at this situation productively? 

How might this situation be beneficial? 

What assumptions do I have related to this situation? What if they are not true?

How might I see this situation as an opportunity?

What might I be missing in this situation?

6| Say No

If you only say yes, I'm going to take a wild guess that you may be overcommitted, overstretched, and possibly suffering from a weak spine. 

Confronted with so many daily decisions combined with the desire to participate, help, be seen as a team player or good friend, it's easy for the go-to response to get stuck on "Yes."

But here's the irony: "No" gives your "Yes" power. If you don't have a "No," you really don't have a "Yes." 

If you are yes-person, if the only response you're comfortable with is "Yes,"  eventually you will end up disappointing other people or yourself. When everything is a "Yes," at some point, you will not be able to keep up with all those yeses, all those commitments. Even if you show up and are counted - the toll may be felt in other corners - in your relationships, your health, your mood, your energy. 

If the thought of saying "No" makes you sick, nervous, or break out in hives, try this: Identify what your "No" is a "Yes" to. Every "No" is a "Yes" to something else. For example, maybe saying "No" to helping a colleague this time is a "Yes" to giving your full focus to a priority project.

When you have the capacity to say "No," and use it, you are able to stand confident in your "Yes." Your "Yes" actually means something.

7| Establish Boundaries

To stand tall in work and life requires boundaries. Boundaries direct and protect your attention, time, and energy. Without boundaries, you're vulnerable to a thousand whims and fancies.

What do you care about or need to protect?

Your attention? Shut down social media.

Your energy? Instate an end time to your work day.

Your relationships? Put the phone away during meals.

The quality of your work? Keep the distractions away.

Your positive outlook? Limit the time you spend with negative people. 

Do you know Parkinson's Principle? The shorthand is: Work fills available time. With this in mind, if you install an end time to your work day, you are likely to get more done than if you leave it open-ended. You may think it's a sign of productivity that you work around the clock. But instead, you lack the limits (the boundaries) that intensify focus, efficiency, creativity, and innovation. 

8| Do hard things

The posture of the courageous is depicted as upright, strong, bold. The stance of the coward is, well, cowering - bent over, hiding, hovering, scampering, spineless. 

When you venture out of your comfort zone, courage ignites and you find yourself standing up a little taller. Courage takes vulnerability, but builds confidence. 

What have you been avoiding because it feels too hard? A conversation? A project? A fledgling skill? A creative expression? A declaration? Just do it. Do the hard thing and watch your energy and self-respect rise. Stand up to the hard stuff and things become easy.

9| Determine Your day

Determine your day or someone else will. Gird yourself with a plan. Know what is most essential to achieve and keep your eyes on that target through the day. Without this compass, this focal point, you're lost in the chaotic, alluring headwinds of email and meetings and interruptions. A plan keeps you on the ground, moving toward your destination. 

And sure, you can choose to change your plan. But that is different than simply showing up and being tossed around aimlessly. When you make conscious choices about each thing you do, you build the stature to navigate the day responsibly. 

10|ADmit Mistakes

Mistakes are not the worst thing that ever happened. In fact, they often are part of getting to the best thing that ever happened.

Mistakes happen. Don't make them worse by avoiding responsibility or, worse, blaming your mistakes on others, your dog, or the weather. Don't indulge in blaming yourself (which is different than taking responsibility). 

Use your beautiful mistakes to rise higher, become better. Own your mistakes. Otherwise, they'll own you.

Get curious about your mistakes. They may hold the secret to your future success. But if you are running away from them or so cautious that you never make them, you'll never know.

11|Communicate with Candor

Candor is defined as "the state or quality of being frank, open, honest, and sincere in speech or expression; freedom from bias; fairness; impartiality." It comes from the Latin word for "to shine."

Candor is refreshing, straightforward, clear, kind, true. Candor lacks pretense and hidden agendas. It promotes connection and responsibility. 

Sometimes it's easier to avoid that elephant in the room, but that usually only compounds the problem. Candor helps you name the elephant and forge a productive path. It keeps you honest and invested. 

12|Exercise

For me, the early twenties was just plain awkward. I was starting to work and figure stuff out. I was tentative and unsure. But something changed that: I joined a gym and started lifting weights. Strength in the body somehow translated into greater steadiness and confidence.

Take a walk, do yoga, run, stretch. The body, mind, and emotions are a package deal. When you build lung capacity, physical strength and flexibility, you experience your own sense of agency and confidence. You literally - and figuratively -  improve your posture.

13|Cultivate Competence 

Many people tell me that they want more confidence. There's one way to get that: cultivate competence. Learn, explore, refine, and practice, practice, practice. 

If you want to stay in the game, then work on your skills. Identify the weak parts, and work those. Often people rely on their strength, which, in turn, they overdevelop, while ignoring their weaknesses, which may sabotage their strength.

A masterful musician doesn't just practice the part she has down. She practices the hard part, the place she struggles or stumbles. The frustrating passage. Over and over and over again. She diligently earns her way to the performance she seeks. 

What skill do you want to cultivate? What do you want to learn?

14|Abstain from People pleasing

The cold hard truth is: not everyone will like you or what you do all the time. Darn. People-pleasing is a trap that has ensnared many, but never turns out well in the end. It weakens your spine, abdicates responsibility (your power), undermines confidence, and is just plain exhausting. 

What to do instead? Any of the other 14 tactics in this article. 

15|Give and Get Help 

The posture of generosity and receptivity creates the equilibrium needed for a productive posture. 

Give too much and you may lose your own footing. Give too little and you may shrink into self-absorption.

Get help all the time and you may become dependent. Never ask for help and you may limit your capacity. 

When giving and getting help - ebb and flow in dynamic balance, you are buoyant. You rise to the occasion and accomplish your goals. 

15 ways to exercise the posture of productivity. Experiment with one and see what happens. You may find yourself standing a bit taller, with a strong center of gravity, and a clear vision for how you want to navigate the day and what you want to reach for.

How Will You Make the Most of This Year?

The confetti is cleaned up, the holiday decorations are put away, the resolutions are made. The celebrations are over, and now it’s getting real. The festive pause and optimism of the holiday season gives way to the cold truth that time waits for no one.  

So the existential question we face once again as we look toward a new year is: how will I make the most of my time?

The answer is simple: Get a plan. Without a plan, you may meander your way to achievement. But it will be unintentional, and most likely, not nearly as satisfying or impactful.

Creating a plan is the first step to harnessing the clarity, focus, and aspiration you need to create something out of nothing, to make your own "dent in the universe" as that dreamer and doer Steve Jobs called it.

“Creating a plan is the first step to harnessing the clarity, focus, and aspiration you need to create something out of nothing, to make your own “dent in the universe” as that dreamer and doer Steve Jobs called it.”

A plan is power. It is fuel. A true plan is not a perfunctory, bureaucratic exercise.  Rather, it is a living map for progress and accomplishment. What do you want to achieve by end of of the year? Your plan sets this vital, creative conversation in motion.

A plan in your mind is just a nice idea. Write it down. Give it form. Writing down your goals increases the likelihood of achieving them by 42%, according to a 2015 study conducted at the University of Dominican in California. It seems foolish not to take advantage of that kind of leverage.  We all know that the days can easily fill up with a million things to do. It stands to reason that having a written plan increases your focus day to day to stay on your course.

I recommend that you build a plan in the following time blocks:

YEAR: What do you want to achieve by December 31st?

SEASON: What do you want to accomplish in 90 days?

SPRINT: What do you want to accomplish in 2 weeks?

 

The Year: The Blueprint

The year timeframe establishes the destination and a rough blueprint to get there. Below is a sequence of steps to identify your blueprint for the year. You can brainstorm answers and then refine.

Step 1- Vision: See it

• It is December 31 of this year.  Write (without censoring) what you have achieved in:
  • Your professional work.
  • Your personal life.

STEP 2 - Focus: Structure it

•  List the areas in your professional work that you will focus on this year.
• List the areas in your personal life that you will focus on this year.

STEP 3 - Goals: Define it

• For each area, come up with 1 to 3 goals/results for the year. Be specific. Use numbers as applicable.
• For each goal, identify why the goal is important. This will help validate whether the goal is worth your effort and connect to it’s purpose in the larger scheme of things.

Step 4 - Projects/Deliverables: Map it

• For each goal, identify the key project(s) you will initiate to achieve it.
• Assign each project to a 90-day season(s). When will you work on this project? (e.g., January through March; April through June; July through September; October through December) This is a guestimate so that you begin to see the sequencing of activity throughout the year.

Step 5 - Verify: Refine it

• Review your plan and refine it. Consider:
  • Is it ambitious enough? If not, up the ante.
  • Is it too ambitious? If yes, simplify.
  • Are you missing something? If yes, add.
  • Are you satisfied with how it addresses the parameters and expectations of your stakeholders (e.g. organization, bosses, team, clients, family, friends, etc.). If not, adjust.
  • Is the general timing right? If not, adjust.

Remember, your plan does not need to be perfect. It needs to be the right mix of aspirational and reasonable. Throughout the year, you will make adjustments or perhaps completely revamp it as new information and circumstances come your way. Your plan sets a broad framework for an ongoing “conversation” about your direction, progress, and tactics.

Have fun with the planning process and make it work for you. Are you a digital type? Then use Evernote, Trello, Asana or other online tools to help you create your plan. Or create a document, spreadsheet, or slides. Are you an analogue type? Then get out the stickies and markers and white board and have at it. Are you ambidextrous? Then create with stickies and white boards and document with your digital tools. 

The Season: 90-Day Focus

When it comes to day-to-day activity, yearly plans and goals can begin to feel abstract and irrelevant. This is why many espouse the value of 90-day goals and plans. Achievement in a 90-day window suddenly gets real. It’s imaginable. It’s in your face.

The 90-day timeframe supports you to zero in on achieving the key the results that help you progress to your goals for the year. The 90-day segments, or seasons, provide a timeframe that is long enough for tangible achievement, while short enough to generate focus and momentum.

You can divide your year into four 90-day seasons. For example:

Season 1: January through March

Season 2: April through June

Season 3: July through September

Season 4: October through December

 

Step 1 -  90-Day Goals

• Keeping in mind the goals and projects you identified for the year, identify the key results or goals you want to achieve by the end of 90 days (the end of the season). Be specific and use numbers (quantify) when possible.

 

Step 2 - 90-Day Projects+Key Tasks

• Identify the projects that are part of achieving those goals.
• Identify the key tasks for each project.

Consider using the 90-day season to narrow your focus to make significant progress on one or a few of your goals for the year, rather than trying to make incremental progress on all of your goals. 

Your plan for the upcoming season may result in your adjusting your annual plan – as the timeframe will help you get real about what is possible and what is important. As a result, you may adjust, expand, or simplify your overall plan for the year as you work within seasons.

In your yearly plan, you approximated the season for your projects. However, you do not need to create the plan for each season at the start of the year – just the upcoming one (or the one you are in!).  What happens and what you learn in this season will impact how you plan for the next. Keep the focus on the next 90 days.

The Sprint: 2-Week Focus

When it gets down to day-to-day work, consider focusing in 2-week sprints. This timeframe intensifies the focus of the 90-days even further. With this immediate timeframe, you translate your goals/projects for the 90-days into concrete, day-to-day action.

 

Step 1 - 2-Week Goals + Steps

• At the start of each sprint, identify what you want to achieve within the next two weeks to advance you toward your 90-day goal(s).
• Identify the steps you will take and, press go! 

A plan is art and science.

The art part happens in the creative, intuitive thought that goes into projecting into the future, seeing what does not yet exist, and mixing the ingredients of time, energy, resources, skills, and environment.

The science part happens as you see each project, sprint, and season as an ongoing experiment and apply the lessons you learn from the data of day-to-day action. As you progress through the sprints, seasons, and year, you will fine-tune your plan for meaningful achievement in a real world. 

But mostly, a plan is conversation. It is an ongoing dialogue with the future. And the only reason to talk to the future is to change the present. Happy planning!

“But mostly, a plan is conversation. It is an ongoing dialogue with the future. And the only reason to talk to the future is to change the present. ”

Take Stock: Build Success on the Lessons of 2017

It’s December and like Dr. Seuss, I’m musing, “How did it get so late so soon?”

I know it’s kind of lame to lament about how fast time passes. Time clearly flies: when you’re having fun, and when you’re not. It’s basically one fast ride, no matter the mood or circumstance.

And in the speed of it all, amidst the frantic antics of the year-end holiday season, in the giddy glow of a big, brand new year just ahead, it’s oh-so-easy to let this little ‘ole year slip quietly by….  It’s yesterday’s news. On to bigger and better things.

But tomorrow’s progress is built squarely on top of yesterday’s effort. We build brick by brick. Day by day. Year by year. Yet, if we don’t have a clear accounting of this year, we will not have ready access to the assets we’ve accrued.

It’s the proverbial if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-and-no-one-is-there-does-it-make-a-sound quandary.  

If you don’t account for the progress you’ve made, if you don’t even notice it, does it even exist?

Taking stock. It’s not a fancy task, but it’s what those who achieve success and fulfillment,  whether professionally, or at the game of life generally, do as a matter of course. It’s built into their operating system.

Reflection. It’s not a new app. You could say it’s old school. But it’s the tried-and-true gold of success. Without it, we’re destined to live on the slippery slope of events, and rise and fall with little rhyme or reason. Or, we cover the same ground again and again and again - like a spinning merry-go-round. 

There are many ways to make reflection a habit. And certainly there is no time like the present. Or, as is the case now, there is no time like this natural, seasonally-constructed, socially-reinforced moment: the end of a year. And if you are reading this in the New Year (or mid-year, or whenever), no worries. You can still secure the assets of the past year and invest them. And then, watch while time (+ your action) compound their value. 

4 Steps to Take Stock

I've created a simple, 4-step process to assist you in curating the value of the past year (since curating is such a cool thing).

The steps include questions designed to help you tell the story of the year. Think about it: do you remember what happened last year? Or the year before? Or maybe the year before that?

Time has a way of blurring events and burying lessons. But what if you could easily review the years and consciously build a narrative of progress and impact going forward? What if you could really learn the lessons of each year? What if you could more easily connect the dots, and rise even higher? Well, then the sky would be the limit. Truly.

What is the story your work and life are telling? Do you know? Certainly, it's hard to see when you are the main character. You are wrapped up in your storyline. That's why the habit of reflection is so essential to progress.

Reflection keeps a success from being a fluke, and a failure from being catastrophic. But if you don't know the story you are in, it is virtually impossible to build on lessons learned. And, back to the accounting analogy, that's like leaving money on the table. 

“Reflection keeps a success from being a fluke, and a failure from being catastrophic. ”

When you go through this reflection process, chances are you are going to discover assets from this year that you didn't know you had. And, if the past year did not live up to your expectations, this process is a surefire way to redeem its value. I promise.

The very act of doing this stock-taking exercise will bring a return on your investment this past year and will position you ahead-of-the-game in the coming year. What's there to lose? Ready?

 

Here's what you will need:

• Blank paper, pen

• Computer

• 2 hours, or so

• Beverage + snacks (optional)

• Music (optional)

 

Step 1: Answer The Questions (Brainstorm)

FYI: My preferred brainstorming mode is mindmapping. My mind-map game is pretty basic. I just put the question or topic in a circle in the middle of a blank page and then draw branches out and list my ideas on the branches as they flow. Simple.

Below are questions that will help you recount what happened in 2017. Looking back at the events of the past year, brainstorm answers to four questions. Brainstorm - Remember? The more the merrier. Don't censor, or edit, or hesitate. Don't think too hard. Let it rip.

PROFESSIOnAL Life

1. What did you accomplish? Consider:

• High points

• Wins

• Achievements

• Lucky breaks

• Products or services you developed or delivered or both

• Connections or collaborations

• Events you hosted or participated in

• Things that excited you

• Things you learned

• Skills you developed

• Contributions you made

• Unexpected delights

• Etc.

2. What challenges did you face? Consider:

• Mistakes

• Misses

• Failures

• Expectations not met

• Disappointments

• Unfavorable conditions

• Unfavorable reviews

• Unlucky events

• Poor results

• Skill/knowledge gaps

• Weaknesses

• Things you meant to do but didn't

• Etc.

Personal Life

1. What did you accomplish or were high points? Consider:

• Health

• Family

• Friends

• Finances

• Home environment

• Passion projects

• Interests

• Community, civic duty

• Spiritual life

• Intellectual pursuits

• Enjoyment

• Events

• Personal development

• Etc.

2. What challenges did you face? Consider:

• Mistakes

• Misses

• Failures

• Expectations not met

• Disappointments

• Unfavorable conditions

• Unlucky events

• Poor results

• Skill/knowledge gaps

• Weaknesses

• Things you meant to do but didn't

• Etc.

Step 2: Refine. Distill. Cull. 

Review each of the four brainstorm lists and refine.

Is there anything missing? Are there themes? What stands out to you? Cull the most useful and relevant information for your yearly account. That means, maybe you will consolidate some answers or eliminate others. Circle. Underline. Embellish. Edit. Tighten it up. You want to end up with the crib-notes version, not the war-and-peace version. 

Once you've refined, create the master list of your accomplishments - one professional and one personal. There is no set limit on the number of items on your master lists.

Next, select the top 5 items for each of the four brainstorm questions. You will end up with the top 5 for:

• Professional Accomplishments

• Professional Challenges

• Personal Accomplishments

• Personal Challenges

Step 3: Extract the Lessons (Brainstorm)

Accomplishments (Professional and Personal)

For each of your top 5 accomplishments (professional and personal), use a separate, blank sheet and complete the following:

• Decribe (briefly) what happened.

• Brainstorm why the accomplishment mattered.

• Brainstorm why the accomplishment happened.

• Brainstorm what you learned. Looking back, what can you learn from this accomplishment or high point?

 

Challenges (Professional and Personal)

For each of your 5 top challenges (professional and personal), take a separate, blank sheet and complete the following:

• Describe (briefly) what happened.

• Brainstorm why the challenge happened.

• Brainstorm what you learned.

Working Principles

Your working principles are compact, portable reminders of your accumulated experience and knowledge. They are the gold, the asset of awareness that you use to propel your work and life. 

Examples of working principles could be statements like: Less is more; Progress, not perfect; Ask, Why does this matter?; Allocate double the time you think it will take; Debrief every project; Make decisions; Get feedback on your work; Reach out for help; Take small steps every day; Have phone-free time; Follow a morning routine; Move every day; and so on.

The key is that they represent the knowledge of what you have learned-by-doing over the past year. They may be more evocative than prescriptive. In other words, they trigger a storehouse of experience and wisdom on that topic. They are reminders, like alerts on your phone. 

They are called working principles, because they are not vague niceties. They speak to the mechanics of efficacy. They are a work in progress. As you work them, you will refine them, change them, or even toss them out. They are not some ultimate credo. They are your working assumptions about how to make progress and achieve the success you desire, based on your on-the-ground experience and experiments. They are the truth as you've lived it.

• On a new sheet of paper, brainstorm a list of working principles, based upon what you have learned from the past year of accomplishments and challenges.

  • You may separate your principles into professional and personal, or combine them. It's up to you. Many principles will transcend those distinctions. However, there may be some principles that clearly fall into one camp or the other.

• Once you've brainstormed the list, refine and select the top working principles, not more than 10.

Step 4: Create Your Account of 2017

In this step, you create a document that has the results of steps 1 - 3. I've created a free Yearly Account template that you can download to capture this information. Or you can create your own format.

This document is the final product that is your account of the year - the crib-notes version. You will be referencing the notes you've taken so far in the brainstorming preparation, and will select the key points.

You will be able to reference this yearly account and continue to build on the value of what happened in 2017. And should you decide at some future date to write your autobiography, you will thank me. 

Here is the basic outline of the "official" account:

Professional

• Accomplishments. For each of up to 5 accomplishments, include (bullet) points on the following. Pick the top points from your brainstorm notes :

  • Description (the basic facts)

  • Why This Mattered

  • Why This Happened

  • What I learned

• Accomplishments - the full list.

• Challenges. For each of up to 5 challenges, include (bullet) points on the following. Pick the top points from your brainstorm notes:

  • Description (the basic facts)

  • Why This Happened

  • What I learned

PERSONAL

• Use the same outline used for professional above.

Working Principles

• Document up to 10 principles based on what you experienced and learned this past year.

Want the already-prepared-for-you template? It's free! Get it below. You'll get access to three versions of the template: two options if you prefer to capture the account digitally (Google Doc and Word Doc); and an option if you prefer to put pen to paper (PDF to print for the analog lover).

Curate the lessons of the year before you forget them using this free Yearly Account Template. Create an account every year and watch the march of progress.

 

Moving On Up

For your working principles to qualify as working, you will need to figure out how to bring them into work and life. Post them. Share them. Make a habit of looking at them regularly. Reference them in your planning routines. Test them. Change them. Challenge them.

These working principles encapsulate your hard-earned reflection. They are the elixir of your efforts and your awareness. And they are more powerful than you might realize. They allow you to direct the narrative you are creating in your work and life. These working principles animate an empowering story worthy of the time, energy, and life you have put into it.

So, take stock and take heart. If you know the lessons of 2017 and build on them, you will reach new heights in 2018 and beyond. 

Are You Playing Outside Your Comfort Zone?

© Mikael Damkier | Dreamstime.com

Long time, no see. Holy cow, has it really been 7+ months since my last blog post?

So, what exactly have I been doing? Well, I’ll tell you: I’ve been running around outside my comfort zone. That’s what I’ve been doing.

You see, one of my goals for this year was to create my first online course. I thought I would experiment with something relatively small – you know, like a little course on managing email, or something like that.

But my wish showed up at my door as a bigger opportunity. In March, a corporate client asked if I could provide one of my flagship courses – Workflow Mastery – in an online format for their staff. I said, “Yes!” What could be better than having a built-in audience for my first online course? And so began my venture outside the comfort zone.

Keep in mind that this is a course that I’ve delivered to, by now, thousands of professionals, and refined over the years. It’s not like I had to design a new training. I know the content like the back of my hand. So, I reasoned, it would take me about 2 weeks to record videos and upload them. I mean, honestly, how hard could that be? 

But from here, standing on the finished side of the project, my naiveté seems charming, if not comical. Because the bald truth is that it actually took me a little over three months. 

This project required me to do things I have never done before. I had to script the training word for word – something I don’t do for my in-person courses. I had to find the right visuals, find the right tools and technology – and teach myself how to use them. The Google and I became inseparable. I was looking up how to put together the lights I bought, how to turn my iPhone into a teleprompter, and why one of the videos wasn’t displaying the time. And I had to do voice-overs. You know, record my voice.

The voice-over thing is no joke. It took a whole day and often multiple days to do an audio recording for a 15-minute video. I would listen to the recording of my voice and hit that record button again, and again, and again. Let’s just say my perfectionism went a little wild outside the comfort zone.  

And everything else in life basically paused. For three months. This new thing took all of my waking attention. There were days I thought I would: Never. Finish. But I did. And now, I’m resting up to go back out there. I’ll be headed back outside the comfort zone to learn how in the world to market it to a broader audience.

I share this with you because I have been thinking a lot about the comfort zone, and why getting outside of it is vital. Even though it’s, well, you know, uncomfortable. 

I’m in the process of expanding my business. This effort to go beyond the natural limits of my current business requires me to step out of what I’m confident in – into the unknown. To try new things. To learn. To push my skills. To expand my reach - and my exposure. I can say with confidence that it is uncertain, and yes, uncomfortable.

In 2009, accomplished writer, producer, and storyteller Ira Glass gave an interview on the creative process. Ira speaks about how when you are a beginner at something, there is this gap between your taste and your work. Ira says,

“For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this.”

The antidote to this: do a lot of work. Ira says,

“It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Ira captures what it’s like to be smack dab outside the comfort zone. It can feel tenuous, vulnerable, humbling, maybe daunting or even scary. And the impulse to retreat back into what you know - the familiar, the comfortable - is real.

So, if it's so uncomfortable, why in the world do you want to go there?

The answer is simple: It is outside the comfort zone that you find the zone of learning. And learning fuels performance. 

Take a look at world-class athletes. What makes them great? What keeps them competing? They're dedicated to pushing the limits of their abilities. They're always working on their game - outside the comfort zone.

I am a big fan of tennis player Rafa Nadal. He is a consummate competitor, who is achieving at the highest levels of the sport beyond what many had imagined. Commentators often mention his workman-like approach both on game day and in practice.

© Zhukovsky | Dreamstime.com

Many tennis players get known for their particular “weapons” as the commentators like to call them. Maybe it’s their serve, their footwork, their fitness, or their forehand winner. It would be easy to rely on these dominating skills.

But those who endure at the top of the game constantly push their learning edge. They don't neglect the part of their game that is weaker. They work on it. And the only place to work on that is outside the comfort zone, in the place where you haven’t yet reached your potential, where you are not as good as you one day will be.

Nadal has worked this way since he was a kid. Nadal’s coach and uncle famously trained right-handed Nadal to be a left-handed player. That’s pretty much outside the comfort zone.

What does an elite athlete have to do with the rest of us? They amplify for us the mechanics of performance.

Back to my story. Yes, I could rely on how I’ve always done things, what has worked for me in my business. I could comfortably coast. But at some point that game plan won’t keep pace with the realities of the marketplace, or my own drive to have an impact.

To keep pace professionally, particularly in today’s rapid-fire world, to continue to make the contribution you want to make, you have to try out new things. You have to perpetually push the edges of your knowledge, technique, and craft. And when you start, you won’t be as good as your vision. And that can be uncomfortable.

As President John F. Kennedy said,

“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

Now, don't get me wrong: playing outside the comfort zone isn’t all discomfort and difficulty.

In fact, playing outside the comfort zone can be downright invigorating. It can add a spark of vitality and engagement. Think of children playing. Everything for a toddler is outside the comfort zone – and they love it! They are enthralled, curious, interested. They aren’t bored – they are all in!

Playing outside the comfort zone brings those same benefits to adults. The learning and discovery that goes on outside the comfort zone energizes. You become absorbed and alert. And this has the residual effect of boosting overall performance – even to those skills inside your comfort zone.  When you find ways to dabble outside the comfort zone, you kill the complacency that degrades performance. 

“When you find ways to dabble outside the comfort zone, you kill the complacency that degrades performance. ”

Yes, creating my first online course brought the vulnerability that goes with being a beginner, climbing slowly up a steep learning curve, and exposing fledgling skills. At the same time, it was enormously stimulating, interesting, and engaging. And, I connected to the confidence of my courage – the courage to try my hand at something new, to work at creating something of value, even if I hadn’t yet mastered all the technical skills. I discovered new aptitudes and interests. Playing outside the comfort zone is both humbling and confidence building.

Another benefit of venturing outside the comfort zone? You get a front-row seat to progress. When you witness even the most modest improvement or result, you tap into your own efficacy. That sense of efficacy - the awareness that your actions have impact - stimulates the neurochemistry of motivation. Motivation is not a random feeling. It is the biochemistry of action. Playing outside the comfort zone is highly motivating.

I don’t want to give the comfort zone a bad rap.

Truth is, many of the things that were once outside your comfort zone are now in it! You just don’t want to be held hostage to the comfort zone. You don’t want to become so enamored with being comfortable that you start to shrink in the face of new opportunities, challenges, and callings. One way to think about it is to find your “learning edge” – a place that is buoyed by your strengths and reaches just beyond. The comfort zone can give you the confidence and energy to venture outside it.

“You don’t want to become so enamored with being comfortable that you start to shrink in the face of new opportunities, challenges, and callings. ”

What are some telltale signs that you are playing outside the comfort zone?

• You are figuring out how to do something.

• You are in a new environment, community, or culture.

• You feel out of your element.

• You are practicing a skill you have not yet mastered.

• You experience the flutter of anticipation, excitement, or nerves at the prospect of doing something.

• You experience twinges (or attacks) of self-doubt or that pesky imposter syndrome.

• You take a leap and are not sure how, or if, it will turn out.

What are some hints that maybe it’s time to get out there and play outside the comfort zone? 

• You feel bored or not engaged in your work and/or personal life.

• You question whether you are in the right job.

• You feel stuck in some way.

• There is something you wish to do, but fear stops you.

• You feel you are on autopilot or "dialing it in."

• You are dissatisfied or feel something is missing.

• You lack that spark of curiosity, interest, or exploration.

• You sense you are not living up to your potential or contributing the way you want to.

 

Life has a way of inviting us or compelling us to learn, change, adapt, adjust, grow. Whether you decide to venture outside the comfort zone or simply find yourself there unexpectedly, it's important to have strategies for playing out there. 

There are two main approaches to playing outside the comfort zone. 

Incremental

In general, the incremental approach is a sustainable way to play outside the comfort zone. You add a little learning or exploration to business-as-usual. What are you interested in learning more about? What do you want to do more of? What are you resisting but want to be able to do? What small steps can you take to play outside the comfort zone?

Immersive

From time to time, you may be called or inspired to a more immersive approach. This is what I did with the online course. A meditation retreat or traveling to a country you’ve never been to might be an immersive approach to playing outside of your comfort zone.

Typically, a new job is in this immersive category as you may be on a learning curve of new responsibilities or a new environment. A crisis or tragedy may thrust you outside the comfort zone. 

How can you make playing outside the comfort zone a little more comfortable?

1. ReCall Your Competence and accomplishment.

Keep a running list of your skills and accomplishments - professional and personal. When you are in the throes of vulnerability outside the comfort zone, consult this list to tap into the confidence-boosting power of what you have achieved in the past. This is not your first rodeo. Really, it's not. And you have skills and accomplishments to prove it.

2. Remember WHY.

Purpose motivates. Aspiration fuels effort. What do you want to achieve and why does it matter? When you are connected to the bigger goal - whether it is to make a greater impact, express yourself creatively, push your capability, overcome a fear, serve better, pursue an interest - you access the peace of perspective. The nagging anxieties of being a novice or newbie abate when you turn your attention to the bigger picture. 

3. Find a tribe.

Often being outside the comfort zone, by choice or by "force," can feel isolating. Go find people who have been there, done that (or are there, doing that). What you will find is: you are not alone. You are not the first to discover the jitters outside the comfort zone. 

When I decided it was high time to expand my business, I started listening to business podcasts and found my tribe. Every day when I go for a run, walk, or drive, I listen to a podcast episode of a business owner talking about what they have learned - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I've learned practical tips, yes. But even more valuable: I've been inspired by their real-life stories of mistakes, confusion, failures, successes, and figuring their way forward. This innocuous habit of listening to podcast interviews has had a big return: I have realized that I am not alone. Others have been exactly where I am and lived to tell the tale. And that is very comforting when you are outside the comfort zone.

You can find a tribe anywhere. It can be a group of friends who encourage you. It can be others who are or have been in your situation. Or it can be a bunch of people you have never met on podcasts. 

4. Protect Your Play.

Playing outside the comfort zone is vulnerable by nature. Be smart about when and with whom you share your efforts and findings. If you expose your efforts to the opinion of too many too soon, it may be unduly scorching. I am not suggesting that you hide out. Simply discern the people and the pacing that will be most supportive of your experiments outside the comfort zone. 

5. Know Yourself, Coach Yourself.

Sometimes you need a pep talk when you're playing outside the comfort zone. Get in the habit of encouraging yourself - of giving yourself the courage - to play outside the comfort zone. Get to know your go-to reactions outside the comfort zone. Do you go to self-doubt? Do you catastrophize? Do you hone in on fear or anxiety? Do you play the victim? Do you quit? 

Once you know yourself, you can coach yourself. Reframe the situation, remind yourself that things take time, redirect your attention, reset your expectations. Coaching yourself is not about being hard on yourself. If you want a quick way to quit, be hard on yourself. Instead, be kind to yourself. Acknowledge the best in yourself. Just don't be bamboozled by your avoidance techniques. 

6. Take Care.

It takes a lot of energy to run around outside the comfort zone. And, when you are outside the comfort zone, it's easy to neglect yourself. So take care. Let me be your mother for a moment: Get sleep. Eat well. Exercise. Outside the comfort zone can be all-consuming - particularly if you go the immersive route. Care for yourself. Your nervous system will thank you. Remember, your brain exists in a body. Care for it so that you have the energy to play well outside the comfort zone. 

7. Chart Progress.

Devise a way to chart progress outside the comfort zone. Even the slightest progress can keep us in the game. And keep in mind that staying with something when you haven't yet seen progress - is progress. Sticktoitiveness is a major accomplishment. Seriously. Don't underestimate it.

When you chart progress, you may need to simultaneously adjust expectations. As I said, creating the online course took me much longer than I expected. I had to keep adjusting my focus from how slow it was going to the incremental progress I was making each day. That kept me motivated to stay in the game. 

I love this quote from the poem, The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver:

"...Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"

To me this is the most compelling reason to play outside the comfort zone: to discover and extract the best of life and the best of yourself. The long-term rewards of playing outside your comfort zone are many, including more fulfillment, happiness, confidence, competence, and contribution.

Playing outside your comfort zone need not be fancy or dramatic. Just dabble. Maybe it's a class here or a conversation there. Maybe it's reaching out to someone. Maybe it's raising your hand for the project at work. Maybe it's learning to sing or to paint or to dance for no good reason - at your advanced age. Maybe it's speaking up. Maybe it's remaining silent. Maybe it's going for the job. Maybe it's saying you were wrong. Maybe it's making something. Maybe it's giving something. 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do to play outside your comfort zone?

---

Count Your Accomplishments

Work is not fancy. It’s day-in-day-out kind of stuff. It’s emails and meetings. It’s jotting notes. Rejiggering slides. Figuring out technology. Fixing mistakes. Creating lists. Googling. And so on. It’s little pedestrian details. Day in. And day out.

And all these details take time. Much more time than I ever expect. And then there is the formless work – the fluid mulling, the thinking, the internal sculpting part of the process – the part that takes up time and space, yet doesn’t give the immediate reward of a tangible task to tick off the to-do list.

Work isn’t simply mechanical steps. It is a dance of steps – a choreography of time, tools, energy, input, and intellect that combine into accomplishment. But drill down into the moment-to-moment work of each day and nothing special is going on there. In fact, it often looks like nothing is going on at all. A random step here.  A side movement there. A lingering pause. A moment of confusion. A little of this and that.

It isn’t until we step back and take in the bigger performance made up of those minute, unremarkable steps that we experience the accomplishment they built.

 

How I learned to Count Accomplishments

Right now, I am working to expand part of my business. There is a lot to learn and do. And most of the time, it feels like it is going super slow. It perpetually feels like I’m not getting enough done, quickly enough. Recently, I discovered that I am wrong about that. There is fallacy in my perception. Let me explain.

At the start of the project, I decided to send monthly updates to a friend to let them know what I had accomplished and what I next planned to do. Simple. I knew my friend was genuinely interested and I thought the update would be a motivating accountability for me.

However, when it came time to write the first update, I dreaded it. I was embarrassed because there was nothing tangible to report. I hadn’t achieved what I had hoped. It seemed like I had wasted time. And now, my friend will know.

I plowed through the dread and began the update with simple bullet points under the bald heading “Accomplishments.”  Bullet one, okay good. Bullet two, oh right I did do that…. Bullet three…. One page of bullets became two and three. As I scanned the last few weeks, I found accomplishment after accomplishment hidden in plain sight.  From the first bullet point to the last, I went from being discouraged to being encouraged.

By the time I wrote my name at the end of the update, I was genuinely surprised by how much I had accomplished without even realizing it. The update may have been interesting for my friend. But it was essential for me.

I went through this update exercise several more times in the months that followed – starting with trepidation and regret and ending with satisfaction and confidence – before it finally dawned on me that there is something important about counting accomplishments.

 

Counting your accomplishments

Counting your accomplishments changes the way you see. You connect the dots of your daily effort to the bigger accomplishment or milestone. You see that those unfancy actions have an impact. You have an impact. When you see that the steps you have made have combined to produce something, you access the golden fuel of motivation.

This is the proverbial "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"  Do your accomplishments make a difference if you don’t see them?

Journalist Charles Duhigg, in his book Smarter Faster Better, crystalizes the research about motivation this way:

“…those small tasks become pieces of a larger constellation of meaningful projects, goals, and values. We start to recognize how small chores can have outsized emotional rewards, because they prove to ourselves that we are making meaningful choices, that we are genuinely in control of our own lives. That’s when self-motivation flourishes: when we realize that replying to an email or helping a coworker, on its own, might be relatively unimportant. But it is part of a bigger project that we believe in, that we want to achieve, that we have chosen to do. Self-motivation, in other words, is a choice we make because it is part of something bigger and more emotionally rewarding than the immediate task that needs immediate doing.”

If I had not noted my accomplishments, I would have missed them completely, and missed out on the motivating, productive force - the fuel they provide to keep at it, to keep going, day in and day out. 

If I had not noted my accomplishments, is it possible that I would eventually lose motivation to keep going, that the project would begin to fade or fail in the face of the daily unfancy work that feels like it is going nowhere?

If you don’t count your accomplishments, you discount them. You sever the connection of action to outcome, action to impact, action to progress.  Your perspective becomes skewed and stuck in the false, debilitating mindset that you are not doing enough, you are not making progress or a difference.

“If you don’t count your accomplishments, you discount them. You sever the connection of action to outcome, action to impact, action to progress. Your perspective becomes skewed and stuck in the false, debilitating mindset that you are not doing enough, you are not making progress or a difference.”

Day to day, there are no choirs singing as you take a note, no symphonies playing the hallelujah chorus as you google something you don’t understand, no fans cheering as you send an email, no exhilaration as your figure out how to fix your printer. Day to day, it is the discipline, the attention, the detail, the stick-to-itiveness, the craft. It’s not fancy. It’s work.

But if you train yourself to connect the dots, to see the bigger composition, you will fuel your daily efforts with extra energy and clarity. You will propel yourself to accomplishment; you will stay the course and have the impact you desire.

If you count your accomplishments, you will make your accomplishments count. You will see that even days that seem stuck or less-than-stellar are part of the dance of progress.

Make it part of your routine to count your accomplishments. Monthly or every other month is a good frequency. It gives enough time to build tangible accomplishments, while fueling a steady stream of motivation and sense of efficacy.

On a daily basis, you can build your "accounting" muscle by closing the day by dashing out a quick list of what you did. The things that stand out. Or even one thing you did that day. Don't judge it. Just let it be. There will be days here and there that will shine for their obvious productivity. There will be a lot more days that will pale in comparison. You will later see that those days, too, brought something to the dance. 

I use the journal app OneDay for this. I jot down a few things I did that day and add a photo if I'm inspired. 

 

Your accomplishments in 2016

And now, as we ride toward the summit of 2016, it is a perfect time to count your accomplishments of the year. I promise you will be happily surprised. A surge of confidence and resolve will carry you into 2017.

Get out a piece of paper, open a Word doc and start writing those bullet points.

Here are some questions to jumpstart your list for each of your projects, goals, or aspirations - professional and personal:

• What elements or pieces or components have I created?

• What milestones have I reached?

• What exists now that didn’t exist in 2015?

• What have I created that I didn’t expect?

• What have I learned that I didn’t know before?

• What am I proud of?

Count everything. Each aspect of your projects or goals or efforts is an asset. It is part of the larger performance, part of the dance of 2016.

Count your accomplishments and carry these riches with you into 2017.

Count your accomplishments and make them count.

Are You Gritty?

In the perpetual search for what leads to success, to achievement, Angela Duckworth has given us something to chew on.

As Angela describes, she left a demanding job as a management consultant to take on an even more demanding one – as a math teacher in the public school system. As a teacher, she wondered why some students were successful and others were not. What made the difference? Was it talent? IQ? Socio-economic status? Family life? Opportunity? 

Eventually Angela’s curiosity got the best of her and she left her teaching job to study and research this topic. And what did she discover? Angela found that a key predictor of achievement is not talent, not natural ability, not IQ…  but grit.

She shares her findings in a TED Talk and details it in her recent book, Grit. She writes in her book:

“[N]o matter what the domain, the highly successful had a kind of ferocious determination that played out in two ways. First, these exemplars were unusually resilient and hardworking. Second, they knew in a very, very deep way what it was they wanted. They not only had determination, they had direction. It was this combination of passion and perseverance that made high achievers special. In a word, they had grit.”

 

 

While no one is saying natural ability or talent doesn’t matter, Angela has found that it matters much less than we think. As she says it, “as much as talent counts, effort counts twice.”

Angela provides a way of thinking about talent, skill, effort, and achievement that goes like this:

Talent X Effort = Skill

Skill X Effort = Achievement

Effort counts twice.

What Angela has done is taken talent off the pedestal. She has taken away its mystique. 

When athletes do those superhuman feats in the Olympics, we chalk it up to being exceptionally gifted. We don't see the unfancy, dogged day-in, day-out determination that kept them in the pool, on the bars, or at the track.

Grit is a power. Grit brings our gifts to life and grows them. Grit is the bridge between potential and impact. It is the force that nourishes the proverbial seed and allows it to become the tree. Without grit, gifts go dormant; talents go to sleep. With grit, even lesser ability can become mighty, can make a difference. 

Angela's work shows us that success isn't stacked by genetic luck. The playing field is more equal than we realize. 

So the question is: what does it take to tap into grit? If we can figure this out, then success is no longer a mere wish. Success is within reach.

Angela concludes her book like this:

"We all face limits - not just in talent, but in opportunity. But more often than we think, our limits are self-imposed... To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year, in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight." 

Think about your own life. When have you been gritty? When have you persevered? When have you kept with a worthy goal even when it was tough? When have you made a mistake, learned from it, and continued on? When have you met an obstacle and found a way around it, or through it? 

What in your life is calling for some grit? 

So yes, discover your genius, your talent - but power it with grit. Find what you care about and commit. This is not blind trust. This is the hard, humble work of engaging in the business of life. Learning, practicing, perfecting. Gritty step, by gritty step. Sooner or later, success will be yours.