Skip to main content

Make Progress On That Big Problem

What have you done to fix your biggest problem today?

My biggest problem is relocating. I'm not even close to figuring out what that means or where it will be, other than it is highly likely to be back to my home state of New Jersey. For a variety of reasons, it's time to come home.

It's easy to get polarized and immobilized though when it comes to making big decisions and solving big problems. So today I'm going to do what Brian Tracy calls "chunking it down". I'll take that monumental problem and find a small piece of it that I can do.

I will also practice what I preach when it comes to problems and convert my problem to a goal. Instead of "don't know what to do about moving" as a problem, I will rephrase it as the goal of "Relocate my business and my life to New Jersey by August 2016."  As is the case with most of my goals, I hope and plan to achieve it far ahead of the deadline - but the deadline is real.

It's energizing to commit to a deadline. It's even more so when you create some way of making yourself accountable (say for instance, writing about it in your blog!).

Let's do this!

How about you? What do you think of as your biggest problem? What if you changed that problem into a goal?

What if you became focused on chunking that goal down into manageable pieces?

What piece could you do today?

-- Doug Smith

What have you learned today?


key words:

Comments

  1. David SpiegelSeptember 29, 2015 at 11:13 AM

    Personally,I think it might make a whole lot more sense to be here by early July!One less return trip!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Better Future

We can always imagine a better future and that's a great start to getting there. That's the fun part.  The hard part is the work. But you know that already. Set the goal, identify the plan, then get started. No one else is going to do it for you. -- doug smith
Post a Comment
Read more

High Performance Leaders Deal With Anger

What do you do when someone in your range of influence is angry? It can be discomforting. It can be disruptive. Anger is tough to handle under the best of circumstances. And yet, handle it we must. Centered, high performance leaders are careful about anger. Careful about their own anger and careful about their reactions to the anger of others. I had a boss once (a very long time ago) who told me that I had a problem with anger. That made me angry. The reaction to anger is sometimes defensiveness, sometimes fear, and sometimes (surprise!) more anger. Whatever our reaction, our bodies are usually poised for action. What we do in that moment of activation is critical to our success. If our life or emotional well-being is being threatened, that steers our direction. But usually, although it feels that way, we are not actually under any threat. So we must deal with anger productively. We must say what we want without blaming others for it not being there. We must listen with cur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Our Hearts Go Out To The People Of Japan

Greetings, It's on everyone's minds. Seemingly out of nowhere, an entire country and region has been thrown into panic and chaos over a huge natural event. In times like this we are reminded that the earth can be a hostile place. It's certainly a place of risk and trouble. Our hearts go out to the people in Japan. They are now faced with so many shortages, so many challenges that we long to reach out and help. I received one insightful "tweet" from someone that simply read "today we are all Japanese." In a way, we are. It brings me hope and some sense of helpfulness to know that our United Methodist organization reaches out directly thru global missions and its agency UMCOR to help those in need - including the people of Japan - and that 100% of all donations go directly to the cause. UMCOR can do this because the administrative costs are kept low and are paid through-out the year from United Methodist funds. Those of us who are United Methodists...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Essential Question

The essential question is "How can I help?" Whether you are the leader of thousands or completely on your own, your role on this planet is to help, to make things better. Usually, that means helping other people. Kings, rulers, athletes, artists, government officials, doctors, fire fighters, deli workers, mechanics, economists...we are all here to help. Sometimes it doesn't feel that way. Sometimes we feel the need to be served instead. But whatever the situation, no matter what the organization, high performance leaders know that their role is to help. Reflection Questions How can you be most helpful? What situations are you facing right now where you have not yet asked the question, "how can I help?" Who do you remember the most for being ready to jump in and find a way to help? How did they make you feel? How engaged and happy did they seem to be? Action Plan Within the next 24 hours, find a situation and ask yourself "how can I help?" ... and then...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stop Running From Your Solution

Why do we run away from the answer? Sometimes it's right there in front of us - the solution to our problem, and yet we turn away. It's a bad habit and one that keeps us from finding what we're looking for when it comes to solving a problem. The solution to your problem is looking for you -- you just need to stop running. Can you hear those footsteps? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals
Post a Comment
Read more

Learn To Build A Better Tomorrow

Do you have all the answers yet? Are you finished learning? Of course not. Learning is a lifetime necessity, especially for leaders. Centered leaders learn constantly and apply what they learn to make things better. To solve problems. To achieve their goals. What we learn today can bring about a better tomorrow.  Isn't that what you want, a better tomorrow? It can happen, but it's up to each of us. What will you do? What will you learn? What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals
Post a Comment
Read more

Professional, Patient, Persistent, and Powerful

Professional, patient, persistent, and powerful. Those are four traits worth focusing on as a leader. Combined with what it takes to be a centered leader (courage, compassion, creativity, and clarity) these four "p's" can drive a leader forward in performance and results. Are you professional? Paying attention to details, keeping an appropriate appearance for your line of work, meeting deadlines, installing quality, treating others as the professional you aspire to be -- these are all marks of leading as a professional. What would you add to the list? Are you patient? Leaders are often faced with difficult situations at exactly the wrong time. Without surrendering to lower standards, leaders must remain patient with people and circumstances. How else should leaders demonstrate patience? Are you persistent? Patience begs persistence. While high performance leaders have the capacity to remain patient under stress, they are also doggedly persistent. Nothing should stand in t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Leading Through Participation

"If you create an environment where the people truly participate, you don't need control. They know what needs to be done, and they do it. And the more that people will devote themselves to your cause on a voluntary basis, a willing basis, the fewer hierarchies and control mechanisms you need." -- Herb Kelleher, CEO. Southwestern Airlines Leadership brings about participation. It's not just distributing work the way some people call delegation. If a person feels dumped on, it's not effective delegation. I have a real distaste for the definition of leadership that describes it as "getting work done through others". Sure, others help -- but unless the leader has at least some taste for the work involved, people will only stick around until a better offer appears. To build true devotion takes commitment and involvement by everyone -- including the leader. -- Douglas Brent Smith Learn more in the workshop:   Supervising for Success
Post a Comment
Read more

Test Your Solution Ideas

Did you ever get an idea for a solution to a problem and then couldn't get it to work? We can fall in love with our ideas and in so doing miss what they're missing. Maybe they don't actually meet our solution criteria. Maybe our team members aren't equipped to implement them. Maybe our constituents have no appetite for the changes the solution will bring about. No one wants to implement a solution that won't work.  Test ideas carefully against your problem solving constraints. Qualify them. Yes, it's another layer of analysis after a wide open time of creativity -- but that's the breath of centered problem solving - the flow between convergent (creative) thinking and divergent (analytical) thinking. We need both. --- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training doug smith training:  how to achieve your creative goals
Post a Comment
Read more