Turn Off The Noise

Today I'm adding a bonus entry from my friend, David Spiegel. So many of my own clients complain about being overwhelmed by stress. Dave discovered a big point in his stress, and how to deal with it. He still does just as much work -- just with a bit less stress. And just in case you think you can't -- pay attention to where he mentions 50,000 text messages! Doug

by David Spiegel

In May I began coaching with a weight loss company. Every morning texts would come in and my job was to respond to them. In the early days, it was exciting as my client base grew from a handful to eventually a few hundred . After a short while the texts were rolling in at a pretty steady clip.It did not take long before it became an avalanche of messages.I couldn't answer them fast enough. I would open my phone and it would show 75 unanswered messages.

As I set about answering a few dozen more and more came ringing in. Each time my phone would chime telling me I had received a new text. After answering the first 25 of 75 I would look and see that I now had 87 unanswered messages! AAAARGHHHH!

Another text rang in, and another and another. I literally could not catch up. Brrring another. Brrrringanother. Brrrrrrrring another! Every time my phone would sound my stress level would grow. I could hardly breathe!

Then one day in late October, my phone just froze.

I could not text back to any of the messages I was receiving. I immediately got a replacement phone and transferred all of my data.

In the 5 months from May to October, from my start date to the day of the crash, I had received just over 50,000 texts. Received and responded to. Along with each incoming message was the audible reminder that yet another text awaited me.Like the constant dripping of the faucet, each text tone drove me crazy.

While setting up my new phone, Becky asked, "do you want me to put the text tone on silent?" You can do that?

Well, hell yeah!

And then there was silence!

Day after day, the texts keep coming in, without the noise. Without the clammer. No longer was I subject to the constant reminder that someone else wanted a piece of me. The demands on my time were now completely in my control. It has been delightful.

Along with the absence of noise has come a notable absence of stress. I can breathe once again. The tension in my neck has gone. The twitching in my cheek has ceased. I am relaxed. And every text still gets answered.

My point?

Sometimes you just have to shut off the noise!

-- David Spiegel

Today's resolution:

This year is just about done.....whether or not I am ready for that to happen or not.

I have a few more hours left today to address the balance of this year's items. Tomorrow, they will all make their way on to the For Next Year list!

If you or someone you know needs to lose weight -- let Dave know! david@live2xlcoaching.com

Comments

One Kind of Choice

It is not always the answer, but surprisingly often it is: It's easier to hire a motivated worker than it is to motivate an unmotivated one. That's not the end of the story. It could be great hiring advice though. Whatever the technical skills are for people you are interviewing to hire, be sure to ask some questions about motivation that can't be answered with a yes or no. Questions like: When were you the most motivated in your life? What kinds of work motivate you? What's your approach to a work day when for one reason or another you don't feel very motivated? If you had been here for one week, what would we see that shows us how motivated you are? Start there, and follow-up with more questions. Give each candidate time to convince you whether or not they will bring motivation to your organization. You can teach people almost anything, but it's always easier if they are already motivated. -- doug smith

All Edge in Moderation

I once had a boss who, during my performance evaluation, told me that I was doing a good job as a leader but that I needed to develop more of an edge. I wasn't quite assertive enough. She was concerned that people might take advantage of me. I worked on my edge as a result. I sharpened it thru steady practice. I had an edge to end all edges. At the next evaluation, what do you think she suggested? "You need to dial that edge down a bit," she laughed. It's not either/or. Assertiveness is valuable and necessary. Aggression, not so much. You don't have to dull your edge -- just don't cut yourself with it. -- doug smith

Lead with Compassion

Does your team know that you care about them? How do they know? Is it from your flexibility? Is it from your discipline? Is it from the time that you take to talk with each and every one of them on a regular basis? Times are tough for many team members. They are wrestling with issues that we don't even know about, plus some issues that we DO know about. How leaders respond makes the difference between a functional team and a dysfunctional one. Go for the functional, fully moving forward team that delivers on performance. Build trust, build relationships, spend time getting to know your team and letting them get to know you. The payoff is immense. Lead with clarity, courage, compassion, and creativity. If you don't know where to start, start with compassion. Leading with compassion builds trust. And trust propels high performance teams to success. Go for that success. You can do it. You're the boss! -- doug smith

Character Is In The Actions

Some days it's easier to preach than perform. Resist that temptation. Telling people what to do works for a little while, but eventually they are going to watch to see what YOU do. Character, no matter how it is presented verbally, is revealed in action. Kindness is shown by helping. Courage is demonstrated by standing down an evil force or intention. Creativity is demonstrated in the art created, not the art criticized. I've sometimes fallen into the temptation to preach. It comes easy. Opinions just roll off my tongue. But, I'm working on that. Preaching is easy. Performing takes work. Practice build character. Do the practice. -- doug smith

Show Integrity

The goals we seek bring a lot of pull to them. We get wrapped in them. It's useful and it's powerful when we care about our goals so much that they propel us forward and keep us working even when we're tired, beyond the boundaries of our usual limitations. But they should not take us beyond the boundaries of our usual values. They should not trick us into bending the rules just because the rules are in the way. Truly high performance leaders of character who are focused, and centered, and noble maintain integrity. No cheating is ever worth the outcome. Integrity is so rare that many people don't even recognize. If you do, be thankful. We need leaders like you. To truly understand integrity you've got to keep it. Even when it's hard. Even the lines are blurred. -- doug smith

It's More Than Talk

Every conversation is an opportunity to make someone's life better. Take the chance. -- doug smith

Try Not Lying

High performance leaders communicate without lying. That's harder than it sounds. So hard, that hardly anyone ever does it. -- doug smith

Something Other Than Games?

If you turn the system into a game people will game the system. Competition isn't the only way to achieve excellence. What if you could find a way that didn't also bring the side-effects? -- doug smith

What to Blame

It's better to blame the product than it is to blame the customer because you cannot fix the customer. -- doug smith

Win The Game

It would be nice to win the game. But, do you ever feel like you're in a game that keeps shifting the rules and making it easy to make progress but impossible to win? You've probably noticed lots of game elements creeping into service. Points, incentives, expiring coupons followed by new expiring coupons, leader-boards...on an on a relentless attack on service comes from playing a game designed -- you guessed it -- to maximize profit. If the customer is happy, fine, but the point is to make money. Not to put too fine a point on it but that's a lousy point. What if there could be something better? What if customer service excellence became playing a game where the customer always wins and that makes you happy? You don't have to. "give away the store" to achieve a winning game for all of the players. Just stop stacking the rules against customers and watch how much more they will want to do business with you. -- doug smith

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