High Performance Leadership

When I worked at Whole Foods, my store leader once said to me "We live in the land of no excuses..." Not that I was making excuses, but if you came close enough, Bruce would let you know that no one really cares about your excuses. "No one cares about how hard you tried," Bruce said, "They just want results." High performance leaders produce results. Ever increasing, ever improving results. Results come from action, not excuses. No matter how good that reason is for not doing something, it's still not done. Excuses delay. Action pays. Take action. -- doug smith

What if retreat is part of the plan? If our goals are truly ambitious, we will experience some difficulty achieving them. Tough goals cause us to stretch. Tough goals encourage us to grow, to adapt, to create. And, tough goals sometimes cause us to retreat. I do not like to retreat. I do not like to come up short. My ambition is to plunge ever forward at rapidly increasing rates of speed. But sometimes, crap happens. Sometimes, that action item is bigger than expected and more challenging than it at first appeared. We might miss. We might retreat. There does not need to be shame in retreating. It's just a dance step, really, leading to the next bold step up. We create some room, some breathing space. It's just a pause, or a parry. And then we leap ahead. That's how it has felt with one of my exercise goals. I do well, and then something happens that distracts or delays me, and a day goes by with a missed goal. I am making peace with that while NOT letting go of th...

How many times today have you been distracted from your goal? Maybe THIS is a distraction? So I'll make this short: are you working on your most important goal today? -- Doug Smith

Do you always form a plan B, just in case plan A doesn't work? I do that a lot. I like to manage my risk. It's good to have a back-up plan. One never knows what to expect. Things happen that leave us vulnerable and even empty-handed. But a Plan B can also get in the way. If you find yourself focusing too much on Plan B, your Plan A suffers. How serious are you about your Plan A? Are you willing to work relentlessly, no matter what, on what you really want? Do you intend to achieve your goal? So go ahead and form a back-up if it helps. But don't let your back-up drive you. Plan A is Plan A for a reason. Work that thing until you get it. -- Doug Smith

Here's a trick question - when do you give up? It's a trick because maybe you don't give up. When the goal is important enough, you don't give up. And if the goal isn't important enough to persist, why would you even work on it? Choose your goals carefully. Work on what you consider vital to your success. And then act relentlessly on your plan. Persist. There is no substitute for persistence. It will get you through when the world throws all kinds of road blocks your way. And you can depend on that. So persist. -- Doug Smith

Are you enthusiastic about your goals? How do you know? Here are some positive signs of enthusiasm for your goals: - talking about them! - prioritizing your work around your goals - starting your day with your goals in mind - scheduling your days with time to work on your goals - involving other people in your goals - sticking with your goals even when things get in the way - Getting as creative as you need to get to stay on track to achieve your goals - Refusing to get talked out of your goals How else do YOU show enthusiasm for your goals? People can tell when you are filled with enthusiasm for your goals and you know what? It's contagious. If you want other people to care about what you're working on, show them how important and how cool it is. It's what successful supervisors and leaders of all kinds do. -- Doug Smith

How much time have you spent today thinking about your goals? Thinking on your goals should lead to acting on your goals. Keeping your focus. Moving forward. High performance leaders act with a relentless sense of persistence to achieve their goals. It's what leaders do. It's what their teams do. It's what their team members learn to do by working closely with a focused, participative, facilitative leader. Help your team succeed, and they will lift you higher than you've ever been before. When we focus on our goals it dramatically increases our power. Focus with clarity. Focus with collaborative and cooperative work. Then, move. -- Doug Smith

"Constant and determined effort breaks down all resistance and sweeps away all obstacles." -- Claude M. Bristol I enjoy designing a plan to achieve a goal. Listing the tasks, estimating the times, scheduling them - that all appeals to my analytical side. Then comes the hard part: getting it done. But it's not really hard. It's one step at a time. One movement, one action, one call, one thing . At - a - time. Design a cool, appealing plan. And then, most importantly, act relentlessly on your plan. As Larry the Cable Guy says, "get -er done!" -- Doug Smith

Big goals take strength. Ambitious goals take courage. Any goal worth anyone's attention will meet with resistance. Work thru that resistance. Stay the course. Stay patient even when other people, broken processes, and stupid events get in your way. It's not the end of your goal, it's just a moment in a test of your will. Are you certain about your goal? Is it important to you? Is it noble, worthy, and helpful? Then see it thru. When the goal is strong enough, your patience is long enough. See it thru. -- Doug Smith

When it gets tough, I'm sometimes tempted to stop. Forget about it. Quit. Move on to something that's not as hard. Do you ever feel that way? Sometimes it seems like the goal is too big. The resources are too small. The time is too short. But what good does it do to stop? I won't know how far I can get if I stop moving. Do you know what the biggest wall in front of me is? Me. How about you? What's your biggest wall? Who's putting the brakes on your biggest goal? If it's you, let's both agree to cut that out. Let's keep moving. -- Doug Smith

Do you ever slow yourself down? I've done that. I've had times when I set a really great goal but for one reason or another slowed myself down. Maybe the effort scared me. Maybe I was too comfortable in what I knew I could expect. Even driving forward I could feel one foot on the brakes. We don't need to do that. We can proceed with caution. We can assess our risks and keep moving. I could go faster if I wasn't slowing myself down.  How about you? Here are some thoughts on actions to do instead of slowing down: - Identify any fear. Face it. Is it really that bad? - List all of the benefits of achieving your goal. Done? List a few more. - Find someone who will help to hold you accountable by asking for progress updates. It works. Sometimes the biggest wall in our way is ourselves. That's easy. Let's fix it now. -- Doug Smith

What are you putting off? I have had a few things lately that I've been procrastinating on because they were unpleasant or difficult. Figuring out housing questions, for instance. Identifying where, if anywhere, to relocate my business. Identifying how to increase my business capacity for more (and better paying) clients. Some things we can put off because life keeps on going and business keeps humming along. But until we grab ahold of those goals that we need to set, there is something missing. Here's the thing worth procrastinating on: procrastination. Let's put that off. Let's tackle the tough stuff that's right in front of us and leave the excuses behind. We deserve more than procrastination gives us. Let it go. -- Doug Smith

What happens when we lose track of what we really want? We get problems. We get delays. We get excuses. None of that is what we want or need. Sometimes problems develop because we lose focus on what we really want. We get distracted. People make us busy. Procrastination overcomes us. None of that is necessary and none of that is unavoidable. We can stay clear on our mission. We can maintain our focus on our goals. How is your focus today? What will you do to redirect yourself if you should get distracted? How else will you ever get exactly what you want? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership: High Performance Leadership Training doug smith training: how to achieve your goals What have you learned today?

How do you confirm your credibility? How do you build the confidence from others that you need to act relentlessly on your plan and achieve your goals? With courage. Courage to stick to your goals when others tempt you to leave them behind. Courage to operate within your values and not cross any ethical lines (even for a moment, even a little). Courage to say what you mean and follow through. Courage confirms your credibility. And with credibility comes collaboration and cooperation, key ingredients in building your team. How's your courage today? -- Doug Smith doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training

Are you waiting for perfect answers? I do that sometimes. The data has to be just right. I like as much certainty as possible before moving forward. But, when I'm not careful (or maybe it's TOO careful) the forward motion stops while waiting for perfection. Get those answers quickly. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong, but all they are is a start anyway. The data will change. The direction requires some flexibility. Get moving. The answers to your questions need not be perfect to achieve your goal. They just need to get you moving. Are you ready to act relentlessly on that plan to achieve your goal? -- Douglas Brent Smith Front Range Leadership: High performance leadership training doug smith training: how to achieve your goals

What would happen if you gave your biggest problem your full attention? You could find the root cause. You could develop a list of solutions. You could create an action plan that would be unstoppable. You could solve that problem. Your biggest problem probably isn't big enough to stand up to your full attention and best solutions. Why not take that problem on right away? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals

Have you ever hesitated to make a tough decision? Maybe you even knew what the decision should be, but something held you back? That's happened to me. Sometimes it's that struggling performer who isn't willing to get better and needs a decision about moving on. Or, maybe it's a strategic change that will basically rebrand something important I've been working on. Why do we hesitate? Will the decision get better? Will time add a dimension of security to what we decide? Or, are we simply stalling. We must make the hard decisions. Sometimes the best decisions are the hardest ones to make.  People are effected. Strategies shift. Customers could even be surprised. Slowing down doesn't help. A needed change knows only change. The sooner we make that tough but certain decision, the better off we are. High performance leaders make the tough decisions quickly. And then we keep on moving. What tough decision have you been delaying? -- Doug Smith Front Ra...

Do you have a goal that seems stuck because you don't know what to do next? What a sinking feeling it is when a goal slowly fades away for lack of action. Here's what works better for me: Clarify your goal - make sure there are these three components: an action verb, the result that you want, and the time for the deadline. They don't need to be complicated. The simpler the better. Just keep the ART in them. Set an aggressive action plan and stick to it.  Act relentlessly on your plan every day. Those three things will make a pronounced difference in your goals. Take the uncertainty out of a goal by working on it everyday. You'll be glad that you did. -- Douglas Brent Smith Front Range Leadership: How to achieve your goals doug smith training: developing creativity

How easily are you side-tracked? It's happened to me dozens of times: I have a great goal and a plan in place and then something comes along that completely derails my plan. I get distracted. Other people's ideas appear. Things come up. Every detour from your goals takes you further from achieving them. When distractions appear, find out what item is more closely aligned with your mission and work on that. If your goal was clearly and correctly written, it's probably that goal. If not, simply finish the distraction and redirect your attention to the plan. Because while plans change the more we work on them, they don't get done at all unless we do work on them. What's the next step in your most important goal's plan? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your project goals

Are you following the plan you set to achieve your most important goal? I've seen so many teams get the first two steps of goal achievement correct, setting a clear goal and developing a plan, only to fall short in the execution of their plan. I've done it myself. It takes discipline to stay with your plan. It takes dedication to act relentlessly on your plan. Yes, the plan will likely change. Steps and actions will be moved around and changed. Still, the plan is their to help you achieve that goal. How is it working? To achieve your goals, follow your plan. -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals