High Performance Leadership

It's tempting. It's right in front of you as a leader. Someone violates your trust, or misses a goal, or fails to respond to the promise of a reward, and the logical action seems to be to punish them in some way. Take away a perk. Deny a personal day off. Refuse a good assignment. Be careful. Every punishment brings about unexpected payback. Maybe it's immediate or maybe it comes months (even years!) down the road -- but payback is coming. It could be assertive, even aggressive -- or it could be so passive aggressive that you fail to see it coming. Oh, but it's coming. You may not like that payback. You may want to consider another path. What do you think? -- doug smith  

It would be easy to skip my morning, or afternoon, or evening push-ups. Heck, I did skip them for most of my life. But regular exercise is a discipline that won't do itself.  We don't have to like or enjoy discipline-building habits in order to need them. The drills prove, over and over, that we do. Start small if you need to, but definitely start.  -- doug smith

Do you know what big goals need? Big attention! They need focus. They need action. To get this, it takes discipline. Habits that lead to completing an action plan help you to achieve your goals. Habits like scheduling key tasks (instead of just listing them), finding a way to hold yourself accountable (like telling someone about your goal), and getting the help you need from your team are the habits that work. You no doubt use some habits of your own. There's no beating the habit of discipline: sticking to something until you are done. As my dad used to say, "a job half done isn't done at all." Get things done with discipline. Even when it stops being fun and when obstacles stand in the way. Let your strength found in discipline find the way. Discipline is your biggest goal's best friend. Keep it going. -- doug smith

How tough are you on yourself? I'm tough, but I'm working on getting tougher. Not abusive - not a bully or negative about it, simply disciplined. Hard working, insistent, persistent, and disciplined. No one can give us self-discipline - it's up to each of us. The discipline to work when we might feel like letting up. The discipline to solve the tough problems. The stamina to stay true to our goals when others wear us out with unrelated requests. It's not easy, but if you are the toughest coach you've ever had you will likely accomplish far more. If you're not the toughest boss on yourself that you've ever had then you need to get tougher. How do you feel about that? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals