Are You Ready?

 Focus  1 Response »
Jan 252012
 

I have very little time this morning. Remember last week, when I said we need to have a resume ready at all times? Not only that, we need to be ready for an interview at a moment’s notice. Yesterday afternoon, I received a request for an interview for today. The job I had heard about materialized and events are moving quickly. Since receiving the job description yesterday, I have been analyzing it, preparing answers to potential questions, thinking of questions I want to ask and developing a 90 day plan. That is a lot of work to do in 24 hours.

I will probably go into these topics deeper in future posts, but the point today is the importance of being ready. My resume is up to date. I just finished printing a fresh copy for every member of the interview team, plus a few extra in case more are needed. Fortunately, I have a box of resume paper ready. I built the 90 day transition plan, just in case the question comes up. I developed that between dinner and choir practice last night. I still have my white shirt and suit pants to iron, shoes to shine and questions to develop. Somewhere on my hard drive, I have a list of answers to common interview questions I wrote out years ago. I need to find and review those as well.

Is all this necessary for an internal interview with my current director and his team? Absolutely! The competition is stiff and the only way I believe I can get a chance at this position is to nail the interview. I’m counting on the preparation I have made weeks and months ago to pay off at this short notice.

Always be ready.

 Posted by Dan at 7:00 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Blueprints To Success

 Focus  2 Responses »
Jan 232012
 

The alarm went off at 5:20 this morning and for a minute or two, I lay in bethinking through my morning routine. I wanted to have a picture in my mind of what I was going to accomplish. I knew if I had that picture, it would more readily be achieved. So, I walked through my morning scripture study and then turned my thoughts to what I wanted to write here.

Last night, I had sat for nearly 20 minutes, trying to think of something to write. Nothing came. I wasn’t interested in anything. I gave up and read a book instead. That was a good decision. For me, writing is something I can’t force. However, this morning, laying there, I thought of this post and laid it all out in my mind in about 15 seconds. Then, I got up and got started.

Why was it so much easier this morning? Aside from being more rested and ready, I spent time away from the keyboard, designing what I wanted to write. Houses are blueprints long before the first nail is hammered into wood. Jumbo jets are blueprints long before the first piece of aluminum is bent. Software programs are sketched out before the first line of code is written.

For a successful creation experience, spend some time planning. Those few minutes of planning can save hours of struggle. Subsequent decisions are rendered easier, once the final product is determined. Each step on the course becomes more evident.

I glanced through my email prior to beginning writing. Once again, Michael Hyatt beat me to the punch. His post this morning, Why Vision Is More Important Than Strategy, was exactly what I wanted to say.

If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you.

Read the rest of his post. It is very good. I would like to quote the entire article.

Spend time, as he suggests, writing up your vision. I plan on doing this step very soon. I believe this is what is missing in my life. I have dabbled at parts of the vision, writing my goals and such, but haven’t spent time writing the entire scope of m life vision. Instead, I let the strategy fears take over whenever I start. I haven’t a clue how I am going to accomplish all that I dream for myself. I have big dreams. Too big, at times. Why not dream big and let the strategy take care of itself?

 Posted by Dan at 6:57 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Shaping Steel

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Jan 202012
 

Steel can be any shape you want if you are skilled enough, and any shape but the one you want if you are not.
- Robert M. Pirsig

I saw this quote yesterday and was struck by the relevancy. Are you skilled at shaping yourself? Do you know how to discipline yourself into new, productive habits? Or are you stuck in good intentions, not becoming anything like the hopes you have for yourself?

Once we discipline ourselves into making small changes to ourselves, we can learn to make bigger changes. As children, we began with the small things, like combing our hair, doing homework right after school or cleaning our rooms. After mastering these items, we move up to more difficult challenges and learn to shape ourselves into what we want to be.

The person who doesn’t understand the basics of changing habits and has little willpower finds it extremely difficult to mold themselves into the desired character. They have to learn to master the small stuff, even it is means returning to the child-like tasks. It takes practice to obtain a skill. Repetition is what provides the ability to truly mold ourselves into what we want to become.

Struggling with a goal or a resolution? Take the time to think it through. What is it you really want to become? Don’t just define the milestone (I want to weight 180 pounds by July 4). Also add the traits necessary to adopt in your life (I eat healthy foods in appropriate portions and exercise regularly). After all, the end goal isn’t achievable in a day, but the trait is. Today, I ate the correct foods and I spent 30 minutes at lunch on the Stairmaster. Today, I have mastered those traits that lead to the ultimate goal. Tomorrow I have to start over again on mastering the skill, but I will have the residual strength gained today.

Today, my steel is closer to the shape I desire. The closer I get to that desired shape, the more resilient it is to mistakes or accidents. I found it much easier today to turn down the fresh, hot scones with chocolate sauce at work than a year ago. Last year I would have had at least three. Perhaps four. It’s no wonder I was in the shape I was last year at this time.

 Posted by Dan at 7:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

The Difference a Little Extra Effort Makes – link

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Jan 192012
 

I saw this post this morning from Michael Hyatt in which he talks about the tiny difference between hot water and boiling water – one degree. The premise is that that one little degree between 211° and 212° is small, so spend the little bit extra effort and be the winner.

This brought out the physicist in me. It takes one calorie of heat to raise one gram of water one degree. However, to take one gram of water from 212° to 212° steam, it requires 540 calories of additional heat to change the state from a liquid to a gas. The temperature is the same, but the power involved is staggering. It takes more than a little bit of effort to make the change from water to steam. Boiling water, or steam, has so much more power. Steam can power a locomotive where hot water can’t. Steam has 60% of the lifting power of helium and twice of hot air, but isn’t flammable. Hot water has no lifting power. Does this ruin the analogy that it takes only a little more effort to make the difference?

The average margin of victory for the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 is 1.5 seconds. Is the difference only a little extra effort? It appears to be on the surface, but the underlying preparation is the “540 calories” required to change the state from second to first place. How much does the pit crews have to practice to shave off 1.5 seconds from a tire change? Ever watch the elaborate dance of an Indy pit crew? They are as practiced as a Bolshoi Ballet. When Southwest Airlines wanted to learn how to turn planes around faster, they went to the pit crew to learn.

It requires effort and dedication to go from second place to first. Much more preparation, unseen and unheralded is necessary. It may be an tiny bit of difference at the tape, but preparation went into the effort. Last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Dan Wheldon may have won by 2.5 seconds, but that is only .023% difference of the entire race that took nearly 3 hours to complete. He had to be .023% better than the next guy over the space of three hours to win. That took a lot of effort and practice by a lot of people.

Now bring it home. Does it take just a tiny little bit of effort to succeed in a goal? Perhaps on a given day, but I think the difference is much larger than that. I am back on a strict diet again, trying to lose the last twenty-five pounds. Believe me, it takes more than a little effort to refuse Twizzlers, cookies and soda everyone tempts me with. I have to expend that extra little bit of effort every minute of every day to reach this goal. I know what I want, but that isn’t enough. I have to expend a tremendous amount of energy to keep myself disciplined. I have to decide several times each day if it is worth it. That isn’t easy.

Hats off to the winners out there. They have made the extra effort. They have added the extra 540 calories to turn water into steam. This is why Hyatt’s recommendations for achieving that little extra on a goal work:

  1. Choose one goal. Select the one that matters the most to you this year.
  2. Identify what’s at stake.Why is accomplishing this goal so important—to you?
  3. Write down 2-3 key actions. These are the ones that could propel you into the winner’s circle.
  4. Now execute! Stop planning. Stop stalling. Just get out there and do it.

By doing steps 2 and 3, we add the determination necessary to help make #4 work. If there is a goal that just seems unattainable, try those two steps to help with the dedication. It will add the extra 540 calories needed to take your 212° goal into a 212° success.

 Posted by Dan at 7:15 am  Tagged with: , , , , , ,
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