Make Your Change Happen: Taking you and your team to the next level
In many folk tales around the world, the egg is a symbol of unexpected wealth. Perhaps it is because of the golden yellow yolk concealed inside the shell. Also, the yolk could symbolise the sun, an important symbol of life and comfort.
Gooses lay golden eggs and dragons guard them.
Source:
1,001 Symbols: An Illustrated Guide to Imagery and Its Meaning
One of my core beliefs is that our purpose in life is to be abundant. To share our unique talents with the world. So many of my friends are people who are :
1. Really cool people
2. Massively overachieving in sharing their talents with the world
Dan Smith fits the bill on both these counts, and you won’t find a nicer “bloke” (Dan is from Australia!). Since moving to Shanghai he has expanded the nascent NLP “industry” through ChinaNLP, his ability to get on well with people and his willingness to share his passion and knowledge with others.
Learn more about his many and diverse projects (Dan still runs a men’s tailoring company in Australia) at his web site here.
Toastmasters is a very positive organisation that provides a supportive learning environment for learning public speaking, communication and leadership skills in a low-risk format. The types of people who are attracted to join and stay in Toastmasters are very positive and sharing.
In this facilitated discussion with a group from one of China’s highest quality club - Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters Club - we talked about ways to use the skills used in Toastmasters and apply them in other areas of our life, such as health, wealth and contribution.
The principle is based on leveraging the activities that you spend the most time on. The more applications you can find for a given skill, the higher your ROTI (return on time invested) will be.
You can link to my Toastmasters page here. Or you can download the audio file directly here. (MP3, 18.3MB)
I spent a wonderful couple of weeks in Bali relaxing after an intense year. It was great to escape the computer and all the doom-and-gloom news. All this talk of bailouts of companies and industries led me to think how effective they would be. In my experience, internal change is much more effective than externally-driven change.
Think back to when you were a child. Was there ever a time when your parents tried to “force” change upon you before you were ready for it? I remember sitting for hours as I refused to finish my gammon and potatoes, and no amount of threats or guilt about the starving children in Africa made me eat any faster. I just didn’t want to eat them. The fact that I am a vegetarian now may explain why.
Visit a supermarket at the weekend and you will see and hear the clashes of externally-driven change among the shopping aisles. Children screaming and kicking and shouting at their parents, who are often shouting back. It’s a sorry scene (I hope your local supermarket is not as bad as mine!) but there is a deeper lesson here for us all. How can we make positive change effective?
Reacting to change
This is the form of change we have grown up with. Your parents telling you to clean your room, do your homework and you reluctantly and begrudgingly obliging. It’s slow and painful for all. And, the minute the stimulus disappears so does the action. The change is only successful as long as someone is standing over us and threatening us. This could explain why many people never reach their goals and dreams. Once you leave full time education with no more exams, there are no more goals imposed upon you to achieve beyond finding and turning up for a job on time and achieving a minimum level of performance so that you don’t get fired. This is not a great way to live but many people find themselves in this trap. So how can you become a driver of your own life?
Find your motivators
What gets you going? What gives you energy? What do you need to do so that you look at the world with rose-tinted glasses and can only see optimism in your future. For many, exercise at the gym or playing football with friends gives them that connection. For others reading a good book in a comfortable coffee shop will do it. Or perhaps a drive into the countryside or trip to the beach will arouse good feelings.
If you had a totally free 48 hours that you could fill with all the enjoyable activities and fun things, what would those 48 hours look like? Have a balance of physical, mental, solo and group activities. Make a perfect weekend for yourself. Look at your calendar and make a commitment that three months from today you will enjoy a weekend as close to your perfect weekend as you can. Put it in your calendar. Block out the time. Make it happen. By taking a time three months from now it is highly likely that you have free time.
Mini-refreshers
Find pockets of time in your weekly schedule to refresh yourself. Book a couple of sessions at the gym during lunch. Take Sunday morning to get back in touch with your family life. Take only an hour or two and be fully present to enjoy them.
If you are stuck in a rut and would like to get out and live a life of passion through better health, more wealth and greater contribution, we can help. Contact The Change Catalyst for an initial complimentary coaching session.
Have you ever found yourself waiting for the “right moment” when everything will be just right so you can get started with your plans to {insert your change here}, examples may include lose weight, go scuba diving, call your parents, move to the countryside.
Many people I talk to are waiting for this perfect moment when all the stars are aligned, the inbox gets cleared and the children are old enough and …. and so on. Here’s the bad news. There is no such thing as a perfect time to start something. And here’s the good news. There is no such thing as a perfect time to start something. So you better start now. This type of procrastination is also linked to the pursuit of perfection. Not wanting to start until “something” is perfect. We can learn a lot from nature. A flower doesn’t wait until the weather is perfect before coming out. It gets ready to bloom every day. It is primed and ready to grow. The beauty of nature is created through intense activity.
Marketing whizz Jay Abrahams says that a mediocre marketing plan implemented consistently over a long period of time, will outperform a “perfect” marketing plan. Successful companies, like Nike’s Just Do It, stick to a message and use it consistently. Abrahams points out that it’s often advertising companies who encourage companies to change their messaging so that they can bill for new campaign creative work. The question for you is- are you putting perfection before consistency?
When coaching clients, I always look for small actions that can be made immediately. Action and the momentum this builds is the most important factor in moving a client towards an important goal. Sometimes a client will want to spend a long time talking about and analysing a situation from five different angles and talk theoretically about what could have happened if he did X, Y and Z. This is all very therapeutic and can help create awareness. But success is built on action. Consistent action towards a specific goal.
What goal have you been putting off waiting for a better situation? Identify one small action that in 15 minutes would put you closer to your goal. Have you been meaning to take off some of that winter weight but still waiting for the weather to get warmer? Book a day session in a gym. Take a friend. Go there and do some light exercise. Have a sauna. Enjoy the action you are taking. Always look for the small actions that when applied consistently on a daily and weekly basis will see you towards your end goal.
One of my goals this year is to compete in 3-4 Olympic distance triathlon races. Each event takes me around 3 hours and is considered a full marathon equivalent race. While each event is manageable in itself (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10k run), adding them together makes it a challenge! The best way to get ready for these type of endurance events is consistent exercise. Though with a new book launch, a busy consulting practice and international travel it can be difficult to find the time. But I know that even a 15 - 20 min run three times a week is better for me than waiting and doing a one hour run once a week. Small drops all add up.
Take action: Look at one of your important goals for 2009. Find one that you have not taken action on in the last 2 -3 weeks. Identify a single action you can take that can be completed in less than 20 minutes. Take action on it today. Start looking for other 20 minute actions you can take in the next week.
Many many moons ago, I graduated as an economics major. I enjoyed most of the courses I took although it was the six hours of lectures per week that was more of an appeal at the time! Economics can be a rather dry subject so reading a book about demand curves may not be your idea of a good time. But I do recommend you read this book written by editor of Wired magazine. It is easy to digest and holds some valuable lessons in understanding the digital economy that we are in. Here are a few insights I found.
The 98% rule
In his research, Anderson found that the aggregate market for niche products is huge. One online music retailer found that 98% of albums sold at least once per quarter. The implications of this are:
- the tail of variety is long (add up all the sales outside your best-sellers and that comes to a significant amount.
- it is now economically within reach due to digitizing of content, widespread computer usage and broadbank and powerful search ability. Examples of companies featured include Amazon, iTunes, rhapsody, eBay and Netflix.
- Niches aggregate up to a significant market (see below)
Move from hits to niches
In a hit-obsessed culture we are focused on Top 10 lists and the blockbuster movies, music stars and books. Anderson found that online retailers tap into the demand outside this limited range. The size of the long tail was between 25-40% of total sales. Anderson makes a (philosophical) point that this is a shift from scarcity to abundance. The Long tail is culture unfiltered by economic scarcity.
Cultures started from local and fragmented groups. Became much more uniform and global. And are now returning to interest-based niches, where a niche is not confined by geography.
Three forces affecting the Long Tail
1. Production
2. Distribution
3. Connecting supply and demand
1. Production
With computer hardware and software widely available there is a much smaller barrier to entry to produce your own content. Wiki is a example of how the wisdom of crowds can produce a “product” that is accurate, self-correcting and free to use. Anderson refers to this as a probability-based system which although statistically much more accurate than, say, a printed set of encyclopedias, still has a restriction that individual entries can be of a much lower quality. However, the ability to quickly update and correct errors is a powerful feature of these online collaborations. Anderson has case studies on self publishing and a comedy group, The Lonely Island.
2. Markets
Here the key word is aggregators. Familiar examples are Amazon, eBay, iTunes, Google and Facebook. Anderson looks at markets in 5 categories: physical products, digital, advertising / services, information, and community.
The key learning here is that pure digital companies are able to tap the long tail demand more effectively than physical products and hybrids. This can help explain why Amazon is moving towards inventory on demand with its printing on demand services.
3. Connecting supply and demand
Anderson explains the idea of a filter. For example, an editor of a newspaper is a filter as she needs to fit information into a fixed amount of newspaper “real estate”. Certain news stories have to be cut out. This judgement call acts as a filter and by definiation cuts out potential readers.
Examples of old economy “pre-filters” are editors, marketers, advertisers, studio executives. Their main role is to predict the success of a product. This hit and miss approach is based on scarity and is wasteful.
The “recommendation age” has post-filters of blogs, playlists, reviews, recommendations, customers. These new tastemaker’s main role is to amplify word of mouth down the long tail thus increasing possible demand.
Anderson declares the death of Pareto’s 80:20 rule. An example of one 80:20 rule is that 20% of your customers give you 80% of your sales / profit. He makes a good point that this rule could just as easily be 95:20 or 80:10 as “customers” and “sales” are different variables and so do not need to add up to the 100 that you often see mentioned. The Long tail opens up the other eg 20% because in a digital world we are not limited by scarcity or physical limitations like shelf space.
Abundance
One message I liked in this book is that abundance is the correct way to think of the new digital age. Our current models are based on scarcity trade-offs between time/convenience and money which has been a norm since Adam Smith. Anderson recommends that we embrace waste and account for plentitude. He references Moore’s Law and writings by George Gilder as proof of this concept.
From “Or” to “And”
Anderson concludes his book with some tips on how to create a long tail business. In short:
1. Make everything available.
2. Help us find it.
If you are interested in business and how the future will be played online, I recommend this book. It’s easy to read and full of case studies. If you are pressed for time, focus on the first 5 to 6 chapters and then refer to the final chapter. You can read Chris Anderson’s blog here.
Listened to a speech by Daniel Smith this week and he mentioned a question that I wrote down. It was an abstract, big picture question. At first I passed over it as it seemed too vague to be useful, but then I realized that the answer to this question was an important reality check on whether my own life journey was heading in the right direction. The question was:
In the next 15 years what will you do to make the world a better place?
The lens that I look at the world comes under three categories: health, wealth and contribution (in that order). I asked myself would the vision I have for my own dreams actually make the world a better place.
Health
Health is always number one on my list of goals. Without good physical health you limit your energy and potential to live a dynamic life. Whether you like sports, going to the gym, hiking or endurance events, all these are key to making the world a better place. People who exercise believe in self-improvement and are often competitive. I think it’s a real shame that some schools forbid sports day on the grounds that some of the children will lose. This is teaching children something terrible because like it or not the world is a very competitive place and whatever your chosen field you need to be competitive- whether you are stock trading or raising funds for a community project. Being competitive means always improving. Sports teaches this to children in a fun way. Even if you lose today, you can come back tomorrow, train harder and have a chance the next week to compete and win. That is much closer to a winning life philosophy.
During the next 15 years I intend to continue my participation in triathlon races around the world in beautiful locations like Lombok, Thailand, Malaysia. I also will return to another love - scuba diving. This leads onto an important part of outdoors sports, the environment. I am more aware of the importance of maintaining a balanced ecosystem. As I become more involved in these sports over time I will direct my efforts to support efforts that are working to educate people about how to be a responsible tourist.
Good health will keep my energy high, allow me to share my talents and increase my awareness for how I can contribute to keeping nature beautiful. What are your health goals and dreams? How do they help the world around you to become a better place.
Wealth
Many people still have a negative mindset towards money and wealth. Growing up an Irish Catholic we were taught: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24). Which is not exactly an resounding endorsement for wealth creation!
Media sensationalizes wealthy people by focusing on their material possessions, wild and debauched lifestyles and other trivial parts of an abundant lifestyle. But wealth is more than that. Wealth creation is a important part of my philosophy of an abundant life. It says that I am responsible for my own wealth, I have the power to influence and there is absolutely unlimited “wealth” in the world. Having wealth is about having more opportunities to live a life of purpose, passion and sharing.
In 15 years I will have a successful publishing company which spreads important skills around the world to millions of people. Education is a key value for me. I went to a great school on a scholarship and I want to share that opportunity with children and adults everywhere in the world. Educating yourself is an important step to freedom. Wealth creation is the result of that process.
How much wealth do you wish to create in the next 15 years? How will you create it? Will you exchange your time for money? Will you build a business? Are you an avid investor. Allow yourself to imagine how you will use this wealth to create a wonderful life for yourself, your friends and your family. Because once you have a healthy life and you have created wealth, the third part is the most rewarding: contribution.
Contribution
Sharing my talents with the world is my main life purpose. In many ways, I see this as the main life purpose for us all. We all have abilities which other people can benefit from. By maximizing our ability to share them with the world is the journey I believe we are all on. Consider the people we admire. Don’t we admire the fact that they have the ability to influence and contribute to others, more than just their singular abilities. I like Michael Phelps more for his grounded approach to life than for his freakish talent. When he has stopped swimming this attitude will take him further even than his amazing sports achievements. Even if you are the smartest person in the world, this talent is only as good as your ability to share it with other people. Is this perhaps why the most intelligent people around us are never the highest paid? They believe that their internal talent is enough to take them to the top, whereas the less-gifted among us realize that it is only the ability to connect, support, share and build relationships that will help them rise above the more intelligent.
I founded my business on the principle of giving. We have supported Love without Boundaries since 2005 and now my new book has connected with The Library Project to ensure that enlightened self interest will also educate orphans in the rural parts of China. As my wealth grows, so does my ability to contribute. I read Randy Gage’s newsletter this week and he is very direct about his enjoyment of the material parts of life. He talked about buying USD10,000 pairs of shoes and USD250,000 cars. And if this makes you uncomfortable ask yourself why. He also contributed US300,000 to charities. That doesn’t mean he is a saint but isn’t that a tremendous way to live. To have the options to contribute massively to the worthy causes that turn you on.
How will you turn your health and wealth into contribution. What causes do you stand for? Education is my main cause but what’s yours? How are you going to continue your expanding contribution as you become wealthier? Feels good just thinking about it, doesn’t it?
Spend a few minutes today and write down some big, big dreams about how your dream health, wealth and contribution goals will help the world become a better place in the next 15 years. If your read your goals and they seem unbelievable, then great because no one has done anything of note that didn’t first sound unbelievable to themselves. Keep the picture in your mind and keep believing. Have a great week!
One of my own self-development targets for this year is to read a book a week. I have a big library of books which I haven’t completed (or started!) and I really want to tap into the wisdom inside them. I also just ordered 27 books from Amazon so I will have a full year of learning ahead. Can’t wait! In “Book of the Week” I share with you the main points (as I see them) from one of these books.
I just sat down and went through Tim Ferriss’ great book on lifestyle design. Tim has an excellent blog here which I recommend you check out. Here is a summary of what I took-away from this reading:
Become a member of the NR (New Rich)
Don’t retire. Combine rest and work throughout life with mini-retirements. Relative income is more important than absolute income ($/hr). NR make USD5,000/hr. Focus on being productive instead of busy. Focus on your strengths not weaknesses. Use Definition – Elimination – Automation - Liberation. This is used to organise the content of the book.
Stressed?
Use eustress not distress to motivate you. Eustress is a term coined by Hans Selye, and defined in the model of Richard Lazarus (1974) as stress that is healthy or gives one a feeling of fulfillment or a feeling that you have done something great. (Source: wiki)
On setting goals
Doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic. What would excite me? (rather than what are my goals?). Use Dreamlining (6 months and 12 months). Spreadsheets are included with the book and on Tim’s website.
On productivity
Time management out, elimination in. Increase personal productivity between 100 and 500%. Doing something unimportant well does not make it important. Use Parkinson’s Law: a task swells to fit the time given to it. Ask yourself three times a day “Am I being productive or just active?” The key to having more time is doing less. Define a short “to do list” and a “not to do” list. What would you do if you could only work 2 hours a day? 2 hours a week? Ask yourself: “If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?” Batch common time consuming tasks together (emails, phone calls).
Low information diet
Stop watching TV, don’t read newspapers. (W: totally agree with this, haven’t had a TV since 2006). When reading ask “Will I definitely use this information for something immediate and important? Check email twice a day at 12pm and 4pm.
On automation
Build a system to replace yourself. Eliminate before you delegate. Use a VA (virtual assistant). Select on cost per completed task (not per hour). Use a VA firm rather than a solo operator. Never use a new-hire VA. Create new unique login and passwords for your VA. Hiring a VA (Ask for excellent English). Find a product or service “muse” to put your income on autopilot (W: Tim focuses mostly on products). Micro-test your products.
In conclusion, this book is a great refresher on lifestyle design. I especially like Tim’s idea of having goals that excite you. I took a look through my own list and to be honest - although many goals were worthy - they didn’t all excite. I went through the dreamlining process and came out with some more exciting goals. Don’t let the book title put you off - it’s more of a challenge than an actual target. Start your journey to join the New Rich this year!
It’s now 12 days into the new year. Are you still keeping your New Year’s resolutions? January is a month when gym memberships soar, new diets start and alcohol is abstained from after the blow-out holiday season. But how sustainable is this way of making life changes?
Perhaps not very. “New Year’s resolutions are a form of cultural procrastination,” says Dr. Timothy Pychyl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University who specializes in goal-setting and the study of procrastination. ”Every culture shares the circle of rebirth and concept of a possible self where you have an intention, but start in January. If you really want to do something, you can start anytime.” Dr. Pychyl’s term “possible self” can be thought of as the aspirations for yourself, your family and your life. Just what do you want to be, to do and to have.
If you are struggling to keep your new plans on track, read on. We have four ways to help you keep your self improvement going well into 2009:
1. Are you ready for change?
Are you really ready for the change you want to make? Change is a process not an event. Ask people who have tried to give up smoking several times before succeeding, it is easy to slip back into a habit that has been built up over many years. Even people who seem to have just quit or just started a new healthy habit have likely gone through a cycle of smaller changes before, even attitude changes. I became a vegetarian in 2006 but had stopped eating seafood in 2004 after watching The Blue Planet BBC documentary which showed the damage deep sea fishing was doing to the ocean floor. My change took a number of years and smaller shifts in attitude before it became a habit. What smaller change or shift can you make towards your life change? Find someone who is already living the change you want to make and ask them questions. I found a few vegetarian friends who reassured me that you could live healthily and energetically without meat. They were competing in endurance races and lived very active lives.
2. Are you targets realistic?
Once you are ready for the change, set yourself a target. Can you sustain it? People who start exercise programs often start off very frequently - going daily or several times a week - only to get injured or taper the training off until old habits return. While I like to have a huge “unrealistic” target to get me excited and motivated about a new sport, I still need to start with smaller steps. When I started thinking about competing in triathlons I wanted to race in the Ironman which is probably one of the toughest endurance races around. When I started talking to triathletes and learning about the sport from podcasts, I realised that you need at least three years solid training to build up to that race, which for an amateur would take around 12 - 16 hours to complete. Realising this I shifted my attention to the shorter Olympic distance races which I finish in around 3 hours and are enjoyable. I still have the intention to finish (at least one) Ironman race but I keep myself going with smaller targets.
3. Don’t make excuses for yourself
Are you good at finding “reasons” why you should not follow through on your intentions. Why you don’t need to get up (in the cold) and go for that jog, or why it’s perfectly fine to eat that lovely cheesecake. Dr. Pychyl says excuses reinforce the negative behaviour you desire to change. “We say, ‘No more cake,’ but we give in to feel good, then the “what the hell effect” takes hold, and you eat the whole cake.” I have to admit I am a master of making these type of excuses - rationalising my actions so I still feel as though I am on track. At some point, we have to stop lying to ourselves! I make a game to help. For example, when I realised over the summer as I was writing my book The One Minute Presenter, I was hammering the coffee and candy and was putting on some weight. Rather than try to give up them up, I turned it into a game. I limited myself to a coffee in the morning and cut back the cake and candy to the weekend. I made a simple scoreboard so I could track my progress and after about a month my weight was back to normal. It was really fun to go to Jamaica Blue on a Saturday after five days without, I enjoyed it so much more! So stop making excuses for yourself, make the change a game.
4. Substitute rather than “give up”
Many New Year resolutions tend to be “give up” ones. Give up smoking, eating, drinking. Instead of just quitting something, switch a positive action for it. So instead of not eating junk food, combine that with ‘ a visit to the gym/ swimming pool / park twice a week’. Be sure to replace a negative addiction with a positive one - not another negative one. So if you quit smoking, don’t start eating five bars of chocolate a day. Set yourself targets (daily / weekly / monthly) and measure them. Tick off the days on a piece of paper or chart. Make sure you keep the chart visible, paste it up in your bathroom or kitchen.
Most New Year’s Resolutions are history by February. I don’t want that to happen to you. Contact me if you need any support with making your life changes a reality.
Read more about Dr. Pychyl here. You can also see similar articles on written goals here, getting started by making yourself a promise here, and some quick tips on getting focused here. Good luck with our 2009 plans and goals!
As we move into uncertain times in 2009, just how important is it to be clear about your own personal path? I believe it’s essential. Ancient wisdom says you won’t know if you have succeeded if you don’t have a target. If you don’t choose a path to walk down, you will never reach your destination.
Pick an area that you want to move forward with in 2009. Perhaps in your personal life, family, finances or business career.
What’s your promise?
My big promise to the world is to:
Be the catalyst to help you unblock the {communication} obstacles that are stopping you from sharing your unique talents with the world.
So whenever I consider an area of my life that I want to improve, I always start with my big promise. If I was considering business, I might look at ways I could help people become aware of their obstacles (like with a blog). I could create products, write books or audio products which can provide practical tips and solutions to these obstacles. All my activities are hooked on my big promise.
I may refine my promise to suit the category, so for a business goal, it may be:
“To become the home of practical wisdom on overcoming common communication obstacles.”
Now that you have a promise, think about the goals that will help you reach this promise. It will likely be a series of steps or goals. For example, it may start with talking to some friends to better understand common obstacles. It may involve writing an article. You may need to hold a seminar or workshop. For example, I plan to contribute more through using social media tools. This requires a plan on writing articles, using social media tools, learning which ones are most suitable for me, taking part in the communities and so on. I have blocked out time on my calendar of around nine hours a week to dedicate to learning and using this channel.
What are the conditions for success?
How do you know that you are succeeding? Most people spend a lot of time planing their goals in the first few weeks of the year and then forget about them until December when it’s too late to course-correct. If your promise was a table, then your conditions for success would be the legs. It needs to be obvious how well you are doing at any particular time. It’s obvious if a table only has three legs! So one of my conditions for success in my blog writing is that I will always be one week ahead in my article scheduling. It’s easy to see whether I am on track. I just look at the scheduled posts and can see immediately how many articles I have written. Make your goal tracking as quick and easy as that. These small “brushstrokes” all contribute to your final masterpiece. Break your goals into bite-size pieces and track how you are doing.
Who is responsible for them?
Some of your goals may involve more than yourself. Use the same process but also add in accountability. Have clear areas of responsibility and frequent check-ins to make sure everyone and everything is on track. Social media tools like Facebook can help here.
Reaching any goal is a process. Set yourself a clear path (and a clear reason) and you are more likely to stay the course as the buffets of reality unfold. Good luck and have an abundant year ahead!
Inspired by interview between Sean Redmond and Roger Hamilton. Listen here.
If you need to accelerate your progress in finding clarity in your path and taking steps to succeed, drop me a line. I help my coaching clients get clarity in their lives and I offer an initial free telephone consultation without obligation.
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