Now I have long been a subscriber to listening to audio books in the car, which is another great use of time.  I’ll change the subject here for a minute.  I’ve mentioned many times before that, to make massive improvements, you have to self educate, there is no way around it.

Think about it for a minute, where else (assuming you drive yourself to and from work, without passengers) can you have some nice quiet time to yourself.  Let’s face it, when you get home at night, there are many distractions that can take you away from reading.

Why not make the most of the time you have to yourself, so you can make the most of the time you have with your family or on other projects that are impossible to do when you’re driving.

There have been instances where I have read a book and then listened to the same book on CD.  Powerful stuff because I heard the same message repeatedly, through different medias.  Which is a key exercise that leaders employ to help communicate a message to his or her team.

Getting back on track now…

This handy little device I keep in my shirt pocket is a great tool.  Many times when I am writing, my thoughts travel a heck of a lot faster than my fingers do.  I have spent several minutes with the cursor blinking mercilessly at me while I try to remember what I was going to type next.  Since my gums flap faster than my fingers move, dictating a blog, random idea or anything else I can conjure up is quick and I have found, more complete, than straight typing.

I have also discovered that when I go back and listen, other ideas come up and add value to the voice memo, all of which is invaluable when I can focus on an idea instead of trying to find the “R” key on my computer.

In fact, this blog and the last one “Why It’s Important to Get Going” were both dictated on my new voice recorder and there are two to three more waiting in the wings, just from about 30 minutes of my three hour drive last weekend.

One other excellent use for this handy little guy is recording conversations (no brainer, huh).  From time to time I sit down and quiz a mentor or other successful people on how they got their start, what their keys to success are and other topics related to business, money, personal development and achieving goals.  Now, I can focus more on the conversation and what questions to ask, instead of focusing on what was just said and trying to scratch down a note I won’t be able to read in two days anyway.

That’s my thought for today, more like Monday night about milepost 57.  Heck, sometime down the road there may be an audio blog or two, you never know!

That’s enough creative writing for one night, here we go.

I love Motocross… Actually, anything that involves two wheels and dirt, love it.  Either doing it, watching it, reading about it, being involved in it, whatever I can do to be around Motocross, Supercross and Off-road.  It’s an illness, just ask my wife Sissel, I know for a fact that I drive her CRAZY when I talk about it.

For some that maybe a huge shocker, but to those who have been around me the last few years, you know I have a problem and it’s a good problem (as far as I’m concerned!)

I brought up motocross to start this post because as I re-watched the final Supercross of the season on TV, it sparked the lesson for today.

There is a strange phenomenon I would like to discuss that is not exclusive to motocross, happens all over the place really, but unless you skipped the first few sentences, you’ll know why I picked it.  It generally used to happen once a year, sometime in late July and into August.  What seemed to be out of the blue, a select number of riders would magically find that speed they’ve been searching for (sometimes their entire career) and start getting the results that have been expected for them (there are exceptions, but we’ll get into that later.)

More often than not this all goes down just weeks before their contract is ready to expire.  The “silly season”, where riders are on the free agent market generally happens between the end of the Motocross season in late August/September and the start of the Supercross season, which is in early January.  Turns out there is quote a bit of motivation to produce good results, when their alternative career is potentially much less glamorous.

Anthony Robbins calls this phenomenon the “Niagara Effect” meaning that people generally are floating down the river of life and when they suddenly see the top of the waterfall they are about to go over and suddenly find the motivation to be, most often temporarily, ultra productive.  But like I’ve always heard – easy come, easy go…  This is not motivation that sticks, complacency eventually kicks in and those pushed by the Niagara Effect are more often than not, right back where they started.

To find motivation that sticks, it needs to come from within.  Sure your circumstances will help lead you to that time when you finally say “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” but like anything else you want to do in life, it’s a choice we have to make individually.

That is what the people who reach the top of a sport or industry do.  They have the sense of urgency like “today is the last day of my contract” and they have it everyday.  That is why guys like Roger DeCoster, Bob Hannah, Jeff Ward, Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and a select group of others, dominated Supercross and Motocross for so many years.  Yes, they all had/have talent and natural ability, but above all else, they worked harder and were more willing to do what ever it took to become a champion.

Staying in this mind frame is tough and it takes consistent and never-ending commitment to make it last a lifetime.  Personally, I have struggled with it in the past.  I had a moderately successful college basketball career, where I was motivated everyday to becoming better, but I got complacent, lost my mojo and regrettably gave up on basketball too soon.

I didn’t realize it till a few years later, when it was too late to do anything about it.  So I have had to change my focus, from being the best basketball player I can be to being the best husband, father, mentor, businessman I can.   Now, I compete with myself, trying to make myself better everyday, so I can help others realize their goals and become successful.

So to help get ourselves kick started in the right direction, we need to adapt the idea that our contract is about to expire, that

“Today is the last day that I have, to show the world and more importantly, myself, how good I really am.”

Take this sense of urgency and use it in your business or career, your relationships, wellness, finances, anything and everything you are committed to success in.  You’ll begin to see measurable improvement the longer you can stay in this state of commitment.

Like training our body, we need to train our mind to get this sense of urgency.  During my day, I pick the things that I do best and then try to delegate as much of the other work as I can.  Then, with a focused intensity, I try to work quickly on one task at a time.  There is a distinction to make here, it is one thing to be quick, it is an entirely different thing to be in a hurry.

Hurrying is frantic and sloppy, errors and mistakes are abundant.  Quickness is moving at a pace that maintains superb attention to detail,  is under control and free from a frantic feeling.

This allows me time to work on special projects, other interests and by creating more time for myself, I have to opportunity to use it however I like.

To wrap it all up, champions condition themselves (with the help of a good coach(es)) to have a sense of urgency, a high level of importance, on how they go about their day.  Maximizing the same 24 hours we all have, better than those who sail through mediocrity.

Finding this place for ourselves is one of the key factors in determining how far we will get in our lives, how far forward we will put our children down the road and how many people we take with us on our climb to the top.

It completely and udderly SUCKS.

As hard as it is for me to be gone, my wife is home alone with three crazy kids, who just want to see their Dad.  She definitely has got the tougher end of the deal.

In situations similar to ours, it can be tough to paint a rosy picture and see the upside of the situation.  Both my wife and I have our moments and it seems like when one of us is down the other is there to pick the other one up.  One thing I know, is that I REALLY dislike being away from my wife and kids.

During my commute back to my temporary home (which I am so grateful to have, thank you guys for giving me a place to stay!) I was contemplating on how to get my mind right and see the positive effect that my work will have on our future lives.  Since the world works in mysterious ways, I heard something that Coach John Wooden had said, not sure if it is the exact quote but here it goes…

“Things work out best for those who make the best of things that work out.”

Just hearing this, immediately changed my perspective.  All at once, I remembered that it really is up to me.  Up to me too make the best of whatever obstacle is placed in front of me.   I had to remind myself, because it is easy to forget sometimes.  Those negative thoughts start creeping in and they need to be shot down like a SCUD missile.

Remember this as well, with every obstacle, comes opportunity, lets call it the yin and yang of the world, one of those universal laws that cannot be broken.  Only thing is, these opportunities can can be like a street sign covered by tree limbs, you won’t know it’s there unless you are tuned in and aware of your surroundings.  If you’re not, you’ll pass it by and never even know it was there.

So if you feel like nothing is working out for you, make a shift in your focus,  seek opportunity in every situation.  Opportunity (big or small) to make an investment in someone’s life, in yourself, in your business, financial statement, anything.  See the opportunity in the obstacle and then you will see progress up the path to achievement.

]]> http://jasonheide.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/warning-if-mind-provoking-post-causes-mental-stimulation-for-more-than-four-hours/feed/ 0 jasonheide http://jasonheide.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/how-a-great-offense-will-lead-to-great-success/ http://jasonheide.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/how-a-great-offense-will-lead-to-great-success/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:48:22 +0000 jasonheide http://jasonheide.wordpress.com/?p=206 ]]> Over the past few weeks I have made a few changes, one of them being a new line of work.  Something a little different than I have ever done before, so needless to say there has been a TON of learning going on lately.  It’s one of those deals where at the end of the day, my brain feels (and probably looks like) a bowl of mashed up bananas.

One of my projects for the new adventure has been developing a game plan to help streamline the business, decrease cost through increased efficiency (my apologies for the engineer coming out in me).  The framework is there to start with, these guys have been doing business for a long time and they know their stuff.

So why in the heck would I try to go and shake everything up?  Well… I’m not trying to turn the world upside down, but here’s my thought.  I know systems work, plain and simple.  The triangle offense that the Lakers run, any football team that runs the “spread” or that frustrating zone read offense, those guys are running a system.  These large multibillion dollar companies that run on operation manuals, flowcharts and anything else you can dream up, operate profitably with the help of defined procedures and guidelines.

A good system is going to afford you a couple of things.

- Spending more time on the activities that are going to make the company the most money.  Real estate entrepreneur Ron Legrand® says “The less I do, the more I make.”™

Think about for a minute.  Any of us could identify the two, three or four things, that we personally do, that really rake in the cash (hopefully one or two of those is sales and marketing.)  Maybe you are a bargain hunter, finding items that can be bought cheap and turned quickly for cash.  Anyway you slice it, more of our time and focus should be spent on our (as in yours or mine) most profitable activities.

- It sets a standard for what you expect from your employees.

I talked heavily in the last post about consistency from leaders and the same could be said for employees as well.  A good system will add structure (which is something most all of us need anyway, even as adults) and help the entire organization to be more consistent.  Consistent with customers, each other, everyday performance AND ultimately… Time and money.

- It sets a standard for what your customers can expect from you.

I know that I am generalizing a good deal of this post and the task may seem daunting when you start to think of all the processes your business experiences day in and day out.  This isn’t going to happen in a day, month or maybe even a year.  For example,  I have a friend who has his own land surveying company.  Last winter, during the slowest part of his work year, he sat down and began to write up outlines and pr0cedures for the work they do in the field.  He can only do it during this time, because during the rest of the year he is WAAYYY to busy to spend time on this type of project.  On the other hand, the more he gets into place, the more time he will allow himself during the busy season of his business.

So…  Before you drive yourself crazy trying to figure this all out, there are a few things to keep in mind.

- Keep it simple.

The best way to kill a new system you’re trying to implement is by making it difficult.  Weighing it down with paperwork and what can seem like endless procedure.  By no means am I saying to leave out critical steps, but figure out a way to make them easy to do and easy to remember, and then hold your people to them.  If you let them get away with straying off the path you have laid out for them, you may not be able to get them back on it.  Here is an excellent place to lead by example, set the standard for others by setting it for yourself.

Keep in mind that one other critical function of a system is to provide checks and balances for day to day operations.  Be sure to include critical points and stop gaps to cut down on errors, especially the errors that reach your customers.

- Communicate the message.

I have heard John Maxwell say that some of the best CEO’s sound a lot like broken records.  They reiterate the company goals and objectives over and over again.  The most effective communicator will use different medias (ie, memos, speeches, etc) and different people to disseminate the message.

Remember that people learn in three different ways – in layman’s terms they are seeing, hearing and doing, so your message and objectives need to speak to each learning type to be effective.

I said it before, but to get your people to adapt to new systems, implement them and ultimately help tweak and perfect them, you will need to have positive influence with them.  It’s the only way.  I’ve seen and experienced old school yelling, screaming and belittling.  The only thing that gets you is unhappy employees who don’t care if you make another dime or look like a jackass.

To wrap this whole thing up, systems are a requirement in any business.  To grow effectively, the system needs to be there before the growth, otherwise you’ll be spending all your time trying to figure what the heck just happened (going from responding to reacting) which is stealing focus from those few activities that one, you do better than anyone else AND two, makes the company the most profitable it can be.  Remember to keep it simple and spread the message often and through various avenues of communication for maximum effectiveness.

I hate to be the guy that beats a dead horse, but…  I would like to revisit that last Pac-10 basketball game.

To get some perspective of the game, I was sitting directly behind the bench of the team in question.  The thing that drove me crazy, was how often players were getting moved in and out of the game.  I felt bad for the guys because how in the world can you get in any kind of rhythm or consistency when you’re in the game for 1 or 2 minutes at a time?

Let me pose this question… How can anyone expect results from their team when there is inconsistency in their leadership?

The problem is that you can’t.  The last place that I worked was like this.  The leader of the company was so inconsistent, you didn’t know if you were coming or going.  It was like walking into the eye of a tornado every time you stepped into the office.  The “best part” of this is that the boss blamed EVERYONE ELSE for his temperament and inconsistency, which is a whole different post altogether.

There are two major problems here. 

1.  It is hard on your people.  Inconsistent behavior from you, will only make your people inconsistent.  Sure everyone has an off day and that is acceptable every once in a while.  We all perform best when we can get ourselves into the work “zone” and inconsistent behavior from a boss interrupts the rhythm of the day.

Situations like this drive up the cost of doing business because it kills productivity.  Another side effect can be the non-stop bitch sessions (which I have seen and unfortunately gotten sucked into from time to time) that ensue, which happen most often on company time. 

2.  You lose influence with your people.  Inconsistency displays panic, lack of faith in yourself or lack of faith in your vision.  Put yourself in the shoes of your team.  See the look in your eyes, the unsureness in your voice, the body language that shows your quiet desperation.  Would you want to follow someone like that?

Think back to the basketball game, there you are sitting on the bench, you’ve been in and out of the game several times already and here you are getting called back in.  In your mind, you’re not thinking about the game, it’s things like, “I’m just going to get yanked in 2 minutes anyway” or “We’re getting our asses kicked and coach has no idea what to do differently” 

Can you expect to get results from people whom you have lost positive influence with? 

When that starts to happen it is like business suicide because if the only consistent thing is your inconsistency, the effects are like a giant snowball from a kids cartoon.  Getting bigger and bigger with every revolution and the bigger it gets that faster it grows.  Your people transform from responders to reactors.

Being a great leader, business owner or parent/spouse (this has the same effect in our families as well) is hard.  If it was easy… you know the rest.  So what can we do to help make ourselves better.

Reading is the best thing.  Zig Ziglar said in his book “Over The Top” that the thing that determines how far we get in our business life (or any aspect as far as I’m concerned) isn’t the things we do at work, but it is the things we do outside of work.  There is no better way to get better than to read. It doesn’t matter if it’s books, magazines, trade journals or even blogs.  Remember that all the reading in the world will not do you a lick of good unless you take some sort of action with your new education.

Next best thing is to keep a journal.  Write down the things that work well and the things that don’t.  This is a chance to write lessons to yourself because you should also go back and periodically read your journal. 

Get with like-minded peers and form a mastermind group.  In his study of the most influential and wealthy people, Napoleon Hill credited the participation in a mastermind group as one of the major factors in determining the success of people like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie.  Our country was founded by a mastermind group, all the names of those men are on the Declaration of Independence.

To wrap it all up here, consistency in your actions, the way you treat people and the way you run your business and life are going to help you progress (further and faster.)  It will help you gain and keep your influence with people and from a business standpoint it will help keep the cost of doing business down.  That’s what we are looking for isn’t it? A way to reduce operating costs and get people invested in the vision we have for our business.

While these guys played a zone all night (for some reason they never changed strategy even though they were getting killed) the problem I saw applies to zone or a man defense. The key to a great defensive team is the center, they are the “General” of the defense.

The General is the key communicator to the rest of the troops. Since he is in the middle and closest to the basket, the center can see everything that is going on out in front of him. They are the one who gathers all the information and directs the troops accordingly to make the plays necessary to win the game.

Coach Swen told me that one of the best players that UCLA ever had, Bill Walton, was one of those guys, constantly talking and communicating to the guards and forwards like a conductor to his orhecstra.

As a business owner or employee with management status, isn’t the same true? You are relied upon to take in all the information, process it and delegate the right people to the right job. As the “overseer” you must see the big picture and how all the interconnected parts communicate, relate and function as one team.

So is that the postion you have in your company? If not, then it is time to do some serious revaluation. The major purpose of having employees is to one, create a reliable, knowlegdable group of people to help make the vision you have for the company a reality. Two, to delegate activites, so you can concentrate on the things that make your company the most successful/profitable.

An effective General will delegate with clearness and conciseness what needs to be done. The more effective the message, the more time the General can spend on the right activites.

The General approach can find it’s way into your home as well. I’m not talking about 5 am wake up with role call. As the leader of your family, or in a joint effort with your spouse, we need to see the big picture in regards to finances, who and where we spend time with, activites, etc. Families need goals too, because without goals and vision, our families will parish, just like any individual would.

Becoming a better General takes some practice. One of the best resources that I have read is Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” By no means is this a book about deception and pulling the wool over someones eyes, but it is a philosopy on human interaction and behavior. Think of it as a tool box to communication and relationship building, keys to becoming the best General you can.

In stark contrast, for every time we ended a game like this one, there was at least one other game where the meltdown that ensued was on a Chernobyl magnitude.  Call it a lack of poise or composure, either way it was downright frustrating and disappointing to go so far, fight that hard and come up short in the end.

When the pressure is on and the chips are down, how do you handle it.  Level headed and confident or frantic and jumpy?

Taking notes from the Olympics, I just got done watching Lindsay Vonn and Shaun White win a couple of golds for the USA.  On the biggest stage of their careers and both performed at unprecedented levels.  Were they nervous?  She was shaking more than a dog shittin’ razor blades. I was more uncomfortable watching Vonn in the starting gate than I was when she raced down the slopes.  Despite that she rose to the occasion and dominated the race.

Poise like that only comes from experience, gaining such a strong belief in yourself and abilities that even with doubts and nervousness you can still perform at your personal best, exactly when you need to.  Did you catch that?  Exactly when you need to.  These athletes (especially the Olympic athletes) train themselves to “peak” at the right time, this stuff doesn’t happen on accident.  So combine the experience and the preparation and you have one mentally tough athlete, ready to fulfill their dreams.

These principals can be translated to business or family.  Take a look over your calendar for the next few weeks or months.  You should be able to see a few major events that are critical to your success.  A meeting, presentation, lunch, job review, seminar, a proposal to your significant other, etc.  These are all known things, stuff that you can plan and prepare for.  Situations where nothing short of excellence is required to take your life to the next level.

Lets face it, it is HARD to be great for everything you do, all the time.  Vonn and White have off days, and it’s ok when we do too.

So poise/composure is not something that happens on accident.  Lots of focused work and preparation (visualization is a BIG part of prep) are going to help give you the confidence to deliver when it matters most.

Please take a few minutes to not only read it but take it in and see how you can apply it to your personal, family and business life.  This is a lesson no one should miss.

http://blog.coachswen.com/2010/02/14/when-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-get-going.aspx

Jason

Coach asked me about my days at Oregon State and somehow we got to talking about what was my “breakout” game.

My breakout game happened in my sophomore year and coincidentally it happened in Pauley Pavilion at UCLA.  The same place that saw one of the greatest coaches of all time win so many games and championships (which were all secondary to his ultimate goal of helping each one of his players be the best they could be), where Coach Swen had spent endless hours practicing and playing and a place that always had me in awe over the amazing history.

Up to that point in our season I had not started a game, which is something that I struggled with because I wanted so badly to start and I felt like I had earned it.  The day before or maybe the day of, my coach Eddie Payne let me know that I was going to start (I think about it now and it seems to me that Coach Payne knew exactly what he was doing by making me wait, keeping me hungry to win the starting role).  At first I was soooo pumped, but then my nerves started to creep in.  this was more than just another game for us.

This game was nationally televised on ABC and announced by Dick Vitale (Ron Burgundy would say he’s kind of a big deal).  I could go into all the details but I will spare everyone the boredom.  Needless to say I had a great game, Dicky V loved my skills and oddly my hair, perhaps because he has none.

Some might say that I came out of nowhere, that one day I’m just a bum off the bench to the next where I’m one of the opposing teams problems.  Naively, I’ve said it before about other people, not just on the basketball court but out there in the real world too.

What I forgot was my breakout game was not a fluke, it didn’t happen overnight, it was 5 plus years in the making.  It more or less started my freshman year in highschool , when I began to get serious about basketball and the doors it could open for me.  That one game had thousands of hours in the gym behind it.  Workouts so hard, it was everything I could do to keep from vomiting (supertreadmill training, it’s a hurl factory!)  Thousands of dollars invested by my family, all so one day I could stand at center court, ready to kick some (insert Pac-10 team) ass.

My few moments of nostalgia made me realize I had no idea that this was all going to go down when it did and the timing of the whole thing wasn’t as important as the fact that I had prepared myself for the moment.  Many times we get started on a project and lose sight of the big picture because in general, people do not have the patience to keep working, improving and preparing themselves for when their time comes.

I know that I have started and left many things unfinished for that very reason.  The feeling that I have put in a multitude of time and effort into something had nothing to show for it (or thought I didn’t), axed it and started over on the next project/idea.  That kind of behavior is a killer because it can breed self-doubt, a negative attitude and complacency.

It’s going to take persistence, perseverance and gobs of hard work to get what you want.  If it were easy to be successful and have a legacy that lives beyond your children’s children, then everyone would be doing it.  Make the commitment, get sick and tired of being sick and tired. 

If you’re stuck in a rut and need someone to bounce ideas off of or just looking for a little direction, drop me a note at jasonheide@gmail.com

- Jason

For more information on Coach Swen I added a link to his website over there on the right hand side of the page, check it out, he has some great insight about his experiences and time with Coach Wooden.

It’s what it all really comes down to.  The great idea that you never went anywhere with, and now the “ShamWow” guy is pitching it on a late night infomercial.  Your action (or inaction) will define you because it is another one of those decision things.

Take this post for example, right now it is 1:43 am, which is waayyy past my bed time and considering the time I get his wrapped up, I’m staring at maybe a three and a half hour siesta.  Which means lots of coffee in the morning, but it’s ok because I would have a hard time dealing with the fact I had an idea and wanted to share it with everyone but went to sleep instead.  You may be saying to yourself, “It could have waited till tomorrow” but what if tomorrow never comes?  Or some other inspiration strikes and I’m off in another direction.  These words may never have seen the light of day and missed the chance to share a thought.

This blog started out of the desire to take action.  I really had no clue what the heck I was going to write about when I signed up for WordPress and I am pretty sure I mentioned that my blog didn’t really have a theme somewhere (I looked, it’s on “About this Blog”) The only things I knew were these, I wanted an outlet to share my thoughts about whatever was on my mind at the time, an opportunity to connect with like-minded people by writing about my interests and the biggest reason… help people.

I felt compelled to write about action tonight because it is something that I have struggled with in the past.  Most of the time my inaction could be wrapped up in a nice package called procrastination.  At one point I thought that I had cured my inaction by visualization and prayer.  After more of the same subpar results, I had to reevaluate.  Visualization and prayer are very important, but without action they are nothing more than a Charles Barkley hosted SNL in your mind (man that was bad! Love you Chuck, you were my role model.)

In this case, like attracts like, so action creates more action.  It’s like a giant snowball, building size, speed and momentum.  That momentum makes the snowball unstoppable which can happen for all of us.  Sure the snowball has some trees to run over and maybe a chairlift or two, but it forces it’s way through and comes out on the other side bigger and stronger.

Take a minute and think of something you have been putting off. Make a decision and do something about it.  RIGHT NOW!!!  Do not wait or hesitate, because that is just more of the same ole behavior.