The Management Consulting Group

An recent article in Money Magazine said that “A coach may be the guardian angel you need to rev up your career.” In fact, if you pick up any major newspaper or magazine, you are bound to come across a glowing article on coaching. It is one of the fastest growing careers, with an estimated 20,000 coaches in the United States. Because coaching is a relatively new profession, there are many people calling themselves “coaches”—unfortunately not all of whom are fully qualified. You should know that there is no required professional certification process, although it is coming in the near future.

When hiring a coach, it is essential that you know and trust your coach, as they are helping you craft your most important project—your life! The wonderful thing about coaching is that most coaches offer a complimentary sample session. This gives you the opportunity to see their style and find out if there is a match. To choose the best coach for you, ask them questions about their background, training, and any certifications. Most people simply choose someone based on the chemistry they feel after the session, so feel free to trust your instincts.

In the 21st century, coaching is no longer a luxury, but a necessity! All human beings have a natural instinct to grow and learn, and due to the increased interest in self-improvement, more people than ever want the extra support that a coach provides.

If you are in business for yourself, a coach is an integral part of your “success team.” Your coach is invested in your success and provides insight, structure, and encouragement for increased effectiveness and fast improvements. He serves as your partner, champion and cheerleader for your success and fulfillment. She works with you to close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in the future. Coaching is based on learning, reflecting, and taking action. It is an interdependent relationship, with the coach playing many roles such as that of listener, questioner, challenger, resource provider, and idea generator.

Top 7 Reasons to Hire a Coach

Are you tired of struggling? Are you working harder but not smarter? Then perhaps it is time for a change. Coaches are “change specialists.” They bring a new and objective perspective to your challenges and stumbling blocks. They work with you to come up with creative solutions and exciting new directions.

A coach is professionally trained in human development and/or business processes, who forms powerful, insightful, and transformational relationships with his or her client. Through a process of discovery, life visioning, goal-setting, and strategizing, your coach partners with you to realize extraordinary results that could rarely be achieved alone.

1. You want to close the gap (more quickly and easily) between where you now and where you want to be in the future.

2. You have big dreams that scare you—and secretly would really like to live them out.

3. You want control over your own destiny.

4. You want assistance with staying on track—setting goals, managing your time/resources, and living in alignment with your values.

5. You’ve got great potential, but want help tapping into your intuition and personal power.

6. You want to be more successful—making more money or having more free time.

7. You want to explode your business and see amazing results fast!

Professional athletes and business executives stay at the top of their game with the help of a coach/mentor. For most of us, extra support can make all the difference in the world. Having a coach gives you the vehicle for accelerated accomplishment towards your goals. In this challenging world it is easy to get off track with what is most important to you. A coach keeps you focused, on purpose, and works with you to redefine goals and dreams. People dedicated to self-improvement work with different coaches throughout their lifetime and experience a higher level of living as a result. Depending on your need or challenge, you can find career coaches, relationship coaches, performance coaches, business coaches, executive coaches, prosperity coaches, communication coaches, etc.

***Just ask yourself: what life area would I like to change, improve or transform?

Coaching is an enlightening and empowering experience, and working with a professional coach can transform your life. There are a number of online resources to help you find just the right person. Visit www.locateacoach.com, www.coachvillereferral.com www.247coaching.com and www.coachfederation.org.

Michelle L. Casto, M.Ed. is a whole life coach, speaker, and author. She has written three self-help books and a dozen workbooks on life empowerment topics. Her coaching practice is Brightlight Coaching. She helps people come up with bright ideas for their life and empowers them to freely shine their bright light to the world.

Michelle can personally work with you to build and brand your business.

Contact her for a complimentary coaching session: coach@brightlightcoach.com

Visit virtually:
http://www.getsmartseries.com or
http://www.brightlightcoach.com

Sign up for her free monthly ezine, Get Smart! Live Smart by sending an email to:
Getsmarter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

We are frequently held back from making future plans or reaching goals based on the perceived wrongness of choices we’ve made in the past. I want to give you something to think about.

Most of us have made choices in the past that are we not proud of and may prevent us from moving toward the future. If you have made wrong turns and guilt prevents you from moving forward, think about this:

There are a few needs motivation theories that may help to explain: The ERG theory and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are two. While Maslow’s theory explains that we must fulfill the most basic needs first, the ERG theory suggests that we could be working on more than one dimension at a time after minimally fulfilling the basic needs.

These theories come into play for instance when an abused wife feels she can’t leave her husband. Her need for security, i.e.: a home, food on the table is put before the need for her safety.

A person making minimum wage may be working so many hours just to provide food and shelter that the thought of education seems nothing but a dream.

If you are living in an unsafe neighborhood, your efforts to remain safe may take up so much of your time that it’s difficult to consider social needs.

Choices we’ve made in the past are often based out of a need to fulfill. Our choices may have been limited and it’s even possible that years down the road we’ve forgotten the details. The next time your internal dialogue starts eating away at you, stop to think of where you were in the hierarchy.

For further study:
http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/ERG_Theory.html
http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Maslows_Needs_Hierarchy.html

Cathy Gariety is a Registered Nurse and Personal Coach at Power Group Coaching based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Email her at cgariety@Power-Group-Coaching.com

At a certain point our lives don’t change much. We’re moving around on automatic pilot and don’t notice the sameness that has taken oversometimes for many years. We’ve gotten used to very little occurring in our lives beyond our daily routine, and many people become comfortable with that, or just accept it. Somewhere along the way our lives got stale. We’re stuck in a rut. But don’t despair; being in control of your own life is being in control of your wellness!

More and more people are regaining control of their lives and changing their futures. They’re setting goals and reaching them, they’re feeling better, being happier, getting healthier and spending more time and energy on what matters to them. Their outlook on life has improved dramatically.

As you know, the concept of wellness covers a broad rangewith different definitions depending on where you look. But for starters, let’s use the followingwellness is the belief that improvement is possible throughout our lives. We’re continuously seeking information on how we can improve. We’re choosing options and making decisions that support our best interests. Everything we think, feel and believe impacts our whole being. You are in command of all aspects of your lifephysical, career, relationships, finances, spiritual, environment, and emotional well-being, and so on. You can break free and take charge of your life. Try these simple ways to discover how you can start moving towards taking control of your life and wellness.

1. Turn lack of time into more time.
“I don’t have the time,” that’s what John, a corporate attorney, constantly told himself and others. He knew he wasn’t alone. Lack of time was a concern for nearly every person he knew. John really wanted to be happier and healthier, but he just didn’t have free time to date, visit family, exercise, or any of the other things that made him happy. When John decided he had to take control of his wellness, the first thing he did was regain ownership of his time. He examined how he spent his time on an average day. By jotting down his daily activities and realigning his priorities, John found opportunities to include the things he really cared about in his daily life.

2. Reclaim your energy.
Megan, a wife, mom and marketing executive, was always tired. She had no energy to meet the demands of her job, do housework, run errands, cook, take care of her children, or the other priorities that made up her day. Megan desperately needed to reclaim her energybut instead, she let people drain it, steal it and suck it away. To begin, Megan examined the areas of her life that needed more attention and focus. She also drew new boundaries to protect herself, by declaring what she would and wouldn’t allow. Instead of working 12 hours, Megan cut her workday to no more than nine hours. She stuck to her plan, reclaimed her energy, and is there for her family and job with a new, revitalized energy.

3. Make lasting changes.
“Our resistance to making lasting changes is innate,” says Jeff, a mortgage loan officer. “It’s such a big challenge for everybody.” He constantly told himself that his inner resistance to making changes would stay with him forever. Jeff’s first step was to recognize that resistance is always the initial barrier to making changes. For example, losing the 70 pounds his doctor recommended would offset having to take daily medication for his Type II diabetes. Jeff started by being open to seeing the positive side of changei.e., first making a decision to change, and then enlisting help in doing so. He joined the YMCA, and now participates in Tai Chi and walks five days a week. He’s also met with a nutritionist who has helped him gain a better understanding of what to eat in order to maintain his overall health and well-being. Jeff has lost 30 pounds and continues to maintain a healthy, balanced diet.

4. Set boundaries around your life.
What’s one of the shortest wordsyet so difficult for many people to utter? If you guessed “No,” you’re right on the money. Sidney, a customer service supervisor was so afraid of saying no that when someone asked her to do something, she felt queasy inside because she wanted to say no, but felt uncomfortable actually doing it. The first thing she needed to do was learn her limits. She realized that learning to say no to the things that she didn’t want to do would help her reduce the stress of excessive demands on her time and energy. Sidney could say no in a way that was comfortable to her, yet respectful to the other person. Many people believe when someone makes a request of you, you must say yes, but saying no isn’t that horrible! When Sidney began saying no, it changed her whole life; she found her “to do” list shrinking. She recognized that it was her choice to either overload her schedule or only accept requests to do something when she wanted to.

5. Take excellent care of yourself.
Eden, an emergency room specialist, wanted to improve her quality of life. She was bored with her daily routine, and her social life was nonexistent. Eden began making changes for the better by putting her needs first. She focused on what she wanted, instead of others’ desires. She began scheduling two social activities on her calendar each month, in order to create a social life. Eden never really enjoyed living in the suburbs, but she was close to her job. She put together an action plan for re-inventing her life. The first thing she did was sell her house in the suburbs and move to a more urban environment in which she always dreamed. She could walk to quaint caf©’s, visit bookstores, shops and attend local festivals and art fairs right in her neighborhood. She started networking and began to meet new people on a regular basis. Eden’s life has become more satisfying and fulfilling.

It’s certainly a personal choice to get on the road to feeling better, being happier and getting healthier. It’s a choice you should consider making. For those of you reading this article, I challenge you to take a few moments to assess how you’re feeling. How’s your energy level? How much “me” time do you take on a daily basis? How’s your overall self-care? Consider how much better you know you could be with some effort, commitment, and support. Now is the time to make time in your schedule for you.

Diane Randall is a Certified Wellness Coach who works primarily with adults over 30 to help them reclaim their zest and drive for life. Randall began her wellness journey over fifteen years ago when an unexplained health crisis forced her to adopt a better way of living, and has since used her education and experiences to help countless others. Randall speaks and writes about a variety of health and wellness related topics affecting the adult community.

Contact her at diane@LifeAccelerated.com or visit her online at www.LifeAccelerated.com and take the FREE Wellness Assessment.

What if you could have a 500% plus return for very dollar that you invested in your employees? What would that mean for your business? Possibly right now you are thinking that this is not possible and even if it was, any business owner would jump at the chance for such an incredible investment?

First, it is true. So begin looking for that jump rope. According to a recent report by MetrixGlobal for a Fortune 500 company, executive coaching provided a 529% return on investment. This report is supported by other research including Dell Computers. Half of the 761 senior managers at Dell Computer Corporation recently received executive coaching within a two-year time period. Dell has been actively monitoring these managers through pre-determined measurements. One of these criterion indicates that executives who received coaching tended to be promoted more often than those who were not coached.

If you are now convinced that coaching is a viable strategy to enhance your bottom line, then what do you need to do as a business owner to implement a coaching program?

First, research any coach or coaching organization that you are considering. Ask for specific references where measurable results were put in place prior to the coaching. The coaching should be results focused with clearly identifiable measurements. Also, coaching certification should not be a limiting factor as many certified coaches fail to earn even mid five figures. The determining factor should be about the results that the coach has delivered with his or her clients.

Second, look for a coaching program that works with your company and can be quickly and affordably aligned to your company’s culture. This curriculum should also be easily adapted to other training and development group sessions as well as to the different roles within the organization including Executive Leadership, Management, Supervision and Leadership.

Third, coaching is a personal relationship between the coach and the client. Your employees must feel comfortable with the coach. Some preliminary communication should take place with your employees before the implementation of a coaching program.

Fourth, the coaching curriculum should be structured, proven and provide numerous opportunities for application and feedback.

Fifth, everyone in the organization needs to support and reinforce the coaching program. Management above those in the coaching program must understand and be in agreement with the program.

To be truly effective, an excellent coaching approach extends beyond the professional life into the personal life. For it is within each individual personally where the performance excellence evolves.

Coaching is a proven way to dramatically enhance your bottom line provided you incorporate at least these five strategies. By taking such action, you can achieve your goals quicker and leave your competition in the dust. That is unless of course they decide to enact a coaching initiative before you do. So what are you waiting for?

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Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. CEO of ADVANCED SYSTEMS located outside of Chicago, IL, is the Learning and Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business & education experience, she helps her clients to double their performance. By beginning with the belief systems, Leanne brings a unique perspective to her coaching practice that delivers at least a 200% ROI within 3 to 6 months in one of these 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation. She works within a variety of industries including education, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capacities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please contact Leanne at 219.759.5601 or visit http://www.processspecialist.com/coaching.htm to read how you can connect your passion to your purpose to double your performance for unheard of results.

Only you can call me into aliveness. Each time you try to understand and because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings, very small wings, very feeble wings, but wings. With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you can breathe life into me. ~ Charles C. Finn

Life is our brief precious time to feelto experience love, laughter, and wonderto design and contribute our unique creations and expressions of who we are and what we want to leave behind.

I paused to think about this gift of life, mysterious and marvelous. Filled with roller coaster highs and lows, each moment of life is exhilarating.

Our living energy continuously moves and changes, always seeking increase and offering abundance. I asked, “How do I celebrate this precious gift of life?”

Here are ten ways I like to celebrate being alive.

1. Walking though nature, and noticing the perfection in each intimate landscape.
2. Going to special places that fill me with energy; allowing that energy to wash away negativity; simply being instead of wanting or doing.
3. Hiking up the trail to a mountaintop in summer; skiing down from a mountaintop in winter.
4. Looking through an album filled with photos of friends and the places we have traveled.
5. Doing a favor for someone I have never met and making a new friend.
6. Enjoying the company of friends and family; laughing together and exchanging jokes, stories, and experiences.
7. Looking into a starry sky and imagining just how far it actually reaches.
8. Sharing experiences, joys, hopes, and future dreams with a friend.
9. Fully experiencing each moment and its emotions; remembering that all emotions are part of being alive.
10. Giving thanks to the Creator for allowing me to live on this planet, for friends and family, and for a gift so complete and perfect as life.

There is a beautiful quote by Frederick Buechner:

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis, all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.

Allow your heart to grow wings. Savor every moment of life and reflect deeply on each experience. Celebrate the peaks and valleys. Become aware of the authentic joy that continually binds moment to moment, year to year, and generation to generation.

Most importantly, give life the best you have, and life will give its best back to you.

© Copyright by Steve Brunkhorst. Steve is a professional life success coach, motivational author, and the editor of Achieve! 60-Second Nuggets of Inspiration, a popular mini-zine bringing great stories, motivational nuggets, and inspiring thoughts to help you achieve more in your career and personal life. Get the next issue by visiting http://www.AchieveEzine.com

Most people look outside of themselves as the cause of their unhappiness or frustration. After all, wouldn’t life be practically perfect if the significant people in our lives would simply do things the way we want them to or do what we think is best for them? Actually, this is the kind of thinking that perpetuates the misery!

I agree that most of today’s unhappiness centers on important people in our lives not cooperating with us. Can anyone relate to that? Have you ever had a child who makes a decision that puts them in serious danger? Have you ever had a significant other decide to relocate or make an employment decision with which you were not in agreement? Did one of your parents ever say something critical to you that rocked your confidence? Ever had a supervisor who micromanaged your work and never gave credit for your good work performance? I think you get the idea. Any one or combination of these things can be a source of unhappiness for us and I’m sure you can add several others to the list.

While we are in situations such as these, it sure feels like if the others in our life would just cooperate and be the way we want them to be, and then our lives would be so much better, happier and more fulfilling. While this may, in fact, be true, what I also believe is this. While we are busy trying to get those significant others in our lives to do things our way, the behaviors we typically engage in to move others in our desired direction are exactly those behaviors that damage, and ultimately destroy, our relationships.

You know the behaviors I’m talking about: punishing, guilting, complaining, nagging, threatening, criticizing, “the silent treatment”, and if we are particularly savvy, rewarding to control, otherwise known as bribing.

If you are one of those people whose first choice of action is to negotiate and open the doors of communication, then you are rare. Ask yourself what do you typically resort to when negotiations fail?

I know one of my more polished behaviors is nagging. I am a world class nag—just ask my children. You know the drill. “How about cleaning up your room today?” Thirty minutes later, after the child is still in front of his video game, “Are you going to get to that room today?” Maybe two hours later, several decibels louder, “What about that ROOM?” Then, as a last frustration, it’s “Will you get off your lazy a*# and clean your blankety blank blank room!!!!” Ever been there? Did it work to get the room cleaned? In my case, it usually didn’t.

However, I’ve have had some parents tell me that repeated nagging does work but then my next question usually has a different answer—At what cost? What was the cost of getting that room cleaned? First, there was the cost of you losing control and being a person you probably don’t want to be and secondly, there was a definite cost to the relationship between you and your child. Do you believe that after an exchange such as that one, the two of you will be ready and willing to have a meaningful discussion about life or anything else about which you may like to talk? Probably not.

What I am about to say probably goes against what you have believed the good majority of your life and that is that you, and you alone, are responsible for your own happiness. If you are waiting for someone to do something differently or for a particular thing to manifest itself in your life in order for you to be happy, then you are operating from the outside in instead of the inside out.

I am not here to tell you to stop what you are currently doing. If you want to hold on to your beliefs that when your husband becomes more affectionate, your children more obedient, your wife more supportive, your boss more appreciative or you to get your education, pay off your credit cards, buy your first home, etc. in order for you to be happy, then go ahead. But for those of us who want to practice inside out thinking, we don’t like to give the power to others to control our happiness or any of our other moods or emotions. We know that we are responsible for ourselves and no one else.

What I can help you with is learning how to be the person you want to be, feel the emotions you want to feel by changing what you do and how you think about things. There is a quote I want to leave you with from Jimmy Dean. “You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails.” This is representative of true inside out thinking. People and events are going to be what they are around us. There is very little we can do to impact other people’s behavior and the uncontrollable events in our lives but there is always something each of us can do to manage those things better.

Kim Olver has a degree in counseling, is a certified and licensed counselor. She is a certified reality therapy instructor. Kim is an expert in relationship, parenting and personal empowerment, working with individuals who want to gain more effective control of their lives and relationships. Visit www.TheRelationshipCenter.biz

I was invited to Kuala Lumpur (KL) last week to take part in a coaching event for International Women’s Day. Back in my hotel room I switched on the TV to find a star I didn’t recognise talking about her recovery from addiction. She was asked by a caller how she found the willpower and she said it wasn’t about willpower, it was about admitting you can’t do this alone, you need help. Later in the interview she said she checked in to the clinic alone. She said she needed to take 100% responsibility for admitting herself to the program.

I was still figuring out admitting you can’t do this alone v. taking 100% responsibility for yourself when…

I decided to do the Colonial Area walking tour described in the Lonely Planet guide. The starting point was the main train station (below) which looked near to my China Town hotel. Getting there proved to be a different matter!

My guidebook said pedestrian walkways were scarce in KL, here cars run the show. In Hong Kong signed walkways are everywhere but more often than not ’sponsored’ by some shopping centre or office complex. In Bangkok it seems to be a free for all, cars, bikes and pedestrians squeeze through using any means possible! Anyway following my map I took the bridge designed for cars across the river and railway and walked along the slip way. My path narrowed and then completely disappeared leaving me to dodge the oncoming traffic. I arrived at the start of my official walk somewhat shaken but was then able to follow the instructions in the book to see the main sites.

My next tourist venture was to the Islamic Arts Museum and I was dismayed to find it was in the same area. I thought I’d avoid the problems of the previous trip by catching a Light Railway Train (LRT) one stop across the river and railway. Looking at the LRT map I saw the two stations were actually joined. I asked at the information desk and a covered walkway was pointed out leading all the way to the main Train Station!

On my own in a strange town, I didn’t stand much chance of getting anywhere! Although the Guide book improved my chances, it also set up a limiting belief that there was a scarcity of walkways. I ‘proved’ this true when following the map and nearly got run over in the process! It was only when I asked for guidance that all became clear and I found an easy way.

So I admitted I couldn’t find the way on my own but where does asking taking responsibility come in? Actually on my second ‘crossing’ I asked for directions three times- in the hotel and at the bus station before I arrived at the LRT. I asked the hotel receptionist a rather vague question and she didn’t look really confident and at the bus station I felt my advisor was trying to sell me a bus ticket! It was my responsibility to decide whose advice to trust. I had to give honest and complete information, ask the right questions and then use my intuition to select my advisor. My progress and my decision remained my responsibility.

This is the same with issues we face in our lives. When what we’re doing isn’t working, willpower may not be the answer. If we listen to others’ experiences we may be led to believe that the solutions are limited and we just have to live with our problems. When we decide to seek guidance in the form of Life Coaching we do not hand over responsibility, far from it!

In Life Coaching is the coachee’s responsibility to give full information and set the agenda and their decision what to implement following a session. One of my coaches Judi Talesnick is very strict about using the word ‘help’. Giving help is based on the assumption that the person you’re helping is helpless and with coaching that definitely isn’t the case! You can retain responsibility with out having all the answers and be a Coachee without giving up control. In this way it is a true partnership.

As you know from my previous articles, I’m a big fan of coaching and I think that it can help people who are facing big challenges or big changes in their lives, or who just want to turn something good into something great. I’ve been coaching for years now, and I’ve seen the dramatic results that it can have.

But I’ve also had some failures - clients who didn’t seem to make any progress with coaching and left frustrated and disillusioned. I usually feel bad about this, and will sometimes return some of their fee if my coaching wasn’t up to standard. But thinking back over my history, there are a few markers that indicate that coaching won’t be a success:

• If the client has mental health issues such as depression or obsessive behavior, coaching is virtually impossible unless the client is in a stable state and under the care of a good psychotherapist. And even then, coaching will proceed much more slowly and have many more setbacks.
• If the client is getting coaching at someone else’s insistence, they will naturally be resistant to the coaching relationship and resentful that they have to spend this time. This has happened to me in work situations, where a client is getting coaching under threat of being fired; or when a spouse badgers his/her partner into getting coaching to “fix” him/her. If the client isn’t voluntarily and actively engaged, then coaching is just wasting everyone’s time and money.
• If the client is more interested in the coaching process than in achieving his/her goals, coaching gets frustrating. Some clients see coaches as a “paid best friend” with whom they can just chat for a while. This situation is often the coach’s fault, because he hasn’t got the client to commit to clear, measurable goals and isn’t holding the client’s agenda and making her responsible for progress.

So coaching is a great tool in making parts of your life better, but sometimes it doesn’t work. If you’re in a coaching relationship now and it’s feeling frustrating or pointless, review the points above and then talk them over with your coach. It’s likely that a short conversation will get you both back on track.

About the Author

Bruce Taylor is the Owner and Principle of Unison Coaching, and provides corporate and executive coaching to a wide variety of businesses including engineering, human resource, consulting, and recruiting firms. Mr Taylor has extensive background in Psychology, Human Resources, and Software Engineering. He holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from Duke University, a Masters in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, and a Certificate in Job Stress and Healthy Workplace Design from the University of Massachusetts. He can be reached at http://www.unisoncoaching.com or bruce_taylor@unisoncoaching.com

Would you like to start being more productive right now? Want to stop wasting precious time and move your projects to completion? This article will focus on how to be more productive from this point forward.

The key to becoming more productive with your time is to concentrate your efforts on the task at hand. So how do you begin to concentrate your efforts? The key is to eliminate distractions.

Distractions come from two sources. The first source is outside things, such as phone calls, emails, interruptions from other people and so on. Pick a time when you feel at your peak, and sequester yourself, for a period of time each day, to give yourself a real boost in productivity. Develop your own methods to “hide” from the outside world, for a period of time each day, and you will see your output grow.

The second source of distractions comes from within. Unfortunately, this is the hardest source of distractions to control. It is hard to shut yourself off from yourself. . The key culprit for us is multitasking. Many studies have been done at this point, that show multitasking reduces productivity, instead of increasing it. Our minds can only hold one thought at a time, and switching tasks causes us to lose focus and momentum, and forces our mind to play “catch-up” over and over again. To become more productive, you must master the art of focusing on one thing at a time and give it your best effort and attention, until it is done. If boredom sets in while you are working on your task, give yourself a SHORT break, and remind yourself of what the ultimate objective is for what you are working on and what the payoff is to you.

You need to make sure the task you pick to concentrate on, is in fact your highest priority item. Many of us fall into the trap of staying busy, vs. staying productive. One task may clear mountains of paperwork off your desk ,or you might be better served by moving just one piece of high priority/high payback paper. Use the 80/20 rule to help find the true “gems” in your inbox. The 80/20 rule says that 80% of the gains you receive, come from 20% of your efforts. Find out what that 20% of high payoff project are and make sure you concentrate on accomplishing them first.

And of course don’t forget the basics of time management. Say no to as many projects as you can to help streamline your workload. Try to “cherry pick” projects you know in advance hold high payback potential and try to pass on lower priority projects. Also delegate as much lower payback activity as possible. Calculate the value of your time and try to delegate low value activities, even if you have to pay someone. It is money well spent.

Increased productivity is as close as your next thought. Remember everything counts. Every action you take as well as those actions you don’t take can help you move towards your goal of increased productivity. Constantly remind yourself of your need to be more productive and discipline yourself to do the right thing. Don’t beat yourself if you have a setback, but be certain to reward yourself in someway, for each action that moves
your productivity up a notch.

Edward W. Smith is the author of Sixty Seconds To Success, he produces and hosts the Bright Moment cable TV and internet radio show, is president of the Bright Moment Seminars, is a motivational speaker, and publishes the free, daily, email of the One Minute Motivator (quick peak performance tip). His website is www.brightmoment.com and his email is edsmith@brightmoment.com.

Tracey started her video production company 2 ½ years ago, and after struggling through the start-up phase, she was finally reaping the fruits of her labor. When we talked, it was clear that she was ready to move onward and upward but didn’t know how to go about doing it.

“I am so busy these days, but I’m still not getting the level of work I want,” Tracey told me. “I really want to get in with some bigger companies, but I’m always scrambling to get my current projects done.”

“When I first started my business, I just wanted to get some clients, any clients. Now, I have people calling me up to do jobs for them, but those aren’t the jobs I want anymore. I mean, I need them, but I also want to start doing bigger projects for bigger clients.”

“All the people calling me are small business owners I’ve met at the networking meetings I attend. I know we talked before about the fact that I’m not going to meet the reps from the big companies there, so I need to develop a different marketing strategy to reach them, but I just don’t have the time. I keep thinking I’ll reach a point where I’ve got things under control, so I can start pursuing the bigger guys, but I never get there.”

It was clear that Tracey was exhausted from going through the same cycle over and over again, so I thought I would give her brain a reprieve by taking her back in time. “Do you remember when you told me about that guy that you met at a networking meeting last year? He was hounding you about making him a video, but you really didn’t see the opportunity there. He didn’t seem to have any money budgeted for it and didn’t have a clear concept of why he needed it and what he would use it for. You just didn’t feel like he was a good prospect, so you told him that you were too busy to take on his project.”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“Well, there was a time when you would have seen him as a viable prospect. You would have set up a meeting, spent a few hours going to/from the meeting, spent a few more writing up a proposal, placed numerous follow-up calls only to learn that there was ultimately no chance of getting a dime from this guy. Over time, you learned to qualify prospects, so you didn’t waste your time. By the time you met that guy, you already knew how to spot a bad opportunity and had developed the ability to say “no” to them.

“He was easy to turn down. He just didn’t have a clue. There was no way he would have ever turned into a paying client, so it wasn’t hard at all to tell him that I couldn’t help him out. But, I’m not talking about people like that. The people calling me are good prospects, but the projects they need me to do are just small. I just want to start getting some bigger projects too.”

“Well, you say you’ve been trying to get around to marketing to bigger companies for the past eight months, right? But yet, you continue to go round-and-round hoping that you’ll suddenly find the perfect moment to work on your marketing strategy to reach the bigger companies. It hasn’t happened yet so, just for a moment, let’s assume that this cycle will continue indefinitely. What do you think it will take to break it?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. I keep waiting for the right time when things slow down, so I guess the cycle will end when things slow down enough for me to think about it. I was hoping the summer would give me a break, but it didn’t. Maybe the holidays?”

Tracey was doing what a lot of us have done at some time or another. She was letting her business run her instead of her running it. So, the summer didn’t break the cycle and the holidays won’t break the cycle. SHE needed to break the cycle.

What I asked her to do is to start to distinguish between good opportunities and great ones. She’d learned awhile back how to say “no” to bad opportunities. What she needed to learn to do now is how to say “no” to good opportunities, so she could say “yes” to the great ones.

Most of her incoming phone calls were good opportunities, but the great ones were ones that she would need to put effort into pursuing. There was an opportunity lost during the eight months she filled with small projects. She lost the opportunity to be making contacts at the bigger companies, to be doing jobs for the bigger companies, and to be adding higher level projects to her portfolio.

Over the next month, we assessed the reasons behind why she was letting her business run her. Was she ready for the transition or was she rushing it? Maybe she really wanted to just stick with doing what she knew she could do well. Bigger clients could potentially require her to do things she didn’t have experience doing yet. Is that scary, I asked her.

It also takes a different approach to reach and pitch bigger clients. Was she uncertain about what marketing methods to use to reach them? Or did she know that cold-calling was the best way to reach her target market but didn’t want to have to make the calls? Or maybe she was afraid of meeting with some big executive of a multi-million dollar company.

After working through some of the potential blocks, Tracey laid out a plan for marketing to the big companies in her area. She contracted an assistant to make the preliminary phone calls to qualify prospects and set up meetings. Once the meetings were set, Tracey felt fully confident in presenting her services to the decision-makers. Within 2 ½ months, she had two new “bigger” clients and was outsourcing some of the smaller jobs to colleagues she had met through her networking meetings.

Take a note from Tracey — learn to say NO to good opportunities, so you can say YES to the great ones!

Are you saying “yes” when you should say “no”? Here’s how to find out. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What is your vision for your business?

• What is missing where you are now?

• What needs to happen in order for your vision to become a reality?

The process to follow is to:

1. develop a crystal clear vision of what you want your life to look like

2. use your life vision to create the vision of what you want in your business

3. make a list of what actions you need to take in order to go from where you are now to where you want to be

4. take consistent actions toward your vision

5. evaluate every new opportunity to determine if it moves you closer to your vision

It’s a BAD opportunity if:

• you don’t feel good about the work you’d have to do

• you wouldn’t be paid fairly

• you don’t like the people you’d have to work with

It’s a GOOD opportunity if it:

• gives you good experience but pays poorly

• pays well but doesn’t fit with your vision

• you’d enjoy the type of work and pay but not the people you’d work with or place you’d do the work

It’s a GREAT opportunity if:

• you love the work you’re doing

• get paid well for what you do

• feel inspired and invigorated by the people you’d work with and the place you’d do the work

About The Author

Kimberly Stevens is the author of the ebook series, *The Profitable Business Owner: A Step-by-Step System for Starting & Running a Successful Service Business*. Download Sample Chapters & get her free MiniCourse, *The 10 Most Common Mistakes Business Owners Make & How To Avoid Them* at: http://www.askthebizcoach.com/ebooks.htm; kim@askthebizcoach.com