by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 29 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: How to be wrong
— From: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
The weather forecast is wrong a lot of times, yet we listen to it every single day. Isaac Newton was completely wrong about alchemy, yet he’s regarded as one the most successful physicists. Steve Jobs was wrong about his NEXT computer, and Apple is now one of the most successful companies in the world. And we can find countless other instances where the people and companies are wrong many times, yet they are successful.
Why?
Because, according to Seth Godin in his excellent book Tribes:
“The secret of being wrong isn’t to avoid being wrong!
The secret is being willing to be wrong.
The secret is realizing that wrong isn’t fatal.
The only thing that makes people and organizations great is their willingness to be not great along the way. The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret to success.”
“The truth is that they appear to risk everything, but in fact, the risk isn’t so bad. The downsides are pretty small because few of us are likely to get burned at the stake.”
Most of us battle an invisible jury in our minds that paralyzes us at the very first thought of a less-than-perfect outcome. If we let this fear stop us, we won’t be able to move forward. There isn’t an easy, failure-free way to move forward, but here are a series of steps that’ll enable you to do so:
- Become aware of your fear of being wrong.
- Recognize that it’s natural for it to appear.
- Thank the fear for trying to protect you.
- Set aside the fear and move forward to your goal, despite the fear.
- Be willing to go wrong and, when it happens, learn, learn, learn and apply those learnings towards the future.
- Rectify, clean up, set up a new path (now you know where NOT to go).
- Keep your goal in mind and keep going.
“The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.”
ACTION
TODAY: Is there a project that you’d love to take back on because you stopped cold for fear of going wrong? Think of the worst possible outcome and how to mitigate it. Give it a shot and realize that failure is a natural part of moving forward. Every lesson gets you closer to your goal. Every NO gets you closer to a YES.
FUTURE: Next time you’re about to start a new project, allow additional time for the expected wrong ways that you will find. If you are open and cognizant that being wrong at times is part of any project, you will have less of a hard time recognizing the lessons to be learned and moving forward. Keep in mind that being wrong is simply a detour that opens up a myriad possibilities; it is not a dead end and, never, a final state.
Know someone who needs to be ok with being wrong? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 49 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: No bad teams, only bad leaders
— From Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leaders make all the difference. That is why we see companies and organizations get in trouble or get out of it when a new leader comes in. And it runs the gamut from the leader of a nation to the leader of a children’s game. Whoever is at the helm sets the stage to foster radical change or fully preserving the status quo, and everything in between of such a wide spectrum.
Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, former U.S. Navy SEALs and experts in leadership, say that there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. “Leadership is the single greatest factor in any team’s performance. Whether a team succeeds or fails is all up to the leader. The leader’s attitude sets the tone for the entire team. The leader drives performance—or doesn’t. And this applies not just to the most senior leader of an overall team, but to the junior leaders of teams within the team.”
In Extreme Ownership, Willink and Babin emphasize that “leaders must accept total responsibility, own problems that inhibit performance, and develop solutions to those problems.” Only in this way will the team members see that the role they play and the efforts they contribute can improve the team’s work and bring about the highest performance.
Further, the leaders must be aware that in terms of setting and enforcing standards and expectations, “it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate.” This is important because “no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted, and no one is held accountable—if there are no consequences—that poor performance becomes the new standard.”
By accepting total responsibility and accountability, leaders set an example of excellence, high standards and performance that leads the team to become the best version of itself.
Likewise, at a personal level, you have what you tolerate. If you tolerate lateness or being out of shape, then that is what you have. If you tolerate love and good will that is what you have. The way you lead yourself is also the way you lead the various teams in your life. Take extreme ownership of your personal and professional life and lead yourself to becoming the very best YOU that you can be.
ACTION
TODAY: Think of the two most important projects that you lead right now: one at a professional level and one at a personal level. What are you tolerating? What can you improve as a leader? How can you take extreme ownership of both projects? Take at least one step today towards improving your leadership (even if that step is just writing down your thoughts to put them into action later).
FUTURE: Make a list of all the projects that you lead in your life (both personal and professional). What are you tolerating in each? Count both the good and the not-so-good standards and behaviors you tolerate. How can you take extreme ownership and improve your various teams so that they can reach their goals and excel at what they do? Share the concepts of extreme ownership and the importance of being a good leader who sets and enforces standards with them, so that they can be empowered by those principles as well!
Know someone who should enforce better standards in the team he/she leads? Please share this post with that person via email, Facebook or Twitter!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Productivity, Sales
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 21 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 5 things you need to stop doing now to be more productive at work
— From Time Traps: Proven Strategies for Swamped Sales People by Todd Duncan
At first sight, these five things that we can stop doing now to be more productive at work may seem too basic and plain. I didn’t think they’d make a difference until I gave it some additional thought, and what blew me away was the amount of accumulated time that can be freed up daily and yearly if we simply stop doing them.
Todd Duncan, the author, mentions that if we don’t take an organized approach to working, very likely we will say YES to everything and add it to our already full plates. “This is highly unorganized and allows unproductive interruptions […] to monopolize your time. To begin cleaning up your work schedule, follow these five guidelines to construct boundaries that regulate or eliminate the most common unnecessary tasks that clutter your days.”
- Don’t give your personal digits to customers. This means don’t give out your cell phone number, your home phone number and your personal email address. “Make it simple for them and sane for you: …give prospects and customers only one e-mail address and one phone number. It’s tempting and easy to justify giving out more contact information, but don’t.” Once you give your personal digits out you can’t control what clients or colleagues do with them and when they’ll contact you expecting an immediate answer. Be careful if you don’t want them to interfere with your personal time.
- Don’t give your work digits to friends. “If they already have them, ask your friends to e-mail and/or call you on your personal lines instead.” Sounds a bit extreme, but think about it in terms of your productivity. Your friends are likely to have your personal cell and home numbers, your personal email, and your social media. If there is an emergency, they can definitely contact you.
- Turn off the instant message and e-mail alert functions on your work computer [and your phone]. “The last thing you need is one-liners and alerts popping up on your screen all day. They are too tempting and will whittle away your time quicker than you realize.”
- Don’t answer the phone unless it is someone you are expecting. “Unless you are a retail salesperson whose business comes via phone, or you are expecting a call, you shouldn’t even have the ringer on.” If you fear you’ll be perceived as antisocial, try it for a day or two and see what happens. Let it go to voice mail and retrieve at intervals when it’s convenient for you. Don’t let it sidetrack you every time it rings.
- Don’t check your personal email during work hours. “Very few people [do this], and it adds to your work hours—sometimes several hours a week. Not only that, it adds to your [load of] responsibilities, like e-mailing so-and-so with a phone number, or calling so-and-so with directions, or checking out a Web site, or answering a question that can be answered later.”
“There are others, of course… [but those mentioned] represent the most pervasive but often overlooked, time sappers.”
If you’re saying ‘yeah, yeah, yeah… I know this,’ to these things and you still think they don’t add up, simply look at this conservative estimate of time freed up that appears in the book (the estimate is based on 230 working days/yr):
| TASK |
Time Wasted |
Time Freed |
| Personal e-mails to work address |
30 mins/day |
115 hours/year |
| Personal calls to work phone(s) |
30 mins/day |
115 hours/year |
| Answering every call |
60 mins/day |
230 hours/year |
| Customer calls to personal digits |
60 mins/day |
230 hours/year |
| Instant message & e-mail alerts |
15 mins/day |
57.5 hours/year |
| Total time freed up |
3 hours day |
747.5 hours/year |
If you think this is a high estimate, simply record your time wasters for a week or two, and modify the calculation to suit you. See how much time you can free up. What will you do with those extra hours that you now found? Imagine the possibilities!
ACTION
TODAY: Try stopping these 5 things and see how your day goes. Then at the end of the day reflect on what went well and what didn’t. How can you tweak to your advantage?
FUTURE: Over the next week or two, tally up the time you use in these 5 activities. This is for your eyes only, no need to share it with anyone, so be very honest with yourself—the idea is to find out how much time these tasks are taking—that way you’ll know how much time you’ll save by not doing them. Then, try stopping these five things for a couple of weeks as well. Figure out what works and what doesn’t along the way, and tweak according to your needs. Maybe you can stop all alerts but don’t feel comfortable stopping the one from your biggest client, or from your company’s CEO, or fill-in-the-blank. That’s OK, you will still save some time by stopping the other alerts. You can continue to monitor how many times your client/boss/CEO/etc. calls or emails with an urgent task vs. how many times it would be possible to retrieve it later, at a time that is convenient to you. Tweak and tweak again until you find a rhythm that suits you.
Know someone who could free up some time? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Productivity, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 13 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Block the block
— From What to Do When it’s Your Turn (and it’s Always Your Turn) by Seth Godin
We’ve all been told that we need to be motivated in order to work or take action on something.
I think it’s important to make a distinction in terms of what we understand and call motivation:
Intrinsic Motivation – this is the reason WHY we do what we do and we take the actions that we take. We work because we need to earn money; we get together with friends because we want to have fun. These examples are simplistic, but they paint the picture. We seldom question this motivation and simply accept it as part of who we are and what we do.
But there’s a second kind of motivation, and that is the one we are talking about here:
Momentary motivation – this is feeling like doing something at a particular moment. Some people think “they need the right cosmic alignment and the proper mood” to start doing their work.
Writers, for example, often cite writer’s block as the reason why they can’t write. “But this is a form of hiding,” says Seth Godin. And I can only imagine that every profession has its own form of a block: the entrepreneur’s block, the lawyer’s block, the architect’s block, the coach’s block, the chef’s block, the nurse’s block, the designer’s block… you’re blocked when you simply don’t find the willingness within you (your mind is not collaborating…) to do the tasks that you must get done, at that moment, to accomplish your work.
What’s the way out? How can you block the block from happening again? Momentary motivation techniques might work, but to ensure that you get rid of the block once and for all, the best antidote is to create a habit.
“A habit of showing up on a regular basis, of writing when it’s time to write [or of (fill-in-the-blank) when it’s time to (fill-in-the-blank)], raising your hand when asked, pitching in every single time. The habit is part of what it means to do work. Your posture of leaning into this opportunity, of connecting and creating and picking yourself: this is your work. How motivated you are today has nothing to do with the opportunity and the obligation you face.”
Building a habit will add consistency to your work, give you a certain routine and schedule, and avoid the block.
ACTION
TODAY: Think of the areas in your life where you sometimes experience a “block.” Make a list of the things that the block represents: what are you hiding from? It could be fear of failure (e.g. by being blocked you don’t write, and if you don’t write then there is no chance you’ll fail); it could be fear of success (e.g. by being blocked you don’t write and thus, there’s no opportunity for success, because you fear that if you succeed wildly your friends will leave you); it could be anything. This is as unique as you, be honest with yourself and give yourself the time to really dive deep and understand what the block means to you. It will be enlightening.
FUTURE: Based on what the block means to you, create the atmosphere and schedule the time so that you can build your habit, overcome the block and thrive. What will building your habit entail? Do you need to go somewhere to work without distraction for a period of time with certain frequency? Do you need to prep some physical or digital tools ahead of time so that you can perform? Do you need to declutter your desk (or the kitchen table) to work from there? Make it as easy as possible to create the habit so that you can have the odds in your favor to succeed.
Know someone who needs to get rid of the block? Help them get unblocked today by sharing with them this post via email, Facebook or Twitter!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 44 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Extreme Ownership
— From Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
The ultimate test for a leader is whether the team succeeds or fails. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, retired U.S. Navy SEALs and experts in building high-performance teams, say that there are only two types of leaders: effective and ineffective.
“Effective leaders lead successful teams that accomplish their mission and win. Ineffective leaders do not.” In our path through leadership, we can all be effective leaders, yet at times, we will be ineffective. Mistakes will be made and things will go wrong. However, as long as we keep in mind the principle of Extreme Ownership, we will be able to move forward along with our team and get another chance at being effective.
The principle behind Extreme Ownership is that “the leader is truly and ultimately responsible for everything… all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his or her world.”
While this may be very simple, it certainly is not easy.
As leaders, applying Extreme Ownership requires humility and courage. We must check our ego at the door and always remember that, “it is all about the Team. The sum is far greater than the parts.” Note that team here is loosely defined to suit your particular case: it could be a small business team, a large corporate team, a sports team, a school team, a military team, a non-profit organization, a country, etc.
Extreme Ownership is about responsibility and ultimate accountability. It requires looking at all the details and making sure that everything is covered, checked, communicated, empowered, enabled, etc., for the team to be able to perform at its highest and best.
Team members that see Extreme Ownership in their leaders “emulate Extreme Ownership throughout the chain of command down to the most junior personnel. As a group they try to figure out how to fix their problems –instead of trying to figure out who or what to blame.” There is a sense of camaraderie and joint desire to fulfill the mission the best way possible.
Extreme Ownership, although it sounds wonderful, is not an easy prize. The leader can never take his/her eye off the goal, there is no time for the leader to coast along, and there is never a moment to rest (figuratively speaking).
Here’s an example of what owning everything means:
“When subordinates aren’t doing what they should, leaders that exercise Extreme Ownership cannot blame the subordinates. They must first look in the mirror at themselves. The leader bears full responsibility for explaining the strategic mission, developing the tactics, and securing the training and resources to enable the team to properly and successfully execute.
If an individual on the team is not performing at the level required for the team to succeed, the leader must train and mentor that underperformer. But if the underperformer continually fails to meet standards, then a leader who exercises Extreme Ownership must be loyal to the team and the mission above any individual. If underperformers cannot improve, the leader must make the tough call to terminate them and hire others who can get the job done. It is all on the leader.”
Think about this last sentence for a second: it is all on the leader. Extreme Ownership can feel overwhelming at first. But think again: doesn’t it give you a sense of relief that success is dependent on you and not on an outside factor that is out of your control? By adopting the Extreme Ownership mindset, you already have (or are resourceful enough to find) the resources to win, or pivot, or fix and move forward, or do whatever you need to do to ultimately succeed with your team. This changes everything (at least for me): overwhelm is gone and empowerment reigns supreme.
Cheers to your success in Extreme Ownership!
ACTION
TODAY: Think about the projects that you are working on now. What is going well? What is not? Take Extreme Ownership of your projects and the teams you lead, and focus your energy on figuring out what you need to do today (apply Extreme Pareto!) to equip and empower your team to succeed.
FUTURE: Adopt the Extreme Ownership mindset and combine it with Extreme Pareto. As you move along, determine what is the one thing that you need to be doing right then to move your team forward to succeed.
Know someone who’s leading a team and could benefit from Extreme Ownership? Please share this post with that person via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 28 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Let’s redefine failure
From Black Box Thinking: Why Most People Never Learn from Their Mistakes–But Some Do by Matthew Syed
We’ve all failed at something at some point. It’s not a happy day when that happens. It’s a mad scramble as we watch our project go down in proverbial flames. The memory of it is not a happy one either and, usually, we try to avoid bringing it up again, right? Ugh!
Matthew Syed in his book Black Box Thinking, says there is a better way: “If we wish to fulfill our potential as individuals and organizations, we must redefine failure.”
“We learn from our mistakes, it is as simple and as difficult as that. […] Sometimes committing errors is not only the fastest way to the correct answer, it’s the only way.” This is, obviously, easier said than done. The key is not in the procedures but in changing the attitude towards error that liberates individuals and organizations from the “twin dangers of blame and cognitive dissonance,” which is the default mode when things don’t go well.
James Dyson, the inventor of the famous Dyson vacuum cleaner went through 5,127 prototypes (!) before his technology was ready. As tragic as airline accidents can be, the findings are quickly applied and transformed into new rules for all aviation personnel in the world to avoid the same mistakes. (Read more in this book summary by Samie Al-Achrafi.)
Heather Hanbury, former headmistress of Wimbledon High School in London, created “Failure Week” after she saw her students doing well academically but struggling to reach their potential outside the classroom. The rigidity of the school system punishing mistakes was stagnating the students in other areas of their life. She said to Syed, “You’re not born with fear of failure, it’s not an instinct. It’s something that grows and develops in you as you get older. Very young children have no fear of failure at all, they have great fun trying new things and learning very fast.”
How can we, then, unlearn and redefine this acquired fear of failure? A trite—but illustrative—example that comes to mind is the one coaches sometimes use to exemplify why we should not give up: think of an adorable baby girl who is starting to learn how to walk. Would you give up on her simply because she falls constantly? Would you throw your hands up in the air in frustration and blame it all on gravity? The mere thought of it is ridiculous. However, we sometimes do this (metaphorically-speaking) to ourselves and to our projects.
Here are some questions and a few posts to help you redefine and reframe for yourself:
- How many times have we given up on something that we’ve considered a failure without giving it a fair chance? (Read: Move forward imperfectly.)
- How many times have we found the process frustrating as opposed to making the most out of it? (Read: Why 5 Times.)
- How many times do we bury as deep as we can within ourselves whatever happened, and waste the opportunity to learn from it? (Read: You are not your past.)
And I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from T. Harv Eker:
“Every master was once a disaster.”
ACTION:
TODAY: You are the only one who knows yourself best and who can redefine failure for you. What steps can you take today to reframe a recent “failure,” so that you can make space for the new learnings? Even in the worst of situations there’s always a positive thing if you know where to look. How about focusing on that? It may look like “Where’s Waldo?” at first, but don’t give up. This simple process will help you reframe and redefine!
FUTURE: As much as it’s uncomfortable to accept, there is no way we can avoid making mistakes in the future. So let’s reframe that too: instead of keeping our fingers crossed and holding our breath “so that nothing goes wrong,” how about trusting in our ability and willingness to be able to gather the information and resources to solve the mistakes to the best of our ability if and when they happen? Ah, what a relief that thought brings!
Know someone who could use some help redefining failure? Please share this post with that person via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
