by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Links to other parts of the miniseries:
Duplicate yourself – Part 1
Duplicate yourself – Part 2
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 44 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Duplicate yourself – Part 3
— From Work Less, Make More: Stop Working So Hard and Create the Life You Really Want! By Jennifer White
In this miniseries we’ve been talking about the importance of “duplicating” parts of yourself, and so far we’ve learned what is and is not duplication, as well as what to look for in our “clones.” Today we will determine what to duplicate and how to do so.
While duplicating yourself could possibly entail hiring someone, Jennifer White (the author) says, “that’s limited thinking.” She explains: “You can find the right people who will become partners, vendors, suppliers, strategic allies, independent contractors or employees.”
When you hire employees, you naturally have to deal with a lot of other issues: salaries, taxes, vacations, and so much more. White says you shouldn’t box yourself into thinking that. Instead, “ think about creating a virtual support team. A team you personally select to duplicate parts of who you are.” Technology today enables us to do this and much more.
On Part 1 you answered the questions that enabled you to figure out which qualities in yourself you need/want to duplicate. Now you need to look at the abilities that you need to duplicate. “What is it that these folks will do? Look at the three most important things you do, the activities that add the most value. Within each area, a multitude of items must get done.”
White gives the example of connecting with customers. Let’s assume you are a master at that. Then a very important part of building and maintaining those relationships with your customers is the follow up phase (phone, email, etc.) “What if you could train someone or something to duplicate your follow up process? It would happen automatically—without your doing one thing—and the customers will feel cared for because the follow up was way beyond their expectations.”
ATTENTION HERE: we’re talking duplicating and not delegating the follow-up process. “The difference is that the person/system you create duplicates exactly what you would do if you were to do it. It’s not about you dictating a letter that your assistant types. In that case you’re still doing the work. Duplication means you do not do anything to generate what needs to get done. Nothing.”
Was that last “nothing” appealing but sounded too good to be true? Here are some possibilities for duplicating this example of a follow-up process:
- The right person. Someone who could be an employee, independent contractor or customer service rep can follow up for you. “This person has the exact same personality that you do so the customers feel as if they were talking to you.”
- Hiring a salesperson. This person would handle the contact from first visit to sale. While this normally happens when companies are in the growth stage, White asks, “Why wait until that happens?”
- An automated system. This sends letters, emails, etc., at specified times as follow up. The system duplicates the process. When we feel overwhelmed or overloaded, it is natural to ask who can help you. White, however, suggests you ask a better question: “How can I automate this so no one has to do it?”
As you can see, there are many ways in which you can duplicate yourself and what you do. Both technology and manpower exist at very reasonable costs nowadays to be able to do it, even if you are a solopreneur.
ACTION
TODAY: Jot down the areas that you could potentially duplicate. While it’s counterintuitive, those things that nobody does as well as you do, are exactly what you should duplicate to enlarge your reach, grow your practice, have more time, or whatever your goals are. Once you’ve found out what you want to duplicate, then come up with at least 3 ways to duplicate that activity. White says, “Think in terms of technology and people. How can you automate the process? Who can you bring to your team to duplicate you?”
TOMORROW: Come back to read Part 4 to learn how to know when duplication works!
FUTURE: Keep jotting down the ideas that come to mind about parts of you that you can duplicate with people, systems and/or technology. Remember that there is no such thing as a shortage of ideas. The more parts you duplicate successfully, the more freedom you will have to spend your time and energy in the pursuit of other (related or unrelated) goals.
Please share Part 3 of “Duplicate yourself” with someone who could use a little duplication, you can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Links to other parts of the miniseries:
Duplicate yourself – Part 1
Duplicate yourself – Part 3
Duplicate yourself – Part 4
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 14 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Duplicate yourself – Part 2
— From Work Less, Make More: Stop Working So Hard and Create the Life You Really Want! By Jennifer White
In yesterday’s post we learned that we can, and should, “duplicate” parts of ourselves to increase our output and “make more,” as the title of the book suggests (Work Less, Make More). This does not only refer to money, but also to time, and to the freedom to make the most out of life for ourselves and our goals and dreams.
So let’s jump right in: How do you go about finding the right people to duplicate you?
Jennifer White, the author, has outlined a few aptitudes and attitudes that people should have in order to substitute you well. Give this some thought as you go about this process. (Note: This will help you figure out WHO will duplicate you if you can go that route. However, don’t get discouraged or stop reading this miniseries, since we will also consider WHAT (technology/systems) can duplicate you).
1. Find people who have the right personality for your chemistry. As we saw yesterday, your same chemistry needs to be present in the person that will duplicate you. Find someone with the same characteristics and “don’t downplay the importance of working with folks who have the same chemistry as you.”
2. Find people who have a track record. People’s track records speak for themselves. “Saying you can do something is different from actually doing it. Find people who have already done what you most need. They could bring a new twist or a new idea to what you’ve been doing for so long.”
3. Find people who are willing to commit to the long term. “Developing a powerful relationship requires that you’re both committed to the same vision and the same long-term plan. The last thing you want to do is to train people to duplicate you, and then they jump ship. Be very clear on what you expect from them, and find a way to determine what they want.”
4. Find people who are coachable. “A vital part of duplicating yourself effectively is training. Select folks who are coachable. They’re open to looking at their performances and improving them. You’ll become their coach to ensure they’ll duplicate what you want duplicated. If you’re not willing to coach and train people how to duplicate you, don’t bother looking for the right people. Their success does depend on how much time, energy, and passion you invest in them.”
5. Find people who have the right attitude. “Make sure when you’re looking for the right people that they have a positive mental attitude. There’s nothing as frustrating as working with people who don’t see the positive side of things. No matter how brilliant they are, their bad attitude will wear you down. If you find the right attitude, you can usually teach the rest.”
One final note on this before we move on to Part 3 tomorrow: keep in mind that finding the right people takes time. “Do not rush this process and settle for just anyone. Duplicating a part of who you are is serious stuff. […] You can’t settle for second best.”
ACTION
TODAY: At the end of the chapter in the book, White lists a few exercises to help us succeed at duplicating and at thinking about a few other things. Here’s an important one that you can do today: “Ask yourself this question: ‘What parts of myself make me the most crazy?’ Be clear on your weaknesses so you can identify them in other people as well. When you find the right person to duplicate a part of who you are, don’t be surprised if they also duplicate the not-so-good parts. Are you prepared for that?”
TOMORROW: Come back to read Part 3 to learn how to determine what to duplicate, and how.
Please share Part 2 of “Duplicate yourself” with someone who could use a little duplication, you can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Links to other parts of the miniseries:
Duplicate yourself – Part 2
Duplicate yourself – Part 3
Duplicate yourself – Part 4
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 46 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Duplicate yourself – Part 1
— From Work Less, Make More: Stop Working So Hard and Create the Life You Really Want! By Jennifer White
Have you ever been so swamped with work that you wish you could clone yourself to get more done? Well, now you can.
How is this possible?!
In her excellent book Work Less, Make More, business guru and success coach Jennifer White states that you can (and should) duplicate yourself. But first, let’s get this straight: duplication is not delegation. “Delegating hinges on your finding the right person whose strengths are your weaknesses. A bookkeeper, for example, if you’re horrible with numbers. An assistant if you don’t have time for filing, copying and computer work.”
Duplication is not “finding the one person who is the exact replica of you.” Because, very likely, that person does not exist. You and your brilliance are unique, and White would not recommend putting your business or career into one person’s hands. That’s not effective, efficient or smart, and that is not duplication.
Duplication, the kind White is describing, is doubling, tripling, quadrupling a part (or several parts) of who you are—and thus your output in that area—without investing more of your time. This will enable you to free up time and space for you to dedicate to other things, whether professional or personal in nature, that you want to pursue.
“In order to duplicate, you must know yourself very well. You cannot just duplicate your abilities, but also parts of your personality. […] Successful duplication occurs when you find people who share similar qualities with you. Just as important, they share your brilliance.”
This last point is very important because these people will be taking over for you in certain areas, say, selling. If your clients are used to an upbeat, witty, funny you, then this person needs to share those same traits. You can hire someone who is quiet and knowledgeable, and who will share tons of charts and info with the clients to make a sale, but that is not duplication, that is just hiring another salesperson with a different approach and varied skills from yours. When duplicating yourself, your clients need to feel as is they’re dealing with you: the same chemistry needs to be there.
What are the parts of yourself that you need to duplicate? White offers the next set of questions to get started in figuring that out:
1. What do you do easily and naturally?
2. What do your customers pay you for?
3. What does your company pay you for?
4. What have other people said you’re really good at?
5. What activities energize you?
6. What consumes you? You know, the stuff that lights your fire.
7. What do you really want to do on your days off?
8. What qualities and skills do you see in other people that you know you have?
White points out that duplication can only be successful when you find people who are as good—or better—than you are. “Duplicating yourself requires that you leave your ego behind. It forces you to look at yourself and know yourself so well that you won’t feel threatened by someone who’s as good as you are.”
The question that naturally follows after this is: “if they are better than I am, why are they willing to duplicate me?”
To this, White responds with two points. First, “You bring some other incredible value to their lives that helps them become even better. You provide something they can’t get anywhere else.” And second, “You’re actually one step ahead of them because you understand that duplicating yourself comes down to finding people who are better than you are. So few people truly understand this and can see their own brilliance.”
So, how do you go about finding the right people to duplicate you? That is the topic for tomorrow. Stay tuned for Part 2!
ACTION
TODAY: Take a moment to answer the 8 questions above to figure out the parts of yourself that you need to duplicate. Think about your many personality traits. Think also about the ways and the style in which you approach things. What do you need to successfully duplicate? Preferably write down 10 areas for duplication. (Don’t let the thought of 10 areas overwhelm you, and don’t think that you’ll have to hire 10 people, in a subsequent post you’ll learn that technology can also duplicate you, so if you are not in a position to hire, that’s no problem, you can still duplicate yourself.)
TOMORROW: Come back to read Part 2 and learn more about the things you need to keep in mind for a successful duplication.
Please share Part 1 of “Duplicate yourself” with someone who could use a little duplication, you can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 37 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Kodawari
— From Awakening Your Ikigai: How the Japanese Wake Up to Joy and Purpose Every Day by Ken Mogi
I recently learned about the Japanese term kodawari (pronunciation) in Ken Mogi’s book Awakening Your Ikigai. Ikigai is loosely translated as your reason to live or the reason why you wake up every day, and kodawari is a concept that focuses on starting small and never losing sight of the details.
Kodawari per se is hard to translate into English, as it is a word that embodies attention to detail, commitment, insistence, excellence, and persistence.
Yet none of those ideas either alone or together make justice to the term. “Kodawari is a personal standard, to which the individual adheres in a steadfast manner. It is often, though not always, used in reference to a level of quality or professionalism to which the individual holds. It is an attitude, often maintained throughout one’s life, constituting a central element of [one’s reason to live or ikigai].”
“Kodawari is personal in nature, and it is a manifestation of a pride in what one does. [It] is an approach whereby you take extraordinary care of very small details […] without necessarily justifying the effort for any grandiose schemes.”
Kodawari is being the best you can be and doing the best you can do. It’s demanding a standard of excellence of yourself and others, and being committed to it passionately.
We can see examples of it all over Japan, such as in the “almost flawless operations of Shinkansen (‘bullet’) trains to the meticulously efficient and quick delivery of beef dishes in the fast-food chains.” The book tells of many more kodawari instances that range from the beautifully produced Japanese fruit, to the perfecting of ramen noodles, to the meticulous crafting of beautiful pottery for the tea ceremony. Each one has a story of incredible attention to detail behind its making.
While there are indeed hiccups, kodawari is a mindset that will fix the hiccup, learn from it and come up with a new and improved service or product. The author says that “Steve Jobs had this kind of kodawari too, although he didn’t express his ethos in so many words, when he tried to perfect the features of the iPhone, for example. In fact, one may say that kodawari was Steve Jobs’ defining characteristic.”
Kodawari goes hand in hand with curiosity and passion for what you want to do or develop. How do you apply kodawari in your life?
ACTION
TODAY: What is something that you love or are passionate about? Are you truly focusing on giving it your best or could you apply more kodawari to it? Only you know the answer, but making kodawari a part of your mindset will help you get there.
FUTURE: Make kodawari a part of your life, just as the Japanese have made a habit out of it. Your projects will be better, your work and your life will be better, your relationships will be better… everything that you apply kodawari to will end up transformed into the best it can be and will be a source of satisfaction for you!
Please share the concept of kodawari with someone today, you can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The power of positive rituals
— From The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
In The Power of Full Engagement, authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz state that only 5 percent of our behavior is consciously done in the moment. Instead, they point out, we truly are creatures of habit: “As much as 95 percent of what we do occurs automatically or in reaction to a demand or an anxiety.”
If that is the case, how can we harness the power of habits or rituals? In this post we learned from Peter Shankman the importance of creating rituals. Rituals work because they become ingrained habits that lead us to the successful outcome we want.
But what is so special about rituals?
The power of rituals is that they “conserve energy,” that is, they are so deeply instilled that we don’t think about them. Every morning, among your ritual activities you brush your teeth. Do you think how to do it? Likely you don’t. You do it on autopilot. And it’s such a set ritual that you would never go a day without doing it!
Contrast rituals to will and discipline: “[the latter] imply pushing ourselves to action, [whereas] a well-defined ritual pulls us. We feel somehow worse if we don’t do it.”
Positive rituals are, “precise, conscious, acquired behaviors that become automatic in our lives, fueled by a deep sense of purpose.” The key is to keep our purpose and our goals in mind, and build positive rituals around them in all dimensions of life—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. And when we create the environments and the routines for the rituals to take place, the payoff is clear because every ritual reinforces each other; and all together they push us to the top.
“Positive energy rituals are powerful on three levels,” the authors state. “[First,] they help us to insure that we effectively manage energy in the service of whatever mission we are on. [Second,] they reduce the need to rely on our limited conscious will and discipline to take action. Finally, rituals are a powerful means by which to translate our values and priorities into action—to embody what matters most to us in our everyday behaviors.”
ACTION
TODAY: Think of your established rituals. What additional ritual could you build and peg to one of them so that it can help you reach your goals faster?
FUTURE: Don’t try to set up a bunch of new rituals all at once. Give yourself time to turn them into habits according to your values and priorities. Create one new ritual and do it for 3 months. Once you feel that you are missing something if you don’t do it, then you know it’s become a habit. That is when you know it’s established and you can then go on to build the next one.
Please create a ritual of sharing the daily posts with someone so that more people can benefit from the EntreGurus daily ideas. 😀 You can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 59 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: What are you giving up to go up?
— From Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work by John C. Maxwell
Leadership guru John C. Maxwell reminisces about his father who used to say, “Find the one thing you do well and don’t do anything else.” Following that guidance has taken Maxwell to the realization that, to do a few things well, he has had to give up many others.
“No one can go to the highest level and remain a generalist,” says Maxwell. And this is so true, especially nowadays, where we are pulled in a myriad directions, spread too thin, multitasking and living with FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), and expected to know and give an educated opinion on everything from the Syrian refugee crisis, to the new coach of the Real Madrid soccer team, to the latest environmental policy in California.
And while “giving up” sounds like a heavy sacrifice that we must reluctantly make, the truth is that it is not when we reframe it and simply see it as a choice. We already make choices, willingly and happily, anything from Mexican vs. Chinese food to vacationing in one place vs. another.
The same should apply here. Make willing choices and you’ll be able to focus on the one or few things that you do best and that will take you to the top (whatever the definition of top is for you).
Here are some of those choices Maxwell has made. They make a lot of sense and I think they aptly apply to us all.
You can’t know everyone.
Maxwell is outgoing and loves people, so it’s hard for him not to spend time with lots of people. Yet even if you are an introvert, you may be pulled in the direction of getting to know people in your field and attend events. To deal with this, Maxwell has done two things: “First, [he’s] chosen a strong inner circle of people. They not only provide professional help, but they also make life’s journey much more pleasant. Second, [he asks] certain friends to catch [him] up on what’s happening on the lives of other friends.”
You can’t do everything.
“There are only a few exceptional opportunities in any person’s lifetime. That’s why [Maxwell strives] for excellence in a few things rather than a good performance in many.” For instance, he’s an avid reader, yet he doesn’t read novels or any kind of fiction, instead, he’s chosen to dedicate his reading time to nonfiction as those books are the ones that propel the personal and professional growth he desires.
Maxwell also outsources everything he’s not good at, specifically, technical matters, mechanic or electronic. He can’t do it and does not have the knowledge, so he let’s someone who does have it do the job. Easier and faster.
He also works with his team on what he calls the 10-80-10 principle. Even though there are projects that Maxwell would love to do, he delegates them and only becomes involved as follows: he helps “with the first 10 percent by casting vision, laying down parameters, providing resources and giving encouragement.” Then his team work on the middle 80% and he comes in at the end again to “help them take whatever it is the rest of the way” (if he can). He considers this last effort putting the cherry on top.
You can’t go everywhere.
The traveling demands of a conference speaker and author are high, so Maxwell has chosen not to travel as much as he did before.
You can’t be well-rounded.
Being truly focused impedes being ‘”well-rounded.” Maxwell tells people: “ Ninety-nine percent of everything in life I don’t need to know about.” He focuses on the one percent that gives him the highest return. Of the other 99%, his wife and team keep him aware whenever he needs to know, and that’s how he balances his life.
This reminds me of lifestyle design guru, Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek who doesn’t read or listen to the news. He says: “Most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your goals, and outside of your influence. I challenge you to look at whatever you read or watched today and tell me that it wasn’t at least two of the four.” Ferriss is another one who has made some choices to be a pioneer in his field.
So, what choices are you making to get to where you want to go?
ACTION
TODAY: Determine what choices you will make today that will take you in the direction of your goals.
FUTURE: Take some time to think about your life and the choices you’ve made so far. What other choices can you make to be focused on reaching your goals?
Know someone who needs to give up a few things to go up? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
