While those guidelines were great to keep in mind, the question that came up revolved around specific actions that we could take to improve our teachability. Fortunately, Maxwell foresaw this question and, in today’s post—from the same book, Success 101—he offers the following three actions to ensure we’re always growing and always cultivating and maintaining an attitude of teachability.
1. Observe how you react to mistakes. “Do you admit your mistakes? Do you apologize when appropriate? Or are you defensive? Observe yourself. And ask a trusted friend’s opinion. If you react badly—or you make no mistakes at all—you need to work on your teachability.”
2. Try something new. “Go out of your way today to do something different that will stretch you mentally, emotionally, or physically. Challenges change us for the better. If you really want to start growing, make new challenges part of your daily activities.”
3. Learn in your area of strength. “Read six to twelve books a year on leadership or your field of specialization,” says Maxwell. “Continuing to learn in an area where you are already an expert prevents you from becoming jaded and unteachable.” Besides those books in your area of specialty, I know of a blog that can help you keep learning and growing daily… 😉
Finally, I’ll leave you with a story and a thought that Maxwell tells about Tuff Hedeman, a professional bull riding cowboy at rodeos. “After winning his third world championship, [he] didn’t have a big celebration. He moved on to Denver to start the new season—and the whole process over again. His comment: ‘The bull won’t care what I did last week.’ Whether you are an untested rookie or a successful veteran, if you want to be a champion tomorrow, be teachable today.”
“The most important thing about education is appetite.” — Winston Churchill
ACTION
TODAY: I challenge you to try something new as explained above. Today go out of your way to do something that will stretch you.
FUTURE: Create the habit of challenging yourself daily. Whether it’s 5 more minutes on the treadmill at a slightly faster pace, or recalling the names of 10 of the Saturn moons, or giving a genuine and caring compliment to a colleague whom you don’t like that much (Eek… I tried this one and it’s so hard!), do whatever stretches you where you need it most on that day or that period of time.
Know someone who is always growing? Please share this post with that person: email, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks!
Leadership guru, John C. Maxwell, tells the story of Charlie Chaplin in his book Success 101. Chaplin was born in poverty in the United Kingdom. His mother was institutionalized when he was very young, so he found himself on the street. After living in workhouses and orphanages, he began performing to support himself. He started working in Hollywood for $150 a week, and during his first year, he made 35 films working as an actor, writer, and director. “Everyone recognized his talent immediately, and his popularity grew. A year later, he earned $1,250 a week. Then… he signed the entertainment’s industry’s first $1 million contract.”
Maxwell states that Chaplin was successful because, “he had great talent and incredible drive. But those traits were fueled by teachability. He continually strived to grow, learn and perfect his craft. […] If Chaplin had replaced his teachability with arrogant self-satisfaction when he became successful, his name would be right up there along with Ford Sterling or Ben Turpin, stars of silent films who are all but forgotten today.”
Why is this story important? Because it exemplifies the two roads that people can take when they attain success: rest in their laurels or continue to grow. “Successful people face the danger of contentment with the status quo. After all, if a successful person already possesses influence and has achieved a level of respect, why should he [or she] keep growing?” The answer is simple. In Maxwell’s words:
Your growth determines who you are. Who you are determines who you attract. Who you attract determines the success of your [life and] organization.
We must continually grow and strive to be the best we can be. The only way we can do this is by cultivating and maintaining a teachable attitude. For this, Maxwell gives us five guidelines.
1. Cure your destination disease. “Ironically, lack of teachability is often rooted in achievement.” When people reach a specific goal (a degree, position, award, financial target, etc.), sometimes they become complacent and believe they no longer have to grow, but “the day they stop growing, is the day they forfeit their potential—and the potential of the organization.”
2. Overcome your success. “Another irony of teachability is that success often hinders it. Effective people know that what got them there doesn’t keep them there. If you have been successful in the past, beware. And consider this: if what you did yesterday still looks big to you, you haven’t done much today.”
3. Swear off shortcuts. Maxwell recalls a friend of his saying: The longest distance between two points is a shortcut. And he adds, “That’s really true. For everything of value in life, you pay a price. As you desire to grow in a particular are, figure out what it will really take, including the price, and then determine to pay it.”
4. Trade in your pride. “Teachability requires us to admit we don’t know everything, and that can make us look bad. In addition, if we keep learning, we must also keep making mistakes. […] Emerson wrote, ‘For everything you gain, you lose something.’ To gain growth, give up your pride.”
5. Never pay twice for the same mistake. “Teddy Roosevelt asserted, ‘He who makes no mistakes makes no progress.’ That’s true. But the person who keeps making the same mistakes also makes no progress.” Being teachable means that we will make mistakes, and while that is no fun, they bring valuable lessons. About mistakes, Maxwell says the following, “Forget them, but always remember what they taught you. If you don’t, you will pay for them more than once.”
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” — John Wooden
And after reading all this, the natural question that ensues is: How to improve teachability to never stop growing? If this same question popped up in your head, come back tomorrow to read Maxwell’s three actions to improve teachability.
TODAY: When was the last time you did something for the first time? Ponder this question. Decide to do something that you’ve never done before and in an area where you know nothing about.
FUTURE: Make a point of learning the things of which you know nothing. You can take a class, a course, or simply buy a magazine devoted to a topic completely out of your area of expertise. Not only will you learn new things, but you will also start getting new ideas for your current life and work. How fun is that?! 🙂
Know someone who has a story of teachability and would be interested in sharing it? Please share this post with that person: email, Facebook or Twitter. Thanks!
The one equalizer for all of us is time: we all have 24 hours in a day, no matter what. And what we decide to do with that chunk of time on a daily basis is our decision. In The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, business guru Brian Tracy says, “there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things.” Thus, the Law of Forced Efficiency:
“The more things you have to do in a limited period of time, the more you will be forced to work on your most important tasks.”
Tracy goes on to explain, “The more you take on, the more likely it is that you will be forced to act with maximum efficiency. You will have to think, analyze, and evaluate your tasks and activities more carefully. You will be forced to spend your limited mental and physical energy on just those tasks that are the most vital to your success.”
There are three corollaries to this law according to Tracy:
1. There will never be enough time to do everything that you have to do. “The busier and more successful you become, the more valid this corollary will be for you.” The popular saying “if you want something done, ask a busy person” is true: busy people only take on just those things that they know they can finish within the time they have.
2. Only by stretching yourself can you discover how much you are truly capable of. “You can discover how much you can do only by trying to do too much. You can find out how far you can go only by going too far. You learn your true capacity only by stretching yourself to your limits. For you to be truly happy, you must know that you are working at the outer edge of your potential. You need to feel fully challenged by your work. You need to do what you love, love what you do, and put your whole heart into your work.”
3. You perform at your highest potential only when you are focusing on the most valuable use of your time. “This is the key to personal and business success. It is the central issue in personal efficiency and time management. You must always be asking yourself, What is the most valuable use of my time right now?”
Tracy suggests creating the habit and discipline to work exclusively on the ONE task that is the answer to this question, at any given time. Keep yourself focused and determine what is the most valuable use of your time again, and again, and again throughout the day, every day.
Note: both actions come directly from Tracy’s book.
TODAY: “Remember that you can only do one thing at a time. Stop and think before you begin. Be sure that the task you do is the highest value use of your time. Remind yourself that anything else you do while your most important task remains undone is a relative waste of time.”
FUTURE: “Be clear about the most valuable work that you do for your organization. Whatever it is, resolve to concentrate on doing that specific task before anything else.” Develop the habit of asking yourself over and over, What is the most valuable use of my time right now? If need be, you can set a periodic reminder on your calendar to pop up and remind you of asking that question several times throughout the day. Other questions you can ask, according to Tracy, are, “Why are you on the payroll? What specific, tangible, measurable results are expected of you? And of all the different results you are capable of achieving, which are the most important to your career at this moment?” Your answers will determine where to focus your energy.
Know someone who could benefit by asking the questions from The Law of Forced Efficiency? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
In yesterday’s post, we read about Dave Kerpen’s incredible story of determination. I received many great emails about this, and while most of you were in awe and somewhat encouraged by the story, there was still a little shadow of a doubt lingering as to whether such persistence would be perceived as rude.
I don’t think so. As long as you do it in a charming and polite way, always emphasizing that you are looking to add value to the person and his/her business, I think you will be fine. Just as Kerpen was.
Want further proof? Let’s take a look at what one of my favorite entrepreneurs says about persistence.
Derek Sivers is an entrepreneurial guru that I greatly admire and respect. You can read the ideas that I’ve highlighted from his book, Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, in these posts: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (don’t miss post #5 for a good laugh from a very creative approach to customer service).
Since Sivers is a genius who has the gift of brevity and conciseness, here’s his entire piece, verbatim, on why persistence is polite:
As teenagers, we learned the hard way that if you contact someone and they don’t reply, they’re just not into you. If you keep trying, you must be a total loser.
But in the business world, it’s the opposite. If you don’t keep trying, you’re a loser!
If someone doesn’t get back to you, it probably wasn’t intentional. Everyone is busy, and their situation has nothing to do with you.
Imagine two different scenarios:
1. Someone doesn’t reply, so you get upset and decide they’re evil and clearly meant to insult you. You resent them for life, and speak poorly of them forever.
2. Someone doesn’t reply, so you assume they must be swamped in work. You wait a week, and contact them again. If still no reply, you feel sympathy that they must be really overwhelmed. You wait a week, and try again. If still no reply, you try to reach them a different way.
Now, which one was rude, and which one was polite?
There you have it. It’s simply a mind shift.
Need more? Here’s Sivers in a quick video interview (3:36 min) talking about a story of persistence and politeness. (Note: at the 1:58 min mark approx. there is one phrase—lasting 2 seconds—with strong language.)
Give yourself the gift of being persistent beyond what you ever imagine you could be. You never know what wonderful opportunities will present themselves based on your polite and charming persistence. Try out polite persistence as an experiment. Think of something that you really want but has been very hard to achieve. Once you know what this is, then determine the frequency of your persistence. Will it be daily, weekly, monthly? A combination?
If you’re still not comfortable with this, take a look at this example from Ari Meisel, in his book Less Doing More Living. He tells the following story of how he automated persistence and finally got the info he wanted. See if there’s something that you can do along these lines.
In a building where I teach, Verizon FiOS [Internet] service was supposed to be available. For three years, the Verizon website said it was available, but it wasn’t. There’s an email address that you can write to check on when FiOS will be available at a location, so I wrote to them and set up a [daily, automatic email] until they replied. Finally, after sixty-four days, someone wrote back. “Please stop your annoying reminder service. We don’t know when service will be available in your building.” I responded, “Why didn’t you tell me that sixty-three days ago?”
As you can see, all sorts of experiments can be set up to start training your persistence “muscle” if you think it needs strengthening. I’ll close this post with a great quote and with an invitation to continue to send me emails to let me know your thoughts about this or any other post.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge
Have a story of persistence you’d like to share? Send it my way and I’ll make a compilation and publish them in a future post!
ACTION
TODAY: Figure out what your experiment in persistence will be about. Then think about what you have that no one else does. What is your equivalent of Dave Kerpen’s Radio Disney that you can leverage to your advantage over everybody else? Use this when being persistent as it will differentiate you and open many doors.
FUTURE: Try out your experiment. Set your schedule for persistence and stick to it. Remember that this is something that you really want, no matter how small or insignificant (like Meisel, he really wanted to know about the internet service in his building). Then get to work. Only by trying out persistence in little steps will you strengthen and grow it to where you will feel more comfortable shooting for bigger goals each time.
Know someone who could benefit from seeing persistence from a different angle, such as the polite one? Please share this post with them! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
“Dave from Radio Disney! Are you ever going to stop calling me and singing to me?” asked Brenda Fuentes in a playful, upbeat way.
Fuentes was a marketing manager for Burger King. Dave Kerpen, the author of The Art of People, worked back then as a local sales rep for Radio Disney in Boston. Kerpen had been trying to get in touch with Fuentes for a long time, but she seemed elusive. Yet he had been assigned this account as a target, was determined to get in touch with her to gain an understanding of Burger King’s marketing needs and, ultimately, try to sell her radio advertising and promotion.
Since this was during the early days of the Internet and she worked from home, the only way Kerpen could get a hold of Fuentes was by phone. Kerpen could not get a hold of her, as all his calls would go to voicemail. He thought of the many other sales reps leaving messages and realized that “the one thing [he] had that none of those other reps had [was] Radio Disney.”
Kerpen recalls, “For me, Radio Disney wasn’t just a job; I loved the station and its bubble-gum pop music. It was both fun to listen to and safe for the whole family… I decided to get creative in my persistence… Each time I left a voicemail message, I would sing a parody of a Radio Disney hit song into the phone. Eventually, I figured, this creative strategy of leaving her messages to the tunes of popular songs would get her attention and help me stand out from the countless other phone calls and voicemails I assumed she got.”
To make a long story short, after 37 calls (!) Fuentes finally picked up the phone. “But this wasn’t your average opening sales call. After all, she already knew [Kerpen] pretty well from all those voicemails.” Now it was his time to get to know her and listen to her needs and see how Radio Disney could help Burger King market itself.
It worked. One week later Kerpen had a signed agreement for over $50,000 in revenue. And what’s more, to this day, he still has a great working relationship with Fuentes.
Were there times when Kerpen felt like giving up? Of course! He says he felt dejected and demoralized many times, and wondered if he was wasting his time, not to mention feeling embarrassed when his colleagues made fun of him for his silly songs. But he refused to give up on Fuentes and Burger King, and adopted a persistent approach in a creative way that was memorable and fun.
Kerpen points out, “As it turns out, one of the biggest differentiators between those who successfully influence others and those who don’t is persistence. Many people talk about passion, and of course passion for one’s idea, product or belief is important, but many people have passion. Far more people have passion than have persistence… persistence is what makes the difference.”
And he goes on to say, “Persistence is defined as ‘firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.’ In other words, when the going gets tough, you keep trying.”
“Persistence is trying until you get what you want or go down swinging. Persistence is continuing until you are certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s time to move on and collect the lessons from the failure. Persistence is trying until you drop. Persistence is thirty-seven phone calls.” – Dave Kerpen
ACTION
Note: Both actions below come directly from Kerpen’s book.
TODAY: “Write down something that you really want from someone but that won’t be easy to get. [Who would you like to meet more than anyone? What client would you like to land? What business idol would you like to have lunch with?] Use your passion and your creativity to come up with a plan to pursue this person doggedly in an inventive, original way.”
FUTURE: “Put your plan into action and be persistent. Make as many attempts as it takes to make this vision a reality.”
How about sharing this post with someone you know whose persistence you admire? Email, Facebook or Twitter.
“Using your memory to store everything is stressful and unreliable,” says Ari Meisel, productivity guru, in his book Less Doing, More Living. He points out, rightly, that trying to hold all thoughts in our head is inefficient. “The problem with trying to remember everything is that in doing so, you run out of space in your head to actually think about the task at hand. What’s worse, it doesn’t always work.”
How many times have we made an effort to remember something and we still forgot? I’m so guilty of this: I know I tied that string around my finger to remember something, and later I couldn’t remember what that something was… I rest my case.
Enter the external brain. “It stores everything reliably, offers instant access, and frees your mind for more interesting work,” says Meisel.
So, where do I line up to get one of these external brains??!
We all have it at our disposal and it’s more low-tech than you can imagine: “The heart [mind?] of the external brain is note-taking. If an idea is in your head, get it out… we have to create idea flow for good ideas to come out… When you let your ideas flow freely, you get more ideas, and that leads to more good ideas.”
You’ve heard me quote Seth Godin before as saying, “You can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.” This is exactly how we make that happen. Meisel says the same thing: “Not all ideas are good—out of ten ideas, you may have eight that are bad or irrelevant. But even bad ideas can lead to good ideas. You want to get them out of your head not only because they may be blocking a good idea from coming out, but also because they may come together with some of your other ideas to make a good idea.”
Meisel suggests finding a great tool or set of tools that enable you to capture the info and ideas outside of your head. His favorite app is Evernote. And if you are like most of us who get awesome ideas in the shower, he recommends AquaNotes (water-proof notepad).
On the other hand, in his bestselling book Getting Things Done, productivity guru David Allen, suggests—even for the most high-tech oriented among us—a stack of plain paper to capture each thought in its own sheet or card. Allen recommends:
Write out each thought, each idea, each project or thing that has your attention, on a separate sheet of paper. You could make one long list on a pad, or in some digital application, but… there is a discipline required to initially to stay focused on one item at a time as you process it. So giving each thought its own placeholder, as trivial as it might seem, makes it that much easier. Go for quantity. It’s much better to overdo this process than to risk missing something. You can toss the junk later. Your first idea may be “Implement global climate change,” and then you’ll think, “I need cat food!” Grab them all. Don’t be surprised if you discover you’ve created quite a stack of paper during this procedure.
According to Allen, “It will probably take you between twenty minutes and an hour to clear your head onto separate notes.” And as you go through this exercise, “You’ll find that things will tend to occur to you in somewhat random fashion—little things, big things, personal things, professional things, in no particular order.” To help you clear your head, Allen has put together a wonderful Incompletion Triggers Listthat you can review to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. Also, you can listen to this podcast where Allen guides you through what he calls a mind sweep session to put down, in paper, what is now occupying space in your head.
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” – David Allen
Create your external brain and get those ideas flowing!
ACTION
TODAY: Take some time to figure out the “external brain” system that will work best for you, and then go through David Allen’s list or mind sweeping exercise to get everything out of your mind.
FUTURE: Once you have created a stack of notes, start prioritizing and processing each one based on your goals. You’ll likely see that some are not all that important, and some others become great ideas that you definitely want to act upon. What is the next action that you need to take? Determine it and take said action (it may take a while to get through all, but keep pushing through). It’s important to take this step because if you don’t do anything, the items from the list “will creep back into your consciousness, since your mind would know you weren’t dealing with [them],” says Allen. If there is no next action to take, then he suggests, trash the item, incubate it, or file it as reference material. That will be your action and your mind will now be unstuck and free to produce more ideas.
TODAY’S IDEA: 3 Actions to improve teachability
