Quote Of The Week
Relativity applies to physics, not ethics.
All managers are expected to know what they are doing. But how they do it is just as important if the business is to survive and prosper. Business ethics is about that: how you do business. Read more...
Monday Tips
What are your principles?
Someone asked me about principles recently. I struggled to find an answer.
Groucho Marx made the joke: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
The joke is only funny because we consider principles to be fixed and immutable guidelines for behaviour. Someone who doesn't stick to their principles regardless of the consequences is considered weak and flaky. Heroes in the movies live up to their principles, or redeem themselves by doing so before the movie ends.
So, when someone said, 'What are your principles?', alongside that question was the corollary, 'Are you a hero?'
Hmmm.....
Perhaps another way to ask this is, 'What code do you live by and do you live by it consistently?'
Stop for a moment and consider how you would answer.
Don't listen to the other voices
Last week I talked about each of the jobs on your to-do list having a voice.
They still do.
So, when you choose a job from your list to do next, you need to ignore the voices of the other tasks that complain about not being picked. And boy, can they complain!
Can you do that? Can you focus on the task you decided to do?
The word 'decide' has its origin in the Latin 'to cut off'. Can you cut off the distractions of the other tasks and focus on the one?
You will get more done when you don't listen to the other voices.
Here is one way to do this using the burst technique.
The ‘voice’ of your to-do list
Each of the jobs on your list has a ‘voice’.
Listen. Can you hear them calling you?
Which voices do you respond to first? The loud ones, the seductive ones, the angry ones, the happy ones?
What other types of voices do you have on your list?
Is the voice of a task a good indicator of how you should prioritise it?
Instead, put imaginary earplugs in your ears so you can’t hear the imaginary voices, and consider the consequences of doing or not doing the tasks on your list.
Now, in silence, how would you prioritise them based on consequences?
Here are some other ideas on prioritisation and a great, and very relevant quote, about a bee and a mosquito.
Starting an extraordinary day
By the time you brush your teeth, what have you settled for from the day?
How ordinary are you expecting it to be?
Have you already decided, by default, that today will be as ordinary as most other days?
You have probably heard the phrase ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ or aphorisms like ‘you get what you expect’.
Our expectations dictate our actions, and our actions lead to our results.
If you want the best results but keep expecting ordinary, which will win?
What if you took a moment before you brushed your teeth, before you checked your emails, before you get into the kids to school or other morning routine?
What if, in that moment, you paused your start to the day and imagined a day better than ordinary?
It can’t do any harm, right? But what if your expectations changed your approach to the day just a bit? What then?
Are you an exception to the rule?
The Peter Principle: “In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.” Laurence J. Peter’s theory postulates that most competent people are promoted until they reach a position that is above their skill level, at which point they cease to grow.
Studies show that promotions are still largely a reward for past performance rather than future potential, so in many cases, the principle still holds after 50 years.
Which should prompt us to ask the question…
What about me? Why was I promoted?
What have I done to be an exception to the principle?
Look around you for any managers who have avoided the Peter Principle trap. Hopefully, you can find some...
What did they do?
Ask them!
Voice Skills
Voice Skills
"It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it!" Anon
You might think that your voice comes as a given; in fact, it is under your control and you can develop it so it will do what you want it to do...
