"Reflection, Appreciation, & Stewardship"

This issue is sort of about your business life. Your business life is a subset of your life. This issue is primarily about your life and indirectly about your business life. I am continuously reminded of the importance of these three themes: reflection, appreciation, and stewardship. I believe they are at the foundation of a successful life and a successful career.

Reflection means stepping off the train of constant activity and assessing where you've been, what you've learned, and what you're going to do now. Think of it as "conscious daydreaming." Reflection can happen on a daily, weekly, yearly, and lifetime basis. Here are some tools and exercises for reflecting.

Daily

I call this one, "The Bar Raising Questions." Ask yourself these eight questions at the end of each day:

• What were my goals for today?
• What did I actually achieve?
• What did I do to try to achieve my goals?
• What worked well?
• What didn't work well?
• What did I learn?
• What are my goals for tomorrow?
• How will I apply what I learned today to make tomorrow better than today?

Weekly

I call this, "Schedule Thinking Time." Put on your calendar one hour a week to think. This isn't a time for you to organize your schedule, put out a fire for a customer, or run to the cleaners. This is time for you to apply dedicated thinking time. Get away from your office, customers, suppliers, and family members. Find a quiet spot.

Take out a blank sheet of paper. At the top write down one important issue you want to focus on. Here I'll make one up: expanding your customer base. Now turn that issue into an open-ended question: "How can we expand our customer base while retaining our current customers?" Now answer that question from a variety of perspectives for the next 45 minutes. Answer it from your perspective, and then from the perspectives of your current customers, your competition's customers, your competition's decision-makers, your suppliers, and other suppliers.

Make a list of all the products and services you sell and list what types of people or organizations could benefit from those products and services. Keep expanding the types of people and organizations you could sell to. Then take the last 15 minutes to develop an action plan of which potential customers you're going to approach, how you're going to approach them, and what you're going to sell to them.

This one hour could generate unbelievable results if you stick with it week after week.

Yearly

Recently I sent Six Questions to a variety of the people I'm coaching. Perhaps they will be of value to you:

1. What have I done over the past six months to make myself a better executive today than I was six months ago?

2. What can I do over the remaining six months of this year to become a better executive than I am right now?

3. What have I done in the past six months to make my business unit more successful than it was six months ago?

4. What can I do over the remaining six months to make my business unit more successful than it is right now?

5. What have I done over the past six months to make my organization more successful than it was six months ago?

6. What can I do over the remaining six months to make my organization more successful than it is right now?

Jot down your answers to these six questions. I think it will help you put your year into a clear picture.

Lifetime

Take advantage of the opportunities to look way back and way forward in your life. Recently I attended an event honoring a man on the 50th Anniversary of his career. I've known the man for 30 years. His reflections on his career, why he did what he did, and what happened as a result of it really resonated with me. He said he felt a purpose in his work and calling to do the work, and that the purpose sustained him and guided him even though it didn't always make sense to him. He reminded me of the great quote, "Live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called."

Once a year now I go back to the neighborhood I grew up in. There is only one person I know still in the neighborhood, my first grade soccer coach, Mr. Nolan. Mr. Nolan personified stewardship. He coached first and second grade soccer and baseball teams for 10 years in the 1960s and 1970s even though he had no kids on those teams. I saw Mr. Nolan for the first time in almost 30 years last week. As soon as I saw him, I was reminded of the difference he made in my life, and the difference I want to make in other people's lives. Moments like these allow us to reflect on where we've been and where we want to go.

Every once in a while I am starkly reminded of the importance of appreciating life and the gift that every day brings. I've had three such reminders lately.

In May I gave a speech to 300 people about business acceleration. I said there are four types of performers in the world: decliners, status quoers, strong performers, and accelerators. The next day a member of the audience was introduced to speak to all 300 of us. He limped a bit as he walked, and I assumed he had bumped his knee that morning. He stood up and said, "Yesterday I learned I have a new title. I am an accelerator." I thought that was interesting and wondered where he was going with his speech. He then gave the greatest speech I've ever heard about appreciating life and the gift of every day. He told us how he had dealt with cancer in his body over the previous several years, how the cancer had taken away most of his right leg, and how he now has learned to appreciate every moment of every day. This tall powerfully built man reduced all of us to tears of appreciation. When I told him it was the greatest speech I've ever heard on appreciating life, he seemed to be genuinely thankful for the opportunity to share his story with us.

Last month a friend of mine gave birth to a son who had virtually no lungs. He lived for only a few hours. At his funeral I cried and cried and cried. And then between my crying I noticed an incredibly profound inspirational moment. More than 200 people were at his funeral. No one moved, no one talked, and everyone listened intently to the minister. It was the most sacred experience I've ever seen. That little boy lived only one day but he profoundly affected all of us. Never again will I not appreciate the gift of another day.

Another friend of mine has a son with Down Syndrome. We sat next to each other talking as her son lay on a cot. I shared with her that I had recently heard a story about a mother saying that her Down Syndrome baby wasn't born with one too many chromosomes, but that all the rest of us are born with one too few chromosomes. The woman said her baby had taught her to put all of life's "problems" in a much different perspective. My friend looked at me and said, "That's exactly right. When your child has Down Syndrome you look at the world differently. My son has taught me to appreciate the little things in life and not be so caught up in the so-called problems of life."

What are you appreciative for in your life? Take some time to reflect on that. It's put the day-time drama of business in a new perspective.

To me, stewardship simply means, "Giving the very best of your self back to society." Stewardship is a conscious choice. It's about proactively making a difference in the lives of other people through voluntarily channeling your time, your talent, and your treasures.

2500 people receive this e-newsletter every month. Imagine the mountain of talent this group has accrued over the course of our collective lifetimes. Imagine the impact we can make in the lives of other people by directing a portion of our talent and energy and time back into the young people in our community between the ages of four and 14.

I have a friend who's an enormously successful salesperson and sales manager. He's found time to coach anywhere from four to six teams a year of little league baseball and soccer. I have another friend who is an emergency room doctor who coaches a host of youth teams. I've seen dozens of adults who volunteer at a host of organizations so that young people have positive role models in their lives.

What talents, skills, knowledge, and experiences can you funnel back to young people in a way that will make a positive difference in their lives? If you're a computer guru, could you put together a series of free lessons for the kids in your community to learn how to use the computer? If you're a history buff, could you somehow channel your knowledge back to young people in a way they can relate to it?

The busyness of business can easily take all of us away from the bigger picture of our lives. I encourage you to focus some of your time and energy into reflection, appreciation, and stewardship.

To read my latest white paper, Dan Coughlin's 23 Acceleration Actions check out "Dan Coughlin's Free E-Learning Center on Business Acceleration."

Republishing Articles

Each month my e-newsletter gets republished in approximately 20 blogs, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with "Republishing Article" in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document. All I ask is that you include my name as the author of the article and a short paragraph at the end of the article about me with a link to my website.

Book Recommendation: It's Your Biz: The Complete Guide to Becoming Your Own Boss by Susan Solovic with Ellen Kadin

Recently I read a magnificent book for people who want to start their own business. The thing I like the most about, It’s Your Biz, is the absolute honesty with which it was written. It removes the glossiness and sexiness of owning your own business and breaks in down into reality. Click here to read Dan's review of the book.

Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

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