Be Ready

Jeff Weaver, the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, won three of the eleven games the Cardinals needed to win the World Series. Three months before that he was let go by the Anaheim Angels. He could have felt sorry for himself and stopped trying. He could have blamed others and said it wasn't his fault. He could have written off 2006 and said this just wasn't his year.

Instead, he got ready.

He didn't know if his team would even make the playoffs, but he got himself mentally and physically prepared for any opportunity that might come his way. On the last day of the season the Cardinals got into the playoffs. Some felt they were lucky to get in with the worst record of all the playoff teams. And then they proceeded to win the World Series, and Jeff Weaver won three games in the playoffs.

Are you ready when your opportunity comes along?

Some time, some where in the next twelve months an opportunity is going to come your way that will allow you to make a great difference in your business, your community, your home, or your life. Are you ready for it?

Perhaps you will be asked to step in at the last minute and give a big speech to your entire organization.

Perhaps you will be asked to call on your organization's biggest customer to resolve a major conflict.

Perhaps you will be asked to step up and take a promotion to guide a large business unit.

Perhaps a new employee will ask you to serve as his mentor.

Perhaps you will be asked to volunteer for a key community service role.

Are you ready? Are you ready for the unexpected opportunity to make a difference?

During the World Series, a friend of mine, Colleen Schoendienst was asked at 11 AM to sing God Bless America during that night's ball game. Colleen is a McDonald's Owner/Operator. She doesn't spend all day singing. She spends her days operating a McDonald's restaurant. But when her opportunity came she was ready. She sang an incredibly inspirational God Bless America that was seen by 16 million people. She had honed her craft throughout her adult life, and when her opportunity came she was ready.

Are you ready for your moment?

5 Ways to Get Ready

Here are ways to be ready to accelerate your business and your career:

1. Study your business.

   Know the strengths of your organization. Know what it needs to become even more successful. Study your industry and your competition. Understand how your organization can thrive in the future.

2. Study other businesses.

   Go outside of your industry and study successful organizations. Just pick two or three and really study them. Know what made them successful and what made them unsuccessful throughout their history.

3. Know your value.

   Know what you bring to the party. What are you good at doing and what are you passionate about doing? What skills could you hone that would make you even more effective? Could you take a course in public speaking or attend a sales seminar or take a workshop on building stronger relationships with co-workers and customers?

4. Be proactive.

   Ask yourself each day what you could do today to make a meaningful contribution to your organization. Volunteer for a spot no one else wants. Go to your boss and suggest ways that you could add even more value.

5. Be open to opportunities.

When someone asks you if you would do something be willing to consider it. It might seem so small that at first you're insulted. But think about it for awhile. If you took that small opportunity, could you do it so well that it might lead to bigger opportunities. I have a friend who started as a doorman at a Marriott hotel and worked his way up to General Manager of multiple Marriott branded hotels.

Are you ready for your next opportunity to add value? Are you prepared to step in when the door opens?

The door is going to open for you somewhere some time in the next twelve months. I guarantee it. You don't know when or where it's going to happen. Get ready now. Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

Accelerate Update This section is always current to the current month

I suppose every book changes an author's life to a certain degree. My first book, which was self-published in 1995, was called Inside Out: A Catalyst for Conscious Living. It's out of print now for a number of good reasons. The layout, which yours truly did, looks like something a first grader could do today. And the ideas are very theoretical, which doesn't fit my approach anymore. However, I read the book a few months ago, and I was pleased by how clearly I had explained my early thoughts on improving performance.

My second book, Corporate Catalysts: How to Make Your Company More Successful, Whatever Your Title, Income, or Authority was published in 2005 by Career Press. That book was a step forward in clarifying my ideas on improving performance and understanding how to write a whole book. It's one thing to dream about getting a book contract and another thing to write a 70,000 word manuscript.

My third book, ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Momentum, which was published in May 2007 by Kaplan Publishing, has changed my business dramatically. Up until that book was published, I mostly did projects for four companies: McDonald's, Marriott, GSD&M, and Toyota. In the past 12 months, I've worked with business owners, executives, and managers within dozens of small, medium, and massive organizations in more than 20 industries ranging from boats to banks to software to financial services to trucking to lighting to home healthcare to hospitals to optometrists. It's been an exciting adventure.

If you want to see my speaking calendar for 2008, which we'll try to update every two weeks, please click here.

Currently, I have 66 speeches scheduled for 2008. If you would like for me to speak at one of your events in 2008 or 2009, feel free to contact me at dan@thecoughlincompany.com and I will be glad to see if we can make it work.

If you want to see my speaking topics and a video of footage from some of my keynote speeches, please click here.

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