BLOG 015 – How To Get Better Results and Get Greater Successes Daily
Everyday we start our day just like everyone else in the world (all 7.4 billion of them http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/) and our ability to have a very good day is based on how we spend the start of our day. For some, getting prepared at the beginning of the day seems very effortless. I have seen some of these people actually get excited to prepare for the day ahead. Not me!
So, what makes these people get excited to prepare for the day ahead?
It comes down to 2 things.
- They have a Passion for it, or
- They are motivated to put in the Effort
Then What Is Passion?
In Managing Made Simple, our goal is to make processes simple, because we know they are not easy, and part of making processes simple is devising a process to get clarity on what you and/or your team needs to produce the results your customers are expecting. We can bring up a lot of different words to use in replace of Passion and Effort, but our goal is to make your process simple as opposed to complicating it with 10 or 20 other words to include in this process. So what is passion? Its…
Passion – defined as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something (simple definition as per the Merriam-Websters dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/passion)
There are some people that have this incredible enthusiasm or excitement to look at their list and plan out their day. In our Blog 007 – Morning Clarity – Let the Momentum Begin we talk about the need for clarity each morning, a need to know what expectations you need to meet. For people who have a passion to identify and lay out a road map as to what expectations they need to meet by the end of the day, merely having that plan detailed and in front of them, makes them get excited, pumped up, to now start the day working the list.
So Then, What Is Effort?
I don’t know about you, but for me, I don’t have passion to plan out my day. For me, getting the day started looks more like crisis management. What crisis is in front of me, how do I get through it, and when is the next one going to pop up. And when you do this enough times, you actually get pretty good at it. You develop a skill set to help you get through them. So, by a process of elimination, effort is what you need to have when you don’t have passion to do something. If you don’t have passion…. then you need effort to put in the effort. A pretty simple definition. No passion, then need effort.
Ok, Then How Does Effort Get You Motivated?
Well, effort doesn’t actually get you motivated, it’s really the other way around, once you get motivated, you feel the need to put in the effort to do something that you don’t have a passion for.
So, How Do You Get Motivated?
Ah, the 64 billion dollar question. How do you get motivated to do something you don’t want to do? Well, if you are not preparing for the day ahead of you, you are probably waiting for the first crisis to hit and then manage your way through it…. crisis management. Before we can answer how you get motivated, lets get more clarity on what crisis management is. So how do you define the phrase “crisis management”? Think about it for a minute, then read on.
Alright, I Have My Definition of “Crisis Management”, What Is The Real Definition of “Crisis Management”?
Merriam Webster does not have a definition for crisis management, but they do have the definitions of each word… so let’s put these two definitions together and see what we get?
- Crisis – a difficult or dangerous situation that needs serious attention (simple definition – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crisis)
- Management – the act or skill of controlling and making decisions about a business, department, sports team, etc. (simple definition – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/management)
So it appears that “Crisis Management” is a difficult or dangerous situation that needs serious attention and we are going to do something to control and make decisions about that situation. Seem simple enough.
If we generalize that definition… it could be said that we wait for life to happen, then react to it.
Interesting Conclusion, So How Does “Waiting For Life To Happen To Me” Make Me Motivated to Put In Effort To Prepare For The Day Ahead?
It doesn’t. But getting sick and tired of being sick and tired of not getting the results YOU WANT because you are spending all your valuable and precious time and energy reacting to the life around you does. You see, it is very rare to have life drop success into your lap. But, life seems to have this incredible gift of dropping OPPORTUNITIES on your lap for you to decide whether or not you want to take the opportunity. Unfortunately, if you are so busy just reacting to life around you, you may never see those opportunities when they are in front of you. You may only recognize them long after they have passed. Here is the key… when you begin to genuinely feel sick and tired of being sick and tired of having missed opportunities, you begin to get motivated.
What’s The Key To Stop Reacting To Life Around You?
Begin to take control of your day by preparing for the day ahead. You see, you only have two ways to get through the day. You either react to what life gives you, and thus be in a perpetual state of crisis management, or tell life what you are going to do today, by preparing and planning for your day. When you remind yourself of how you feel when you have to react to what life gives to you, you begin to work really hard to not let life dictate your day. Your key to being motivated to getting something you want is by making sure you know what you don’t want.
Does That Mean My Crisis Management Days Are Over?
No, it doesn’t. But it will lessen considerably. You have to put things in perspective. For example, if you are a nurse in a hospital and work in the Emergency Department, a good portion of the day is waiting to see what life brings you. You are in a crisis management environment. But there are many of us who have considerably more control over our day, and we need to begin to take control of it. Preparing for our day by looking at what expectations are on us for that day, then planning out how to address each expectation is imperative to the success of our day. Then, when it appears life is trying to tell us something else is important (potential crisis), you can then compare its importance to the list you prepared for the day and decide what to do with that crisis… if anything.
Is It Correct To Conclude That The People, Who Are Motivated To Put In The Effort To Prepare For The Day, Are Motivated Because They Are Excited To Take Control Of Their Life?
They are excited because they know that “letting life dictate to them what will happen in their day” won’t bring them success. They are excited because they have already experienced days, weeks, months, and years where their days are full of successes, full of achieving their results, and full of opportunities they were ready to take. That’s where they get the motivation from.
What Can I Use To Help Me Prepare For Each Day?
We walk through the simple process of getting clarity first thing in the day on our website (http://www.managingmadesimple.com/blog-006-get-clarity-first-thing-in-the-day-at-work/).
Will This Blog Help Me When A Have A Crisis Issue Drop On My Desk In The Middle of The Day?
Absolutely. In this blog, we talk about methods to address your expectations when you end up having too many expectations AND not enough time to do all of them (planned or crisis management).
We can’t wait for you to get “sick and tired of being sick and tired”. When you start taking control, success happens, and opportunities that drop on your lap are opportunities you will see and take advantage of.
Till We Meet Again….
Managing Made Simple