DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO YOUR POTENTIAL, BASED ON YOUR PAST RESULTS? IF YOU DO, DO YOU KNOW WHY? LET’S FIND OUT!
Have you ever asked yourself why something you were in charge of just didn’t get done the way it needed to? Did you wonder what went wrong? Did you wonder if others were thinking “you don’t have what it takes to get the job done”?
We have all been in those situation to one degree or another. Sometimes these questions weigh on us so heavily we can’t sleep. Sometimes it’s on our mind so much we can’t focus on the next task or project we have to do. It’s during these times we have that feeling that we are not good enough.
We begin to review what we did to try to get the best chance at delivering the results expected of us. We worked hard, we delegated to our team, told the team what to do, and started working on it immediately. We saw some of our team not working as hard as we liked, and others who were not doing things the right way. We had to jump in and correct things when our team wasn’t doing it correctly. We also had to answer questions our team had, even though we already said it at the start. Other questions should not have been asked because it’s just common sense to know.
It’s at this point in time when we are trying to figure out what went wrong. Who cause the problem. If you think it’s others that caused the problem, you are missing a great opportunity to analyze why you are not reaching your potential. Read the following quotes and see if it’s time for you to analyze why you are not reaching your potential.
“Why would you dedicate the majority of your life.., to something you have so much more control of, and accept reactive and under performing yields. Their [the people in charge] incompetency robs them of the ability to realize they are reaching erroneous conclusions about almost everything they do and making assumption based actions, based on theoretical perceptions… They don’t carefully examine, evaluate, and control what is going on.”
“Most incompetent people in business don’t even know they are incompetent because the skills needed for competency are the same skills required to recognize it. So most incompetent business owners and start ups are blissfully self assured, or scared ‘you know what’, play acting on the treadmill going through life totally oblivious to all the illogical things they are doing, totally unaware of the pathetic yield they are accepting.”
These two powerful quotes were made by Mr. Jay Abraham, a very successful business person and the founder and CEO of the Abraham Group (http://www.abraham.com/), who has been listed by Forbes as one of the top five executive coaches in the US. This statement was made when speaking at the JT Foxx Mega Partnering event in October 2014 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc3t6Ki-Je8 starting at the 9 minute mark)
Although some may read his quotes and think ill of him and his statement, if you read our first blog, “It All Starts With A Change … In Reality!” it was a change in reality, an Aha! moment that was the catalyst of the Managing Made Simple system. It was based on realizing that there was under performing yields. Conclusions reached were erroneous. There was no careful examination, evaluation, and control going on. In order to find out how to competently managing tasks and projects, considerable research and testing was needed to be able to have a greater opportunity to recognize and implement the skill set of competent managers of tasks and projects.
If you had a real feeling that the two quotes were talking about you, the rest of this blog is for you.
Knowing what you are weak at is can be your greatest motivator to acquiring, or developing, a skill set that successful people use. Don’t believe that last statement? I have two examples for you;
Dave Ramsey (http://www.daveramsey.com/home/). Mr. Ramsey went from a young successful business person at age 26 to broke shortly thereafter. He is now a very successful business person, and a mentor to millions around the world. His story is best told in his own words in his video at http://www.daveramsey.com/company/about-dave/?snid=home.aboutdave. From years of listening to him on his radio show, he continually mentioned that he teaches his system of financial success (financial freedom) to make sure he continues doing it. It’s a system he created, developed, and evolved. It was based on finding out what competent successful people did with their money. His system is big in the personal financial freedom market. But in his words, “Most really big things start with a pretty simple story.”
David Allen (http://gettingthingsdone.com/). Mr. Allen created the “Getting Things Done” or GTD system to get everything out of your head and capturing it in paper or digital, reviewing to get clarity what it is, organizing, then defining times to reflect on it, and finally engaging in moving forward what has your attention. It was born out of his need to get better, more competent, and more efficient at getting things done. His process has been used by millions of people. To have a better understanding of the system and why he created it, here is a link to a Twit.tv video interview he did (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHI6S-mxIqA).
These two people were no different than the average person. They were not born with these systems in their head. They simply were not achieving the results they were expecting. Because they realized they needed to be more competent in the areas they were the most weak at, they looked to find the information they needed to become more competent. They used their weakness as a motivator. They used their recognition of incompetency to emotionally move them to become competent.
So where do you find a system to become more competent at something you are weak at? Where do you find a system that can show you what your potential is?
Every system is based upon fundamental principle that cannot be compromised. You will know which systems are ones you believe in based upon the principles they are founded on. There are different systems available to people that will achieve comparable results. Their differences are based upon the principles they were built on.
So, how do you find out why you are not even close to your potential? The answer sounds simple, but in reality, it requires being true to yourself. You need to do two things. These two things will be the framework of where your incompetencies are and how to turn your weaknesses into your greatest motivator.
So here is your homework for this week. List out the steps you took in a task or project where the results were not even close to expectations. List out in detail each step you took that you felt positively or negatively affected your results. Then next to those steps, write down why you did each step. And for each “why” you wrote down, ask yourself “why” you answered the previous “why” statement that way. And finally, ask “why” you answered the last “why” the way you did.
This exercise is not that different than when a young child would ask you a question, and after you answered it, they would ask “why”, and “why”, and “why” again. By the time the third “why” is asked, it’s pretty clear whether the answer was based on solid logic or principles, or was full of hot air. As you walk through this exercise, you will begin to see if you reasons for each step was based on logic, principles or hot air.
Next week, we will dive into the principles of the Managing Made Simple system. As the principles are defined, it will give you the opportunity to compare them to your answers from this exercise. The answers of which begin to establish the principles you have been using up to now to base your current managing system around. It will give you an opportunity to see if Managing Made Simple is something that is built on the beliefs you have or want to have in the managing of your tasks and projects. Remember, there is no one way to manage your tasks or projects, but if your principles align with Managing Made Simple, boy do we have a system for you.
Till We Meet Again Next Week …
Managing Made Simple
If you know of a friend or a colleague that is feeling the same way as you, that you are not near your potential, please share this post with them. Accountability is key to moving forward. Having a friend or colleague to hold you accountable in this journey, as you can do with them, will increase your ability to have a weakness become a great strength.