Stop complaining and stop making excuses. So what if the economy sucks? Yes, there is/was a recession. Yes, the housing market plummeted. I know. I get it. I read more news from multiple outlets than I probably should.
I don’t care that the economy sucks and neither should you.
I was doing a speaking event recently in San Francisco. It was a four-hour workshop on how to grow your company and foster an awesome culture. The group I was presenting to was a large group of entrepreneurs from all over the United States. Some had sixteen employees, some had one hundred and sixty employees, and a few had a couple thousand employees. They were all planning on growing roughly 20% in 2009– and we’re in the throes of a recession – but they didn’t care. Yet they kept talking about the economy in spite of the fact that they all planned to grow their businesses.
Finally, I told them every time I mentioned the word “economy” during the four hour session they were to scream,“STOP IT!” loudly at me. We practiced a few times, and they were really loud for sure. I never mentioned the word for the rest of the presentation.
Everyone should play this little game with themselves: Every time you hear yourself saying either“economy” or “recession” silently scream,“STOP IT!” to yourself.
The reality is that there is a huge slowdown, and when it runs its course, we’ll all learn that it was worse than anything we’ve gone through since the Great Depression. However, the smart and focused entrepreneurial companies will work around it will still do well. We may have another recession somewhere down the line, and if we do, there’s no reason to behave any differently than we did during this time.
As an entrepreneur, “the unknown” will always be a part of your life.
“Never miss out on an opportunity like a good recession.” – Jack Welch
When writing this post I was sitting in a quiet room with a fireplace up at a Whistler, BC lodge. No people, music, phones or email. Just me sitting beside a window watching the snow fall = perfect environment for me to focus and get some real quality work done.
Find an environment to focus and productivity improves. So will the quality of your work.
Strict Focus Days are helpful. Slowing down every month or quarter long enough to sit quietly and obsess about the future helps fuel more thoughtful decisions about the present and future of your business.
During these times, it’s good to think about the following:
Where in your business could you be focusing more?
Who could you be building better relationships with?
Who are your biggest clients? How could you get more business from them?
Are you taking time to really focus without the trappings of day to day life distracting you (laptop, email, phone)? If not, I strongly urge you to think about taking a Focus Day (or a few) to disconnect from the rest of the world and be alone with yourself and your thoughts.
I’ve looked at my companies metrics or KPIs every week. Back in my College Pro Painters days, we called it the “Weekly RAG” (Results At A Glance) and it was critical to the goal-setting and planning we did weekly to drive the business. If you’re not looking at a dashboard for your business weekly already, how’s that working for you?
To assist me in keeping teams and individuals focused, I’ve had one-on-one meetings each week with all my direct-reports. And I’ve ensured that they had these same one-on-one meetings with those who reported to them. At College Pro Painters, we called it GS&R: Goal Setting and Review. This simple meeting rhythm provided a ton of focus for all of us.
Fortune magazine asked me once, “How do you motivate your employees?” I said, “I don’t.” I continued, “I refuse to try to motivate people. What I want to do is try to take people who are already motivated and inspire them to do the stuff they know they have to do, and give them the systems and tools to create change. Then be there to support them.”
Help align and keep people focused who are already motivated. That’s a recipe for growth.
Are you struggling to stay on task? Do you often feel like you are jumping from here to there and back to here, only to forget where ‘here‘ was?
Good news: You’re not alone.
Bad news: If you don’t fix it, you will be alone (with a struggling business).
Tom Peters, the author of In Search of Excellence,used to say you need to be a “monomaniac with a mission.”
True leadership is saying “no” more than you say “yes”. Saying “no” will allow you to focus on one project rather than taking more on.
Multi-tasking may make you feel busy, but it doesn’t drive results. It’s impossible to get real results while doing two things at once. One of the core things the CEOs I’m mentoring benefit from is me helping them say no to the big shiny objects they are attracted to starting as entrepreneurs.
I believe the number one thing that every company can do in 2010 to be successful is focus. Pure and simple focus.
Too many employees and companies are off plan, stuck in email, wasting time in poorly planned meetings, and chasing after big shiny objects instead of getting hyper focused.
It’s about getting the critical few things done, not the important many. It’s not rocket science. Focused effort will beat everything else, hands down, every time. Prove me wrong
I coach & mentor CEOs in 5 countries. And last year I was the top rated lecturer at MIT’s Entrepreneurial Masters Program. I’m certainly not the smartest guy out there but I can get more done than almost anyone due to one thing. Focus. And when I’m not focused I’m pretty useless just like everyone else.
I have begun to really see the power of focus in the past few years. It’s not about working five days a week. It’s not about working sixty hours a week. It is about setting goals at the start of each quarter, month, week and day to stay focused. If you stay focused and work on the critical few things, instead of the important many then you don’t need to work Fridays. If your employees were this focused you wouldn’t need to ‘hold them accountable’ or need them to come to the office Monday to Friday. It’s about the results stupid! Why are you working Fridays? Seriously…
STOP IT!
