A Success Framework

Hey everyone, I am running in the Los Angeles Marathon tomorrow, Sunday, March 18. If you have time, between 7 AM and 11 AM please send me a text… I will see it on my phone!

In anticipation of tomorrow’s event I sat down with my notebook and I wrote this… 

A Framework

The night before any big day, whether you're heading into back-to-back meetings or traveling to another city in the country or halfway around the world, I want you to do everything possible to get in your zone.

If you are already working as productively and efficiently as possible, you will get things done by default. When you show up and have to be on tap into the trust and knowledge that you've done everything necessary to be prepared.

When I began racing competitive triathlon in my late 20s, I made a checklist before every race of everything I needed to remember in order to perform at the event. Now, as a author and executive coach, I maintain the training necessary
to compete at the national level in United States of America triathlon, and I pass advice on to the people I work with.

Four Pillars

No matter what you are about to step into you need to go at your own pace physically, mentally, relationally and spiritually. The adrenaline of being productive, of being in the spotlight whether you are in front of a client, in
the back office planning your next product launch, or towing the line at a athletic event can lead some of you to drop your plan and get caught up in the hype.

Staying focused, deliberate and 100% present can help avoid problems later on.

Although success at work and in life comes from constant preparation and improvement, making sure that you are doing what you need to do on a constant, every day basis will help you get from focus to finish.

Let's pretend that at 8:30 AM tomorrow you are walking into a conference room and you are going to share an idea with someone who could hire you, fund your business, or partner with a goal you have. My question to you is 24 hours,
12 hours, and three hours before that meeting what will you want to have:

done, 

had, 

reviewed, 

or prepared.

I advocate and train everyone I work with to attend to the four basic needs that will help them perform at their best. I call this a productivity framework. Without a framework that is regularly adjusted and vigilantly protected
most of what you get done will rely on chance, hope, or past successes.

And, for many of you reading this that's enough.

For others of us however, those of us who have a direction that we are heading in that is to, or five, or 10 times bigger than what we currently are in charge of, we need a framework that will help us get there.

You should not feel constant stress as you go go about manifesting the activities required to achieve your goals. Stress yes not constant stress. You want the engaged feeling you have when there is something significant on the line.
You need the pressure of having to step into or up to a new level of performance and engagement. And, shortly after one of those high stress, high important situations, you need the tools and the skills to relax.

If you feel this constant pain of stress, if you are not sleeping through the night, arguing regularly with your spouse, or thinking that you have to always be on at work…

Seek out a respite. Last year I facilitated a weeklong detox for a client I coach in the Middle East. It was up to him to find the six days he could leave his work and go with his family but not just on any all-inclusive resort
trip. This was a time to focus with the help of professionals on the four pillars of the framework that we use with our clients.

Physical

Mental

Relational

Spiritual

Physical

On the physical level when I asked, "when are you at your best?" Everyone immediately wants to answer with a time of the day.

"I'm at my best in the morning…" Well, that is a part of it. Yes, it's important to know when during the day you are more likely to be focused and energetic. But, that is just a part of it. I also want to know what the conditions
are under which you have a higher likelihood of being a better version of yourself.

I'm at my best when I am prepared for the meetings that I step into. I am at my best when all travel arrangements and details are in my calendar and up-to-date. I am at my best when I exercise at 70% of my heart rate for a minimum
of 30 minutes at a time at least four days a week. I am at my best when I capture agreements and promises both at work and at home as soon as I make them.

You see where I'm going here, now it's your turn. Identify a clear and meaningful inventory of the statements you would use to describe what you will need to have done or had in order to be at your best.

Mental

I oversee several cohorts of business leaders, managers in organizations throughout the country, as they study and implement tools, skills, and the mindset necessary to be a productive leader. It is not enough anymore to simply
tell people what they need to do. Everywhere organizations are tasked with increasing productivity and performance top-down.

How you think, what you say, and what happens as a result are all intertwined. Have you ever seen someone's name in your email inbox and felt immediate stress? Simply seeing someone's name or even a subject line can fire neurons
that result in stressful thoughts and a higher than appropriate physical response. And, it always starts in your head.

You need to learn the power of managing your own mind. And, unfortunately, your mind will not quiet or focus on its own. It seems that the world we live in is actually designed to distract us. A new text message, another email in
your inbox, the sound of the television news in the background, and a colleague who just walked toward you, made eye contact and says, "do you have a minute?"

How you manage your mind will dictate how you manage yourself.

To get started, start or restart the journaling practice. Now, I have worked with hundreds of leaders as they renewed their commitment to writing things down. Different than a notebook you bring to meetings, and not the diary that
you wrote in as a child. Your journal acts as a safe place, the tool you use to slow down your thinking, and to actually see what you're telling yourself about what's happening. And, that's the question you must ask yourself: "how can I know what I think until
I see what I say?"

Today, by a new journal-a spiral notebook, a mollusk in, or even a stack of 3 x 5 cards. It doesn't matter what you use it is more important that you do it. Oh, you gonna want to favorite pen as well.

How do you start? Well, you have two options. Option one… Open your notebook and start writing. Push on yourself to use that notebook as a thought collector and connector.

Option two, work with me. I regularly help people renew and restart their journaling practices.

Relational

Anyone you turn to as a guide will always ask how things are going… And they don't just mean in your leadership position, with your department, in your community or at home. When I ask how are things going I mean all of that and
more. In fact it's the first question I ask when I initially meet with a new client.

We sit down, we look at each other, and I ask, "how are you?”

Sometimes the answer is quick, as if my new client wants to bypass what is current and just try to fix something that's broken or plan for the future. Other times that question has turned into a 45 minute monologue, meet the active
listener them the open sharer.

Quick, get someone on your team that you can talk to about anything. Make sure that the person that you talk with is in a position-a professional position if possible-to ask you new questions. And specifically, new questions about
your relationships.

First and foremost your relationship with yourself. And then, your relationships in an expanding circle. Your family, coworkers and friends, community, etc.

Spiritual

Why do you do what you do. What is the foundation that you stand on that makes it this important that you are that good at what you are doing and how you are doing it? When I use the word spiritual I'm always coming at it from a
lowercase s point of view.

I don't mean what religion you belong to, I am much more interested in having you explore, and deepen your commitment to, the foundation and importance of your work. Your work on the planet is your manifestation of caring and love.

You've heard the saying, if you love what you do doesn't feel like work.

Or, get paid to do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life.

Unfortunately all of those sayings work… Or they don't.

If you are already on the other side of doing what you love, making great money, and feeling like it matters… You shrug your shoulders and say, "yes. It's true."

If you are struggling to pay your phone bill this month, you are constantly arguing about finances at home, and you haven't been able to afford something you've wanted to purchase for quite some time, you shake your head and say,
"no… That's not true.”

What do you think of when you see or hear the word spiritual? And, as a thought experiment much like Einstein encouraged all of his students to do, can you hold in your mind a new definition of that word? Can you journal in your
notebook a new list of goals? Can you sit down with someone who cares as much as you do about your future and success and share open heartedly with them what you want, why you wanted, and how you are planning to go about getting it?

The good news about studying productive leadership is that you don't have to do anything different. You don't have to change. Merely the fact that you took time to read this note tells me you already have the tools you have used
to get as far as you have. More than likely, by continuing to do what you've done you will achieve many of your goals.

The purpose of this framework is to give you vocabulary and tools that you can use to speed up the process, or reduce the stress. By identifying when you were at your best, managing the voices inside of your head, building and rebuilding
relationships you depend on and doubling down on the big WHY… 

The purpose… 

You will put yourself in a position to work smarter, think bigger, achieve more and lead better.