Coaching focuses on moving forward productively. Everyone wants that.
Unfortunately many of us drive ahead by simply picking up more tasks. A key to success is not just picking up goals, but also intentionally dropping things. I often ask clients:
“What will you stop doing to reach this goal?”
People are surprised by that. There’s underlying expectation, we should just take on more. In the end, many end up exhausted and less successful. STOP is just as important as START.
Tip of the Day: What to STOP
Decide what to stop by asking the following:
- What am I doing that is not particularly effective?
- What takes resources (time, $$, energy) without much impact?
- What business habits am I doing, just because they’re a habit?
- What’s my worst waste of time, $$ or energy?
Below are some common practices. You may get a lot of value out of the following but it doesn’t hurt to evaluate these (or any other business habits).
- Client birthday cards – How much does this really matter to your clients for the time and resources you invest?
- Large-scale client events – How much loyalty do you really gain from these events compared to the effort and resources invested?
- Responding immediately – Many suffer from constant interruption from email or phone calls. How much time and focus is lost from constantly being interrupted?
- Lots of variety/customization – Technology has allowed us to customize and increase choices to the point of overwhelm. What can you simplify that would increase your focus and effectiveness?
Somethings outlive their usefulness (i.e. the phone book, once indispensable and now a giant door stop).
Habits and business practices are the same. So rather than just heaping more on, go ahead STOP what doesn’t provide high value now. It’ll free up time, energy and resources to deliver next level success!
Resource of the Day:
- Dr. Henry Cloud is renowned psychologist and expert on relationships. Sometimes we need to stop behaviors and habits to move forward. In other cases, we need to free ourselves from draining relationships. His book Necessary Endings discusses how to end well with situations and people.
- The Top Performer’s Guide to Change – Is a concise but packed guide on how to productively embrace change and move ahead. My intention when writing was to provide the best tools in a easy to read package. If you get one, let me know if it worked (or not).
Links to to purchase on Amazon:
