Own Your Day Page 4
Goal Tracking
This is not a technology manual. It’s entirely up to you which apps, programs, and devices you use to manage your goals and schedule. However, it is crucial that you incorporate a familiar and reliable system for tracking your progress. Otherwise, how will you know whether or not what you are doing is working? What else would hold you accountable to what you committed to? How will you know what the results are? Whether you use a handheld device, a personal assistant, an online calendar, or even a piece of paper taped to the wall, you need to be tracking the results of what your goal’s strategies and action items are producing.
Go Do: Develop Your Strategy and Action Steps
Now that you have defined your goals, reference the example above and write down the strategies you are going to implement to achieve your goals. Then write down the specific action items you’ll need to engage in to make each strategy a success.
Business is dynamic—always. When you break down your strategy, you’ll clearly see a list of activities you need to engage in every day that, compounded over time, will generate the results you want and allow you to achieve the goals you set for yourself, your team, and your company.
It’s an old adage but applies today: Consistency in action leads to consistency in results. When you have a strategy mapped out and a series of action steps, along with a reasonable timeline to meet realistic expectations, it’s a lot easier to reach your final destination.
[PART ONE]
CHAPTER 6
Outline Your Routine
If Time Is Money, then Your Routine Is Priceless
Now is when this process really begins to unfold. This is the time to redesign your routine and challenge your thinking around time management. Be prepared to learn the additional truths about time management—it’s not only about big visions, goals, and strategies; it’s just as much about learning to master the correct day-to-day activities, communication, and way of thinking that can make the biggest impact.
You’re now in a position to follow your North Star. For centuries, travelers have oriented themselves and charted their courses based on their position in relation to the North Star. It’s always there—constant and unmovable. Boats, trains, horses, cars, and people on foot move and change their positions, but the North Star is steady and unchanging. You now have your own North Star, and it too will always be there for you—unwavering and completely reliable—ready to be your very own guide and point of reference in all that you do around your personal vision and goals.
Now, bring yourself back to today. What are you going to do about your goals and vision every single day to create what is most important to you?
You have now charted your destination and have begun creating your map—the absolute best path possible you can travel to achieve success. Your routine is your daily road map to achieving your goals with the least amount of effort.
Your Routine Is Where Your Plan Resides
By taking the discreet action items associated with each of your goals and placing them on your calendar, whether one-time tasks or recurring ones, you began creating one of the most powerful time-management tools known to man—a routine. I have coached thousands of sales managers on time management and regularly receive their first visceral comment that routines don’t work for them. They wish they did! But their work is just too dynamic and ever-changing to be nicely packaged into a tidy, easily predictable routine.
And therein lies the disconnect. For routines to be transformational in helping you achieve your most important goals in life, they can never be stagnant. They need to be organic and alive! They need to be adaptive, and they need to flow. Learning to develop and work with a routine like this allows you to get into what I like to refer to as the “flow zone.” But to get there requires what may be perceived as having to map out a rigid routine. Failing to create an organic and flexible routine is the principal reason so many time-management efforts fail—they fail because people do not take into account the complexities of life and the externalities constantly in play. But when sales leaders change how they think about routines and internalize the dual truth around routines, it changes everything. While counterintuitive, a day of specific and measurable activities gives structure to your routine while being infinitely flexible to the ebbs and flows of life that happen daily, even with the best-laid plans. These people truly do end up living happier, more focused, and more productive lives.
An effective routine is never static. That’s the point of this paradox: How could you fit something static around something that’s always changing? You can’t. It’s less about creating the perfect routine that never changes and more about how you respond to the new things and changes that unexpectedly show up in life. It’s learning to be realistic about what things you can control and what things you can’t (something we’ll cover in more detail in chapter 10).
Think about why each of these components of your Personal Navigation System are so critical to owning your day and how they relate to each other. Each component supports the other, and you can’t effectively create one component until you successfully complete the one that precedes it.
But as you proceed from one step to the next, a beautiful portrait of a meaningful vision, ownership, and achievement begins to form. When executed properly, something as cold and calculated as time management becomes very real and alive, with accountability and purpose pulsing through its veins.
That’s why all roads, and your ability to achieve your goals and the results you want most, lead back to self-management. Every action, every reaction, and how much of your very best gets pumped into each day all hinge entirely on self-management. And as a manager, not only is it crucial for you to infuse this approach into everything you do for yourself, it’s up to you to ensure that your team is engaging in the right activities that are going to drive the most productivity for them for everyone to achieve their business objectives. One thing is for certain: If you’re a people manager, after completing this book, you’ll recognize infinite coaching moments to help your people take ownership of their day as well.
Go Do: Add Other Recurring Tasks to Your Routine
In last chapter’s “Go Do,” you began building your routine by inserting all of the action items you had identified for each strategy associated with your goals into your calendar or tool of choice. Some of those action items are recurring in nature, and others are one-time tasks. But for your routine to empower you to achieve everything you want, you may need to incorporate other recurring tasks as well. Take some time now to incorporate any additional activities into your routine that will help you achieve the sense of accomplishment and harmony you’re seeking. And don’t worry if you don’t feel like you capture everything during this exercise. As you continue to read, I will share many additional concepts and ideas with you that will likely prompt you to continue updating and adjusting your routine even further. Remember, an effective routine is alive, ever-changing, and organic.
Some examples of time blocks that you may want to consider are as follows:
Morning regimen
Commute time
Consistent one-on-one time with each of your children
Consistent one-on-one time with each of your direct reports
Personal training, seminars, conferences, or workshops to attend
Daily self-care regimen
Personal/spiritual /thinking/reflecting/ study time
E-mails
Administrative tasks
Meetings
Phone calls
Business reviews with direct reports or customers
Part One—Summary
1. Personal and Profession Vision
Begin the creative process of designing your vision and the ideal lifestyle you want to create for yourself.
2. Core Values and Priorities
Look at your vision, and write down what values (characteristics, attributes, standards, boundaries, and traits) you need to strengthen or adopt to bring your vis
ion to life.
Look at your values (e.g., bravery, trust, learning, accountability, patience) and identify your priorities in life (e.g., spending time with family, making an impact, learning, solving problems, creating, creating solutions, working with customers, developing a team)
3. Specific and Measurable Goals
Set specific and measurable twelve-month goals (e.g., four hundred sold units) that are in alignment with your priorities and also have a deadline.
4. Strategies to Attain Goals and Action Items
Determine what your strategies (e.g., hire five new salespeople, increase face time with clients) will be to achieve your goals.
Break down your strategy into the action items (e.g., obtain approval from upper management, create a job posting, conduct preliminary interviews) you’ll need to engage in to make each strategy a success.
5. Organic Routine
Time-block each distinct action item into your calendar and routine.
Take time to incorporate any additional activities (daily exercise, volunteer time, etc.) into your routine that will contribute to achieving the overall success you desire in life.
[PART TWO]
How to Own Your Day
[PART TWO]
CHAPTER 7
Assign a Value to Your Time
Achieve More, and Simplify Your Life
To achieve this requires that you begin with engaging in the activities that move you closer to your goals and produce the best results for you with the least amount of resistance.
Because time is our most precious, nonnegotiable commodity, it’s essential to invest it in those activities that produce the greatest personal dividends.
As I mentioned in the last chapter, if time is money, then an effective routine is priceless. Take a few minutes to establish a monetary value for your time. Attach a dollar figure to it. What do you feel your time is worth? Regardless of whether you are salary-based or incentive/commission-based, put a dollar figure on what you feel you are worth per hour. For example, is your time worth $50 per hour, $100, $500, or $5,000 per hour?
Scale or Fail?
If you are taking on certain projects, activities, or tasks, then what does that do to the value you have placed on your time? You may find yourself performing duties that may not maximize your revenue simply because you are not maximizing your time’s true value. Engage in the tasks that are most congruent with your goals and what you feel you are worth.
At some point in the future, you may feel that the value of your time will increase. For example, in three to five years, you might project that the value of your time will double. If so, here’s an exercise for you to take on. Instead of thinking in terms of what you feel your time is worth today, consider the dollar amount you believe your time will be worth in three to five years, and use that as the true value of your time today. In other words, start acting and planning as if your time today is already worth more. You’ll notice a shift in your attitude around how you choose to invest your time.
The result? Once you start thinking in terms of the higher value you have placed on your time, you’ll become more sensitive to the tasks you are willing to take on. You will learn to say no when necessary and delegate more with greater effectiveness, and you will start engaging in more selective and worthy activities.
Chief Problem Solver
There’s a direct correlation between the value of your time and what you believe your primary role is as a manager. As I discussed in great detail in Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions, to truly thrive as a sales manage you need to give up your role as Chief Problem Solver because that’s not your greatest value. But from years of conditioning and experience, unfortunately, managers learn the wrong lesson.
They learn “My value is being the subject-matter expert. My value is my experience.”
No. That’s only part of your value. Your real value and primary objective as a manager is making your people more valuable. And you don’t make your people more valuable by making them more dependent on you.
Here’s another time-management paradox: We create what we want to avoid.
What does every manager want? A team of independent, accountable salespeople. When your direct reports approach you looking for help or advice and rather than ask them their opinion or for a solution, you instead react and serve up the answer, what message are you really sending them every single time they come to you with a problem? The message you’re sending is, “If you have a problem, come to me, and I’ll fix it for you.”
Unfortunately, this creates an atmosphere in which managers are developing teams of dependent sellers. Of course, the real irony is that when salespeople act on the solution or strategy you proposed and that solution fails, who gets to wear the blame? The manager! After all, it was your solution. That’s right—you are actually robbing your people of the very accountability that you desperately want to instill in them.
This is a perfect example of a behavior and a way of thinking you will likely want to begin eliminating from your daily routine. Do the math on this one. After attaching a monetary value to your time, you may find that doing the job you hired someone else to do is difficult to justify financially.
Go Do: Value of Time Now and in the Future
Step One: Assign a monetary dollar amount to your time now.
Step Two: Assign a monetary dollar amount to your time based on what you believe your time will be worth in three to five years.
[PART TWO]
CHAPTER 8
Create Your List of Nonnegotiables
What Is Your Day Filled With?
When many people I work with list what they have scheduled in their calendars, they often share something similar to this:
8:30 a.m.: Sales meeting
11:15 a.m.: Conference call with client
1:00 p.m.: Lunch
2:30 p.m.: New-salesperson interview
4:00 p.m.: Budget meeting
In reality, there is a great deal they’re not accounting for in their calendars. Some of the tasks that fill up their day, such as those listed above, would be considered absolutely essential or nonnegotiable, but many would not. Only when you’re being realistic with what you’re putting in your days can you start the process of checking off, highlighting, or circling the activities that are nonnegotiable.
Some nonnegotiable activities include your commute (if any) or other predefined functions you have to perform at work due to the responsibilities of your job. As a sales manager, these nonnegotiables could consist of sales meetings, scheduled one-to-one coaching sessions, training new salespeople, and even time in the field for observation. Your calendar might more accurately look something like this:
5:30 a.m.: Wake up
6:00 a.m.: Exercise
7:00 a.m.: Breakfast
7:40 a.m.: Commute to work
8:00 a.m.: Greet team
8:15 a.m.: E-mail
9:00 a.m. Voice mail
9:30 a.m.: Follow up on several projects
10:00 a.m.: One-to-one sales coaching
11:15 a.m.: Conference call with client
1:00 p.m.: Lunch
2:30 p.m.: New-salesperson interview
4:00 p.m.: Budget meeting
5:00 p.m.: E-mail
6:00 p.m.: Voice mail
Make Self-Care Nonnegotiable
Even though I have alluded to this already in this book and in other books I’ve written, the topic of making self-care nonnegotiable is of such critical importance to reaching any goal and is especially relevant to the topic of time management that I felt compelled to include it here as well.
You don’t need to wait until the end of the year to reward yourself! Having fun is no longer the by-product of hard work, finishing a task, hitting a quota, or something we reward ourselves with after financial gain. Rather, it’s something we can derive from our lives on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to do without a well-structured routine in place!
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sp; Let’s face it—this is not our practice life! There’s no dress rehearsal. The fact is, it’s easy to get caught up in this process when you have a clear path to attaining your goals. That’s why you need to be proactive and incorporate self-care into your routine. That is time just for you, time for personal and professional development, time to do the things that bring you the most joy and maximize your health, and time for self-reflection.
Find some time during the day and throughout your week that is your time, downtime, or do-nothing time. Treat this as sacred time. Even if that means taking an hour break to hit golf balls, go to the gym, meet a friend for coffee, take a bike ride, go for a walk, or read a book, it’s time well invested. It will allow you to rebuild your energy level and clear your mind of all the clutter that accumulates throughout the day.
The fact is, to take care of others as effectively and successfully as you can—your team, peers, customers, and family—you need to first take care of yourself. I know this may sound selfish, but consider that it’s more about being self-ish.
For example, think about when you’re traveling on an airplane. The flight attendant goes through the safety protocol before taking off. After they teach us how to use a seatbelt, they say, “In the unlikely event of an emergency, the overhead compartment will open, and an oxygen mask will fall down. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first before helping others.” Why? Because you can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself first.