Dog Days - Avoid the Pack

We’re entering the Dog Days of summer, but with two political conventions on the horizon and the start of the Olympic Games, it’s hardly languid. There’s a lot of ambition in the air.

Leaders, artists and entrepreneurs don’t typically take the summer off. They use the time to prepare for the autumn months. They know the things they do today will help them to finish the year strong. 

Relaxation is a crucial component to success. It’s tempting to move slower during the hotter months, sip on iced tea and relax by the pool. This is an excellent time to self assess. 

Ask yourself, “How am I doing?” Take account of several areas of your life.

• Are you where you want to be financially? 
• Is your career going as you had planned?
• Are you happy with the current state of your health?
• Are you pleased with and fulfilled by the relationships in your life?
• Have you created enough time in your schedule to pursue your hobbies?
• Are you regularly increasing your education, either formally or informally?
• Are you satisfied with the contributions of time, treasure or talent you’re making to the community of your choice?
• Are you continually improving?

If you’re less than satisfied with your answers, don’t just shrug it off. Make a plan that will start moving you to where you want to be. Do something, right away, even if it’s just writing down your goal or a next action. 

It’s hot and many people are on vacation, so you may not feel as motivated to do something as you would a couple months from now. It helps to remember, that if you start today, a couple months from now you could be finishing, instead of starting.

Who Do You Love?

Several years ago I asked the people I work with that question. Specifically, “Which clients do you love the most?” More interesting than the answers was the speed in which everyone was able to respond. There was no hesitation as grown men and women – some road weary and hardened by the world, were able to freely and easily proclaim their love of particular clients.




I didn’t ask why they loved the clients they chose – but none could resist signing the virtues of those who had earned their affection. The reasons were as varied as, “They always pay on time” to “They get us and it’s always a pleasure to be with them.”




When they spoke, they pitched forward on their toes, appeared lighter on their feet and a sparkle danced in their eyes. As they continued to speak of these exalted clients they almost seemed giddy, certainly confident, and overwhelmingly pleased.




Now, to me, that looked a lot like love. Unfortunately my follow up question didn’t elicit as much frivolity.




“How much time do you spend with those you love?”




The swift wind that had filled their sails moments earlier had just been zapped, their magnificent sailboats stalled at sea as the air visibly deflated from their chests.




Excuses were mumbled over tightened lips – but it didn’t really matter what the reasons were, the result was the same. Neglect. Everyone one of them knew that love suffering from neglect could easily go away. It may be sudden or gradually – but it is inevitable.




Whether it be clients, employees, colleagues, family or friends – are you spending enough time with those you love? If not, start – because fundamentally there is nothing that you could possibly be spending time on that is more important or worthwhile than the people you love?




There are two ways to remedy this. First, shift your priorities to spend less time on the “burdens” and more time with those you love. Second, simply love more. Whether it be clients, employees, colleagues, family or friends – lead with a loving heart.

Your Goal Planner Worksheet

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By now all the pressure to identify your 2011 goals has passed. You either have them, or you don’t. If you don’t, it’s not too late. You can set goals anytime you want. If you’ve already established your goals for the year, good on you. Let’s turbo charge what you have so far.

Attached is a goal planner worksheet that will help you organize your thoughts and serve as a blueprint for achieving your goals.

On the top of the worksheet there’s space to include your purpose or personal mission statement and your top values. Along the left side column are eight main dimensions of your life; Financial, Career, Health, Relationships, Recreation, Contribution, Personal and Education.

Many people spend their energy trying to balance their life. Don’t. Strive for harmony instead. Place one or two complementary goals for each dimension of your life. You’ll find your chances of achieving more increases dramatically.

For the remaining columns there are two paths you can take. Basic, which is the minimum you should do, or Advanced, which required a little more thought but also increases your clarity and speed in achieving your goals.

1. Decide on the specific things that you want to do, have or be during the year.
Basic: Create a SMART Goal for each dimension of your life.
Advanced: Phrase the SMART Goal as a question beginning with “Why.

2. Determine the purpose of each goal.
Basic: Describe why you want to achieve each goal.
Advanced: Describe why you want to achieve each goal and how you imagine you’d feel once you did.

3. Do the actions that need to be done?
Basic: Create a basic task list of things to be done to help achieve the goal.
Advanced: Include the financial and personal resources you need to achieve each goal.

4. Deadline when the goal will be done?
Basic: Simply stack rank your 1, 3, 5 or 10 year goals
Advanced: Have a specific date in which you plan to achieve each goal by.

If all this seems like too much work too bad. It’s very rare for a goal to show up on your doorstep neatly wrapped with a bow.

Goals are messy business. They involve thinking and effort and negotiation and involvement. If you want to work on wishes, save your coins and spend a day or two at your local wishing well. If you want to work on your goals and by definition, your life get started. If you want help let me know.

Goals 101

It’s been said that the number one reason people don’t achieve their goals is because they have too many. I think it’s more likely that people confuse a list of wishes with goals. Goals should give you vision and direction so you can create an actionable plan toward achieving them.

I seriously doubt people have too many goals, rather they have too many competing priorities clamoring for the A1 slot.

Here’s an exercise that will help you identify the one motivating goal that is burning inside of you.  Think of it as your Great Goal. Everyone should have a Great Goal, the one that take precedence over all others. After you achieve it you can find another one, but not before because if you work on multiple Great Goals you risk diluting your efforts and weakening your chance at success. Follow these five steps to help focus your thinking.

1. Answer these questions:

• If I won one million dollars tomorrow, what would I do?


• If I could change one thing about my body, what would it be?


• Who do I wish to be and why?


• What skill do I wish I had learned as a child?


• Where do I see my career in five years?

2. Pick One
Choose the one answer from above that provokes the greatest reaction in you.  That’s your goal; reflect on it and determine what part of it you believe you can accomplish in less than a year.

3. Pick a Time Frame
Determine, how long will it realistically take to accomplish this goal; one week, one month, six months, one year?

4. Determine the cost
What will it cost you to achieve this goal in either time, talent (effort) or treasure (money)?

5. Fill in the blanks
I resolve to (answer from step 2) in (answer from step 3) by (answer from step 4).


Now, refine your statement in a way they speaks more clearly to you.  Write it on a note card, fold it up and bring it with you everywhere you go. Read it as often as you can; certainly at least twice a day, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

Congratulations, you’re on your way, and already have done more work on your personal development than ninety percent of the people you interact with each day.  I’d love to hear about your success.  Send me an email once you’ve achieved your goal and tell me how long it took.  You can also contact me if you want an accountability partner to help you stay on track and achieve your goal.

Three Paths. One Clear Way.

People who want to be, do or have something generally follow one of three paths.

There are those who make no plans and do not set goals. It's not that they don't have a list of wants in their life but they tend to be dependent on outside resources out of their control; like winning the lottery. 85% of the people you meet fall into this category. They have no specific goals that they're focused on achieving. They work day by day, maybe weekend to weekend with little thought of cause and effect or the role their own action, or inaction plays in their life.

The next group of people are different. They have goals. The level of specificity may vary from person to person but ask them what their goal is and they can tell you. It might sound more like a wish to some, but these people know what they want. They're capable of achieving their goal but they get bouts of insecurity and feelings of doubt. 10% of the people you meet are in this group.

The final group also have goals. You'll notice they are far more specific when they describe them. Even if they sound far-fetched, there's something about their confidence and self-assuredness that convinces you it's not an idle dream of theirs. It's a worthwhile great goal and there's probably no stopping them. They have a secret weapon. Not only do they physically write down their goals, (something 95% of the people you know don't do) they also make plans toward accomplishing their goals. A plan needn't be more elaborate than a series of tasks and a deadline to meet each of those tasks. People with great goals achieve the important things they set out to achieve because they do the work it takes.

Before you decide which path you want to take next equip yourself with a clear goal and a plan.

A Calendar, a Clock and Your Head

In college I spent a fair amount of time directing shows in the television studio. I loved nearly every aspect of it and took particular pride in ending my programs exactly on time which was an important skill.

In my professional life I manage business meetings tightly. Critics have accused me of being a slave to the agenda and sacrificing spontaneous communication and dialogue in favor of efficiency. On the other hand, participants frequently praise me for staying on topic and thank me for valuing them by starting and stopping on time.

Having lived in California for over 18 years, I'm far from a stickler on this stuff. I don't even wear a wristwatch any more. I’ve been repeatedly schooled that, “time is simply a man-made construct” and “mañana” doesn't mean tomorrow, it means, not today.

I've seen these behaviors devour less tolerant people from the Northeast who resent the suggestions to “just chill.” It drives the anal-retentive nuts when others are “fashionably late” or casual about missing deadlines.

Although it can still irritate me, when you are surrounded by a culture that doesn't like the rigidity of deadlines and feels too much pressure from the ticking clock, you have no choice but to adjust.

I won't argue the value of a zen-like peace that can occur when you have a life with no time constraints. However, I will argue in favor of leadership and living a productive life because eventually you are going to die. So no matter what your philosophy, that’s a looming time constraint. To me, it’s better to embrace the beauty of time.

There are three things you should begin to use in at least a cursory fashion; a calendar, a clock and your head.

A calendar gives you a better perspective on what's coming up. You know that Christmas is on December 25th, that taxes are due on April 15th and you know the date of important appointments. It might be a day in advance, or a month, a year, ten years, it doesn't matter. The point is you know what's coming.

(Full disclosure, I’m addressing a belated birthday card to my brother. For the 42 years that I've known him his birth date has never changed. Yes, I called him and did the Facebook and Skype thing, but why couldn't I get a simple card out to him in time for his birthday? Because I'm a dork. Just like everyone else who misses a fixed date on the calendar. You can try to celebrate your failure to plan by labeling it procrastination or some other sexy sounding affliction, but all it does is broadcast the fact that you are a dork.)

A clock serves the same function as the calendar but with greater immediacy. It’s a realtime planning tool. Just like you know things are coming at a particular date, you know some things are coming at a specific time. Airplane departures, Hotel check-outs, last call at the bar or what time Macy’s opens on Black Friday are a few examples. You can also use your clock to make note of the duration of things for future planning. Perpetually late? That’s a clue that you need to spend more time on your planning.

This brings us to your head. Each of us are blessed with a thinking mechanism. Maybe some people need to take it out of hibernation and exercise it a little bit. With it, you have the ability to deduce and decide. Things come up out of the blue ruining well laid plans. Don't become a victim of life’s whims. Incorporate them into your plans. Think a little, don't simply react. Instead, process information for a second longer and respond to situations, based on your values and purpose (discussed here) rather than something fickle like your current mood.

I know if you consider yourself a free-spirit this all sounds like a horrible constrictive burden. It's not, so, get over it. At least becoming aware of what's on the calendar, what time it is and your capacity to solve a problem can change your life. Want to change it dramatically? Invest more time into you're planning and what you'll do in the event your plans fall through.

Need help acting on any of these concepts? Karl Bimshas Consulting’s Life Coaching Services (link) can help you find the a-ha within.