Welcome to the Open for Success Blog: a virtual space where professionals and small business owners can bring their challenges and dilemmas and get ideas, strategies, and support.
Through the years I have come to realize a few things about work and life success. First, the tremendous value of having mentors and allies and then the impact that small changes have in our lives.
Each of us holds answers to somebody else’s questions and vice versa. In the course of living our lives we often become inspired by others and in turn others become inspired by us.
I hope the Open for Success Blog will be a valuable resource for those who visit. I invite you to participate with your questions and ideas and share your wisdom and experience.
If you would like to learn more about me and my coaching practice, visit www.openforsuccess.com
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Apr
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Time and Energy Investments
Filed Under Building a Successful Business |
On Meaningful Action
As we go about building our businesses and growing our careers we find that a strong vision can serve as the springboard for inspiration and right action.
To sustain and nurture our vision we need to pay attention to what is asked of us. It is through commitment and will power that we can tend to our vision and make the right choices.
Commitment and will power! These are big words. I have watched many people, including myself, professing commitment, only to realize that their commitment was to the ideas, people, and things that were there to divert them from their true purpose.
When I work with people, even on something like time management, I always ask them to answer the following question before they make a time commitment: “How will this action further my vision for my day or my business?”
You may have a vision for how your day will be, how a project needs to progress, or how a team meeting will develop.
I once worked with a group of people who had difficulty keeping on task during team meetings. People were becoming frustrated and felt that most meetings were a waste of time. We discussed the problem as a group and decided to approach meetings differently.
- We worked on setting a clear intention and agenda for each meeting.
- The agenda was circulated prior to each meeting, giving people the opportunity to make adjustments.
- We assigned the roles of meeting facilitator, note taker and time keeper. Team members took turns in fulfilling these roles. This way, they each came to appreciate the challenge of being responsible for the group’s performance as well as their own.
- We established a follow-up process for action points generated during each meeting.
As they adhered to the process, their meetings became productive, communication improved, and cooperation was strengthened.
Our everyday choices define us. For example, we may say and believe that our time with our family is important, yet we leave the dinner table to answer the phone. We go to our children’s concert and we leave our cell phone on because we expect an important call from the office. When the phone rings, we answer. I can go on and on, but you get the point.
Think of your vision about your life, your work, your relationships, who you want to be as a person. Then think of the choices you make daily. How do your choices support and nurture your vision or your idea of who you are? Is there a discrepancy?
What can you do about it? Pick one thing. Something you can change. Choose something that is neither too difficult nor too easy. You need to feel the excitement of overcoming a challenge. In tasting success, you will want to do more. Eventually, your actions will become aligned with your vision and that’s how you can create your reality.
© 2008 Yota Schneider, Open for Success. www.openforsuccess.com
May be distributed if full attribution is given and copyright notice is included.