Ten Ways To Make Time For The Important Things

Making time for the important things in life is a real challenge. Have you ever ended the day with the feeling that you were as busy as you could possibly be, but didn't make any progress on the really important things? Have you been resentful of the time and energy you have to spend on meeting the demands of others? Have you ever felt out of control - that outside forces take up all your time - and you feel like a victim?

Here are ten ways you can make time for the really important things in your life.

1 - Decide what is really important to you. The 3 to 5 most important things in your life - no more than that.. This sounds so simple - and so easy. It isn't. I challenge you to sit down and write out the 3 to 5 most important things you want to accomplish in your life. Most people won't do that. It takes time and focused thought - but it is the single best investment of time you can make.

2 - Make what's important to you the foundation of your goals. Then align your goals with the requirements of those people, institutions, organizations that are important to you and can contribute to your success. This requires a shift in thought from feeling imposed on by others to seeing the requirements of others as contributing to your success. Making that mind shift can be the most liberating thing you can ever do.

3 - Adopt a "good enough" habit of thought toward the the things you must do but that are not part of your top goals. Trying to make everything the "best possible" sounds laudable - but it's a sure recipe for failure. "Best possible" and perfection can literally suck up all the time you've got, and for things that aren't really that important.

4 - Place a high value on creating structure and limiting your choices. See them as positive behaviors in your battle to preserve as much of your time as you can for the important few. Set boundaries of time, energy and money around the less important.

5 - Create a habit of thought that allows you to replace instinctive reaction with considered response. It's very easy, and lazy, to wait for an outside stimulus to create response. It's hard to sort out and choose response - but critical to your own success.

6 - Learn to say "No." There will always be demands on your time in excess of the time you have available, and while the demands of others may be good for them, they may not be good for you. Work to act only on those demands that are a win - win. Remind yourself that the price paid for having too much to do and too little time is that nothing gets done to even a "good enough" level.

7 - Make routine, predictable and structured all the "good enough" stuff. To the extent that you create routines, the focus of your thoughts and actions can be used for the important stuff. It's amazing how much real thought and planning and decision making can be accomplished while performing the routines of mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, doing the dishes....... A friend who travels a lot on business sees routines as his close friends - they keep him supplied with all his day to days, and allow him to focus on the important things. An example - he always parks his rental car under a light post while traveling - always. Why? It's easier to find it if he forgets where he parked it. Simple - effective.

8 - When it comes to the really important things, forget "multitasking." A focused hour spent on a top goal beats a day spent on "thin things." Busy is not the same as effective - often it's just an avoidance tool - it's procrastination dressed in activity.

9 - Act with enthusiasm - nothing makes things work better than energy and optimism - the belief that good things will come from our actions, and the expectation that our goals will be met and exceeded. And. if some of the routine things simply don't call for enthusiasm, then adopting a mindset of acceptance places a much higher value on accomplishing them. Saying to yourself " As soon as I've got that done - I can get on to the neat stuff" creates a reward for yourself.

10 - Enjoy the rewards of your self discipline. When the combination of the most important and the" good enough" results in your success - however you define that elusive word - take the time to celebrate.

Write down the most important things in your life, then use these ten suggestions to protect as much of your energy and time and optimism as possible. The result will be greater success in the things that matter to you most - whatever they may be.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

Lessons In Survival - A Critical Leadership Skill

To survive - to hang in there - to keep your head while all around you others are losing theirs - to stay in play - is a critical skill of leaders. Let's face it - even the most astute, successful person will suffer setbacks, and surviving and overcoming those setbacks is the true measure of a leader.

To some, survival sounds like a skill for a loser. And, frankly, there are many who try to survive by holding back, by not taking risk, by getting as invisible as possible. Those are not the behaviors of leaders - they are not what survival means in this article - and they lead to failure.

An example of survival and leadership:

A client had a business unit that was doing badly. Unprofitable, losing customers, over budget. The business unit leader had been in the job for six months - not long enough to have created the mess, but long enough to be held accountable for it. Her predecessor had held the job for ten years - and then retired with honors. There were many days when she felt like giving up. She felt that she was more a victim than anything else. She had been a top performer in every other assignment given her. She felt she had gone from the a top 5 percenter in her company to being perceived as a loser by former colleagues. Everyone likes a winner - no one wants to be associated with what looks like a loser. No one was going to rescue her from this situation - she was either going to sink or swim.

She felt she had four choices:

1 - She could quit and find another employer - she was highly regarded in the market.

2 - She could stay and look at who to blame. She could try to cash in on her former accomplishments and get a transfer - or not be held accountable - or be given lots of slack.

3- She could let the situation tear her down, wallow in self pity and blame fate, and turn into a part of the problem - rather than be part of the solution.

4 - She could do what she had to do to survive the situation - stay afloat, give herself a timetable, work to improve performance, and then decide where her future lay.

She chose the last alternative. She reviewed it with her boss - he agreed with her. For the first time in her career she was faced with stabilizing a losing business, rather than growing a winning one. What a difference! Going from winning as a strategy to surviving - as a strategy - at least as a first step strategy.

She shared her survival strategy with her staff - and watched their reactions. They ranged from acceptance to indifference. This unit was part of a much larger company, and some of her staff had friends in other parts of the organization that could "take care of them." She let some people transfer to other parts of the business - got rid of some others - and brought in key people who saw their new positions as a chance to prove themselves.

She put together a "stop the bleeding" short term plan with goals and measures that could be quantified and tracked and reported on regularly. No "BHAGS" here ( Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals). Her boss gave his support -while keeping the situation at arm's length. The plan was shared with the people in the business unit, and every person was expected to establish goals that contributed to the plan. Some did - some didn't. The plan worked - at least to the extent that the bleeding stopped and the business returned to marginal profitability in six months. No celebrations were held - but the leader and her staff were pleased with their progress -they knew just how much had been accomplished - although no one else seemed to share their emotions.

As the six month plan unfolded, it became clear to her that some significant investments in capital and systems were going to be necessary if the business was to prosper - and there was some risk that, even with those investments, prosperity might not happen. The fight for capital was intense, and other, more successful business units got their share - and hers as well.

She gave it six more months. In that time, steady progress was made, customers were won back, and profitability continued to improve. At the same time, she sensed a growing impatience from her boss with the rate of progress - but no real help in the form of additional resources. At this point she was 18 months into her job, and while she had seen major progress, very little recognition of her accomplishments came her way. She gave it six more months.

At the end of two years in the assignment, when continued improvement went unrewarded, she resigned.

When asked about that experience five years later, she said it was by far the most valuable of her career. When pressed to identify what particularly valuable lessons she had taken from the experience that helped her be successful - and she had become very successful - she listed the following:

• You gotta pick your spots carefully. Every organization has top units and bad units. To decide to survive in a marginal unit with little upside is not very bright. Be sure the survival situation has an upside.
• The decision to fight through a tough situation, and take the risk of surviving, must be a conscious one. And once it's made, all effort must be directed forward. It's easy in these situations to adopt a "why me" or victim attitude - and that is fatal.
• Managing, defining and communicating expectations in a survival situation are absolutely critical skills - more than in a highly successful business. Pressure from above to see progress can lead to commitments being made that simply cannot be kept. And intentions sound good at the beginning of a reporting period - but only results matter. "Hockey stick" forecasts and plans - where all the good news is forecast to occur near the end of the measurement period - are always greeted with suspicion.
• Tolerance for mistakes is much lower in survival situations. And negative outcomes that would be ignored in a successful business are magnified and used as examples of just how bad things are - while good news is received with skepticism. Protecting and insulating the people committed to making it work from harsh criticism and judgment is a major task for the survival leader.
• A survival leader must have a core group of optimistic believers who are committed to making it work.
• Stay in close contact with the Boss - absolutely no surprises are allowed.
• Keep people focused on improvement through widely communicated goals they can share and buy into.
• Don't let people see your discouragement at bad news - and there is always bad news in survival situations. Your negative emotions will be multiplied 100 times by those that observe them.
• Survival mode must be a temporary situation - it's easy to slip into a survival mind set and make it a long term behavior.
• Survival - both personal and organizational - is often thankless. While in survival mode leaders have to see the value of their contribution themselves. Often, there is very little positive recognition given to survival.
• The worst thing a survival leader can do is to stay in place and let the situation grind them down. When the best shot has been given, and it remains apparent that that isn't enough, move on - that's always a choice - always. Know when to hold, and know when to fold.
• In the stress of survival situations, it's easy to personalize all kinds of things. Don't. The ability to see things for what they are - no more or no less - is a necessary ability. Trying to ascribe motive, or waste time on hidden meanings are great ways to lose control and perspective.

These Lessons In Survival were learned the hard way. That's the only way to learn. If you see yourself or your organization in survival mode - use these Lessons to inventory what and how you can apply them to get through it better, quicker and more successfully.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

Eight Times When Good Enough Beats Perfect

When does Good Enough beat Perfect? When Good Enough clears space for action and accomplishment - for moving forward.

Perfect, on the other hand, almost always gets in the way of action and accomplishment - it keeps real progress from being made. Waiting for perfect is a sure recipe for failure.

Let me define what I mean by Good Enough. To a lot of people the phrase "good enough" is more criticism than praise - it implies just "getting by" - or that you could have done better. To me Good Enough means a commitment was kept, a solution that met a need was developed, an action was taken that met a goal. It means that recognition was made of the difference between the critical, the necessary and the trivial. It means a level of action leading to a solution was taken that met the situation - and time, energy and money weren't wasted trying to make the solution better than it needed to be.


I have a good friend who is in a constant battle with Good Enough. Every single thing that comes across her desk has to be handled as if it is the most important thing in the world. She is in constant conflict with much of what needs to be done - and has a real problem getting the very important done first. She strives for perfection in everything she does - and it's causing her real problems. She's a truly excellent person - the only person who doesn't think so is her.


I suspect that the greatest authors, the greatest artists, the greatest composers, the greatest software developers, the greatest salespeople can look back at their achievements and see room for improvement. At some point they all said to themselves " Good Enough." Had they waited for that final stroke of genius - that perfection - their work would never be treasured by so many. That's what perfect does - it keeps real genius under wraps.

How often have you worked hard on something - given it your all - and ended up judging your actions with a vague sense of disappointment when your result was judged - by yourself or by others - as "good enough." You're left feeling "damned with faint praise." But, in truth, your work - your actions - are something to be proud of. You acted, you took risk, you improved - and the next time you'll be even better. Think of the best hitter in baseball. On average, he only gets a hit every three times up to the plate. The other two times could be seen as failures, but the top hitters know those at bats - those imperfect at bats - are the only way to the hits.

Here are eight times when "Good Enough" will beat perfect:

1 - When Good Enough results in action being taken. Without action there can be no accomplishment. More people have failed while striving for the perfect solution - and missing the opportunity that is taken by the less perfect, but "Good Enough."

2 - When Good Enough results in taking the next step. The next step - be it the follow up sales call, the next experiment after a failure, the next presentation after a poorly received one - although that next step isn't perfect -results in being one step closer to success.

3 - When Good Enough defeats fear, resistance and procrastination. Good Enough can liberate - it can reduce the fear and resistance level - it provides that little boost to go beyond. Perfect creates fear.

4 - When Good Enough overcomes those two deeply imbedded beliefs we all share - " I am not able" and "I am not worthy." Nothing holds people back more than their own belief that they aren't worthy or aren't able. Nothing can get them past those beliefs more than promising to do the best they can - Good Enough - and finding out they far exceeded their own fears and expectations.

5 - When good enough creates a "ready, fire, aim habit of thought" - the first step to continuous improvement. Liberate resistance by understanding that success is a journey - every step on the journey is a learning experience - every step is evaluated on the basis of what was learned, and how much closer it brought success.

6 - When Good Enough separates the important few from the trivial many. Setting priorities - and separating the need for absolute maximum effort and expertise from the clutter of the less important - leads to more time for the really neat stuff that creates real success.

7 - When Good Enough keeps us raising our own personal bar. Raising the bar requires first finding where the bar is right now. Good Enough helps establish where the bar is - the first step to raising it - to continuous improvement.

8- When Good Enough meets our goals - SMART goals. Goals need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time framed. There is no room for P - Perfect - in that equation.


The next time you're tempted to think in terms of the perfect solution, remember that Good Enough puts you on the road to success. Use the Good Enough habit of thought to accomplish more, succeed more, and travel further down the road on the journey to continuous improvement.

Written by Andy Cox, President

4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

Ten Ways Leaders Overcome Analysis Paralysis

One of the biggest challenges leaders have is to ensure that preparation and analysis add real value and provide the framework for action. The biggest enemy to action is analysis paralysis.

One of the most difficult habits to break is the habit of continuing to create and analyze choices long after decisive action should have taken place. Analysis paralysis is the graveyard of many organizations and careers. It's procrastination - on both the organizational and individual level - caused by fear of failure, fear of consequences, fear of not being thorough, fear of making a mistake.

Analysis paralysis results in too many choices. Too many choices drag down the energy, the time and the effort of all those who are part of the issue.

Here are ten ways leaders have ensured they and their organizations don't fall victim to analysis paralysis.

1 - Define success as the result of a cumulative process - built on a cycle of action, evaluation, improvement - then action, evaluation, improvement. Nothing creates fear - and analysis paralysis - quicker than to be told that whatever decision is made will result in failure or success - with no other possible outcomes. Creating a hardline success or failure situation will almost certainly result in careful - read lengthy - analysis and preparation. Define ideal outcomes and solutions and use them as guidelines in setting goals - just don't let the ideal be the only acceptable solution.

2 - The best course of action in the vast majority of situations is the one that "meets requirements." Save the "best possible" course of action for the relatively few high value, high impact decisions.

3 -Impose constraints - money, time, resources - that keep the focus on action, not on preparation and analysis

4 - Set up a ready, fire, aim behavior. Insist on enough information to act with a reasonable degree of confidence in the decision, and establish a measuring mechanism to allow for changes as they become apparent.

5 - Realize that simplicity and limited choices can be very liberating - they create a structure that allows for action, rather than a constant evaluation of ever increasing alternatives. Complexity is the partner of analysis paralysis.


6 - Value attitudes that place a premium on information - but information as a means to act, not as an end in itself.

7 - Insist on action at every step. Direction and priorities are created through goal setting. Accomplishment is the benchmark of success - not activity.

8 - Accept that mistakes are part of improvement. The biggest enemy of innovation and development is often the fear of making a mistake - or of being blamed for a mistake. A problem solving climate accepts mistakes as part of the process of improvement. It punishes non risk taking behavior, as well as behavior to cover up mistakes."If you're not making mistakes you're not accomplishing anything" is a belief in problem solving organizations.

9 - Adopt a "Principle of Good Enough " (POGE) attitude toward action. Software developers use POGE to act - knowing that the only way to implement and improve is to throw the switch - go live - measure the results and improve - and then do it all over again. Adjustments based on the results of action are an accepted part of the process - not an indication of failure.

10 - Keep progress reviews simple and frequent and highly structured. It's amazing how even the most worthy goal can become hostage to analysis paralysis - if it's left unattended by people in a position to see the bigger picture. Make course corrections a routine part of the process - an accepted and vital part of meeting goals. A question that should be asked in every progress review should be " "What course corrections do we have to make to meet this goal?"

Take an inventory - of yourself and of your organization. Ask yourself if the conditions for analysis paralysis exist - or if analysis paralysis is already hard at work confusing activity with accomplishment. Then use the suggestions from the leaders who contributed to this article to increase your personal and organizational competitive advantage.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved