Leaders Set Goals To Define Priorities

Setting goals as the way to create priorities, whether in business or in personal life, is what leaders do to maintain direction and focus in their organizations and in their personal lives. Unfortunately, many managers take a tremendous amount of potential leverage out of their organizations by not prioritizing.

I had a boss whose standard answer to "What's the most important thing?" was "Everything's the most important thing." What a copout. We were in a crisis mode and there was a lot to get done, but what that "Everything is important" direction led to was a lot of counterproductive behavior - hunker down and keep the boss off your butt by being busy all the time - 24/7 - and ride it out. Do what you're told to do, and then ask "What's next?" After a year of that no leverage management style he was fired - but not until some very good people had left the organization.

Managers that take the "everything is Number 1" approach are often rewarded for being tough, no nonsense, aggressive problem solvers. The fact that many of the problems they solved were created by them seems to go unnoticed. Actually, instead of leadership, they use a brute force approach to getting things done. That often works in a crisis situation, but when everything becomes a crisis, those managers lose their effectiveness and their people become cynical about how they are treated. Brute force managers rarely have goals they share with people, and even more rarely do they have their people participate in any meaningful way in setting goals and priorities. To many of them, sharing information and open communication are threats to their control. Many of them are quite happy with a compliance level workforce - the "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it" people. There is no leverage in the Brute Force management style.

How do effective leaders create priorities that maximize their own effectiveness and the effectiveness of their organization?

They start with a clear understanding of what the three to five most important things are, both personally and professionally. This is tough - there are always many more issues vying for attention than there are resources available to address them. The leader makes the tough decisions - the Brute Force manager doesn't.

Then the leader enlists people in the areas of importance to help arrive at ways to succeed in meeting the most important requirements.

Then the leader creates and communicates and negotiates goals that support the most important three to five issues, or challenges, or opportunities.

The goals are used to create supporting goals, expectations and understandings of importance in the universe of people that can contribute to meeting the goal.

Then leaders act - and expect action from their people.


Leaders protect their own time, and the time of their people, so that maximum focus can be kept on the critical few, and not frittered away on the unimportant many.

And then leaders evaluate, change if change is necessary, and continue to use the process as the basis for action throughout their organization.

And they insist that this process be kept as simple as possible - minimum bureaucracy here. Don't wait for an enterprise wide software system to capture all the data and signups and goal statements. More good goal setting systems have drowned of their own administrative weight than for any other reason. Leaders fight that. Leaders know the critical intersection in goal setting and prioritizing is at the person to person level - not at the form completion and submission point.

And the resulting action they get is so different from the "Tell me what to do and I'll do it" people. Lots of leverage in a shared goal environment - on both a personal and work level.

Leaders know most people want to help, want to contribute, want to be involved in a worthy enterprise, want to be recognized for their contribution. Leaders also know most people work best and most effectively where they have structure and an understanding of what needs to be done. Once they have that, great things start to happen! They no longer have to say "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it" - they know the priorities and what is most important. They can use the freedom that knowledge provides to keep their eyes on the few big balls - and not be distracted by all the little balls that will always bounce around and take up all the time people will let them take up.

Leaders also know there are times when brute force may be the only appropriate tactic - a public safety health product recall, a natural disaster, a systems failure, a fire - all call for everybody pitching in to get things done - whatever that means. But leaders know the brute force tactic is the exception to the rule, and is only used when absolutely necessary. And their people know it - and rather than take it as just another in a long line of fire drills, they pitch in and know their efforts will be part of a worthy enterprise's efforts to succeed. The result is maximum leverage when needed.

If you work or live in an "Everything is important" situation, be careful of burning out. If you can take what leaders do and apply it to your work and your personal situation two things will happen - you'll have more time for the really important things, and your personal and professional success will increase - I guarantee it. And on those brute force days, or weeks, keep the leader's model of goals to priorities firmly in your sights - and get back to it as soon as possible. Start today.

Written by Andy Cox, President

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

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Personal Importance - Your Success Depends On It

One thing I've noticed about all the successful people I've met - they all are convinced of the importance of what they do and of their own personal importance. I don't mean in an egotistical, arrogant way, but in a way best expressed as quiet confidence. And many of them didn't start that way - they had to develop the habits of thought that allowed them to believe in their own worthiness and ability. It's not easy, but it is critical to personal success.

I've also noticed how many people, by their own actions, communicate their feeling of unimportance. They do it in little ways - deferring to someone else when they had a perfect right to stand their ground; when they apologize or minimize their own contribution; when they don't speak up even though they have a lot to say; when they fail to express their successes.

When we were kids, I remember being told to "not talk unless talked to," that I was to "be seen and not heard," that talking about myself was boastful, that it was "better to keep my mouth shut and appear dumb, than to open it and remove all doubt." I'm sure many of you have your own list of negative messages that were part of your life.

When those message soak in and become beliefs - and they do - it's tough to not feel that others must be better or more able or more worthy.

Think about your own self talk. What does it tell you about yourself - does it help you feel more worthy and able, or does it keep repeating those messages of your earlier years?

You’d be surprised how many people - when they really think about this, say they still hear their own "be seen and not heard" messages.

The story is told of the three stone masons - all working on the same job. When asked what he was doing, the first said he was cutting and laying stone. The second said he was building a school, and the third one said he was helping build a place of learning for children, and he wanted it to be the best built school he could manage. I suspect you know who felt important in contributing to this place of learning, and who was just laying stone. Same skills, same assignment, same project, probably the same work effort, but what a personal difference. The third mason will visit that school, point with pride to the contributions he made, tell his own children about it, and keep it as a personal point of pride and ability for the rest of his years. Don't we all want that kind of feeling about our work, our passions, our families?

To get that feeling one thing is certain - no one else can do it for us. We can be stone mason #1 and work and collect our pay, or we can be stone mason #3, and collect our pay and so much more. But only we can do it for ourselves.

People that have a feeling of self worth and those who are challenged to gain a greater sense of their own worth, look at the inputs and communications they receive in a very different way from people who don't have a good feeling about their worth and ability. Why? Because we all look for the things that confirm what our mind already believes or wants to believe! So the person with a positive self worth will hear an affirmation, the person working on getting a better sense will hear a constructive comment, and the person with a poor self worth will find a criticism or suspicion that they are being manipulated, or a reason to dismiss the compliment as so much BS. Same comment, same situation, three very different effects.

If you want to improve your own sense of self worth, what can you do?

1 - Stop looking back - what happened up to this point got you to where you are. Dwelling on it to find root causes just eats up today - which is all there is.

2 - Become very aware of what you tell yourself .

3 - Suspend judgment and just take what happens or is communicated for what it is - and no more.

4 - Start replacing damaging self talk with positive affirmations. Start by constantly reminding yourself of what you do well.

5 - Work with your strengths - the ones you feel good about - and be convinced you have more than you know - because I guarantee you do.

6 - Understand that you are unique - no one else on this earth is just like you - don't assume others can do what you do well - because they can't.

7 - Avoid the circumstances and events and people that would drag you back into where you no longer want to be.

8 - Identify how you want to make a difference - and go for it.

9 - Associate with successful people - and be amazed to find out they have their own challenges - just like you.

10 - Read biographies of great people - people that have overcome adversity to succeed. You will be amazed how their stories can affect and motivate you.

11 - Help someone else succeed - nothing helps you feel better about yourself than helping another person.

As you implement these steps, you're going to feel a real growing sense of your own importance, and your ability to get things done - in every part of your life. And as you gain a sense of your own worthiness and ability, it becomes more difficult for others to negatively influence you, and as you gain that better feeling about yourself, you will see so many more possibilities than you ever felt existed.

Start today!

Written by Andy Cox, President

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

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Successful Leadership - Beware The Silver Bullets

We are all tempted to keep looking for that one person, that one application, that one solution, that one customer that will make all the bad things go away and breathe new life into whatever we've been stuck with. The Silver Bullet - the epiphany - the stroke of lightning that cures all ills. Billions of dollars are spent every year on hope - and Silver Bullets - with little if any positive effect.

A story:
I was meeting with the Executive Vice President of a large multi business company. They had a business unit in Florida with continuing labor problems. The unit was union free, but every two years there would be an organizing attempt by a major national union. Two years was up since the last attempt, and another organizing attempt was in the works. The company felt continuing to resist, although expensive and disruptive in the short term, was better than having a union and third party representation of their workers. The business unit was highly successful, hadn't had a layoff in years - in fact, they were in a hiring mode.
The EVP directly responsible for the unit was tempted to throw in the towel and agree to a union, but the CEO was dead set against it.
The EVP wanted to know how I could help turn this around, and avoid an organizing drive.
We went through the checklist of elements that are critical to remaining union free, starting with competitive wages and benefits, a system of due process to handle issues, an equitable system to recognize length of service and a well developed communication process. As we talked he became increasingly impatient, and finally said " We have all that. I'm looking for the one thing - the thing we don't have - that will make this organizing attempt go away. We've tried all kinds of programs and processes, and none have succeeded." I suggested the place to start would be in evaluating the effectiveness of what they were already doing, then go from there. It's possible to have lots of things - but possession and use are two very different things. He didn't like that - he was looking for a new approach - a Silver Bullet. I told him I didn't have any special formula to make his wish come true, and, frankly, I don't believe in the Silver Bullet approach to managing a workforce.

They had an organizing attempt - after an expensive and extensive campaign the company was successful in defeating the attempt, but their profits, quality, shipments and employee relations all suffered because of it.

Moral of the story - Silver Bullets are so rare they're not worth focusing on. Rather than spend time and energy looking for them, take that same time and energy and convert it into solutions that improve on what you already possess and do well.

Successful leaders know accomplishment is built on a solid foundation of good people, good products, good leadership and good practices. Successful leaders know the Program of the Month is a recipe for failure - as one fix after another gets introduced, supported, and then slowly fizzles away, to be replaced by another. All that happens is the people in the business become ever more cynical and resistant to change.

Successful leaders should put a sign on their doors - "No Silver Bullets Welcome." They know the fundamentals need to be in place, excellence needs to be promoted every day, high expectations established, communications constantly improved, performance rewarded and recognized. Out of that comes the strength to grow and prosper. A few things done well beats a constant stream of new initiatives. It's the constant, insistent emphasis on the basics that creates results, and effective change, and improvement. It's the effective execution and implementation of the critical few things done well.

Actually, all the Silver Bullet approach does is to create distractions - they cause you to take your eye off the ball.

Does that mean all the new ideas and programs and processes are without value? Of course not.

The Silver Bullet is most often created in its application. One organization's Silver Bullet is another organization's successful initiative. If the approach is a quick fix for an existing problem it probably won't work - and if it will distract from more substantial work being done, then it's a Silver Bullet.

9 Questions to ask to identify whether an initiative, program, process or change is right for your organization:

Does it build on what we do well?
How will this affect what we are already doing?
What has been our history - have they made a difference - or have they faded away - or have they become imbedded in the organization?
Will this become part of how we operate everyday, or will it have to be treated as an exception, and need regular maintenance and support ?
What do the people to be affected think needs to be done?
Can we measure the effect?
Do we have the resources to see this through to its conclusion?
Will this really affect positive change and results, or are we just staying ahead of accountability and hoping it works?
Is this a survival tactic or part of a growth and improvement strategy?

Every organization is different - every organzation will answer differently, based on their situation, but answering these questions will allow you to see a Silver Bullet for what it is, and act accordingly.

Written by Andy Cox, President

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

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Fail Often To Succeed - Says Who?

I don't know who started it, but the idea that you must fail in order to succeed didn't do anyone any favors. Unfortunately, it's become a firmly imbedded belief in the hearts and minds of millions.

We hear the Babe Ruth stories about how many more strikeouts he had than home runs; Michael Jordan, and the many times he missed a critical shot; every successful salesman that has heard "No" so much more often than he has heard "Yes." Out of that comes a message that we have to fail often to succeed once. But I suspect, if you were to ask Michael Jordan, or Babe Ruth, or a top salesperson, they would all tell you they went into the batter's box, or the game, or the sale, fully expecting to succeed - to win the game, hit a home run, make the sale - every time. They didn't start from the belief that they had to fail often to succeed once.

It's a bad message - it's not true. It's one that has kept expectations down for generations of strivers, in almost every kind of life's work. Think about it - your first day on the job, and you're told to be patient, you need to pay your dues, you have to fail often to succeed once - just keep plugging away. Not too inspiring.

How about beliefs that say stay in play; persist; good things will happen to you - expect them as a result of your hard work and persistence. Believe the next sale is right around the corner. Believe you learn from every action, and apply all that growing and learning to the next opportunity. Believe failure only happens when you quit - or when you don't reach your own goals.

Studies have shown that sales trainees learning from successful salespeople with an optimistic approach achieve substantially higher sales performance faster than trainees taught by the gotta pay your dues, expect a long period of preparation, fail to succeed messages given that have held back so many people.

Which message would you want to receive - a message of possibilities, or a message that says you're going to fail often, so get used to it?

Who's to say, on that very first sales call, the new salesperson meets someone who just has to have what they are selling, and despite the lack of experience and knowledge, they connect. Is that possible? Sure it is. It happens all the time - but only to those who deal in possibilities.

This sounds like splitting hairs - it isn't. Success in any endeavor is separated from lack of success by little things. And how each possibility is approached is just a little bit different for the successful and the not so successful. One looks at it as a opportunity - I can win; the other looks at it as a jeopardy - I could lose.

The other thing that a "fail often to succeed once" message can send is that you are not worthy of success, that you are not able to achieve success. While those worms aren't true - I've never met anyone not worthy of success, and only a few people not able to achieve success, they do exist in all of us - to some degree. If you provide the fuel of "fail often to succeed once" to these two worms, your own belief in your ability and worthiness are reduced. Provide the optimistic fuel of possibilities and watch your personal beliefs and success grow.

When things are tough - and they will be tough, from time to time, the only thing that can sustain you is your own sense of possibilities, and your own sense of your worth and ability.

Listen to your own self talk. Is every at bat, every shot, every sales call an opportunity to succeed? Or is it a chance to fail? If you're looking at things pessimistically, work on the belief that the next ball gets hit out of the ballpark - the next shot wins the game, the next call has sale written all over it. Start giving yourself those positive messages and see your success grow - I guarantee it.

Written by Andrew Cox, President

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

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Procrastinators - Self Sabotaging Beliefs

What follows are some of the beliefs that procrastinators say to themselves They may help keep mental stability, but they sure sabotage performance, and end up as destructive self talk. In the minds of action oriented, sense of urgency, get it done people, these beliefs and self talk have a very different meaning than they do to procrastinators.

I present these beliefs for your review - along with a short narrative about each.

Good things come to those who wait.
Well, not really. How often have the best seats been left for the last people that show up? How often are the best sales items still available when the last people show up? How many choice assignments go to those who wait to be asked? How many sales went to the person who took a month to prepare, while three others called ahead of him/her? How often does riding in on the big white horse to solve a problem at the last minute really work? Who got the aisle seat on Southwest by showing up late at the gate?

Tomorrow Tomorrow – from “Annie.”
Tomorrow - what a lovely ring it has to it - the day when everything will get done. The day when we will work twice as hard as we did today - to make up for the things we are avoiding doing now. It's a lovely place - tomorrow. It's so full of hope, and possibilities, and potential. It's sad, but so many people won't see tomorrow - because tomorrow never comes. When we get to tomorrow, it becomes today - and we can think of the next tomorrow. As Annie sang - "Tomorrow is just a day away" - always.

The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow
I can guarantee the sun will come up tomorrow - that's a given. No guarantee that we will come up with it tomorrow.

It's never too late
Well, actually, it probably is too late if you're telling yourself that it's never too late. Actually, it is always too late, if there was time to do an important thing today, and it wasn't done. That job application, that investment decision, that note to a sick friend, that statement of love to a parent, that certification test not taken, that talk with the boss delayed, that business opportunity not acted on. Life does not offer an infinite number of possibilities - it just does not work that way. "Never too late" is code for "Failure to act."

I’m just too busy.
Uh -huh. Let's see - gotta take out the garbage, shine my shoes, organize my desk, call that friend, order that piece of exercise equipment, go to the store. Damn, where did all the time go? It just slipped away from me - I'm just too busy to followup on that sales call until tomorrow - or complete the taxes.

How long do I have to get it done?
In other words, how long do I have until I really gotta get cracking on it? Two weeks? What a relief - I thought I would have to start today - tomorrow is much better. If I work this right, maybe I can get it done on time this time.

Things could be worse.
This one is true - things can always get worse - and worse - and worse. This belief reminds me of the two farmers on a blazing hot day. A dog was sitting in the middle of an asphalt road. It was HOT. One farmer turned to the other and said " I wonder why that dog don't move his sorry butt off that hot asphalt?" The other farmer replied " Well, I guess it ain't hot enough yet." It's amazing what you can get used to, and tolerate, when it just isn't time to move - regardless how hot things might be. Easier to sit and sweat than to act.

I will do twice as much tomorrow to make up for what I did not do today.
That is so much bull. What makes you think tomorrow will be any different than today? Oh, I forgot - tomorrow is the day full of possibilities. The day to spring from the bed ready and rarin' to go on all the things you weren't rarin' to go on today. Uh -huh. Face it - the chance that you will work twice as hard tomorrow has been a promise made and not kept for months, or years, or decades. It will not happen.

I do my best work when I have my back to the wall – when I am working against a deadline.
Ah, yes. The old "I'm best when I work under pressure" belief. Unfortunately, the pressure is self imposed, usually because of a looming deadline, or a project behind schedule, or a commitment not kept. So the pressure is not to excel, but to survive. There are going to be so many unexpected things that demand time and energy that creating artificial pressures just doesn't make sense. The biggest personal cost in creating self induced pressure is in not having time to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves at the "wrong" time. And what time would that be? When your back is to the wall on self induced pressure deadlines.

If any of these self talk sayings sound familiar. I'd ask you to focus on the one that you recognize the most - and vow to do something today to confront that belief. Doing it today is more important than what is done - or how perfect it is - or how much you fear it. Take a baby step and live in today - today.

Written by Andy Cox, President

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

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Procrastinators - Nine Steps To An Easy Day

As a followup to "Procrastinators Never Have an Easy Day," let's talk about steps to take to achieve that easy day - that day when accomplishment and achievement are reached - when the overhang of things waiting to be done is manageable, and guilt and remorse are replaced with optimism and confidence. That sure sounds good - and it can happen - starting today.

The first step is to imagine what that easy day is going to be like - that day when things are under control, when the taxes are done - on time, when the boss offers congratulations on the completion of an assignment that exceeded expectations, when fear is overcome and the result of a project was a really, really good outcome. Start with the end in mind - in this case replacing the behavior and habit of thought of procrastination that serves so poorly and creates negative emotions with a behavior and habit of thought that creates the reward of freedom to grow and learn and test limits - or the freedom to fall asleep under a tree with no cares of the world. The rewards are in reach - believe it. Start this journey with the Reward - whatever that may be - in mind.

Step 2: Replace intent with action. Replace talking about the "what if''s" and the "when I get to it's " with Action on what is truly important, and pressing, and proximate, and fearful. As Brian Tracy says in Eat That Frog- "Swallow the frog first." Or, if you choose, " attack the bear in the room before it gets any bigger." Do the things you don't want to do first. Save the really neat stuff to do as a reward.

Step 3: Don't think too much. The curse of the intelligent is being able to see all kinds of alternatives, combinations and permutations - to see all kinds of consequences and possibilities, and become frozen in place with too many options. Pick out a course of action and go for it. If the first "ready, aim, fire" doesn't hit the target, it probably came close. Adjust and "ready, aim, fire" again. But make the adjustments as a result of action. If the second course of action doesn't hit the target, it got closer. Persist with action.

Step 4: Replace the codewords of the procrastinator. Words like "tomorrow," and statements/beliefs like "good things come to those who wait," "anything worth doing is worth doing right," "it'll take care of itself" and "I need more information/preparation." Great phrases, but not for procrastinators - they only reinforce the tomorrow habit of thought of procrastinators. Listen to your self talk, and replace those kinds of phrases that create a tomorrow mentality. Today is all that has value - tomorrow will never come for many, many people.

Step 5: When faced with a project, replace the procrastinator's first question and thought - "When is this due?" with "What can I do today to get this going?" Consider meeting a due date for what it is - a failure to exceed expectations.

Step 6: If something simply can't get done when a date is imposed, challenge the issue. If that doesn't work, manage the project to keep others aware of progress. Never ever let the boss get ambushed with a date not kept - even if he/she really deserved to be embarrassed by their unreasonable demands. To your boss, passive agressive behavior is infuriating, frustrating and dangerous - survival may happen, but trust will be gone.

Step 7: Focus, focus, focus. Complete whatever the big things are. Don't let up until they're done. Don't let the little things intrude - be very wary of the demands of others and their impact on completing the most important things, Develop the ability to say no - politely, constructively and firmly. And make sure the big things are really the big things. Nothing is more frustrating than to be working like crazy on thin things - and not knowing it. That's where goals - shared goals are so important.

Step 8: Realize that a conscious decision to delay something because of the importance of other things is not procrastination. Realistic and accurate prioritizing is a skill - an essential survival and success skill.

Step 9: Consider pretty good as better than perfection - because it is. Realize that by the time you burst into the room with the perfect solution - if there is such a thing - someone else has already acted with a good enough solution, and another opportunity to contribute has been lost.

Lastly, take these nine steps one at a time - the trap of too much at once is a real trap - it ends up causing nothing to be accomplished.

Take whatever step seems right - then ACT! Do it - today!

Written by Andy Cox, President

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

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Procrastinators Never Have An Easy Day

Pity the poor procrastinators. They never have an easy day. They can't - with so many things hanging over their heads - and most of them are the most important things, or the things that are feared the most, or are seen as having to be done perfectly.

So procrastinators have to stay really busy doing other things to convince themselves that they're too busy to do the things they don't want to do, but that need to be done, or that they want to do so well that they can never measure up to their own standards.

And so, at the end of each day, they collapse in exhaustion, once again convinced that a lot got done - a good day. And for some time, there is a good feeling about all the "thin" things that were accomplished. Meanwhile, the bear in the room just keeps getting bigger - and badder - and more difficult to address - and more challenging to do right. And then it's too late - but it's never too late.

What happened?

One of the things that happened was so much time was spent on the process and challenges and possible pitfalls that the goal got lost. Preparation and process became more important than anything else. And then, after all that effort, it wasn't good enough - it had to be perfect. So much time was spent on it - whatever it is - that producing anything less than the best was unacceptable.

Maybe there were questions of being able - or worthy - or both. And so it was kept at arm's length, and touched - and poked - and started, but there was never real commitment - there was always something more pressing to do - and those pressing things always got in the way of answering the question of ability or worthiness. What a relief!

Maybe the time frame was set with the due date as the focus - rather than focusing on what could be done today. And as the due date kept getting nearer, and panic set in, and work started, it was too late, and the due date was missed, or the procrastinator gave up - quit. And yet, at the beginning, there seemed to be plenty of time.

Maybe the request to do something was seen as an imposition and as unreasonable. But rather than confront the unreasonable demand, the decision was made, most often subconsciously, to delay, and show whoever made the demand that it couldn't be done in their time frame. The lack of accomplishment, or of failing to meet expectations is the response to the demand. It's called passive aggressive behavior.

A pretty bleak picture of what procrastination - putting off until tomorrow what needs to be done, or at the least started, today, can cost. High stress, guilt, regret, reinforcement of not being able or worthy, quitting and a host of other negative emotions and behaviors surround procrastinators. It's too bad - since most are hard workers, and smart, and able and worthy - and busier than most other people. It's just that their own self talk and their own behavior makes it almost impossible for them to have an easy day - a day without the negative emotions mentioned.

Is there hope? Of course there is - a behavior can be changed and so can a habit of thought. But since I want that subject to be written perfectly, I want to give it a lot of thought, and make sure i'm able to write it. Look for it tomorrow - that's the day most procrastinator's live for.

Written by Andy Cox, President

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

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved