« December 2010 | Main | February 2011 »
I picked up No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
It started off great. The first section, titled Self-Discipline and Personal Success, had a lot of good ideas on motivating myself to better discipline. I looked forward to hearing more on the areas of character, responsibility, goals and persistence. The only thing that bothered me was the book was read by the author. His voice drove me nuts. He didn't use much, if any, expression. What really struck me, though, was the lack of conviction behind the words. It didn't sound as if it meant anything to him. He wrote it, so it must have. The director of the recording should have pulled it out of him or gotten another reader. It didn't take long before I was forgetting what I heard because the of the voice droning on.
The next section really started to get to me, though. That section, Discipline in Business, Sales and Finance, is when he really stepped up on his soapbox. He writing style is so confident, it lost credibility. He explained, for example, how to be truly successful in life, one must own their own business. He continued by saying that if one is just disciplined, the business will not just be successful, but wildly successful. The treasures of the Earth will flow to your door, if you are just disciplined enough. There I had heartburn. I know enough disciplined entrepreneurs that have had their businesses fail to know there is more to it than what Tracy writes. He made it sound insultingly simple. If a business fails, the owner just wasn't disciplined enough. Shame on them for not being disciplined. Pass the Rolaids.
Then I got to the next section, Discipline and the Good Life. Tracy weighs in on topics such as Personal Health, Fitness, Marriage, Children and Friendship. The advice became short, trite and even more insulting. I couldn't stand it. I nearly turned off the book several times. However, in the interest of studying discipline for this blog and my personal study, I slogged on. To him, it is all so easy. Just fix everything. No excuses. And life will be a bed of roses. Sorry, my life is a little more complicated than that. Perhaps I am just undisciplined. I don't think that it is, though.
My recommendation is to ready the first 120 pages and stop. The exercises he puts at the end of each chapter are valid and worthwhile to use in this section. A little introspection is a good thing. Pushing to improve one's discipline to a higher notch is also a good thing.
Skip the last two sections of the book. Trust me. Have the discipline to do it. Don't waste your life.
This post was originally published on TaraRobinson.com on July 14, 2010.
Once upon a trip to Washington, DC, I overheard a conversation in the ladies room between a woman and her young son--a kid about 4 years old. It went like this:
Kid: “Mommy, why do the toilets flush by themselves?”
Mom: “I don’t know.”
Kid: “But why?”
Mom: “I don’t know. Don’t ask me. Shut up.”
I was dying to jump in and say things like it reduces what it costs to clean the bathrooms and it’s more sanitary. And I also felt very sad, because it seemed to me that I was witnessing a little tragedy: If that kid hears ‘shut up’ often enough, his curiosity will die.
Turns out, preschool kids ask about 100 questions a day. And at some point, most of them do stop asking. Some of that is a natural decline. But there may be a bigger problem for innovation and creativity over the long term. According to recent studies, creativity of US school kids is has been declining since 1990. As I read this article, one detail jumped out at me: how the brain does creative thinking when doing problem solving.
When attempting to come up with a new idea, the solution to a problem, for example, your brain shifts through many possibilities until a likely solution comes up. “Having glimpsed such a connection, the left brain must quickly lock in on it before it escapes. The attention system must radically reverse gears, going from defocused attention to extremely focused attention.” (emphasis mine)
It’s no secret that attention is in short supply these days. And with just a little digging around, I located the stats that make me think the decline in creativity may nothing to do with video games or standardized tests. What I looked for was the trends in diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). According to the CDC, the number of kids diagnosed with ADHD has increased significantly and steadily since 1997 which is as far back as their data reach. (You can see this info for yourself here; warning: it’s a pdf download.)
This made me wonder if the inability to focus, and particularly to shift from rapid fire thinking to pointed concentration, might be associated with declines in creativity.
After hearing Michael Bungay Stanier talk about how to Do More Great Work on the GTD Virtual Study Group, I had to read the book. It took me awhile to and I have to say I am glad I finally did. It is a very disciplined approach to finding what work is one's true calling, or Great Work.
Stanier contends there are three kinds of work: Bad, Good and Great. Bad work consists of those things we do that are a waste of time, energy and life. Good work is the familiar, useful, productive work we do day in and day out. Great work, however, is meaningful, has an impact and makes a difference. The idea is to eliminate bad work and spend more time on great work.
The book is short, only a couple hundred pages. Stanier has sprinkled in coaching stories and 'guest posts' by noted luminaries such as Seth Godin, Penelope Trunk and Leo Babauta amongst his material. It reads much like a blog with interesting tidbits thrown in to spice it up.
The stars of the show, of course, are the exercises. The book contains 15 maps designed to lead one through the process of discovering, defining, planning and executing their Great Work. Each exercise builds on the last and provides insight into the Great Work to be done.
I have read several books that give exercises, questionnaires or other assignments throughout. I am not one who likes to take the time to stop reading and do as I'm told. I will often read straight through, promising myself I will go back after I finish and do the exercises. I never do, though. Not once. This book is the first where I am actually doing the work. I did stop and do the first three exercises before plowing on to the end. Now that I am done, I want to go back and do then all.
Another feature of the book I really appreciate is the companion website and podcasts. Stanier has created short movies to help bring the point home. Also, the exercises are on the website as pdf files. This is a critical bonus to me as I don't like writing in books, much less exposing my deepest thoughts to whomever may come behind me and pick up the book. I like having those separate sheets to work with.
This is a book to be read, thought about, read again and acted upon. We all have Great Work to be done. I like the way Stanier guides through the process. The exercises unlock new ideas and helps make sure nothing is overlooked. These short activities (maybe 5 minutes each) are designed to provide insight. None are trite or useless. They are to-the-point, easy to do and push the reader to actually doing the Great Work. This book is well worth the time and money. Get out of the chair and go Do some Great Work.
I am sorry this post is delayed. Seems I got watching the Auburn - Oregon game last night. Congratulations to Tara's Tigers. War Eagle!
Last Friday, I listed my goals for the new year. I have to share some insight I gained while writing that post. The wording changed dramatically from the first to final drafts. It shows how to write goals that are possible to reach through discipline. It very nearly showed how NOT to write a goal.
In my first draft, this is how my first goal read:
Goal: I will improve my health by tracking what I eat and exercising.
I wrote that, looked at it and smacked myself in the head. For years, as a manager of teams, I have taught SMART goals to my guys. If one of them had turned in that goal, I would have had a long chat with them about how to write a goal. Fortunately, before I hit the button to publish the article, I caught it and had the conversation with myself. Here is how the conversation went.
"That isn't a SMART goal."
"Sure it is. It is smart because I am not committing to a specific weight, but to a change in behavior. That is what I am focusing on this year - changing behavior. I'm actually proud of myself for that goal."
"Um. So how are you going to know if you achieved it?"
"Simple. I'll weight less, have better endurance and feel great."
"How much less? Are you going to weigh 150 pounds like the Nintendo Wii tells you you should weigh?"
"Well of course not. That is ridiculous. I don't want to lose 85 pounds. That's too much."
"But how much are you going to weigh? You want to celebrate, don't you? When are you going to celebrate?"
Oh yeah. You know me. I love a good party. Let's have a party."
"But when? At what milestone do we pull out the Martinelli's and cheer?"
Oh. Yeah. Well. Um. Uh. But...."
I'll spare you the rest of the whining about how I didn't want to set a specific goal because I might not hit it and I didn't want to admit it to the world, etc. I sounded just like some of my team. Fortunately, I didn't let myself off the hook. I forced myself to get concrete on the targets and timeframes. Interestingly enough, that changed a couple of goals completely, as I realized I didn't know how to measure them. That is why I ended up with goals and strategies.
So what are SMART goals? Go here to read up on them. The real important letters are just MT - Measurable and Time bound. We have to know the target and when we are going to hit them. All the rest of the letters don't matter as much as long as we know the measure and the date.
Why strategies? These are the links to creating discipline. A strategy is an idea on how I am going to achieve that goal. It gets me to the day to day activities necessary to achieving the goal. A goal of "weigh 200 pounds by October 31 can't go on a task list. I can't just say, "Today I am going to weigh 200 pounds." If it were that easy, there wouldn't be an obesity problem in America. I need daily tasks that I can work on that will get me to that goal.
Perhaps instead of Strategies I should have called them Disciplines. Regardless of the name, the concept is the same. I can take "Run 3 times weekly" and put that on a task list. In fact, it is on Monday's task list right now. If I exercise 5 times per week and reduce the number of calories I eat, I believe the side effect of exercise and eating less will be weighing 200 pounds. That is what I want - use discipline to alter my daily behavior that results in some of the big, difficult goals getting done. One day at a time.
As you look at your goals this year, make sure they are Measurable and Time bound. Then write down some strategies on how you are going to make it happen. Take those strategies and employ discipline to make the behavior change. Before you know it, you'll be partying and breaking out the Martinelli's. Good luck!
This post first appeared on my personal blog, Dan In Focus.
Picture credit: http://www.smart-goal-setting-tips.com/
We Hope this is your best year Yet!
