Posts Tagged ‘progress is a choice’
Progress Based Goal Crafting Rules 2 & 3
Progress-Based Goal Crafting Rules 2 & 3
2. Progress-Crafted Goals Connect to Personal Progress.
Plainly put, each person involved in a goal’s achievement must believe there is something favorable in it for him or her. We are unlikely to work toward a goal that we can not personalize as positive for us. For a goal to actually become a tool in its own achievement, it must generate genuine excitement when we envision its accomplishment. Why and how does the goal mean Progress for those who must act?
Often, individuals must make an organizational goal their own, as in a new technology rollout, reorganization, or a merger. To get all team members (including ourselves) psyched and committed to the organization’s goal, we need to dig into how the goal’s achievement will benefit all involved (via job security, bonuses, flex time, exciting new projects, raises, promotions, shorter commute, less stress, etc.).
If team members believe that the potential for progress is worth the effort, they will more readily take on challenges in support of the organization’s goals. When highlighting the reasons behind the goal, include the Six Ps of Progress.
Whether the goal is meeting sales quota, buying a new boat, becoming more efficient in customer-service calls, or finishing a financial report, we must find ways to make the goal progress for us in some way. With that personal lodestar ever in sight, we stay committed to reaching the goal. Why we want to achieve a goal is far more important than the goal itself. Remember, change is inevitable. Progress is a choice.
3. Progress-Crafted Goals Are Stated in Present Tense.
Stating goals in the present tense tells our subconscious mind that we are committed – that the goals will not remain forever stuck in a future tense – as in, I WILL be wealthy. Our mind takes ownership, sees the goal as an actuality (rather than a potentiality) – I AM wealthy – and works toward its realization.
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” — Sun Tzu
The subconscious mind chooses a path of least resistance. If we write, “I will be debt-free,” the subconscious mind does not act, because the “will” postpones the goal’s achievement to some indefinite time in the future. When we craft a goal as if it were already achieved, already true, our minds want to make it happen. Examples:
Daily, I am … I weigh___ with a ___waist.
I know how to… My family and I are…
I own… I feel…
Well-crafted goals, stated in the present tense, serve as affirmations. Think of affirmations as personalized powerful ads that you tell yourself over and over again about yourself and your life. Get over any weird thoughts you might have about affirmations – we all use them. We have lived our whole lives making affirmations. Unfortunately, affirmations are often self-critical and self-limiting:
I am fat. I am a lousy speller.
I am not a good salesman. I am always tired.
I know nothing about investments. I’m destined to be poor.
Be careful about everything you say to yourself, or think to yourself, about yourself, because you’ll end up being right. As Luigi Pirandello noted some time ago, “Così è (se vi pare)” – Right you are (if you think you are).
“Your brain is a terrible thing to use against yourself.” — Dean Lindsay
Change is inevitable, Progress is a choice!
(Part Two of Three)
Insight from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by Dean Lindsay, the Find Progress in Change Speaker
Dean’s Progress Challenge is being Published 2/4/10 – Advanced Copies available here.
When a new opportunity comes our way, we internalize it, and size it up as Progress or Change. This new opportunity could be starting a new relationship, buying an electronic gadget, working extra hours on a project, getting up to speed on a new product line, working to meet quota, anything. All progress is change, but not all change is progress.
Let’s say I have an upset stomach. “Man, I’ve got a stomachache. Ouch! My stomach is killing me. This has got to change.”
Somebody hears me, walks over, and punches me in the nose. Is that change? Yeah, it’s change. But it’s not progress. Well, maybe to the person who punched me, but not to me.
What may seem like progress (good) to one person or group of people may seem like change (bad) to another. Propaganda, book burning, even war and murder are all thought of as “progress” at some point in the minds of the perpetrators (scary). Because progress is subjective, there is no single factor that clearly determines whether an event represents progress or change.
However, we can say that we:
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Start businesses to progress, not change
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Hire employees to progress, not change
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Work on teams to progress, not change
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Make the tough choices and the tough phone calls to progress, not change
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Keep our cool when dealing with belligerent customers to progress, not change
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Cross the road to progress, not change
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Answer the phone to progress, not change
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Spend our hard-earned money to progress, not change. (We would rather keep our change than change, but will offer our best to progress.)
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Diet and exercise to progress, not change
As we age we realize that slowing change can be progress. Think of the forty-year-old swimmer who manages to equal her performance from five years before. Maintenance is progress in that it avoids change for the worse.
We do not want life-changing products, services, experiences, ideas, and opportunities. We want life-progressing products, services, experiences, ideas and opportunities.We should be careful not to mistake mere change for progress. Just because something is new or flashy does not mean it is right or adds meaning to our lives. And as my friend and fellow author Shama Hyder says, we do live in a “next big thing” world. However, because all progress is change, people who claim to be 100% “resistant to (any) change” are often choosing to be resistant to the possibility of progress.
CHANGE & PROGRESS Questions to Ponder in Next Post.
Be Progress.
Three endorsements for Dean Lindsay’s The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change
“The Progress Challenge is a much needed kick in the pants for all of us. Dean Lindsay’s witty words and questions will wake up your sleeping intentions and challenge you to move forward with purpose in your life. What an enlightening book!”
– Ken Blanchard,
coauthor of The One Minute Manager®
and Leading at a Higher Level
“The Progress Challenge is an excellent guide to both personal and professional success. The book helps the reader understand that change is inevitable, yet progress is a choice. In Lindsay’s words…”be progress”.”
– Jim Keyes
CEO, Blockbuster
“If you desire to become a better leader, I recommend you add Dean Lindsay’s The Progress Challenge to your leadership toolkit. I especially liked the insight into the life and work of Viktor Frankl as well as Dean’s use of humor throughout the book – a valuable and enjoyable read. The Progress Challenge is an honorable challenge that anyone aiming to make a positive difference should take.”
– Ramon F. Baez
Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Copies of The Progress Challenge available here.
For Bulk purchase discounts call: 214-457-5656
To Change Is Human; to PROGRESS, Divine!!!
(Part One of Three)
Insight from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by Dean Lindsay, the Find Progress in Change Speaker
Dean’s Progress Challenge is being Published 2/4/10 – Advanced Copies available here.
“It is not strange … to mistake change for progress.”
– Millard Fillmore (13th U.S. President)
( Click here for Part Two.)
Change happens. We can’t avoid change.
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New technologies are created.
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Markets bear and bull.
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Companies merge.
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Organizations come together.
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Children are born.
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Rain falls. Tides turn. Lives evolve.
We are always in some form of transition, always arriving at some new place and dealing with new rollouts, new ideas, new everything. The very molecules inside the cells of our bodies are in constant flux. Our world and our lives are always changing, but they are not always progressing. It is natural to resist what we view as change. However, we embrace what we view as progress.
Progress means: forward movement, advance, gradual betterment. It takes awareness, character, discipline, and effort to progress.
Change is inevitable, Progress is a choice.
The word progress carries a forward thrust and focus, a vibrant and transcendent quality that the words change and even success don’t deliver. With every success comes the desire for more success.
When we reach a goal, our natural ambitiousness tells us that the goal is also the stepping stone to the next, possibly more rewarding and worthwhile, goal. Therefore, every success establishes a new norm, and brings with it the question: What next?
The road to success is always under construction. We are always striving for something. (I will share that the something I am referring to is not a person, place, or thing, but rather a feeling. A mixture of six feelings, to be exact, but we will deal with that soon enough.) Continual striving can become quite unpleasant and unhealthy if we do not take time to soak in the positive buzz – feelings – from our forward momentum.
When we focus on daily progress, we are able to feel daily satisfaction. With every forward step, we see more clearly, our confidence grows, our position improves, and our options multiply. We progress toward today’s goal on the strength of our past progress. Once achieved, today’s goal becomes tomorrow’s launching pad.
“Out of every fruition of success, no matter what, comes forth something to make a new effort necessary.”
– Walt Whitman
Click here for Part Two.
Be Progress.
Quick shout out to Alex Pope
If he were among us today, eighteenth-century English poet Alexander Pope would likely be one popular guy on Facebook. It was he who wrote the lofty words, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Pope is said to be the third most frequently quoted writer in the English language, after Shakespeare and Tennyson.
Alexander may not be on Facebook, but I am, and would be happy to add you as a friend.
Friend me at: www.facebook.com/DeanLindsay2468
I am on Twitter too: www.Twitter.com/DeanLindsay
Three endorsements for Dean Lindsay’s The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change
“Finally a meaningful book with a workable process for progress.”
– Gerhard Gschwandtner
Founder and Publisher
Selling Power Magazine
“Stop the management fads and the ‘program of the month.’ In The Progress Challenge, Dean Lindsay captures the issues and presents real, relevant, actionable solutions to the challenge of driving continual progress in business and life.”
– Tim McRay
Leadership and Diversity
Mercedes-Benz Financial
“The Progress Challenge should be mandatory reading. In a time of economic slowdown, innovation and new approaches become even more important. Dean Lindsay gets it absolutely right and if we could all follow his advice the global business world would be a better place. Dean is an inspiration for any business leader whether in the USA or in Europe – a true Progress Agent.”
– Birger Husted (Prague, Czech Republic)
Partner, UniqueConsult
Copies of The Progress Challenge available here.
For Bulk purchase discounts call: 214-457-5656
Contact Dean Lindsay about your next event.
