Perspectives in Brief

“We don’t stop to ask what a tool does. We ask about what kind of people we become when we use it”. – Amish quote.

What Tools Do You Need?

Are you struggling to get something done without the right tools to do it well? We use twice the energy we should be using when we’re not properly equipped. Sometimes it’s lack of knowledge as to what’s available, and other times, it’s not taking the time to get the right tools for the job before you get going.

This week we’re going to look at one of the three questions I use when doing a reality check with my clients. The question is “What’s available?” i.e. resources, people, technology and anything else you need to move forward. If you don’t have what you need right now, then how are you going to get it? Borrowing tools, expertise, or partnering with someone else who could give you what you need are three ways to go about this. Which one, or other one is the right avenue for you?

Reflection:

I can’t tell you how much simpler life is when you automate everything that’s automatable or use the proper technology to facilitate the work and have the right people running it. What can you automate that will free you up to do what you really have to dive into? What are you doing that really isn’t in your area of responsibility? There are way too many people who take up the slack “temporarily” only to find it becomes a permanent part of their workload. Is it sustainable? If the answer is no, then make changes before you have to. If you’re depleted you won’t be making the right choices for the right reasons.

Perfection  

A question I ask my clients, especially those dealing with a major challenge is “What is so perfect about this when it clearly isn’t?”  It puts everything in an entirely different perspective.  It takes one’s focus away from what they’re being deprived of or what they’re missing because something isn’t going the way they want, to why this might be the best thing that happened to them.  I know, for many thinking of a major problem as a gift or something perfect is a stretch, but think about it for a moment…if you bring to mind something that’s really challenging you right now, at work, home, wherever….what is perfect about it?  What have you learned about yourself, about your environment (all environments), about what’s possible or what you hadn’t seen before?

Reflection  

If, for a moment you started from the premise that “this is just perfect for me right now”, how might that turn your life around?  I often watch 2 colleagues deal with the same problem and respond to it, speaking about it in totally opposite ways.  One might say that it’s insurmountable, they can’t move forward, nothing is possible and look at their world in every negative way imaginable while the other, dealing with exactly the same problem will tell me he learned how amazing his team was, they’re pumped and trying to figure out the answer together so even through chaos they are energized and doing more than ever.  The first one was dwelling on everything that wasn’t working.  The second had been asked the question “What is so perfect about this….?” Attitude is contagious.  It goes both ways.  Which do you want?  And which might you think will energize everyone around you?

So How Do You Do That?  

Start by picking the elements that are working, that are perfect for you and show you just what you’re made of.  Think carefully.  Don’t just pick the first thing that comes to mind.  If you begin by nailing down what is perfect (and you can see it as such), it will happen and the rest will begin to unfold as it should with a lot less effort.   Perfection doesn’t just happen, it’s perception and perspective as much as anything else.

Tech Stuff   

Google Desktop Search is a tool I use all day long.  If I want to find an email, a document, a file of any kind that I know is on my computer it does a search almost instantly of all the emails, documents and websites I’ve accessed from the most recent to the oldest so I can not only find the document but can read emails I had deleted after reading, and conversations that had gone poof into the night for some reason.  It saves a ton of time and reminds me of files I had on my system that I had forgotten about. 

Last But Not Least:   As always this newsletter will be posted here. Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com    To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:  http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm  

Life is perfect, don’t you think?   

Donna Karlin

“There is no use in trying,” said Alice;
“One can’t believe impossible things.”
“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,”
said the Queen. “When I was your age,
I always did it for half an hour a day.
Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as
six impossible things before breakfast” - Lewis Carroll

It’s All About Attitude  

My colleague Thomas Leonard used to say “Nothing is impossible.  It just hasn’t been invented yet”.  I agree and using that as my guide, there’s no ceiling….just sky. 

The future is not some place we are going to but a place that is created — created first in the mind, then where willpower resides, and next in activity. It’s a path we create and the changes we make determine the destination.   

When working with clients the first thing I ask them is, “If you invent your future (and they do) what will your life look like and what did you do to get there?  Not what will you do, but looking at it as having already happened, what choices did you make to invent your future?”  You don’t fall into what might be.  You create it along the way.  

Can You See It?  

It’s not about talking about what you want and foreseeing one time, one day, it’s seeing it, tasting, reaching out and feeling it.  I rarely work with clients on long term goals.  I want them to want their future as they’ve defined it.  Then we design it as it will only happen if you make the appropriate and relevant choices right now.  Change towards creating the future you love involves immediacy, not something so far in the distance it’s parked indefinitely.

If you wait for the perfect time, life will get in the way.

So What Might You Do?   

Slow down to the speed of conscious thought.  Step one?  Prune your life of toxic relationships and environments that will take over.  You will be so busy fixing life that you won’t be inventing the life you love. 

If you’re so busy making money for your future, how much life are you missing along the way?  You might decide the future you were so set on a while back is no longer relevant.  Revisit, revamp and redesign and often.  That’s not to say change jobs at the drop of a hat…it’s saying pay attention to what works and keep it and get rid of what doesn’t.  It’s all about choice. 

It’s presumptuous to think life stands still and will be exactly where you want it to be when you remember to  pay attention.  Are you designing a fantastic life or lifestyle and is it sustainable? 

Favourite Software 

I can’t remember a day going by where I haven’t used my SnagIt.  It’s partly a screen capture but it’s also an editor where you can add text to images, create great banners and text logos and can morph, change, capture and add to all kinds of graphics, save it in multiple formats and use in presentations, web design and for capturing an error on your screen to send to tech support. This is probably one of the few pieces of technology I couldn’t live without (workwise that is : ) 

Policy to Adopt:   Simple but too often forgotten:  If you call a meeting then make sure there’s a definitive agenda.  And if you’re called to a meeting, ask for an agenda so you come prepared.  No agenda?  No meeting.  Sounds simple but how many times are you calling into a meeting and have no idea why?  How much of a time waster is that?  We’ll get into meetings in detail in our Time in a Bottle program. For now, focus on the agenda so you have focus.  Then hold yourself accountable to it.Contact us for availability for Lightening Round and Laser Coaching Sessions as well as for Shadow Coaching™  (http://www.theshadowcoach.com)  

Last But Not Least:   As always this newsletter will be posted here. Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com    To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:  http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm