The Sweeney Agency
The Sweeney Agency Speaker News
January 4, 2011

2011How to Improve Your Personal Discipline in 2011

Many of us are kicking off 2011 with a list of resolutions.  Whether our goals are focused on improving health, relationships, finances or professional success they cannot be executed without personal discipline.

 

In this Sweeney Agency newsletter four speakers share their ideas and expertise on how to achieve goals in the new year.

 

Happy New Year,

 

The Sweeney Agency

Gregg SteinbergDr. Gregg Steinberg

Visualize the End Product

 

To get what you want in life, goals are essential but you must be fully committed to those goals to make them work. It is analagous to driving a car with the steering wheel being your goals and the engine being your commitment. Your steering wheel may guide you but you will get nowhere without the engine. 

 

To rev up your engine of commitment, I always suggest to my clients to continually visualize their end product. If you want to be a million dollar producer by year's end, then continually imagine your boss giving you the "million dollar producer" award. Also, post a saying on your computer such as "million dollar producer for 2011".  Keep this image continually available in your awareness and it will rev up your commitment to your goals.

 

 

Book Dr. Greg Steinbergg for your next event...

 

John Izzo 

Dr. John Izzo

Personal Discipline &

Executing Goals 

 

It's that time of year again when many of us set goals for the year ahead in our life and our company.

Yet we have all experienced the frustration of setting goals and being disappointed with the results. In my book The Five Secrets You Must Discover before You Die, I showed some simple personal disciplines that make us about five times more likely to make progress towards our goals. One simple discipline is having a small index size card on which you write down words that express your intention-for example appreciate people more, stop micromanaging, or eat more healthy food. 

Our research shows that carrying that card with you and looking at it 10-12 times per day for four months makes you almost five times more likely to make real progress.  By holding things in our awareness we naturally move towards our intentions. In fact, our research shows that carrying the card was much more impactful then setting goals.  The principle behind this discipline works in business as well. We hear people say that "what we measure moves" but what is really true is that "what we focus on moves."  If we want to get better at the customer experience then let the customer experience be the first topic at the start of every meeting (or meet about it every day in a brief huddle like they do at the Ritz). 

This disciplines of regular focus applies to almost any change-safety, sales, service, what we regularly focus on-get asked about-meet about-grows. One  of my clients began  starting every meeting with safety for six months and made a massive improvement. You see the neuroscience shows us that what the brain sees often it sees as important. That is why the card works and also why a regular, disciplined focus by leaders changes behavior at work.

More on Dr. John Izzo here...

Cassie CampbellCassie Campbell

It's About Consistency

 

Many people often confuse success with perfection. In fact, many of the successful people I know are far from perfect.  Perfect is not what they strive to be; it is a need to be consistent that makes them tick. Successful individuals are that way, to me, because of one thing - the ability to strive for consistency in everything they do on a regular basis. They ask themselves on a regular basis how do I become a better employee, a better hockey player and a better person?

Consistency is difficult to achieve especially when you think of it in the terms of being a consistent leader. I believe everyone is born with leadership qualities but those people that  tend to stand out and achieve greatness are those that are capable of being consistent leaders. They have faults and bad moments or even days, but overall they are doing what is best for the team around them and looking for ways to improve their lives regularly.

Here are some of my keys to being Consistent Leader

1. Learn from Challenges - Expect challenges and in fact want them. A daily life without challenges keeps us all complacent and stuck in a routine that keeps us at a standstill as far as learning and moving on to achieve things we never thought possible. Embrace challenges and more importantly use them to teach you as an individual and you as a company that what we did yesterday is simply not good enough.

2. Come out of Your Comfort Zone - Be willing to try different things. The best teammates I ever had were able to play any role on any given moment without complaint. Even if it seemed daunting or impossible they stepped up without hesitation. The ability to come out of your comfort zone opens doors to new opportunities. For example, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would do colour on Hockey Night in Canada but stepping up on my second day on the job when my team needed me led to an expanded role in a short period of time within CBC.

3. Have Fun - This is the single most important component of consistent leadership is recognizing when fun is just as important as hard work. In today's world where everyone is about deadlines and work, work, and more work there is a need to build some fun into your daily routines. Fun within a team setting builds trust by engaging people outside of the work setting. Getting to know yourself and your colleagues a little bit better helps to build trust and push people to play their roles when they know that others around them are trying to do the same.

See Cassie's full bio here...

Meg SoperMeg Soper

Make it Happen in 2011

 

Want to get the most out of the coming year? Did you know you increase the odds of achieving a goal by 50% just by telling someone about it? Did you know that you increase the odds of achieving a goal by 80% by writing it down?

Yet outside of the workplace very few of us ever take the time to write down what we want to achieve.

 

The fact is that most people don't use these simple strategies to tap the amazing potential that resides within them.

By setting and declaring goals we are at once creating the roadmap and the motivation to propel ourselves steadily forward on our chosen course. In a short time, we can amaze ourselves by accomplishing more than we imagined we ever could, and have the satisfaction of looking back and seeing just how far we have travelled on our path. Thoughts drive us, and where the mind goes...energy follows.

Keep it simple. Set yourself up for success. Make that one change you have wanted to make. If it is a personal goal...like fitness... make a goal with that end in mind.  

Assess where you are. What's your current fitness level? Very fit? Fit? Fit to be tied? Or not fit to stand trial?

Pick a goal. It could be finishing a 5km walk or run. Determine a date to work towards and map out the strategy to get there. You may take it on yourself or join a running group.

A vision board will help you see it. For example, a picture with a finish line posted in the kitchen. Visuals help the subconscious mind to zone in directly on what is desired.

If you can see it ... you can believe it. If you can believe it...you can achieve it.

 

Learn more about Meg Soper...
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