Month: January 2024

Celebrat The Small Wins

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Hi everyone, just like it’s important to break large goals into small ones, it’s important to celebrate when you achieve those small goals.

The reason is because the feeling of satisfaction we get from achieving any goal is similar, regardless of the size. By being intentional about celebrating the wins, we reinforce the behavior that got us there, which sets us up with the motivation to achieve the next thing. This is especially important when leading a team and they achieve wins or goals because the celebration doubles as recognition and let’s them know you value their achievement. Recognizing and celebrating the things that are important for the organization’s success separates the best leaders from the large pool of okay leaders and creates a culture of loyal, high performing team members.

This can be difficult for those of us who immediately move on after a goal is met and start working on the next one, but we’re leaving some gains on the table if we don’t bask in the glory, at least for a minute before getting after it again. A celebration within an organization is a great opportunity to recognize the contribution of the individual or the team in front of their peers and more importantly, the leaders who will be instrumental in developing that team member’s potential. It’s an opportunity for leaders to engage with team members they don’t typically work with and get to know them better, which benefits the whole organization.

Find a reason to celebrate this week!

Figure Out What’s Working

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Photo by Enrique Ortega Miranda on Unsplash

Hello everyone, this is a great time of year to look back at the previous year and see what’s working best. If you’re familiar with the 80/20 rule, you know that 80% of your output is generated by the top 20% of your input; the trick is realizing what that 20% is for you.

Because of negativity bias, humans tend to pour too much energy into things we would be better off cutting out so we can put more energy into what’s actually working. Add in pride and a dose of ego, and you can get a recipe for disaster; but you can avoid a lot of that pain if you focus on what’s working and continue to improve on that thing. Anyone who’s ever had an investment that didn’t work out knows what that pain feels like firsthand, and the most disciplined investors I follow set rules that limit their losses so they can take what’s left of the investment and put it into something that’s working. They realize that without rules in place, they would hang on too long.

It’s good to look ahead and see what the market may do in the future so you can adjust accordingly and be prepared, but there’s so much value that can be recognized by pouring most of your energy into what’s working and just tweak that to fit market changes. By figuring out what’s working, you can also recognize what isn’t and make a plan to improve. This can be difficult for people who like to look for the biggest problems and focus on those, but it’s worth the effort to realize that behavior isn’t the highest value and adjust. This applies to your personal life as well. If you find you have more energy and motivation after spending time with a particular person or group; spend more time with them and less time with people who seem to drag you down for example.

Take some time this week to figure out what’s working so you can put your energy into the people and projects who bring the most value!

I Wish Someone Had Told Me

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Photo by James Lee on Unsplash

Hello everyone and Happy New Years 2024! I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few weeks reflecting on how I could help more people achieve their personal and professional goals, especially younger people who are standing where I once stood. That led me to to question what would have helped me when I was starting my own career and personal journey. I believe the one thing that would have done more than anything to help me is to have someone I respected build my confidence by helping me understand the opportunities that existed.

When I was in high school I believed that college was only for excellent athletes, academic prodigies, or people who were rich. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but that was my worldview because there weren’t many people in my circle who’s parents had gone to college. Now I know that higher education is accessible to everyone and with the right level of discipline and motivation, people of all levels of intelligence can successfully complete their education goals. College isn’t for everyone, but everyone should know that it’s accessible to anyone.

I also believed that markets were dominated by large corporations, so it would be impossible for someone to start a business and successfully compete against giants. Now I understand that as businesses grow, it becomes harder and harder to be nimble enough to keep up with rapidly evolving market changes. The world constantly wants something unique which places small entrepreneurs or creators at an advantage. Young people feel they’re at a disadvantage when joining organizations with a lot of long-tenured employees, but we need to let them know that those organizations are hungry for new ideas so they’re in a unique position to bring a lot of value immediately and be recognized.

How important it is to be humble, ask questions, be positive and build relationships. I believed managers and employees with more experience expected me to know what I was doing in order to have a seat on the team, so I did my best to maintain that view and struggle through without asking questions. I still see that behavior with young people entering the workforce today, which is probably due to pride and other complex human emotional behaviors, but it’s doing as much damage to their careers as it did to mine. Help new employees understand that they’ll be much more successful if they are honest about what they don’t know, aren’t afraid to ask questions, be positive despite challenges, and that relationships are critically important, even in organizations like government agencies where some people still believe policies negate the need for good relationships.

This year, help young people and new employees understand how the world really works. It’s a sign of strength which will be recognized and rewarded as those folks move through their journey.