Message of the Day - The Power of Procrastination

Good Morning,

 

I wanted to write this message last Saturday, but have been very busy as of late and had to put it off (good tickler, huh?). The only reason I am getting to it today is that my body forced me to take a sick day. You know the feeling when you move and pretty much every muscle in your body cries out in protest. Add in an onslaught of allergies (sore throat, runny nose, etc.) and that is how I feel today. No worries, I will be better tomorrow.

 

Anyway, this is a great time to talk about procrastination and how it can change your day, your life, and the world as we know it. Yes, procrastination can change the course of history, and most certainly did, during the American Revolution. As you may remember, we were doing poorly up to the Battle of Saratoga. There we won a decisive victory; captured thousands of British troops, and more importantly, gained the agreement of the King of France to assist us in our revolution.

 

What if we lost that battle? The revolution could have fizzled; we could have lost our troops and never have gained the agreement of France to help us. This almost happened, but due to procrastination it didn’t come to pass.

 

Lord Germain, the Secretary of State in Britain, was to issue orders to General Howe, currently in the New York city area, to move his troops up the Hudson river and join General Carlton to defeat the Americans in a pincer (attacked on both sides). In fact he did issue orders to General Carlton to move south from Canada to make the attack, expecting to write Howe shortly thereafter.

 

What happened is Lord Germain was going away for the weekend and stopped by his office to sign to orders to General Howe. One problem, they were not written yet. Lord Germain’s aid offered to write them up there if Lord Germain would wait 10 minutes. Lord Germain refused to wait and said he would sign them when he returned after the weekend.

 

When he returned, both he and the aid had completely forgotten about the orders, and that left General Carlton to his fate, which marked the turning point in the American Revolution.

 

By procrastinating, the British gave up a good chance to squash the revolution and keep their colonies. Source: (http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1964/2/1964_2_6.shtml).

 

What are we losing when we put off to tomorrow what we can do today?

 

In my day job, I am constantly changing gears and trying to jot down notes due to the speed at which information and tasks come at me. They can get lost if I do not do them right then and there. Procrastination in my daily work means tasks do not get completed and usually come back to me as an urgent issue.

 

To combat procrastination we need to both organize ourselves so that we do not miss out on the opportunities to get our tasks completed and also to develop processes to allow us to change gears quickly (not necessarily multitasking), to allow us to finish these items and move to the next.

 

Otherwise we may feel the power of procrastination in our lives.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   ß Check out the cover of my upcoming book, “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

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Message of the Day - Caring Enough

Good Morning,

 

After reading about powerhouse teams in such books as ‘The Five Dysfunctions of Teams’ and ‘Lincoln on Leadership’ and ‘The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell’ you see that teams that work well together get very open and honest with each other. This open honesty in working with others can get heated at times.

 

Many people fear that heated discussion and try to shy away from it. When it happens in their midst, they may sit back in their chairs and become a bystander rather than stepping up and becoming a contributor.

 

To clarify, by heated discussions, I am not talking about knock-down, no-holds-barred fights with insults and attacks. Rather I am talking about highly respectful discussions where each of the team members who contributes, really TRUSTS their team members enough and are COMFORTABLE enough with them to be open and honest and give them their all!

 

Team members who can enter this level of healthy debate can churn out diamonds from lumps of clay by beating on them and tweaking them and being passionate about their beliefs and values. The results from these debates are almost always better than taking the initial suggestions and running with them just because the boss or someone said they should.

 

After you get used to this form of debate, you will feel a greater respect for your peers than before. Honest!

 

We first have to realize that these debates are not personal. When being performed honestly and passionately with vigor and zeal, then the discussion is not about the participants, rather it is the ideas and ideals which are being hammered out.

 

It is said that Walt Disney would offer out ideas to his team of advisors and if more than a few of the ten or so people agreed with the initial idea, he scrapped it. General George Patton once said that “If everyone is thinking alike, then someone is not thinking’.  

 

These great men knew the value of honest, passionate and sometimes heated discussions, in coming up with the best ideas and decisions for their teams.

 

If you care enough to give your best to your team and on your projects, then care enough to be open and honest and passionate about your feelings and ideas, even if it gets heated. Remember; focus on the ideas, and not the person you are talking to.

 

In the end, you will find some diamonds from the rough.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   ß Check out the cover of my upcoming book, “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

Message of the Day - War on Minutia

Good Morning,

 

Have you noticed that there are many little steps to pretty much every thing we do?

 

Have you also noticed that often when you start to do something, unless it is something we do often or every day that we get mired down in many of these little steps or minutia?

 

Even eating a bowl of cereal is not a simple task.

 

1. Clean off a spot at the table.
2. Move the cat off of your chair. (those without pets can substitute clothes or other stuff for cats).
3. Get a bowl.
4. Make sure the bowl is clean.
5. Get the cereal.
6. Open or reopen the cereal box.
7. Check to see if there is enough cereal for a bowl.
8. Pour the cereal in the bowl.
9. Close and seal the cereal box.
10. Put the cereal box away.
11. Get a spoon.
12. Make sure the spoon is clean.
13. Get a napkin (This is a must for me)
14. Get milk
15. Open milk and smell to see if it is still good.
16. Pour milk into the cereal.
17. Clean up any spills (be sure not to cry)
18. Put away the milk.
19. Say prayers
20. Eat.

 

20 steps for something as simple as eating a bowl of cereal and there is a lot that can go wrong even within these steps. The milk can be bad; we could be out of milk or there is not enough cereal for a bowl and we have to hunt down another box. There may be no clean bowls (get to work or clean them). And, for some folks this list is long, and for others, it is very short.

 

This simple process which should take no more than a few minutes can take upwards of half an hour if we get mired in the minutiae of having to fix something that is not prepared for. And of course, that starts our day off on the wrong foot.

 

So how do we call a war on this minutia so that the two minute process stays that way?

 

Prepare. Make sure there is fresh milk, clean bowls and silverware, and change out your cereal when you finish one box.

 

When you can prepare for these processes ahead of time, then you will not get caught off guard and have to fix the little things to get the big things done.

 

That is why it is so painful to work the One-Off situations. They are often time stealers.

 

Remember, to declare war on the minutia, prepare so everything flows a bit smoother.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   ß Check out the cover of my upcoming book, “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - The juxtaposition of pride and accountability

Good Morning,

 

There is questionable quality in work produced and quality of service performed in many industries today. It is very frustrating being the customer and recipient of shoddy work, but it can also be very frustrating for the leadership of the teams who deliver the subpar performance.

 

As I was pondering this thought this morning, two separate ideas popped into my head. Two different areas, taking pride in your work, and being accountable for your work jumped out at me. And while each of these areas seems separate and unrelated, they may in fact be tied together.

 

Have you ever noticed someone doing work that was less than stellar? You know, work that is more like someone randomly slapping sandwich toppings on a sandwich and wrapping the mess up and handing it to you without even looking at you. Or maybe talking to a call center and the agent seems to have no interest whatsoever in helping you.

 

What is missing is taking pride in their work. Pride that what they do is the best that can be done. Not everyone can be the best in the world, but everyone can do their own personal best. One agent who really impressed me took my call after I had had several months of botched calls from this company. This agent said ‘I will fix it, I know what you have been through, but I will make sure you are taken care of’. He glowed of pride in helping me. And yes, he did resolve my issue.

 

Then on the other side, have you ever noticed someone who drops the ball on something they were supposed to do? Something that they are responsible for, but take almost no initiative to ensure the job is completed, even remotely in the way it should be. It’s the classic ‘its not my job’ syndrome.

 

On the one side, folks are not taking pride in their work, and on the other, they feel little or no reason to be accountable for their work.

 

When we start to take pride in our work, like ensuring the best email message we can write, or completing the task the most efficiently we know how then we improve the quality of our work. With that pride comes confidence and the support from others.

 

When you bring your car in for repair, do you go to the nearest repair shop? Or do you go to one that you know does a good job. And at that location where they do a good job, don’t they seem to take pride in their work? When these same people, who take pride in their work do make a mistake, more often than not, own up to it and take responsibility to fix the error.

 

And when others ask you who you use for your car repairs, who do you recommend? I bet is usually the people who take pride in their work and do a good job.

 

One way to improve quality in any line of business is to find a way to get the staff to take pride in their work, to know that it has value and means something (as a manager, TELL THEM). When people take pride in their work, it invariably improves, so will their accountability, and in the end, the quality of the enterprise will improve.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   ß Check out the cover of my upcoming book, “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Goals with Action

Good Morning,

 

I just finished Lee Iacocca’s book “Where Have the All the Leaders Gone” and I was very pleased with it. Initially I was afraid it would be a political rant, but the book mostly focused on the issues facing our nation and the leadership attributes necessary of people who would best address those issues. It truly was a great read; the book quickly drew me into it.

 

Toward the end, Lee Iacocca talked about a mistake he made when he retired. A mistake many of us make in our lives as well. He had a goal of relaxing or just ‘taking it easy’. This did not work out so well for him as he sputtered about in retired life with no real focus.

 

This does not work out so well for others either. In fact, when you go from an active lifestyle to one of basic inaction, your body seems to sense it is time to shut down and a lot of people die a few years after retirement. That is a frightening thought.

 

What Lee Iacocca learned was to set a goal with actions in it, to have something to DO within his goals. What he turned his attention toward is the Iacocca Foundation and finding a cure for Diabetes. Being a member of that club, I am a fan of anyone who can help find the cure.

 

The larger point is having the goal with actions built into to. That is, what do you want to DO? ‘To relax’ is not a goal, it is a by product, it is also a state of being. Maybe a better goal for someone who is retiring is to ‘visit all 50 states’ or spend 10 hours a week helping in a soup kitchen, volunteer at their church, or otherwise giving back to the community.

 

Don’t short-change yourself by making such general goals without having a plan to achieve them. Focus on specific action based goals to help you achieve those larger goals.

 

For example: ‘When I get home from work today, I want to de-stress’ is a very general goal and from my experience not one that we often achieve. Maybe make the goal: “When I get home from work, I am going to do my chores early, and after dinner, I will lounge on the couch with a good book. This will help me de-stress’.

 

Don’t you see how the second goal, being more specific and ‘action oriented’ (doing chores early, sitting on the coach, etc.) is easier to realize. It is a roadmap to a destination, instead of just the destination without a map on how to get there.

 

For larger goals, like retirement, these actions are often called strategy, or strategic planning. No matter what we call them, we really need to do them.

 

We need to put actions into our goals to ensure our likelihood in achieving our goals.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   ß Check out the cover of my upcoming book, “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day: Happiness In = Happiness Out

Good Morning,

 

Have you ever seen someone who was obviously upset (eyes glaring, face redder than normal, hands trembling, etc.) and when you ask if there is a problem or if you can help in any way, you get a “I’M FINE!” growled back at you?

 

Do you think those folks are happy at that moment? Neither do I.

 

Do you think that their telling everyone they are fine or happy will result in them becoming happy? Neither do I.

 

Happy thoughts make for happy people. Angry thoughts make for angry people.

 

One of my challenges is getting caught up in angry thoughts every now and then. I have become better at stopping myself before I put myself into a foul mood, but I am far from 100%. These angry thoughts could be from mentally role-playing out a situation in my mind to see how it may turn.  

 

For example, if I am going to be speaking with an associate about a situation which I know is a stressful one, I will often role play out the scenario in my mind several times to see what outcomes play out. Then I take note and react to these. It helps me be prepared for different situations. Sometimes during those mental role-playing sessions, I see the conversation getting heated. Then instead of stopping and reflecting, I mentally react to the situation in a more heated manner and it can get my all riled up. It is almost like having an argument in your mind.

 

Those angry thoughts do not help for a happy mood. In fact, I need to mentally ‘Cancel’ those thoughts as soon as I sense them or it will kill my good mood. I do mentally say ‘Cancel’.

 

When I want to change my mood from negative to positive, I think happy thoughts. (I know, sounds goofy, be hear me out). I think about my wife, my kids, my friends, my work, those people I help, the Lord, His scripture I read that day or sermon I recently heard. All of these help me get myself centered and back into a good mood.

 

To get into and maintain a happy mindset, we need to keep putting happiness into our mind. Happiness In = Happiness Out.

 

Anger in does not produce happiness (some folks say they thrive on pain and anguish of others, and well, I would rather avoid those folks when they feel this way).

 

To get into a happy mood, think happy thoughts. Put happy reminders where you work, photos, phrases, the Bible, whatever it takes to remind you of those things which make you happy.

 

The more you do this, the happier you will be.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   ß Check out the cover of my upcoming book, “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Are You Sitting On The Sidelines In Your Own Life?

Good Morning,

 

My current read is Lee Iacocca’s new book on leadership called “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?” (http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-All-Leaders-Gone/dp/1416532471) where he starts off lambasting the government and corporate leaders of the day of what have they been doing? It is both intriguing and very scary in seeing the perspective and information he is sharing.

 

Early on in the book Iacocca had a quote which caught my attention:

 

“If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: You don’t get anywhere standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.”

 

That profound statement has a lot of value.

 

Life is going to happen to us no matter which way we live it, opportunities will be given to us, and we must decide to take them or not, and if we do not decide, the decision is made for us.

 

We can sit in the boat of our life and float aimlessly where ever it takes us, or we can get out the paddles and row ourselves toward the opportunities we are given. Better yet, learn and grow daily, and eventually you can pull out an outboard motor and speed up your progress toward the destinations in your life.

 

Life is a participation sport. Situations in life come at us daily, and decisions need to be made, or they will be made for us. In some cases that is fine, but on the important topics, I would like to be the driver of that boat, rather than a passenger.

 

Our lives are too important to allow others, who often know little to nothing about our wants, desires, dreams, etc., to pull the strings on our lives. In many cases, with the laws of the land, or the company handbook, etc., there are rules we must follow and decisions which are made for us. When we do get an opportunity to choose an action or path for ourselves, it behooves us to take it.

 

You will get to destinations in life, but wouldn’t it be better to arrive at those destinations due to our own actions and decisions, and not what others have decided for us?

 

At the end game of our lives, do we want to be able to say ‘yes’ I took the opportunities presented to me in my life, I made the decisions that led me to where I am today, good or bad, or are you more comfortable just sitting back and letting life come at you, and taking as it comes, not making decisions and floating down the river on the prevailing current, never quite knowing where you will end up, or why?

 

Personally, I cannot be that passive, when opportunities are presented to me, I will make a decision, but that is me.

 

The decision is yours, take action in your life, or be a passenger or sit on the sidelines and let others play the game of your life for you.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Is there really an Average anything?

Good Morning,

 

My current read is “The Undiscovered Self” by Carl G. Jung (http://www.amazon.com/Undiscovered-Self-C-G-Jung/dp/0691018944). The first section talks about how society is built up on the overall average of its members, but that is not a true reflection of one individual. Sounds deep, I know. Jung gives a good example.

 

If a pile of rocks has an average weight of 148 grams per rock, you would be hard pressed to randomly pick up a rock and have it weigh exactly 148 grams.

 

What is average anyway? We can describe it, but have we every really seen it. Have you ever had a time where someone introduced you to ‘The Average’ person? Has anyone ever said this is the average German Shepherd, or this is the average baseball?

 

If rules and regulations are made for the average person, and well, we cannot find one of them, then what do we do?

 

This means that the rules and regulations that make up our organizations, our communities, our laws, etc., are made up for the sum total of their members, and may, in fact, not represent a single individual based on their own personal needs.

 

Here is another analogy; can you ever find a temperature in your office which is acceptable to everyone in the office? The temperature could be set to 65 or 70 degrees, or in some cases 72 or 75 degrees. Each of these temperatures are fine in general. Of course there will be folks who only feel comfortable at 80 degrees and others at 60 (offices which can set different temperatures by cubical will be the wave of the future).

 

 

This means we have to be more accepting of our organizations and the vastness of differences within our communities. Everyone is different and even though we have rules and regulations for everyone, there will be those who will seem to not fit in or care to follow the rules, and that could be okay.

 

Our rules and guidelines should be opened up and be scalable (to a point) to cover the needs of the individual, and not the average person (who may not even exist).

 

We should also be accepting of the differences of each person as their interests and beliefs will deviate from what is considered average.

 

In looking at this whole situation again, maybe there is nothing truly average at all.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   ß Check out the website to see the cover for my book, soon to be available!

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!