Message of the Day - The Focused and the Dispersed

Good Morning,

 

My current read is John C. Maxwell’s “The 21 Indispensible Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow” (http://www.amazon.com/21-Indispensable-Qualities-Leader-Becoming/dp/0785274405). Like most of Maxwell’s books this one flows nicely and has oodles of information to help paint clear pictures of each point.

 

One of the 21 Qualities is Focus.

 

Focus is important if we want to achieve our dreams and accomplish our goals. The opposite of being focused is being dispersed, distracted or walking around in a fog.

 

One of the concepts John Maxwell shares with us is there are tools and ways to distract others and lose focus. He tells us why a Lion Tamer enters a Lion’s cage with a four legged stool. It is a tool which causes the Lion to loose focus. The Lion looks at each of the four legs and cannot focus on any of them. This ties into another quote in the book, “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape” – Anonymous.

 

This means that there are tools and methods to help us gain and lose focus in our lives. This also means we can learn to turn on laser precision and increase our ability to focus.

 

I find that I can focus better when I try not to multi-task, that I turn my attention to one activity and simply plow through it. Then if I take a break, I can work on something else, but I try not to do two things at the same time or go back and forth quickly between tasks.

 

As I get focused, the rest of the world is tuned out and my speed and accuracy increase steadily.

 

Sometimes I use music, other times I try to work in a secluded place and try to reduce or eliminate distractions. One of my challenges is that I love talking with people, so when I hear conversations around me I often find myself listening to what is being said and get lured away from what I am trying to focus on. Increasing the volume of my music, speaking to myself as I work about the task or going into a closed room seem to help there.

 

The key is to set your self up in such a way as to have fewer distractions. In some cases it means no pictures, or ‘toys’ or turning off the instant messenger or email. It also means practice keeping your attention in one place for an increasing amount of time.

 

Learning to focus takes time, but with these little baby steps, we all can start honing our laser precision.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net  

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

Message of the Day - Paying Attention to the Little Things

Good Morning,

 

I have been trimming down some due to my new 25-30 minute daily ‘Bo’ exercise routine (walking our Bull Terrier, ‘Bocefus’, daily, or rather being walked by him). During my walks if there is enough sunlight (I go out between 5:30 – 6:30 AM) I try to help our community during the walks.

 

Since I am carrying a pooper-scooper and a plastic bag, I often use the scooper to pick up litter during the walk. Generally, I avoid going after the litter when Bo and I are running, for fear of being dragged the rest of the way home by 75 pounds of boundless energy.

 

One thing I noticed the other day is that I sometimes pass by smaller pieces of garbage and don’t pick them up. As I walk by them I see them and simply move on. When I think about it why I didn’t get them too, I hear myself saying ‘it’s too small’ or ‘it’s not my job to get them all’ or something like that.

 

Then it hit me that I sometimes do the same thing in life. I go through life working hard at whatever I put my mind to. Then when something comes up that I consider ‘small’ or ‘inconsequential’ I sometimes ‘overlook’ it and move on.

 

I thought to myself as I passed these by and wondered if it mattered or not. Sometimes those little factors come back to bite me if I do overlook them, and other times they don’t.

 

After having this realization I am making a conscious effort to pay more attention to these little things in my day to day life. Since doing this I have noticed that the quality of my work has improved and I am getting better at telling the difference between the little things that matter a lot and the little things that don’t matter so much.

 

It is not an easy delineation, and as with all things, doing it daily has been the best practice at improving this skill.

 

Part of the challenge is that I am a driven person, and while I can dive into the details, I often get impatient with them when I want to get the projects completed.

 

Changing your nature is not always easy, and sometimes it is just plain impossible.

 

One thing I know, though, is that if I don’t try I will never change.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net  

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

Message of the Day - The Code of Bushido - Courage

Good Morning,

 

Recently I have been listening to some books on tape (cassette). One of these books is called “Smart Leadership” by Michael Podolinsky (http://www.ebook3000.com/Smart-Leadership---A-Simple--Effective-Way-To-Inspire_23072.html). In one part of the tape, Michael talks about the relevance of the Code of Bushido, you know the code of the Samurai Warrior of Japan. He shares three tenets of the code, but depending on where you look, there are more. Below are seven of the primary codes:

 

Gi - Rectitude – Being a person of integrity, and being competent.

Yu - Courage – Having the strength to do what is right.

Jin - Benevolence – Being kind to others.

Rei - Respect – Showing proper courtesy and esteem to others who are deemed to deserve it.

Makoto - Honesty – Being truthful and trustworthy.

Meiyo - Honor  - Living by this code in all that you do.

Chugi – Loyalty – Remaining steadfast in your allegiances to others, tenacity.

 

-Taken from (http://www.bigbearacademy.com/bushido-code.html)

 

Michael shares the importance of having courage in being a leader. The courage I want to focus on, though, is not in leading the team through difficult times and dealing with adversities outside of the team or department. Rather, it is the courage to face the internal department or team.

 

A leader needs courage to share difficult news and feedback with their own team members. This is hard because a leader often has to deal with these people daily either face to face or through some other format or medium. We have all heard the concept of asking someone to repeat something while looking into our eyes to make sure they are not lying. This is a concept of confrontation: that the fear or uncomfortableness of confrontation will make it harder for someone to hide falsehoods.

 

This same concept comes in dealing with those around us. It is sometimes hard to share bad news with someone you care about and work with daily. I know it takes a strong person to do this. In one of my early management roles my first assignment was to tell a very popular Temp employee that their services were no longer needed. Out of the gate, my boss knew that I would make or not by how much courage I could muster to take on this task.

 

Having courage also means telling your team members when they do something wrong or if they are creating a problem for others. It can be both frightening and awkward to tell someone about body odor or personal habits which offend others, but it with courage, it can be done.

 

Having courage as a team member is also important. If you have concerns or questions, you need to have the courage to ask them. You should find the right person, but try to avoid going around your bosses back. That usually ends poorly for either you, your boss or the working relationship.

 

Having courage now, doing the difficult tasks helps a leader down the road in two ways. The first is does not let problems fester over time and explode to full blown emergencies. Second, it shows the team that the leader is strong enough to face difficult challenges and forthright enough to share with them when something is going wrong or right. That is, working for a courageous leader can mean that you will not have to worry where you stand in the team, they will tell you.

 

Courage is vital to working on any team, but it is not a commonly owned attribute. Some folks cower from fear, and cannot face what they consider difficult situations. I saw a woman take a failing grade on a college project because it meant giving a presentation in front of the class. She just could not confront speaking in front of others. This, though is a common fear, and to help beat it, join Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.com).

 

If you don’t have courage, and want it, then realize it will take facing those fears. And like speaking in front of crowds, there are always ways and means to help you. If you need help, contact me.

 

Have courage!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Turbo Charging The Power of You

Good Morning,

 

Isn’t amazing what we can get accomplished when we have our backs to the wall. The chores we do in the morning which take us half an hour can be done in under five minutes if we push it. The quality suffers a little bit, and the stress levels are a bit higher, but some of our best work is done in situations when we have an abbreviated deadline.

 

Zig Ziglar talks about how people can get more accomplished in the day before a vacation then any other day of the week. When we impose a deadline on ourselves, our internal sense of urgency increases and we pick up our pace.

 

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just turn on these turbo charged selves whenever we needed to?

 

The truth is that we can and we often do.

 

The challenge though is we often do not choose to turn on the afterburners, they are turned on for us by outside situations usually in response to something or someone else. For example, our plans to spend 30 minutes to organize our office are changed when a call comes in and we talk for ten minutes. Now we have to do the job we planned to do in 30 minutes in 20 minutes.

 

Most of the time, we do it. Sure we get a bit upset, say some interesting phrases, but when all is said and done, the job we were going to do in 30 minutes gets down in 20 or less.

 

Once again we face Parkinson’s Law, where our activities will take up as much time as we give them. If we give the task an hour, the job takes an hour. If we give it 30 minutes, etc.

 

If we change the way we think to shorten our deadlines, on our own terms, then we can pick up our own pace and do more work in less time, without the added stress of something exterior pushing in on us.

 

We might just free up some valuable time in our days if we get good at this.

 

Try it!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - With Friends Like These

Good Morning,

 

Tough situations in life can be a bear to work through. What we face in our lives challenges can often overwhelm us and beat us down. Some folks get so beaten down that they ultimately become broken people. They give up at each challenge and back down from anything they see being remotely difficult or dangerous.

 

To keep the edge, we need to meet our challenges and overcome some obstacles. While we do not have to win every event or overcome every obstacle, we have to have some sense of victory so we know what to look for and fight for.

 

One of the greatest gifts in facing these challenges is not needing to go it alone. That is, having someone there to help you. It could be a family member or friend.

 

When you have someone who is there when you need them, you have an ally who will bear the burdens with you and share the difficulties, and more importantly, support you morally as well. They can be the anchor in the storm and the navigator in the fog.

 

During my last two weeks of challenges, I had friends and family step up and be those anchors and navigators.

 

When life was handing me a very tough hand, a close friend jumped into action and gave me some better cards to play in addition to my family.

 

Having my best friend Howard come out to help me for a few days in addition to my close family was the engine tune-up I needed to get back into the race. I thank God for Howard and all of my friends and family because I know that they are there to help me when I need it. During Mom’s funeral, Howard’s hand was on my shoulder. What a sign of support and kinship! It reminded me that I am not alone at a time when it is easy to feel lost and alone.

 

Having good friends and close family though is certainly not a one way street. We have to also help out and be there and do the seemingly impossible when we can when we are needed. When we do that, we keep filling that emotional bank account Dr. Covey talks about.

 

When we abuse our friendship, and keep making withdrawals, we often find no one to come and help when the need arises. Some of us have taken advantage of friends in the past. It is not too late to fix the problem. You know what to do, give back to them.

 

I hope you also have some great friends, like Howard, and close family and that you too are filling that emotional bank account so that when you need to make an emergency withdrawal, you know they will be there.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Removing Barriers to Teamwork

Good Morning,

 

Thank you all for the kind words on the passing of my Mom!

 

My most current read was Patrick Lencioni’s ‘Silos, Politics and Turf Wars’ (http://www.amazon.com/Silos-Politics-Turf-Wars-Competitors/dp/0787976385) a Leadership Fable about destroying the barriers that turn colleagues into competitors.

 

As mentioned before, I love reading Patrick Lencioni’s books. I get so much from the fable writing format.

 

This book shares with us key factors in getting through the barriers we often find between teams, departments and even partner companies. One of the most important factors in breaking barriers is having the leadership at the top working together for the entire company or organization.

 

Top leaders of any organization which expect their teams and departments to work together must, themselves, support this activity. For this to happen, they have to take their attention off of what is in it for them and their teams and move to goals which benefit the company or organization as a whole. This means that key leaders may actually support goals which have nothing to do with what they are responsible for. It goes along with the statement I learned from Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield which says:

 

My company comes first; my unit comes second, because no one wins unless the company wins.

 

Other challenges here come from how each department looks at one another. Sales may look down on service, but without service, sales will fail. One solution is to do what Heartland Payment Systems did and marry the goals of sales and service so that they both worked together for the same goals, but did not actually change the overall scope of what each unit did in their own roles. Result was best ever service across the boards.

 

When leadership supports the entire company, and not just their units or teams, then they stand a better chance of succeeding.

 

Leadership starts at the top, and then trickles down. No matter how good middle management is, it is near impossible for them to save a sinking ship when the captain and the bridge crew have sent the ship into dangerous waters.

 

Another great book from Patrick Lencioni!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

Message of the Day - Wisdom from Mom

Good Morning,

 

This has been an exceptionally difficult and challenging week for me. Last year during the July 4^th holiday, I was traveling to Mexico to bring my Mom back to live near the family in Louisville, Kentucky. It was a tough trip, but there were many positive lessons learned along the way.

 

On Saturday June 27^th, my Mother went into the emergency room. Since this time, her condition deteriorated and on Thursday, July 2, she passed away quietly in her sleep. The following day she was laid to rest in an Orthodox Jewish Cemetery with a full traditional Jewish funeral.

 

While Mom was in the hospital, my sister and I noticed a journal she had kept since the time she had come to live in Louisville. Neither of us had any idea that she kept such a journal, and with her passing, it becomes that much more of a gem.

 

At the end of each of her journal entries, Mom added a little inspirational message. It started with one line and then grew a little bit throughout the year, but always saying the same message.

 

Over the last six months, nearly all of her entries had the mantra below. Her last entry was a few weeks ago, maybe she knew her time was coming.

 

These bits of wisdom were her mission in life as was seen by the out pouring of love of the people she met and who grew to love her over the last year.

 

Wisdom from Felicia Odenz, my Mom.  

March 19, 1946 – July 2, 2009

 

Trust and No Fear

Say Little, Do Much

Receive Each Person with a Friendly Face

Love Kindness

Do Justice

Walk Humbly

 

Each of these pearls is something we can improve upon.

 

I miss my Mom, but I know she will live on in our memories, and in her wisdom.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

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