David V. Lorenzo's Blog is now: www.careerintensity.com/blog

A Guide to Relaxation

Joi at The Mental Fitness Center has a great guide to relaxation.  Here is her list of things to do to relax:

“1. Get more sleep. Even if you think you’re getting enough. Buy yourself a super-comfy pair of pajamas, place a lavender or vanilla scented sachet in your pillow case, make your room as dark and cozy as you can and hit the sack earlier than usual. After a week or so what you thought was stress (or even depression) may vanish and prove to have just been exhaustion in disguise.

2. Sleep in at least one day a week. Turn the alarm clock off, shut your door and don’t step one foot on the floor until you’re darned well ready.

3. Choose a day from the seven that’ll be your little day - as in you’ll do as little as you possibly can. Leave the bed unmade, don’t cook, don’t get dressed and don’t even look at the vacuum cleaner.

4. Get a massage. Stress affects your entire body, especially the neck, shoulders and back. Massage increases blood flow and causes the knots of tension to melt away.

5. Take a long bubble bath. Extra points if the bubble bath follows a massage.

6. Buy something you’ve been wanting for a while. Treat yourself to it and watch your spirits soar.

7. Get a little exercise each and every day. Whether you walk in the park or in the mall, or put music on and entertain your cat - doesn’t matter. Just move and groove…you’ll feel great!”

That’s good advice -especially the point about getting more sleep.  Lack of sleep can manifest itself in many ways.  The world always looks a little better when you’ve had a good night’s sleep.

Leadership Development Begins with You

I came across an interesting post on Regina Miller’s blog – HR’s Brand New Experience.  The title of the post was “A Maniacal Focus on High Potentials”.  The post pointed us to a study on the top twenty companies for leaders.  As I read through Regina’s post and the study, it struck me that these companies don’t create leaders – they merely allow them to grow and develop.

I have often heard people talk about joining a company because they had a great leadership development program – or because it was a “breading ground for future stars”. 

My friends, I have some news for you:  If you want to be a leader you don’t have to work for a great company you simply need to choose to lead and then act upon that choice. That’s right – leadership development begins with you.

Here are three things you can do right now to start your own personal High Potential Program:

• Commit to personal continuous improvement.  For example: When you get home from work don’t turn on the television.  Pick up a book and read it.  Spend one hour each day reading a book that will have applicability in your work or your life.  After you finish, give the book to a friend.  When she finishes it, talk about the information you both read.  What did you agree with?  What didn’t make sense?  How is it applicable to each of you?  If you can discuss one or two books a month in this way, you will be surprised at how much you will grow in a short period of time.

• Think about all major decisions for at least forty-eight hours before you make them.  I know this is a tough one.  Sometimes you have all the evidence you need to make a decision right in front of you.  The choice is clear, why not make it and move on?  You will be amazed at how different a state of affairs appears after you remove yourself from it for a while. What does the time do?  It removes emotion from the situation.

Here is an example:  If someone has done something seriously wrong at work and termination is one of the potential consequences, you should never “pull a Trump” and fire them on the spot.  Send them home.  Look at all sides of the situation. Even pay them for the two days while you uncover as many facts as possible.  Then if the decision to discontinue their employment is warranted you will have removed the heat of the moment emotion and made your decision based upon the facts.

• Make someone’s day, everyday.  Pick at least one person and tell them that they did a great job.  Then take the time to seek out their boss and let them know how this person went above and beyond the call of duty.  You don’t have to write a long flowery letter as if you’re nominating them for a Nobel Prize – just make a quick phone call or send a quick e-mail.  This will be great for them, it will make you feel good and it will set a great example for everyone around you.

At the end of the day, leadership is about people stepping up to make a difference in work and in life. You don’t need a great company to bring that out in you.  Go out and do it yourself.  Explore your own emerging leadership.

Be Magnetically Positive

Have you ever met someone who people just liked to be around?  I’m talking about the kind of person who walks into a room and suddenly changes the energy. 

It is a rare and powerful thing to be a positive individual.  I was reminded of this by two examples this morning.  The first is Herman Edwards – The Head Coach of the New Your Jets.  Filip Bondy has a story in the New York Daily News today about Herm’s positive attitude.  Filip credits Herm’s approach for giving the Jets hope even though their team has been decimated by injuries.  Many teams would quit when they were dealt the hand that the Jets now face (the loss of two quarterbacks and the anchor of the offensive line).  Bondy believes that the Jets won’t quit because Herm will help them see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The second thing that reminded me of the magnetism of a positive attitude was a post by Seth Godin.  Seth talks about the deluge of bad news we all face from sources on the internet, in print and on TV.   Bad news sells and we all receive our fare share.

This is the reason positive people draw others toward themselves.  People love to see the “bright side” of life but more importantly they need hope.  Hope is as essential as the air we breathe or the water we drink.  Without it there is no life. 

If you can only be one thing in life – be positive.  Always prepare for the worst but help people hope for the best.  Not only will this make you popular, it will also help you get through the adversity life sometimes throws at you.

The Closer You Get, the Better I Look

Seth Godin talks about the Proximity Effect in a post on his blog today.  When a product is displayed with competing products everyone benefits from the array of choices.

This is true people in jobs as well.  When a complacent sales professional is faced with the entrance of a new sales professional into their office the complacent sales person’s performance is often revitalized. This in turn serves as a motivating factor for the new individual to get up to speed quickly.

Instead of having one moderately productive salesperson, the company has two highly productive individuals. Having the two superstars on the same team pushes both of them to perform at peak levels.

How are you perceived?

Soliciting deeply personal feedback is one of the most difficult things you will attempt. It is human nature to act defensively or to disbelieve the feedback you get from your peers, subordinates, or customers. It is not natural to separate yourself emotionally from the way other people perceive you. You have made an emotional investment in your own future and you don’t want to hear that others have an opinion that differs from your own point of view. Yet, you need to make certain that you understand the perception that others have of your personal brand in order to try to influence that perception in the future.

To help make this uncomfortable situation work effectively, view the perception as detached from the reality. To do this, you must first make an agreement with yourself that you are a good person. You must also accept that fact that people may view you differently then you view yourself – and the very purpose of this exercise is to help shape the perception that others have of you. Once you have reconciled this in your mind, you can move forward with the research that is necessary to determine the current state of your brand.

If you approach this task with an open mind, you will find that there are a number of clues that point to the perception that others have of you and your personal brand. More often than not, people are hesitant to give you direct feedback on how you are perceived. Most people – particularly friends – will feel that this type of feedback will harm your relationship with them. Customers are a different story. If you have customers who work with you directly, you will often find that they will provide you with direct feedback on how they perceive you.

If you find that you are having a difficult time soliciting feedback on your own behalf, there is a technique that often breaks down the barrier of discomfort that may exist. Interview your target on behalf of a hypothetical third party. Do not refer to yourself at all during the process.

Let’s say that you are an accountant and you want to understand the perception of your clients to help position your brand and ultimately gain additional financial planning business. Essentially, you are looking to expand your practice beyond tax accounting and into a role as an investment advisor. You could call five of your tax clients (who you know use someone else to help with financial planning) and interview them over the phone. You should start by asking about the services you currently provide and attempt to get feedback directly. Then you should ask them questions about the criteria they use to establish a new relationship in financial planning. Ask them which qualities they find helpful in a financial advisor. Ask them what they like the most about this service and what they would like to see done more efficiently. In this case, you may not receive a great deal of direct feedback about your brand, but this information will be helpful in determining how you could position yourself to others in the future. You can take the answers you receive and extrapolate information about where you are now.

The primary objective for this process is to assess where you are and where you need to be in order to occupy the appropriate space in the mind of your target. You need to find out how you can appropriately position yourself to your customer.

Working Hard at Making Things Simple

Have you ever met someone who loves to complicate things? They relish showing you how smart they are by making a concept or procedure so difficult that only they can understand it. These people don’t get very far in business and often become politicians. In truth, it is much more difficult to simplify than it is to complicate. Although the word “simple” often gets a bad rap, since it is often used synonymously with “inferior” and “substandard,” making things simple is one of the qualities that can help you create your own luck.

Simplicity plays an important role in your interactions with others. There are three ways successful people make sure their relationships are uncomplicated.

Exercises common sense. Don’t impose unrealistic expectations on others. If you ask someone to complete a task for you, first make certain that it is possible. It can be a challenge, but it must be possible. Next, make certain that it is ethical. You should never ask someone to do anything that would in any way compromise your integrity or theirs. Finally, ask yourself if you can live with the most extreme results of your requests or actions. Common sense in dealing with other people is the best way to keep things simple and a great way to draw in your own luck.

Maintain an external orientation. Always try to see things from the other point of view. It’s easy to get caught up in your own agenda and fail to see how the other person may view your behavior or actions. A successful person – someone with Career Intensity – views the world with an external orientation. He examines each action from the perspective of an outsider. This helps give him a clear picture of the issue at hand before he proceeds. He checks his ego at the door and he takes the best course of action – not just because it is best for him, but because it is also the right thing to do.

Remember that wishing doesn’t make things happen. Hope is a great tool for staying optimistic and positive, but achieving your goals requires action. Do not make decisions based upon things that you hope will happen. Make decisions based upon concrete evidence, past precedents, or the resources that are available. Keep wishful thinking out of the decision-making process. You will thank yourself later.

Take Time to Recharge

The Never Eat Alone Blog has a great post about guarding your vacation.  This is something that I learned while working in a job that was physically taxing.

We all need time away from our day-to-day environment.  This time helps us gain perspective and refresh our mind’s creative mechanism.  There appears to be a law of diminishing returns on prolonged focus.  At some point we become too close to what we are working on. This leads to tunnel vision.

Take a break.  Get away.  When you come back you will have a renewed energy and enthusiasm – and maybe even a different view of the task at hand.

How to Avoid Burnout

BusinessWeek online has some great tips on avoiding burnout at work.  Here is the graphic summary:

Take the Long Way Home – Do Difficult Things

We have all heard the expression “It don’t come easy” in reference to success.  This is the truth.  Although things may appear to happen in an effortless fashion for some people, someone somewhere has worked very diligently behind the scenes to make sure that the optimal result was achieved.  You must prepare your mind for the difficult tasks that lay ahead of you as you drive your way toward success.  Just as a world-class athlete spends years training his body to take the punishment of intense competition, you must train your mind for the battles you will face on the road to making your goals a reality.

One of the best things you can do is to add into your schedule something that is difficult and something that you will need to do alone.  You will learn more about yourself during this strenuous alone time then any time you will spend on a psychologist’s couch.  When you focus your alone time on really difficult things you battle every vice you have.  When you win these battles, you gain the confidence that comes with self-awareness.  You will know how far you can push yourself.  This is absolutely critical.

Education leads to Success for Entrepreneurs?

Rob at Business Pundit has a post about education and entrepreneurial success.  Apparently there is a correlation. The money quote is at the end of the post:

“It reminds me of the time my sister told me what she thought was a shocking fact - that the favorite ice cream flavor of the most adventurous people in the world was vanilla. Wouldn't you expect it to be a more daring flavor? Nope. Unless there is some demonstrable connection between behavior and taste, I would expect any subset of the population to have vanilla as their favorite flavor, simply because it is the most popular flavor in the world.”

Maybe that MBA wasn’t a waste of money after all.