Wednesday 29 May 2013

Time Management Tip 5: Pick your battles




"Wise generals pick their battles and live long lives. Valiant warriors fight all the battles they face and die young"

Too many people waste time by getting bogged down in battles which they can't possibly win.

Some people get the timing wrong when they go to battle whilst others are ill-prepared for the dangers that lie ahead. For some people, the odds were stacked against them from the start, something they knew but chose to ignore. Whatever the reason, it's easy to get bogged down in a stalemate or no-win situation where finding a way out can seem almost impossible.

If you want to mange your time, you must learn to pick your battles.

Example:

You're determined to make your fellow board members see sense. Their inability to move in the direction you want is incredibly frustrating and you believe their reticence is due to a fear of change and sheer stubbornness, rather than logical reasoning.

In this example, it's all to easy to push your agenda because you believe you're right and you're seeing the bigger picture. But if the other people aren't budging, not only could you waste time going round in circles as you try to make them see sense, the breakdown in rapport will cost you even more time later down the line. When you need to confront, disagree with, or influence other people, consider the following tips:

1) Fight the important battles. Don't waste your time and resources on the trivial ones. In each case, ask yourself:

- Is this really worth it?
- Is this about a positive long term outcome, or about me getting my own way and proving I'm right?
- How much is my ego dictating my actions?

2) Ensure the timing is right for battle. Any military leader would tell you that it's not just about the quality of your tactics, the size of your army or the quality of your weaponry - the role of timing is critical in determining whether a battle is won or lost. Sometimes it really is best to leave well alone whilst keeping half an eye on the situation. Ask yourself:

- What's the best and worst that could happen if I do nothing versus if I do something?
- If I leave alone for now and revisit the issue in a week's time, what might have changed?

3) Fight the battles you can win. Why waste your energy on something you know you will lose? Sometimes you simply need to make peace with the things you can't change. In the situations where you know you're going to lose but passionately believe that you have no option but to put up a fight, ask yourself:

- What do I gain from going to war? (if the answer is ...  "I'll feel better about it" - it's not a very compelling answer!)
- What are the consequences of the loss for me? Are they genuinely worth it? Can I handle them?

4) Opt for Win/Win. When you plan an approach which offers a win/win situation, you're less likely to get bogged down and war will most likely be averted (which means no one gets hurt!). Developing a win/win solution will mean ditching your ego and thinking around the issue so you can put the other person's needs on a par with your own.

5) Avoid an aggressive approach. Going to battle in business is different to going to battle in the military sense for many reasons. One of them is that in business, the less aggressively you begin proceedings, the more likely it is that you'll get what you want. 

When people are on the receiving end of aggression, they defend (which means their barriers go up and they're not listening any more), or they do submit (begrudgingly), something which negatively affects their morale and could affect their commitment.

If the other person defends you're likely to get bogged down in a war of attrition and if the other person submits begrudgingly, you haven't won, even if on this occasion you got your way!

Thanks for reading

I help businesses become more profitable by developing their people: 

Call me - 0121 420 3457 / 07760 444 946
Email me - enquiries@impactlife.co.uk
Connect with me on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpain
Like me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ImpactLifeUK
Follow me on twitter - www.twitter.com/andrewpain1974
Check out my website - www.impactlife.co.uk

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Business Development: Scattergun approach backfires


It's possible that because I'm nearing 40, I'm simply grumpier than I used to be ... but there's something which is really irritating me and it's happening more and more.

I'm receiving an increasing number of emails (particularly from Linkedin contacts) asking for my help. In nearly all cases, the help requested is to click on a link in order to add a vote, so that the person who emailed me can win an award for which they've been nominated. Now I like to think I'm a decent chap but there's a problem ... I've never met the people in question or used their services, so how on earth could I vote for them with any sense of credibility?

On the one hand, it's no great problem to delete such emails but on the other hand, if you're serious about your professional reputation, how could you send a blanket message knowing that it will be utterly irrelevant to a large proportion of people who receive it? Unless of course you're just hoping that they will vote for you anyway, in which case the awards are utterly meaningless because it comes down to who has the largest email database, rather than a mark of quality.

In my opinion, people who ask me to vote for them, but yet I've never met them or used their services, are lazy email marketers and it smacks just a little of desperation. Note to self ... if they're lazy about their e-marketing, what would their customer service be like, particularly if there are issues after I've made the purchase?


Tip:

Be relevant in your communication: Spend the extra time filtering and ordering your contacts so whether you are communicating via phone, email or post, everything you say is of complete relevance to those who will read/hear it.

Avoid the blanket/scattergun approach: Whilst it feels better to send your message to thousands of people rather than hundreds, if it's not relevant to many of those who receive it, it will undermine your long term credibility ... unless of course your message genuinely has a mass market appeal or it offers mass market value.

ps - when asking for help, whether it's home or work, you'll get better results if you ask the people who actually know you!

Thanks for reading

I help businesses become more profitable by developing their people: 

Call me - 0121 420 3457 / 07760 444 946
Email me - enquiries@impactlife.co.uk
Connect with me on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpain
Like me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ImpactLifeUK
Follow me on twitter - www.twitter.com/andrewpain1974
Check out my website - www.impactlife.co.uk

Thursday 23 May 2013

Business Development Tip: Keep it real


"It's very very different from anything that's ever been tried before"

Wow - that's certainly a bold claim from the businessman who emailed me promoting a new service he was offering. It certainly caught my attention and to be fair to him, the strength of this statement alone encouraged me to sit through the entire two minute video on youtube just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

So congratulations on the title, but sadly it only got worse from there because as he explained his USPs in his video, there was clearly no substance to back up his claim.

So What?

It left me feeling disappointed with what was being offered and frustrated that I'd wasted two minutes of my time watching the video.

Outcome?

I won't be using his service and when his next email arrives, I'll unsubscribe because I don't trust him. In my experience, people who make bold claims which they can't substantiate are not worth spending any time on.

Fact: 

Your ability to attract new business is far easier if you have knock-out claims, which stop people in their tracks ... but those claims must be genuine if you want to be taken seriously. If people suspect that you're exaggerating, then your credibility gets damaged and if your credibility is damaged, it's very difficult to influence people.

Tip:

Consider how you promote your service/business in all situations ... at networking events, at presentations, on video, or on your website. Are all your claims really true? Or has your desire to win business caused you to go over the top? Develop a message for your business which is attractive, yet which has integrity at it's heart. 

Example:

It's very very different from anything that's ever been tried before
1) It's a fresh approach to X, because ...
2) You'll love it when you try it, because ...
3) Being part of it will make a huge impact on your business because ...

I've protected the identity of the businessman who sent me that email to spare his blushes, but knowing what he's offering, the above statements (1, 2 and 3) would have been fine.

Not even Carlsberg claimed to make the best lager in the world, they just argued that it was probably the best!

Now available on iTunes and Amazon: The Impact Code - Unlocking Resilience, Productivity & Influence
http://goo.gl/bSd6M6

Thanks for reading

I help people to achieve more by developing their resilience, influence and productivity:  

Call me - 0121 420 3457 / 07760 444 946
Email me - enquiries@impactlife.co.uk
Connect with me on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpain
Like me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ImpactLifeUK
Follow me on twitter - www.twitter.com/andrewpain1974
Check out my website - www.impactlife.co.uk










Friday 17 May 2013

Time Management Tip 4: Nailing the undesirable yet important tasks (5 ideas)

During the month of May, many children in the UK sit down to their SATS tests … and this included my eleven year old daughter whose schooling was a bit interrupted last year.

With a bit of encouragement from me, she spent 6 weeks in the run-up to her SATS, doing 45 minutes revision every day and I mean every day. Whether it was a Saturday or a Sunday, or a weekday evening after school and whether it was sunny or rainy, she knuckled down to Maths, English and Science.

It wasn't without a few complaints, particularly when her younger sister was playing outside with her friends, but a few things really worked in getting her to settle to the undesirable yet important task of preparing for her SATS.


1) Timing:

The prevailing time management advice for dealing with undesirable tasks is to do them as early in the day as possible. Whilst I agree with this to some extent, I think its a bit simplistic to make such a sweeping statement and it's not always helpful to push yourself to do them as early as possible.

It's more effective to approach the timing with an open mind and on a case-by-case basis. Consider the task from different angles, take into account how you feel about it, what the challenges are and how you could make it easy for yourself. Then decide on which time of the day would give you the best chance of doing a good job on it. Depending on the task, it may not always be the best thing to do it as soon as possible or as early in the day as possible.

For example:

Encouraging my daughter to revise for her SATS first thing in the morning when she's sleepy would have been completely hopeless and when she gets home from school at 1530, she really values her down time. So in this case, 1600-1645 was the perfect slot to do the revision, not first thing in the morning or as soon as she arrives home from school.

By committing to do her revision at 1600 during the week, she always got it done (on Saturdays and Sundays, she usually revised at 1030).

2) Rewards:

Could you imagine if when my daughter finished her revision at 1645, I insisted that she now do some chores in the house?

When she finished her revision at 1645, she was always rewarded with a bit more downtime, which  helped her to revise on the days when she was feeling apathetic.

3) Angle Grinding:

On the days when she struggled to settle, my daughter would consider her revision from a number of angles in order to motivate herself. She did this by asking key questions:

What will happen if I don't revise?
What will happen if I do revise?

What's the worst that can happen if I don't revise?
What's the worst that can happen if I do revise?

What's the best that can happen if I don't revise?
What's the best that can happen if I do revise?

By considering the task from a variety of angles, she developed a deep appreciation of how valuable the revision was to her.

4) Positive Re-framing:

On several occasions, she had to remind herself that:

A) She wasn't the only 11 year old having to revise for her SATS.
B)  Forty five minutes revision per day is not that much in the grand scheme of things.
C)  The SATS will pass.
D)  Her younger sister will one day face what she is now facing, so in the end, it's not so unfair that she's playing outside in the sunshine.


5) Accountability:

It helped that she had me and my wife to keep her on track with her revision, to motivate her and help her with the positive re-framing and angle grinding.

Conclusion - nailing the undesirable tasks:

1) Consider the timing with an open-mind, then pick a time to do the task and stick to it. 
2) Ensure you reward yourself when you complete it. 
3) Consider it from various angles in order to fully appreciate the value of doing the task. 
4) Gain perspective by re-framing it. 
5) Draw others along side you to hold you accountable to doing it.  

Thanks for reading

I help people to achieve more in life by developing their resilience, influence and productivity.  

Call me - 0121 420 3457 / 07760 444 946
Email me - enquiries@impactlife.co.uk
Connect with me on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpain
Like me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ImpactLifeUK
Follow me on twitter - www.twitter.com/andrewpain1974
Check out my website - www.impactlife.co.uk

Sunday 12 May 2013

Time Management Tip 3: Head v Gut




The day of the launch had arrived. I was bang on time and as promised, on April 29th, my e-book, Clockwise - 5 great time management principles went live on Amazon, iTunes and Noble and Barnes.  

The temptation to hit the publicity trail was huge. I was excited about the book and chuffed with how the final draft looked but something was nagging me. My gut was telling me to hold fire on the publicity and check first that the e-book had converted properly, before encouraging people to buy it. 

So I encouraged close family and friends to buy a copy so I could check how the final result looked and it was quickly apparent that there were issues ... many, many issues!
  • The ebook could only be read in landscape not portrait.
  • Errors and typos had been added to the text through the conversion process.
  • For iPads, the presentation of all colour text was fuzzy.
As much as it pained me and in spite of my publisher's assurances, there was only one right decision. I  pulled the e-book from the shelves and sent it back to the publisher to be reconverted. I'm glad I listened to my gut.

So what's the moral of the story? 

1) Perfect products produce premium results. As Steve Jobs would have told you, if you are going to launch something, it has to be awesome and perfect ... anything less is simply not good enough. Sometimes that means making tough decisions and putting your natural excitement to one side in the pursuit of excellence.

2) Good time management relies on wise decision making and wise decisions require you to listen to your gut. When it comes to making key decisions, our minds weigh up the variables, the analytics, the conditionals and logical reasoning. As a result, we can easily get stuck and struggle to move forward due to the numerous angles to consider ... unless of course we consult our gut instinct. 

Our gut instinct operates at a deeper level than our minds and is more concerned about what is right or wrong. It also has an uncanny ability to steer us away from making big mistakes and into the path of great opportunities. If you feel stuck with a home or work-based decision, it's useful to do a S.W.O.T. analysis, or a list of pros and cons, but listen also to what your gut is telling you ... it's usually right!

Thanks for reading

I help businesses become more profitable by developing their people: 

Call me - 0121 420 3457 / 07760 444 946
Email me - enquiries@impactlife.co.uk
Connect with me on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpain
Like me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ImpactLifeUK
Follow me on twitter - www.twitter.com/andrewpain1974
Check out my website - www.impactlife.co.uk

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Time Management Tip 2: Operate on a 'need-to-know' basis


I recently worked with an organisation for whom their monthly newsletter is a key part of their business development activity. In fact, the newsletter is regarded as so critical, that the final draft has to be approved by each board member before it is sent to anyone.

So guess what? By the time everyone has checked the final draft and amended it, the information for the newsletter has become so out of date, that it rarely gets sent.

A classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth and a classic time management howler!

Time wasting occurs when too many people are involved in the decision making process. Whilst on the one hand, diversity, quality control and prudence are important attributes, left unchecked, these qualities can cause hesitancy and disagreement, hindering decisive action.

Whether you are a small business, a large corporate, or an SME, ensure you operate on a 'need-to-know' basis and avoid drawing too many people into the decisions which must be made.

Tip 1: Minimise the amount of people you copy into your emails. Before you copy your message to your contacts/colleagues, ask yourself a simple question, "does everyone I've copied in, really need to know this stuff?"

Tip 2: Minimise the number of people involved in meetings and key decisions. The more people involved, the longer it will take to reach a decision and the more time you've wasted by diverting your colleagues away from tackling other priorities.

Tip 3: Review your internal processes on a regular basis and identify in which parts, the decision making process is cumbersome.

Tip 4: Before you divulge any information, be clear on who really needs to know it.

Thanks for reading

I help people to achieve more in life by developing their resilience, influence and productivity. 

Call me - 0121 420 3457 / 07760 444 946
Email me - enquiries@impactlife.co.uk
Connect with me on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpain
Like me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ImpactLifeUK
Follow me on twitter - www.twitter.com/andrewpain1974
Check out my website - www.impactlife.co.uk