What’s the key to being productive? Prioritizing. To be an effective leader, you must learn to not only get a lot done, but get a lot of the right things done. That means understanding how to prioritize time, tasks, resources, and even people.

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, asserts that effective priortizing begins with eliminating the things you shouldn’t be doing. He writes,

Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever-expanding ”to do” lists, trying to build momentum by doing, doing, doing – and doing more. And it rarely works. Those who build the good-to-great companies, however, made as much use of “stop doing” lists as “to do” lists. They displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous  junk.

Truly, the best companies channel their resources into only a few arenas – ones where they can be successful.

Staying in your areas of strength – where your efforts yield the highest return – and out of your areas of weakness is one of the keys to personal productivity. And if you can help others on your team to do the same, then you can be successful in leadership on Level 3. For years I have relied on the Pareto Principle as a guideline to help me decide what is worth focusing on and what isn’t. The Pareto Principle basically says that if you do the top 20 percent of your to-do lists, it will yield you an 80 percent return on your efforts.

To help me understand what my top 20 percent is, I ask myself three questions:

• What is required of me? (what must I do)
• What gives me the greatest return? (what I should do)
• What is most rewarding to me? (what I love to do)

If you are early in your career or new to leadership, your must-do list will probably be the largest. Your goal as you climb the levels of leadership, is to shift your time and attention to the should-dos and love-to-dos. And if you lead well enough and build a great team, the answers for all three questions should be the same things. I feel very fortunate because that has come to pass for me. There are relatively few things I am required to do that I don’t enjoy doing.

As you lead your team, your goal should be to help every person get to the place where they are doing their should-dos and love-to-dos, because that is where they will be most effective. As a rule of thumb, try to hire, train, and position people in such a way that…

• 80 percent of the time they work in their strength zone;
• 15 percent of the time they work in a learning zone;
•  5 percent of the time they work outside their strength zone; and
•  0 percent of the time they work in their weakness zone.

To facilitate that, you must really know your people, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and be willing to have candid conversations with them.

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]]> http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/prioritize-the-things-that-yield-high-return/feed/ 0 farkash gundyDad http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/scheduling/ http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/scheduling/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:02:20 +0000 Farkash http://farkash.wordpress.com/?p=2833 ]]> Champions are Born – Losers are Made
- John Di Lemme

Leadership requires a strategic approach to scheduling. One vital characteristic of leaders is their recognition of the value of time. They work to maximize each moment. A “strategic approach” means to enact certain steps or schemes in order to achieve a goal. Leaders take a strategic approach to scheduling their day.

They do not allow the day to schedule them. It is critically important to have a planner, a paper or an electronic organizer. You must have a place where you can record goals, appointments, trips, progress evaluations, etc. Disorganization will derail your progress and undermine your dreams. Someone said the future belongs to the organized. Don’t forget that!

Control your day. When you let a day control you, you’ve lost the strategic advantage. When you lose control, you’re like a football quarterback who has a headset communication failure and can’t hear the coaches who are sitting up high in the stadium. He is at the mercy of the forces aligned against him.

Yes, I know that life is full of surprises. But, when you develop a habit of approaching your day with an excellence of time management, then you take control of life. Consider Proverbs 21:5: the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. The word haste in this translation actually means “pressed by outside forces” in the original Hebrew. In other words, this scripture says that planning (or a strategic approach) leads to profit, but those who are pressed by outside factors will end up in poverty. Be diligent to plan – strategically schedule – your life.

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Click to view slideshow.

As adults, each of us bears a personal responsibility for the general state of our own physical health. Certainly, various aspects of health are beyond our control: illness sometimes strikes even the healthiest men and women. But for most of us, physical health is a choice: it is the result of hundreds of small decisions that we make every day of our lives. If we make decisions that promote good health, our bodies respond. But if we fall into bad habits and undisciplined lifestyles, we suffer tragic consequences.

When our unhealthy habits lead to poor health, we find it all too easy to look beyond ourselves and assign blame. In fact, we live in a society where blame has become a national obsession: we blame cigarette manufacturers, restaurants, doctors,and food producers, to name only a few. But to blame others is to miss the point: we, and we alone, are responsible for the way that we treat our bodies. And the sooner that we accept that responsibility, the sooner we can assert control over our bodies and our lives.

Remember – it’s your body… and it’s your responsibility.

The Futility of Blame

When our unhealthy habits lead to poor health, we find it all too easy to look beyond ourselves and assign blame. Why? Because blaming is much easier than fixing, and criticizing others is so much easier than improving ourselves. So instead of solving our problems legitimately (by doing the work required to solve them), we are inclined to fret, to blame, and to criticize, while doing precious little else. When we do, our problems, quite predictably, remain unsolved.

So, when it comes to your own body, assume control and accept responsibility. It’s a great way to live and a great way to stay healthy.

What is it most of us really want from work? We would like to find the most effective, most productive, most rewarding way of working together. We would like to know that our work process uses all of the appropriate and pertinent resources: human, physical, financial. We would like a work process and relationships that meet our personal needs for belonging, for contributing, for meaningful work, for the opportunity to grow and be at least reasonably in control of our destinies. Finally we’d like someone to say “Thank you!”

Business has been moving for many years – and will continue to do so – from a posture and a practice of management through power to a process of leadership through persuasion. This, of course, tends to make the use of formal organizational power out-of-date.

I believe that the most effective contemporary management process is participative management. Participative management is glibly discussed these days in a number of magazines and books, but it is not a theoretical position to be adopted after studying a few journals. It begins with a belief in the potential of people. Participative management without a belief in that potential and without convictions about the gifts people bring to organizations is a contradiction in terms.

Participative management arises out of the heart and out of a personal philosophy about people. It cannot be added to, or subtracted from, a corporate policy manual as though it were one more managerial tool.

Everyone has the right and the duty to influence decision making and to understand the results. Participative management guarantees that decisions will not be arbitrary, secret, or closed to questioning. Participative management is not democratic. Having a say differs from having a vote.

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Life is a glorious gift from God. Treat it that way. This day, like every other, is filled to the brim with opportunitities, challenges, and choices. But , no choice that you make is more important than the choice you make concerning God. Today, you will either place Him at the center of your life – or not – and the consequences of that choice have implications that are both temporal and eternal.

Sometimes, we don’t intentially neglecct God; we simply allow ourselves to become overwhelmed with the demands of everyday life. And then, without our even realizing it, we gradually drift away from the One we need most. Thankfully, God never drifts away from us. He remains always present, always steadfast, always loving.

As you begin this day, place God and His Son where they belong; in your head, in your prayers, on your lips, and in your heart. And then, with God as your guide and companioin, let the journey begin…

Progress always requires change. That’s a fact. Most leaders desire to create progress. It’s one of the things that make them tick. It’s very difficult to make changes when an organization is standing still. Get it going in any direction and you will find it easier to make changes to move it in the right direction. Momentum provides the energy for needed change.

Change in an organization is alwys a leadership issue. It takes a leader to create positive change. And the best way to start working as a change agent is the same as when trying to build a relationship. You need to find common ground. Any leader who wants to make changes is tempted to point out differences and try to convince others why change is needed. But that rarely works. Instead, focus on the similarities and build upon those. To get started, look for common ground in the following areas:

• Vision: When the vision is similar, you can bet that the people are standing together and they have the same view. If their vision is similar to yours, you all see it clearly, and everyone has a strong desire to see it come to fruition, you can probably work well together.
• Values: It’s difficult to travel with others very long if your values don’t align. Find out what others stand for and try to meet where you share the same standards.
• Relationships: Great teams have people who are as committed to one another as they are to the vision.
• Attitude: If you are going to get people to work together for positive change, their attitudes need to be positive and tenacious. If they’re not, there will be trouble ahead.
• Communication: For change to occur, communication must be open, honest, and ongoing. When people are in the dark, they start to speculate about what’s happening. And their assumptions are often wrong. Inform people so that everyone is on the same page.

If you can find or create common ground in these five ares, you can move forward and introduce change. That doesn’t necessarily mean that being a change agent will be easy. But I can guarantee that if you don’t win those five areas, change will be very difficult.

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Strategy #13 – Actively Listening

Ninety seven percent of people that are in sales and marketing simply do not listen to their buyer. They think they know everything about what the buyer wants. If they would simply listen to the buyer instead of talking, then they would really know what the buyer wanted and understand how they could close the sale for their product/service. Before I speak at an event, I will ask the promoter, “What do you believe the attendees need to hear to change their lives?” At that point, I shut-up and listen. By actively listening to the wants and needs of the attendees, my sales increase and I build relationships.

These are two powerful words: Shut-up and listen. After you ask your open-ended, positive closing questions, you have to be silent. The cool thing is that if you rearrange the letters in the word “silent”, you will get “listen”. Further proving that the two go hand-in-hand. When you are actively listening, you are focused. You are not distracted or multitasking while your potential client is speaking. Multi-tasking equals multi-failing in this situation so don’t do it. You have to respect the client’s words and listen to what they really want in order to successfully close the sale and open a relationship.

Strategy #13 Champion Tip: Shut-up and listen to really hear the needs of your client and close the sale.

In building a firm foundation for success, here are a few stones to remember:

The wisdom of preparation

The value of confidence

The worth of honesty

The privilege of working

The discipline of struggle

The magnetism of character

The radiance of health

The forcefulness of simplicity

The winsomeness of courtesy

The attractiveness of modesty

The inspiration of cleanliness

The satisfaction of serving

The power of suggestion

The buoyancy of enthusiasm

The advantage of initiative

The virtue of patience

The rewards of cooperation

The fruitfulness of perseverance

The sportsmanship of losing

The joy of winning

     ROLLO C. HESTER

]]> http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/foundation-stones/feed/ 0 farkash DSCN2101 http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/the-spirit-key/ http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/the-spirit-key/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:02:35 +0000 Farkash http://farkash.wordpress.com/?p=2790 ]]> You Were Born For This
- Bruce Wilkinson 

When you put the Spirit Key to work in your life, you are formally aligning yourself with your heavenly partner – the Holy Spirit – to do God’s supernatural work through you every day. You are telling God, “Without You, I can’t do what You have sent me to do.”

The fundamental fact of the Spirit Key is that while you and I can deliver a miracle, only God can do a miracle. In fact, it’s impossible to accomplish anything in the Everyday Miracle Territory without Him. And God works through us by His Holy Spirit.

But – have you noticed? – no other Person of the Trinity raises more confusion and disagreement among churchgoers. Some think of the Spirit as a benign but impersonal force, like gravity. Others count on Him for intense emotional experiences. In recent years much of the teaching on the Spirit has focused on His work inside us – His comforting presence, for example, or His role in making us more like Christ.

If you have spent most of your life hard at work for God in the Land of Good Deeds, all this talk of partnering with an unseen person may seem like mere speculation. But it’s not. The Spirit of God is a real and knowable Person in our world. And you and I were born to partner with Him for a life of miracles.

I often ask this question of people I meet: “What would you rather have: Jesus living as your next-door neighbor or the Holy Spirit dwelling in you as He already is?”

Did you hesitate? Many do, perhaps because it feels as if it requires them to choose between God and…God!

Others just go with their gut. “Well, Jesus, of course!” Why wouldn’t a physically present God the Son be far better than an invisible God the Spirit?

It might shock you to know that Jesus already answered that question for us. We read about it in His conversation with the disciples the night before He was arrested. He reassured His friends that, although He would soon be leaving, He would send a Helper, the Spirit of Truth. Notice the reason Jesus gives:

It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

Disciples’ question: “Jesus, You’re saying we’re better off if You leave us?” Jesus’ answer: “Yes, it is to your advantage.”

Then Jesus explained the roles the Helper would have in the world. He would bring comfort, He would guide the disciples into all truth, and He would glorify Jesus. Everywhere present in the world, God’s Spirit would be released to do the work of Heaven. In all times and places, he would communicate with people’s hearts, convicting them of their need of salvation, changing their destiny forever.

The Spirit does the miracle. We are partnering with the most powerful force on earth – God Himself. And the Holy Spirit has been given to us so we can do good works by His power. He is our Helper. He is the only one who does a miracle. You and I are simply blessed to be invited into partnership with Him.

But we do the work! I like to say that although the Spirit carries the load, we should approach our partnership as “100 percent Spirit, 100% me.” We are to do the work, and the Spirit empowers us to do it. So if you are guided to witness, to show compassion, to help the poor and needy, or to give of your resources, then your part is to open your mouth, your heart, your wallet – to get started. The Spirit will give you boldness, guidance, information, and everything else you need in the process of your obedience, not separate from it.

Given the power and promise of our divine partnership, what might be keeping you from taking up the Spirit Key and unlocking miracles in your life today?

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]]> http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/the-spirit-key/feed/ 0 farkash DSCN1152 http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/chance-is-not/ http://farkash.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/chance-is-not/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:04:22 +0000 Farkash http://farkash.wordpress.com/?p=2783 ]]> As a Man Thinketh
- James Allen 

The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, “How lucky he is!” Observing another become intellectual, they exclaim, “How highly favored he is!” And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, “How chance aids him at every turn!” They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the Vision of their heart. They do not know the darkness and the heartaches; they only see the light and joy, and call it “luck”; do not see the long and arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it “good fortune”; do not understand the process, but only perceive the result, and call it “chance.”

In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not. “Gifts,” powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.

The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart – this you will build your life by, this you will become.

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