Strategic Discipline Blog

This blog originally appeared on March 18^th, 2009. I was married at the time, and my son Josh was 12. There are many more distractions available to us now. COVID made us learn to appreciate our relationships more, while irreparably displacing how we interact with others. Since this, I’ve gotten divorced, survived cancer, and seen my last two sons graduate from college.

We can accomplish more faster with clear goals and timelines. We frequently become too distracted. Achieving what we want requires discipline, a clear vision, the emotional feeling of achieving it, and supreme commitment. When I had cancer in 2012, I discovered my passion, determination, and commitment to my ONE THING was apical. Despite having less than a 2% chance of survival I’m here today, because of my faith in God, and an unrelenting commitment to my One Thing.

When we leave doors open to distract us, we delay or upend achieving our goals. We betray our love for our friends and loved ones. Close doors focus on one thing at a time. You’ll achieve more and you’ll keep your relationships strong.

Here’s the blog:

Last evening I was watching TV with my wife and middle son, Josh. Josh started discussing the NCAA brackets and how one of the forms he had looked at didn’t have the ability to choose the play-in game-winner as an option for the next game. Of course, I didn’t listen to him very well with the competition from the TV, and my wife explained to my son that I wasn’t listening and how did he feel since she frequently feels I don’t listen to her.

 I’m embarrassed to reveal this to you; she was right, I wasn’t giving Josh my exclusive attention. There’s lots of competition for our attention today. It shouldn’t prevent us from being respectful and attentively listening to others when they speak to us.

 At the Rockefeller Habits 2-Day Workshop, one of the areas we addressed was priorities and how the new currency for getting things done isn’t time management but energy management which is explained in the book The Power of Full Engagement by James Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

In a discussion with one of my clients he explained the concept of “doors” to me he had recently stumbled upon In our mind we are like a captive, sitting in a swivel chair in a circular room. Surrounding us are many doors, each of those doors demanding our attention and focus. The problem is, we allow all, or several doors to remain open, robbing our attention from the person or project. When Josh asked me a question last evening the door to the TV was still open and while his door was slightly ajar, I did not give it the attention it deserved and thus had to ask him to repeat his comments for me to respond.

In The Power of Full Engagement, the authors explain that it requires 25 minutes to get our minds fully up to speed on any work or project we are engaged in. Opposing that is the fact that on average we get interrupted every 11 minutes. In essence, if you look at these numbers it is impossible to ever get up to speed on anything unless we shut the doors and fully concentrate wholly on one thing.

Prioritizing and determining your ONE THING is the most significant thing you can do for yourself and your business. In each workshop, I begin and end these sessions with a story of a client or person who by focusing on ONE THING accomplished more in a quarter than they might have in a much longer time frame. The power of prioritizing and focused concentration is remarkable.

How many doors do you keep open at one time? How is this impairing you and your company’s performance level due to lack of prioritization? How does this affect the people you deal with each day? Is your lack of attention to them and their needs inhibiting their performance and commitment to your business?

What is your ONE THING to focus your company on right now? When you are at your best? Dedicate the first hour of each day focused on your ONE THING. Your performance will soar when you concentrate on achieving it.

To create an environment where everyone is inspired to give their best, contact us today to schedule a free exploratory meeting.

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.

Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact in the world.

Discipline sustains momentum, over a long period of time, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.

A winning habit starts with 3 Strategic Disciplines: Priority, Metrics, and Meeting Rhythms.   Forecasting, accountability, individual, and team performance improve dramatically.

Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.

Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the Four most Important Decisions your business faces:

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized ($5M - $250M) business Scale-UP. We align your business to focus on Your One Thing! Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

NEXT BLOG – Five Ideas - Fall in Love with their Job Again

One of the results of working from home is increased employee burnout. Next Blog, guest writer Regina Wheeler, provides 5 ideas for helping your team avoid burnout and fall in love with their job again.