by James Duvall | Dec 19, 2018 | Personal Development, Self Leadership
Three Steps To Making 2019 Your Most Significant Year of Personal Growth
Can you believe that 2018 is coming to an end and a new year is right around the corner? For this last installment of Provertivity, I thought I would give you a challenge for the new year. Why not make 2019 the year of your most significant personal growth? Maybe that personal growth will come through learning a new skill. Perhaps it will be the result of getting in the best shape of your life. Maybe it will be taking up a new hobby or interest that will stretch you.
Sadly, too many people start a new year with good intentions only to putter out a few weeks later due to lack of progress and or willpower. I know what that is like. For many years I did the same thing. It was only a few years ago, I started going into a new year with more than a resolution, I started the year with a real plan for growth.
Our proverb says,
“Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind.”
Proverb 21:5
I want you to consider taking last 7 to 10 days of this year and make a careful plan for how you are going to grow in the new year? Here are three steps you can take to set yourself on the path of success for the new year.
1. Evaluate where you are
What does your life look like? Are you who you want to be physically, financially, relationally and spiritually? When you look at yourself in the mirror (physically or metaphorically), are there things that you want to change? David Horsager, in The Daily Edge, writes, “If you do not know where are today, you cannot know where you would like to be in the future.” Your future success starts with your present assessment of who you are.
What does your life look like? Are you who you want to be physically, financially, relationally and spiritually? When you look at yourself in the mirror (physically or metaphorically), are there things that you want to change? David Horsager, in The Daily Edge. writes, “If you do not know where are today, you cannot know where you would like to be in the future.” Your future success starts with your present assessment of who you are.
2. Envision who you want to be
Visualize what you want your life to look like. What would it look like to be in the best shape of your life? What would financial freedom really mean for you and your family? A fantastic relationship with your spouse; what does that look like? Get a picture, in your mind, of who you want to be. Stephen Covey says to start with the end in mind. That picture in your mind is the end (as far as you can envision it now). So, the more detailed the vision, the better.
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3. Build your plan to become that person
This is where careful planning comes into play. It is time to turn your envisioned tomorrow into specific strategies. I want to share two building blocks for your careful planning.
Building Block #1: Goals!
The first building blocks are goals. Set goals as the targets to determine your success. Goals are the standards of measurement to monitor our performance and assess the need for improvements or adjustments. Study after study has shown that having a way to evaluate one’s performance leads to greater happiest and success. Surprisingly, according to a Harvard study, 83% of the U.S. population does not have specific goals for their lives.
Here are four things to think about when setting your goals. First, set specific goals. Make your goals crystal clear and well defined. “I am going to read more this year.” is not very clear or defined. What are you going to read? What is your measurement for more? Defining your goal more clearly could look like, “I am going to read more this year by reading at least 3 books each month for a total of at least 36 books.”
Secondly, set challenging goals. Michale Hyatt teaches that there are three zones of goal-setting; the comfort zone, the discomfort zone, the delusional zone. If you set your goals too low, you may produce poor effort. However, if you set your goals too high (delusional zone), you may produce no effort. You set goals that are going to stretch you just outside of your comfort zone into some discomfort. If you push yourself to uncomfortable limits today, it will make it possible for you to handle more significant challenges tomorrow.
As a side, research has found that when people set specific and challenging goals, it leads to higher performance 90 percent of the time.
A third thing to think about when setting your goals is to establish “to-be” goals instead of “to-do” goals. One of my favorite teachers, Jim Rohn, would say “Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them.” When you determine what you want to be. You will want to set goals to make you that person. Going back to our reading illustration, what if you were to add the framework of “To be a reader, I am going to read more this year by reading at least 3 books each month for a total of at least 36 books.” Or, “to be financially free, I am going to pay off all my debt…”
The last thing to think about when creating your goals is to write them down. Statistics show that people who write down their goals have over an 80% higher success rate of achieving them. It may surprise you to learn that only about 3% of adults have bothered to put their goals on paper?
“The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory”
Chinese proverb
Building Block #2: Habits
Habits are regularly performed actions that break goals down into manageable steps. Some of your goals are only going to be achieved by the consistent doing of daily, weekly and monthly habits. Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”
I like to process my goals through three types of habits. These may be beneficial in your careful planning.
The first kind is linchpin habits. These are also referred to as keystone habits. These habits have the power to set other habits in motion. Like a domino effect linchpin habits produce a number of positive outcomes. A few types of linchpin habits include things like exercise, a daily quiet time, reading, getting enough sleep, saving money.
The second type of habit that I process my goals through is support habits. These habits do what they say they do, they support another habit. A simple example of a support habit would be setting out exercise clothes every night before you go to bed. This encourages the habit of daily exercise. Creating an eating plan for the next day is a support habit for healthy eating habits.
The last type of habit that I process in my plan is to “eat the frog” habits. Mark Twain is quoted for saying, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” We all have responsibilities we have to do on a regular basis, but they are not exciting or things we want to do. So, make them a habit of accomplishing, and do them as early in the day as possible and the biggest one first. Brian Tracy has a great book Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time that offers excellent insight into this type of habit.
Here is the last thing to remember when it comes to your habits. Your habits are the process, or system of your plan to accomplish your goals. Great athletes get this. For example, Olympic athletes work the process of regular habits. They are less concerned about how far they have to go and more concerned about building the skills that will get them there.
To be successful with your goals, create a schedule where you perform the same habits on a regular basis at the same time every day, week or month. Consistency is the secret to achieving your goals. Track of your progress on a regular basis and try to make small improvements consistently. Regularly review your goals and progress and adjust your habits according to what you have experienced and any changes in your desires.
So, before the clock strikes midnight on December 31, take some time for Careful planning which will put you ahead in the long run. Don’t hurry and scurry into the New Year. It will only set you further behind.
I pray God’s best for you and your family during this season. Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year working on the new you. As always, live intentionally, lead effectively and last by continuing to increase your leadership longevity.
by James Duvall | Nov 26, 2018 | Personal Development, Reading, Self Leadership
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” — George R.R. Martin
I have been fascinated by this quote since the first time I read it. It comes from Martin’s, “A Dance with Dragons,” the fifth book in the series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” the basis for the HBO series Game of Thrones. I resonate with the truth of this “wise saying” and the topic of this installment of Provertivity.
I have a vivid memory of being on a plane with my wife, heading for a “Just the Two of Us” vacation. While in the air, I finished “Allegiant” the third book of the Divergent series. I remember having a profound and overwhelming sense of loss, saying goodbye to the Beatrice and Four, who had in a way become friends. In a way, I had a lived life through their fictitious journey.
The same can be said of the lives of real people who I have had the opportunity to learn from and grow through as a result of reading their books. People like Paul Kalanithi (When Breath Becomes Air), Chip and Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story), Ernie Johnson Jr. (Unscripted), and countless others including Jim Rohn, John Maxwell, Jon Gordon, Patrick Lencioni, and Brendon Burchard.
For a bit of context, I am an avid reader. I read every day, and over the last few years, I’ve consumed hundreds of books. However, this was not always part of my identity. For the majority of my life, I read very little. I held onto an elementary school diagnosis of dyslexia as a crutch and excuse as to why I did not read. In recent years, I’ve found that is was not my disability but my lack of discipline that held me back from the enjoyment, discovery, and personal development I’ve experienced over the last several years of being a reader. My hope it to encourage you to be an avid reader too.
There’s a large amount of research and a plethora of blog posts, articles, and data on the power of having a consistent reading habit. I have personally experienced amazing benefits of being a regular reader. Here are a few benefits you can expect from a consistent habit of reading.
Expands Vocabulary and Improves Communication Skills
As you read you learn new ways to form sentences, share ideas and express emotions. Reading uniquely expands one’s vocabulary. Reading introduces new words, phrases and expressions. According to research conducted by Anne E. Cunningham, the books, magazines, and other written texts we read as adults use far more rare words than what are heard on television. Personally, I have found that I access a broader vocabulary in both written correspondence and when speaking in public.
Increases Relevance and Market Value
Stephen R. Covey, in Primary Greatness, makes the case that continuous learning will save your life because, without it, you slip quickly into irrelevance. Covey goes on to emphasize that if a person makes the accurate assumption that their current knowledge and skills will become obsolete in three years, he or she will start to get serious about systematic study and reading. All the bits of information, gathered from reading, fill your brain and you never know when that information will come in handy. Continual learning through reading equips you to overcome any challenges you may face and ready for opportunities that come your way. (See the article What’s Growing in Your Head?)
Enhances Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
What exactly is critical thinking? Many definitions try to get at the heart of it. A simple definition is disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded and informed by evidence. You and I make decisions every day, and some of them are really important. The requirement of thinking through and processing information while reading (connecting dots, carrying the plot line from beginning to end, grasping key concepts) strengthens critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Reduces Stress
According to a study by Dr. David Lewis, conducted at Mindlab International at the University of Sussex, people feel a 68% decrease in stress after only six minutes of reading a “good book.” It is amazing that a mere six minutes of reading is all that is needed “to slow down the heart rate and ease tension in the muscles.”
Builds Self-Esteem
Are you aware that If you were to read three books about a topic, you would know more about that topic than 99% of the population? That would make you an expert. How is that for building self-esteem? And as an “expert” in multiple fields, you can recall stories, illustrations, history, funny antidotes, and information about all kinds of topics, giving you the ability to carry on a conversation in various settings, helping you to be both engaging and interesting.
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” – Charlie “Tremendous” Jones
Increases mental strength and vitality
The brain is a muscle and reading is a way to keep your mind active, preventing it from becoming weak and unhealthy. Research at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has shown that the mental stimulation from reading can fight off the symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Robert S. Wilson, the study author, said, “Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these (reading) across a person’s lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age.”
Separates Great Leaders from Good Leaders
In a June 27th, 2017 Inc. post, Brian D. Evans wrote, “Most CEOs and executives read 4–5 books per month. These are the leaders, the game-changers, the ones that end up shaking the ground, rebuilding industries, providing jobs, and inventing some of our most beloved everyday products.” When compared with current trends in American reading habits, where the percentage of people who read for pleasure on any given day has dropped from roughly 28 percent in 2004, to 19 percent in 2017, it is no wonder that these CEO’s and executives are the “game-changers.” Just think how reading a book or two a month could separate you from the pack as a leader. I firmly believe that the single most effective strategy for personal growth is a regular, disciplined reading habit. As Harry S. Truman said, “Not all readers lead, but all leaders read!”
“If you want to lead, you simply must read. It’s one of the surest ways to develop the qualities that will make you stand out and simultaneously equip you to lead as your influence grows.” – Micheal Hyatt
So, are you beginning to feel inspired to read more? Keep reading to learn four ideas that will assist you in building your reading habit.
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1. Read Pages Not Books
When I started pursuing the goal to be a reader, I based success on the number of books I would read in a year. Starting out it was something like, “I’m going to read 12 books this year.” What I found was setting the goal around the number of books was both defeating and limiting.
It was defeating when I got behind in my reading and began to stress that I would not make my goal and then would want to give up. It was limiting because after I changed my strategy to reading pages per day instead of books per month or year, I found I was able to read way more than what I initially thought I would.
Consider this. The average number of words per book is around 64,000 words. In general, there are in general, 250–300 words per page. So that would make the average book somewhere around 213 pages. If you set your reading habit to read 10 pages per day, you would read 17 physical books in one year.
2. Schedule Time To Read
I firmly believer that if you do not set a regular daily time to read, you will not do it. Find at least 30 to 60 minutes at the same time every day to knock out this daily habit. For me, it is the first thing in the morning after waking up and my quiet time. You do you! Find a time that works and stick to it every day.
3. Listen to Audiobooks (It is not cheating)
I had always been held back with a mistruth that when I read, I needed to retain all the information that I read. One statement from Michael Hyatt freed me from that mistruth. He encouraged his listeners to “Read for expansion, not for retention.” He also was the first leader that I heard give a stamp of approval for audio books. So, when I started my reading habit, audible books were my go to. While driving in the car alone or exercising, I have an audiobook playing on the car stereo or in my earbuds. Although my reading habit has expanded and morphed, nearly half of the books I read are audible books.
Check out this article for more thoughts on reading audible books: Why ‘Reading’ Audiobooks Isn’t a Shortcut: Listening vs. Reading, and Your Brain
4. Always Have a Book Available
This one idea immediately increased my reading quantity. I have a book of some form with me wherever I go. This could be a physical book, an audio book, or a book on my phone. I also strategically position books around my home. I have books by my reading chair, books by my bed, and yes, a book in the bathroom. Whenever I have unexpected, unscheduled chunks of time that pop up. Reading is a way that I maximize the time. (read more about maximizing time in my post, Three Practices That Will Move You From Time Poor to Time Wealthy).
So to wrap this up, let’s start where we began, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” Which one will you be? Recently I saw that only one in four Americans read a single book from cover to cover in the last year. That was me five years ago. That may be you today. As one year is coming to an end and a new one begins, I want to challenge you to flip the script. Be a reader by establishing a consistent daily habit of reading.
by James Duvall | Oct 19, 2018 | Productivity, Self Leadership
The headline of a 2017 article of Forbes magazine referenced a study that stated time as “the most valuable commodity.” Unlike money, where there are unlimited opportunities to make more, time is a non-renewable commodity. Once time is used, it’s gone.
One of my favorite quotes about time is by AW Tozer. He said, “Time is a resource that is nonrenewable and nontransferable. You cannot store it up, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up or give it up. You can’t hoard it up or save it for a rainy day – when it’s lost it’s unrecoverable. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.”
It will not surprise you, we each get the same amount of time, twenty-four hours in a day, one hundred and sixty-eight hours a week. There’s not a select group of people or location on the planet that gets more or less. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor, educated or uneducated…we all have the same amount……no more no less.
That’s why author Kevin Kruse, in his book 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management: The Productivity Habits of 7 Billionaires, 13 Olympic Athletes, 29 Straight-A Students, and 239 Entrepreneurs says, “Time is unique because it’s the one true equalizer.”
The big differentiator between the “time wealthy” and the “time poor” is not the amount of time but what’s done with the time one has.
When I was a kid, every time I earned a couple of dollars, I would want to go to the store and spend it as quickly as possible. My dad would always say, the money was “burning a hole in my pocket.” I was not a good manager of money. The same could be said of many people. They blow through time, not realizing the value of it.
The truth is time cannot be managed. However, you can control what you do with the time you have. Here are three practices that, if done regularly, will keep time from “burning a hole in your pocket.”
PRIORITIZE YOUR TIME
Jason Selk in the book Organize Tomorrow Today writes, “The most successful people don’t get everything done. They get the most important things done.” But how do you determine the most important things?
Here is a framework that I have found helpful to dial in priorities.
MUST DO, SHOULD DO, COULD DO, SHOULD NOT DO
I base this framework on the Eisenhower matrix, made famous by author Stephen Covey in the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. On a sheet of paper create a box with four quadrants. Label the top left MUST DO. Namethe bottom left, COULD DO. The top right quadrant, label SHOULD DO. Finally, name the bottom right quadrant SHOULD NOT DO.
Now, make a list of all the things you are responsible for and the way you use your time include projects you are working on, regular tasks and assignments, activities that you do on a regular basis, and goals that you want to accomplish. All items that are urgent AND important write down in the MUST DO quadrant. These activities should take first priority. They are activities that need to be dealt with immediately. The goal would be to reduce the number of items that land in this quadrant. You can cut these through prevention and preparation.
Now do move to the COULD DO quadrant. Place activities that are both urgent and NOT important. The items in this quadrant are often the result of someone else’s sense of urgency based on their priorities. Living out of this quadrant, you may feel rushed to get things done as well as a lack of satisfaction when they’re completed. Many times the tasks in this quadrant are distractions!
In the SHOULD DO quadrant write down all the things that are not urgent BUT important. The activities in this quadrant need to be your focus. These are the activities you should begin to prioritize. Too often this quadrant is pushed aside to the tyranny of the urgent. However, you can only push aside the things that matter most like relationships, health, and learning before time runs out.
Finally, put all the things are NOT urgent and NOT important in the SHOULD NOT DO quadrant. Activities in this quadrant are merely time wasters. Strive to minimize the amount of time you spend on activities falling in this quadrant.
There will be times when your priorities compete with one another; times when there simply is not enough time to accomplish the things you must do and the things you should do This is where the lens of “significance” can be helpful.
Significance takes into account the impact of the priority. To use a business concept, which priority will produce the highest ROI (Return on Investment)? One priority may have an immediate impact and seem like the thing to do. However, another activity could have a longer lasting impact and needs to take precedence.
Here’s the benefit of prioritizing your time. When you know your priorities, it gives clarity on what you say YES to and to what you say NO.
The most powerful word in your vocabulary is NO! Every time you say YES to something, you are saying NO to something else.
“YES lives in the land of NO!”
PROTECT YOUR TIME
Protecting your time is such an important practice. If you don’t protect your time, it is vulnerable to be stolen by something or someone else. You have to control what goes on your calendar and in your schedule. An excellent process for this is time (calendar) blocking.
Time blocking is a productivity practice for scheduling your time around your priorities. It does what it says; it blocks other people’s agendas that are not your priorities from getting on your calendar. Time blocking encourages discipline around your priorities. By creating a proactive schedule, you can pace your progress toward your deadlines. Time blocking gives guardrails for saying “No.”
Numerous blog posts teach the specifics of time blocking. However, let me give you a quick overview of how you can begin time-blocking your calendar.
Start with a blank calendar app or paper calendar. One of the features of most app-based calendars is the ability to mark BUSY and OUT OF OFFICE for each of your blocks, an easy “NO” without the need to say no.
Now, begin by putting your priorities (commonly referred to as “Big Rocks”) on your calendar. Include your standing appointments, items from your “should do” quadrant, family vacations or personal trips, etc. Block out the time or the day(s) needed for each.
“Spending your time on paper before the week begins makes all the difference in how your weekends!” — Teresa McCloy
Next, fill in the blanks. These are your “must do’s” and “could do’s.” Teresa McCloy, A friend of mine, teaches four P’S for Time Blocking; project, process (preparation), people, and presence (Mindfulness) blocks. I like to add a fifth “p,” play blocks (you can’t be productive 24/7).
You can personalize your time blocking system in ways that work for you. I like to use color coding, labeling and adding travel time to activities or events.
Here is a statement you should remember and take to heart. If it doesn’t make it on your calendar, it probably won’t make it in your life.
MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME
The third way to move from time poor to time wealthy is to practice mastering your time, which is about thinking in smaller units of time. One of the characteristics of highly productive and successful people is that they focus on minutes where most people focus on hours.
There is a principle called “Parkinson’s Law” that says work expands to fill the time available for its completion definition. If yourself 3 hours to accomplish a task, it will take you the entire 3 hours to complete. However, if you give yourself 30 minutes to finish the same project, you will get it done in 30 minutes.
Here are two things you can start doing immediately to maximize your time.
COMPRESS TO PROGRESS
Our default is to think in a half-hour or hour chunks of time. What would happen if you began to reduce your default thinking to smaller segments of time? Imagine what you could accomplish. An easy way to start compressing time is by changing the defaults. Instead of scheduling a meeting for one hour, compress it to 45 minutes. In the same way, shorten a 30minute meeting to 20 minutes. Put Parkinson’s Law into practice with any project, assignment or task.
BE PREPARED
There are always unexpected, unscheduled chunks of time that pop up during the day. What do you do with that time? A lot of people take the opportunity to exhale, spend a few minutes chatting with co-workers, surf the web, or check out their Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram feed.
Don’t be like other people. Be prepared to maximize those soft spots in your schedule with something productive. Determine the minimum amount of time needed to accomplish something on your task list. It could be as few as 2 minutes. If a meeting ends early and you have 15-minutes of freed up time, or something gets canceled last minute on your calendar go to your list of tasks find the most important things you can knock out in that freed up window and just like that, you have won back time by being prepared.
My favorite tool for being prepared is Nozbe. Where ever I am, I have my current task and project list with me on my phone. I can see what priorities I need to accomplish, the amount of time I have projected each task to take, and the resources I need to complete them. So, if I find myself with unexpected time, I can see the tasks that I can accomplish in the amount of time I have, in the place I am, with the resources (phone, computer, etc.) I have.
I once heard it said that if you master your minutes, you can master your life. Kevin Kruse reminds us that each of us only gets 1440 minutes each day. By applying the three strategies of prioritizing, protecting and maximizing your time you can avoid losing time and use the time given to you effectively.
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by James Duvall | Sep 17, 2018 | Personal Development, Self Leadership
When I was a kid, my family had a large garden down on my uncle Bob’s property. We would go there on a regular basis to tend to the garden. My most vivid memories are of the times we would go to gather or reap the harvest, picking the ripe vegetables off the vines, digging up the potatoes from the earth and, one of my favorites, breaking off and eating stalks of rhubarb.
What I don’t remember as well is going to the garden to till the soil, plant the seeds or fertilize the crop. However, even though I can’t recall it, it still happened. My mom and dad planted green beans, and green beans grew. They planted tomatoes, and tomatoes grew. The proof of what was sown into the ground was the fruit of what was reaped from the garden.
Our proverb teaches this same principle. If you and I don’t make efforts to acquire knowledge, then we can not expect to have it, and if we don’t put the knowledge we have to use, we shouldn’t expect to gain anything from it. We have to till, plant and fertilize the garden of knowledge to experience the fruit of it in our lives. And like the garden of my childhood, this is a continual process of tilling, planting, fertilizing, and reaping.
It is widely taught that the discipline of learning separates great leaders from the rest. In Disrupt You!: Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation, author Jay Samit proposes that in the 21st century, lifelong learning is no longer a luxury but a necessity for employment. Being a life-long learner does not happen by chance. It takes great determination to stay teachable. Dr. John Maxwell, in his book, Sometimes You Win-Sometimes You Learn, says, “Teachability [is] the intentional attitude and behavior to keep learning and growing throughout life.” Cultivating knowledge through continual learning adds so many benefits to one’s life. Here are a few to consider.
Leaning keeps your mind young:
The brain is a muscle and learning exercises the muscle to keep it growing and vibrant. There have been studies that show reading keeps your mind active, preventing it from becoming weak and unhealthy. Mental stimulation (through learning) can affect the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. As John Maxwell says, “You are too old only when you stop learning and improving.”
One of the secrets to staying young is always to do things you don’t know how to do, to keep learning. ~ Ruth Reichl
Learning increases creativity:
Creativity at its core is problem-solving. Creativity requires regular feeding. Bernhard Schroeder in his book Simply Brilliant: Powerful Techniques to Unlock Your Creativity and Spark New Ideas says, “To be creative, you have to consciously believe you are creative. You have to have a growth mind set, one that is in a continual state of learning or acquiring more knowledge and open to new ideas.” Aggressively looking for new insights, experiences and creative expressions will increase creative output and problem-solving.
Learning keeps you ready for the future:
Let’s face it, the skills and training that are needed in the years to come are most certainly going to be different than what is required today. David Russell Schilling, in a 2013 article references the “Knowledge Doubling Curve” which shows that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II, knowledge was doubling every 25 years. He states that as of 2013, on average human knowledge was doubling every 13 months. With the advancement of the internet and globalization, it could lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours. What you know today will not be enough tomorrow.
One of the things that limit our learning is our belief that we already know something. ~ L. David Marquet
So we have established that being a life-long learner is the way to cultivate the garden of knowledge. We can see that leaders who deliberately pursue learning, separate themselves from the average. And, we have looked at three of the benefits of being a life-long learner. So how do you do it? How do you consistently and strategically put yourself in a place of learning? I am convinced that learning opportunities are abundantly accessible. Here are three opportunities to fertilize your learning.
Learning through Experiences (Failure)
Everything we experience, the highs and lows, the win and losses, successes and failures are opportunities to learn and grow. When you keep this mindset, you can treat failure as a learning experience. Thomas Edison did not fail over 10,000 times at creating the light bulb, he “just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Tim Irwin, Ph.D. in his book Run With the Bulls Without Getting Trampled: The Qualities — You Need to Stay Out of Harm’s Way and Thrive at Work (I highly recommend) teaches that one the Critical Success Factors is the Ability to Learn. Irwin presents three principles of learning from experience: One, examine past situations to determine what worked and what did not. Two, identify the causes for why specific strategies worked or did not. Three, determine whether or not the lessons may apply to an audience broader than just oneself.
Remember, everyone makes mistakes, even the most successful. The key is not making the same mistake twice, learning and growing and becoming a better person because of them. If you don’t honestly evaluate your mistakes, you risk repeating the same mistakes and not learning from them.
The worst thing that could happen to you today could lead to the best thing that happens tomorrow. ~ John Maxwell
Learning Through Self-Awareness
Scottish poet Robert Buchanan wrote, “O would some power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as others see us.” Simply translated, “If only we had the power to see ourselves in the same way that others see us.” Aristotle taught, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” If you want to develop and grow as a leader, then there needs to be a passionate pursuit of understanding yourself; the good, the bad and the embarrassing. You need to be aware of your strengths and weakness and how to lessen the impact of the weaknesses and leverage the strengths.
Nearly twenty years ago, my good friend and pastor Todd Mullins gave me great advice. He told me, the way people perceive me is their reality of me. Even if it is not entirely true of who I am. That set me on a course to understand and be aware of my blind spots. Blind spots are the tendencies in ourselves, that we are not aware of.
I am a huge proponent that assessments are powerful for self-awareness and identifying blind spots. A few years ago, I started compiling a document of all my assessments. I call it my Leadership Profile. It keeps me aware of my strengths and weakness, it reminds me of my blind spot tendencies, and it guides my leadership development goals. Some of the assessment tools that I have found helpful are, EQi, MBTI®, DISC, and CliftonStrengths.
A second way to learn through self-awareness is by receiving feedback. Honest feedback from trusted people is priceless. Once you know the truth, you can do something about it. So, don’t wait for people to offer feedback, ask for it. Ask people you trust to share specific things you could do to improve. Remember, the people giving feedback may feel as vulnerable sharing it as you do receiving it. So, make it as easy as possible. At the end of each year, I send out a feedback questionnaire to those who work closely with me. It asks for feedback on where they have seen growth in my life and what area I can improve on. I use the feedback as part of my annual goal setting strategy.
Here is a question that you can ask those that you trust. “If you see me doing anything that would drive my life, family or organization off a cliff can I trust you to tell me way in advance before it destroys me?”
It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it. ~ Stephen Covey
Learning Through Resources
Today is a great time to be a learner. There is an unlimited supply of resources from which to learn. With the advent of Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle and Audible, there is instant access to books on any and every subject. Numerous sites offer summaries of books, giving the most important content. The internet provides immediate access to teachings from some of the greatest teachers and thinkers. Now it is even possible to get an entire college education without ever stepping foot on a college campus. However, these resources have to be used to be of any benefit.
I want to challenge you to continually learn and improve in your chosen field. Brian Tracy, in his book The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires: How to Achieve Financial Independence Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible says to think of your mind as a muscle, which develops more and more as you use it. The more you learn, the more you can learn. In the book Tracy gives his three keys to lifelong learning:
1. Spending at least 30 to 60 minutes a day reading in your field.
(Check out my post IF I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW KNOW where I give multiple benefits of having a consistent discipline of reading.)
2. Listening to audio programs in your car, so you learn on the road. (#drivetimeuniversity)
3. Attending as many courses and seminars in your field as possible.
So, if you want to harvest knowledge you have to garden your mind. Learning through failure, self-awareness, and resources will give you the tools to cultivate the garden. To wrap this issue of Provertivity up, let me challenge you to be a life-long learner with three suggestions.
Eliminate Excuses
Sean Stephenson in his book Get Off Your “But”: How to End Self-Sabotage and Stand Up For Yourself writes, “The only thing that has ever held you back from having what you want in life is the size of your BUT. Sure, I’d like to change, BUT; I’m too old/too young, I’m too short/too tall, I’m too fat/too skinny, I’m not pretty/handsome enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m from a broken home, I have a learning disability. Our BUTS are huge.”
Stay Curious
Michael Hyatt wrote, “Curiosity is vital for leaders because learning is vital for leaders. I’m constantly reading, experimenting, and playing with new ideas and fresh approaches. Without curiosity, my leadership would have stagnated decades ago. Without the habit of curiosity, yours will too.”
Teach What You Learn
I have found that the best way to continue growing is by teaching what I have learned. Teaching cements learning through action. No, you don’t have to gather a class of students to teach, it could be as simple as sharing your learnings with a friend or with a team that you lead.
I hope you have found this helpful. If so, please share it with your friends and family. I would love to hear your comments and feedback. Until next time, live intentionally, lead effectively and last by continuing to increase your leadership longevity.
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by James Duvall | Aug 17, 2018 | Personal Development, Productivity, Self Leadership
Thanks for checking out another installment of Provertivity, where I take a proverb or wise saying and combine it with a productivity principle. I really appreciate your comments and encouragement. If you have a proverb/wise saying that you would want to be considered for a future blog post, add it to the comments below.
I love the book of Proverbs. It is full of wisdom for today. Proverb 15:22 is a great proverb. I like how another version of this proverb reads,
Your plans will fall apart right in front of you if you fail to get good advice. But if you first seek out multiple counselors, you’ll watch your plans succeed.” We all want to find success. Whether that is in our relationships, business, finances, or health, the goal is to succeed, not fail.
My wife Lisa and I have the privilege of working with couples who are getting ready for marriage. One of the first things we share with them is this proverb. Why, because we know that marriage is beautiful but sometimes challenging. Having wise counsel when things get tough or when new seasons emerge is so vital to the success of a marriage relationship and any other endeavor in which we invest ourselves.
You have probably heard the adage, “Learn from mentors or learn from mistakes.” I have personally found it less painful and more productive to learn from mentors. There is a perspective that comes with experience. And failure to tap into that perspective will, as the proverb says, lead to failed plans.
Here’s some hard truth; You are good, but probably not good enough to make it on your ingenuity alone. Everyone needs other people who have greater wisdom or insight. We all need the voice of those who have previously traveled the road we are on to help us avoid the pitfalls that may lie ahead.
Nothing can kill effectiveness and forward progress like doing things inefficiently or making bad decisions that cost time and resources. You can have the grandest plans but have weak strategies and systems to make them happen. Having the right counsel can increase the odds of success.
The proverb says that with “many advisors” there is success. So, here are five types of advisors that you can leverage as you move forward in your life.
Accountability Partner
Everyone needs accountability. We all need checks and balances to push us to be our best self. A lack of personal accountability can lead to the inevitable and sometimes devastating consequences that result from living an unhealthy and unchecked life. An accountability partner will call you out on broken promises and the failure to keep commitments. Making yourself accountable to trusted people can be a safety net from making wrong decisions that lead to failure.
Mentor/Coach
As Bill Gates put it, “Everyone needs a coach.” The good news is that coaching is becoming increasingly more accessible. A coach is going to be objective, knowledgeable, skilled in listening, and someone who cares. A good coach will ask the right questions and sometimes the hard questions. A good coach will provide honest feedback and helpful insight. The right coach can be a guide in providing the direction and tools needed for growth and finding the right path forward. You may need a coach for a specific area where you are hitting a lid or in areas where you do not see the growth you desire. These could be in areas like spiritual growth, health, finances, relationships or productivity.
Counselor/Therapist
You may be thinking, isn’t a counselor and a coach the same thing. No. A coach focuses on helping people achieve their goals, giving motivation for, and creating plans for change. A counselor works with people to solve the problems that make them feel bad emotionally or keep them from functioning well. There are times when we need to get help overcoming issues from our history that hold us back from moving forward into our destiny. Anxiety, depression, and many other emotional matters require the services of a trained professional counselor to move forward.
Expert
Who are the people already doing what you want to do at a higher level than what you are currently doing it? For most of us, we will never have the opportunity to meet and get direct counsel from these people in a face to face setting. However, many experts make their counsel and advice readily accessible through the books they have written, blogs and podcasts that they have posted online and seminars that they teach. Today, you can leverage most experts on demand, twenty-four, seven.
Wise Sage
Merriam-Webster defines a sage as a person of great understanding of people and of situations and an unusual discernment and judgment in dealing with them. A wise sage is a person farther down the road than you who has through reflection and experience, greater wisdom and insight about life and how to be successful at it. When I think of a wise sage, I think of Mr. Myogi from the Karate Kid movies. More than teaching Daniel LaRusso karate, he taught him how to live a better life (wax on wax off).
Life can be challenging and complicated at times. Getting the right voices around you is so important if you are going to succeed. History is littered with people who failed due to inadequate or no counsel. Recently I heard Brian Houston, Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church say, “There is a big difference between opinion and good counsel. Opinion is forced on you; counsel is invited.” I encourage you to think about the “advisors” you have around you. Maybe it is time to add to your “many advisors” and invite the voice of an accountability partner, coach, counselor, expert or wise sage to speak into your reality and enjoy the success that results from the input.
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