I Love Lists

The most excellent list below was lifted from Tom Peters in a post called “The Pursuit of Luck”. (visitors are enthusiastically encouraged to lift anytime @ http://www.tompeters.com/). The full list contains 50 real life, actionable ideas, and here are my favorite Nine Strategies To Change Your Luck:

1.
More at-bats. More times at the plate, more hits. Try it. Cut the baloney and DO something.
2
Read odd stuff. Look anywhere for ideas. Cultivate odd hobbies. Raise orchids. Race yaks. Pluck chickens.
3
Pay for training unrelated to work. Keep everyone engaged in learning. Period.
4
Listen to everyone. Ideas come from anywhere.
5
Don’t listen to anyone. Trust your inner ear.
6
Forget the same tired old trade association meetings & join a trade org that has nothing to do with your industry).
7
Spend more time “outside”. Customers and vendors will give you more ideas in five minutes than another five-hour committee meeting.
8
Don’t “help.” Let the people who work for you slip, trip, fall— and grow and learn on their own.
9
Analyze, discuss and praise #8 right after it happens.

Own It

I know that you are tired of your same old problems week after week. What are you doing about it? Are you taking full ownership?

No doubt that you are working hard, but working harder isn’t the solution. If you DECIDE to take full ownership of everything that you do….and why wouldn’t you take full responsibility for your own actions – only then will you have real control over the outcomes.

And you can stop behaving like a victim. It is victim thinking every time you think that someone else has to “fix this”.

I get frustrated with managers who don’t “own” the performance of their crummy, lazy salesperson. It’s easy to blame him and everyone buys right into that. I’m annoyed with CEO who allows his sales manager to fight with employees and vendors, even though the CEO knows that the guy has little management talent.

Here’s a mantra for 2008: say to yourself repeatedly, “here’s what I am going to DO about that”.

Imagine that you are sitting on the first baseline at a Red Sox Game (World Champs, by the way). At the 7th inning stretch, you go and sit with a friend in his seats on the third baseline. For the last four innings you’re still watching the same game, but your view is different. Elements will come into your field of visions that you didn’t see earlier. When you see the whole picture you increase your choices in the action you take.

Change your point of view and everything changes. Go ahead and change your seat at the game.

Start saying, “here’s what I am going to DO about that”