doug smith training

What NOT to do: wish that you'd done something differently. Learn from it? Yes. Focus on it? Probably not. Clinging to the past will not bring it back. -- doug smith

What have you learned today? That's my favorite question. I once wrote a regular column and ended every piece with that question. I usually started each article with this phrase "what I learned from..." and my learning could come from the oddest and most unexpected places. What I Learned From Dunking A Basketball, What I Learned From Riding The Bus, What I Learned From Making Mistakes...you get the idea. When we keep learning we can improve our performance. Learning allows us to grow, to adjust, to change. Learning keeps us fresh and creative. Learning is critical to our success. If you want to achieve your goals, keep learning. Learn constantly, learn deeply, and learn broadly. It's the best thing going. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High performance leadership training doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals

Are you happy with your goals? I've seen people fall into a trap sometimes: they want to be happy, and yet they set goals that don't create happiness. That kind of disconnect is not only unproductive, it's unnecessary. Every job I've ever had (and if you've been in any of my workshops, you know I've had a few) has included parts I didn't care for, and yet in my goals I always directed my actions toward creating mutual success for the organization and for my own sense of happiness. Sell more merchandise? Sure, while creating useful customer experiences. Reduce expenses? I can do that - without laying people off and without hurting service. Train the entire workforce in a compliance program that's poorly designed? Absolutely, just let me set a goal of making it both interactive and inspirational and I'll be completely energized. Align those goals you need to set with the organizational mission and strategic goals, of course. That's the price

Do you have a particular problem standing in the way of your most important goal? It would be unusual if you didn't. Whenever I think I have a really important goal, some equally big problem is likely to emerge to stop it. We either face our biggest problems, or we let them win. We either figure out how to eliminate what stands in the way (or mitigate it, reduce it, modify it, or take advantage of it) or our goal remains undone. Undone is not for you. Undone is frustrating and counter-productive. Instead, let's use that problem to grow. Finding a problem provides permission to grow. It's a natural way of communicating to us that we're going to need to improve something to get to the next level. We're going to need to grow. And, since we need to grow anyway to remain living and dynamic, why not grow in response to the needs of our goal? Once we've set the right goal no problem should stand in its way. But, we might need to solve that problem first. Ho

Have you ever been surprised by how two completely unrelated things seem to connect? The TV commercial that says the name of someone you were just thinking about. The thing you forgot to grab at home that delayed you and then just missing an accident on the road by minutes. Coincidences can sometimes feel providential. Connections pop up unexpectedly. Sometimes the solution to a problem is an unexpected connection or combination. It pays to pay attention. Grab those unexpected connections. Find out what they mean. It could be the solution to that problem. -- Doug Smith