doug smith training

What keeps you going? Is it a great conversation? Maybe a note from a trusted friend? Or could it be that long phone call with someone you haven't talked with for a long time? I find all of that energizing. Also, reading great books, taking long walks, and yes of course - achieving goals along the way. Every goal achieved is fuel for even greater success. So as I work on my smaller goals, I know that they are leading to bigger goals. As I achieve my big goals, I know that I'm ready for even more. How about you? -- Doug Smith What have you learned today?

What do you goals add up to? Do they add up to major changes? Do they show the progress in your career? Do they provide motion for your growth and change? I realize that many people wander thru life with no true goals. They clock in and out. They go thru the motions. They walk beside their shoes. We are meant for more than that. We are meant for great things. We are meant to leave footprints that help others to walk - not cause them to trip. Our goals add up to a different life. A different life than the one we started out with. A different life than the one we are living. A better, more purposeful, more directed, more powerful life. A life of growth, change, and helpfulness. I'm going to start paying more attention to what my goals add up to. How about you/ -- Doug Smith What have you learned today?

How often do you judge people? In my most judgmental of times I can judge everything about a person and find them constantly wanting. But what good does that do? How do I feel about being judged myself? Where does it all lead? We are all deeply flawed humans. We make bad choices. We break things. We hurt people's feelings. That's all true (and more) about me and yet what makes me feel entitled to judge others? It's another mistake. The right balance, the right combination, the right focus, the centered degree of compassion, courage, clarity, and creativity makes much less room for judging others and much more room for working to understand. I need to better understand other people, especially when they aren't sure that they understand themselves. I need help in being understood especially when I'm not operating with the best of clarity myself. It's a dance, but a dance of cooperation, not comparison. It doesn't matter if someone achieves more, gain...

How do you get better results? Create better goals. It's not all that you need but it's a great place to start. Whenever I create a goal that I find to be energizing that translates into more attention and action. Whenever I create a goal that has a noble outcome, I feel better about devoting resources to achieving it. Great goals are exciting. Great goals contain opportunity for growth. Great goals get you going. Here are what I believe to be the three key ingredients for great goals: ACTION WORD: The action word explains exactly what you will do. Create, make, deliver, teach, propel, design, change, sell, fabricate, transplant, modify, steer, obtain, tell, paint, draw, write...words like that. RESULT: The result is what you plan to achieve, usually expressed with some unit of measure. For example - a 200 word novel, 150 pounds, a graduate degree in chemistry, fifty new prospects, a year without crime, three healthy meals a day...whatever it is that you want to a...

Do you ever get discouraged? It's not a weakness, but it is a roadblock. Even when we don't choose to get discouraged, once that feeling is there it can stand in our way. We missed. We made a mistake. We failed. Crap happens. What I've learned (and keep relearning) is to dust myself up, jump back up and find something compelling to get encouraged about. Sometimes picking the positive path really is empowering. Getting discouraged isn't going to get you what you want.  Remaining unhappy won't achieve your goals. Let's move forward. I've had some really big disappointment in my personal life this year and yet as I see sparks of sunlight at the end of a rather dark tunnel I know that I've kept moving through the encouragement of friends. When I am not able to encourage myself, I am not without help - friends will encourage me. Do you have friends who encourage you? Are you encouraging your friends? We're all in this together, my friends....

Have you ever set a goal and then later realized that for some crazy reason you were waiting for it to achieve itself? Or been assigned a task, knew it was yours, and somehow found yourself waiting for someone else to get it done? Not too often, I hope, but possibly sometimes? I have. It's alarming when the wake-up call hits but the wake-up is needed. It's up to us to achieve our goals. It's up to us to act relentlessly on our plan. There's not much point in waiting for someone else to achieve our goals. It's up to us. What are you waiting for? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High Performance Leadership Training doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals What have you learned today?

What is your number one goal? Which goal, if given the opportunity, you'd want the most people to know about? We've all got tons of goals. Sometimes we have too many goals to keep track of them all. When I find myself getting lost in the details and spinning my creative wheels it's likely due to having too many goals. It's good to have lots of goals, but we still need to prioritize. We need to have a number one goal. As one of my great mentors Anne Delaney once said to me, "You have one number one goal. When you achieve that number two gets a promotion." That has always stayed with me. How to prioritize your goals - which one would you most like to talk about on The Tonight Show? That's your number one goal. What's your number one goal? What are you doing to achieve it right now? -- Doug Smith

Are you busy? Those are words that many of us dread because we ARE so busy. When someone asks "are you busy" it is likely that they are about to ask us to do something else. Can't they see that we ARE busy? Can't they see that we're working on something important? I've learned that it is OK to say "yes, I am busy. I'm working on an important goal. Can we chat another time?" People live thru that. They don't die. They don't run off into the street screaming. They adjust. Because - you ARE busy. When you're busy working on your goals, stay with it. Focus. Distractions will come looking for you so you'll need to develop the discipline to stay on task, stay on goal, and achieve what you came here for. With so many things battling for your time, shouldn't you let your goals win? I'm going to practice letting my goals win today. How about you? -- Doug Smith

How are your goals? Where are they leading you? How excited are you about them? More exciting careers - and lives - are built one goal after another. What's your next exciting goal? -- Doug Smith doug smith training

How much is an excuse worth? Don't think too hard on that one. I think you know. Excuses are worthless. Especially when it comes to goals. What we need to achieve our goals is action. Putting things in motion. Working relentlessly on our plan. Goals need action, not excuses. So the next time you are tempted to bring up an excuse - or the next time you hear an excuse, let that go. Take some action instead. See how powerful that is. -- Doug Smith

When you work to solve a problem, what work do you put into improving communication? How much of your problem solving action plan is focused on communication? Communication matters. Few problems can be truly permanently solved unless there is a change in how people communicate. What's your plan? You may not have solved the problem unless you've also improved or enhanced communication. What does enhanced communication look like? Better, deeper conversations. More trusting relationships. More powerful presentations. More productive meetings. When project managers do an outstanding job of delivering on their project and solving a problem, they improve communication along the way. What are you doing to improve your communication today? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  High Performance Leadership Training doug smith training:  helping people communicate more effectively What have you learned today?

When I was growing up there was a TV commercial for 7Up that branded the soft drink as the "uncola". It was defined by what it was not. It was an interesting experiment directed at getting people to change a habit to a new solution based on their old solution. Instead of drinking Coke, drink 7Up. I never became a 7Up drinker (Mountain Dew was more my style) but I have borrowed the phrase slightly in something that I call the magic unquestion. It's an unquestion because it's not really a question, although it acts like one. And you can substitute it in situations where you might be looking for another question but can't think of one. Here is the magic unquestion: Tell me more about that. It's not a question, but it keeps the other person talking. It uncovers more information. It stays nonjudgmental and does the work of a question. It changes my habit from closing the inquiry to keeping it open. Tell me more about that. When you need to talk about it, ...