doug smith training

Do you have any walls around you? I do. I've built some walls so skillfully that I can't even see they're there. Maybe you have, too. Walls to protect us from hurt, walls to protect us from deception, walls to keep us strong and impervious. Except we aren't impervious. We're only as strong as we are willing to be vulnerable. And, our walls can seriously impair our ability to lead, to communicate, to solve our problems, and to achieve our goals. The walls that we build to protect us eventually fence us in. Break down those walls -- or at least open up a window. There's a lot of light on the other side. -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals

Are you getting all the feedback that you need - or do you sometimes avoid it because you won't like what it says? I've been known to avoid some critical feedback. It doesn't make me feel good. Sometimes, there's nothing that I can do about it anyway. But, by avoiding the feedback altogether I could miss the piece of positive feedback inside, or the advice that truly matters, or an opportunity to communicate more clearly and reach better understandings and agreements. Feedback can feel like hard work, but it's worth it. If we want to achieve our biggest goals it helps to know how we're doing along the way. Goal achievers learn from feedback every day. We don't have to apply every piece of feedback. And for heaven's sake, we don't have to take it personally. As my much respected graduate school professor Dr. Jay Desko has said, "feedback says more about the person providing the feedback than it does about the person receiving the feedba

What have you learned today? That's my favorite question. For years it was the tag line on my web site. I occasionally end a conversation or piece of writing with that question in hopes of provoking a moment of reflection that will help to capture and keep that learning. When we reflect on what we've learned we have a much better chance to put it to use. What have you learned today? Before every workshop that I facilitate I ask the group to reach some basic agreements. For most groups they are the same or remarkably similar. Occasionally, a group is so specialized or troubled that they'll need additional guidelines or agreements but these are the ones that I've found help the most, the most often: We agree to: Respect each other Focus on the problem Take charge of our own learning If we do those three things skillfully the workshop is a wonderful success. If we don't, well let's just say it could be a long day through a troublesome event. By

Have you ever come up with a really great solution idea that just didn't work? It had everything you needed to solve the problem except for one big thing: support? Developing creative and centered solutions to our problems is important. But what's just as important (maybe more so) is getting the support we need from the people impacted by the problem. They must help, they must support, they must agree. If you want a solution to work, pick the best agreed-to solution. It might not be your favorite solution. It might not seem like the best solution to you. But an agreed-to solution has a much better chance of actually working. Have you asked the people involved in solving your biggest problem what they think? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals

Did you ever stop to wonder what that big problem is doing in your life? What if it's there for a reason? Not just because it is a problem that's developed over things that you've done or that other people have done or simply randomly appeared to interfere in your life - it may well have a reason. Every problem plays a role in the Big Picture. Finding that role is essential to solving the problem. Get clear. Get focused. Get moving. That's what the problem needs right now. -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals

If someone read your top five goals, would they know who you aspired to be? Do your goals create the tension, growth, and direction you need to become the next better you? It's not always easy. I'm not sure if you read my list of goals right now that you'd clearly know where I was headed. But it's something to work for. It's something to consider. And, it's a powerful indicator of whether or not we are growing. And growing is the way to be. Define your goals with the clarity it takes to define you as you want to be. Not as you are, but as you intend to be. Then your goals will help you get there. -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals

"Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor."  - Brian Tracy There's a classic quote for you. Every once in a while it comes up in one subscription email or another and so today I feel compelled to share it because it's so good, so useful, so inspiring. Set clear goals. Work toward them every day. There's your formula for success. What are you working on today? -- Doug Smith how to achieve your goals: doug smith training Fast, affordable leadership training: Front Range Leadership

Have you ever hammered away on a goal that didn't really matter to you? It must have been hard. I know the feeling - something is due and you are obligated to complete it but it just doesn't stir you, just doesn't feel compelling. That's when procrastination can take over adding tension and delays and all kinds of nonproductive problems. We can do better. While we do not always get to pick our goals (sometimes our bosses or clients impose them) when we do, let's pick goals that resonate. Let's work on goals that make a difference. Let's choose wisely. Your goals will require significant time to achieve. Pick goals that truly matter to you. Life's too short for silly insignificant goals. What goal matters the most to you today? -- Doug Smith Doug Smith Training Front Range Leadership

What do you care the most about? Setting goals can be hard work. Working that action plan is filled with pitfalls. What one thing makes it easier? Aligning your goals with your passions. Work on what you enjoy the most. That doesn't mean give up your day job and chase a crazy dream that maybe makes sense and maybe does not. I'm not one of those people who thinks that anything is possible -- when you think about it you'll likely agree that while more is possible than we sometimes consider, certainly not everything is possible. It's better to focus our passions in areas of possibility . When your passion meets your mission the goals become clear. Work on goals that align with your passion. Whatever your passion is (presuming it's legal and ethical) you can apply it to your work and to your goals. See what a difference it makes. I apply my passion for creativity to the training that I do. It makes every task connected with preparing for a workshop fun and

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

Do you like to keep score? We've got dozens of ways to track our progress on our goals these days. Web and mobile applications for charting our exercise progress, our goals results, our action plans. If it works for you, go for it. I'm a score keeper. Competitive by nature, it takes a bit of an effort to reign that in for the sake of cooperativeness. It's possible, it just takes a conscious effort. Keeping score can get in the way. But, keeping score can also prod me forward. Keeping score let's me know how I am doing in connection with my goals, and in a sense, who I am becoming. We become the result of our goals. Achieving them gets you one result, missing them gets you another. If keeping score motivates you, by all means keep score. What works for you? -- Doug Smith

What's your favorite excuse for avoiding your goals? We all make them. Little reasons why we can't work on our action plan today. Rationalizations for why we won't be achieving our goals today. Lies we tell ourselves to make us feel better about missing something important. Here are some of mine: I won't have enough time to finish Someone will interrupt me I should really read some of my twitter feed to keep up with what's going on There are more, I'm sure -- but you get the idea. What are some of your favorite excuses? Here's the point: our excuses are not serving us well. They get in the way. They stop us from getting what we want. They slow us down. One of the keys to achieving your goals is to drop your excuses. Just stop it. Just cut it out. Move forward and work through them. Drop your excuses and time wasters. It's so important, it's part of my IDEAL process for achieving your goals: IDENTIFY YOUR MISSION DROP EX