Coaching to Success

Our business is your success

Time Management

Bust out of the OLD habits… Break into creating new ‘POSITIVE’ ones

A sense of accomplishment and positive forward momentum can be achieved by small constructive actions carried out on a daily or routine basis. These smaller changes, these daily habits, these ‘Success’ practises can form the foundation to achieve major positive changes.

Identify 6 to 8 key areas of your work. Now ‘List’ and ‘Score’ those particular areas of your life where 10 is perfectly satisfied and less satisfied would be 1. Here are some of the possible areas that people identify to work on. You could choose from: Relationships (manager/colleagues/team/subordinates), Influence, Leadership, WIIFM (what’s in it for me – why am I doing it), Financial Reward (salary/bonus/benefits), Status (car/job title/benefits), Work skills (ability to do the job), Management skills (delivering projects/deadlines), Communication skills, Work-Life Balance, Stress, Clarity (of what’s expected/career path/boundaries) to name but a few, what’s yours?, it doesn’t have to be from this list though.

Draw a big circle and section it into as many areas you are looking to work on. Mark from 1 near Wheelthe centre, to 10 being the outer rim. Write on the outside the heading of area wishing to work on and mark across each segment (ie from 3 to 3, 7 to 7 etc) according to your score. Once complete, you will have a very disjointed or un-even shape within the bigger circle.

In Coaching, this is known as the ‘Wheel’ and we use this to allow clients to consider what actions that, if done on a regular basis, would make a difference for each of your areas requiring change. The wheel doesn’t need to go to a perfect ten, but, what you’re looking to achieve is an overall balance to make your journey a little more comfortable,

Try to think laterally if you initially get stuck for some ideas. Look at different areas within your life or work. For example, feeling lethargic and need an energy boost? Consider going to the gym ‘X’ times per week… Set a time each morning to handle emails to avoid interrupting your thought process during the day etc. Remember, small changes can bring big rewards.

Consider social & personal activities as well. Book some time out mentally as well as in your diary. How about going to the cinema? Spending thirty minutes a day with your partner and/or your kids? Putting your feet up with a good book for twenty minutes… the list of ‘New’ habits you can create are endless but the benefit can be almost immeasurable!

Coaching to success can draw out these ‘New’ habits so give Neil a call on 07761 187238 or email info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to arrange a free, no obligation consultation and discuss what benefits this change will bring.

MULTITASKING! – Does it Really help you get more done?

To seemingly increase our productivity, many of us multitask with activities like being on the phone to a client/customer while reading through emails. The call ends and as we write up notes, we call a colleague. They answer and during that call we enter appointments in the diary/outlook as well as work through figures for a quote/invoice etc!

People who multitask are seen as effective as well as efficient in this hectic world that we’ve made for ourselves because we all know we get more done when we multitask… don’t we?

The Allegory of Productivity Through Multitasking

In simple terms, Multitasking doesn’t make us more productive! It IS a MYTH.

Studies show we can waste up to 40% of our time multitasking. Not saving time. Not being creative. Wasting it! Contrary to belief, we can’t actually focus on more than one task at a time. But we think we can so that’s the route we take.

Here’s a thought. Try having an emotionally charged conversation about whether it’s problematic or not to have horsemeat in our processed lasagne (hmm, rather topical at the moment) or something based around work that is a bit contentious and do this while writing an important report needing to be presented to the board or partners! Extreme but it sets an obvious benchmark for something that isn’t so obvious due to the extremes, nonetheless, even smaller tasks are affected.

What can I do?

A quick question… when you’ve accomplished something that you have allowed yourself to give full attention to, how satisfied did you feel. Also, to what level of standard was it achieved?

So what can be done? “It’s not that easy, I have soooooo many tasks, jobs, people to see over. I have to multitask” I hear the cries call out. Okay, I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to attempting more than one task at a time but areas that I look at trying to help me, fall into the following:

EMAILS – Turn off audible or visual warnings that an email had arrived. Helps avoid the temptation to continually check each and every new one.

MONOTASK SETTING – Focus on one task at a time. Although ‘Emergencies’ may arise, can you assess their urgency? Do they all need to be done NOW?

PROCRASTINATION – One of my favourite words! Try to guide your wandering thoughts back to where or what you are doing. If thoughts drift, acknowledge what you’re doing and a little self-talk of getting back onto the item in hand will at least help you regain focus.

BLOCK PLAN – knowing you have emails or calls to make, block in time throughout your day to accomplish these and do it then.

AVOID THE DARK SIDE – (I hope that’s not infringing copyright! hehe). When you are expecting to carry out a task, avoid wandering just to ‘check’ text or emails or even voicemails. Take a deep breathe, resist and get back to the task in hand.

STOP JUGGLING – You will inevitably drift back into to quagmire of multitasking and when you do, take a short break from everything! Allow your mind to re-focus, the stress levels to reduce and concentration to reframe itself.

PRIORITISE – Not only important but ‘urgent’ issues will come, there is no escaping this, however, take note of where you are concerning your current task. Jot notes to help you pick it up again and then deal with the ‘urgent’ (and truly assess its urgency over possible distraction or enjoyment (procrastination!)) issue. Once complete, return to the original task and pick up from where you left off as a result of the notes you made.

With any hope, this blog will have helped towards re-looking at the way we think about multitasking and how it actually reduces the ‘quality’ of our work. The fact it doesn’t normally save but creates more time accomplishing a given task and this is as a result of reducing our ability to focus.

Coaching to Success fully understands that this isn’t going to be an overnight cure for the multitasking junkies, however, with luck and some concentration, it may help you towards focusing better on tasks. We are here to support you in this and many other ways.

Why not read some of the historic blogs again, have a look at the web and then pick up the phone or send an email for an informal chat about how we can help you succeed in your goals or aspirations. Call Neil Nutburn on 07761 187238 or send an email to info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to arrange a free, no obligation consultation.

Our business is about your success and your future successes are in your hands so give us a call so we can help you turn the ideas into reality.

How great are you at making decisions? Here’s a tool to help you out

This is such an easy tool to use yet so frequently we struggle with options, we do our pros and cons lists or we just let things rattle around in our head without being totally happy with our final choice.

This is a logical way of getting to that final decision and allows you to find peace with yourself on the decision you make, giving you the confidence through its rationality and can make you stand out as the decision maker when others around you are struggling.

This tool is simply called ‘GRID ANALYSIS’. To start off with, you need to consider two lists. The first is the OPTIONS shown in the row and FACTORS needing to be considered shown in the columns. Then you give each a score in the matrix which gets totalled at the end. May sound a bit too complex to some but it’s truly easy.

Okay, so here goes…

FIRST List your options as the rows on your table. Along the heading, write the factors needing to be considered as the column headings (these can be anything that matters, like cost, availability, service level, maintenance, reliability, dimensions etc).

SECOND Score against each of these headings against the options, these may be supplier, candidate for promotion, product whatever it may be. The score should range between 0 (Worst) to 5 (Best) and score relevantly not differently! By this I mean that if all score 2, then, so be it. You don’t have to be concerned about whether the score matches or not but that you give it a true reflection of what you believe it to be worth.

THIRD Now ‘Weight’ the importance of the factor in your overall relative importance (eg if the items were cost, practicality, reliability, quality you may rate them cost(4), Practicality(1), Reliability(3) and quality(4)… again, it doesn’t matter if a few have the same ratings). Create a row at the top or bottom of your options and write this value.

FORTH take each of your scores set against each factor/option and multiply this by the weight. So, let’s say we were looking to buy a camera. Supplier ‘A’ scored 4 on reliability so based on the previous weighting, this would equate to 4×3=12, whereas, Supplier ‘B’ may only score 2 on this factor, ergo 2×3=6 etc etc

FIFTH is the final stage where you total all the scores at the end of the row and the highest score represents the strongest option to work with

As an example, we’ll use the camera idea from before. The number before the line goes through it is the initial score, the number next to it is the total having used the weighting factor (hopefully that’s clear enough)

FACTOR

Cost

Practicality

Reliability

Quality

TOTAL
Weighting

3

2

4

4

N/A
Camera 1

4 12

3 6

5 20

4 16

54
Camera 2

5 15

1 2

2 8

5 20

25
Camera 3

2 6

5 10

3 12

5 20

48

From this, it is clear to see that Camera Two was never really in the running but One and Three were close, however, by adopting this approach, a clear winner (Camera One is ‘exposed’ as being the right one to go for – sorry, bad pun but you get the idea)

And there you have it, a Grid Analysis tool that helps you to decide between several options, where there are many different factors needing to be considered.

And you can also use this tool to help select that all important Business coach that you need in your organisation, just remember to add Coaching to Success to the Row and speak to us concerning areas that we can help with, costing, availability, benefit, ‘fun’ (always an important element to learning or striving forward with new goals or objectives) and call Neil on 07761 187238… well, it’s worth a try by us isn’t it?

GOING FOR YOUR OWN GOLD… WINNING FORMULA!

Goal Setting!! Yep, easy expression but not so easy to achieve. Back in 1979, New graduates of the Harvard’s MBA Program were interviewed and it was found that 84% had no specific goals at all, 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them. Later, in 1989, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class and they discovered the following results… The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. Even more staggering – the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

So, Goal Setting. Here’s 7 Tips to set you off on a path of Gold:

  • Tip 1: SET REALISTIC GOAL

Explore your imagination, let it run riot and go for the BIG! And then reign it in to check it is actually achievable and within a time scale that is also realistic. Adopt the SMART strategy (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timed)

  • Tip 2: OPEN YOUR MIND TO ALL AREAS

It is all too easy to simply focus on work-related goals alone. Look at goals that also bring enjoyment into your life relating to you happiness and well-being. Get the balance of goal setting right across all areas of your life.

  • Tip 3: MAKE THE GOALS ‘POSITIVE’

So many times we set ‘Negative’ goals!! What are these? Well, take areas such as wanting to GIVE UP smoking, STOP working so many hours, or to LOSE weight, these are negative so turn them around and put them into the positive… Create a healthier lifestyle, Spend more time with my family or to get fitter. Reframe negatives into positives… you may be surprised at how much more attractive they become and consequently more achievable.

  • Tip 4: SET REALISTIC COMPLETION TIME

Often we estimate to complete a task by ‘x’. To be truly proficient in setting a deadline is to set a start-time. Once you have the start, you can decide how long each segment (if there are more than one) takes to complete your overall goal and then schedule those times in thus removing the panic at the end and inevitably not completing it at all.

  • Tip 5: SET AN ACHIEVABLE AMOUNT OF GOALS

There are only 24 hours in a day, and each goal will take time and energy, therefore, be constructive and realistic in how many goals you can achieve and the time you can give them to insure they receive your full attention. “Quality, NOT quantity” so rather than setting a myriad of goals, by all means, set out what you wish to accomplish and then chose the ones you wish to start on knowing they’re attainable.

  • Tip 6: IT’S NOT A FAILURE, IT’S A LEARNING!

As Thomas Edison commented when he eventually found how to create electric light “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. When you don’t succeed, treat these as ‘Learning’ curves, not failures as these contain the lessons that can ultimately change your life. Take note of where you may not have been successful in reaching your goal and use that knowledge for the next attempt.

  • Tip 7: REVIEW HOW YOU’RE DOING

Some short term goals can be set and achieved in a matter of weeks, others may take years but throughout, it is critical to review your own progress. Analyse what you have achieved up to a given point and do this at regular intervals. If it’s a large overall goal, set sub-goals and reward yourself when you accomplish them within the given time-scale (for me, I make myself a REALLY nice cup of coffee!) It doesn’t have to be costly but something to show you’ve achieved it. Also, you can review or adapt your goal to insure it remains live and realistic.

Coaching to Success help and keep you motivated along your path to success and support you through these transitions and if this is an area you are unsure of or feel you would benefit from, take that first step by speaking to someone who can help you set these goals and keep you on track to reach them, after all, that’s what coaching is all about so pick up the phone to arrange a free consultation on how we can help, contact Neil (07761 187238) or throw us an email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk… We’re here to help.

WELL, IT’S LIKE THIS, WHAT I DO IS… OH, IS THIS YOUR FLOOR, BYE THEN!

Probably most of you know this as ‘The Elevator Speech’ simply due to the lack of time you have to get your message across. It’s rarely used in such a situation but more at functions and soirees, it’s a time indicator and the limited time between floors to make an instant impression is a good comparison. Here are a few tips…

You need to be succinct in your reply when someone enquires as to what you do, a 20-30 second intro is what you have and you really need to make the most of it! So it needs to be…

  • Interesting
  • Succinct and
  • Memorable

 

… As well as putting a ‘unique’ edge on it so you stand out from others within your industry. It’s also useful to have two or three prepared and slotted into your memory so you can call upon the most appropriate one according to your situation. So how do you create one? Consider these areas…

  • PURPOSE – What are you looking to accomplish by offering your pitch.
  • SOLUTION – Explain what you do and the Benefits that you/your organisation can offer (ie “We help people’s confidence by giving them the perfect smile” from a Dentist for example). Give a solution but leave the question ‘How’.
  • USP (Unique Selling Proposition/Point) – What makes you different from every other company in your business sector?
  • QUESTION – Follow this on by asking a question of them relating to an answer that will connect with your business.
  • MOULD TOGETHER – Put it all together in one succinct delivery and practice out loud, how long was it? Remember 20-30 seconds is what you’re aiming for, it’s amazing how we can go well over that when we’re not prepared! Take out the waffle, technical or informative bits aren’t of any interest until later.

 

As an example, let’s take a company who has a logistics business with software that calculates the best options for a fleet of vehicles… “My company reduces fuel consumption and driver overhead costs. By means of plotting out the most economic route for deliveries based on time and location. Our client’s managers can then concentrate on other ways to run their operation more smoothly while saving in excess of 20% off the bottom line. How does your organisation plot delivery routes”

This is not as simple as it sounds but if done correctly, can create interesting leads or links that you may have otherwise missed out on simply because you’ve lost the interest of the listener. If this stimulates a response where you feel you could still do with some additional support in this field or any other area we help you move forward on, Coaching to Success are here, just call Neil (07761 187238) to arrange a free consultation on how we can help.

Finally, what are your views on these blogs? Write a comment below and let us know, we always appreciate feedback on what we offer. Many thanks.