Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

All you need to do is move the needle.  Work paralysis occurs when you get bogged down in the timeline of where you should be.  You want to lose 20 pounds, but it has to be gone by tomorrow.  You want to be at the next level in your job and you wonder why it's five years after you expected to be there.  You want your business to transform overnight, but you forgot how many years it took to for it to become what it's become.  Ctrl-Z doesn't work in life because life is a journey and a marathon.  All you need to do is move the needle in the right direction--- whether you feel it's an inch or a foot.  As long as it's moving.

Pick any topic and I'll find you a reference.  For example, if trust doesn't exist within your organization, I'll recommend reading The Speed of Trust.  If you feel that your company is organizationally unhealthy, I'll point you to The Advantage.  Employees don't seem motivated? Drive would be the perfect book to read to understand what really motivates people.  Unfortunately pointing others to books and references can only go so far.  What I got out of a book will definitely not be the same thing that you get out of a book.  So I run the risk of having my intentions ending up completely missed. The reason for this is that people have a different set of experiences that make up how they interpret the world -- so unless it's absolute math, what people read or what people take away from a book is always "subject" to interpretation.  In short, what I take away from a book will almost always be completely different than what you take away....

Putting a mentoring or apprenticeship program in place is always a great idea.  The opportunity to study and grow under someone that has been where you are and is where you want to be will be the first piece of advice that any coach or professional development guru will give you.  For example, when I expressed interest in becoming an executive coach, I started to understand the industry and I asked people that were in it what their experiences were like.  I met a lot of life coaches during my due diligence. In addition, there were a lot of people wanting to sell me coaching certifications. I found a lot of people that were willing to help-- but finding one to mentor me -- not so much.  The reason is that there is a deeper connection between a mentor and the one being mentored.  I mean, I could want Tony Robbins to be my mentor, but if there isn't a personal connection, then neither one of us will want to be in the relationship.  Mentoring is a...

When you are in work purgatory you either accept where you are, devise a number of exit strategies, or work on yourself.  If you're going through hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill For me, I chose to work on myself. I took every self-assessment that I knew. I think that I even took Myers-Briggs again.  Tony Robbins made a nice chunk of change off of me. I spent a lot of time reading books and taking courses as if I were going to run a business or start one some day.  It may not be now, or it may not be never, but you have to believe this quote from Paolo Coelho in  The Alchemist ,  "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." So if you are in work Hades, then do what's right for you.  The worst thing you can do is get caught up in blaming everything else, but you. And I say that because that's what I first did.

Are people more interested in you or your story?  For example, what's more interesting upon an introduction? "Hi. My name is Perry and I'm a consultant that helps Fortune 500 companies."  Or, "Hello. My name is Perry and I work to understand problems at local Atlanta companies that I can help solve."  Which one is a better lead in to a story and will want you to hear more?   The thing about stories, whether it's about you or about some other experience, is that there is a degree of specificity that you want to resonate with the audience i n that moment.  If your story is good enough and hits the right emotion, then it becomes memorable long after you've gone.  Being memorable is important in sales, in giving advice, in influencing an audience, and in marketing your value proposition.  So tell me what your story is. I'd be interested to hear it. References: Reinventing You

On occasion, my son (3.5 years old) will want me to read Tiger Woods, How I Play Golf.  I n one of the chapters, Tiger says, "Practice makes permanent."  In the book Talent is Overrated , Colvin brings up the concept of "deliberate practice."  "...deliberate practice requires that one identify certain sharply defined elements of performance that need to be improved, and then work intently on them." For example, if you want to rock a case interview, you will practice many case interviews in an environment that reflects an actual case interview.  I didn't do that and I've failed a case interview or two or three-- rather miserably. It's the opposite of Allen Iverson's philosophy about practice .  In a previous post, I wrote about whether the shine of working at a big consulting firm can wear off. My opinion is that the shine may wear off, but the skills never go away.  The big BUT is that your marketable skills can go into hiber...