January, 2008 E-Newsletter

 

In this month’s E-note:

 

 

Introduction – “A Shot Across The Bow”: Moving From Wishes To Willpower, by Michael Kroth

The Business Case for the Best Place to Work, by Bob Grassberger, Ph.D.

 

“A Shot Across The Bow”: Moving From Wishes To Willpower, by Michael Kroth

 

“You should consider this a shot across the bow” my doctor told me.  I was on the edge of diabetes - at least 30 pounds overweight and a workaholic slug whose exercise consisted of moving my fingers across a computer keyboard.  Diabetes runs in my family.  My doctor got my attention.

 

Researchers tell us that there is a difference between goal setting and goal pursuit.  You know it from your own experience.  How many of us have set goals on January 1^st and dropped them as early as January 2^nd?  I know I have, many times.  Goal setting involves wishing and dreaming and figuring out what needs to be accomplished for personal or organizational success.  Goal pursuit involves staying the course, tracking progress, and choosing one action over another.   Goal pursuit - utilizing willpower or what is also called volition – is what you and I do to execute the dreams we have set for ourselves.

 

It is 2008.  Over the holiday season you have thought about what went well and what you could do differently this coming year.  You know that to be successful you need to do certain things.  You are excited about the possibilities but have a history of not accomplishing your goals – even when they are accomplishable.  What do you do?

 

Here are just two ways to make your dreams come true:

 

The first is to develop habits of will.  There are two kinds.  I call them habits of success and habits of action. 

 

A habit of success develops when you create a mindset that you will not accept anything less than the accomplishment of your goal.  If you say you will clean the garage on Saturday, you do.  If your goal is to finish an article (like this) by Monday morning, you do.  You can see sports teams which have developed habits of failure – they expect to lose.  And they do.  Teams or organizations or employees who have developed habits of success are much more likely to meet their goals.  It is often easier to start small and build the attitude that if you say you will do something – especially to yourself – that you will do it.

 

Habits of action are doing the unthinkable.  They take the pressure off because what you are planning to do is ingrained in you.  The craftsperson doesn’t have to think about shaping the wood perfectly.  Her hands move automatically.  Habits of action are activated by circumstances.  When noon rolls around you head to the gym. Every day from 6:00 a.m. – 7:30 a.m. you write your great American novel.  An hour before every meal you eat a healthy snack, and when tempted with unhealthy food you reach into your backpack to pull out something that is.  It becomes automatic.  You hardly have to think about it.  The need for brute willpower is reduced.  

 

2) Give Feedback

 

Motivation nose-dives without regular feedback. With feedback performance improves.  Feedback keeps you headed toward your goal.  You want to know if you are on track, off track, side tracked, or need to back track.   In Toastmasters we give everyone lots of praise but we also share one or two bits of advice about how to improve. 

 

If you want to move from someone who wants to be an effective speaker to someone who is an effective speaker don’t just sit on your tush – go out and speak. I just finished Steve Martin’s superb autobiography, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life.  He describes how he honed his act for years, through thousands of performances across the country, before he “made it.” If you are a stand up comedian you receive immediate feedback.  If you are trying to become more organized (a better dresser, a saver rather than a spender, an exercise buff, a listener rather than an interrupter, you get the idea) you have to seek regular, credible feedback from others or the situation.  My mom often gives me the best feedback because she knows she can tell me the truth and that I know she does it from love (no matter how much it I don’t like to hear it!).  You can set up circumstances – like monthly reviews or Toastmasters meetings – to assure you receive helpful feedback on your journey.

 

My son Shane just completed a master’s degree in environmental policy.  It is doubly impressive because he was such a poor student that, after high school, he dropped out of our local community college.  When, years later, he decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree he – like Rudy in the movie Rudy, couldn’t get accepted into Colorado State University until he took make up courses.  He stuck with it. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology he rejoined the Navy.  It was during his time in service he started his master’s degree.  He stuck with it when he could have quit anytime, a testament to “the habit of success.”    I am very proud of him.

 

You can reach your dreams, but only if you have the will to pursue them through distractions, disappointments, and dessert.

 

Yes I said dessert.  Because for me that’s the key.  So far I’ve lost 17 pounds and I exercise 4-5 times a week.  If something bad is going to happen to me I don’t want to be the one to cause it.  So I have to pursue my goal of a healthy lifestyle even when dessert meets me face-to-face.  A “shot across the bow” indeed.  My doctor gave me the consequences if I don’t change my behavior.  The rest is up to me.

 

I hope you have had wonderful, rich holidays with those you love and who love you, and that you find and reach your dreams for 2008.

Michael Kroth

PO Box 9557

Boise, Idaho 83707

505-450-4248

michael@michaelkroth.com

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