Recently Jason aligned himself with something even more meaningful than efficiency: He aligned himself with his father to co-author a great book called The Promise Doctrine. With a forward by Marshall Goldsmith, this 88 page book is chock full of pull out pages and ways you can put it to use in your life.

The real power of the book isn’t in reading it, the power is in using it!

The biggest lesson I learned from the book, and from Jason, is that a promise is a different thing for people. Different from just saying “Yes I will.” Promises bind you more strongly than anything else you could say or do.

Jason has also offered the template for keeping promises free for people at the same place you can buy his book: at http://promiseguide.com

I got to spend about 30 minutes with Jason a few weeks back, and if you watch the video, you can learn how to use his book, how to be more productive, and how to learn and share more. It’s worth the investment of your time. I promise!

Jason Womack and Phil Gerbyshak Discuss The Promise Doctrine from Phil Gerbyshak on Vimeo.

Useful links:

• Womack Companies – Jason’s company where you can interact with him more, and read some awesome productivity articles
• Promise Doctrine – Buy the book and get Jason’s template

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Literally, my doorbell is dead. It’s one of those battery operated wireless ones. I think it got some water in it, and it doesn’t work. Plus, my front door is fifteen feet behind a locked gate, so there’s no way to knock. Conventional wisdom says, if you drop by my house unannounced, you’re not getting in. It’s been this way for over a year and it has yet to be a problem.

I should perhaps be embarrassed by this, but I recently realized why it really doesn’t matter, while giving a friend a ride across town. When my car stopped in front of our destination — a relative’s house — my friend stepped out of the car, thanked me, and immediately initiated a cell phone call. As she was putting her phone away, the front door cracked open and she strolled in, carefree user of the new-age doorbell.

That’s why nobody has yet complained about mine: nobody uses it anyway! Figuratively as well, the doorbell is dead. And its death has bigger implications to our daily lives than many of us care to consider.

There’s a reason we call this the information age, and it’s not because we’re all so much smarter. It’s because we all have access to so much information, at our fingertips, all the time. I can track my package, check the status of my flight, and monitor my stock portfolio or my company’s financial status, all in a second, all with a click. I’m more informed than anyone in my position in history has ever been. And yet, being so informed has not made my life easier. If anything, I think I’m probably busier than a counterpart in my position would have been 20 years ago.

For one thing, I’m constantly doing things like checking the status of my packages and my flights! That didn’t used to be an option, but now that it is, it seems foolish not to avail myself of it. Why in the world would I choose to be uninformed, when it’s so easy to rectify my ignorance by learning exactly which city my all-important box is traversing at the moment?

Worse yet, everyone now has the expectation of immediacy. At times it feels like I’m fielding client questions and queries day and night, all of whom expect an instant answer. I pride myself on customer service, but it can be a challenge! If you supplement “client” with “customer,” “manager,” or “stockholder,” I’ve probably described your job too.

And it’s not just business contacts. Some loved ones have also come to expect an instantaneous reply when they call. I vividly recall a time when I returned calls to friends and family after I got home for the evening, or if it was a particularly long day, the following evening. Now, the calls come into my cell phone at all hours. If I don’t respond within a few hours, I end up on the receiving end of a concerned and vaguely annoyed follow-up call: “didn’t you get my message? I thought you would call me back over lunch.”

The problem is, my capacity for handling information has not expanded commensurately with the information explosion. I still have only two hands, only two ears, only two eyes, and only one brain. I may read a few hundred more emails per day than I used to, but I don’t read them a few hundred times faster. And my decision-making capacities still have limits as to how much information they can incorporate. For better or worse, I’m still just human.

And you, my friend, are in the same boat as I am. Admit it! You haven’t grown four extra hands or two extra brains either. That’s why it’s crucial for all of us to walk around with a well rehearsed script of what’s we’re trying to do, what I call a Verbalized Summary Objective Statement, or VSO. The VSO is a script that you play to others, and to yourself, as a reminder of what you’re working on. It’s also a filter that helps you turn on — or turn off — your most important sources of information. And, it’s a statement of your output that you can use at the end of the day to check that you’re making progress. If you are, you can feel satisfaction. If you’re not, you can make an adjustment. Either of those options is preferable to just going home exhausted, vaguely wondering when you started working so hard, and why you can’t seem to stop.

Tomorrow morning, when you first get to your desk and before you start doing anything, see if you can articulate your purpose for the day, or maybe the week, in about 90 seconds. Try writing it down, or better yet, say it to yourself a few times until you’ve memorized it. Then, use your little infomercial as your blueprint for the day. Whenever you’re about to engage with information — either a source of it, or a request for it — first check the contents of your VSO, and see how that source or request aligns with what you really want to be doing. In other words, pay attention to where you invest your mental and physical effort.

Probably, like me, you’ll find that not all of what is clamoring for your attention is in line with your own priorities. Although saying “no” is never easy, it is much easier when you have a burning “yes” to focus upon instead. Now that you know where you’re trying to head, you can begin to make the difficult decisions about what not to do. From here, the rest is up to you.

Actually, I do have one more suggestion. As you go through the day sorting through information, take a moment to check your calendar. If your evening plans include a visit to my house, be sure to take my cell phone number with you.

© 2010 Ed Muzio, author of Make Work Great: Supercharge Your Team, Reinvent the Culture, and Gain Influence — One Person at a TimeAuthor Bio
Edward G. Muzio is president and CEO of Group Harmonics and is the award-winning author of Four Secrets to Liking Your Work: You May Not Need to Quit to Get the Job You Want. An expert in workplace improvement and its relationship to individual enjoyment, Muzio has been featured on Fox Business Network, CBS, and other national media, and he has been cited in many publications including the New York Post, the Austin American Statesman, and Spirit magazine. He lives in Albuquerque, NM.

For more information visit www.makeworkgreat.com and follow the author on Facebook.

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I’m off the grid this week, enjoying the wonder that is Colorado Springs. I’ve been here 5 or 6 tines before, but never took in the sights. This time I am making time for everything. Thanks to my pal Gwendy who is sharing her birthday week with me.

How are you taking time to see your sights?

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Check out this classic lesson from Mr. Rohn, The Law of Reaping and Sowing.

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Here’s the thing … there is strong relationship between (simplify your life) and (maintain your life). The more you simplify, the less you have to maintain. If you don’t prune those emails, you have to spend more time organizing. If you buy too many gadgets, the more likely one will break (probably the one you depend on the most), and the more time you’ll have to spend fixing them (or packaging them and sending them away to get fixed). The more papers you have on your desk, the more time you’ll spend looking for that one important one.

So, you have a choice … spend a lot of time maintaining … or spend a lot of time simplifying.

Actually, there is a way to accomplish both … and that’s with automation (not to sound too much like the 4-hour work week guy, but if you automate with backups and mail filters and lights that go on automatically at night and autoreplies, etc., maybe you can still be some-what complicated (i.e., not simplified), but not have to spend as much time maintaining.

Visualize it on a continuum:

Too simplified; not enought toys <——– highly automated ——-> Too much maintenance

Buddhist monk <————————– perfect GTD geek ——-> Grandma’s attic

Bare walls, no furniture <————– perfect house with all you need —————-> Too much junk

Ask yourself this question: 

Where do you want to be on the continuum? 

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Life requires maintenance. If you don’t do the maintenance, your life is going to fall apart, or you’ll have to burn the place down.

Wow!

I don’t like maintenance. Maintenance is hard work. I often put it off and procrastinate my maintenance. I don’t do it on purpose, I just DO.

Can you relate?

So I thought about the various aspects of my life, and I thought about how I could maintain them. Maybe they’ll be helpful for you too?

Relationships need maintenance. You have to care and feed the folks in your family and in your network, or they will forget about you or find ways to live without you.

Spirituality needs maintenance. You have to keep refreshing it by plugging into it every day or you’ll lose it.

Health needs maintenance. If you don’t eat right, or exercise regularly, your health will soon detiorate, and if you wait too long, it will be too late.

Skills need maintenance to stay useful. You have to sharpen your saw or you will become dull.

What in your life needs maintenance? Whatever it is, make sure you give it some attention today!

Photo credit: Kiwi NZ

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I thought about it a bit, and I came up with 5 simple ways to overcome and respond to the adversity that’s bound to come your way.

Reframe the situation – If the situation is troubling you or has you down, quickly reframe it. Look for the learning. Look for the opportunity. Let go of the adversity.

Stop what you’re doing – Once you realize you’re in a tough spot, stop what you’re doing RIGHT NOW. This stops things from getting worse, and to keep you from staying stuck in a bad situation.

Ask for help – No doubt you’ve got a lot of really smart people in your life. Ask them for what they’ve done in similar situations. It’s always helpful and gives you an opportunity to learn new ways of dealing with adversity, even if you don’t use one of the recommended courses of action.

Seek out experts in the blogosphere – With over 50 million blogs, there are millions of smart people you don’t know who may have experienced the same adversity you’re going through. Do a quick blog search or send a quick tweet with your question, and in nanoseconds, you’ll have hundreds of answers that worked, or didn’t work, for others.

Refocus on the main thing – Remember why you’re on this earth, and what you’re meant to do, can help you answer the all important question, “What can you do?” instead of focusing on what you can’t do.

What are your best suggestions for responding to adversity?

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All I’m going to say is, you need to sign up for this free e-course! No catch, no strings attached, just put in your name and e-mail, and get 10 ways to supercharge your life. it’s not from me, but from someone who ALWAYS inspires me to kick ass in my life, Pam Thomas. You can read about why she is giving this away here.

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In just 120 seconds, Gary Vaynerchuck shares with us the true secret to happiness in this video. He calls it his Big Picture Patch or BPP for short.

The concept is quite simple: Whenever life gets you down, or life is on a big high note, keep the BPP in mind. The BPP is the health and happiness of the 5-10 people closest to you.

Simple exercise to think about your BPP

Grab a sheet of paper and write down the 5 people that mean the most to you in your world.

Are they happy?

Are they healthy?

That’s it, and I like it. It's simple, and it helps keep things in perspective.

How's your BPP?

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The speed of life is a global condition that presents a strategic challenge for everyone.  The speed of life combines excessive amounts of unrefined information with a glut of choices and opportunities and presents itself in the form of confusion and distraction!  How well we function within this constant condition determines value, competitive advantage and the ability to create results that will convert a vision or a dream into reality.  These issues are always important but in tough economic times they are absolutely critical to success.

The speed of life can’t be stopped but it can be understood and leveraged in a positive way.  It is a fact that knowledge and information have always been a cornerstone of power, influence and achievement!  However, the speed of life generates so much information it creates distractions that unwittingly lead people into well-intentioned busyness.  It is a form of busyness that marginalizes results.  The solution is to identify and deploy high leverage activities that harness the right information at the right time and focus on action that will move the results needle! 

The only thing certain about the speed of life is uncertainty.  It is impossible to accurately forecast future conditions over a long period of time and an  approach based on the principle of ‘going as far as you can see — so that you can see farther’  is needed.  Such a strategy is created by concentrating on the three strategic issues that matter most:  Clarity, Focus, and Execution.   

CLARITY

If you have no cohesive vision there is little chance of achieving sustained success in a bad economy.  Think about this:  Most organizations have adopted vision and mission statements; however, many within those organizations find it difficult to articulate the vision or mission, without reading it.  This condition is typical and may be evidence that there is no real  clarity about the vision and how to achieve it.  Unless there is clarity regarding a vision — there is no vision!

When businesses have clarity concerning their vision it lives!  It also creates zeal and passion for the commitment and determination needed to execute the vision.  The vision itself becomes able to pull everyone forward.  The pulling effect is created because clarity impacts people at the level of belief and produces voluntary change in attitudes and behavior. 

Clarity is achieved when we have an unfettered view of our vision and understand what we really want, why we want it, the value of doing it and the highest purpose for doing it! 

FOCUS

Focus is the opposite of distraction! At the speed of life, success hinges on the ability to cut through the clutter and focus on the high leverage activities that directly impact results. Focus is not something that comes naturally for most people, and that is why it is a skill that must be learned, polished, and practiced. Specifically, focus is a thinking skill that is acquired as a result of mental discipline.

Because the human mind serves as a connector of facts and information, fresh input is the raw material of creativity, opportunity recognition and problem solving. The mind is always hungry for new information because it stimulates thought and is fulfilling. Unfortunately, basic process of thinking provides the opportunity for distraction. Distraction is always the path of least resistance and the most natural activity for the mind to embrace. The speed of life offers up scores of opportunities each day that lure us into distractions that gobble time.

Between today’s conditions and tomorrows hope is a gap that must be crossed. In that gap is every goal, objective and action step that must be taken to be successful. Achieving focus is a matter of identifying the high-leverage activities in the gap that powerfully impact results and developing the mental skills to insure they receive the time they deserve.

EXECUTION

The ability to persuade others has a direct impact on achieving superior results, faster, which is what the speed of life demands. As we gain clarity and develop our focusing skills, the need to concentrate on high-leverage activities becomes paramount. However, identifying and focusing on those activities is only the beginning. Once our high-leverage activities are known the challenge of actually doing them becomes the issue. People must be persuaded to focus on these activities and to act quickly This always involves exceeding expectations.

There is more to exceeding expectations than adopting the idea as a strategy. Exceeding expectations has its greatest impact when it is adopted by individuals as a way of life. When you have a group of people who are willing to exceed expectations in the normal course of their daily activity a powerful force for superior results is created.

People in businesses and organizations are persuaded to exceed expectations based on the positive strategic presence of their leadership team. Leaders create images of influence in the minds of those they lead and those images define the organizational perception of leadership.

It is this overall persona that creates what I call Strategic Presence. Leaders are constantly creating positive and negative Strategic Presence based on their values and their behavior. The most important fact about Strategic Presence is that it produces two possible reactions in others. It either produces voluntary cooperation or it produces various forms of resistance. If the Strategic Presence of leadership is highly positive, people will be more likely to support the vision of leadership. If the Strategic Presence of leadership is negative, people will not be willing to exceed expectations. They may actually try to undermine the goals of leadership!

The key to persuasion is Strategic Presence and the ability to communicate strategically is the foundation for both. Organizations frequently treat communication as a collection of skills, or just another training or coaching objective. This idea represents a tactical approach to communication. If execution can be seen as a train rolling down a track to a predetermined destination, communication is the engine that powers the train! If you can’t communicate effectively you will not execute effectively.

About the Author

Tony Jeary, author of Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of Life has been and continues to be the coach to the world’s top CEOs and high achievers for more than 20 years. His clients include the Presidents of Wal-Mart, Firestone, Shell, Samsung, New York Life, and the United States Senate, to name only a few. An advisor to many, Tony Jeary has invested his life and career in helping others discover new clarity for their vision, develop focus on direction, and create powerful execution strategies that strategically impact achievement and results. Tony is happily married and blessed with 2 great daughters. Learn more about Strategic Acceleration at www.strategicacceleration.com or visit Tony Jeary at www.tonyjeary.com

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