The World of You, What and Try.

We need to change.

We live in a world of You, What and Try.  And although not everyone is plagued by this mindset, unfortunately the vast majority of us are.  We need to change.  What do I mean by You, What and Try? Let's start with You; this is essentially a focus or blame of our current situations on anyone or anything other than ourselves.  Moreover, it's always looking for a scapegoat or external reason that we didn't achieve the results we want.  This could be health, economy, career, family or anywhere else we're not successful to a point where we believe we should be.  Next is What.  We're a species that is getting more and more attached to the What in life, the material things.  What I want; faster internet, more money, better health, fancy car, deeper relationships, and so on...  These are all what we want, they're "stuff" without meaning or purpose.  Lastly, there's Try.  This lovely three letter word is widespread and instils failure the moment it leaves our lips.  "I'll try to...", and when you don't get the results you want?  Hey, at least you tried...

We need to change to a mindset of Me, Why and Can.  it's all up to you, no one else.  Where ever you get to in life, or don't get to, you're the one that got you there.  We all need to focus on ourselves and what we can influence, stop wasting time on things you can't control.  Believe me, you can control more than you think.  When you hit road blocks and challenges you can rise up and keep moving forward or you can give up.  The world is full of people who have risen above challenges that seem insurmountable, be inspired by these people.  Don't wait and see, don't follow the crowd and don't be afraid of what others will say (they're just envious that you stepped up when they couldn't).  Be a leader.  Why...  Do you know why you do what you do?  Why do you go to work?  Why do you eat the way you do?  If you want more out of life then you have to start with why, your purpose, something deep within you driving you forward.  Without that meaning behind accomplishments you just get "stuff", and most of the time the "stuff" isn't really what you need or want.  Lastly, you Can.  You can achieve whatever you want and can be successful at whatever you want.  Seriously, you can.  You just need to know why you want it and have a purpose or understand that you're future is in your hands.  Take "Maybe" and "try" and replace them with "Can" and "Will".

Me, What and Can are not easy and take discipline, which is why we don't all do it.  It's hard, we try, we don't know why we're doing it and then blame external reasons when we don't get there.  I ask you this, if you could choose regret or discipline, which one would you pick?  Make a choice and be happy with which ever one you picked.

What is Lean?

Here's a presentation (click the link) I posted on Slideshare that I give when people come to Ideon and want to learn about Lean.  It's titled What is Lean?

It's much better hearing the presentation, but the slides give you an idea.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Does your team know what the bigger picture is at your company?  Do your people come to work only to bury their heads in work and then lift their head at the end of the day not knowing what they're working towards?  Why do we perform the work we do each day?  Are all people/departments aligned and moving in the same direction?

These questions, and more like them, should always be on your mind, especially if you're in a leadership role.  I'll take this opportunity to remind you that anyone can be a leader, you don't need to have a title (read "The Leader Who Had No Title" by Robin Sharma if you don't believe me).  Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs as they're commonly referred to, can help any organization create some clarity and answer the questions I started this post with.

In the Lean environment where I work, that I help drive, KPIs are a growing way of life that tie each Team Member and their work to a higher target that we're all a part of.  Now, you don't need to be Lean or Lean trained to understand and apply KPIs, which is why I wanted to write this.  Hopefully I can share some knowledge that will help you create some unity and clarity with your own and your team's work.

In my opinion, there are three levels of KPIs that all companies should clarify.  At each level, you don't want to over-complicate the KPIs by having too many, especially at the high level.  As soon as KPIs become too hard to understand they will be ignored, and you want everyone in your organization to know, understand and feel apart the KPIs at all levels.  Ultimately, you should tie individual performance to the Front line KPIs and then teach people how what they do everyday drives the overall company performance.  Moreover, by improving the KPIs they affect they will be improving overall company performance.  use the KPIs to show how one person can impact the company.

Font Line KPI - Value added level, front line staff, creating a finished good or service, etc.  An example in a Production environment could be the time it takes for one person on a three-person crew to setup their section of a machine.  In an office setting this could be order processing time or paperwork accuracy.  These KPIs drive the mid-level KPIs.

Mid Level KPI - Departmental level, gives a picture of the department overall.  Another Production example could be average daily production setup times, fill rate or availability.  This level drives the high-level KPIs.

High Level KPI - Company level, select one-to-three KPIs in meaningful areas that reflect the "pulse" of the company.  An example could be OEE, on-time delivery or customer satisfaction rate.

I can read your mind...  "This is all great, but where do I begin?", "What should my KPIs be?"  Good questions!  The challenging in answering to those questions is that only you and your company can answer them.  What's important to your business and your customers?  Generally, in my experience, KPIs at the high level usually cover, but are not limited to safety, production, quality, on-time delivery, sales or customer care.  Sometimes this overall company snapshot is referred to as the balanced scorecard.

The last piece of advise I can offer is that your KPIs need to be transparent.  Don't hide them or hide behind them, post them up for everyone in your company to see.  Post them in the lunch room, production floor, office area or anywhere else you will have a large audience.  Talk about the KPIs, share them in company meetings, set goals around them, do kaizen to make them better, and don't forget to involve the team.

Choice & Discipline

I find it funny, the more I read, the more I come across books, articles, blogs and online videos touting "The __ Steps to Achieve _____" or some permutation of this title.

I'm here to tell you that there's no magic or secret to achieving whatever you want out of life.  Success, in whatever you want, is nothing more than a choice and the discipline to stick with that choice.  That's it!  Nothing more or less.


You're the only person on the planet who can make the choice for your own success and you're also the only one who can have the discipline to stick with the choices you make.  Now, I have a firm belief that we all know what the better choice would be, the difference maker for the successful ones is their ability to be disciplined.

If you want to live a healthier lifestyle, then eat a balanced diet and exercise.  Choice + Discipline!  If you want to get more out of your career, then put more into your career.  Choice + Discipline!  If you wish you had more money, then live within your means and save.  Choice + Discipline!  If you want anything more out of life...  You guessed it, choice and discipline.

But discipline is haarrrrrd!  No kidding!  Suck it up!  You can do it!

You can be disciplined, you just need to want it.  Bad.  So, I ask you...  How bad do you want it?  And if you truly want it that bad, whatever "it" may be for you, then take the words like "can't" or "try" or "maybe" or "but" and REMOVE THEM FROM YOUR VOCABULARY.  Replace them with "will" and "can" and "succeed".  Stop complaining, doubting and giving up.  Own your future.  Start RIGHT NOW.

We all have a choice; regret or discipline?  I choose discipline.  What do you choose?

More Help With Your Goals

Here are a few more iphone screens I made.  I share them because we all need a little motivation every now and again.  Cheers!

 

   

 

Small Goal Setting Tools

In an effort to come up with a creative way to stay focused on my goals, I decided to create my own, personalized iPhone screens.  I look at my phone regularly and can now have a quick shot of motivation whenever I do so.  Check them out.  The "No Comfort Zone" is on my lock screen and the other is on my home screen.  Be creative, be progress and be the BEST you can be.

Anyone Can be Successful

Ask anyone who has achieved success in their sport, profession or art and they will all tell you that success comes from a lot of hard work.  Moreover, it's not just about working hard, but working harder than the next person and everyone else.

The challenge with saying success comes from hard work is that it doesn't provide much of a guide for people who don't know where to begin.  Hopefully the hard work steps below will help; they're something I've learned from my own career to-date and countless books I've read.

Hard work #1 - Figure out what you want to be successful at.  Whatever you choose, it needs to be something you truly enjoy doing because you're going to have to spend countless hours growing and practicing the skill set, hobby or talent needed to be successful.

Hard work #2 - No excuses.  Anyone can come up with a excuse to not workout, go the extra mile, work hard, read a book...  But not you.  You need to eliminate excuses from your vocabulary and push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Hard work #3 - Make the choice.  Whether you choose to take all the steps necessary to achieve success or if you choose to accept failure/mediocrity, then be happy with your choice.  Your future is in your hands only and when you don't reach your limits you only have yourself to look at.  I recommend writing, "It's up to me" on your bathroom mirror.  Success is a choice.

Hard work #4 - Not giving up despite setbacks, naysayers and/or failure.  Many people have had great ideas or talents but as soon as they receive some form of criticism they abandon their idea/skill.  You have to take these negative opinions and situations and grow from them.  Reflection is key.

Goal Setting

I don't know about you but I've never been great at setting goals.  Well, I guess I'm good at setting the goals, just not good at sticking with them.  I start strong and have a great focus but unfortunately let things derail me from my focus on the goal.  This last year was different though, I set a goal to get in the best shape of my life and did it.  This achievement has inspired me to set a range of personal goals for 2013; here's how I plan to stay on track.

Keep the goals in front of me.  I've written by fitness goals on the bathroom mirror, they're in front of me when I wake up and before I go to bed, it's regular reminder of what I set out to achieve.  Beyond my fitness goals, I've made a graphic of all my goals for 2013 and set it as the wallpaper on my iPhone. Every time I look at my phone I get a gentle reminder to stay on track.  How ever you decide to keep your goals in front of you, be creative and put them in a place where you always look.


Make the choice.  Setting goals is a personal choice; a very personal choice.  Only you can decide to set goals, what goals to set and if you're going to stick with them.  Whatever choice you make, be happy with it.  Keep them personal too; there's a chance that when someone else see's or hears your goal they offer up some form of judgement or criticism.  So, after you make the choice to set and stick with your personal goals, keep them to yourself.

Discipline.  It takes an incredible amount of discipline to stick with something for a year, something that you may not want to be doing in the first place but you know the ends is worth it.  It takes 30 days to build a habit and in those first 30 days you will be tested may times to abandon your goals.  Be strong, push forward, grow and succeed.

Know the Why?  I listened to a great presentation by Simon Sinek where he talked about understanding the Why, How and What we do what we do.  Most people start with What, then How and rarely get to why.  Simon says, if you're going to be great, start with Why?  Since listening to this talk, the idea of truly knowing WHY I do anything has become integral to moving closer to, and achieving, success.

Staying on track with my goals is not going to be easy, there are many things that can distract me from achieving my goals.  Here's a few things that have derailed me in the past.

Time.  There's not a lot of "me" time in the day when you take out work, sleep, driving, eating, etc...  So in those precious few hours left over in the day there are many things that can take away from actions that will keep your goals on track.  You've got to really look at all the things you do in your "me" time and only focus on doing the things that will move you towards achieving your goals.  For example, if you want to be in better shape, how much of your "me" time is spent watching TV?

Comfort Zone.  It's easy to do the things you WANT to do.  It's hard to do the things (especially in your "you" time) that you perceive as hard, like working out.  You have to challenge your comfort zone and do the hard work.  If you stick with it, eventually the hard work gets easier.

Excuses.  We ALL make excuses.  We just need to stop coming up with excuses.

Choices. Everything is a choice, just like setting goals.  If we don't set goals then there's no map for where we're going and you're not going to know when you get there; wherever "there" is for you.  It's easy to make the choice to do something that's fun, social or plain easier to do; all of which may not be what your goal needs you to be doing.

I'll leave you with this...  When I set out to stay focused on goals I do so with the end in mind.  The reason I set goals in the first place is to achieve a target, every one of which could never be achieved in a day.  By always keeping an eye on the big picture (why I set the goal in the first place) I am able to stay focused each day.  Remember, if you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?