Business Coaching

Would you like to know how to properly manage your to-do list? I’m sure the answer is yes for a lot of you. I’m going to share with you some quick key pointers to make managing your to-do list a lot easier. 

Number one, do a brain dump on paper. Get everything you need to do on paper. Jim Rohn, one of the great speakers of our time, said, “Your brain is not a filing cabinet.” If you are trying to keep everything up in your brain, you are most likely not succeeding. You’re not leaving any room for new ideas to come in. You are clogging your brain with a lot of stuff which creates overwhelm. So, take your to-do list from your brain and put it on paper. 

The next thing you do is when you have all the different things you need to do, circle the two most important that need to be done first. That’s it. Circle the top two. Then immediately apply the WIN formula. And the WIN formula is “What’s Important Now”? Ask yourself, of those top two, what’s most important? Put an asterisk next to that one, and that’s the immediate item you take action on. And when you complete that task, again you can circle the top two, and you go through the same process. 

One of the things I do with my to-do list is I don’t just write a line through it, or check it off. That’s uninspiring. I grab a green Sharpie and write victory with an exclamation point. Because when you accomplish something, it’s a victory. Writing victory with a green marker versus just crossing it off with a black pen is a lot more inspiring. You felt like you’ve accomplished something and it gives you more momentum to move forward and take on the next task. 

Another tool to use is a parking lot. For things that aren’t important and don’t need to happen now, you can create a parking lot. It might be important a week from now, a month from now, next quarter. Who knows? But if you’re afraid you might forget it, just create a parking lot for all those things that don’t need to happen now that can be tended to later. 

And most importantly, don’t forget the four Ds. If it makes sense when you circle that top one of what’s most important, 1. do it, get it done.  If this is something maybe you don’t have to do, 2. delegate it. A lot of us think we have to do it. No, it just needs to get done. So, find the person that you could delegate it to. Like I said with the parking lot, you might 3. Defer it to a later date. Or as you’re going through your list, you just might 4. dump it and realize it’s just not important at all so this doesn’t even need to be on the list.  

Those are some helpful tips to master your to-do list to get much more efficient. In final, I’ll leave you with a question. Could you possibly work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and still have things on your to-do list? Most likely the answer is yes. If the answer is yes, that means you have to get really, really intentional on what’s most important now that’s going to make the biggest impact. Think that way and you will be able to put all these points in place, get efficient with your to-do list, start accomplishing your goals, and make them victories to create the momentum to move forward.  

COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com

Someone asked me a long time ago, and I’ll ask you the same question, in one word, what would describe you as being successful? My word would be persistence, that’s it. Persistence. We all experience obstacles and adversities along the way through our life and business journey. However, we need to persist on whatever goal we have, whatever vision we have, keep on going for it, showing up each and every day to persist to get what we want.  

In the book, Think and Grow Rich, they list 16 symptoms of lack of persistence. I’m going to share a few with you, grade yourself on a scale of one to 10, ten you’re a rockstar, one you’re not, and do some self-reflection of where you need to shine up certain areas to develop more persistence to get you what you want. 

The first is recognition and definition of exactly what you want. We have to get clear on what we want. I sometimes speak with select executives, leaders, and business owners, that are not exactly sure what their business or organization looks like in a perfect world. If you don’t know exactly what it looks like, where are you going? When you’re going somewhere for the first time, you plug the address in your GPS, or your Google Maps, and it then directs you exactly where you want to go. Think about that in life or in business. Get clear on the destination, define it, and then you’ll be able to follow the instructions to eventually arrive there. In addition, if you’re a leader and you want your team to follow you, you better be pretty clear on where you’re going, especially if you’re asking them to show up each and every day with excellence in representing the organization.  

Number two is procrastination. Procrastination is the opposite of using your personal power. Procrastination is a killer of decisiveness, ideas, and imagination. Think of how much time, energy, stress, and money you’ve cost yourself in your business because you have procrastinated. Think of all the opportunities that have slipped away because you procrastinated. 

Number three is indecision. As I said, one of the attributes of a great leader is being decisive. To develop persistence, we must be decisive. Time is money. If you’re procrastinating and being indecisive, you’re blowing time, you’re blowing money. Make a decision, and go with it. If it doesn’t work, you can change your approach and make another decision to go at it again. Many of the most successful people in the world have had to make many painful decisions along the way. However, they made a decision, they persisted, they stayed the course, and they became successful.  

Another big one is blaming others and not taking full ownership. If you’re a leader, if you’re anybody in this world, don’t blame, take ownership, own everything good and bad in your world, in your life, in your business, with your team, and only then can you address the trueness of what needs to happen to make it better. 

Lack of organized plans. If you don’t have an organized plan, how can you persist in checking off the boxes and following through on that plan? “Fail to plan, plan to fail.”Something to thinkabout.  

To wrap it up, here’s the big one, fear of criticism. Who out there is fearful of what other people might think, of what other people might say? No offense, but who gives a crap? If you’re clear on how you’re showing up in this world, what value you deliver, and how you impact your team, and your family, who cares what other people think? I was watching BRANSON on television; it’s a three-part series on Showtime or HBO. Richard Branson owns his own Necker Island, and I was astonished of when he wanted to buy the island years prior, the bid asking price was $4.4 million. Richard Branson told them all he had was $80,000. Are you kidding me? Seriously, 4.4 million, and you offer $80,000? Of course, they poo-pooed the idea. However, a year later they came back because they had no bidders, and they said if he upped his price, the island was his. Well, Richard Branson paid $110,000 for Necker Island, which was originally bidding for $4.4 million. I’m sure if the news got out that he bid $80,000 for a $4.4 million island, many people would criticize him for his decision. They may have concluded that he’s arrogant, who knows? Who cares? He got his own island for $110,000, that’s all I know. Who has the hutzpah to say, “I’ve only got $80,000,” when they’re asking for 4.4 million? So, who cares what other people think? The most important thing is what you think.  

So, here are some additional areas to self-reflect and judge yourself on, if you want to get better it’s all about being clear on what you’re good at, and what you’re not, and persisting in getting better each and every day in all those areas.  

COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com

This week, I’m going to cover, again from the book, Think and Grow Rich, the 30 actual major causes of failure; that if we don’t address them, it could take us down in both business and life. Today I’m going to share just eight of the thirty with you.  

The first one is a lack of a well-defined plan and purpose. I previously talked about it in leadership and persistence. If you don’t have a well-defined purpose or plan, you’re aimlessly wandering the world with no vision or purpose. Ask yourself, “Why are you here? What are you here to deliver?” Get clear on that, and get up every day with the motivation and desire to fulfill on that purpose.  

Number two is the Lack of Self-Discipline. I hear so many people say, “Yeah, I just don’t have the discipline.” Well, get the discipline. Start small. If you want to work out, get up a half hour early and just start walking. If you want to be more disciplined in work, go to the office a half hour earlier to get dialed in on exactly what action steps you’re going to take for the day, and how you’re going to show up. The bottom line is, to be successful we need to have self-discipline. 

Number three, Procrastination. I said it before, procrastination is the opposite of using your personal power. We have things inside of us that we need to get out to make things happen. If you’re procrastinating, you are leaving stress, time, energy, and money on the table. We’re here to build wealth for ourselves, our families, and our community. Why wait for tomorrow for what you can do today?  

Number four, Lack of Persistence. I talked about it the last few weeks, how to develop persistence, as well as some of the symptoms of failure of persistence. We need to work on being persistent. It is the one thing that got me to where I am today, just being persistent. The most wealthy, abundant, successful, and satisfied people on this planet, had many obstacles they had to overcome, however, they were clear on their plan and purpose, and they were persistent in going after it every day. 

Indecisiveness … Those who are extremely successful are decisive. Those who are unsuccessful are indecisive. If you have a tough time making decisions, you need to shine that up, because that along with procrastination, will place you way behind the eight ball, as they say.  

Wrong Partner in Marriage … Wrong Partner in Business. Be very clear on who you choose as your mate, and who you choose as your partner. It makes a huge difference. I will tell you, for myself and any of my clients, if it isn’t right at home, it isn’t going to be right in the office. If you’re having challenges with the ones you love, the ones closest to you, you cannot be on your A game as a leader in your organization. And if you can, God bless you. I haven’t figured it out. When things are all right at home with the one I love, man, I’m on my A game, and that’s what sets me free because I can’t do this alone, my wife is my biggest backer. Same thing in business. Make sure you have the right partner. And make sure it’s a partner that offsets your strength so you balance each other out.  

And most importantly, a Lack of Concentrated Effort, it’s one of the major causes of failure. It’s all about being clear on what you want … pure intentionalism. What’s important now? No shiny objects, not five minutes from now, not a half hour ago, not what’s happening at the end of the day, the concentration of effort on exactly what I need to do now to get the result I’m looking for.  

That’s it. That’s just eight of the 30 major causes of failure. If you would really want to learn and master the principles which I’ve been talking about over the last few weeks, join me on February 28th for 12-week Deep Dive Mastermind Think & Grow Rich book study. As when you master the principles in this book, I guarantee you it will change your life. 

COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com