Peter Drucker wrote a classic article for the Harvard Business Review called Managing Oneself.  In this Performance Principles, I relate how Dwight Eisenhower failed to manage himself effectively and went from being known as a brilliant person in press conferences to being a klutz.

The Payoff – we have to know ourselves and manage ourselves in order to be effective.  As Nathaniel Branden, who has written about 20 books on self esteem, has said – no one is coming to help us.  We have to take responsibility for managing ourselves if we expect to be successful.

People who get ahead take 100% responsibility for their own lives and careers.  This does not mean that you can win by yourself.  No man (or woman) is an island.  However, each one of us has to grow up and realize that life is difficult.  Business is filled with problems.  The people who get ahead think ahead, manage themselves well, play to their own strengths and (critically) manage their own weaknesses.

Darren Hicks, CEO of Hicks Consulting, has written a great article for the EO Magazine Octane on how he learned the power of candor as a Navy SEAL and has worked hard to apply it to his business. Good stuff to read, internalize, share, and implement. http://bit.ly/navysealscandor

As Carmichael says, this is an example of a guy who doesn’t understand that you have to have some easy days (and some days off) in order to push yourself to the edge on your tough workout days.  Most bike racers have difficulty accepting this and so, as the saying goes, their easy days are too hard and their hard days are not hard enough. Because they refuse to pace themselves, they also are unable to push themselves to the edge when they should.

During this last year, my “hard days” got harder because I was writing a book – but my easy days got harder too.  I simply ran out of time to get everything done.  Then I realized that I had to stop trying to control everything that was going on.  I was getting overwhelmed. Instead, I had to schedule in some easy days to let me recover and help me keep working hard and smart.

Performance Principle:  We all have to figure out how to work hard without burning out.  Here are a couple of practical steps that have helped me do this during the past year.

First, I am doing my best to bring closure to each day.  When I walk out of my office at the end of the day, I am working hard to have completed at least the most important tasks of the day so that I can have a sense of closure.

Second, I am working hard to keep my weekends work-free (or at least my Sundays, I am writing this on a Saturday morning).

Third, I have started to schedule an occasional strategy day out of the office.  I did this a couple of weeks ago, and it was amazing.  I had a breakfast meeting out of the office, and I just did not go back.  I took my laptop, went to a coffee shop, and thought, strategized and planned.  I couldn’t get my wireless connection to work, so I didn’t even have wireless access – and it made the day better, not worse.  Fewer distractions and no email helped me create a to-do list and set my priorities.  I did that planning three weeks ago and I have been more productive since because I have a plan to follow.

So, think about some ways to schedule some easy days into your schedule that will make you stronger and more endurable for the work you have to get done.

One of the things I respect about Kevin is that he lives his message – he is a terrific promoter and he knows how to create a big splash and build a brand. Kevin is dead set on getting his book on the New York Times Bestseller list. For proof, check out his video: www.AwesomeRoar.com

This is a challenge to all of us when it comes to building our brand and helping people to connect with the value we provide.

The A-player janitor: As Auren points out, you don’t need a Harvard MBA to qualify as an A-player, and every role in your organization can be filled with a superior performer. So, I would ask you: what is the A-player profile for a janitor? If you were going to hire a truly superior person to fill that role,what results would demonstrate superior performance and A-player status?

Relentlessly resourceful: A-players in general know how to get things done. They don’t settle for results that are easily obtainable with current resources. They leverage what they have and find new ways to achieve results that go beyond what most other people are achieving.

Getting back to people: I think this is a great point – many highly effective people are incredible at following up and following through. They “close the loop” with people. They write a note to say thank you. They get back to others quickly. I wonder if this is not in part driven by the fact that very successful people often recognize that it is relationships and relational capital as much more than technical expertise that creates success.

More good points in this article, worth your time to take a look.

Fast forward five or six years. Eisenhower is now the 34th President of the United States. Both his predecessors Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman loved responding to live questions from the press without preparation. Instead of changing the format of these press conferences to play to his strengths (he was a reader, not a listener), Eisenhower tried to provide answers without requiring pre-submitted questions. As a result, the same reporters who lauded him just years before now considered him incompetent.

Performance Principle: We have to manage ourselves; no one else is going to do it for us. For example, I have learned over time that I learn by talking. Literally, unless the words come out of my mouth, I don’t really know what I think. Furthermore, I make better decisions if I talk things through with others before I act. The combination of “learning by talking” and getting the feedback of someone I trust yields consistently better results for me.

Learn how you learn. Pay attention to the setting, situations, and environments in which you thrive and spend more time there. Identify the circumstances that play to your weaknesses – and re-engineer them. You have to set yourself up to succeed.

If you have not read this classic article by Drucker, you should. You have to pay for the download but it’s worth it.

Thanks,

Eric

While prioritization is not exactly a new idea, I have a challenge for you. Before the end of the day today, figure out the single most important thing you must complete tomorrow. Tomorrow, first thing, work on that number one priority and don’t stop until it is complete.

I have found that if I take this approach, I will not get everything done (because that is impossible), but I will end each day with the confidence and peace that I have completed (or at least made progress on) the most important things on my agenda. I have a hunger to bring important things to completion, “move the ball forward,” make meaningful progress, and control my work rather than allow it to control me. If prioritizing and then executing on my priorities can help me to get there, I am all for it.

This quote reminded me of the fact that the one thing you can’t outsource, synthesize, or fake is true passion. The biographer Robert Caro states that when Lyndon Johnson was Senate Majority Leader and had a new piece of legislation he wanted to push through, he would go into his office and repeat to himself – repeatedly and out loud – all the reasons why this legislation was the right thing to do. He would literally work himself into a passionate furor, and he did this so often that his staff had a name for it. Johnson is “winding himself up” again, they would say.

Johnson did this because he knew that it was impossible to sell something without believing in it completely and passionately. Music producers will tell you that in this digital age they can synthesize almost any musical element they want except for emotion. If artists can’t or won’t sing from the heart, and if they are unable or unwilling to connect with their audience emotionally through their music, no amount of post-production work can instill heart into a song.

Performance Principle: You can’t fake passion. You have to look at your work and your product and figure out how to get some passion for what you do every day. Good work alone is not enough to grow your customer base or expand your “following.” No one can or should care more about your work than you do. If you’re not passionate about what you do, how can you expect customers or others to commit their money and attention to your products or services?

Here are some questions to consider:

• Do your customers feel your passion for what you sell, or do they sense you are just going through the motions?
• Does your team know that you have a gut-level excitement for what you are doing?
• Do you have a vision for your work that goes beyond the day-to-day tasks that you complete every day?

Often, regaining passion for our work does not require changing what we do. Rather it means shifting how we view what we do. If you are in the insurance business, you don’t just sell insurance – you help people provide for the financial security of their families. If you are in the hotel business, you don’t just rent rooms – you help others get business done. If you are in the consulting business, you don’t just sell billable hours – you help people build great businesses. This kind of perspective helps you to regain your passion by viewing your current business through a new lens.

So, get away from the daily grind of work and think big and strategically about your business. You can schedule a weekend strategy retreat with your team. When I lead these sessions for clients, I often find that people emerge re-energized about their business. Or, maybe you just need to take that vacation you have been putting off. Finally, you can schedule a trip to New York City, hang out with some great people, and find some time to think – really think – about your business. It worked for me.

The fact is, he and his partners worked for 10 long years to start and build this business.  For most of that time, they worked like dogs and got very little credit or attention.  He told me once that, “There are some things that I had to do to build this business that I will never, never do again.”  These were not illegal or unethical things.  They were incredibly demanding times of all work, not sleep, and complete risk.

Performance Principle:  It takes a long time to be an overnight success.  Accept the fact that there are no shortcuts.

Researchers have identified what they call the ten-year rule when it comes to becoming a world-class performer.  As Fortune magazine said, “Even the most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class, a pattern so well established researchers call it the ten-year rule.”  (“What it takes to be great,” Fortune, October 30, 2006).

If you are toiling away at an area where you don’t have any talent, no amount of time will be enough to make you a success.  But if you have ability, then here are some principles to keep in mind for becoming a master of your own craft:

• Master the basics. Every craft – business, medicine, art – has its technical skills and mastering those technical skills can be tiresome.  But you have to master the basics if you want to be world class.
• Cultivate relationships. Technical ability is rarely sufficient to get you to the top.  Be intentionally about developing relationships and staying in touch with people throughout your career.  Keep your Outlook or other contact management software up-to-date.  Look for opportunities to connect and reconnect with others in and out of your field.  These relationships are just as much the currency of success as are your technical abilities.
• Use compounding interest to your benefit. If you can improve your results by 10% per month, in 7 months you will be 100% better than you were when you started.  Don’t be afraid to make small improvements and allow those improvements to build on one another.  Before you know it you will be an expert.
• Enjoy the work itself.  Many of us are motivated by the financial rewards, power, and respect that achievement brings.  That’s fine when kept in perspective, but to sustain a long-term commitment to our work, we have to find some rewards in the work itself.  At the end our careers and lives, the only one who is going to really care about what you accomplished at work is you.
• Get the word out. All of us are in the marketing business.  It’s not enough to be good at something.  You have to be able to communicate the problems that you solve through your expertise, and to build a brand for yourself and your abilities that creates credibility and draws people to you.  If this smacks of self promotion, take a moment to consider how many truly talented people there are whose skills and abilities are underutilized because they could not figure out how to build a following.
• Don’t ever quit. As Ross Perot purportedly said, “Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success.”