September 19, 2013 by

Why Are Buying Shoes and Getting Motivated Similar?

MotivatedThere are countless books and materials on “How to get motivated” or “What are some motivational techniques?” Although this material is interesting and you are able to learn a tremendous amount by partaking, it seems to me, how one gets motivated is very much like buying a pair of shoes.

Everyone has a different size foot. The length of the foot is unique. The width of the foot is unique. The combination of these two measurements becomes a unique combination. Add to the mix high arches, low arches and who knows what else and we have quite a number of possibilities.

This is just like motivation. Depending upon what it is we are being motivated to take action upon, we each may require another type of motivating factor.

It might actually become easier to identify what types of behavior will definitely not motivate you to take action – on anything. For example, a number of us would probably agree that being yelled at, screamed at and verbally abused would not be the way to motivate us to take action. It may come as a shock, but there are certain groups of people who find these techniques do work, and in fact, is the standard by which everything works out for both sides. Think about high school football coaches and players in Louisiana or Texas, just to name two locations. This is not to condone or pass judgment on the correctness or incorrectness of this behavior in this setting. Just pointing it out as it does exist and happens to fit this topic.

You may find you are motivated by a different style or method, depending upon what the timing, urgency and other factors related to the action which needs to take place. It is my suggestion that you create a simple grid for yourself. The purpose is to conduct a bit of research about you. This will enable you to immediately overcome the analysis by paralysis we all face when we are dealing with the unknown.

First, mark down what you know about yourself. What types of motivation work with you when you have an urgent matter to take care of? How about when the due date is out further, yet others want to see progress, not something whipped up at the last minute.

Second, is to ask others to answer these same questions – about you – from their perspective. You should now have a clear picture of what motivators will work for you and when. Consider these your strengths and continue to build these up and allow others that you are working with and interacting with to know these facts about you.

If you ignore this advice you might just find that your feet will hurt and you need to purchase a new pair of shoes.

Care to share some of your key motivators and for what type of activity?

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Coach Mentor Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
April 17, 2013 by

That is me! That is exactly how I am behaving in my business!

BusinessYou know you need to do something different in your business. One aspect, or more, in your current operation is just not working out. It might even be a combination of multiple items. Here are a few stories which are meant to have you think, and you might even come to the conclusion, “That’s me. That is exactly how I am behaving in my business!”

First story – Do you know how to ride a bicycle? Have you ever learned to ride a bicycle? A few items must be pointed out here. One is you never forget how to ride a bicycle, once you know how to ride a bicycle. You probably saw others riding a bicycle before you learned to ride a bicycle yourself. You might have fallen off the bicycle once, twice, three times or more before you rode the bicycle yourself without falling. Now that you are older, you do not own a bicycle, but you still know how to ride a bicycle. You are able to teach someone else how to ride a bicycle.

Second story – You want to lose some weight. Maybe you know it is ten to fifteen pounds you want to lose and that is your goal. You decided Sunday night that this week was the week you were going to start watching your diet and begin to lose that weight. Monday was a bad day. There was news which upset you all over the internet and TV. You had a few confrontations with prospects and one with a former client. When these happened, you ended up skipping lunch and stopped to have two slices of pizza and a large soda. When you arrive home you eat cold leftover Chinese food, a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. You say to yourself as you go to bed, “I will start my diet tomorrow.”

Third story – The idea of running a 10K or a Marathon has always been one of your dreams. You have not really worked out for years, maybe a decade. The first thing you do is go to the sporting goods store, like Dicks’ Sporting Goods, and purchase some running shoes and some workout clothes for running. The next day you go out for a run. It is so enjoyable. You see groups of people running together. Everyone has their own pace and speed. The day after that you cannot move as you are sore all over your body. You are barely able to move one leg in front of the other. You decide to subscribe to a few running magazines. Each time one of these running magazines arrives, you lay down on the couch and read it from cover to cover. You have not gone out to run again since that first day.

Each of these stories should have you thinking about yourself or someone you know. Just to be absolutely certain we are all on track, here are a few observations. These are not intended to be statements of the defining moment or lesson from the story. It is being given as an additional thought for you to consider.

In the first story about the bicycle, we all get this one don’t we? Someone showed you how to ride a bicycle, you saw others riding bicycles, you may have fallen down and you always got back up. You never forget how to ride a bicycle. How does this translate to your business and how you work?

In the second story about losing weight, what if the only food available at home was healthy food to eat? What if the starting weight was written down and placed in a location easy to see on the refrigerator door with empty boxes for a weekly weigh in? What if each meal and snack was planned throughout the entire day the day before? How does this example translate into ways you approach your business and your work?

In the third story about the interest in running, what if a running plan was set up for the month? Dates and distances were placed in the plan with scheduled rest days and space for the time to be entered.

There are a number of other solutions for these specific stories. The point is if you said, “That is me! That is exactly how I am behaving in my business!” What are you going to do about it?

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified personal and executive coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Achieve Goals, Self Improvement Tagged With: , , , , , ,
April 3, 2013 by

Top Ten Ways To Make Certain Your Day Is Non-Productive and Uninspiring

Business SuccessAn inspirational speaker or book takes you places you just love! Don’t you enjoy these moments? People are so creative and we are all so blessed to meet other people and enjoy their unique gifts!

What do we do when we meet someone who is, shall we say, ‘off the grid’? In order to be of service to some of these folks – this article is for them. Hope it helps. Feel free to pass it on.

Some folks want to go out of their way to have a non-productive and uninspiring day. Rather than make this task so difficult for them, here is a list of top ten ways to make certain your day is non-productive and uninspiring:

1.  Start off your day, as soon as you wake up and say out loud, “Here we go again, another day, another dollar.”

2.  Grab the remote before you even wash your hands and face, and turn on Constant Negative News. Or turn on your personal favorite negative news channel, with the volume as high as possible.

3.  As you are leaving your residence think to yourself, “What a dump. I can’t believe I live here.”

4.  Anytime you are driving or walking you note the person in front of you has no clue how to drive or walk and you maneuver to pass in front of them as soon as possible.

5.  Throughout your day, anytime you are on a line, you are certain the line you are on is moving slower than the one next to you. If you should change lines to the faster line, you are now certain the line you were on before is now moving faster than the line you are on now.

6.  If anyone greets you and smiles, you look down and grunt and keep walking.

7.  Never smile or laugh throughout the day. What is so funny anyway?

8.  Check your email, your phone, your watch and the clock on the wall more often than your heart beats each hour.

9.  Have absolutely no written plan or agenda for your day, or the next day, or the next day. In fact you wonder where the years have gone as time moves so slowly at work and so quickly through your life.

10.  At the end of your day, you have no idea what value you have added to anyone, or what you have accomplished or not. All you want to know is what is on TV tonight or maybe catch up on your TiVo recordings.

Do you know anyone who has one or more of these traits? Pass this article on to them.

The truth is if you see yourself in even one of these items in your day we have some work to do.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified personal and executive coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
March 27, 2013 by

Three Steps to Free Up Your Time

In a previous article, Time to Watch How You Spend Your Time, it was suggested that you should track your time, in order to identify time wasters built into your schedule. In order to effectively put into use the three steps described below, a time tracking method should have been completed by you, for you, for at least a week or two.

One other calculation will be necessary in order to proceed. What is an hour of your time worth?

Step One – Review your time tracker results described in the previous article. Identify what you spent time on into a few categories. For example, “Items I must do” might be one column. Another column might be, “Personal Chores”. Another column might be, “Items someone else might be able to do.” If these example columns were your columns where are you spending most of your time? If your answer is “Items I must do”, you are being challenged right now to prove it. Is everything you are doing of the value you placed upon your hour of time value?

Step Two – In the review of your time tracker results what items do you spend time on at various times of the day which might be ‘batched’ in order to save time?

For example, if you are attending a networking lunch and in this similar geographic region are clients or prospects, call to make an appointment before or after the networking lunch. Take advantage of where you will be physically and utilize this time in this location to conduct other beneficial activities.

Step Three – What time of day and how often are you checking your email or writing emails based upon the results of your time tracker results? Schedule one or two times per day of a specific start and end time to read and/or respond to emails and stick to it. There are valuable lessons worth noting here of great importance. Your own habits in this area of responding to emails and reading emails create the urgency and expectation from others that you will respond to them in a quick and fairly immediate fashion. When you create the habit, and stick to it, of only interacting with email one or two specific times of the day at most, within a brief period of time the ‘urgency’ will change. You will relax and realize every email does not need to be answered immediately and your other side of the emails sent to you will recognize you will be responding to your emails when you get around to it, not sooner.

Incorporate these three steps into your schedule and you will free up time to utilize on other items of your choice.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified personal and executive coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Achieve Goals, Focus, Habits Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
March 20, 2013 by

Time to Watch How You Spend Your Time

Time ManagementIf you are in business or running your own business, have you shopped in person or online at Staples or Office Depot recently?

They have everything there for you to run a successful business. It is amazing! You are able to buy an iPad, ink for your printer, all models, a chair for your desk, a desk and more. One question though about their stocking practices and inventory. The sales people were not able to direct me to the aisle where they sell more time. No one, not even the manager, was able to tell me the price to buy more time and how they would sell it to me.

The most precious commodity we have is time. Once you use it up you cannot replace it. There is nothing new about this information. Some will say, “Well, we are pulled in different directions because of technology these days.” The reality is yes we all are and that is part of this discussion. However, there have always been distractions to pull time away from you. Consider when a television was first introduced into the home of the average person. People would watch their television for hours and hours. Today there are a variety of technological tools which are pulling time away from us.

Let’s address technology first. Even if you and every single person who reads this article passes this article on to one thousand people each, and they pass this article on to another thousand people, it is doubtful it will be read by anyone who cannot turn off their electronic devices and all means of telephone and internet communication for ten days or more. The world will still be spinning. The ocean waves will still be there. You might not enjoy the experience and you may find it to be uncomfortable. The reality is we have created the habits we choose to continue to support and live with.

How do we create more time? If you are ready to create more time here is the exact formula to follow. Don’t take any shortcuts. Just follow the formula. Track your behavior and use of your time with specific information for the next one week, two weeks, three weeks or an entire month, your choice. The tracking is in fifteen minute intervals. What exactly are you doing in those fifteen minutes? At the end of the week add up your totals of how you spent your time. If you selected a month for your tracking, still add up your totals at the end of the week. Once the tracking is completed you will find the gaps and the time wasters which are currently part of your regular schedule.

Want to have three specific steps to free up the time that you need for anything you want to do? Start tracking your time now and come back and see next week’s article.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified personal and executive coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Achieve Goals, Habits Tagged With: , , , , , ,