GoHuman Blog

One of the many things I have yet to understand about the different personalities/perceptions people have is why some feel the need to continuously bash the competition. What good comes from doing this? Who does it serve?  They’re under some apparent impression that if they speak poorly about their competitors, it makes them appear confident. Ironically, it conveys the exact opposite message.

Take political advertisements for example; “I’m _____   _____ and I approved this message.”-Great. Good for you! Although I’m not too sure I’d be putting my name out there for the entire world to see/hear how I just slandered the #$%^ out of my competitor (who is still in business, mind you.) Competition is healthy and required. Without competition, there’s no motivation for improvement.

Let’s move to a more professional environment like the corporate worldJ. How often is it we hear from others or waste a lot of our own precious time (something we, in America, claim to never have enough of) gossiping, assuming, accusing, speculating or fabricating a story to be much more of “what we’d like it to be” (because the real facts are just plain boring) about what the competition did, didn’t do, is going to do but doesn’t even know it yet themselves?

Then there’s reality TV……Last evening, I watched the season finale of Master Chef (Gordon Ramsey’s series) and decided this topic would be a blog many would relate to. I didn’t say everyone would “like” it. The objective of the show is to find and be the first Master Chef. The winner receives a $250k check, a Master Chef book deal and presumably, no longer needs to be concerned with returning to their previous employer.

Throughout each episode someone would be eliminated at the end, depending upon how the judges rated their cooking abilities based off of presentation, taste and creativity. As the weeks progressed and the number of competitors dwindled, the show spent more time doing the quick minute interviews with those still remaining. I quickly noticed a pattern forming with a few contestants. It was as if their focus shifted from concentrating on creating the best tasting, most eloquent looking entrée, to being more concerned about how the guy/girl next to them can’t do this, does too much of that, cooks too fast. Of course, none of this mattered anyway and only further validated that they would be the first Master Chef. NEWS FLASH–there would only be 1 winner and ironically, the winner was someone who focused less on her competitors and more on her own strengths and skill-sets.

Speaking highly of your competition communicates a genuine confidence about you….. and confidence breeds confidence.

If it can be agreed upon by the majority of people that great time management is a desirable skill, why is it that so few people can be described as “well organized, effective, and efficient?” In my experience over the past several years, I’ve found that many people have ideas about time management that just aren’t true. I also know that if you believe something to be true, it becomes true for you. Your beliefs cause you to see yourself and the world, and your relationship to time management, in a particular way. If you have negative beliefs in any area, these beliefs will affect your thinking and actions, and will eventually become your reality. You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are.

Brian Tracy- a well known entrepreneur/leadership developer/motivational speaker outlines and describes time management as:

Three Mental Barriers To Time Power
The first negative belief about time management is that if you’re too well organized, you’re rigid and unemotional. Some people feel that they will lose their spontaneity and freedom if they are extremely effective and efficient.

Many people use this belief as an excuse for not disciplining themselves the way they know they should. The fact is that people who are disorganized are not spontaneous; they are merely confused, and often frantic. The key is structuring and organizing everything that’s within your control to allow you to make the most of your time, i.e.: thinking ahead; planning for contingencies; preparing thoroughly and focusing on specific results. Only then can you be completely relaxed and spontaneous when the situation changes.

The better organized you are in the factors that are under your control, the greater freedom and flexibility you have to quickly make changes whenever they are necessary.

The second barrier people tend to surround themselves with in regards to ineffective time management, is that it’s a trait that’s been programmed into them, either from their parents or other influential people in their lives, since early childhood.

If you were continuously told as a child, that you’re a messy person, unorganized, a procrastinator who waits until the last minute to do anything or always late, chances are that as an adult, you may still be operating under the same thought process.

Time management and personal efficiency skills are disciplines that we learn and develop through practice and repetition. If we’ve developed bad time management habits, the good news is we can unlearn them by replacing them with new/better habits, over time.

The third mental block to good time management skills is having a negative self-concept, or what’s commonly referred to as “self-limiting beliefs.” Many people believe that they don’t have the ability to be good at time management. They often believe that it is an inborn part of their background or heritage. The truth is there’s no gene/chromosome for poor time management, or good time management, for that matter. Personal behaviors are within your own control.

IMAGINE THIS………
Imagine if someone offered you a million dollars to manage your time superbly for the next thirty days. Imagine an efficiency expert following you around with a clipboard and a video camera for one month. After the thirty days, if you had used your time efficiently and well, working on your highest priorities all day, every day, you would receive a prize of one million dollars. How efficient would you be over the next thirty days?

Before compromising who you are, your integrity or the service you offer to customers by discounting your fee, in order to give them a “deal,” ask yourself one question: “Is my intent to serve or please my customers?” If it’s serving-that means you have something (product or service) they want and they see the benefits of how it can add value to them/their business. If your response implies you’re more concerned with whether or not the customer is pleased, that’s as good as saying you’ll lower your price, your morals, the belief you have in yourself and the product or service you offer, just to get “a sale.” That’s not serving to you or your customers.

They’ve already won, if you have a great service. You don’t have to add a new win for them on top of that win. If what you have is valuable, they’ve already won.  They’re coming in with a win; you don’t have to add to that. You need to stand proud and allow yourself to win, too, because they’ve already won because they’re doing business with you.

If who you are is great, they have already won by sitting down with you. You don’t have to add to their win by cutting some financial deal with them, and by helping them out of money mismanagement. If you’re in a negotiation for any contracted services, you don’t have to keep pushing money over to the other side of the table to help them out, and then cover it with thinking you’re trying to go for a “win-win.”

In many cases “win-win” can actually be defined as “I bailed out and gave them a deal because I really needed the business.” People do business with people they know, they like and they trust.  If they know you, like you and trust you, then they trust you are selling them exactly what they want and more.

A coach helps others improve their performance. When I say improve performance, I don’t merely mean that coaching can and will improve a person’s working life; it will also boost their productivity, the enjoyment and fulfillment they have at home and in other aspects of their lives. It’s about drawing out the untapped potential in others, to allow them to discover the things they don’t see within themselves. A coach recognizes their strengths and shows them how to leverage those strengths and use them to their advantage.

The travesty is that most people don’t get proactive when it comes to boosting their own performance. Many people do quite the opposite. They look for ways to get away with the minimum possible amount of work. Unfortunately, this type of attitude holds back many talented individuals.

Most of us know someone who’s failed their high school/college exams, miserably. There are; however, countless examples of such people who for one reason or another, went back to school/college and passed their exams with flying colors, the second time round. What changed? The answer is simple; their attitude changed. It is attitude which separates the good from the great. Given the choice of somebody to work with, I’d rather take someone with an outstanding, highly driven and determined attitude, who is hell bent on succeeding, then a person with a weaker attitude but notably, more ability.