GoHuman Blog

The whole problem with not achieving goals is preoccupation.  And the greatest obstacle to happiness, to high performance, to personal wealth is preoccupation.  People don’t understand that.

When I work with people one-on-one, they don’t quite understand how distractible they are, and how preoccupied they get.  And how they wake up and decide, “Well, today, I’m going to do this project and I’m going to pursue my goals,” but five minutes into the day, they’re thinking about a thousand other things.  And the mind that thinks of a thousand things in one day is not going to get anywhere. No matter how fast it’s thinking!    But if the mind is on the right path, it doesn’t matter how slow or fast you go.  If you’re on the right path, you’ll get there.

The key is to slow down and focus all your energies on doing “that one most important thing” you’ve told yourself you were going to do today. Since the mind can only  focus on one complete thought at a time, why not put all your focus, all your concentration and efforts into doing that one thing to the very best of your ability? The beauty of it all is once it’s done, it’s done, and you can move on to the next most important thing, project or task on your list.

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.

Disciplining ourselves to do what we know we need to do to be the best in our chosen field is perhaps the most difficult, and at the same time, easiest request we could ask of ourselves. Self discipline is defined as this: “Self discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

It’s always easy to do something when we feel like doing it. It’s when we don’t feel like it and force ourselves to do it anyway, that are we able to transition our personal/professional lives onto the fast track.

So how do you get started? By asking what decisions need to be made today, in order to start moving up the success ladder. Regardless of what they may be, either get in or get out, make a decision today and get started. This one act itself, can change the entire course of your life.

-The first action step to take is deciding what you want in every part of your life. Be specific, rather than generalizing.

-Next, document it, detail for detail. A goal that’s not in writing isn’t a goal at all. Having a goal in writing puts it out there and makes it real. It’s no longer just a thought swimming around with the other 5,000 thoughts you have throughout any given day.

-Set a deadline for your goal. A deadline allows you to have a targeted completion date to work towards. A deadline motivates you to do what’s necessary to make your goal a reality

-Make a list of everything you can think of that will have to be done, in order to achieve your goal. As new tasks come to mind or occur that you might not have thought of before, add them to your list until it’s complete.

-Organize your list by priority. Determine what tasks or project items are more/less important. Begin with the most important item and work your way down to the least important, until complete.

-Take action! Regardless of how large/small the action step taken is, do something every day that will move you one step closer to achieving your goal. A plan is only as good as the paper it’s on, until it’s fully executed.

One of the greatest lies we tell ourselves is that to be successful, we have to know ”how-to” achieve the level of success we’re looking for. Fact of the matter is to be successful in anything we do in life, requires us to have the “want-to” and then ask “why do I want this to succeed?” Once we’ve asked ourselves what the intention is for us to succeed, we work towards strengthening our want-to, in order to know how-to.

If the want-to is strong enough, we’ll always find the how-to. Having a weak want-to on the inside, allows all the power to go to the outside, which leaves us feeling powerless. A weak internal want-to creates an exaggerated fear of the external forces, i.e. competition, economic conditions, lack of cash, employee conflict issues, etc…A behavioral change without action is utterly useless, because neither one is any good without the other.

When the desire or passion is absent, no system, regardless of how brilliant it may be, will work. Find the deep passion within you to want-to do something badly enough, and the how-to will always come.

Whether willing to admit to it or not, most of us have experienced (and most likely participated in) some sort of dysfunction, within the workplace. Depending upon to what extreme or level of hierarchy the dysfunction occurs, if not addressed & resolved, it can be toxic, with the potential to cause irrefutable damage, throughout an entire organization. So, what happens when there’s dysfunction within a team, how does one deal with it and how much, if any of it, can be controlled?

Trust is the heartbeat of a functioning, cohesive team and without it, teamwork is impossible. Unfortunately, we use the word “trust” about as often as we misuse it. In reference to team building, trust is the confidence among team members, who have good intentions and no reason to be cautious about what they say/do around one another. Teams that lack trust, waste exorbitant amounts of time, energy and ultimately money, managing their behaviors and interactions with one another. All of which will result in reduced employee morale and increased employee turnover.

In Patrick Lencioni’s “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” he writes about how the most important action a leader must take to encourage the building of trust on a team is to demonstrate vulnerability first. This requires them to risk losing face in front of the team, to ensure others will take the same risks themselves. He continues to say the leader/s must create an environment that doesn’t reprimand vulnerability. Even unintentionally, leaders can discourage trust by scolding others for weaknesses or failure. Finally, when displaying these acts of vulnerability, it’s critical that the leader/s be genuine and not fake. One of the best and fastest ways to lose trust on a team is to fake it, in order to manipulate other people’s emotions. A leader who displays regular acts of  being inauthentic, will most assuredly, be left with no one to lead.

In past blogs I’ve compared Corporations to Dinosaurs.

One reason is the “Reptilian Brain Stem” – where we get our fundamental survival instinct – the so-called “Fight Flight” response.

The DNA of even the best intentioned corporations, such as Apple and Google, determines it’s nature.  The purpose of corporate structure is to remove the personal risk to the creators and investors by creating a new entity, under the control of the creators, which acts to secure profits.   Even with the most noble of intentions, once this new entity reaches maturity, and the intentions of noble founders recede into the background, it uses its gargantuan power to dominate and control any market it can, for the profit purpose for which it was created.  Frankenstein style.

Most people don’t see Apple and Google that way.  Apple is cool, hip, stylish, trendy.  It’s customers identify with it, and are willing to pay premium prices.  At the opposite end we have Google.  So nerdy it’s cool, lavishing free stuff on all as it slowly worms it’s way into a position of absolute dominance relative to all information on the planet.  And information is power.

They’ve also had a cozy inbred relationship, even sharing Board seats – until recently.  Here’s an article that shows the Reptilian Nature inherent in their previously symbiotic relationship beginning to emerge.

GoHuman.com’s DNA is different.  I hope you’ll dig deeper to learn why!  We hope you’ll join us in deploying a better evolutionary model.  We hope you’ll use us to change the way your world works.

Why GoHuman.com?  Reason #12 is that we’re more Human!

Reason #1; Reason #2; Reason #3; Reason #4; Reason #5; Reason #6; Reason #7; Reason #8; Reason #9; Reason #10; Reason #11;

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a day of reflection on those who died in Military Service. In America it’s politically correct to speak out “in support of our troops” but war is controversial.

GoHuman.com is not afraid to challenge the status quo, question common wisdom and “make people think”. Historically it can be said that most of the men and women who have died in US wars gave their all for their ideals, but probably not all of them did, nor was every war a “just” war. With a history of drafts and volunteers, some “gave all” for the ideals of others or because the Military was a path to a better personal future.

I was born outside the US and have had two non-US passports. I’m now a US citizen, but still see multiple sides. There are many view-points on war, armed struggle and change. I was living in Germany when Dances With Wolves came out, a big hit there for reasons I won’t seek to explain here. Check out Soderbergh’s dual-movie 5+ hours on Che Guevara or other documentaries on civil wars to gain additional perspective.

GoHuman.com seeks to Change the Way Our World Works from the bottom up, one professional reputation and one connection at a time. There are numerous revolutionary principles embedded in the concept, business model and execution. For us Memorial Day is an inspiration to struggle, peacefully, for change. There are numerous ways to get involved, including a number of positions open. Let me know if you are interested.

GoHuman.com is serious about freedom and positive change, about dedicating our lives to a better future for all. Please let us know what you are doing to “Change the Way Your World Works”.

In memory of those who gave all for their ideals

Reason #1; Reason #2; Reason #3; Reason #4; Reason #5; Reason #6; Reason #7; Reason #8; Reason #9

Why GoHuman.com?  Reason #10 is that we provide a different perspective

Reason #11; Reason #12

The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept of “People, Planet, Profit“ demands that a company’s responsibility be to the people who are influenced in any way by the actions of the firm rather than the people who own it.

TBL is typically discussed in a big business context for two reasons: One, big businesses are by nature the farthest out of human touch with sustainability. Two, if you have to choose one business to make sustainable, a bigger business will have a bigger impact.

But what if we could create an integrated network of small local businesses and independent professionals with an eye on the ecological, economic, and social concepts expressed by the Triple Bottom Line related to their communities?

What if people all over the planet quietly frustrated with the status quo could find the voices of power they’ve lost in the wake of unprecedented corporate growth over the past century?

GoHuman’s vision is a world where these ideals are not afterthoughts, but rather integral and essential elements connecting every community and every business within those communities. We cannot afford for these to be abstract thoughts or luxuries. They are a necessary part of the emerging global consciousness and we need to integrate them into our personal and professional lives by igniting our tribal instincts.

In the United States and other parts of the world, the motivation to adopt this sustainable lifestyle is neither handed down by the government nor encouraged by our existing capitalist economic model. An intricate web of subsidies and loopholes has all but extinguished the basic humanity enjoyed in simpler times in favor of the almighty profit margin.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There is hope. We believe in a better way. It’s the passion that fuels GoHuman and the real people behind it — people just like you with the vision and gumption to do something about it.

It starts simply. It starts with an equitable marketplace that promotes balance amongst the people who use it by rewarding those who provide value with something equitable in return.

It starts with you.

Whom do you trust most when making a decision to hire someone or buy something?

Most likely, you trust people you know: friends who have given you good recommendations, colleagues who have particular expertise, family, etc.

This type of trust has taken on a new form through the Internet and social media. Reviews for products and services are prevalent on GoHuman and elsewhere. These are useful, to be sure, but are subjective in nature.

GoHuman is allying with trusted organizations that promote local businesses. To represent this trust in a reliable and intuitive fashion, we have added a Trust Badge feature to GoHuman, which allows you to showcase your earned certifications, affiliations, and partnerships right along with your business postings, endorsements, and feedback.

Our first Trust Ally was the Green Business League, that provides Green Business Certification. We are working with several organizations to allow their members to proudly display their Trust Badges with GoHuman.

You can help by telling us about the organizations you trust and want to show off with GoHuman. We’ll work together to provide more exposure for you and all your fellow members.

Ultimately this will help your online reputation, which will lead to more trust, which helps get you more leads.