Transforming
Your Commitment into Reality
By Ed Rigsbee
(858 words)
In a tough economy, it is
quite easy for sales and business development persons to blame the economy
for their lack of prospecting and follow through. It is equally as easy
for business owners and leaders to hunker down into sluggishness and
immobility. Put more bluntly; just blame your shortcomings on the economy,
everyone else does.
The
Question
What keeps you from doing
what you say? That was the survey question I recently put out to a wide
range of business leaders and solo practitioners.
I was quite amazed at one of the responses that kept repeating,
“I always do what I say.” First, that was not the question, however
quite a number of respondents seemed to feel it necessary to tell me that
they were not guilty of my query. Second,
I did not believe a one of them. Be it to customers and colleagues or
family and friends—even to one’s self; not a one of us ALWAYS does
what we say!
Why
We Do—Not
Below, I have listed for
you my survey results. The first two on the list are one in the same to
me; however I listed them separately because they are subsets of the
issue.
16%
- Poor prioritizing
10% - Lack of time
11% - Fear of
failure/lack of self confidence
9.5%
- Lack of focus/distractions
9.5%
- No motivation/purpose/passion
8.5% - Over commitment
8.5% - Change in
priorities
4% - Circumstances beyond
personal control
5% - Miscellaneous
18% - Denial (I always do
what I say response)
Total equals 100%
A
Quarter of the Respondents
As I stated earlier, I
believe that poor prioritizing and lack of time are one in the same.
Adding them together and that is the reason one-fourth of the folks that
responded offered as the key reason for them not doing what they say. Is
the answer to hire a productivity professional? I really do not think so.
These people need a reason to do better. They are in their comfort zone
and are not being challenged. Unfortunately, their attitude is I’ll get
to it when I get to it. If something really matters to these people, they
will make it priority one and find the time—I guarantee.
What
About Denial?
The next to the highest ranking answer
category (18%) was what I refer to as denial—they just will not admit
any shortcomings. Every one of the twelve-step programs for overcoming
dependencies calls for your admission of problem as an early step. How in
the world can you fix it if you will not admit there is a problem? Sure,
some might be near perfect in doing what they say, in one area: customers,
colleagues,
friends, family, or self—but come on, we are all human and imperfect.
Pain
Verses Pleasure
I believe that, for the
majority of the population, pain is more persuasive than pleasure. Simply
put, people tend to be more motivated to avoid pain than by the promise of
pleasure. Yes, sure—you have examples to prove me wrong; however I will
stand with my statement. And, if you really think about the population in
general, you’ll surely agree with me—especially in the area of getting
things done.
Mechanisms
for Achievement
Regardless of the reason
behind non-performance, ultimately you want to end the anxiety of lost
opportunities and unfulfilled promises and learn how to get the things
done that you said you would. In achieving the results you want there are
four basic mechanisms for doing this:
- Do
it yourself. You have a “come
to Jesus” talk with yourself and motivate yourself to do better.
This method tends to be short lived and you will most likely backslide
into your old habits of non-performance.
- Get
a friend to be your accountability buddy. If you seek help from a
friend by giving them permission to hassle you when you do not do what
you say, you will get things done for a while. However at some point
your friend will give up hassling you. This is because at some point
they will perceive that to push you any harder will damage the
friendship and they value the friendship more than your productivity.
- Get
a distant colleague as your accountability buddy. This method will
generally last much longer than the first two as long as both
accountability buddies are somewhat pushing equally. Since there is
much less of a quality of friendship at issue, each will feel
empowered to drive the other harder and for a longer period of time.
- Get
a paid accountability advisor. If you are really serious about
doing what you say, there is nothing better than a paid advisor.
First, since you are spending your money, you appreciate the
relationship more. Second, it is your advisor’s job to not accept
your BS excuses for non-performance. A paid advisor with whom you
communicate weekly, will in almost every situation, help you to go
further toward ending your anxiety of lost opportunities and
unfulfilled promises and help you to stay focused in the area of
getting the things done that you said you would.
Copyright
© 2010 Ed Rigsbee
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As
an internationally recognized keynote speaker on partnering, alliance, and
relationship ROI, Ed Rigsbee helps corporate and non-profit audiences to
end the anxiety of lost opportunities and unfulfilled promises and get
what they say done. Ed Rigsbee, Certified Speaking Professional,
has been fumbling, bumbling, and stumbling his way through the
organizational mazes of for-profits and non-profits for over four decades.
For the last two decades, Ed has been an observer, researcher, and
teacher; helping organizations of all sizes to build successful internal
and external collaborative relationships. In addition to serving corporate
and non-profit clients in their partnering, alliance and relationship ROI
needs, Ed also serves as the executive director of a (501 c 3) public
non-profit charity. Ed has authored three books and over 1,500 articles
helping organizations to take full advantage of their potential. Contact
Ed, through www.Rigsbee.com for
assistance and to access a number of his complementary resources for doing
better.
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