Are You A Maker Or A Manager? (WT733)

Are You A Maker Or A Manager? (WT733)

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by Shirley Dalton | 12 Jul, 2024 | Blog, Systems and Processes

WT 733 Are you a maker or a manager

I just love it when my clients share educational information with me, especially when I’m looking for inspiration for the Weekly Thought.

I awoke this morning to an SMS which read, “Morning Shirl, Just sharing this Alex Hormozi clip on a concept I thought you might like – a good one here about makers and managers.”

Thank you, Mark.

I listened to the podcast whilst at the gym this morning and it was all about how we invest our time.

According to Hormozi, (who also wrote “$100M Leads” and “$100M Offers”) there is a big difference between the work of a maker and the work of a manager and the relevant time periods required by each.

Hormozi claims this productivity system made him $100M.

To summarise, managers are productive when they are in meetings and makers are productive when they are working alone creating (making) something.

When managers ask, “Have you got a minute?”, it’s a big risk to the maker, especially if the maker is making something or is in maker’s time.

I related to his definition of maker time. When I am working on client systems, I need maker time. I need to lock myself away so I can think and develop systems. I also need this time when I am creating training courses for clients.

I also related to manager time, when we might be making calls or conducting client meetings or coaching or training.

How about you?

Are you a maker or a manager?

Here’s the rub, both types of work need to intercept at some point. Managers need to give the CEO an update and the CEO needs to communicate the vision, plan and resources required.

The balancing act is how to make these two different types of work co-exist harmoniously and productively.

Hormozi suggests a number of techniques, one of which is for the maker to schedule meetings to fill one of the maker’s entire time periods instead of adhoc meetings that can disrupt more than one assigned period.

Another is for managers to respect that when the maker is in maker time, they don’t interrupt.

Listening to the podcast, I also started thinking about the teachings from EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) who advocate meeting rhythms to ensure all relevant stakeholders are communicating and holding each other accountable for agreed outcomes and how this fits with what Hormozi is advocating.

Have a listen to the podcast and let me know what you think.

It certainly inspired me to be more protective and systematic with my biggest asset – my time.

What about you?

Here’s the link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NzLKKEhH9T1QJ3RE6nC00?si=y5peokgRTPeZqIz-QaDHUw

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

Don’t Let Your G.O.A.L Become Your G.A.O.L (WT732)

Don’t Let Your G.O.A.L Become Your G.A.O.L (WT732)

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by Shirley Dalton | 5 Jul, 2024 | Blog, Mindset

WT 732 Don't let your Goal becone your Gaol

This week’s topic might be a little thought provoking.

I hope so.

I received a link from my colleague Lee Woodward to listen to an interview he did with Charles Tarbey. Lee is widely known in the real estate industry and has been training principals and sales people for over 30 years. Charles is the Century 21 Australasia Chairman.

Charles explained to Lee how destructive goals can be and how goals are really short term objectives on the way to achieving our dreams.   Link below if you’d like to listen to the interview.

As it turns out, I was coaching with a client, we’ll call him Barry, a couple of days later who was concerned he didn’t have goals. He was questioning whether he wasn’t allowing himself to have goals or maybe he wasn’t destined to achieve them.

This led to a very robust conversation about goals, goal setting and mindset.

In fact, it was Barry who said, your goals can become your gaol.

I thought this was very profound and the reason I put dots in between the letters in the heading is to distinguish between the spelling of goals and gaols.

At times we can become so fixated on the goal and how it is meant to be achieved that we lose sight of the fact that goals are there to propel us forward on our journey.

Goals set the destination, however it’s the journey to the destination that we remember. If you’re like most people, as soon as you have achieved something you wanted, you quickly reach for something else.

So here’s another concept to add to the mix, that of “precession”.

Buckminster Fuller defined precession as “the effect of bodies in motion on other bodies in motion”.

Precession is the action that occurs at ninety degrees to bodies in motion.

When applied to goals, the concept of precession means that we can set out to achieve a goal and find that we achieve it in a totally different way to what we expected (i.e. ninety degrees).

For example, a young man decides to go to Europe to find a girlfriend. He applies for a job as a tour guide. About a month before he is due to leave, he meets a girl and then has a dilemma.  Does he go to Europe to find a girlfriend, or has the goal been achieved already and he doesn’t need to go?

This is precession. We set a goal. We set the direction. We decide the how and start taking action and then somehow, miraculously, the goal is achieved, in a completely different way to what we expected.

What are your thoughts?

What do you think a goal is?

Do you believe it can become a gaol for you?

For me, I like what Charles Tarbey had to say.  Keep dreaming and set short term objectives to get into action.

Here’s the link to listen to the interview:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/top-100-business-stories-life-lessons-with-charles-tarbey/id1689351814?i=1000659697275

P.S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

Separate The Decision From the Doing (WT731)

Separate The Decision From the Doing (WT731)

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by Shirley Dalton | 28 Jun, 2024 | Blog, Systems and Processes

WT 731 Separate the decision from the doing

This week’s thought comes from Cham Tang, Co-Founder of Authentic Education.

Cham is a marketing and productivity expert.

He was conducting a group coaching session when someone asked about organising their time.

Cham’s answer sparked something within me.

He said, “Separate the decision from the doing”.

At first, I didn’t understand it and neither did the questioner.

“Separate the decision from the doing.”

Lots of people waste time when they sit down to work because they spend time deciding what to work on.

Decide before you sit down to work, so that when you sit down to work, you can get stuck into the task.

I’d not heard this before and yet it made so much sense to me.

When I thought about the days when I’m my most productive, they are the days when I know exactly what I have to do at the time.

Since I learned this, I’ve been practising.

I write a list of what I need to do and then I schedule the work.

It has made an immense difference to me.

I no longer sit down, clean my desk, make a list and end up not having enough time to do the task.

Because I now know what I am meant to be working on, I can focus. I am no longer allowing myself to get distracted.

Your task this week, if you’re up for it, is to schedule half an hour to sit down and go through your tasks and work out when you will complete then.

Your second task is to sit down and complete them at the assigned time.

Let me know how you go.

“Separate the decision from the doing.”

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

Perception Vs Intention (WT730)

Perception Vs Intention (WT730)

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by Shirley Dalton | 21 Jun, 2024 | Blog, Communication Skills, Mindset

WT 730 Perception vs Intention

Here’s a little story to help us see the difference between perception and intention.

Ross and I go to the gym of a morning.

Ross is generally ready before I am so he backs the car out of the garage and sits there with it idling.

I put my shoes on and close the garage door and get in the car.

For a while now, this behaviour has annoyed me.

Ignoring all my communication skills for effective confrontation, this week I got in the car and said, “It gives me the s…s when you sit there with the car idling. I feel pressured to hurry up and get going and I don’t like it.”

To which Ross replied, “Well, you can …. off. I start the car so it’s nice and warm for you when you get in.”

Ouch.

Here’s a classic example of perception vs intention.

My perception (or Automatic Listening according to Loretta Malandro) had me thinking Ross was getting impatient with me and I was taking too long.

This was not even close to the truth of his intention.

How often does that happen?

We make up a story based on what’s going on for us, that has absolutely nothing to do with what the other person intends.

Next time you find yourself making up a story, don’t rush in with a blurt that is critical and provoking. Take your time to explore the reasons why the other person might be doing what they are doing.

As in this case, they may actually have positive intentions for you.

I guess I can look forward to jumping into a cold car from now on.

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

It’s Hard To Visualise (WT729)

It’s Hard To Visualise (WT729)

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by Shirley Dalton | 14 Jun, 2024 | Blog, Mindset

WT 729 It's hard to visualise

We know how powerful visualisation can be.

Remember the Harvard study of the piano players where researchers tested 3 groups:

  1. Piano players physically playing the piano over 5 days
  2. Piano players not playing but visualising playing the piano over 5 days
  3. Control group who had nothing to do with piano playing.

The brain scans for the piano players were very similar, despite the second group not playing.

This supports the idea that our brains don’t know the difference between what we might call reality (in the physical) and imagination.

If we want to create a different outcome, we can use our imagination to bring it into the physical, except when we’re in what David Bayer calls, The Primal State.

Our primal state is the state of survival. It’s fight, flight or freeze.

It’s hard to visualise when we are in that state.

If we’re worried about our health or finances or relationships or work, it’s challenging to go from being worried, even despairing to feeling joy and bliss and hope.

And yet that’s exactly the state we need to be in to visualise and manifest.

So, what to do?

Every day, your job is to get yourself in The Powerful State.   The Powerful State, according to Bayer, is the state of rest and relaxation. It matches our parasympathetic nervous system for being calm and creative.

The way to do that is to do something you enjoy.

It’s a way of increasing your vibration and when you increase your vibration you have a better chance of attracting what you want.

What are some things you like to do?

What are some things you enjoy?

Do that!

For me, I love walking along the beach. I love looking out the window, sitting in my recliner with a hot cup of tea, letting the thoughts come and go. I love reading. I love learning. I love watching dogs play.

What do you love?

If you’re finding it hard to visualise, how about taking some time to get yourself out of the Primal and into the Powerful state.

Do something you love. Raise your vibration.

When you do, you’ll find it much easier to visualise and to feel the feelings of having the things you want.

I’m curious, what works for you and what do you want?

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

14 Years – You Have The Answers (WT728)

14 Years – You Have The Answers (WT728)

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by Shirley Dalton | 7 Jun, 2024 | Blog, Business, Mindset

WT 728 14 Years. You have the answers

Today we celebrate 14 years of writing a weekly thought and we haven’t missed one single week in all that time.

I am very proud of this achievement.

I am very proud of my commitment.

As I reflect back over the years, having started my business in October 2006, both the business and the Weekly Thoughts have evolved.

When I first started my business and attended networking events, people would ask me who I worked for.

I didn’t know what to say, so I said, “myself”.

That wasn’t a great answer.

They asked what I did.

I told them, “I help business owners streamline their systems and processes”.

They would reply, “Oh, you’re an IT person.”

“No.”

What I found was that when I finished a project and left the business to continue, the new systems often fell over.

Why was this?

It was because the owners and managers didn’t know how to lead and manage their people.

Evolution number 1 – I started coaching them one to one.

Evolution number 2 – I invested in more leadership training and offered small intimate intensive Leading Yourself and Leading Others experiences.

Evolution number 3 – as I learned more about mindset and neuroscience, we included Possibility into our framework of People and Process.

Evolution number 4 – changing the name Possibility to Potential.

Evolution number 5 – realizing that my clients are wanting High Performing Businesses with high performing people, high performing processes and high performance potential.

Over the years, most of my work has been word of mouth.

People would say to their colleagues, “You need to speak to Shirley”.

Speaking to some clients recently, asking them why they work with me and what benefits do they get, they all answered with a similar answer:

“I came to you because I was stuck. I didn’t know which way to turn. I didn’t know what to do. You listened to me. You didn’t interrupt. You allowed me to speak and then you reflected back what I had told you. Much like a mirror. When I heard myself through your voice I could easily evaluate what was going on. I found the answers and if I didn’t find the answers, you gave me the tools to find the answers.”

I just love that I can help you find your answers.  You have them inside of you.

Sometimes we just can’t see the label from inside the jar.

So this week, I want to thank you.

Thank you for being part of our community.

Thank you for allowing me to help you find your answers.

Thank you for being open to grow and develop.

Thank you for being you.

Thank you for being on this journey with me.

Happy anniversary!

P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

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