To Your Talent Add.....

 

“Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive. It will cost you your life.”
― Irving Stone.

How many talented people have you come across who are not living the life you expected them to live? What keeps many talented people in the rut of struggle? How many times have you heard the term struggling artiste? There is nothing more common than talent without success.

Talented people are supposed to be living the dream life and some of them do? What then separates the two groups? Why do some people seem to find a way to hack their talents and live the good life while others can’t seem to get it right?

In the words of a book by John Maxwell I begin by saying Talent is never enough. Left on its own, talent doesn’t get you very far. You need to look at it as a first step on the staircase of success and fulfilment. Zig Ziglar said that the elevator to success room is out of order. You have to take the stairs. There are certain things you can do that unleash the potential of your talent just like there are things you do that keep your talent caged and never able to express itself.

According to James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, success with talent is a function of both nature and nurture. In this book he speaks about how Michael Phelps one of the greatest swimmers of all time has a body type that favors the sport he excels in. The point is that the natural makeup component which speaks of raw talent is significant and cannot be ignored. You therefore before anything else must ask yourself whether you have the natural ability to do what you are pursuing. It is far much easier to push yourself in the direction where your natural abilities are more likely to shine through. Someone else said we make a mistake when we judge a fish by its ability to fly. Fish thrive in the water. Take them out and they are at a significant disadvantage. The same thing applies to us. We can only thrive where our natural strengths are.

Having said that, there is the second aspect of nurture which deals with what I want to share with us here. What are you supposed to do to create an environment and conditions, favorable to the exploitation of your potential? I hope by now we are clear that talent is raw material. Raw materials are taken through a process of value addition before they come out as finished products which meet consumer needs and expectations. It is by going through the process that trees turn into paper, Think about the process of extracting gold to the point where it is ready to be used to make beautiful ornaments. When the gold is dug up out of the ground it is full of impurities of all kinds. I checked out science.howstuffworks.com/gold to understand how gold ore is turned into usable gold. I found the elaborate process I describe below in their own words. The first step is to break the ore into smaller pieces using crushers. It is then put through rotating drums where it is ground into to a fine slurry powder. The slurry powder is thickened with water and run through a series of leaching tanks. Leaching dissolves the gold out of the ore using a chemical solvent like cyanide together with oxygen. The chemical reaction causes the gold in the pulp to dissolve. Carbon grains are released into the tank and the gold adheres to them. Filtering the pulp through screens separates the gold bearing carbon. It then moves to a stripping vessel where a hot caustic solution separates the gold from the carbon. The gold bearing solution is electrowinned to recover the gold from the leaching chemicals. Then the smelting process begins. This process involves heating the ore at very high temperatures (1149 Degrees Celsius).  Flux is added to the molten material to separate the gold from the metal used to make the elctrowinning terminals. Flux is poured out and then the gold follows. Molds are used to transform the liquid gold into solid bars (dore bars) These bars are then sent to refineries for further processing. Refining involves removing impurities that remain after the smelting process. Workers add borax and Soda Ash to the molten metal which separates the pure gold from other precious and less precious metals. It is then taken to the lab for tests or assays to measure the content of gold in it. This refined gold is then made into bars ready for use. In some instances, there is need the pure gold to be mixed with other metals to form alloys like white gold for specific purposes. It is important for talented individuals to see themselves as a precious metal in the rough. Left to themselves, they amount to nothing much or they are used for mundane tasks. However refined and polished, they become such a treasure that they are deployed for only the noblest tasks.

There are no shortcuts to the top and only those willing to go through the process will make it. It is also important to note that the most precious metals go through elaborate processes to be ready for use. Be it Diamond or gold or any of the other metals we highly value, the process is long but worthwhile.

Metamorphosis Alert: Every Artist was once an Amateur-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

What kind of metamorphosis do your talents need to go through before they are fit for noble purposes?

I am sure you have come across this phrase but if not here it is. Charisma will take you to the top of the table but only Character will keep you there. Character is the crucible where your talent is prepared for deployment. There are a number of things that can help you build the requisite character to get to the top and stay there.

1)      You need an education. Many talented people do not see the value of educating themselves. While you do not need academic knowledge, there are certain basic levels of education that are necessary for everyone. Education is a powerful tool in shaping us and helping us in our interaction with others. Through education, you learn the people skills necessary for living and working with others. Education will teach you basic communication skills which you need in dealing with other people. Beyond basic education, you need to embrace talent or field specific education. If you look keenly, you will find that every field has certain basic things which you need to be conversant with if you will function effectively therein. This explains why there are football academies, programs that train musicians, comedians, thespians, actors and all kinds of talented people. You therefore cannot run away from education if you will improve your odds of building a fulfilling career out of your talents.

2)      Coaching. The need for a coach for your talent is much like the need for oxygen for your lungs. A coach exists to teach you the specific skills you need to thrive in your area of specialization. Such an individual refines your skills and keeps helping you make improvements as you go along. A good coach will identify the aspects of your talent that need work and develop a program to help you work at them until you become proficient.

3)      Practice. There is no substitute for practice when it comes to refining your talent. Practice makes permanent so goes the maxim. The more you do what you need to do, the better you become at it. It has been suggested that it takes 10000 hours of practice to become a master at a craft. It is not just the passage of time that matters but what you do in the course of that duration. In his book The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier, speaks about deep practice which involves a variety of approaches to practice. These include:

1.       Practicing small chunks of the bigger action. Hungry for excellence.

2.       Repetition, repetition and repetition… and repetition. Do it fast, do it slow, do it differently. But keep repeating the action.

3.       And finally, being mindful and noticing when it goes well. When it does, celebrate success.

4)      Discipline. The greatest aid to talent development is the discipline you assign to it. Discipline will help you say no to the more appealing things you can do when you should be working on your talent. It will help you avoid the things that will impact negatively on your growth. Discipline will keep success from going to your head and messing you up. It will help you put in the work when every part of your body tells you otherwise. Discipline will keep you doing the right thing when no one else is watching or following up with you. It will get you back on track when you slip up. Those who have played with Cristiano Ronaldo keep speaking about his discipline. During his time at Manchester United, his teammates spoke about his obsession with exercise. Carlos Tevez spoke about never being able to beat him at getting out on the training field no matter how early he tried to come. He was always the first one in and the last one out at the training field-No wonder his phenomenal success. Patrice Evra was afraid of visiting CR7 at home because he would challenge him to exercise even in the house. There was an obsession about him. As a disciplined individual, you appear obsessed because very few things will keep you from doing what you know you need to do.

5)      Financial Literacy. A lot of us are good at what we do but we make avoidable blunders in other areas of our lives which are equally important. There is only so much someone else like a financial advisor can do for you. No one will ever care for your money more than you. It has to be your business what happens to your money. I don’t mean this in a day to day kind of way, but you need an understanding of the fundamentals around your money so that you are not ripped off and left high and dry. There have been many cases of high flying athletes who have found themselves on the wrong side of the financial equation. Many of them came into a lot of money when they were barely out of their teens. This meant they were short on understanding of financial matters. While it is ok when you are getting started, the faster you attain financial literacy the wiser you are in keeping things in place. Financial literacy will help you get a grip on where to invest your extra cash, take care of your family, avoid wastage, and many other benefits. There are individuals who have done very well for themselves out of their talents. Jay-Z is one of the best out there at this kind of thing. Though he isn’t the most talented (my opinion) hip-Hop Artiste, he is very good as a businessman who has leveraged his talent to earn a living. He recently became Hip-Hop’s first Dollar Billionaire. Fun Fact-Most of his money has not come from His music though that has remained a big part of his brand. We could talk about Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan in the same breath. Understanding endorsement deals and becoming a marketable athlete/talent are huge lessons you learn through financial literacy. Locally we have our MacDonald Mariga who has done very well for himself in taking his brand beyond football. The significance of this cannot be overemphasized.

6)      Hard work. I will begin this with a couple of quotes.

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
― Stephen King

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”
― Émile Zola

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”
― Kevin Durant

There is no substitute for hard work. If you do not put in the hard work required, you can forget ever becoming anyone to write home about. I know people like substituting hard work for smart work but I am a proponent of both. We should not substitute one for the other. The person who works smart and hard is guaranteed lasting success. I believe in massive action like Grant Cardone puts it. Many of us underestimate the amount of effort required to attain our desired goals. As such we put in very little action and are surprised at our results. The only way to guarantee results is to go the way of massive action.

7)      Selling and negotiation skills. If you are like most talented people, you need to offer your services in exchange for money. There will come a time for endorsement deals if you are not already there. You do not need to be a master negotiator but you must have basic ideas about what your value is and how to communicate. Selling is one of those skills that everybody needs to make use of yet we fail to realize. We sell every day. Convincing your friend to choose one leisure activity over another is a form of selling. Adding these skills to your resume will serve you well as you go about exploiting your talents. You could have a team in place to do this for you but you need to retain the ability to argue your own case if it comes down to that. I am reminded of what happened in Kenya in 2007/08 after the disputed general election. The Grand coalition government was formed only when the two protagonists met face to face. Their teams had negotiated themselves into a deadlock. At this point what worked was how well each of them could argue his case in person. The same goes for you, when your team cannot strike a deal, are you able to step up and get it done? This is why selling skills are a huge asset to have in your corner as you pursue success with your talent.

8)      Integrity. You must become a man or woman of your word. People do not like dealing with snakes. They prefer dealing with other people they can rely on. The idea of presenting yourself one way and acting contrary does not sit well with people and once they learn you are not reliable, you have just shot yourself in the foot. People of integrity do not engage in doublespeak. They do not go back on their commitments however much it hurts. They do not sign a deal and back out of it because there is a better deal unless it was built into their original deal that they have this provision. Integrity begins with a value system. You must remain true to your values wherever you find yourself. Nobody wants to deal with a person who doesn’t stand for anything. They want to know what your expectations are and what you are committed to. Integrity goes a long way in positioning you for long term success and respect from all associated with you.

9)      Positioning. Square pegs fit well in square holes. “According to this law [the law of Dharma], you have a unique talent and a unique way of expressing it. There is something that you can do better than anyone else in the whole world--and for every unique talent and unique expression of that talent, there are also unique needs. When these needs are matched with the creative expression of your talent, that is the spark that creates affluence. Expressing your talents to fulfill needs creates unlimited wealth and abundance.”
― Deepak Chopra.

You need to identify the place where you are a perfect fit and if you can’t find one, create one. After all, you are a creative.  

10)   Hunger. One of the other things that separate average from premier talent, is the hunger they have for getting to the top. Premier talents are ever challenging themselves and holding themselves to a higher standard. They do not settle for just being the best in the group. They look beyond their peers and find new challenges to overcome. “If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.”
― Austin Kleon. Do not be among those who are contended with the applause of your peers to the point of forgetting there is much more land left to conquer.

 Do you need to talk to someone about managing your talent so you can get the most out of it? Look no further. Contact us on +254725832477 today and let's talk about that. We also have an interesting Talent Management program that will teach you all you need to know about managing yourself as a talented individual. Consider this Article a Dress Rehearsal. Contact us if you want to dive right in. 

Win Within

 

You are your best pep talk

The book of 1 Samuel 30 starts on a very somber mood for David and his men. After having been away in battle, they come back home and find that the Amalekites had raided their camp and carried away everything they valued especially their wives and kids. The situation was so bad that the whole city of Ziklag was burned up. This meant there was nothing for them to fall back on.

The discouragement was top notch to say the least. In describing the scene, the narrator indicates that they cried until there was no more strength left in them. The good thing is that their story did not end there. Let us take a closer look at what happened here and what lessons we can learn.

David and his men came home to an unsightly scene. The image of their city burned up was such a humbling experience. They were brought to their knees and didn’t know what to do. Lesson number one is that in the journey of life, we are bound to encounter discouragement. It is not a matter of if, but when our discouragement will show up. We all get to that point where we come face to face with something that is so far removed from our expectations that it crashes us to pieces. If you have not been there, I guarantee you that your time in that space is coming. I say this not as a prophet of doom but as someone who has been around long enough to know that this is everyone’s experience.

It is okay to cry your heart out. 1 Samuel 30:4 describes what David and his men did when they suffered that loss. David was one expressive fellow. This explains why he wrote so many of the Psalms we love to read today. The man was emotionally intelligent. David would frown upon the so called masculinity of today’s age where men are described by their ability to hold their feelings in. Such machismo does not help you process what is happening in your life. David was at home on the battle field fighting Goliath and others because he was a man of courage and unshakeable faith in God. He was also at home expressing his feelings to God concerning his helplessness. He did not do it in secret but in the presence of his men. I bet this explains why he was always fine with expressing his feelings in the Psalms. This is a huge lesson for me as a man and I hope it also resonates with other men out here who are forced to put on a brave face and show no weaknesses. The important thing is what do you do after you express your feelings? There is a lot of healing that comes your way after you do so but there is more that still needs to be done.

Strangely enough, the men turned their anguish onto David. As their leader, they felt he had let them down. At this point they spared no thought for him and the losses he had suffered as well. As a leader, you must get used to carrying both your own burdens and the burdens of others. Even when you are all suffering, it is still expected of you to stand up and offer leadership. These men wanted to stone David because they needed a place to take out their anguish. A leader sometimes becomes a punching bag for the anger of others.

This is where a key lesson comes up about you needing to give yourself a pep talk. What do you do when those who are supposed to empathize with you turn their backs on you? What do you do when your support system comes crumbling down? What do you do when there is no one to lift up your spirit? Who do you turn to when everything and everyone seems to have turned against you? David has an answer for us. At such times, the only person you can turn to is yourself. When there is no external voice that tells you to go on, your inner voice must always rise up to keep you on track. Have you develop an inner voice strong enough to silence all the noise around you? One thing we must do is learn to sit ourselves down regularly and tell ourselves that we’ve got what it takes to go on. Understand that everyone is going through their own stuff and they might not always be there to lift you up. Everyone has their battles to fight and they will not have the energy to expend on helping you fight yours. If you don’t learn how to lift up your own spirit, the journey will overwhelm you. You’ve got to sit yourself down and say, ‘I’ve got this, I can pull through this, I am equal to the challenge, I have the wherewithal to manage this. The kind of narrative you feed yourself during your downtime has a great bearing on your ability to rise again. Choose your narrative carefully and do not allow the actions/non-actions of others determine what happens with you. Master the art of talking the right words to yourself. 1 Samuel 30:6 says, ‘But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.’ Encouragement is an inside job. Whatever someone else says is only meant to add on to what you already know and have told yourself in the process. Do not wait for outsiders to come tell you that it will be well. Your buddies can turn on you like David’s men did.  What do you do in that instance? You must find a way to encourage yourself in the Lord.

Something happens once David takes this posture of positive self-talk. He is able to connect with God and finds direction on how to solve his problem. A man who encourages himself in the Lord will always find a way through his predicament. There is a clarity of thought that you are able to maintain when you learn to direct the narrative of your life through the right self-talk. David was able to recover everything that had been taken away and regain the confidence of his men.

What are you going to do the next time you are under siege and there is no one to lift you up?

Packing party

Have you ever tried a packing party? What is a packing party?

Assume you are moving from your current address and box everything you own. Only get out what you need to keep your life going. Give yourself two weeks. Anything you have not unboxed isn’t necessary for your life.

You can easily get rid of it without hurting yourself too much.

A packing party will open your eyes to the things that really matter in your life. We walk around with much more than we need because we have never taken the radical step to question why we have certain things in our life. This exercise can help you travel light along the journey of life. It is a minimalist and essentialist dream. What are some of the ways in which we can apply this to our lives?

While for many of us the idea of packing up all the stuff we have and getting out the necessities is a stretch, this discipline has a lot of value in many areas of life.

Your contact list.

If you take a long and hard look at your contact list, you will realize that you haven’t spoken to 80% of the people therein, for more than two years. A lot of them are random contacts you pick up along the way telling yourself you will get around to engaging them when you have some time. Five years later and you have never found that time. What makes you think you will get time in the sixth year. Some of these contacts belong to a remote server somewhere out there where you can retrieve them if need be. They have no business clogging your primary contact list. Our lives would be simpler if we kept our lists short and sweet. How does your contact list look like? Is it something you are proud of or can it do with some culling? How about moving all your contacts elsewhere and only retrieving those you need for the next one month. Any contacts you don’t interact with for the next ninety days can be kept where it is until the situation changes.

Your play lists for music, movies etc.

As I speak my own movie folder has about 350GB worth of data. You can be sure I have watched almost all of it but there’s only a few movies and series which have a chance of being watched again. If I followed my advice strictly (which I intend to do) I will be left with 50 GB of this. What will that mean? It means I will have more space to store the things that really matter and are critical to my work. It will also have an impact on the overall performance of this laptop I am using just to name a few of the benefits. Run through your own movie and music folders and see what needs to go. In these days of Netflix and others, you don’t need to clog your computer with a lot of unnecessary baggage unless that Netflix is also part of the baggage you need to let go of. 

Your Social Media tools/App list

This morning I deleted three apps which I have never used ever since I bought my current phone. You never really pay attention to some things until when they start being costly to maintain. It took a warning about the space available on my phone for me to take a look. I am planning to delete more. What’s the point of an App you haven’t used for over a year. One good way to do this is to uninstall every app on your phone and only reinstall what you need to use as the need arises.

This article was inspired by the invasiveness of Social Media and its impact on our ability to do high quality work every day. In his book Deep work, Carl Newport makes the case that social media is a hindrance to our abilities to do meaningful, high impact work. While he doesn’t advocate for a complete severing of links with social media, he calls on us to really examine our engagement on it and see what value it offers. He proposes that we take a 30 day sabbatical from Social Media and see what impact it has on us. If we find it necessary, then we can go back. If our lives and activities can go on without it, then there’s no point going back there. This is a big one. What would happen if you went offline for the next thirty days? There is no better way to find out than to actually take that step. A lot of the tools we use and cling to, are nothing more than a narrative we have told ourselves and been told many times over until we have come to believe it. When everything is analyzed, you realize there are very few tools we need to function. Ask yourself where there is impact and focus your attention there.

Your friend list.

This is a hard one. How do you choose your friends? I will use Jesus as a good example of managing friends. During his ministry here on earth, Jesus interacted with thousands of people. He commanded huge crowds wherever he went. What if He tried to form intimate bonds with each of these people? Would he have had the impact he had? It is impossible to have much impact if you stretch yourself too thin. Jesus had a solution for this. Beyond the huge multitude, he also had a smaller circle of 120 disciples who were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. Then here was the group of 72. Out of this large group he chose 12 who walked very closely with him. And out of the 12, there were three Peter, James and John who were bosom buddies. Wherever he went these three would always be there. The best way to categorize your friends is to position them all at the level of the innumerable multitude. Let them choose whether they will be in the 120, 72, 12  or 3 basket. This will be determined by the degree of their engagement and involvement in your life. Some people will give up everything to be with you, others will give you up for anything. You need to spot the difference.

Subscriptions.

There are so many things we subscribe to in life. Some of us have no idea how much we lose every month through subscriptions we stopped using years ago. Think about what comes into your inbox and mailbox. Do you really need all of it? Sometimes our inboxes are overcrowded because we have subscribed to things on a whim. We need to do a better job of controlling our subscriptions. There are services you no longer need but you still keep paying a monthly subscription for. What are some of these subscriptions for you? Be radical enough to cancel all and see which ones you really need for the next 90 days. Only renew the ones vital to you and forget the rest. Not only will it save you money. It will also save you time and make your life simpler. The challenge of our generation is that we have too many options to choose from that we end up duplicating some of our subscriptions without detecting it.

What else do you think you can add to this list? I know for sure that this list is not conclusive. Go ahead and share some of the things you are going to pack starting now.

As you grow older, keep your list of things short and sweet. You will realize you can function just fine without a majority of the things which look like indispensables right now.

A lot of interesting stuff is going on right now. We have the Crossroads Virtual Summit coming up in less than two months. 

You can be a part of it by following the link below to register or share it with others between the ages of 17-25 years.

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My book Blessed to be a Blessing has also been nominated for the ACABA Awards. You can vote for me by following this link. 

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I am also opening up the opportunity to join our Free Introductory class for Optimize Your Life. Feel free to book your spot following the link below if you haven't already. The time for you to level up is now. 

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Goal Categories.

 

Not all goals are equal. Some goals naturally need to come before others in the hierarchy. Pursuing certain goals before you take care of the basics is like putting the cart before the horse. First we taxi, then we fly.

I learned from Dr. Benjamin Hardy three interesting ways of looking at goals. There are what we call Keystone goals, Means goals and End goals. In this article, we will look at each of these types of goals with relevant to gain a better understanding.

What is a Keystone Goal?

A keystone goal is described as one that has the greatest bearing on the overall outcome of your life. While it is not the ultimate goal, the achievement of a keystone goal sets you up to excel on all your other goals easily. It can be likened to what Brian Tracy calls the ugliest frog in his book Eat That Frog. There are certain goals which are big, scary, intimidating and unsettling. It is easier to bypass them and look for others which are slightly less intimidating. Brian Tracy says that if you can eat a frog for breakfast, then there is pretty much nothing else that could happen in your day which is worse off. He goes further to say that when you have more than one frog to eat, you do well to start with the ugliest. While this applies to daily chores, it can also easily be applied to your goals. Not all goals are equal. Achieving a Keystone goal drives your motivation through the roof because you tell yourself that there is nothing I can’t do if I have managed to get that out of the way.

For many people financial freedom is a keystone goal. Until you get to a point of financial freedom, there are many things which you are not able to do for yourself or others. Financial freedom opens up all manner of possibilities. You are able to move in whatever direction you will with a degree of financial freedom. When you look at Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you realize that survival is only big at the beginning. As you move up the ladder, you realize there are higher goals and ideals you want to pursue. Achieving a Keystone goal, gives you the liberty to pursue these higher ideals. Many of us in the developing world need to break out of the quest to survive and begin to live at a higher level. For us, financial freedom is a huge keystone goal to achieve. Do you agree? If yes, what represents financial freedom in your circumstances? If this is not your cup of tea, what is your keystone goal? Share and let me know in the comments below.

Means Goals.  

Another division of goals are what we consider means goals. Some keystone goals are means goals in that they pave the way for progress on higher goals. A means goal is any goal whose achievement opens the door for your ultimate goals to be pursued. As the name suggests, they are a means to an end. Means goals are very important because without their achievement, we remain stuck in first gear. They are also good at building momentum for greater pursuits. Every day you accomplish something you are driven to go for more and this is the magic of means goals.

A practicing athlete can set goals for themselves with regard to how much they want to weigh and how fast they want to run a selected course during their training. While this does not happen in the presence of many, it is an important means goal that ensures when the athlete goes into competition they are able to win the gold medal which is the end goal. Losing weight might not mean much on its own but in the grand scheme of the athlete’s target, it plays a very significant role.

What are some of the means goals you need to have in place when you think about your ultimate goal for this year? What’s your experience with means goals in the past and how have they helped you progress?

End goals.

End goals represent the highest ideals you want to pursue. They rank at the top of the pyramid when it comes to the Hierarchy of needs. What do you really want to accomplish when all is said and done? These are legacy type of goals. If you were told you had 6 months to live, what kind of things would come to the fore in a way you haven’t imagined before? End goals are those things you will be ready to pass on to the next life once you are done with. These are the goals you will ask for time to reach before you are ready to roll. Do you have any goals like that in your life?

At an individual level one of my end goals is to be involved in the conversion of at least one million people to the Christian persuasion in my lifetime and help them live out their full potential for service to God and humanity. A lot of what I do is geared towards that as ultimate. There are many things that need to be done in the interim to get me there but ultimately my chief Joy is to see many come to the knowledge of God and flowing out of that knowledge a life of self-giving service for the benefit of the kingdom and their fellow men. Your end goal is the thing whose accomplishment will live you with an immense sense of fulfilment. It is the thing for which you are willing to give anything to accomplish. It must be something that is hugely compelling and impossible to quench until its realization. Something you must be ready to die for if need be which will drive you to spend your every waking moment working towards without fainting.

What is your end goal dear reader? What is the one thing for which you are willing to give up everything?  Go ahead and share it with us. The time is right for you to pursue it with every fibre of your existence.

If for any reason you are having issues getting started on your goals or you are stuck somewhere along the way, we can help you proceed. Send a DM on +254725832477 with ‘I need help.’ And we will get in touch.

I am opening up my free masterclass for all who want to get the most out of their lives. Follow the link below to register. 

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Goal Metrics

Evaluation is a critical component of goal-getting. Goal setting is a great thing but it is only half of the job you need to do. Goal getting is what moves you from where you are to the next level. Evaluation helps you tell how far you have gone in reaching your goals at any given time. What metrics do you use in evaluating your performance?

In his great book Deep Work, Carl Newport suggests the use of two important metrics you can use to show you how far you have come. They are Lead and Lag measures. In this article we will explore what the two metrics are and why you need to pay attention to them as you go along.

Lag Measures describe the ultimate thing you are trying to improve. They come much later and by the time you measure them, it is too late to change your behavior. By the time you receive them, the performance that drove them is already in the past. This explains why we say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. When you think too much about the final outcome with little focus on your actions today, you are likely to miss out on the immediate adjustments you need to make. Lag measures have a way of taking care of themselves if only you learn to do a better job of tracking your lead measures.

It is wildly important to distinguish between your lead and lag measures because when you focus too much on what is so far out there, you might lose track of what you can change immediately.

Lead measures tell you what new behaviors you need to track that will have an impact on your ultimate outcome.  They help you turn your attention to improving the behaviors you directly control in the near future that will have a positive impact on your long term goals. For every goal that you pursue, it is important that you are clear on the actions that are in your direct control. This gives you what to act on in the short term.

Let’s say you have the goal of raising Kes. 10 million by the end of the year. That acts as your lag measure. You will only tell that you have done it or how far you have gone in doing it towards the end of the year. On the other hand, there are certain actions you can begin to measure right away. If you are a salesman, you will be asking yourself, how many presentations have I made today? That becomes an important lead measure for you. This is because the higher the number of presentations the greater your chances of reaching the intended goal of Kes.10 million. You have greater control over the number of presentations you are doing every day. It is something you can adjust relatively quickly by booking more appointments. If you get paid by the hour, your lead measure will be along the lines of how many hours you are putting in every day. Since the number of hours you can work in a day is limited, you will also want to ask yourself what you can do to increase your hourly rate. To hit your income goal, you will want to deploy your hours in the most productive of activities and deploy as many of those hours as possible.

Think about all your goals in great detail today. What metrics are you using to track your performance? It is easy to get discouraged when all you focus on are lag measures. This is because you will feel like you are not making any progress whatsoever in the short term. When you shift your focus to lead measures, your motivation increases and you are able to build momentum. There is nothing better at building momentum than to know that you are making progress every day.

Lead measures also help you improve your behavior right away. This is important because it means you have the ability to take action on your goals in the short term. This has an impact on your self-esteem as well because you begin to see yourself as capable of setting targets and going for them from the get go.

It is important to track your goals because you act differently when you keep score. When there is no mechanism to keep score, as humans we are likely to let things slide. If you want to excel as a goal getter, clarifying your lead measures is something you cannot afford to operate without. 

I am curious to know. What is your wildly important goal? What lead measures have you been using/are you going to use going forward?

I am strongly invested in helping people reach their goals. If you would do with a little hand-holding, do not hesitate to get in touch with me on +254725832477.

Leveraging Technology Part 3

 

We started by looking at different types of technology and went on to look at the benefits of embracing it alongside the losses we suffer when we don't. In this last segment we take a look at.....

How do you make tech work for you?

As an organization, you need to create a culture that encourages and embraces technology. You also need to adopt elements of technology that work for you. Not every technology out there is meant to find its way to you. The question you must ask and answer is does this tech work for me? If not you must go further down and ask how it can be tweaked to fit in with your needs.

I will quote a service provider in the UK technology sector. it’s not the availability of technology nor the means to pay that’s the problem; it’s many businesses’ failure to plan that trips them up.  There is significant lack of strategy on how to adequately use the technology that is available to us all, which collectively slows us down and wastes a considerable amount of valuable time. (Mikkelsen, 2018)

There is a number of things you can do to inculcate the use of tech in your organization or even personal life. I will share them in no particular order. Among them is incentivizing tech use. If you make scores for tech use a part of appraisal processes, many more people will get on board if not for anything else, just to get good scores. Think about how else you can reward the uptake of tech in your own situation. We as humans are always looking for what we will gain by embracing certain habits and ditching others. The prospect of using technology must be made enticing enough to ensure faster uptake. (Richter &Sinha, 2020)

Invest in the infrastructure. Make it easy for the people to take it up by reducing the struggles involved in embracing it. Make the infrastructure around it supportive and user friendly and you will have it more easily adapted.

Make reskilling and learning part of the plan. You must ensure that you and your staff are well versed in making use of the new tech you are about to introduce or already introduced. This makes it easier for them to adapt. You must also in your training cover aspects like what is in it for them. The benefit must come out clearly to boost the degree of adoption.

Don’t tokenize it. This should be approached from a holistic perspective. You cannot afford to be occasional in your insistence that people adopt tech and run with it. For sustainability, the focus must be consistent.

Have an implementation strategy. When you introduce a new technology in your place of work, the question you need to answer is how will you carry it through to successful adoption? More important than buying the equipment is how you are going to ensure that there is sufficient buy-in from the users of the same. Without a strategy, your new tech investment might be dead on arrival. You cannot use a scatter gun approach and expect to see great results. Your strategy must be clear and easy to follow for the best results.

Communicate that it is a tool. The message from the top across the organization needs to be one that says tech is a tool not a master. Whatever tech you bring in must be seen as a servant to the workers and not the other way round. When your people view tech as a master, the chances of resistance and revolt increase which doesn’t help you get the most out of your investment. 

Advance planning. You best be clear where new tech is needed and why before you spend a single shilling (small business UK.) This will keep you from spending money on new shiny objects that add little to no value for your organization. At best you want to be sure that even your own staff see the benefit of introducing the new tech before you do it.

Another thing to help tech work for you is to evaluate its performance over time. You need to interrogate to find out whether it is making things easier or not. If you don’t like the answers you are getting, then it is critical that you find out why things are not as you envisioned. Whatever you discover should help you decide whether this is something to keep working at or let go. If the issues can be fixed then by all means fix them. If they are beyond fixing, it is best that you cut your losses and move on to the next thing. There is nothing capable of hurting you more than persisting with a piece of technology that is clearly working against you.

Select the right tools. Finding the right fit for you is critical if you will make tech work to your advantage. The wrong tool will make your life miserable. The right tools however will improve the quality of your life and your productivity. Do not buy it simply because someone else got it. Be sure that it can make a real difference in your life before you buy it. This also extends to you choosing tech that addresses your most pressing needs. Think about where you are wasting time the most and what tools you can take up to do things better. (Forbes Technology Council, 2017.)

Keep your tools few. You do not have to use every App out there. Choose the ones that contribute the most to your situation and ditch the rest. I know there are many apps on your smartphone that have not been opened for a whole year. Such should not be clogging your space. They are simply filling up the plate with nothing to show for it. You must become ruthless with your selection of tools to retain only what is relevant. 

 Make your use incremental. Do not go for big, sweeping changes. It is better to introduce little tweaks to your way of doing things. Humans don’t like revolutions, they work better with evolutionary changes. To increase your chances of staying on course, as a business or individual, choose to take small steps forward at a time.

Use it to handle repetitive tasks. Are there aspects of your work that can be automated because they are simply repetitive and monotonous? That is a good place to start in your efforts to use technology. If there is a machine out there that can take care of those tasks, then by all means go out of your way and use them to do it. your life will be easier for it.

Moral considerations. Use tech that aligns with your values. When you realize that certain tools are being used for sinister purposes which end up hurting other people, boycotting their use or protesting against it can go a long way in correcting the wrong. Remember tech must remain a servant to the user and not the other way around. You can also protest by becoming a co-creator of the kind of tech you want out there. This is what has led to the rise of open-source developers and developments for the benefit of all like Ubuntu.

I believe that even though this list is not conclusive, it will go a long way in helping you interact better with tech as a person or a business going forward.

I would also be honored to know your thoughts around this whole issue and how you make tech work for you in your own situation. Let’s share in the comments.

 

Leveraging Technology Part 2

 

Last week we looked at what technology is and the different types of technology available out here. We also went further to discuss what impediments stand in the way of people being able to embrace technology. 

In this week's segment, we look at the upsides of embracing technology and what you are likely to lose if you don't either as an individual or a company. 

Read on to find out more. 

What are the benefits of embracing Technology?

Global analysis by Deloitte shows that companies using AI predictive data analytics and other technology tools are more successful than those who don’t. These companies enjoy 18% higher revenue and 30% greater profitability.

Tech augments human roles by taking up their menial, repetitive tasks while leaving workers to focus on the more creative, flexible and selective aspects of their jobs. We just need to learn how to collaborate with machines. While AI delivers speed, efficiency and mass data analysis, humans will add emotional depth, wisdom and nuance. (Jessica Marchant, People management, 2019.) This increased efficiency means more time is freed up and money is saved to be deployed in other endeavors. (Matthew Warner, Blockpass 2019)

AI can help in sourcing for candidates in HR departments through the use of AI driven CV formulation software in order to reduce the time demanded of recruiters and candidates. It also helps in mitigating against conscious or unconscious biases.

New technologies are essential to fostering economic growth, meeting human needs and protecting the environment. (Calestous Juma)

Embracing technology can help your company operate at its maximum capacity in many different ways. It can be a differentiating factor when it comes to beating your competition. It also makes it easier to store and organize vast amounts of data which if kept physically could take up acres of space. In this era of lockdowns and restricted movement, communications technology is allowing people to hold virtual meetings with ease and collaborate virtually from anywhere in the world. What this also means is that businesses can also serve clients from anywhere in the world and they will have a seamless or almost seamless experience.

Embracing technology will also keep you longer at your job as an employee. The more comfortable you are around new technology, the longer you are likely to stay on. A failure to adapt could mean the need to replace you with someone who is more comfortable around tech. Just like companies can collaborate on projects, individual employees too benefit from this kind of tech on projects they are working on. It is possible for people from different continents to work on an issue and resolve it from wherever they are because of the possibilities created by tech. (Jon Hauer, 2019)

For businesses, tech also gives you the benefit of a strong industry presence. Being present both on and offline goes a long way in helping you stay front and center in the minds of industry stakeholders. Apple is a dominant player because they have learnt to leverage on R&D in building their products. As a business do you have R&D ingrained into the way you do things?

New technology can be a game changer if you want to disrupt an existing industry. The proper application of new tech can position you in a place where you are able to challenge the big boys of your industry and win. Tesla’s story is testimony that this is doable. While there are many automobile manufacturers who would have had enough resources to do electric vehicles, Tesla saw the gap and ran away with the prize. What prize is there in your current industry that you can run away with if you innovate right?

Embracing new, relevant Technology guarantees business success in the long run. While the initial cost of setting up might be steep, if well thought out, new tech can more than pay for itself quickly.

Technology enables better customer service through improved processes and even security of data stored in your systems. There are a ton of technologies you can use to improve your customer’s overall experience.

Technology makes it possible to standardize products. While human hands can introduce a degree of error, products made by robots have an almost guaranteed consistency no matter how many times the robot does it. That automation has the advantage of uniformity and consistency.

Disadvantages of Resisting Technology.

Instead of protecting jobs, the reluctance in embracing new technology has resulted in curbing innovation, reducing job creation and restricting industry growth.

When a company fails to innovate and evolve, it suffers setbacks like loss of money and time as a result of inefficient processes. Those who thought the dotcom bubble was a passing wind have in some cases failed to ever catch up to this present day. That has meant a loss of dominance in the market they used to rule. We can also see it in the switch from feature phones to Smartphones. It is clear that the dominant players in the smartphone market were not the biggest in the season of the feature phones. Whatever happened to the likes of Nokia and Motorola? They are no longer the giants they were back in the days and that has meant a heavy loss of market share and thus revenue. Product obsolescence is a reality companies live with. (Petersen, 2019)

When customers don’t see an effort to make things better, you are likely to lose them in the long run.

It stifles your ability to expand and explore larger markets as a business. 

A failure to embrace technology also holds companies and individuals back from achieving their full potential. The same way embracing it creates new possibilities, resisting tech results in you not being able to take advantage of efficiency, convenience and so much more brought about by new technology. (Richter &Sinha, 2020)

There is also the issue of waning industry influence (Petersen, 2019.) This failure to embrace technology can lead to a decline in the influence a company once held in its industry. This has implications on its image and contributes to a difficulty in attracting the best talent and even funding. Worst of all is when competitors know about it because they can then use it against you for a long time.

Low morale among employees. A stagnant organization dampens the drive of employees which thing affects performance and brings about talent flight. This is because of the perceived lack of growth and opportunities to expand their skillsets. Simply put, an organization that doesn’t embrace technology punishes itself in the long run.  

Resistant employees can create a disruptive working environment due to conflicts with management and also spread their sentiments to other employees.

What other benefits of technology can you think of? Any regrets you have had for failing to embrace tech in the past? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.