Morning Motivator - You Never Know...

"... yeah, in a bar."
- Zachary Barker

You NEVER know when something great might happen to you, thus we must ALWAYS be prepared.

Two years ago today, I had my first date with my "soon to be" wife, Nancy. Most interesting is HOW we met... "yeah, in a bar." After a Junior Chamber Gala event, on a night where the LAST thing I wanted to find was a future wife... BLAMMO! There she was. Albeit I did not want a girlfriend, nor anything more serious than that, she was INTRIGUING and BEAUTIFUL. She seemed like a risk WORTH taking.

Obviously, I would not have EXPECTED to meet "Ms. Right" in a bar. Nor would I expect to for one of my best MENTORS to be someone that doesn't even know he serves that role (Mr. Andy Bailey). And who would have ever thought the Morning Motivator would have a "following."

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
The LESSON here is in the FACT that neither you, nor me, KNOW when a GREAT opportunity will show up. We cannot CONTROL our lives in such detail that "our plan" will actually follow the path we see in our mind's eye.

If you know GOOD THINGS are coming... and you know you CANNOT control "when," Don't you think it BEHOOVES you to be on your game?

Remember - the way you PRESENT yourself, the people you ALIGN yourself with, and the MESSAGES that you send, ALL affect the world around you. Bring your "A GAME" everyday, because "YOU NEVER KNOW..."

Cheers,
Zach

*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com


The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.

Morning Motivator - Are You Too Available?

"They say they never miss you until you are dead or your gone."
- common phrase

I HESITATED to write this Morning Motivator as I believe it may go misunderstood for its intent... yet we never makes gains if we don't take risks, right?!

My EXPERIENCE tells me "the more available you are, the less people want you (or are willing to pay for you)."

The DIFFICULTY in this understanding is appropriately LIMITING your accessibility. How do I keep clients HAPPY if I limit their ability to reach me? How do I keep from LOSING friends if I don't answer their calls every time?

Even more INTERESTING to consider... "Is my high availability and accessibility what is PREVENTING me from FOCUSING on the activities I SHOULD be doing??"

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
I'm not CONVINCED there is a "lesson" here. Maybe just a consideration about you, your time and the way others treat/perceive you...

If you are HIGHLY accessible, try being less and vice versa.

Again, if we NEVER takes a risk (or at least experiment), then how can we make any SIGNIFICANT gains?

Cheers,
Zach

*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com


The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.

Morning Motivator – “Learning” to Succeed

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know."
- Daniel J. Boorstin 

How many books have you READ this year?  How many webcasts have you WATCHED?  How many speaking summits have you ATTENDED?  If you answered ZERO to all of them… stop reading. 

If you answered zero and are STILL reading, then pay attention. 

Success is achieved by a possessing a SMALL margin of EXPERTISE over those around you.  If you had to be the ABSOLUTE authority on a subject to be deemed credible, then GOD would be the only one teaching.  Education is not an EXERCISE in studying, retaining and regurgitating (see: high school); rather it is the act of TRANSFERRING the information you are aware of to others that are not.  Sounds simple.  When you consider how people PURCHASE goods and services, they often KNOW what they need to happen – just not how to make it happen. 

Teach them HOW to MAKE it happen and YAHTZEE!!! (You have a deal!) 

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
If you are able to become a MASTER EDUCATOR of your product, service, beliefs, values, etc… you will find that you are soon regarded as the EXPERT.  As a result of your new found "expertise," you will also be sought after, paid more, asked to do less and thus CONTROL more of your personal success path. 

Think about how much Michael Jordan is paid to speak at basketball clinics, or Warren Buffett to speak to financial planners.  Are they the IDEAL person to speak?  Likely not.  They probably offer less APPLICABLE value to individuals, because they cannot teach everyone HOW to execute, however, their EXPERT status does provide them with the ability to teach at a high level. 

To ENSURE your long term successes… become REGARDED as the teaching EXPERT, who can show you the "how-to" as well (see: great business novelist Seth Godin and Timothy Ferriss).

Cheers,
Zach

*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com

The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.

Morning Motivator- Get Over It and Get To It!

"What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do."
- Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week 

This morning, I met with 3 of my FAVORITE Nashville leaders and friends, to discuss business opportunities and our involvement in Leadership Nashville.  From the discussion cam a very interesting point – we ALL are very busy and CHALLENGED to do the things we need to do most. 

I felt very FORTUNATE to be able to share some personal insight and practices.  The lessons I have learned from Verne Harnish's writing, perfected by my friend, Andy Bailey – the 5/1 FOCUS.  

Each day you should have NO MORE than five (5) CRITICAL tasks to complete – if you do, you must learn to delegate.  Of those five (5) tasks, one (1) SUPERSEDES that of all others.  It is the ONE MOST IMPORTANT tasks that should be executed before all others and prevent you from moving forward until completed.  It is THAT important!! 

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
By utilizing a few techniques properly, with a focus on ACHIEVING your Top 5 in a logically PRIORITIZED manner, you will discover that you can accomplish more in 4 hours than most people in a full day. 

We can generally accept that there are not REALLY 8 hours of work per day.  There is approximately 3-5 with the remainder WASTED on unproductive or unnecessary activities. 

Try TIME BLOCKING your 90 minutes of the day – the POWER "HOUR" – for your #1 task.  Very few tasks, with LASER FOCUS and NO DISTRACTIONS, will require more than 90 minutes.  If you are unable to accomplish the task in that time, then schedule additional time IMMEDIATELY to complete. 

Eliminate all PHONE CALLS and EMAIL responses during this time.  Try using noise cancelling headphones.  Do not ALLOW for people to "pop by" your desk either.  Your time IS your time! 

If you choose to focus on "first things first" with the 5/1 Focus – honed in on #1 only before moving on – with time blocking and distraction ELIMINATION… you will discover HUGE PRODUCTIVITY GAINS!  It's a guarantee.

Cheers,
Zach

*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com

The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.

Morning Motivator – Why I Do Not Answer the Phone…

"Until we can manage TIME, we can manage nothing else."
-Peter Drucker 

If you have ever called me, you are likely either AMAZED or ANNOYED by what you experience consistently… I do NOT answer and you GET my voice mail.  I make no excuses or explanations for WHY I do it.  I want to CONTROL my time and prevent anyone else from intruding on that. 

Why would someone be so POMPOUS to think they can just send everyone to voice mail?  Frankly, I grew TIRED of always playing catch up with pointless phone calls and unfocused discussions.  Consider the last "important call" that you responded to during a time of focus at work or at home.  How IMPORTANT was the call?  How URGENT was the persons need?  How much TIME did it take you to regain your focus and groove from the phone call? 

RESPECT for others time begins with respect for your OWN!  If you continually allow people to interfere in your focus times by "popping by to chat" or "randomly call you," then should EXPECT that they will abuse that privilege as often as possible.  They are not bad people… they just want to shift whatever STRESS they have on them to you, hence why they come to YOU to solve the problem.  How PRODUCTIVE can you be if you are rarely FOCUSED on what you need to get done because you spend all your time putting out others fires?? 

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
As a point of clarification, I am VERY accessible.  I am quite easy to reach on the phone if it is an EMERGENCY (consider what a real emergency is) by asking people to hang up and ring back IMMEDIATELY.  For calls made back to back, I will ALWAYS pick up – no questions asked!  (I ask you make sure it IS an emergency). 

Let's analyze this… what have I ASKED of people?  Simply put, I have asked them to communicate with me in the most time effective and personally respective ways possible – email for non emergency needs, voice mail (if you don't like email) and DIRECT calls in the event of an emergency.  I will ALWAYS respond to you and return phone necessary calls at 11:15am and 4:15pm. 

Will this WORK for you?  Sure, if you are willing to take the initial "HEAT" for making such a move.  Regardless, you had better LEARN and IMPLEMENT a way to control your day, your time and your focus.  If not, you will find more and more days where you were BUSY, but never PRODUCTIVE.  

Cheers,
Zach

*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com

The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.