I am delighted to announce that my new book Strategic Project Management Made Simple: Practical Tools for Leaders and Teams, will be released February 9 by John Wiley and Sons. This book is my best work to date and getting rave reviews because the ideas work.
If you're attended my workshops, or read my earlier book, you know how these "strategic management power tools" let you handle the big issues with confidence.
Get your copy wherever books are sold. Then drop me a note and I'll send you a good summary article on how to use this dynamic, four step process to turn good ideas into spectacular results.
This month's guest feature is a video which I found to be an amazing and inspiring testimony to the human spirit. The dialogue below sets the contact for the video link that follows:
A son asks his father: 'Dad, would you be willingly to run a marathon with me?'
The father, despite his age and heart disease, says 'YES'.
And they run that marathon, together.
The son asks: 'Dad, can you run another marathon with me?' Again father says 'YES'.
They run another marathon, together.
One day the son asks his father: 'Dad, would please do the Iron Man with me?'
Now just in case you wouldn't know, 'The Iron Man' is the toughest triathlon in existence; 4km swimming, then 180 km by bike, and finally another 42 km running, in one stroke.
Again father says 'YES'.
For the rest of the story, continue below.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8cf08faca5dd9ea45513
If you serve on task forces or project team, you understand the value of starting smart and creating early success. This requires the ability to get organized smoothly and put together a solid project plan and committed team quickly.
The methods on my books are ideal for doing so. Here's how a client organization used the Logical Framework tool to organize an executive task force that had just six weeks to complete an important assignment for the president. Click the image to download this pdf (47K).
Sharpening Your Emotional Intelligence
This month's article is adapted from Strategic Project Management Made Simple by Terry Schmidt.
Bring to mind the most outstanding managers you have ever met. Chances are that they have strong Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills. EI simply means being strategic and intentional in using your emotions - and those of others - to achieve project objectives.
EI matters because management requires that you achieve results through others. This means being able to build trust, handle conflict, give and take criticism constructively, deal with people who don't deliver, generate team commitment, and keep yourself and others motivated over the long haul. Skillfully handling situations like this means tapping into an innate capacity that we all have - our Emotional Intelligence - but few fully develop.
EI is not about suppressing or denying your emotions, it's about recognizing the signals they give you, learning from them, and then being willing to manage and control them. When you are disappointed, for example, it does no good to deny that feeling. It is valuable to understand the message behind the disappointment, which is the sense of being let down.
Emotional Intelligence gives you the edge in projects and in life. Sharpening your EI means developing yourself in four major domains:
- High self-awareness. This is the ability to tune into yourself, self-monitor in real time, see the impact of your behavior, and fine-tune your approach to get the results you want. High self-awareness begins with listening to how you talk to yourself. By becoming more mindful about how your inner dialogues shape your feelings, actions, and reactions, you can work to change any self-defeating thought patterns.
- Mood Management. Learn to manage your moods and choose the most productive ones to be effective now. Recognize that it's not the event that causes you to feel good or bad; rather, it's how you appraise the event that determines your emotional reaction. When emotions such as anger and anxiety come up, what counts is how skillfully and swiftly you can move out of those debilitating states to more productive ones. Practice paying attention to the specific statements you make to yourself when you are emotionally aggravated or distressed. Remind yourself to talk to yourself in ways that help you manage your emotions, instead of letting your emotions manage you.
- Self-motivation. The best leaders can jump-start themselves into action, and stay focused on
what's most important now. Self-motivation keeps you energized, reduces emotional swings, and
help you bounce back quickly from setbacks. Spark your motivation by constructing motivating
instructional self-statements to remind you that you have the knowledge, skills, and drive
to get a particular task done. Create positive pep-talks to give to yourself, such as, "I can
do this marketing plan. I've fully researched all the issues. No one understands the marketplace
as I do. No matter what, I will prepare an outstanding plan."
Inoculate yourself against future difficulties by writing instructional self-statements in advance. What are some potentially difficult situations you might face when dealing with customers, clients, and team members? What instructional self-statements could you create now that would help you sail smoothly through future storms? - Interpersonal expertise. This is the ability to handle the inevitable conflicts, disagreements and criticisms that crop up in all projects. Strong interpersonal expertise lets you respond effectively to team members and stakeholders, no matter how negative their emotional states might be. Strong interpersonal expertise equips you to help other people deal with their emotions, resolve their conflicts, and stay productive.
As your career advances, remember to sharpen your IE, because this is often the crucial differentiators in achieving the success you deserve.
I first read this book 30 years ago, and the insights I gained about higher dimensions remain. This lively fable, only 128 pages long will quickly have you contemplating the fourth and fifth dimensions.
FLATLAND
By Edwin Abbot
Flatland tells the story of how an inhabitant of a two dimensional world discovers a third dimension. He also finds out that he is a cube, not a square as previously thought.
With charming explanations of geometry and physics made simple, Flatland was written by a Shakespeare scholar in Britain in 1880. Flatland imagines a world inhabited by sentient geometric shapes who think their two-dimensional world is all there is. But one Flatlander, a Square, discovers the existence of a third dimension. This shatters his previous assumptions about reality and he comes to understand the confusing problem of dimensions beyond his own.
Theoretical physicists often recommend this book because it provides a framework for understanding and trying to visualize dimensions above or beyond our ordinary four-dimensional world (length, width, height, space-time).
But you don't have to be a scientist to appreciate this remarkable book. Flatland makes you think, and think deeply, on many different levels and sometimes unexpected ways.
Those interested in advanced theoretical physics, and hyper dimensional geometry (hey, aren't we all?) will enjoy the topological twists. You can read this at many levels. First, as an entertaining fable. Second, as science fiction. Third, and this was my take, as a logical explanation that multiple dimensions beyond our own exist and why envisioning them is truly difficult for we who live day to day in only three or four dimensions.
We all want to live a long and life healthy, and most experts say you must eat right and exercise. Thus it's refreshing to find a doctor with there viewpoints.
Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must understand logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. Thus a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity part so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc. Easy calculation!
Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.
Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!
Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.
And remember: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride"
AND.....
For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
- The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
- The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
CONCLUSION
Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.