Jazz and Jacksons

In college, I played piano for our school’s Jazz Big Band. We went to a competition each year in Chicago, which meant that we got to ride a charter bus there and stay in a fancy hotel for a weekend each spring on the school’s dime. The first trip we took, our band director stood at the door of the bus and, as everyone loaded in, he handed each student three crisp $20 bills as they boarded. I had no idea what was happening, but I took the money when it was my turn without any questions. When I got onto the bus and sat down next to my drummer buddy, I looked at him and said, “What’s up with us all getting cash?” His reply, in that semi-high, smug college tone that we all know so well was,

“It’s per diem, man.”

Some of us spent the money on booze. Some on meals we hadn’t been able to afford in months. Some just pocketed the cash, ate pb&j they brought, and used it to help pay rent upon returning home. There were no questions asked about how the dollars were spent; each of us had complete liberty to use it however we wanted. I will decline to comment on how I spent mine.

This experience taught me something incredibly valuable, not just about money, but about time. Humanity is a socialist state when it comes to time – we all get the same amount to work with every day. It's per diem, man.

If someone were to make a pie chart of your time spent each day over the last 7 days, what would it look like? We can easily reach for the rose-colored glasses here and get overly optimistic on how we spend our time but I challenge you to really take an honest look at what that picture might show.

What percentage of your time is spent on IPA’s, or Income Producing Activities?

What percentage is spent building your family relationships and pouring into those you lead at home?

What percentage is spent building your team at work?

What percentage is spent on activities that benefit only you?

What percentage is spent resting and preparing yourself to be productive and effective with your waking hours?

Each of these is vitally important to personal, family, and organizational health BUT…if we get these out of balance, out of order, or neglect them completely, we are reflecting priorities that we may not want to admit are incongruent with the results we want in life. How you spend your time is THE LOUDEST VOICE to those in your world about what is most important to you and directly correlated to accomplishing your goals. Is the way you spend your time aligned with your goals? If not, perhaps it's time to adjust how you are burning your minutes - you never get them back.

Every day takes us somewhere. No matter what bus you get on today, you are handed the same 24 hours as every other person breathing. It's per diem, man - and it’s yours to spend however you choose. Try not to spend it all on booze.

Lean forward,

Bekka

Show Me the Profit

The only way to build something profitable over the long term is to make consistent, repeated, difficult, right choices over the long term. Sustained profitability takes time - a lot of it.

I define profitability in much broader terms than just financial. Profit can be tangible or intangible – concrete or more abstract. Profit simply means that the return you get from a particular endeavor is more valuable than the investment you made into it. This applies to relationships, families, business culture, teamwork, checkbooks and even objects we purchase. Any time you catch yourself quietly musing “That was totally worth it” (and not in an emotional apex moment) you’ve found something that was profitable.

We can tease this concept of intangible profitability out to as far an extent as possible, determining over a lifetime whether we feel our lives themselves have been profitable. No doubt, asking someone toward the end of their life which elements they view as profitable would lend drastically different answers than asking someone who believes they have 50-60 years left to go. Our perception of intangible profitability surely changes over time.

Waste is something that literally makes my stomach turn. However, we do need to seriously consider the idea of waste in every area of our lives we desire to be profitable. This means reducing our costs, finding more effective processes and learning how to use our resources in the most efficient ways possible. But on a more fundamental level, this means choosing the right endeavors to invest in from the start.

Considering these points, here are a few questions I’ve been asking myself:

How do I personally define “profit”? How does this definition change when I consider tangible vs. intangible profit?

Which endeavors do I need to just quit because they are wasteful? Is it a job? A relationship? An investment?

If I made a list of the activities that I’m investing my resources into on a daily basis, which ones would I earmark as profitable and which ones would fall into the “Waste” column?

If I want to be in a position of financial, emotional, intellectual and spiritual profitability, what changes do I need to make to my resource investments in order to reduce wasteful activities and increase profitable ones?

In which areas of my life do I need a reminder that profitability does take time, consistency and patience? Where am I rushing?

Lean forward,

Bekka

Getting Past the Rough

I’m reading Dave Ramsey’s book “The EntreLeader”. Let me first say that I think it is full of exceptional advice and proven content that is helpful on both a personal and professional level. Thanks, Dave.

Let me also say that Dave is…kind of a jerk. His communication style is very direct, abrupt and final. He advertises his way or the highway and basically makes you feel like an idiot if you don’t agree with and implement his methods. My communications training and background bristles nearly every page I turn and I definitely think at most points that Dave has not read (and SHOULD) “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

But then there is that ULTRA-ANNOYING point that, regardless of how he’s coming across, HAS to be acknowledged and accepted:

He’s right.

He’s proven these practices and has the bank account to prove it. He has the success to prove it. And he has the longevity to prove it.

So, here are the questions:

Do you want to be successful badly enough to wade thru the communication differences to get to the actual message – particularly the message from those who are wildly successful in the same way you want to be?

How quickly do you toss the baby out with the bathwater of what you don’t prefer about a person you should be learning from?

How many babies have you tossed because you let “your background” stiff-arm the gold in others?

What delivery details do you need to get over in order to really get the points and the processes that will launch your team into orbit-level success?

You see what you look for…let’s all start looking for the gold and stop being so concerned about our approval level of the package it comes in.

Lean forward,

Bekka

Toe the Line

I hate rules. I generally feel that they exist solely for the purpose of my knowing exactly how far I can wander from the “required ideal” before actually getting into trouble. I understand their purpose. I understand that without them, chaos and eventual collapse would ensue. In an organization, rules exist for the same reason they exist in government and in a family – to control and predict. Rules are designed to control behaviors, with the inevitable GOAL of controlling outcomes. For example, if I require employees to arrive and be at their desks by 8am, it’s not because I get a charge out of looking out at 8:01am to see desks full of bodies working away for the company – at least it shouldn’t be. It is because I hope that if everyone begins promptly on time, I will get the most productivity and therefore the highest yield on the salaries I am paying those employees. Arriving on time (behavior) should ideally result in a higher profit margin (outcome). Managers get REALLY EXCITED at the prospect of being able to impact and control outcomes. If they think they have a system which will allow them to control and predict their outcomes, productivity and numbers…it’s VERY difficult to resist the temptation to establish a suffocating rule culture that is completely counterproductive to their end goal: growth and progress.

Don’t get me wrong – we need rules. Boundaries are a healthy thing in every area of life. I don’t like them but I don’t think we can afford to jettison them completely. The problem occurs when lose our ability to think and make decisions apart from a consultation of the rules. Too many rules constrict creativity, immobilize innovation and prevent progress BY DEFINITION. If you always do things, solve problems, complete processes according to the same rules; you will never break out of that box you have so carefully (and with the best of intentions) crafted for those you lead.

Here’s my alternative proposition: state the goal you’re trying to accomplish and allow those on your team to come up with their own strategy of how they will contribute and work toward that goal. Here’s where all the managers freak out…there’s no control in this approach other than holding people accountable to the methods THEY have chosen to get over the finish line. Of course, these methods must be reasonable and realistic – but they don’t always have to be the same. Here’s the other result of this approach: ownership. When someone makes their own plan on how to contribute, they will inevitably work with more intensity, more passion and more responsibility than if they are just following someone else’s plan. And if their own plan doesn’t work, it’s their responsibility to revamp and try again.

Break a few of your own rules – the unnecessary ones. Let your people loose. Untie their hands and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised with the result.

Lean Forward,

Bekka

Pause

I have a tendency to focus more on what I have yet to do than on what I have already accomplished. I was reminded today that taking quick pause to reflect on accomplishments – both large and small – is not only a good use of my time and energy, but also an effective motivator for the things yet unfinished on my to-do lists.

It’s Wednesday.

Take two minutes to reflect on what you’ve accomplished so far this week. Don’t put them next to the unfinished things for comparison. Just appreciate them. Appreciate yourself and be reminded that you are doing a great job at life. And it’s only Wednesday.

Lean forward,

Bekka

Tick Tock

“You don’t have time for that.”

“Time is money.”

“Stop wasting time!”

“The clock is ticking.”

“Now is the time.”

Our society is time-obsessed. We never seem to have enough for the things we want/need to do. We all have the same amount of time but most of us feel like we would appreciate another 4 hours in the day…or 8. This creates a very negative vibe around anything that doesn’t happen at our perceived speed of need.

Why do we villainize things that are “slow”? Why does our patience wear thin in the process?

We are so conditioned to having things at our disposal that anything less initiates a stress response in us.

Things that take time are not the enemy. In fact, they are generally a lot more valuable than those that happen quickly. In my basement, I have two end tables and a coffee table that I got from Ikea. I paid less than $100 for all three pieces. They are light as a feather and have little to no resale value. This is because they are made from sawdust that is glued together and stamped into shape by a machine alongside 50,000 other pieces exactly alike. Contrast this furniture set with what sits in my parents’ living room: beautiful handmade Amish pieces that were made by a real person, from real wood. My parents ordered these pieces from the shop and waited until the craftsman completed them. They are more valuable today than the day they purchased them and will continue to appreciate as long as my parents own them.

This is a pretty stark example but you could find similar points in art, agriculture, medicine, relationships and food. Homemade food just tastes better. It takes a long time to prepare and the person eating it can tell the difference. This is why people who enjoy preparing great food get irritated when others wolf it down without savor and appreciation. It took a lot of time and work to prepare – appreciation and time in consumption reflects acknowledgement of that investment.

We need to stop looking at time as a curse – some sort of jail that always screams our inadequacies back at us. When we start feeling crunched for time, some worthy questions may be:

Am I spending my time on things or investing my time into things? Will I see a return on this investment or are these minutes truly gone forever?

If I’m feeling short on time, do I need to re-evaluate my schedule and learn to gracefully say “no” to those things that are causing more stress than joy?

What am I creating with my time? Is it truly valuable?

And the questions requiring the most honesty in answering…Am I impatient because I believe the world revolves around me? Do I have a posture of grace toward those who don’t (and aren’t obligated to) operate on my schedule? Am I missing important things in my life because I am rushing thru it?

Lean forward,

Bekka

Show Up

An executive in my company has a catchphrase.

“Leaders show up.”

That’s it. It’s her motto for life and business – and she’s very successful at both.

Leaders show up. The more I think about, the deeper I dive into how broad the applications are for these three little words. Here are some questions I’m asking myself.

If you didn’t show up, can you really consider yourself a leader?

If you show up physically but are mentally and emotionally on a different planet, what does that say about how well you’re leading – yourself and your team?

Being a leader means knowing where you’re needed and knowing where you’re not…where am I showing up?

Who always shows up? Who is displaying leadership qualities that I may be overlooking?

Am I one who is leaning in to my commitments and my responsibilities or am I one who is looking for reasons to “stay home”?

How visible is my leadership? Do those following me SEE me present and engaged? What kind of example am I setting? 

Do I show up as a leader against the background of life? Am I recognizable?

Lean forward,

Bekka