“We need to learn to do more with less.”   We have  heard this phrase for so long that it has become part of our business culture.   I am here to tell you -that this is a terrible belief and one that does not serve our long term success – especially given the tremendous challenges we face in business, our country and the world.  Now for a short period during the late 1990s this may have been useful during a time of transition.  Yet, this frame is not only outdated – if we continue to embrace it we will become less effective and overthrown by overwhelm!

There are a number of approaches we can take in business to recapture time lost in our day.  Yet incorporating these approaches will require a major shift in habits – as individuals and in our organizational cultures.  One of the areas to transform is our entire approach to achievement and how we get things done.  One antidote for overwhelm will come from tapping into the creative power that goes largely unused in the day to day business world.  One of my favorite quotes about our innate creative powers comes from the famous line spoken by Napoleon Hill in his seminal book Think & Grow Rich: “What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

Recent new understandings about the mind that have come out of biology, neurobiology and quantum physics is proving this true.  Science is barring out that our very thoughts do generate reality and that what we think literally creates concrete experiences.  Athletes and artists have known this for years as has the great visionaries and innovators of our times.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

From the Poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley

(this poem was the constant companion for Nelson Mandela during is 27 years in prison)

So what does all of this mean for business and how it can be more effective during this era of acceleration?  First, we need to start taking charge of our thinking more and use this power to reduce stress and achieve more!  And yes that sounds simple but that does not mean it is easy. You see there is an direct link between what you believe and how you behave – this link is wholly human!  Most of our actions are generated from unconscious beliefs and habits we have formed over the years.  In most of us these go completely unexamined to the point we feel what we think is “real”.  Habits are those things we no longer question.  Yet, here is the fly in the ointment – if your underlying beliefs that are below the radar of the conscious mind are not aligned with what you want to create – your actions will not consistently support you to succeed.  And in fact, your thoughts might be leading you astray.   A simple example of this is our experience of New Years Resolutions.  When was the last time you kept one for longer than a month or two?  If you have congratulations – not many people do.

Now you don’t have to take my word for it – you can examine your own experience to show the power of this.   If you are curious do this experiment.  For one day keep track of everything you think.  Carry a notebook with you and jot down your general thoughts and your reactions to others and events.  If you do it for a week even better because after a week you will begin to notice patterns of thinking and underlying beliefs that are driving your behaviors.

Once you have done this – assess how your day or week went.  Rank it on a scale from 1 to 10 – 10 being it was a perfect day/week and everything flowed and where 1 is the worst day/week ever!   Now look at what you thought all day or week – do you see anything that would indicate why you have the score you do?   It would be hard to imagine you would not find alignment.  I have never known anyone who was not surprised by the outcome of this experiment.  Once you get the lesson you will start realizing how important it is to remain vigilant and in charge of your thoughts.

So now the question becomes – did my day go the way it did because of what I thought or because of the circumstances I faced?  Well if you think it was the circumstances then I would talking to a couple co-workers and ask how they interpreted those circumstances.  I would be surprised if their experience was the same as yours.  If it is different the question becomes which interpretation is right?  Well really none and all of them at the same time.  When you realize that it is your interpretation of your consequences not the actual events that dictations your reality  – you have the answer to your question.  Which is – It is you who dictates your experience – not someone else, not the organization, not your boss, not the circumstances. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone realized this?  Powerful!

So if we dictate our experience the question becomes what are we doing about that?  Even if all is good with the world – it might be useful to see what we think so we can further empower that thinking and learn how to get better at taking charge of our experience.  If we are not thinking thoughts that are in alignment with what we want then we need to start the process of re-framing our view of the world.  While it takes effort – it takes far less effort to do this then to think we can change circumstances through brute force.  Without the companionship of aligned thoughts and passion – we will have little influence over what goes on around us.   It is an illusion if you believe you do.

Great leaders take charge of their thinking.  This is what vision is all about!  Extraordinary leaders keep the vision foremost in their mind and let it set the context for their thinking.  They focus on what they want and steer away from negative thinking.  This is not to say they bury their heads in the sand.  No!  What great  leaders do is look at everything through the lens of the vision and deal with what ever they are in that moment to move that vision forward.  They accept there will be obstacles and realize that a natural part of turning a vision into reality is facing, overcoming or moving around those things that seem to be obstacles to achievement.  Such leaders realize they can only:

• Control themselves and their thoughts – not people, places and things outside themselves.
• Influence others – not dictate
• Take their best shot at moving things forward – not control the outcomes
• Learn from failure rather than reacting too strongly to a failure or shifting blame.  True leaders realize the later is a waste of both time and energy.

The creative path of leadership is truly a cycle that involves:

• Choosing the future you want to take the lead in creating.
• Staying connected to the vision and turning the vision over and over in your imagination – seeing it unfold in detail.
• Living in the moment and look for every opportunity to influence momentum forward.
• Talking to others about the vision – doing what is necessary to create shared ownership of it.
• Staying in integrity and be a model for what you expect from others
• Preparing for and expecting opportunities to emerge – not over planning your day (and by the way – how many times does our plan work anyway?)!
• Remaining vigilant and focused on what you think – making sure you keep your thoughts aligned with what you want and coach others to do the same.
• Expecting success and being open to learning approaches that you yourself have not thought of.  It is my experience and the experience that many of my clients have had – that sometimes the unexpected is far better than what you planned.

If you begin to leverage this philosophy – it will bear fruit and in a very short time you will find far fewer things to worry about and far more things to be excited about!  I promise!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 12th, 2010 at 3:09 pm and is filed under Leadership Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.