Make it ExtraOrdinaire

"The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does". ~ Napoleon Hill, (1883-1970, American speaker, author, Think And Grow Rich)

Hello everybody, I have been on and off from the city recently. To be honest, there are a few things that I get to miss whenever I check out of Nairobi City. One of them is a coffee bar that I’m irrationally loyal to (in fact I’m there even as I write this). It’s not as though the coffee or the service or the surroundings are so drastically different to other suppliers of the bean. No, it’s in the little things that they’ve wooed me into this vortex. They’ve got the basics mastered but then they dazzle me with a little bit extra. As the saying goes, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little bit “extra”.


"Here is the simple but powerful rule... always give people more than they expect to get".~ Nelson Boswell  

Epic example: Not long ago, I walked in and the barista proudly held up an extension cord. Strange greeting, but it turns out they’d noticed that my favorite spot by the power-port was getting popular, so they bought an extension cord so I could work at my laptop from another table. That’s the difference between ordinary and extraordinary. And what did it cost them? What are the economics of extra? It was probably Kes.700.00 only at the supermarket, but the real point is the value that it communicated to me. I matter. Somebody noticed. Some team member cared enough to remember it next time they were picking up supplies.

"Give the world the best that you have, and the best will come back to you". ~ Madeline Bridges (American professor)

That’s value. It’s often like that with being extraordinary… the real cost tends to be less about money, and more about the effort and energy it takes to “make it extraordinaire”. Yet the rewards are enormous. I’ll drive past five other cafes on the way to this place because they won my loyalty with tokens of effort and energy.

I heard a speaker recently who said, “The gap between where you are and where you want to be is largely determined by the price you’re willing to pay”. It’s a bitter pill to swallow because we’d rather blame something external. But what price am I willing to pay to bridge the gap between where I am and where I want to be? When it comes to relationships it’s more convenient to blame being busy than to accept that in reality I’m not as relational as I want to be simply because I don’t do those little extra things that great networkers do to connect with the people they love and matter most to them.

So what about you and your team? Imagine you were to take an inventory of all the things you do – every product, service, contact point, and piece of value you add. How many of those would be left if you were to take out everything that could be classified as “ordinary” or standard? If “ordinary” was defined as “doing what’s expected”, “what others do too”, “what you’ve always done”, or “the basics”… what would be left on your list? What is it that you offer that is “extraordinaire”

It’s time to define extraordinary-

1. Ask your loyal fans and passionate advocates what they believe your “extra” is. 
2. Ask your team to automate the ordinary so they can give their personal attention to the extraordinary. 
3. Ask yourself what you could do today to invest your best effort and energy into multiplying your extraordinary points of difference.

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“I AM RESPONSIBLE”

Three Potent Words

By Paul Andrew is Founder of The Leadership Coach™

 

 Three words in Rudy Giuliani’s book titled “Leadership” had a lasting impact on my life. 

 In it he explained the essence of his philosophy on leadership as he reflected on leading New York City as its Mayor through both triumph and tragedy, including the attacks on the World Trade Center. On his desk throughout his time as Mayor sat a sign with just three potent words:

“I AM RESPONSIBLE”

 It strikes me that many of us could use a reminder like that sitting on our desks.

 How do you lead a city like NYC and at the same time hold yourself to such a tough standard? Does “I am responsible” mean that I’m to blame for everything that goes wrong?

 In the aftermath of terrorist attacks when many were pointing fingers, Giuliani focused instead on taking responsibility for the needs at hand. In fact throughout his tenure as Mayor he led a reversal of the city’s crime record with a myriad of seemingly small actions that worked together to achieve change on a massive scale.

 Something in all of us prefers to resist responsibility and focus instead of what’s outside of our control. But the true leader doesn’t waste energy and precious time fixating on issues they can’t address. Instead they take action. They step up and do what they can.

 Living those three potent words – I am responsible – means knowing that although it’s not only up to you… keeping focused on your own responsibility is the surest way to live to your real potential.

So be your own leadership coach for a moment and ask…

 * To what extent am I allowing myself to be distracted by issues or others, rather than focusing on my own part to play?

 * If I was to take 100% responsibility for this… what would I do differently?

 * What action can I take TODAY to begin to address a situation that’s important to me?

 Your time starts… now.

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Quitting with Dignity

 A couple of months ago I wrote an article entitled “navigating through toxic relationships”. I made a few arguments and highlighted a few signs one could use to measure any relationship based on them and get a pretty good idea about the number of toxic relationships one has in life. Once you discover any, the next step is to decide if the best way to go is to try and save them, or to end them. Check the article here http://thechampsmind.blogspot.com/2011/04/navigating-through-toxic-relationships.html  

As a voracious reader of books on various topics, and articles on print and online, and a listener to lots of audio tapes from great speakers and writers in the field of personal development and self help resource; I draw an inference that ‘Quitting’ has gotten a really bad rap. Life in general is filled with rhetoric about how bad it is to give up on something. Truth is, giving up on the wrong things is just as crucial as committing to the right ones. Being able to see the difference and cutting those bad pieces out of your life can help you recover a significant amount of time and energy to pour into the good parts.
 

The better part?

 Deciphering between the two is actually really easy. If something you’ve committed to is making you unhappy and you can’t objectively see it making you happy in the future, then it’s toxic for you and you ought to quit. Your gut feeling is more valuable than most think.

Actually quitting, though, is hard and awkward. Luckily, when you decide to quit something that’s wrong for you, there are a few things you can do to be sure you actually go through with it and even get something valuable out of the process.

Here are some tips on Dignified Quitting.

1. Commitment

Commit to quitting. This is the first and most important part of the whole process. We all know the danger of “indecisiveness” when we’ve committed to something, but it’s an even bigger problem when you’re trying to quit something. 

This usually happens because you feel bad about giving up on something you think is important to you, but only half-quitting will drag you even further down. 

Make the decision to quit and stick to it. Do your thinking ahead of time and commit to it. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in a self-made prison where something that was taking up your time and not getting you anywhere is still not getting you anywhere and still taking up your time. The idea is to completely free yourself so that you can focus all your attention on starting something new.

 2. Tie up loose ends 

Of course, in order to be completely free of commitments, you’ll probably have to do a little bit of extra work to be rid of them. Don’t be afraid of that; you’ve made your decision and hopefully based it on sound reasoning. Now, you want to quickly take care of any loose ends that need to be addressed before shelving the whole project.

Look for the things that could come back to bite you if you set them aside half finished. This doesn’t mean you have to finish them. Instead, get creative about how to find an early ending point. 

Remember, you’re performing triage here. If it’s not vital, stop doing it immediately. If it is vital and needs to be addressed, take care of it as quickly and efficiently as possible. No need to go for perfect anymore as done will do.

This is the stage where it’s easy to get sucked back into the project. Tread lightly and remember why you’re quitting.

3. Inform , Inform, Inform All.

Let all affected partied be informed of your decision. This is where things get a little uncomfortable and a little bit messy at times, but doing it right can be the difference between success and failure on the next thing.

Take the time to get in touch with everyone that’s impacted by your decision to quit. Be gracious and talk to people honestly and authentically. This could be team members, superiors, customers, outside stakeholders, and anyone else that has to change something they’re doing as a result.

Be firm with your decision and don’t allow yourself to be sucked back in. Guilt can play a prime role in this stage, but remember that you’re making the best decision for yourself and everyone else.

If you do this right, you can actually build your reputation by showing your good judgment and ensure plenty of support the next time you commit to something.

4. Take Time Out.

Once you’ve finally broken free from a toxic commitment, Take time out to Evaluate and reflect. The last thing you want to do is tie yourself to another one with the same fatal blemishes. Take enough time to really look at all the factors that went into your decision to quit and turn them into concrete warning signs that you can use in the future to evaluate new projects and commitments.

Before you jump into the next big thing, go down your list and look for those warning signs in all the nooks and crannies. Don’t be surprised if you find some. Anything you do that’s important will come with some unknowns, but make sure that you can address them objectively. The point is to be able to say to yourself, “I saw this problem, and here’s the game plan I have to deal with it.”

No matter what it is, quitting is never easy, but it’s a lot more important than it gets credit for. Everyone gets trapped by something they shouldn’t be doing once in a while. If you stay levelheaded and quit strategically, you can quickly be on your way to doing things that really matter to you. Now you have it, It’s totally okay to quit the wrong things as well as important to commit yourself to the right ones.

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STIFLING THE CRITIC

CRITICS, CRITICS, CRITICS EVERYWHERE

Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes. ~ Unknown

One Stop Barber Shop

Today, I went to cut my hair at my favorite joint ‘One Stop Barber Shop’ on Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi’s central business district. Playing in the background was my favorite genre of music, Smooth Jazz, I found myself nodding my head to the seemingly unending back to back beats of David Benoit from his album ‘Freedom at Midnight’. Mean while I couldn’t help but notice a bunch of guys on the other side of the shop engaged in a heated soccer debate over what seemed to be a battle of funs over which is the best team in English premier league.  Now, for the record, I must admit that I am a die-hard fun of Arsenal FC; Dig it? The more the debate went on, the more the gunners got extremely criticized; the more I heard bad vibe; the more my wounded ego was awakened with the pain of loosing the ‘Carling Cup’ to Bolton Wanderers FC; and the embarrassment we got for being beaten by Barcelona FC at N Stadium a couple weeks ago kicking us out of the Champions League race and now the grim reality facing the Arsenal Soccer Club of not getting a hold of the EPL Cup.

Keeping My Cool

I was restless, but I had to keep my cool to allow my barber an easy time doing what he knows best, cut my hair. However I kept feeling a prompting within me to stand up and shut this guys down from howling criticism and insults over gunners players. I was agitated & distraught then it hit me, There’s no shortage of critics, in fact some are paid a lot of money to give us an earful of their analysis but critics don’t change the world. Instead the world is impacted by those on the edge willing to take a chance at doing something significant while risking criticism and failure. Kenneth Tyan referred to the critic as someone who “knows the way but can’t drive the car.” In Soccer speak ~ They know ‘how to score,’ but won’t play’.

 “One mustn't criticize other people on grounds where he can't stand perpendicular himself” ~ Mark Twain

There’s The Critics, Then There’s Everyone Else

There’s the critic and then there’s everyone else – the players (gunners), the athlete, the writer, the artist, the politician, the millionaire, the industry captains, the blogger, the leader… you know, the people risking criticism by doing something. The critic is rarely the one with answers or historical achievement. He’s far too busy measuring the limit of possibilities to be bothered with pushing those boundaries to new heights. He can recount in painstaking detail what should or should not have been done, how things aren’t quite right, how they don’t measure up, align with, or stack up. He’s that guy.  He’s the armchair Robin Van Persie soccer striker who could have picked up that terrific pass and made a clinical finish to put the gunners in the lead, never mind that he can’t hold onto a job and the last time he actually ran somewhere was when nature demanded that he takes a Bio-break to relieve himself.

Those who can -- do. Those who can't -- criticize. ~Unknown Source 

But isn’t there an element of the critic within each of us?

Somewhere inside each of us lurks an enemy ready to silence our best ideas and bury our loftiest dreams. It’s this internal critic who insists that limits must precede possibilities.  He draws hard lines around our creativity and insists upon playing it safe to avoid unknown outcomes. He’s there to edit before we’ve even begun our “crappy first draft.” Why? Plain and simple, it’s pretty much easier to talk about action than to take action. I must confess, I’ve been guilty of this several times as well.

‘Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.’ ~ Brendan Behan

When was the last time the critic within gave you permission to:

Create something extraordinary?

Restore something remarkable?

Build something from nothing?

Overcome seemly insurmountable odds?

Become more than who you were yesterday?

Help someone accomplish greatness?

Give something with impact?

Contribute something lasting?

‘If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.’ ~Dale Carnegie

CRUSHING THE CRITIC

There’s not a critic alive that can hinder the determined person who has a strong work ethic and purpose. Without the critic dictating the possibilities, we end up thinking and behaving differently. Suddenly our entire outlook shifts. Yesterday and tomorrow become lower priorities and right now becomes the most important moment. The critic is most concerned with past performances, and future uncertainties. It’s always yesterday and tomorrow… looking back and looking ahead…while missing the opportunity and beauty of the present moment.

Now Faith Is…

The NOW moment is where we make things happen. It’s the only place where we can take our next action and discover the effortless flow that occurs only while we are taking action. In that moment, we aren’t thinking about the paragraph we just wrote, the ball we just dropped,  the last sales rejection received or who just left our lives. We are caught up in what we are currently doing – capturing our words, scoring the goal, placing a smile on someone’s face or fulfilling a customers need. When we silence the critic, we are free to take chances and when we do that our passion can propel us to unknown moments of greatness.

 We crush the critic when we:

Give ourselves permission to have fun.

Take action without analysis.

Allow ourselves creative blocks without interruption.

Remain in the moment.

Fall in love with the process.

 When the critic shows up, it’s important to remember the words of Theodore Roosevelt.

‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.’

“Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing”~ Aristotle

Now it’s your turn to share how you’re crushing the critic.

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback. Share This Article with your friends on your Social media networks.

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