What IF You Don't Have the Resources to be Successful?

When you have unlimited resources, the goals / priorities / focus don’t really matter. If you have twice as much money and the time to achieve a simple task to getting it right the first time isn’t as important as you might have otherwise thought.

The idea of “having enough resources” is just a logical interpretation of your current situation. Most of the time, it’s an attitude issue, related to your prioritizing skills.

It might seem like you have to achieve success the first time around — or that you might run out of money, manpower and experience — but what if that just might be a perception illusion. What if getting it right the first time means that you only achieve mediocrity? Is that good enough for you? What if running out of money means you have to deliver a product that isn’t beautiful? Does beauty matter? What about functionality? How would you make the product ready for market?

You subconsciously place all kinds of restrictions and inhibitions around what you need to do in order to be successful — magically hoping that by playing by the rules your  formula for success will yield better results than the last time.

There is no scarcity. No real scarcity for anything that matters. As long as you can think and work you have everything that you need in order to be successful. Logically, at some point you run out of time and money and opportunity. That’s just common sense. But the truth is that you have more resources than you realize right now.  You have better resources.

And so, sometimes feeling like you are running out of resources is a healthy thing. It reminds you that what you are doing today matters. It reminds you that the choices you make are important; and relevant. And that those choices ultimately determine how successful you become.

It's never been about the resources that you have. At some point all of your resources will be gone. Whether its life or health or money or friends, at some point, those things go away. What you are left with is the resource that you are. You. You are left with you.  And that’s not altogether such a bad deal after all. Because you can do with no one else can do.

You can care more. You can whine less. You can stand up when you have been knocked down. You can smile in spite of the pain. You can live, laugh, love, and lead all while feeling broke and sad and unprepared.

It’s not the resources you have but how resourceful you are that really matters. So act like it.

Is Analysis Paralysis Stopping You From Taking Action?

Analysis Paralysis is where you can’t make any forward progress because you bog yourself down in details, tweaking, brainstorming, research, and… anything but just getting on with it. Sound familiar?

It’s something I struggled with. Partly out of fear of failure, partly because I love the idea-generation phase of projects, mostly because I am an analysis geek on occasion.

There is hope though, even for chronic cases.

It’s not actually about setting your sights low, or dropping your personal standards. What you have to do is identify those things you have to get right from the get-go, those items that do need analysis, and what can be fixed later.

While it is perfectly natural to want to spend time thinking about a project, especially one with an element of risk, there comes a point where any more thinking is counter-productive and you need to start making some progress.

1.     What do you absolutely have to do for the project to be a success?

2.     What tasks can absolutely not be put off while later?

3.     What are the most painful items to change post launch?

4.     What could realistically go wrong?

With procrastination it always comes down to just doing it but discovering the reasons why you aren’t (other than being a lazy geek making excuses!) can be very helpful in getting your sorry behind working. Analysis Paralysis often comes from learned behavior over several years. Either it has proven beneficial, so you do a little more thinking and planning each time, or not enough planning has caused problems so each occasion you get a little more cautious.

It never fails to surprise me how different the world seems when my analysis faces reality. We all get some things right while other things seem to come from outer-space and no amount of thinking would have predicted it. Thinking on your feet is often as important as any amount of analysis.

7 Tips to Help Overcome Analysis Paralysis

1.     Plan

You still need a plan no matter what, but this time round, over planning is not allowed. Think of what are the things that you need to know before you start and get a grasp of it. Brain storm for what would be the most painful thing to change and get more information and make a wiser decision. Be sure to know, what are the things that could possibly go wrong and try to prevent them. Be proactive rather than reactive.

2.     Set a Deadline for Your Planning Session

Allocate a deadline for your planning session and be strict with yourself and only spend that certain amount of time for planning. When we have a specific time slot for planning, we will have a lesser tendency to over plan.

3.     Just Start

When you finished your planning session, stop asking yourself “what if” questions. Just start doing it and learn everything that you do not know along the way.

4.     Forgo Perfection

I know there is a Mr (or Ms) Perfection inside you and you want to get everything perfect on the get go but it is highly not possible that everything will turn out the way you want to be in the first place. Just forget about perfection and start taking action.

5.     Momentum

Once you start your project, do not stop and think too much again. Just have a list of to-do items, regardless whether it is big or small and keep on completing the task.

6.     Learn To Make Decision

This is an important skill that can help to overcome analysis paralysis. By knowing how to make a faster and wiser decision, we can take action faster and get more things done. Practice your decision making skills by setting a 5 seconds rule to make your daily decision. (Ex: What beverage am I going to have? Coke or lemon tea.)

7.     Find an Action Taker

Find someone who is able to take action easily. Whenever you are stuck with analysis paralysis, find them and talk to them about your problem. Most likely you will get a positive reply and get the momentum you need to get going.

 

Parting Words

These tips worked fine for me in helping me to take action and also to achieve results. Analysis without action does not help you to have any kind of positive results. Now, you have the tips to help you overcome analysis paralysis, why don’t you go start something that will help to enhance your life today?

Finally, Stop thinking about it and start doing something.

We are what we repeatedly do

At the last week’s Time Strategies webinar, I made a recommendation to define your values, purpose, and goals in order to achieve what you need to accomplish in the time that you have in a given day.

There are relationship, career, personal interest, family and social demands… all screaming for attention in our lives. Each of us has the same amount of time available to us as we begin a new day. Twenty four hours to use or abuse as we see fit. There never seems to be enough.

Sometimes we accomplish a great deal, and time just seems to fly by when we notice the lateness of the hour. When we work at challenging and stimulating projects directly related to our goals, our achievement level skyrockets and time flies.

On other days, everything seems to be going in slow motion. When we are bored or doing something we don’t like, time drags and our productivity and our level of accomplishment drops. When we feel under the gun or out of control, time seems to go too fast. We feel out of control, stressed, unable to get done what we need to accomplish in the time allotted, and are continually behind schedule.

The quantity of time doesn’t really change. Only our perception changes and our perception is our reality. Since we cannot increase or manufacture more time, we must get more out of the time we have.

If most of us know how to manage our time and if we realize the value of becoming more effective at managing our time, why don’t we do a better job of it? We all know what we should do. Why don’t we just do it? For most of us, what is easy to say is more difficult to do. So what’s the solution? We must first look at the key factors that influence our behavior.

The first step in changing any habit is to identify the habit you want to change. Therefore, in order to change your time management habits, you must evaluate your present use of time by analyzing your attitudes and behavior in relation to outcomes. An accurate time analysis will help you to pinpoint who and what occupies your time. Look for time wasters and peak performance periods. Pinpoint precise behaviors that are incompatible with your goals.

Define the new habit that you wish to develop and be as specific as possible. Negative habits in our lives are destructive. Positive habits are uplifting and they help us achieve our goals. In order to build better habits, we must define precise behaviors for change and perform them at specific times. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.”

You will get more out of your time when you learn how to get more out of your life. After you determine what you want, what you value, what you believe, and where your priorities lie, determining how to spend a given day or hour becomes easy. In order to get more out of your time, know what you want and what you want to get out of it. That seems very simple and most people overlook the real purpose of their lives. They fail to define their values, purpose, and goals. They become so immersed in their daily activities that they fail to think about what they really like to do.

That brings us back to the webinar’s recommendation as to why it is so critical to define your values, purpose, and goals in order to achieve what you need to accomplish in the time that you have in a given day.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this...

Power and Focus through Time Management

Achieving effective time management is not easy because changing a personal habit never is. The essence of effective time management means replacing less effective habits with better ones.

People generally have a fairly good understanding of basic time management techniques, and almost everyone knows how to plan and prioritize. Most people know they should be more organized. The problem is that very few of us always do what we know we should do. Your success does depend on a successful time management system. Think about some accomplished people you know. Do they do what they say they are going to do when they say they will do it? Do they keep their word? The answer is probably ‘yes.’ People who keep their word consistently create power and focus in their lives. Together, power and focus provide the ability to be more effective in shaping events and circumstances. Effectiveness, in turn, enhances our feeling of well being. The better we feel; the more successful we are.

The “Formula for Well Being©”demonstrates that before we can keep our word, we need to give our word. Giving our word creates the potential for us to keep our word, which in turn creates the power and focus to be more effective.

Achieving more power and focus through mastering the right time management techniques is a skill, a mindset, and a lifestyle and it can be adopted by anyone who …

§ Wants to feel more in control,

§ Wants to attain more out of life,

§ Wants to achieve success in business while enjoying the pleasures of a personal life,

§ And, wants to reduce stress and realize more life balance.

Define a time management habit that you wish to develop. Be as specific as possible.

Negative habits in our lives are destructive; positive ones provide focus and power. They help us achieve our goals. In order to rebuild habits, we must define precise behaviors for change. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” Your focus and power is dependent on your time management skills and behaviors. It is never too late to make a positive change, and a new year is upon us, so start today!

__________________________________

Surya M Ganduri, PhD. PMP. is the founder and president of eMBC, Inc., a national firm specializing in strategic and executive leadership development processes that Help People Succeed in an Evolving World. His company is affiliated with Resource Associates Corporation, a network of 600+ associates that are dedicated to helping organizations and individuals manage strategic change, innovation, cultural transition, and goal achievement. Surya has over 26 years of business experience in management consulting, leadership development, executive coaching, process improvements, organizational development and youth leadership. Contact Surya at s6ganduri@eMBCinc.com. For more information visit www.eMBCinc.com or contact eMBC, Inc., directly at (630) 445-1321.