discipline Archives - Page 2 of 3

04
Sep 19
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Realistic Workplace Expectations and Your Work

Tags : goals project management realistic expectations workplace

Are the expectations realistic? Realistic workplace expectations may start with your own personal outlook.

Sure, the boss may have some expectations that are a stretch. Customers may have some high expectations. Yet beyond the boss or your customers, often the expectations you place on yourself are even higher.

When you commit to the project what are your expectations?

High Expectations and Time

If the customer says, “That will work.” Do you stop there, or do you insist there is still more perfection required? More that can be done, more that should be done?

Many people are watchful for the critic. They have to get things just right because they know the critic is waiting right around the corner.

A critical eye ruins your masterpiece, so you spend the extra time to make it just right. In the absence of praise, you feel deflated and defeated. It must not have been good enough.

Your afterthought, “I could have done better with a little more time.”

Realistic Workplace Expectations

It is true for the school paper that is due, the academic thesis, or the project that will be presented to the board of directors.

It is only true sometimes though. The other option is to assume your work is superior to all other works. Anyone questioning the quality or accuracy is only envious or jealous.

Certainly, we may experience some or all of these scenarios. Have you asked yourself about the reality of your work? What is realistic?

Often realistic expectations start with yourself. You decide exactly how far you’ll go within the parameter of a specific amount of time.

At some point, we say, “Good enough.”

The best question then becomes, “Are you being realistic?”

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

05
Jul 19
-

Working Holidays and Other Addictions

Tags : addictions discipline self-control time working holidays

Do you get time off for holidays? Do you find yourself working late, working when off the job, or working holidays?

What about ice cream, chocolate candies, or some form of caffeinated concoction? Are those things that you need or just want?

Self-Control or Addiction?

Can you put your smartphone down? And keep it down? Are you constantly checking for text messages, social media updates, or incoming email messages?

Do you have self-control?

Certainly, there are many people who work holidays. Their shift is important to keep things going. It may be the maintenance crew at the manufacturing plant, hospital employees, and civil services personnel. Many people are paid to be on the job, sometimes especially on holidays.

Assuming that isn’t you, do you still work? Are you addicted to your work?

Working Holidays

I’m not referencing being devoted, committed, and caring, I’m referencing lacking the ability to break free. Some business owners, entrepreneurs, and other professionals use it as a time to get caught up or jump ahead.

There are always needs and requirements. And there are things that just feel that way.

I need something to eat, or am I just bored?

I need a coffee, a cocktail, or Big Gulp from the 7-Eleven.

Check my text messages, email, or social media feed…

Our habits make up much of our daily life. The difference between requirements and niceties is often hard to determine. The difference between “have to” and “want to” is also often confusing.

Are you working holidays? Is that on you or is that part of what you signed up for?

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

26
Apr 19
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Following Advice Should Get You There

Tags : advice discipline following persistence

Everyone has an opinion. Nearly everyone has some advice. Following advice seems to make sense but does it always?

First, there are some people who shouldn’t be advising anyone. There is plenty of advice out there, especially on social media. Self-proclaimed experts lurk around every corner and in every shadow. Buyer beware.

Let’s assume though, that the information you seek, good information, is abundant. What will you do with that information? How will you use that advice?

Tweak the Plan

Often people modify the directions and information they receive.

When you make your IKEA purchase are you going to follow the directions? That may be good advice. Will you take a quick glance and then start assembly only checking in when you get stuck?

The same is true for the frozen pizza, the pre-cooked Easter ham, or the Thanksgiving turkey. It is true for the Cowboy Casserole, the chocolate fudge brownie, and the banana bread. Do you follow the directions or sort of do your own thing?

Chances are good that advice surrounds you. Much of it may be good. When we don’t follow it, follow it exactly, it may become bad advice.

That is often the difference. What we receive gets modified. It gets bent a little, twisted a little, turned upside down, yet the partial followers proclaim it must have been bad advice.

Following Advice

If you substitute milk for heavy cream in the recipe, you’re going to get a different result.

When you try to run a business or manage a department on hope, instead of hard work or action, you’ll likely get a different result.

If you believe your marketing and advertising will work just as well when you cut the budget in half and replace it with free advertising, you better think twice.

Finding good advice probably isn’t the biggest challenge. The bigger challenge is following it.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

11
Mar 19
-

In Your Workplace Daylight Savings Still Requires You

Tags : commitment daylight savings discipline workplace

People may ask, “Do we move the time forward or do we turn back the clocks?” Confused they may say, “Are we losing an hour or gaining an hour?” Are people asking you about the effects of daylight savings time?

I have two grandmother clocks in my home. They don’t run on electricity or batteries. You must pull the chains to raise the weights every week. The pendulum must swing and then the hands of the clock spin.

Telling time then is not accomplished through a digital display. There are not buttons to push or indicator lights.

Most importantly, the time setting in these clocks is accomplished manually. You can’t tap “Settings,” and then, “Date & Time,” and toggle, “Automatic.”

An Excuse

Surely, as the official time change occurs during the weekend people will show up at the correct time on Monday.

No, not everyone. A few will find it a convenient excuse to be running late.

Although we are in a digital age. An age where most of our cellular phones and computer devices will automatically spring forward, people still have something to do.

In your workplace, the people are going to need to spring forward. They are going to need to bring the energy, put in the effort, and bring the change to life. It won’t happen automatically. It’s not a digital setting.

Daylight Savings

Our digital age is part of society. Things happen for us and we barely even notice. It is all so automatic. Beyond that it is thoughtless, no real effort required. Follow the time on your phone or computer and you’re set.

Our lives benefit from technology. Things making life easier, simpler, and requiring less background knowledge to navigate.

On the human side of daylights savings, we still have a job to do. Spring forward will only happen when we pull the chains, raise the weights, and turn the hands.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

20
Nov 18
-

Just Tell Me The Answers

Tags : answers career leadership shortcuts

In school it may have seemed easy to study to the test. In fact, in some curriculum that is exactly the plan. For real life it may be a different story. Are you just looking for the answers or are you learning along the way?

Shortcuts

It seems like the shortcut. The path that will lead you to the result faster, more efficiently, and with less expense. If we can learn the answer, we’ve shortened the time requirements.

Just getting the answer may help us navigate the software, do a quick fix home repair, or learn how to apply makeup.

Just watch a video. You’ll find the answer.

Finding the answers seems like the right path. Finding them with little expense sweetens the pot.

Why learn the math when you can do it by learning a few buttons on a calculator?

It is the shortcut. The smart and easy way.

Answers

Most of what will unfold in your business or for your career won’t develop from just being told the answer. The greatest success stories haven’t developed from trying the shortcuts.

Time matters, and so does discovering the answers. Answers really are not always the biggest challenge though. There are plenty of highly educated people. They’ve learned to know a lot of answers.

The grass doesn’t become greener just because you’ve learned the answer. The grass becomes greener by doing the work. It is the sweat equity that will create the most success.

At least once a month I bump into someone who wants to make a change for the (assumed) greener grass. When I ask why, they often say, “I want the lifestyle.”

What they really want is all the answers. Skip the sweat.

Even when armed with the answers, there aren’t any shortcuts. Sometimes we all must do the math.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

08
Oct 18
-

Productivity Fact or Perfection Myth, Which Is It?

Tags : commitment discipline perfection productivity

Productivity is important for every workplace. The idea is that efficiency drives profit. Are your daily habits driven by the productivity fact or the perfection myth?

What is the difference and where are you spending, or wasting your time?

Perfection Myth

People spend a lot of time and money on perfection.

There are hours spent on perfecting the product. It happens with goods and it happens with services.

There are hours and hours of fine tuning and making it just right. Hours are spent on the meetings, the waiting for decisions, and on rejected work.

In extreme cases, work is produced that is never used. It is only discarded, no longer needed, or locked in the closet being viewed as too risky for release.

We do it with our written communication to the CEO, the board of directors, or for the project proposal.

We may spend 80 percent of our time proofing, rewriting, and tweaking. In the end, much of that 80 percent of time was wasted because the initial 20 percent of time fulfilled 80 percent or more of the requirement.

All of this lends credibility to the idea that perfection is a myth. Perfection means more time wasted, less time producing.

Productivity Fact

What about the productivity fact?

Kittens and puppies are picked every day not because they are perfect, but because people aren’t judging for perfection.

Your best friend probably isn’t perfect. Your favorite book isn’t perfect. The car you drive, nope, probably not perfect.

Your house may be clean, or the lawn may be cut, but neither are probably perfect.

The work that we do, the product we produce or service we deliver, is probably good enough long before it is perfect. Sometimes everything beyond good enough, is productivity wasted. Time spent that we’ll never recover.

Perfect is often a self-developed illusion. One that we can’t live up to, and one that wastes our time.

Productivity fact is much more important than the perfection myth.

Do great work, but keep moving. The clock is always ticking.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

26
Sep 18
-

Why Discipline Leads To Change

Tags : change discipline emotional labor

Are you disciplined? Do you do things when you don’t really want to, when it is not ideal, or when it feels like you have no energy? Do you believe discipline leads to change?

Being committed, being disciplined in your approach will nearly always lead to change.

Saying no to the chocolate cake.

Going for a run even though it is raining.

Working extra hours to finish the job on time.

All of these are leading to change. What does it all mean?

Meaningful Change

It means that when you don’t want to work on the spreadsheet, but you still do, the work gets finished. That’s change.

It could also mean that when you don’t want to have a conversation about the project, but you do, the outcomes become clearer. That’s change.

Perhaps when you want to speak out, strike out, or quit, but you don’t, the collaboration becomes easier and the work of the few is more powerful than the work of the one.

All of this is change, it’s showing you the value of discipline. It means you’re taking a different approach. It means that you’re putting in the emotional labor to get the results. Could it be that the bottom line will also improve?

Discipline Leads

The power of discipline is often underestimated. Discipline transforms from the power of the push, to the power of the pull. It makes the work a compelling argument, not one to be avoided. No more push, all pull.

Discipline and commitment are attractive. Attraction breeds more community and engagement. In a connection economy you couldn’t ask for more.

When was the last time you were tested for discipline? When were your buttons pushed? What about your energy, do you have the emotional stamina to work beyond adversity? Will you feel the pull?

The next time you absolutely don’t want to do something think about what will change. If it will create a positive impact find the discipline and you’ll see the change.

You’ll pull through.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

02
Jul 18
-

Big Promises and Buying a Solution

Tags : brand discipline persistence promises

People are fascinating by media. They watch traditional television, surf their phone, and spend hours on YouTube. Are advertisers making big promises that they cannot possibly keep? Do buyers really care?

Advertisements Move Us

We see the commercial for the franchise restaurant and the food looks delicious. When we order it in the restaurant it looks like something is a little different.

There is the promise that the new automobile will make our family happy, the dog enjoys the ride, and haul all our goodies without any trouble, all while achieving better exceptional gas mileage. Does it do all those things?

We can’t forget about the diet supplements, the meal plans, and why we should buy gold. Are the implied promises kept?

Perhaps one of the most important points about all the things that are pitched to us is understanding who owns the responsibility for what works. Looking at it another way, who owns the responsibility for what doesn’t work?

“Just eat the meals and lose the weight.” may sound familiar. Are you buying the meals, or are you buying the idea that for some reason you’ll change your eating habits?

We can’t forget about the prescription drug advertisements. How does that work? We tell our doctor we want what the television is advertising? She then prescribes what we want?

Big Promises

Most people are buying something based on big promises. Promises that the advertisers probably can’t keep. Don’t blame them though, you didn’t do exactly as described. You didn’t eat the meals, so you didn’t lose the weight.

Perhaps the best way to get to where you want to go is to make the big promises to yourself. Most advertisers leave you with the feeling of finally finding a solution and that buying their product is just that, a solution.

In many of these cases people aren’t buying a solution, they are buying the hope of creating change. How much will you pay for hope? What about discipline, persistence, and motivation?

Really it is all still up to you.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

19
Jan 16
-

Leading the First Minute

Tags : leadership results under pressure

Are you a do it at the last minute kind of person? Many people suggest they might be. Those same people may claim that they work well under pressure and do their best work during crunch time.

Why not do it in the first minute? When you’re disciplined enough to focus on the first minute instead of the last, the results are more fluid and you can allocate more time for quality, exceeding expectations, or even re-work that may be the result of circumstance, not choice.

When we recognize that leadership is about developing a belief in the follower, and it is not about developing a belief in the leader, then we also will appreciate first minute actions. This is true not because someone said so, it is because first minute actions come from the inspired, last minute actions come from fear.

If you’re responsible to lead, or even just responsible, do it in the first minute, because if for no other reason, the last minute costs more.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker, and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

01
Sep 15
-

Long-term Thinkers

Tags : goals long-term project management

Around the workplace people are often expressing concern about accountability. Of course, the accountability they seek is usually not for themselves but is directed towards someone else. Often there are well meaning managers who come up a little short on holding themselves or others accountable.

It seems that large numbers of people prefer the easier road in life, and of course there is nothing really wrong with that except that often those same people resent the fast-trackers, water walkers, and anyone getting ahead. By nature some people want to do the easy stuff first, the things that can be finished quickly, and require minimal effort to receive a check-off from the to-do list. Also, there is a belief that this is the stuff that gets noticed first, it’s the squeaky wheel, and what will make them appear most valuable.

Are these people short-term thinkers?

What about the hard stuff? What about things that can’t be done immediately or things that require multiple days, months, or some cases even years to complete? The harder to do stuff often faces procrastination and it is put off because it requires commitment, persistence, and focus. Most of all it requires a relentless pursuit of the goal to conquer and beat the odds.

What about that stuff? Perhaps we need more long-term thinkers.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, corporate trainer, and keynote speaker that specializes in helping businesses accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. Reach him through his website at http://DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Category Archives: discipline

Sep 19

-

High Expectations and Time

Realistic Workplace Expectations

Jul 19

-

Self-Control or Addiction?

Working Holidays

Apr 19

-

Tweak the Plan

Following Advice

Mar 19

-

An Excuse

Daylight Savings

Nov 18

-

Shortcuts

Answers

Oct 18

-

Perfection Myth

Productivity Fact

Sep 18

-

Meaningful Change

Discipline Leads

Jul 18

-

Advertisements Move Us

Big Promises

Jan 16

-

Sep 15

-

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