effort Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

05
Feb 21
-

Effort Mindset is Part of Your Language

Tags : culture effort language mindset results

Do you have an effort mindset? Don’t confuse effort with labor or effort with strenuous. More than anything, putting in the effort suggests a connection with the goal.

What is the fastest way to change the concept of what you can or cannot accomplish?

You change your perception of what will happen next.

There is often discussion about winners and losers, about those who did and those who didn’t, and those who had success and those who failed.

Being determined that you can, is much different from creating an expectation that you can’t.

I can’t add that to the report because I don’t have that data.

The team didn’t finish the project.

We didn’t hit the sales goal for this month.

What if you had more time? More time to seek the answers to the questions, more time on the project, or a few additional days to hit the sales number?

Effort Mindset

Deadlines sometimes signal it is over, done, finished. While a deadline is a deadline, it doesn’t mean the goal is entirely out of reach, forever.

In business, everything is a race against the clock.

Sometimes a deadline provides a reason to quit. Once the deadline is approaching or missed, it invites the opportunity to throw up your hands and call it over.

What if you changed your language?

I need a few more data segments and I will have the report ready by the end of the day Tuesday.

The team is totally immersed in the project. The end results will be better than expected.

We didn’t hit the sales goal yet, but by Tuesday we’ll surpass last months results.

Language is a powerful component of both motivation and culture.

How you talk, the words you choose, and the future that you predict may be the cultural shift that you need.

Many people quit because they believe it is over.

Many successful people see things a little bit differently.

They just haven’t finished, yet.

-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
Jan 21
-

More Effort Always Beats Effortless

Tags : career competencies effort skill Talent

Pick any change and you’ll quickly see a connection to effort. More effort is often what people need, yet people often seek to give less effort, not more.

Is there a balance?

A balance emerges when more effort becomes more efficient. It typically becomes more efficient when new habits are formed and when learning curves are no longer an obstacle.

Easy Peasy

If you want to climb six flights of stairs with ease, and assuming you aren’t already accustomed to doing it, you’ll have to put in some extra effort.

If you are a front-line employee who has now become the manager, you’re going to have to put in some extra effort to learn the skills and develop management competencies. It won’t be, the same old, same old.

People often search for talent. Talent in sports, talent in the arts, and talent in the workplace. Does your talent come naturally, or is it more of a developed process?

More Effort Required

Many people might quickly suggest that talent is someplace in the middle. There may seemingly be some natural tendencies for people, yet people often become good at things they enjoy or things they excel at with less effort.

Getting better then, in either case, is conditioned by putting in more effort. Even if you are already good, you’ll get better with more effort.

The quest for effortless and easy is a nicety.

It will seldom take you very far in your career. Even when you have the raw talent.

-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.

17
Sep 20
2

When The Best Job Is Your Current Job

Tags : career commitment effort focus new job

Do you have a great job? Do you feel stuck in a not so great job? Perhaps your best job is your current job and you don’t even realize it, yet.

Work can be tough. Navigating organizational politics, managing appropriate relationships with co-workers, and even dealing with customers or vendors. And, I didn’t even mention the boss.

Are you career minded or are you on a quest for better pay? Maybe it’s both.

Absolutely, there are some business cultures that will seemingly never change. However, there are plenty of business cultures that are looking for employees who truly want to make a difference.

Are you truly committed to the effort to make your current job your best job?

Your Best Job

It’s easy to give up, throw your hands in the air, and claim that you’ve tried. After a while, you may feel beat down, underutilized, and misunderstood.

That doesn’t mean that it is over. A new job is going to require you to double down with effort. Why not double down right where you’re at? Would that make a difference? Could it?

Sometimes the greener grass is right in your own yard.

Discovering it starts with some tough questions.

What is your goal? That doesn’t mean, “Find a new job.” That’s too high level, you’re going to have to go deeper and more meaningful.
What are the obstacles? Identifying the obstacles can help you strategize on how to move around them. Sometimes obstacles are imaginary, be sure to give your thoughts the reality check.
What can you cultivate? Are there relationships that need to be built? Trust that needs to be restored? Have you really put forth the right effort and attitude or have you drifted away from your best delivery?

If you can’t answer the questions above, you’re probably not ready.

Ready for what?

Basking in Greener Grass

You may not be ready to find the green grass in your own yard. Perhaps you’re not ready to put forth the right kinds of effort, patience, and strategy to achieve the most in your current role.

Have I struck a nerve?

You’re human. It is easy to drift from good habits and a good attitude. It’s easy to blame the boss, claim it’s a bad place to work and focus more on what’s wrong instead of what’s right.

Chances are that you have more to offer than what you’re currently giving.

Sometimes the magical answer appears when you ask the right question.

What’s right about your current job?

Stay focused.

-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.

13
Aug 20
2

Competitive Challenge and Processing the Outcomes

Tags : competition effort outcomes persistence winning

No one wants to be a loser. Who would want that label? Are you facing a competitive challenge and are feeling a little nervous about the potential outcome?

You’re not alone.

People face challenges of various types every day. It may be a challenge to get motivated, it may be to get through traffic without road rage, or it may be an attempt to gain buy-in from the committee on your new idea.

There are other challenges too. Like, closing the sale, getting hired, or coping with a significant setback or failure.

The loser label is a significant fear. Your pride, your hard work, the embarrassment and the insults, no one wants it.

Facing the outcomes in a competitive situation can be tough.

Reality of Outcomes

You’re not always going to close the sale, you won’t always get buy-in from others, and, sometimes you won’t be the selected candidate for the job.

Most people feel like they can accept one or two losses. Even in professional sports, perfect records are very rare.

It is often the stacking that gets people down.

Like a stacked pile of books sitting on the floor, as the stack gets taller, the weight and pressure get progressively worse. Some books may suffer from damage or get crushed.

The stacking of problems, feelings of rejection, and the sometimes self-imposed labels hurt.

There are lots of ways to get out from under the stack.

One way is to quit. Which brings up another label, quitter.

For many things in life, there is a time to move on. Forget any labels. There is a time. However, that doesn’t mean it is this time.

Competitive Challenge

Better candidates do appear, the committee doesn’t always like the proposal, and losing the sale to the competition does suck.

The best thing is to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and analyze your efforts and results.

Was there personal improvement? Did you really put in the right kind of effort to be successful? Did you self-defeat, lack appropriate confidence, or illustrate a beaten down persona?

What about the homework? Did you do it? Including the research, proof reading your work, and asking the right questions?

Even if you feel like you did everything right, the outcome still may not be what you wanted.

It might be about timing, or maybe they just don’t know you.

Maybe they don’t realize how persistent you are, how hard you’ll work, or the tremendous pressure you will endure.

It’s never over until you say.

Sometimes the most competitive challenge is with yourself. Keep building, keep growing, and stay persistent.

I don’t think it’s over.

-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.

10
Mar 20
-

Changing Now Has Never Been Harder or Easier

Tags : challenges change commitment effort pivot

What if you were forced to change right now? Changing now, in the moment, at this place in time requires a special effort.

Do you feel like the World around you is changing? It is easy to get people to agree that everything is changing. Are you changing or staying about the same?

Look at a picture of you from half of your lifetime ago. You’ll notice change.

The process of change, which is otherwise known as transition is an emotional reaction to the feeling you experience during change.

It is a struggle because part of you wants to stay exactly the same and part of you either feels forced or desires to do something different.

There are emotions involved. It could be anything from denial, to fear, to shock and disbelief. You might feel panicked, angry, or scared. Most of all, you probably feel stressed about a change you didn’t see coming, or one you feel challenged to adopt.

Controlling your emotions and staying cool under pressure are just a small part of navigating change. Recognizing the pinch of the stress you’re feeling sometimes prompts panic. Yet likely, panic will not result in any kind of positive outcome.

Changing Now

Remember the thought of that picture from half a lifetime ago?

Considering that there was not a significant life altering event that changed your physical appearance you probably barely felt the change on day-to-day basis.

You were and have been, just living. Making your way through each day, week, month, and year.

Changing now is really about tiny milestones consistently applied across time.

Sure, big leaps are sometimes preferred and sometimes they are even required. Mostly though, it is a day-to-day application across time.

Every decision you make, every conscious thought about change, it feels like the right path in that moment you decide. It’s the best choice. What happens next isn’t always up to you.

Many decisions or choices aren’t easy. Change is sometimes difficult.

Changing now has never been easier.

-DEG

Looking for change? Need some help with navigation? It is exactly why I wrote this book:

Buy Now From Amazon

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.

04
Feb 20
-

Building Super Teams Creates More Magic

Tags : commitment effort magic super teams time

Is it all a matter of effort? Are you building super teams or only just going through the motions?

Will the time and commitment make a difference?

Creating Magic

Major events require a lot of effort. The Superbowl is a good example.

Planning across many months, perhaps even a year or more. People steering the arrangements, the motivation, and creating something that looks nearly perfect.

For many involved it is a one-shot deal. A once-in-a-lifetime, that special moment with millions of people watching.

The stakes are high, yet so are the chances for success. Not because it is easy but because the effort across time makes it look easy.

The investment yields a high return.

The same is often true for the well-manicured landscape, the wedding cake, or the handcrafted wooden boat.

It is all a culmination of effort, skill, and commitment put together across time.

It is definitely not for everyone. That is part of what makes it appear magical.

Building Super Teams

There are very few overnight successes, yet many appear as such.

Where and how you spend your time will produce an outcome.

When it comes to your workplace, your team, or the business that you own are you working smart and hard towards perfecting your craft?

Is what you produce a Mona Lisa or just a paint-by-number?

The effort and time you put in will have a significant impact on what comes out.

Is what you’re working towards today going to be worthy? Will it be super?

Magic often appears with great effort across time.

-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.

27
Nov 19
-

Relentless Effort is a Part of Service Interactions

Tags : effort mindset outcomes persistence service

Are you giving relentless effort? Sometimes it feels like a thankless job. Does it make a difference for future outcomes? Yes.

Mindset is powerful and often we need to shift the concept of problems to opportunities. Opportunities can be much more attractive when compared with problems. Mindset starts with a choice.

When it comes to service interactions, you have a choice about how you will accept the outcomes of your efforts.

Say, “Hello.” to a stranger and you may or may not get a response. You took the risk and you accept the possibility of no reaction, or worse, perhaps a negative reaction.

Applying Relentless Effort

Relentless effort is about multiplying this effect across time. A one-time deal isn’t nearly as effective as repetitive daily pursuit.

One stumbling block for relentless effort is having the willingness (it’s a choice) to accept what happens next. When you are committed to your choice, you’ll have the energy, even in the face of adversity, to try again.

You may ask yourself this simple two-part question, “What is the opportunity in front of me and am I willing to pursue it relentlessly?”

Persistence matters, and persistence across time is relentless pursuit.

You have to be willing to accept what happens next, even when the results may not be desirable.

It makes a difference for what you’ll do next, and that, makes a difference for what happens next.

-DEG

Two Resources

I wrote both of these books to help with relentless effort. Get them on Amazon.

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.

13
Aug 19
-

There Is Something Different About Hope.

Tags : belief effort expectations hope

You’ve heard it before, “Don’t give up hope.” Hope may make the difference between dreamers and achievers.

One thing about hope is that it leaves room for disappointment.

I hope…

I’ll win the lottery.

It will be perfect weather.

My flowers will bloom.

There is always some room for things to come up short. The anticipation feels empty after coming up short on expectations.

Extra Effort

Some people give up too soon, too easily, and set their expectations too low.

Not because it is impossible, but because they make it impossible. If you don’t think that you can, you probably won’t.

When you insist that there will be limits, there will be. If you see the opportunity as too risky, it will be.

When you arrive at your job and believe it will be a painful experience, you’ll find evidence to support it.

Disappointment is part of life. So is your commitment for choosing how you’ll play it.

Without a little risk, without the extra effort, without a commitment to endure, what have you accomplished? What was the journey?

Realistic Hope

Hope should be realistic. Hoping that your horse becomes a unicorn seems silly and ridiculous.

Being committed to finding more energy in a time of need may start with hope. It may be similar for the outlook of health or happiness. In some cases, it may even change your situation for wealth.

Giving up hope is the first step to finding the limit. When you don’t risk disappointment there is little enthusiasm for the journey.

-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.

06
Mar 18
-

Extra Effort Will Advance Your Career

Tags : advancement career effort growth

Many people have spent their life, up to now, deciding on how they will advance their career. The advice to work harder seems impractical and working smarter feels more welcoming. For the career minded person, it may be about understanding the norms. Will you advance your career?

Life is full of averages. The things that we feel, see, and experience are always based on our expectations and perceptions.

Averages and Norms

Fifty years ago we couldn’t carry a telephone in our pocket, access information or data by sliding and swiping, or watch a video on a three inch by five inch electronic device. Today it is expected.

In the workplace, we deal with average people. They are the people who do what is expected. Their contributions are normalized on the bell curve. It is where most of the mass is located. Certainly, there are people on both sides of the median, but what is expected is something close to the middle.

The other ten to twenty percent are different. They are either failing in their attempt to be acceptable, or they are on the side where their performance is well above the norm.

Extra Effort

Above the norm is rare. Expectations drive output, even the hardest workers sometimes relax because doing more than the norm doesn’t often feel like it matters. People blend in, fill gaps, adjust, slow down, and deliver less.

Extra effort will advance your career because it represents a surprise.

The person who delivers exceptional customer service does so because it represents a surprise. Can you recall one of your best customer service experiences? When you do, it is because it was a surprise. It was more than what was expected.

Advance Your Career

Extra effort and the surprise represent what you may need to do to become visible, memorable, and to keep moving. It isn’t about showing up, it is about showing up with a surprise.

Extra effort doesn’t cost nearly what it is worth. Having similar or even less pay in some cases isn’t the point. The point is that your extra effort will advance your career because it isn’t about what you are paid for it, it is about what you become for it.

– 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 five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

02
Mar 18
-

What Drives Effort At Work? What’s Your Purpose?

Tags : effort motivation purpose results work

Motivation is an interesting topic. People are motivated in many different ways. What drives effort at your workplace?

Many people quickly grow tired of the daily grind. Alarm clocks, a quick shower, a large (extra large) coffee, or maybe some will throw back an energy drink and then it is off for the morning commute.

Once on the job, what provides the motivation for what happens next?

Motivation at Work

Certainly, many would hope that fun is a factor. Believe it or not some people really do enjoy their work. Even for those work-equals-fun people, sometimes things can grow a little stale. Overall though, when things are fun people are engaged, their energy level is high, and the work feels satisfying.

Many others are on a mission. There may be something they’ve procrastinated about, something that is late, urgent, and needed to be finished yesterday. They get stuff done, because a customer (boss, co-worker, external customer) needs it.

Some are thinking more about strategy. They will consider how to navigate the system, what the future needs are, or they will put in the extra effort to finish a project or product that has been in the blueprint phase for some time. They’re engaged because their future depends on it.

Somewhere lurking in much of this effort is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of what will happen if the work isn’t timely, of high quality, and tasteful. What if the deadline is missed, the outbound truck arrives early and leaves the same. What if sales aren’t closed, the wrong stuff is advertised, and the webpage lacks hits?

Fear creates a lot of energy. It is almost like a rocket, extremely powerful but it doesn’t last long, the fuel is gone. Purposely (or not) motivating through fear is largely not a good idea.

What Drives Effort

What if effort was driven by purpose? Purpose is the reason that we work hard to do what we do. The amateur athlete has a purpose, and in the short run, it isn’t about money. The entrepreneur has a purpose and it is typically connected with their passion.

When we are focused on a purpose, everything becomes more important. When you accomplish what is important it is satisfying and sometimes fun. It may take grit, it may be connected to the daily grind, but the result is what matters the most. Doing it is a labor of love, or interest.

The rocking chair rocks, the stationary bike spins, and the rowing machine rows, but none of them go anywhere. The desired result is something different. Perhaps to relax and unwind, or for fitness, weight loss, and more strength.

We can be motivated by many things, but if what we do isn’t important, it really doesn’t matter that much. Knowing the purpose may be the biggest factor for what drives effort at work.

– 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 five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: effort

Feb 21

-

Effort Mindset

Jan 21

-

Easy Peasy

More Effort Required

Sep 20

Your Best Job

Basking in Greener Grass

Aug 20

Reality of Outcomes

Competitive Challenge

Mar 20

-

Changing Now

Feb 20

-

Creating Magic

Building Super Teams

Nov 19

-

Applying Relentless Effort

Two Resources

Aug 19

-

Extra Effort

Realistic Hope

Mar 18

-

Averages and Norms

Extra Effort

Advance Your Career

Mar 18

-

Motivation at Work

What Drives Effort

Search This Website

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Blog (Filter) Categories

Follow me on Twitter

Assessment Services and Tools

Recent Posts

Email Signup

Subscribe to newsletter

Contact Info