persistence Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

04
May 21
-

Best Stories Are Not a Necessarily a Good Tactic

Tags : commitment persistence real world stories success

Do you work from the best stories? Do you ask someone how they attained a promotion, got the job, or closed the sale?

When you ask someone about their success, they’ll often have a story.

Many stories get embellished over time. The fish gets bigger and the near loss of it because the line nearly broke, twice.

It is a part of human nature.

On the other side, sometimes people are more modest or humble. They may claim they got lucky, had an easier time of it, or knew someone who knew someone.

On the luck side, there may be some truth. However, when luck isn’t managed properly can still result in a bad situation.

Best Stories

When you go to the conference, you’ll likely hear a few stories.

Stories of success, stories of failure that led to success, and stories of how easy it is if just follow this method.

People have been embellishing stories for many centuries.

What is the worst thing you can do?

Likely it may be chasing the shiny object or trying to emulate the story you’ve just been told. Is the story replicable? Has the person who delivered the story embellished the ease, the cost, or the commitment requirements?

Get rich quickly. Sell this product to a bunch of people and then they’ll sell it to a bunch of people and you’ll collect a little bit from each sale. Does that work?

It often sounds attractive on the surface, but underneath, somewhere in that chain, you’re not only a vendor but you’re also the customer. You’re often in the middle of nothing. When your efforts no longer provide value (since a commodity product has widespread availability) you’re not needed anymore.

Listen carefully to the best stories. Ask yourself if it is replicable, can it be done over and over again, or was it a rare circumstance with very unique properties? Will it work for your market? Do you completely understand your market?

When someone tells their best story, don’t miss the question-and-answer segment.

-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.

22
Apr 21
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Falling Down Often Starts With a Choice

Tags : choices decisions falling down options persistence

Lots of things are the result of a decision or choice. Falling down happens. It happens to nearly everyone and everything in one capacity or another. What are your choices?

By now you’ve probably heard all the rhetoric.

Don’t look where you don’t want to go.

A backup plan means you’ve already failed.

Analyzing alternatives is a lack of focus.

While there may be some valuable nuggets to consider in this type of rhetoric, it may also be helpful to know when enough is enough.

You guessed it, finding the magical balance between persistence and quitting while you are ahead is ideal.

Have you ever experienced the feeling of falling down?

Consequences of Failure

The consequences of failure can be huge. With some hard work, persistence, and a little luck you might land a high-paying job or get a business rolling that yields substantial wealth.

Can it all come crashing down? Yes, and everything seems to have a beginning and an end.

Great jobs, great businesses, and great communities. They rise and they fall.

Giving up too easily is problem. Holding on too long is also a problem.

Then there is the case where you had no choice. The plug was pulled. The carpet ripped out from under your feet without any fault of your own. This too happens.

Falling Down

All or nothing is a gamble. Anything without risk has little or no reward.

Digging deep matters. Acceptance that no one is coming to bail you out might spark the fire in your belly that you need to persevere.

You made a choice where to start. It may be obvious or it may require some deeper thinking to discover the moment the decision was made. You can make a choice about where and when to stop too.

In the case where failure hit by no fault of your own, you make a new choice for a new beginning, or to crumble down in the ashes.

It’s is funny how many things happen after someone says, “There wasn’t any other choice.”

Make your next decision with eyes wide open about the consequences.

At some point, the cavalry is not coming.

Hearing this may make a difference. Experiencing it is a game changer.

-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.

03
Mar 21
-

Workflow Is What You May Need More Of

Tags : focus persistence strategy workflow

It’s a catchy phrase. It feels meaningful, efficient, and has a sense of urgency. What is your workflow and is it both effective and efficient?

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of digital work with camera’s and recordings. While it is not my core competence, I’ve been working with pro/prosumer camera’s and voice recorders consistently across the last decade or so.

Today, with broadcasting and streaming being a requirement for education, training, and speaking I find myself consumed with technology. It’s welcomed and interesting and all the while I’m being challenged to learn more.

Professional photographers, cinematographers, and voice and sound experts commonly use the term workflow.

Workflow represents many things, but for most of them, this has to do with the skill and art of creating digital video and audio, moving it to post-production, and alas creating a video component suitable for public viewing. It’s workflow.

What does your workflow look like?

Good Workflow

Have you thought about how your days start, how they progress, and how you finish them up?

People will often suggest that your day starts with attitude and a plan. Are you good on both?

What things derail your performance?

Is it traffic, people, or the lack of a caffeinated beverage? Are you properly hydrated, fueled, and well-rested?

Staying focused, persistent, and energized can be a challenge. Slow starts and hard stops are often problematic.

Are you getting it right?

Everyone has their own version of workflow. It may be different for the construction worker, to the graphic designer, or from the baker, to the convenience store manager.

One constant remains though, they all move from point A to to point B.

Only some flow.

-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
Jan 21
-

Future Gamble and What You Should Bet On

Tags : career life story persistence pivot

What is your future gamble? Are you taking some risk or just moving along from day-to-day? Do you have a plan?

Many people get an automobile loan for five years. Homebuyers may secure a mortgage for fifteen years; some will go thirty. There is a gamble on what your future will look like financially.

In the 1980’s I scraped wallpaper off the wall of an older home. Someone wrote on the wall underneath and provided the date in 1914 when they hung the paper. Was that paper hanger still alive? What was his or her thoughts as they scribed the date? What was the story?

It is difficult for nearly everyone, or perhaps it is better stated as, anyone, to forecast their own future. Yet, some will stumble into something, and others will hold regret or perhaps place blame for a future that never developed as they hoped.

Your future happens for you, or to you.

Certainly, there are always unexpected circumstances. There are roadblocks, surprises, and dead-end roads. It has been said many times that without a plan, you’re planning to fail.

What is your future gamble?

Future Gamble

Your future is a long-run game. It is made up of thousands or millions of moments. Choices, decisions, and outcomes, they are all part of those moments.

Persistence pays the most dividends in the long-run game.

It is about what you do every day across time.

That is precisely why having a plan is so important. Without a plan, you don’t get where you are going. You get where you end up.

Every January people are thinking about what lies ahead. It is a bet placed on what will happen next.

Metaphorically, they write a date on the wall and then cover it with wallpaper. It is a marker placed in time with or without a prophecy for the future.

In the future someone will peel back that paper.

What happened in-between?

If that is your story, will it be worth telling?

Have a plan. Be persistent. Bet on you.

-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.

15
Dec 20
-

Workplace Streaks Lead to Greater Success

Tags : habits movitvation persistence streaks winning

Does the success of any business or entrepreneurial adventure depend upon workplace streaks? What matters more, the one and done, or the approach applied often across time?

The chatter is often about habits. Break a bad habit, revise a mediocre habit, or build new habits.

Habits are often connected with persistence. A person’s knowledge, skills, and abilities put to use across time.

Luck happens. A lucky break, an unlucky situation, or sometimes people believe that their luck has run out.

Each day people enter their workplace. A plush office, a hard concrete plant floor, or a makeshift desk on your kitchen island.

Regardless of where you go, or where you stay, whether it is indoors or outdoors, in your home or across town, you likely operate from a pattern of repetitive tasks.

Some professions are more mixed than others. Some people base their day on tactical approaches to addressing the next emergency. Others analyze and crunch data, plan the next strategy, or test their theory of something new.

All of it is based on patterns. Patterns of behavior or ways of doing things.

Repetitively, over and over again.

Workplace Streaks

In sports people often look to identify streaks. Three wins in a row, or two consecutive championships.

Success in the workplace often develops from streaks. The process of applying behaviors, habits, or ways of doing things.

Workplace streaks are often not about perfection as much as they are about the pursuit. Consistent persistence. The American folktale tale of The Little Engine That Could applies even in the grown-up world.

The bigger picture across time.

In a single day, it may be hard to see change. Efforts that you’ll apply during the next year may clearly show results.

You can’t do a few pushups once a month and expect a significant change in your health or fitness. Pushups done each day for six months will make a difference.

Get on a streak. Keep it moving every day.

-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.

21
Oct 20
-

Continuous Feed is Persistent and Attainable

Tags : career goals persistence time

Popular in the 1980s, continuous feed forms for computer printouts kept the information flowing. Your work and what you’ll achieve is a practice across time. It flows, one page linking to the next.

Do you realize what your cable and internet bill will cost you across the next five years?

Have you considered how many hours you’ll spend surfing eComm websites for things you’ll buy and the amount of money you’ll spend?

Have you calculated how many hours you’ll put into your craft by 2025 or 2030?

Some people consider that in every career there are dues to be paid. Across time the effort and hours stack up, costing more and more until finally a milestone is achieved.

Yet onlookers often have a different point of view. They believe that you just hang a shingle, start a podcast, or simply get lucky and success is achieved overnight.

Luck often plays a role, but how you manage luck and what happens next will have more to do with long-term outcomes than any single luck event.

Most success does come with a price. It is the price of continuous feed.

Continuous Feed

Moment-by-moment and day-by-day the persistent process of stacking one piece on top of another adds up. It is the single drop in a bucket repeated so many times you’ve lost count until eventually, you fill the pail.

What you want to attain is not so far away. You just have to feed it a little bit each day, repetitively, across time.

One other aspect of continuous feed, just like thousands of pages all connected with a perforated tear, unless you rip it apart, you’ll always be able to see where you came from.

Don’t lose track.

-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.

31
Aug 20
-

Persistent Commitment Is Not About Time

Tags : career commitment destination persistence problem solving

At least not directly. Persistent commitment emphasizes the value of the journey, and in most cases, it shouldn’t alter the destination. Assumptions that it takes a long-time shouldn’t weaken the focus. In fact, it may serve to strengthen it.

Destinations are often connected to hurdles, problems, and cannot happen within the moment. It is often why people fail to reach them.

The business or organization you work for has a journey and a destination. The same may be said about your career.

Destination Focused

In hospitality businesses, people sometimes refer to their operation as a destination location. The restaurant outside of town may have to be a destination location.

In these scenarios, it’s important to be persistent in providing the ambiance that draws people to you. Successful operations focus more than just food.

Whether you are problem-solving for your business or planning your career, staying persistent, and being committed matters.

Identifying that the journey may be long shouldn’t alter the commitment.

A career is considered to be comprised of many years. Yet, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be focused, committed, and taking action towards the destination every day.

Some good things take time. It’s true.

Persistent Commitment

Time shouldn’t be confused with weakening or lessening the commitment. It doesn’t mean you should just cruise, lose your focus, or wait on the perfect time.

Feeling that it’s taking too long to get to your destination may make you settle for something less. Not because you can’t get there. Perhaps because the feeling connected with the journey to reach your destination makes you less committed to the requirements of the goal.

It happens for people with diets, exercise routines, and managing personal finances. It may be the cause of business failures or connected with the frustration of navigating your career.

Bottom line, it shouldn’t.

It just shouldn’t happen.

Stay persistent and be committed.

-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.

25
Jun 20
-

Building Skills Comes From Persistence

Tags : abilities persistence professional growth skill building Talent

Are you good at what you do because of raw talent or is your success based on persistence? Building skills may be a combination of talent and learning. Persistence will make you better.

Some people are known to have an eye for art. Others are said to be great with their hands, a fast runner, or have an amazing voice. Is this talent, or skills built?

The person with the fanciest cell phone who seemingly works magic, is that a talent?

A person who knows seemingly endless amounts of historical information is that a talent?

Talent or Persistence?

People are often described as having talent when they have capabilities that appear above average. Yet, sometimes it is not so much a talent as it is persistence in getting better.

Most basketball players are tall, yet arguably, that may not be directly related to their ability to shoot the ball from beyond the three-point line.

Horse jockeys are small, not a talent. Distance runners are not overweight, not a talent.

We often confuse talent with persistence.

Building Skills

Someone who is good with numbers may be related to how they’ve been taught to think about math.

An archer gets better with practice. The same is true for good students, house painters, and gardeners.

What you work hard at, you’ll do better. You’ll build more skill.

In some cases, there are somewhat natural limitations. Being short in basketball is not an advantage, and perhaps no amount of persistence can overcome a short stature.

For most things in life, and for most professional careers, it is much more about persistence than it is about talent.

A great lawyer, works at it. So does a home builder, an engineer, and an accountant.

Persistence makes the difference.

Build more skill.

-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
May 20
-

Repetition Creates Learning or Ignoring

Tags : ignoring learning persistence repetition

Teaching a dog a new trick involves repetition. You do it over and over again until it becomes a behavior. The idea is, repetition creates learning.

Is this always true?

Sometimes, it would seem, that repetition invites shutting down or shutting out. The idea that we’ve heard it so many times we now choose not to listen.

Another harmful side effect of repetition is the element of safety. We’re reminded of this in the fable, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

It might really be about balance. A balance between enough repetition to create learning and not any more than just enough.

Repetition Creates Learning

In our workplaces we struggle with repetition.

We have the recurring email threads. The information asked for or the information being pushed out. The length of the courtesy copy list grows, readership declines, costly mistakes occur. Balls are dropped. Customers are unhappy.

Commerce struggles with repetition.

It’s in the marketing, in the message, and in the email blast. We see the television commercial for the tenth time and we’ve already started to ignore it.

Government struggles with repetition.

It is the warning message. The surgeon general’s advice. A governor’s opinion. The color code of your county. Wear a mask. Social distance.

Too much and we shut it out.

Just Right

Athletes practice for repetition and learning. The presenter practices her speech. An actor memorizes a line, the body language, and the feeling of the scene.

It doesn’t seem to matter which direction we go with repetition and learning. There is a maximum for return on investment.

The key then, is to provide enough repetition to get noticed, get the point across, or improve the skill. Everything beyond that starts to take away from everyone’s level of interest or desire.

Getting it just right is a hard skill to practice, and to learn.

-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.

Tag Archives: persistence

May 21

-

Best Stories

Apr 21

-

Consequences of Failure

Falling Down

Mar 21

-

Good Workflow

Jan 21

-

Future Gamble

Dec 20

-

Workplace Streaks

Oct 20

-

Continuous Feed

Aug 20

-

Destination Focused

Persistent Commitment

Aug 20

Reality of Outcomes

Competitive Challenge

Jun 20

-

Talent or Persistence?

Building Skills

May 20

-

Repetition Creates Learning

Just Right

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