Monthly Archives: October 2017

The Six Keys to Success with Karl Mecklenburg

The Six Keys to Success with Karl Mecklenburg



On today’s podcast, we’re joined by former professional athlete Karl Mecklenburg about the six keys to success.

When we walk about leadership, the challenges everyone faces are universal. Karl has spoken to many organizations, and he sees similar challenges in all of them.

His six keys to success are teamwork, courage, dedication, desire, honesty and forgiveness, and goal setting. Here he breaks down each key and tells us how to apply it to the challenges you face in your life and business.

On today’s podcast:

  • Teamwork with leadership
  • Courage with decisiveness
  • Dedication with constant learning
  • Desire to keep moving towards your goal
  • Honesty and forgiveness
  • Goal setting

Links:

Teamwork with leadership

You have to understand what the team goals are, and what that overriding passion is. These goals have to be clear and consistent, and they have to be a cornerstone of the organization for everyone involved.

Those goals need to be understood by everybody and talked about by leadership constantly. Create teamwork by saying the goals are bigger than one person.

When someone doesn’t show teamwork and doesn’t buy into the team, it is the main reason for letting them go. If someone is gifted but isn’t involved, they will help in the short-term but will be damaging in the long-term. Enforce what is important.

Courage with decisiveness

Having the courage to try new things and to be decisive is key. Be prepared, always anticipate what’s coming, and take a step before anyone else does.

You have to trust yourself to be decisive and have the courage to try new things and step outside of your comfort zone as it keeps you up with change.

Things never go right at first, but you need to have the courage to keep trying. Don’t give up or quit if something is important to you. People fail, that’s what being a human being is, but you have to believe in yourself.

Dedication with constant learning

Karl says that anywhere he can find a new input to continue his learning, he tries to do it. If you can take one thing away from every piece of learning you try, it’ll make you better and this is vital for keeping up with change.

Have extravagant long-term goals for every part of your life, and think about how you can apply those to the challenges you face. Big dreams mean you will run into obstacles, but success is overcoming those.

Desire to keep moving towards your goal

If you know where your desire is, you can start working towards it. Have a boiled down message in ten words or less of where you want to be and what’s important to you.

When you have to make a decision, you can refer to your message and make the right choice. Keeping the desire burning is what will get you over the hump when you feel like quitting.

Honesty and forgiveness

As a human being, you will have the tendency to think “that’s not my fault” when something goes wrong.

Karl talks about the honesty from the NFL and how it’s missing in the business world. If you can build a culture where people are able to say they were wrong, everything will work better.

Forgiveness starts with yourself, as you need to be able to forgive yourself for mistakes before you can forgive someone else. If you’re a leader, you should know the strengths and weaknesses of your team. Don’t put someone in a situation where they’re going to fail.

Goal setting

When you have goals set for your business, it will drive your desire and your honesty and forgiveness.

Karl says that one person can make a huge difference in a business if they step out of the middle group and become a leader. Give people opportunities, and connect with them to be successful.


How to Set Goals Which You Make a Reality with Paul Cummings

How to Set Goals Which You Make Reality with Paul Cummings



On today’s podcast, we are joined by Paul Cummings where we discuss his new book It All Matters: 125 Strategies to Achieve Maximum Confidence, Clarity, Certainty, and Creativity.

This book took a decade to write, and stemmed from something which his grandfather told him. “When you decide what you really want, then and only then do you know that it all matters”.

Things that are important to you are defined by what you want out of your journey to reaching your goals, and this book is all about maximising your journey to achieve what you want.

On today’s podcast:

  • The magic number – 86,400
  • Making a difference in people’s lives
  • The determination you need to make your goals a reality
  • The power of optimism
  • It All Matters: 125 Strategies to Achieve Maximum Confidence, Clarity, Certainty, and Creativity
  • Self-awareness and self-reflection

Links:

The magic number – 86,400

A friend once told Paul that 86,400 is how many seconds are in a day, and Paul says that once you manage your minutes then your life becomes magical.

If you have an idea which you’ve been thinking about, and you sat down for 15 minutes to really consider it and write things down, that could be the catalyst for a real positive change.

When you sit down and focus yourself to say “today is a new day”, it can truly give you a new beginning. It’s never too late to become the person you want to be, and that 86,400 renewal every day is a very uplifting and inspiring opportunity.

Making a difference in people’s lives

Paul says that goal-directed people operate with a uniquely different perspective, and he works on getting people to understand the power of goal setting and understanding the formula.

You need to understand the premise of goal setting as a real thing, write them down with a start and end date, and it’ll get you out of the “I should” business. Having a goal defined makes you live by “I will”.

The determination you need to make your goals a reality

When goals are deeply ingrained into a person and have become real, they inform every choice which is made. They define what you say no to, which is more important than what you say yes to.

Paul says that small steps are monumental, as people often get discouraged when goals are upsized so much we can no longer see them. You have to make sure goals really mean something to you, not to someone else.

The power of optimism

Paul says there are four things which he makes everyone he works with believe: you’re remarkable, you’re extraordinary, you’re someone special, you’re one of a kind.

You need to have certainty about the ability to you have, activate your awareness, be genuine, and be authentic.

If you ask better questions, you can put your negative voice to sleep. You have the capacity to do anything, it’s a fact and is the truth.

It All Matters: 125 Strategies to Achieve Maximum Confidence, Clarity, Certainty, and Creativity

When Paul was 19, he started journalling. Every day he would write down what he learned, what he gave, and what the lesson of the day was. He has done this for 41 years, and this is where the 125 strategies in his book have come from.

He says that when you get knocked down, that’s when you learn about yourself. Life happens to all of us, and every loss is a lesson.

Self-awareness and self-reflection

When talking about self-awareness and self-reflection, Paul says he’s not sure we do enough of it. Have the courage to reflect and be candidly honest with yourself about the areas where you need to get better.

Be the president of your own fan club, but in a genuine way and not an egotistical way. Taking 15 minutes in the morning to think about what you want to do and what you’ve done is a powerful tool.


Developing Routines to Action Your Priorities and Accept Realistic Expectations with Elizabeth Saunders

Developing Routines to Action Your Priorities and Accept Realistic Expectations



On today’s podcast, we are joined again by our resident expert in time management Elizabeth Grace Saunders.

We’ve been thinking about how to invest our time, and in the third installment, we discuss how to apply our previous topics, action-based priorities and setting realistic expectations, in practical ways.

Our priorities are things which are important to us, or things we value. We can action these by putting the time in our calendar for them to create a routine. When we think about having realistic expectations, it is making sure we’re living in the limited time we have.

On today’s podcast:

  • Routines and acceptance of realistic expectations
  • Identifying when you need more routines
  • Valuable routines to help you be successful
  • How do routines help?
  • Best tips for developing a routine
  • When you can’t stick to a routine
  • Divine Time Management: The Joy of Trusting God’s Loving Plans for You

Links:

Routines and acceptance of realistic expectations

When we’re being our best self and thinking in a righteous way, we are aware of our values and priorities, and of what’s important.

If we’re honest, most of the time we’re not necessarily in the mindset of “what does my best self-want to do?” as we get bogged down with other things, so our best self isn’t actively present in our mindset.

When we set routines in our best self-state which supports what we want to do, we can make progress to act in accordance with our best self at all times. By setting a routine and adding it to our calendar, that priority becomes a recurring event in our calendar which puts accountability in place.

Elizabeth says that routine comes naturally for some people, but building routines are something everyone can improve on. We can all improve our ability to create a routine with consistent and persistent practice.

Identifying when you need more routines

If you’re living your dream life and everything you want to get done is happening, you probably don’t need routines.

But, if you think there’s more you want to get done or you find things stressful as you’re missing things out or completing things at the last minute, you probably need routines to make things a lot easier.

Valuable routines to help you be successful

Elizabeth says that self-care is essential, and everyone should have a bedtime routine and set times when they’re going to eat and exercise.

She has also found that everyone can benefit from planning a weekly or daily routine to think ahead about what you’re focusing on for the day or the week. This is essential if you have something in your life which you believe to be a priority but you’re not moving ahead with it.

Set time aside for your priorities, find a consistent way to put it into your calendar to move it forward, and commit to it.

How do routines help?

Routines help because they reduce the decision-making process. If you have an action for a priority in the calendar, you don’t need to think about how or when you’re going to do it.

You can also reduce resistance to spending time on your priorities if it’s scheduled, as it’s already clear what’s happening. When you follow a routine, time will naturally be aligned with your priorities.

Best tips for developing a routine

When developing a routine, start small. Only begin with one or two new routines you want in your life and put it in your calendar. Practice it for two or three weeks, and observe what does and doesn’t work.

After you have assessed what works, you can keep adapting and adjusting until you get something which sticks.

Elizabeth says people often try to create ten routines at once or try to train for a marathon before they’ve started exercising, which leads to frustration and quitting. Consistent practice is essential, get a coach in the form of a friend or coworker, and track your progress.

When you can’t stick to a routine

The minimum length of Elizabeth’s time management programme is three months because it’s natural for things to happen and for your routine to start slipping.

When you do go off-track, accept what’s happened, realize that you couldn’t control the situation, ask what you can learn, and think about how you can get back on track as quickly as possible.

If you go off-track for a day or a week, reflect on what happened and start again. Life is going to happen, so understand it, get over it, and get back to the routine.

Divine Time Management: The Joy of Trusting God’s Loving Plans for You

Elizabeth’s new book is about the journey to recognizing that there are things we can do to improve our lives to help us be successful.

She wrote it because she felt like she wasn’t telling the whole truth, as there were times in her own life where her time management skills weren’t enough. Elizabeth admits to misestimating or feeling overwhelmed, and shares that it is prayer which carries her through.

This book is to help people realize they don’t have to be on 24/7. Be at peace with what’s happening in your life, and accept and embrace who you really are.


Breakdown or Breakthrough? Jen Welter on the Pressure of Being the First Female NFL Coach

Breakdown or Breakthrough? Jen Welter on the Pressure of Being the First Female NFL Coach



On today’s podcast, we are joined by Jen Welter the first woman to coach in the NFL. She set the example for others to follow, as being the first meant she had no one to aspire to.

Jen tells us about women playing football, and how they do it for the love of the game. The first cheque she ever got for being a professional football player was when they won the Superbowl, and that cheque was for $12.

Her experiences translate into the game of life. If you have a passion, you shouldn’t see any door as being closed because of a perceived difference such as gender. Every opportunity she’s had to step up has been driven by those women in her team who inspire her and give fuel for her fire every day.

On today’s podcast:

  • Making the transition from playing football to working for the NFL
  • Setting the standards for others to follow
  • Lessons in Being Limitless
  • Could you walk a mile in these shoes?

Links:

Making the transition from playing football to working for the NFL

Jen wanted to take her practical experience of playing football and use her psychology background to provide a unique perspective to help athletes on their journey to greatness.

She says the NFL was larger than life and she never imagined she would coach, as she had no women to look up to so didn’t see it as a possibility.

She ended up coaching after playing men’s football for a season, which taught her to be a great teammate when she wasn’t a star as she was on the practice squad. Jen caught the attention of a coach when he was impressed by the dynamic of how close she and her team were, and he offered her a position as a coach.

Initially, Jen said no. She wasn’t prepared. But, he wouldn’t let her not do it so he took the job on her behalf and told her she couldn’t quit.

Setting the standards for others to follow

Jen had no one to aspire to, as she was the first female coach in the NFL, and she thought it was important to show that it could work for any other women who wanted to step into that role.

Brian Arians talked to players about bringing her in, and when they agreed he worked up to the top to tell them everyone was on board with having a female coach. By doing this, he put his reputation as a leader on the line, and the way he did it set the tone of it being a good thing and not a publicity stunt.

When Jen joined, she didn’t force the players to listen to her as they had chosen to. They knew she had something to add, and she was brought in because everyone believed it would work.

Lessons in Being Limitless

Jen has documented her journey to being the first female coach in her book Play Big: Lessons in Being Limitless from the First Woman to Coach in the NFL. Women playing football had been described as the “best-kept secret in sports”, but she didn’t want them to be a secret anymore.

She saw the book as a great opportunity to tell a story, and not a football story but a life story. There are many parts in the book which could be for anybody working hard for a dream.

Jen promised to stand up to any challenge presented to her throughout her career, which made her willing to make small steps forward towards bigger accomplishments.

Could you walk a mile in these shoes?

In her book, Jen wants people to find things which can be translated into their own lives. Can you have a great impact and be a good teammate, even when you’re the underdog?

She hopes for people to realize there’s a point in everyone’s lives where it’s either breakdown or breakthrough. Breakthrough comes when 99.9% of people would break down, and all you need is one more ounce of faith that will pull you through to find success.