Lawrence Fine

Have you ever wondered why so many successful athletes come from poor areas? Is it because poor areas have better athletes than wealthy areas?

The reality is, it’s not because poor areas have better athletes than wealthy areas but rather, people from poor areas have less options than those from wealthy areas (at the very least, they have less good options).

The person from a wealthy family might start off playing basketball but if things don’t go well, they easily change to tennis, baseball, golf, soccer etc. If the next sport doesn’t work out right away, they can switch to yet another sport (or another activity).

The person from the poor family most likely doesn’t have the option to try golf, or tennis etc so if they want to be successful, they must stick to what is available and work harder.

Who is going to be more successful at a sport (or at anything), the person who bounces from activity to activity until they find the one that is easiest for them or the one who works to overcome the obstacles?

If it seems that this post contradicts the previous post about it being acceptable to quit, it really doesn’t. The key is, narrow the options down to what you can be successful at, and then stick to it in order to overcome whatever obstacles might come in your way.

Success requires determination and frequently, having too many options available to us, takes away the need for this determination.

While this is true in athletics, it’s also true in business and in life!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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We have all heard the saying “winners never quit and quitters never win” and we tend to take it as gospel but the question needs to be asked, is this true?

Should we keep doing something that isn’t working because we are too proud to admit it doesn’t work?

If we are selling an obsolete product, would it make sense to quit selling that product and find something better?

If you are using a formation for your team and it’s not working, should you continue to use it and try to force success upon the formation or change the formation to something better suited for your team?

To be successful, you need to devote your resources (time, money, energy, people) to things that can work. If you try to be everything to everyone you end up being nothing to everyone. Figure out the best use of your resources and quit the other things

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If you could start over again, what would you do different?

If you are a realtor, if you were starting over, would you take a different approach to selling houses or to finding clients? Would you specialize in a different type of real estate (commercial as opposed to residential)? Would you market in a different way?

If you are a business owner, would you run your business differently if you were starting from scratch? Would you be in a different business?

If you are a coach, would you manage your team differently? Would you be a coach if you had to start over?

If you are an attorney would you approach your clients in a different manner? Would you practice a different type of law?

Are you doing things a certain way simply because that is the way you have always done them?

If you were to start over again and would do things differently, would it make sense to see if you can do things differently even though you might not be able to start over again?

How often do you review your procedures to make sure they make sense and are up to date as opposed to simply reviewing the procedures to make sure they are being followed regardless of whether they make sense anymore?

I believe everyone should review EVERYTHING they do on a regular basis and keep doing what works and what makes sense and get rid of procedures and policies that aren’t working or don’t work but that you have been doing just because you always have?

If you would do things differently if you could start over again, see if you can change the way you do things even if you can’t start over again

Have a great day!

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Too often we see what we expect to see and not what is actually happening and this “vision” is clouded by our memories.

In athletics we see it all the time when someone was a star as a 10 year old but as they grow older and others catch up to them, we still think of them as a star even though the reality is others have caught up and frequently surpassed them. Even though the player is getting beat on a regular basis, the coach still remembers them as the player who dominated when they were younger and isn’t able to look objectively because of their performance when they were younger. A new coach comes in and looks at things with an open mind and might wonder why that player was ever on the field. This happens in professional sports as a player gets older and might have lost a step or two. We want to see them do what they used to be able to do but they can’t do it that way anymore so while their performance has gone down, we sometimes still think they are doing the same thing as they used to do because that is what we want to see.

When evaluating people or situations, do everything you can do to look objectively at what is currently happening and not what you want to happen or what used to happen.

This might mean bringing in someone from outside your organization to take this objective look.

Make sure you are seeing what is actually happening and not what you remember used to happen

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Some people work very hard to become expert at certain things but it’s important to realize that just because you do something well, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s important.

If you are a soccer player, you might be a great keeper and that is important. You might be a proficient goal scorer and that is important. You might be the best on the team at lining the cones up to make a straight line and while it’s wonderful you take pride in doing something well, that doesn’t mean it’s something that is terribly important.

If you are going to take the time to do something well, you might as well make sure what you do well is important. If it’s not important, at least make sure it’s something you enjoy but don’t mistake the fact you do something well with meaning it is automatically important.

Some people enjoy doing things that are a bit different and there is nothing wrong with that but in a work environment, spend you time doing things that are important as opposed to doing things just because you do them well. It will make you much more effective

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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There is a huge difference between being productive as opposed to simply being active. We all know people who seem to be in a state of constant motion but deep down, they don’t really accomplish anything

Some managers are impressed by the person who is first in the office each morning and the last to leave. They work through their lunch break and seem to always be busy. However, what really matters is not how many hours they put in but rather did they actually accomplish anything in those hours.

I would rather spend two hours being productive than ten hours looking productive and accomplishing very little.

Are you productive or just active?

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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When people see a well run event, they frequently think how easy it is to put on such a thing. The organizer usually seems calm, things are going smoothly and people think “I can do this”.

On the other hand, when people see an organizer running around barking orders, seeming to do ten things at once, they think “wow, that person is really working hard, they deserve whatever they are getting for running this”.

The reality is, the person whose event is running smoothly and remains calm probably put in tens, or hundreds or thousands of hours prior to the event to make sure things run that way while the person running around during the event, didn’t prepare as well prior to the event.

A friend of mine runs tournaments for a living. She is extremely organized, professional and the events she runs are generally good experiences for the participants and good fundraisers for the non profit organization she works for. Inevitably, people complain, after the fact, because they feel she is over compensated and the tournaments could be run as effectively, or more effectively by volunteers which would result in more funds for the organization. The reason they think this is they see the 2-4 days worth or work she does during the event and don’t see the hundreds of hours she does in advance to make sure everything is planned for in advance. They see the big sponsors for the tournaments but don’t remember that these sponsors weren’t involved before she got involved. The sad thing is, if she were less organized, which would result in worse experience for the participants, people might respect her work more because they would see her running around during the event, giving the appearance of doing more. Instead, she does most of these things in advance and people don’t see, or appreciate the preparation.

When I see a convention or seminar that is well run, I look at the people running the event and realize that what I see is usually just the tip of the iceberg of what it really took to get that event organized and run properly. Too many people look to find the faults rather than looking to see how well run everything is. No one can anticipate everything that might happen during an event and they can’t even plan for everything they do anticipate but the people who plan well will run a better event than the person who doesn’t plan as well but might give the impression of doing more during the event.

It is better to panic before the event and remain calm during the event than to be calm prior to the event and panic during.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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As a general rule, it’s best to maintain a 3:1 praise to criticize ratio. This means for every negative critique you make of a situation, you should also make three positive praises.

People have a tendency to emphasize the negative when coaching (and coaching can be done in many environments whether on a field or court to in a classroom or meeting room). There seems to be a belief that the people know what they are doing correctly so the time is spent pointing out what is being done poorly (or what could be done better)

If we point out the positives as well as the negatives (in the 3:1 ratio) we will find people respond and learn, much better

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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There is a tendency to see a situation and to react without knowing what caused the situation in the first place. It’s a difficult issue because you don’t want to over analyze a situation which can result in analysis paralysis but on the other hand, reacting without knowing the facts can cause for some difficulties as well.

An example would be if you hear an employee who is dealing with a client somewhat abruptly. You hear the client ask a question and the employee gives a one or two word answer. You might be inclined to step in and explain things in greater detail or pull the employee to the side and chastise them for not giving greater details. However, the facts you might not know is the client might have explained they were in a hurry and just needed basic information. Or, while you step in and chastise the employee, you might find out that just 10 minutes earlier, they lost a loved one and are in shock. In that case, rather than chastising the employee, it would be better to relieve them of what they are doing and allow them to take care of what they need to do and you, or someone else, can work with the client.

Too often, people jump to conclusions without getting the facts and it results in an uncomfortable situation for them, and others around them

When in doubt, get the facts!

Have a great day

Lawrence
PS All blog posts are now archived and can be seen at http://www.lawrencefine.com/blog/archives/

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Yesterday I was trying to get some work done and kept running into problems. I couldn’t do A because B was getting in the way. I couldn’t do B because C was creating a problem etc. The more I tried to do, the more problems I encountered. After sitting at my computer for a few hours and creating more problems than solutions I decided the best thing to do was…go take a hike.

Rather than continue to look at the same things over and over and not get anything done, I went on a 3 hour hike in the state forest (for those of you not familiar with Charleston WV, we really do have a state forest with excellent hiking only 6 miles from downtown). I didn’t think about the work issues at all while hiking instead I just relaxed and looked at nature.

When you think there is an obstacle you can’t overcome and then you see how a small stream can cut into large rocks over the course of a long time, it reminds you that things don’t always happen right away but with persistence anything can be overcome.

When you think your issues are huge, take the time to look at something really big and realize that no matter how big you think you are or how big you think your problems are, they are insignificant when compared to everything that is really out there and with some persistence you can overcome anything.

So when things are bothering you…go take a hike!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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