A Framework to Become the Best Version of Yourself
Do you want to become a true high performer, not only in your business but in your entire life? I mean, who does not want to impress his co-workers and friends?
A Harvard Business Review article from 2014 starts with the following statement:
A high performer can deliver 400% more productivity than the average performer. (via Herman Aguinis, Ernest O’Boyle Jr.)
The way I see high-performance — that is only a nuance.
What and Who Is a High Performer?
A high performer consistently exceeds expectations both in what and how they accomplish it.
That statement, which is not even part of any publication, is…
… and he added 10 minutes of chit-chat
I managed to injure my right heel last week. I thought I was just fine and played tennis.
Narrator: It was not a good idea.
During the last game, I landed on that heel, and all hell broke loose.
My wife convinced (read: “forced”) me to call our go-to doctor.
I got an x-ray appointment within 4 hours (typically, not a chance).
I met him the next day, and after 15 minutes, he gave me the diagnosis: “Nothing serious, but it is a bad spot for it to have. Give it a few weeks, and you’re fine.”
Just what I…
Most of the answers to that question are really amazing, every single time!
“You should save enough money to get by at least 18 months” is one classical statement, just about as good as “consider your family situation.” Don’t forget about the dog and your friends.
Did I mention your age is a critical factor in figuring out when the best time to start a business is?
Or the almighty “You want to start a business? Sounds great, go ahead”.
99,9% of all answers don’t make any sense.
There are so many people who think they know anything about starting…
It is easier than you think to leave a great impression.
The world is, without a doubt, quite egocentric. It sometimes feels it is getting more so every day.
Maybe shortly interrupted by a pandemic or any kind of disaster when people sometimes feel like helping somebody out, without a hidden agenda.
I know what I am talking about. I have been that way myself.
It was all about me, myself, and I.
We appear to be afraid to not focus on ourselves because… no one else is either. You may even fear that those people will take something that should belong to you.
But that is short-term thinking, at best.
…
A few simple steps create a new habit
Confess: How many books did you read last year?
Now, tell me: How many books do you wish to read this year?
Read more books — where we come from
Whenever I meet a particular friend, he tells me he should read more books. He is not alone.
A survey in America revealed that 81% do not read as much as they would like to, and 35% answered they wish they could read more — but for instance, do not have enough time (39%) or it is easier to do other things (22%).
That is quite sad.
Reading is probably the cheapest form of self-education you can have…
This year is tough, no doubt about it. But if all you can do is complain — that is on you.
A crisis always is a chance.
To rethink. To change. To adapt. To sit back. To refocus. To learn.
My wife and I witnessed the upcoming corona-madness arriving in Europe while being in Japan, that was at the beginning of March. Upon returning home, the only crisis appeared to be in the media, not on the streets. The virus was still invisible to all of us.
One week after our return, my home country Austria went into a full lockdown. That was in mid-March.
After a summer that made way too many people forget about the reality, we stumbled back…
There is only one thing that really matters to your customers… and here’s why so many businesses get it all wrong
I recently was searching for something and read through a couple of company homepages where they usually state how experience they are, industry-leaders, use state-of-the-art techniques, and have of course the best-educated employees.
That’s absolutely great!
There is only one problem: It is not about them, it is about their clients!
It’s not about you, it’s about the client
Your client does not really care about how good you are, or at least you think you are. They don’t even care how nice or likable you are.
No, surprisingly enough the client cares only about “What can you do for me?”
This is a problem many business leaders…
Why timing matters more than we think
Since the 2015 Stanley Cup run of the Chicago Blackhawks I can be safely filed under “early morning bird”. That’s when I discovered the magic of undisturbed mornings, a fresh mind and full focus until rest of the world awakes.
The only way to follow each game live from Europe (e.g., games usually would start at 2–3am every second day) forced me to get creative.
Split-sleeping was killing me: I tried to sleep from around 11pm to 2am for 3 hours and then right after the game had ended (mind you — all those overtime nights!) another 3. …
The short answer is… you don’t.
There’s no such thing like a to-do list. It’s actually more like a should-do list!
Simply forget it! DELETE IT!
But before that, let me explain why!
iDone published interesting statistics in its “The Busy Person’s guide” based on data from its own app and states not-so surprising facts:
- 41% of to-do items were never completed
- 15% of „dones“ started as to-do item
Even worse, the rest are only small to-do’s which could be done within a really short amount of time — like a few minutes, an hour or a day.
This question makes me remember how many hours I did work on my own resume back in the days… until mine was okay.
When applying for any full-time positions I barely changed it. Yet I thought it was great. It was the standard procedure as you find it in 99% of all google results. Personal data, work experience, education. Mostly I still did make the cut and was invited for an interview. However, this would change when I became a freelancer.
I worked in the banking industry on a variety of different projects and especially in the beginning needed to go via recruiting agencies — which is a pain! …
