Entries by Mike Figliuolo

When you find yourself with extra time on your hands, do you have a list of nonurgent projects you can immediately turn to?

April 1, 2021 /1 Comment/in , , , /by

Our reader poll today asks: When you find yourself with extra time on your hands, do you have a list of nonurgent projects you can immediately turn to? Yes. I know exactly what I’ll do with the newfound free time. 64.22% Kind of. I have a general sense of projects in waiting. 32.42% No. I have no idea what I’d do with free time. 3.36% Ready for free time. The vast majority of you have a plan for when you have that “found” free time. Bravo! There’s no time wasted wondering what to start working on when you have a free t0 minutes, hour, day, or week. There’s no need to spend time prioritizing either. You can just get to work. If you’re in the 32% who are a little less rigorous on maintaining such a list, give it a try. Call it your back-burner projects. Break it into groups of things you can do in an hour, a day, or a week. List items in priority order. When the time frees up, jump to your list and dig in! Many folks are realizing right now how valuable such a list can be when they suddenly have a lot more time on their hands. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

What Makes a Presentation Unsuccessful?

March 31, 2021 /0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Do you struggle to get your ideas approved? Follow the structured thought process to create better presentations. When you have a recommendation you’re trying to get approved within your organization, there are going to be a lot of stakeholders you have to get your idea in front of. You’ll have to put it in front of your manager, maybe their boss, a director, and some vice presidents. Some of your ideas may even go all the way up to the C-suite. There’s something I like to call Figliuolo’s Law, which states: “An individual’s annual compensation is inversely proportional to the number of slides they can look at before they have a stroke.” I’ve worked with a CEO who said, “If it has a staple, I won’t read it.” I worked closely with another CEO and we went in to present. The other team went to present first. He picked up their presentation, he felt it for heft, and it was about 25 pages long. He threw it across the room and said,

How to Communicate Vision To Make It Influential

March 29, 2021 /1 Comment/in , , , , /by

Learn how leaders should effectively communicate and share a vision to make it impactful. Today’s post is by Oleg Konovalov, author of THE VISION CODE: How To Create And Execute A Compelling Vision For Your Business (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Communication makes vision visible and attractive to others. It can inspire the visionary’s passion in others or drive people away. A poorly communicated vision is dead if not successfully shared with others. Communication is the essential property of vision and visionary leadership whose primary role is to make vision a collective property, giving it away so others can participate in it. A vision’s strength is determined by how well it is communicated to others. In practical terms, attracting investors is critical. Attracting as many supporters as possible is even more critical and far more difficult. Only by communicating as broadly and actively as possible does vision gain its full viability and functionality. Three core elements define effective communication of a vision—

What’s harder: working from the office or working from home?

March 25, 2021 /0 Comments/in , , , /by

Our reader poll today asks: What’s harder: working from the office or working from home? Office: lots of distractions. I focus better at home and doing things on my own. 41.4% Home: lots of distractions and temptations. I need the structure and social aspects of an office. 58.6% Working from home is hard. Many of you reported being challenged working from home. It seems like a great opportunity until you actually try it. Distractions, lack of structure, and lack of coworker contact are all huge challenges. Having worked from home for 15+ years, I’d suggest a few things. 1. Set and maintain a schedule. Hit your desk at the same time every day. Finish work at the same time. 2. Manage family expectations. Tell them if your door is closed, you’re not there or available. 3. Have a hard break away from work at the end of the day to signal you’re “home” again. Work out. Take a walk. Make it a consistent routine. 4. Make time to socialize. Call or video chat with at least two coworkers per day. Carve out the time to do it. 10 to 15 minutes is all it takes. The more structure and routine you can build around working from home, the easier it is to avoid temptations and deal with distractions. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How to Prioritize Your Team’s Work and Improve Focus

March 24, 2021 /0 Comments/in , , , , /by

  It’s easy for your team to get sidetracked if your strategy has a lot of moving parts. Learn how to prioritize your most meaningful work. A consistent and regularly-scheduled prioritization process helps eliminate distractions and focus your efforts on the most meaningful projects. Some processes are formal while others are simply frequent conversations about priorities. Choose a process that’s appropriate for the size of your organization. I’ve worked for two very different organizations. One was large and one was a small business unit. In the large one we had a very formal prioritization process. All departments were involved, and you had to have a very rigorous business case to get your idea on the list. In the small business unit it was an informal process. We achieved prioritization by allocating budget to different budget owners. We then gave them discretion to choose their own priorities. In the large organization it was very rigorous, but sometimes we lacked agility. It kept us focused, but at the cost of innovating every once in a while. In the small organization it enabled a lot of distractions to happen. People pursued some pet projects. Pet projects and distractions should not be worked on if they haven’t been prioritized. They had a huge impact. In the small business unit I was in we got a lot of small things done, but a lot of times they were disjointed, they lacked impact, and some of them weren’t even on strategy. Build a prioritization process that is appropriate for the size and complexity of your organization, and make sure that process is in charge of allocating resources accordingly. Embedding prioritization Prioritization processes work great for larger projects that require resource allocation. They don’t necessarily change behaviors related to more day-to-day activities. Embedding a prioritization mindset in […]

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers But People Do

March 22, 2021 /0 Comments/in , , , /by

  Self-awareness is a huge perk of being human. Unfortunately, it can also lead to chronic illness. Today’s post is by Steve Adams, CEO of Tiger Performance Institute and author of Unleash the Peak Performer Within You (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Zebras are horse-like creatures with beautifully striped coats that fascinate children and adults alike. Zebras have a distinct advantage over humans in one particularly important area of life: how they manage stress. To understand this phenomenon, we need to begin with the concept of interference. In my book, Unleash the Peak Performer Within You, I share the Performance Formula. Simply stated, it reads: Performance = Skill – Interference What is Interference? Interference is a term representing anything that prevents your skills from taking over to produce a high level of productivity and performance. A short list of potential interference includes anxiety, ADD, emotional control problems, and poor sleep. There are many more sources of interference, and they all get in the way of good performance. Eliminating or reducing your interference represents a direct path to improved performance. As you begin the journey of learning how to reduce interference and change your health trajectory, understanding and strengthening your autonomic nervous system is vital. The Autonomic Nervous System What is the autonomic nervous system (ANS)? The ANS is a branch of your nervous system that regulates involuntary functions and is constantly assessing the environment around you and sending information to the brain. This ongoing process keeps you healthy and safe and goes unnoticed as you go about your day. Its goal is to balance your body to its environment. Functions such as heart rate, salivary secretions, eye dilation, digestion, and adrenaline release are governed by your ANS. Your ANS has two branches, each at one extreme of functioning. These branches are called […]

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