110. About Plans: What about Temporary Failure? (Part 7)

What about Temporary Failure?

It's real simple: IT WILL HAPPEN!

Now matter how big or how small failure is ONLY temporary!!! Failure is never permanent.

So don't go BONKERS over something that failed to materialize, come through, stopped working, or quit.

If you must go BONKERS, then go a little BONKERS. You have to permission to give yourself ONLY five minutes to wallow in self pity, then you pick yourself up off the playground dirt, wipe yourself off, straighten your tie, and GET YOUR ASS BACK TO WORK!!!

Your peers, your staff, your company NEEDS you to be present in the moment to figure out what you are going to do to get past this TEMPORARY FAILURE.

There is absolutely no time to back down you have to step up and take the lead to turn the temporary failure around as quickly as possible.

As a reference, remember in the motion picture, Apollo 13, which is based on the true story, there is a scene where the three astronauts are stressed that their spacecraft is broken, the landing on the moon is scrubbed, there CO2 levels are rising, and they are not sure that they will ever get back home. Two of the astronauts are starting to get agitated with not just the situation but with each other.

The Mission Commander, Jim Lovell, sees the unfolding nonsense, steps in, and LEADS, "...We're not gonna go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes. 'Cause we're just gonna end up right back here with the same problems. Trying to figure out how to stay alive!"

As we know, they made it home. THEY NEVER GAVE UP. 

You should never give up, as well.

Even though, there will continue to be failures in our personal and professional lives. However, remember they are ALL TEMPORARY FAILURES.

Now, Get Back To Work!!!


Thank you,
Dave Guerra

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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109. About Plans: Don't Give Up...EVER! (Part 6)

There may come a time when you will want to give up after starting your plan. It is common to see when one starts implementing a new plan / change. The stress of not having done this before can at times be overwhelming. Like I wrote that is perfectly OK.

While many will quit and that will be the end of that. They just give up never to enjoy the thrill of having reached their goal, making new plans, setting new goals, achieving them, and then starting all over again.

Quitting is not an option!


Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you think about any of the postings so far.


As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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108. About Plans: Meeting Objectives (Part 5)

In the course of executing your plan you will come to a point when you have achieved minor victories. These minor victories are known as "meeting objectives."  These objectives are more like stepping-stones in getting from Point A to Point B in your plan.

When you meet your objectives what next?

You do two things; review what was just accomplished to ensure that all the T's were crossed and the I's dotted. Then you move on to the next objective.

Now if you did not cross your T's and dot all your I's then this is the time to go back and do it. If even after that there is still more to do before you can move on to your next objective then the time might be right to insert a little sub-tasking.

Remember, the thing here is to ensure that later (and I mean much later) you do not have to stop and double back and hunt for something that could have been prevented by systematically and periodically looking back as you move forward in the execution of your plan


So, take a minute or two and review as you go along. It might just save you a lot of heartache in the end.

Thank you,
Dave Guerra


As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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107. About Plans: Follow Through (Part 4)

You've got your plan in writing, you've launched it, now what?

You FOLLOW THROUGH!!!

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines FOLLOW THROUGH as "to press on in an activity or process especially to a conclusion"

This means once the ball gets rolling there is no stopping it until you get the end.  So go with it! Of course, there will dips in the road, speed bumps, and even stop signs. However, that should NOT completely stop you (more on that later) it should serve as an opportunity to adjust or refine your plan and its execution (more on that later).

In the meantime, the ball is rolling and all you have to do is just keep going!

Thank you,
Dave Guerra

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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106. About Plans: Execution! (Part 3)

Now that you have your plan on paper, what happens next? Now you have this treatise that will define your future for tomorrow, next month, next year and you are probably wondering when do you start?

You start NOW!!! Not tomorrow, not this weekend, you start right now!!!

If for some reason you don't start right now, like you are in a full body cast and cannot train for the next 5K then you start the moment you are physically able.

Seriously, if you PLAN to start next week, guess what? Next week never comes and what does come will be plenty of nonsense and excuses. If all you want to do is complain then why start? There can be no half-ass attempt at having a plan in place and attempting to execute that plan.
 
...and that's why NOW is the best time to start in executing your plan.



Thank you,
Dave Guerra

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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105. About Plans (part II: ideas)

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good brave men, or they are no better than dreams."

All plans are born from ideas. Ideas, in most cast cases, come to the mind as a result of addressing a need, an injustice, or just to make life a little easier. No matter what the reason, all plans come from ideas. You could say that a plan is an idea that has been defined to laser sharp focus and then made real once it is on paper.

On paper, an idea becomes real. It becomes tangible. Then and only then is the idea, now the plan, truly ready to be executed (acted on).

Work your idea, turn it into a plan, and make it happen.


Thank you,
Dave Guerra


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104. About Having A Plan

Today I was reading a book and it got to a section about having a plan and why it is important to have one then as if by some divine intervention I received a quote about planning in an email. The first quote came from the late Dr. Steven Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People): “The future does not get better by hope. The future gets better by plan.”

and the next from Napoleon Hill author of Think and Grow Rich: "Remember when your plans fail, that temporary defeat is not permanent failure."

The first one is a very frank commentary on why having a plan is best. Without a plan at best all you can do is wing it and hope for the outcome you want. However, with plan you are not coming off as if you are faking it, in an attempt to "hopefully" achieve your goals.

The second quote tells you that any failure of the plan is a temporary setback. Everything up to the point of failure may have been spot on in the execution but where it failed you now know you have to start working on correcting. Then you can try again.

Remember: No Plan = No Go

Plan Fails = Find where it went wrong, correct, proceed.

Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you think about any of the postings so far.


As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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103. 2013 Resolutions (part 2)

Three days into the new year and some are preparing to start their resolutions after the weekend. So before you start ask yourself:

• What makes a difference in the quality of your life?
• What drives you?
• What motivates you?

Believe it or not, plain and so very simple it's EMOTION (yours, mine, ours). Everything else is BS you sell yourself, trust me on this one, we sell ourselves way too much BS.

If you are one of those that doesn't want to admit that you are buying the BS let me fill you in on a little secret: We all do it!

So cut back on the BS and load up on the Authentic Emotion and you will see your resolutions become a reality.


Till next time,
Dave Guerra

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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102. 2013 Resolutions

Everyone else is doing it, so why not me again?

Here are a few of things that I will resolve to do this year.

1. Spend more time with my family
2. Travel More with my family
3. Read More Books
4. Write More
5. Take More Pictures
6. Post more videos online
7. By January 31st have my first ebook uploaded and under the review process at Amazon.com.
8. By March 31st have my second ebook uploaded and under the review process at Amazon.com.
9. By July 31st have my third ebook uploaded and under the review process at Amazon.com.
10. By September 31st have my fourth ebook uploaded and under the review process at Amazon.com. 

You may ask yourself why four ebooks in one year?  Folks, I have at least 11 books in the works and over half are about 80% complete before re-writes. I have two that I have been working on for the past three years and they are all but finished. So time to get them finished and published.

I'll keep you posted on how things go.

What are you resolving to do this year?


Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you think about any of the postings so far.


As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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