accountability

The 4 Causes of Inaction

September 29, 2009 By takethestairs 10 Comments

Procrastination is something that everyone struggles with; according to Jim Rohn, it is the #1 killer of all success. In my study of self-discipline over the past 9 years, I’ve noticed a more prevalent dynamic than procrastination. It’s one where we don’t deliberately just put things off, or refuse to do them; but rather we mask the activities that we should be doing with ones that are more convenient to do. In other words we allow ourselves to be busy just being busy. The term that I’ve been using in my speeches to describe this phenomena is creative avoidance.

Although creative avoidance may appear in many forms there are really 4 main causes of our inaction towards what we really need to be doing to be productive. These 4 concepts apply to people across all different professions, ages, or endeavors. You show me a person who is not achieving life at the level they want to be and I’ll show you 1 of these 4 diagnosis.
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Filed Under: Standard Lessons Tagged With: accountability, creative avoidance, discipline, focus, forming good habits, increase productivity, master your emotions, Motivational Speaker, performance expert, Procrastination, raising your performance, sales performance, Self-Discipline, Take The Stairs

The 3 Battles of Daily Discipline: Mind, Mouth, and Movement

September 18, 2009 By takethestairs Leave a Comment

For most of us self-discipline is a passive concept. It’s not one we very often think about, and when we do it’s often because we feel guilty about some bad decision we’ve made, or were lamenting to a friend about why we need more of it. Unfortunately it’s that in-deliberate attitude that usually leads to our lack of self-discipline. Many of us think of discipline as hard and we don’t understand the Pain Paradox. Discipline doesn’t have to always be difficult, brutal, or painful as long as it’s perpetually intentional and consistent.

There are 3 primary battles of self-discipline that need to be won each and every day by all of us. They are 3 things that we have absolute control over and that regardless of our profession, age, or income we must deal with. Avoiding these areas is not an option because as I mentioned on my Twitter page, you are either consciously forming good habits or you are unconsciously forming bad ones. The battles I’m referring to are
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Filed Under: Standard Lessons Tagged With: accountability, discipline, focus, forming good habits, master your emotions, Motivational Speaker, performance expert, raising your performance, sales performance, Self-Discipline, Take The Stairs

Composure, Clarity, Control

August 17, 2009 By takethestairs Leave a Comment

This blog post comes straight from one of my coaching clients from our Top Producer’s Edge program. She is an extraordinary woman and she’s beginning to get big results in her life and for her company as we’ve been working together for a few months. As is customary we send a recap of each conversation we have with our clients after the call. This one seemed very relevant to a lot of the problems that we are all facing today so I included it here exactly how it appeared in the personal email I sent to her.

“Kind of ironic how the sessions I always send you are right in line with what’s going on in your life. From the Schedule concepts when we first started to the positive affirmations a few weeks ago, to the introduction and questioning techniques for finding pain before selling, using LinkedIn for referrals and recruiting and then today with problem solving.

“Remember what I said… one of the highest levels of discipline is to be a master of your emotions.

“The key to problem solving is IMMEDIATELY channeling your emotion into a positive direction and keeping your cool. People want to follow a strong leader who always has a game plan (or at least looks like they do ) to overcome any challenging situation. Here is my 3 step formula for channeling that energy: Composure, Clarity, Control

“First is Composure. Remember things are often not as good as they seem or as bad as they sound. Resist the urge to flip out in the very first moment you hear of bad news. (You can flip out later when you’re by yourself all you want) Your initial reaction to a problem sets the tone and mood for the way that you and those around you respond to the situation. And also it forms a habit for all of you about how you will deal with problems in the future. So have DISCIPLINE and begin to start channeling your emotions and staying composed. Remember my man Carl from the old TV Show Family Matters: ‘3,2,1…1,2,3…what the heck is bothering me…breathe.’ :) That is, to this day, my favorite affirmation in tough times.

“Second is Clarity. DISCIPLINE yourself to not just start taking control and yanking things around in every which direction. Instead ask questions of yourself and of those involved in the situation to make sure that you CLARIFY exactly what the challenge is, what factually happened, and to identify what limitations are legitimately on the situation. You’ll be amazed that when you take the emotional energy out of tough situations there is almost always a clear actionable game plan that reveals itself. The trick once again is learning to view things through a logical lens rather than an emotional one.

“Then Control. Not take control necessarily; but control the things you can control. Don’t focus on what is wrong with the situation. Focus only on what you can do about it. Control the controllables, execute, and take immediate action on what you can to influence things in a positive direction. One thing I’ve seen to be true in dire business and personal situations is that even in times of complete hopelessness, if you just focus on taking the step that is immediately in front of you, then the next one appears more clearly, and then the next, and the next. Which is exactly how you climb the CN Tower with 144 flights of stairs.

“That’s how you ‘Take the Stairs’ in the face of adversity. You are a champion. It’s an honor to be partnering with you as your coach to get you and your team to the next level. I’m thrilled that business has picked up since we started working together in the last few months. It’s a testimony to your own self-discipline, your willingness to change, and the result of your intense focus. Keep it up because we’re just getting started.”

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

[digg=http://digg.com/business_finance/composure_clarity_control]

Filed Under: Standard Lessons Tagged With: accountability, discipline, efficiency tips, focus, master your emotions, Motivational Speaker, performance expert, problem solving, raising your performance, sales performance, Self-Discipline, Take The Stairs, Top Producers Edge

Dr. Oz from Oprah radio interviews Rory Vaden about Toastmasters, Southwestern, and Take the Stairs!

August 4, 2009 By takethestairs 1 Comment

Two-time Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking Finalist, Co-Founder of Success Starts Now! (Southwestern Training), and creator of the Take The Stairs World Tour, Rory Vaden, was recently contacted by Oprah Radio and Dr. Oz.

Rory went to meet Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa in New York to be interviewed on their Oprah Radio show discussing one of their common pastimes; Toastmasters International. In talking about the speech contest Rory briefly shares about his experience working with The Southwestern Company internship program while in college. They also discussed Rory’s newest venture and mission Take the Stairs and the importance of living life with self-discipline to over 1 million listeners.

You can tune in to the Dr. Oz Show on XM 156 or Sirius 195. But you can click below to hear the 9-minute interview from Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa with Rory Vaden.

To listen to the interview, click below:

http://www.oprah.com/media/20090728-radio-dr-oz-public-speaking

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

[digg=http://digg.com/educational/oz_oprah_radio]

Filed Under: Health Tips, Other Fun Stuff, Take the Stairs in the Media Tagged With: accountability, discipline, Dr. Oz, Motivational Speaker, raising your performance, Self-Discipline, Southwestern, SSN, Success Starts Now, Take The Stairs, Toastmasters, World Champion of Public Speaking

Busy Being Busy: How to use Virtual Assistants to Manage Workload

July 27, 2009 By takethestairs 5 Comments

You wake up. Immediately you notice how tired you are from staying up too late the night before “catching up on things.” One of the first things you do is grab your phone and anxiety sets in as you notice that somehow you already have over a dozen emails waiting for you! On the way to work you anguish over your growing to do list with items carrying over from weeks before. You sit down at work to start answering some of these emails and to your horror you find that they are coming in faster than you can send them out! Not only that but every time you send one out it’s almost like you get two back! Throughout the day you have voicemails, texts, social networking messages, meetings, personal errands to run, client follow ups, and a whole series of interruptions that constantly leave you feeling like you’re behind. Sound familiar? Ever think that just “keeping up” with everything could be a full time job? Guess what? You might be right.

This lifestyle is astoundingly and sadly common among ambitious professionals and it is created by the one common problem that many of us have which is a lack of systems to manage workflow. Fortunately there is a new modern solution; it’s called Virtual Assistants – or what I more appropriately refer to as “Virtual Assistance.”

The days of only top executives having assistants are over. In this internet age hundreds of thousands of people are turning to a rapidly developing trend of working with VAs. They are fairly easy to find, cheaper than you might expect, and if you know “the system” for working with them they can dramatically change your lifestyle. Here is the 6 step process for finding, hiring, training, and working with quality VAs.

Step 1 –Question Yourself critically. If you’ve been following my work for a while, you know that one of the antitheses of the disciplined “Take The Stairs Mentality” is what we call creative avoidance. That is creating busy work for yourself just to avoid doing things you know you need to be doing. No amount of VA will solve your lack of discipline so be brutally honest and decide first if you can eliminate some of these tasks or if there is legitimate admin work that needs more time than you have.

Step 2 – Inventory Your Workflow. Okay, busy bee. If you really think you’re that busy, then write out a detailed list of all of the activities that you are currently doing that could be outsourced to someone else. This does two things: it validates your decision on step 1 above and it becomes the game plan for training your VA(s). If your list isn’t incredibly long, then you are fooling yourself and you’re creatively avoidant which means you need to develop more discipline. Fortunately there is a guy who has a great blog full of articles that can help you with that and you can find it at www.takethestairstour.com .

Step 3 – Create Job Descriptions. Working off of the list you just created you can now come up with a list of skills and resources that a person would need to have in order to complete those activities for you. I suggest a two-paragraph simple description that summarize: A. What types of things you need done and B. What skills you are specifically looking for in a VA.

Step 4 – Post To Virtual Marketplace. This is the magic of the internet. There are dozens of websites or virtual marketplaces (almost like digital flea markets) that are free and open 24/7 helping to connect people with skills looking for work, and people with jobs looking for help. My buddy Timothy Ferriss has lots of them listed in “4-Hour Workweek” or you can Google Virtual Assistants or you can use my favorites:

Create a free profile on any of these sites and “post a new job” where you paste in your job description. Set a budget for what you’re willing to pay for a person like this and for the number of hours you want them to work. (If your goal is to make $100k, then your time is worth $52/hr so pony up some dough to help you get there.) Of course, the higher skilled tasks you need accomplished the more you are going to have to pay. VAs are available from $2-$20 per hour. $5-$7 for overseas and $7 -$9 for US can get you some quality resumes.

Step 5 – Identify Key Characteristics. Think ahead of time about what type of person you want representing you. This depends on the amount (if any) of communication they’ll be having with your customers. I recommend you start someone with just a few hours as a trial basis but present the vision of building with them for the long term. Phone interviews are best, skype works, or many of the marketplaces have a live chat function that works just as well. These marketplaces score their providers so you can read testimonials of people who’ve worked with them in the past and how they’ve scored in specific areas on tests.

Step 6 – Begin Outsourcing. Start by delegating simple tasks first. See how your VA(s) manage. If you don’t like one, go get a new one. Create a to-do list each day for your VA to accomplish. It’s simple; create one for yourself first and then look to see which items you can outsource. Of course for some things you need a physical person but it’s amazing how much you can do virtually. Many VA(s) are experienced with online programs that can do things you’ve never heard of. Another simple way to get started is to start forwarding them emails from your inbox with specific instructions for how to complete the objective. If you want more tips on how to work with your VA leave a comment for me and I’ll consider posting more on this.

By the way, this post was written on a plane by me but then emailed to a team of virtual assistants who edited it, posted it, hyperlinked it, social bookmarked it, added it to my social networking profiles, and notified you that it was available. There are few things in my recent life that I appreciate more than my amazing team of VAs. They have given me my life back and improved my ability to do things that generate more money and maximize my passions and skills. They can free up your time so that you can do more important things like TAKE THE STAIRS.

This process does work and it will give you your life back if you have the discipline to implement it with consistency and focus like anything else. Discipline does not mean your life has to always be hard. Remember my theory: the short-term easy often creates long-term difficult but the short-term difficult often creates the long-term easy. VAs are a prime example of how being disciplined to take a step backwards will help you have a more enjoyable and productive life in the long run. There is much more to be learned about working with VAs. If you like this topic and want more information on it please leave a comment and I’ll take the time to explain more.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

[digg=http://digg.com/educational/Busy_Being_Busy]

Filed Under: Time Management Tips Tagged With: accountability, efficiency tips, focus, Motivational Speaker, performance expert, raising your performance, sales performance, Self-Discipline, Take The Stairs, time management, virtual assistants

Magnify Your Life

July 20, 2009 By takethestairs 2 Comments

If you lay a piece of paper on the sidewalk on a sizzling hot summer day, nothing happens. But if you put a magnifying glass between the sun and that same piece of paper, eventually the paper will catch fire. Why? It is the power of focus.

The same is true in life. Attention that is spread around is diluted; un-concentrated; weak. But crystal clear laser focus is powerful, intense, and hot! In the pursuit of your goals you must identify what are the critically important activities (called Critical Success Factors- CSFs) that take you from point A to point B and then focus in on them with laser-like intensity.

It takes discipline to be relentlessly committed to projects and activities that matter! The reason is because with the speed of business and life it’s very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of tasks, deadlines, paperwork, emails, and conference calls. If you’re a salesperson, then there is nothing more important that you can be doing then making sales calls. If you’re a leader, then there is nothing more important that you can be doing then spending time with your people or recruiting new people. For all of us we want to spend our time with people not paper.

In any given pursuit there are typically only a handful of activities that directly forward progress toward your objective. But I find that in almost every circumstance when a person or a company is not reaching their goals it’s because their focus is diverted across too many irrelevant activities.

You say, “But Rory, I can’t abandon my email box, all of my reports, my voicemails, and I’m already working constantly!” And I’d respond, “I know, I can’t either.” So what is the answer to this predicament?

Two things…very simple: accountability and assistants; and the first is more important than the second. You have to have someone to help you identify and constantly remind you of what is the focus and what are the key elements required to get there. This can be a great boss, authority figure, mentor, or partner. The problem is that most of those people are busy scrambling with the same things you are!

It honestly doesn’t much matter where your accountability comes from as long as you have someone who truly cares about you and who is truly committed to your success and you have a worthwhile buy-in to working with them. If you agree that you need accountability and you don’t have it, please leave me a comment below and I’ll try to connect with you personally on some things that can help.

As for assistants…they can be life changing. Tune in next time for strategies on working with assistants to help clarify your focus. Until then do everything you can be disciplined about magnifying your focus.

For more free tips, one-liners, and strategies follow me at www.roryontwitter.com