12 CRITICAL STRATEGY QUESTIONS

Strategy is all about shaping the future and how it can bring value to the organisation and the real world.

1. Less is more  -  In less than thirty words, describe what your organisation strategy is?
   
   
2. What sort of company do you want to be?
   
   
3. What sort of leadership style do you want to adopt?
   
   
4. What are the most important objectives to the organisation?
   
   
5. How will you explain to all your people how each of them can contribute to achieve these objectives?
   
   
6. What do you think is possible?
   
   
7. What do you need to do to achieve your goals?
   
   
8. Is your existing market growing, stagnating or shrinking?
   
   
9. Where are the markets that are growing faster than yours?
   
   
10. What changes have to be made?
    
    
11. How should the changes be made?
    
    
12. How shall we measure progress?
    
    
    
    
    
    

WHY MULTI TASKING CAN BE TOXIC TO LEADERSHIP

Do you ever speak on the phone to clients when driving the car?  
Do you have your iPad on your knee as you watch television at home with the family?  
Do you write and look at emails during conference calls?
Do you text your daughter or son when they are only in the bedroom upstairs and you are downstairs in the office?
We all think that we are good at multi-tasking but we are not...

Multi-tasking can be toxic for business and life.  Too often today we make knee jerk reactions and decisions because we are over functioning and later when we pause, we often regret whatever we over promised at the time.


TIPS ON HOW TO STOP MULTI-TASKING

1. Instead of a 'To Do' list... create a 'Why' list.
   
   
2. Start at number one and continue in sequence until the list is finished.
   
   
3. Throughout the day, keep pulling your mind back into the present moment.
   
   
4. How you start your day is how you will live and be in your day.
   
   
5. Learn to slow down and focus on one thing at a time.
   
   
6. Stop between tasks and pause.  Learn to distinguish between reaction and response (well thought out).
   
   
7. Remember you will never get this day back again.
   
   
8. Shift from being a human doing to a human being.
   
   
9. When you have a clear mind you will be also able to observe old patterns of behaviour and the hooks that try to pull you back. Watch, pause and let go.
   
   
10. Lead in the moment, be in the moment.

11 TIPS ON HOW TO DEVELOP MENTAL TOUGHNESS

1. COMMIT 
   From this day forward, commit to what you have been putting off until now and do it.
   
   
2. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
   You will never out-perform your self-image, and self image is all about belief in yourself.
   
   
3. ZEN LIKE FOCUS
   Get into the zone and focus on one thing at a time.
   
   
4. AWARENESS
   Stop and pay attention to what distracts you mentally.  Is it emails, computer, phone, etc?  Turn off the outside noise.
   
   
5. CLEAR UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT
   It is hard to develop mental toughness if your office or house is a mess.  Clean up and clear out.
   
   
6. TIE UP YOUR MESSES
   Make a list of all the unfinished projects or unfinished promises, then delete or prioritise your list of actions.  Do it one step at a time.
   
   
7. COME TO THE EDGE
   It takes courage to leave your comfort zone and live on the edge.  Yet that is the only place you are truly alive.
   
   
8. DO SOMETHING THAT SCARES YOU
   What if every day for the next 30 days you did something every day that scares you?
   
   
9. REPETITION IS THE KEY
   Repetition of great habits every day is the key to outstanding success.
   
   
10. IT TAKES TIME
    Know that sometimes you will feel bored and fed up and won’t feel like doing whatever you have set in front of you.  As Mother Theresa once said “Do it Anyway”.
    
    
11. WORLD CLASS FITNESS
    The more physically fit you are, the more mentally fit you will be.  Make a decision today to exercise a minimum of 20 minutes per day, every day.

12 TIPS ON HOW TO LEAD AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

1.  KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE
   What’s your purpose?  What have you got to do before you die?  Find it and spend the rest of your life crafting it.
   
   
2.  START EACH DAY WELL
   
   The way you begin each day determines how you will live each day.
   
   
3.  BE GRATEFUL BEFORE YOUR FEET TOUCH THE FLOOR EACH DAY
   
   Once you awake each morning spend a few minutes being grateful for the body you are in and the chance to live another day.
   
   
4. HAVE A BUDDY JOURNAL
   A buddy journal is a journal which has all your dreams and aspirations written in.  Look at it each day and live it.
   
   
5. TIME IS A DIAMOND
   Appreciate time, you will never get today back again.
   
   
6. NEVER WHINGE
   Turn your whinges into possibilities and you will have lots more energy.
   
   
7. BE PRESENT TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY
   Switch off the iPad and turn off the phone and revel in the art of conversation.
   
   
8. CHUCK WORRY OUT OF YOUR LIFE
   Too often we waste too much time thinking about the past and worrying about the future that is not here yet...  Let it go and focus on what you can influence today.
   
   
9. WALK EVERY DAY
   It doesn’t cost anything, it clears your mind.  Imagine if you walked 1,000 steps per day, every day for a year.  I bet you would be mentally and physically fit.
   
   
10. RUN TOWARDS YOUR FEAR
    When we get the courage to run towards our fears, we then look at fear as feeling excited and ready.
    
    
11. TELL PEOPLE CLOSE TO YOU HOW MUCH YOU LOVE THEM EVERY DAY
    Let love be your greatest weapon.  Love is not soft, love is real, love matters, love is everything.  Stop for a moment and capture that feeling of being loved. L O V E are the four most important letters to living an extraordinary life.
    
    
12. WHEN THE PAST CALLS LET IT GO
    I recently saw a quote that I just loved and it really does help you live an extraordinary life.  “When the past calls, let it go to voice mail, it has nothing new to say.”

10 TIPS ON HOW TO HAVE A ZEN LIKE FOCUS

1. LIVE LIFE AS IF YOU HAD 24 HOURS TO LIVE
   What would you do this day if it was your last?
   
   
2. WAKE UP
   What’s no longer working in your life and organisation?
   
   
3. PICK ONE THING
   What one thing if you did it today would make the biggest difference to your life and business?
   
   
4. FIRE UP YOUR PASSION
   Zen like focus is carried on the wings and breath of passion.
   
   
5. LIVE IT, BREATHE IT, COMPLETE IT
   When you live it and breathe the task or service you are doing, you will complete it.
   
   
6. BE IT NOW
   What does your company want to be when it grows up?  Focus on it now.
   
   
7. QUIT NOW
   What products or services no longer work?  Quit them today.
   
   
8. BE UNREASONABLE
   Make a decision now and write down what you will have a Zen like focus on within the next twelve months.
   
   
9. LISTEN AND ACT
   Listen to your customers.  Listen to your staff.  Then apply Zen like focus.
   
   
10. JOIN THE 3% CLUB
    Everything that is easy to do is just as easy not to do and that is why most people won’t be consistent and have Zen like focus.

10 TIPS ON HOW LEADERS USE TIME MORE EFFECTIVELY

1. GET UP EARLY
   Early morning stillness has secrets to tell you...
   
   
2. LEARN WHILE THE WORLD SLEEPS 
   Be ahead, read, research, write, learn for a minimum of 30 minutes early morning.
   
   
3. BE AHEAD
   Always do your ‘To Do’ List the evening before.
   
   
4. DIFFICULT TASKS FIRST
   Embrace that project that you have being putting off first.
   
   
5. AVOID EMAILS FIRST THING IN THE MORNING
   Never get caught up in your emails first thing once in the office.  They will steal your time away.
   
   
6. ACTION TOP THREE THINGS
   Take action on your top three things first every day.
   
   
7. TIME BLOCK CALLS / EMAILS, ETC
   Batch tasks together.
   
   
8. SWITCH OFF NOISE
   Turn off the email notification and text sounds – it’s another distraction.
   
   
9. SUNDAY NIGHT DREAMING
   Build 20 minutes on a Sunday evening to dream, plan, action the week ahead.
   
   
10. LIGHTEN UP
    Do your best work in the moment.  Ask yourself what’s the most important task I need to achieve in this moment?

10 TIPS ON HOW TO LIVE A LIFE OF EXCELLENCE

1. BE AUTHENTIC
   Show up, be present, be real and make a decision to get out of your own way.
   
   
2. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF FEAR LIVES EXCELLENCE
   Walk into and embrace your fears and watch them dissipate.  Know that every step is a step closer to excellence.
   
   
3. DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO
   Don’t say yes if you don’t mean it.
   
   
4. CO-CREATE
   Who do you want to co-create with?  Time is precious.  Who do you admire for their excellence?
   
   
5. QUIT BEING AVERAGE
   It takes more energy to keep being average than being excellent.
   
   
6. EXCELLENCE IS A STATE OF MIND
   Live it and be it from this moment forth.
   
   
7. FEEL YOUR WAY TO EXCELLENCE
   Excellence is all about a feeling and knowing that things can be better, bigger and more possible.
   
   
8. BE ENCHANTING
   Enchant your friends, work colleagues and your customers.  It’s all about presence.
   
   
9. EXCELLENCE COMES FROM LEAVING FAILURE BEHIND
   Learn from the past and present and move on to excellence.
   
   
10. JUST START NOW
    Live it, be it and let the world one day wake up and see your excellence.