Mike Faber

Writing two books over the last year has given me a new appreciation for the ability to focus on a task. It’s also opened my eyes to the incredible power of procrastination!

So many things in life have deadlines attached. The trash has to be out on the curb by 7am Thursday morning. You have a reserved seat for a concert, 8pm sharp on Saturday night. It’s easy to plan around events that have a finite beginning and end. It gets tougher when you’re confronted with an open-ended chore that could take a day, a week, or a year or more.

Next time you face an assignment without a timetable, create a timetable. Give yourself intermediate deadlines to meet and then a final time limit. Procrastination happens when we’re focused on too much to do, or too little to do. Structure helps annihilate procrastination!

Imagine a project to prepare a client presentation for an indeterminate date. Your framework might look like this:

• Client interviews complete by 10/1/08
• Research finished by 10/10/08
• Verbal outline complete by 10/15/08
• Visual aids identified and in order by 10/17/08
• Prepared to deliver by 10/21/08

One key to preparation is to focus on creating tools and resources you can use in multiple situations. A wider range of uses means less groundwork for similar demands in the future.

My friend and colleague Phil Chipouras of the Lee Hecht Harrison office here in Denver sent this to me this morning. Since today is, coincidentally, garbage day here in Parker, I figured that all the signs pointed to me sharing this with you. A bit longer read than usual, but well worth the time!

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car
jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed
the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started
yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.
And I mean he was really friendly. So I asked,
"Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and
sent us to the hospital!"

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,
"The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration,
full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it
and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work,
at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let
garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
so...love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent
how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

David J. Pollay is the author of this delightful article. To learn more about David and his work, please visit http://pos-psych.com/news/david-j-pollay/20071002426

Here's a new sample chapter from my latest book. Order online now via http://www.mikefaber.com/cart.php

Listen Like You Mean It

She was an Executive Vice President, responsible for a national network of more than 300 branch offices. I managed one of those offices; one of the smallest to be exact. We stood in a ballroom surrounded by one thousand colleagues and guests. The cacophony of voices made it hard to hear each other. In spite of all that, when I spoke, the intensity of her gaze and the strength of her hand on my arm made me feel like we were alone, and that my words were the most important words being said at that moment.

That brief conversation happened more than a decade ago as of this writing. Yet I can recall virtually everything about our interaction to this day. Oddly enough, I can’t tell you what topic was so important to me then, but my feeling at that distant moment was that I would walk hot coals out and back for her. I still would.

As leaders, that is the force of impact we can have on the people around us. Because our interactions with others in our organization mean so much to them, walls can shatter with a simple demonstration of our own humanity and willingness to connect. Make each of your interactions the most important one of the day.

The ballplayer Joe Dimaggio once was asked if he ever loafed on the field, perhaps from fatigue or disinterest. He said “No, I can’t. Somewhere in the crowd is someone who’s never seen me play before, and I owe them my very best.”

I was a member of training class #329 at the prestigious Wall Street investment firm. In August of 1987, my classmates and I were just days away from being unleashed on an unsuspecting public. Three weeks of intense training (and partying) at the corporate campus in New Jersey led to one final day in a large lecture hall, with million-dollar producing brokers visiting to tell us their stories.

Broker #1 was “Sam” from lower Manhattan in New York City. His gruff, sharp-tongued manner belied a…gruff, sharp-tongued interior. He looked like a vegetable had never touched his lips, his skin the color of a fluorescent light bulb. Tie askew, sweat pouring from his brow, he berated us “I made $1.4 million last year! I’ll make $2 million this year! Get in the office by 6:30! Tape the phone to your hand! Cold call until 9 at night! If they say ‘No’ to you, that just means they’ll say ‘Yes’ to me!” He told us never to go out to lunch – time was too precious to waste.

Broker #2 was “Iris” from a suburb of Philadelphia. She dressed in a light orange pantsuit with a scarf, and the rumor among us was that she’d made $2 million in her second year in the business. “Life is a journey, you have to stop and smell the roses. Take clients to lunch, get involved in your community, give to those around you.”

Find your own way, and your own formula for success. Looking to others for an “answer”, as opposed to “input” leads to more confusion and less direction.

Pre-order “The little book of BIG SALES IDEAS” and “The little book of BIG LEADERSHIP IDEAS” at http://www.mikefaber.com/cart.php.

From The Little Book of Big Sales Ideas

Chapter 2 - What Makes You So Special!

According to a recent global Internet search, the phrase “Real Estate Agent” brings up 62,400,000 results. Search “Bank Loan Officer” and 8,610,000 results arrive on your desk top. Think you’re special? What if you’re a professional elephant clean-up specialist? Try 516,000 results for the phrase “elephant clean up.”

The fact is, very few professionals have a corner on their particular niche or market. It is critical to define what you do, who you do it for, and why someone should pay you money for your expertise. I can find millions of real estate agents, several millions of bank loan officers, and at least half a million people to clean up after my elephant. Spend time to answer the question, “Why should they hire me?”

Here are some hints as you seek to articulate your defining value. Look for ways that your expertise combines different facets of who you are and what you offer. What in your background provides a unique and differentiating perspective that clients will value? Write down five characteristics that prove your worth and separate you from your competition. Challenge yourself to use language and branding that stand out from the crowd.