Take Charge Get Results

Summary

Before a house can be built the foundation must be poured. Likewise, before great results can be achieved the foundation to support and facilitate the accomplishment of those results must be poured. In other words, before you can get results, you need to lay the proper groundwork of knowledge (what is it?), understanding (what does it mean?), and method (how is it applied?). How much we achieve, the quality of our results, and how fulfilling our lives ultimately become, depend on the strength of our foundation. Finding success doesn’t have to be a struggle. By following the process outlined in Take Charge – Get Results, you can lay the foundation for the accomplishment of your goals and the realization of your dreams.

Before you get started let’s review by taking one last look at the principles discussed in each chapter.

1. Success Redefined: Look below the surface of your life, and determine what’s important to you. Get your priorities straight, and make sure your actions are consistent with what you hope to achieve. Redefine the meaning of success in your own life by shutting out everything you’ve heard and seen, and listen to what your insides tell you. What size boots do you wear?

2. Understanding Leadership: Leaders are responsible for all outcomes (good or bad), not just some of the time, but all of the time. Leadership is not about giving orders, but about accepting the primary responsibility of leadership – to take charge. The common expectations of leadership – to lead, to guide, to enlighten, to direct, and to inspire action, - all stem from the acceptance of this primary responsibility. It is leadership that sets the course and provides direction for all achievement. Make a decision to take charge.

3. Unleash Your Desire: Desire is a powerful emotion that when properly focused, can drive one to excel and achieve uncommon results. Understand how desire affects winning, and recognize the desire within you. To successfully unleash the power of desire, you must raise your self-awareness and develop a clear vision. What do you want to be? What do you want to have? How do you want to feel? What matters most and why?

4. Finding Inspiration: Inspiration is the key to developing ideas that “smack of genius”. In order to access your own source of inspiration you must have a sense of purpose, and develop a strong intent. Remember to complete the decision making process by turning what you “could” do into what you “will” do.

5. Goal Setting: Goals are critical to great achievement, should be well defined and written. Keep goal setting simple by viewing your goals as a list of tasks you will accomplish to realize your vision. Outline your success by identifying main goals that support the realization of your vision. Then identify tasks that support the achievement of each goal.

6. Sustaining Motivation: Great ideas have the power to inspire and motivate us. How long we stay motivated will determine how much we ultimately achieve. Answer the question, “Why bother?” Remind yourself frequently of past success, and believe that you are capable – if another person can do it, so can you. The key to sustaining motivation is staying focused on your vision, and remaining firmly entrenched in your belief that all things are possible.

7. Making A Commitment: Commitment is a decision to continue taking action until what you intend to create is completed. When you work toward the realization of your dreams, the bigger the vision, the harder you test is bound to be. For most people, giving up is always an option. The key to making a strong and lasting commitment is to take the option of quitting off the table.

8. Common Sense Planning: It’s important for you to define your own terms for what constitutes a plan, and base your plan on what makes sense for you. When contemplating the development of your strategic plan, approach the idea with common sense. Make it easy. Take it easy. Giving your ideas a strategic look helps you choose effective options that compliment other areas of your life. There are three steps to Common Sense Planning.

1) Take your Outline for Success and give each task a strategic look.
2) Set a deadline for each task.
3) Identify tasks that rely on someone, or something else. The one thing your plan should be is tailored to fit your unique style of getting things done.

9. Implementation: You’re on your way – Destination Success! This leg of your journey is all about turning your ideas into action. If you want to be more successful, take more action. There are four steps to the successful implementation of your strategic plan.

1) Get Busy.
2) Keep It Real.
3) Stay Flexible.
4) Eat an Elephant One Bite at a Time.

10. Problem Solving: Achievement is the accumulation of obstacles which have been successfully negotiated through problem-solving. Make a decision to face problems head on and get busy solving them. View problems as opportunities to improve. The process for effectively solving problems has three easy steps.

1) Find the real problem. Ask questions to figure out what is really going on.
2) Make a list of possible solutions. Then turn what you could do into what you will do by taking your list through the three steps of common sense planning.
3) Implement your solution.

11. Balance: Understanding is the key to achieving balance in your life – understanding who you are, what you want, where you are going, and how you are going to get there. Maintaining balance is vital to the accomplishment of your long term goals and the realization of a true and lasting success. Let life be your teacher, and maintain your balance by applying what lessons you learn. Choose your path, stay focused on your vision, and make small adjustments. It’s that simple.

12. Taking Ownership: The very nature of ownership brings about a conscious mind-set focused on the best possible performance for the care and protection of an investment. Being defensive about our mistakes leads to repeating those mistakes, and can be a real obstacle to achieving our goals. The key to overcoming this obstacle is learning to take ownership of results, which means to acknowledge the role you play, to confess, or own up to your part in the quality of an outcome (good or bad). You can achieve greater results in the long run, once you realize you need to pay your own claims. If you are going to take ownership of your results and hold yourself accountable for your mistakes, then it’s only fair to recognize your accomplishments, and allow yourself to feel good about them. The best part about ownership is enjoying the profits. To own results requires an investment of yourself. How much of yourself you have invested in an outcome will ultimately determine the degree to which you stand to gain or lose. View your results as property. Make an investment, and stay focused on the quality of the outcome. Approach your goals with the mind-set of an owner, and accept responsibility for your actions.

George J. Morse
Email: george@coachmorse.com
http://www.coachmorse.com