Ask good questions

As I have previously shared, some topics come up over and over again. Sometimes you just can't seem to shake certain topics. They just chase you down and pop up everywhere you go.

My most recent hound has been the importance of asking great questions.

It seems that no matter where I go, what I read or what I listen to it keeps cropping up in new and fresh ways. However it appears, the truth remains. 

Asking good questions is perhaps the most important habit / skill you can develop.

Why is asking good questions important? Asking good questions is important for at least three reasons:

1. Cultivating a learning mentality. A learning mentality is humbling because you have to admit that you don't know it all. However, it can be the first step towards unlocking new doors in your life. Everyone has something they can teach you, and asking good questions is how you figure out what it is. Ask questions that not only help you learn more about a particular person, but that also help you grow. Are you facing a major issue in your life? Is there a particular situation you're just not sure how to handle? Ask good questions of those around you.

2. Improves your relationships. Developing the habit of asking people really good questions shows people that they matter to you. One of the best ways you can show someone their value to you, is to ask their opinion. Dig deep in to who they are, what makes them tick, and what's going on deep inside their heart. It's quite difficult to dislike someone you've spent the time truly getting to know. Inevitably you will find common ground and something to appreciate about them. When you being to hold others in esteem and take a true interest in them, they will return the favor and take a deeper interest in you. As you esteem others, your value in their life will increase as well. There is no better example of this than marriage. Want to know one of the best secrets to having a great marriage? Ask your spouse intentional questions that help you learn more about them, and that communicate to them that you value your relationship. There isn't a relationship in your life that couldn't benefit from this type of intentional questioning.

3. Separates you from the crowd. You don't stand out from the crowd by being the guy with all the answers. Everyone knows that guy is a fake, and quite honestly no one wants to be around them. No, you stand out by the quality of the questions you ask. Ask really good questions at work, and then actually listen to the responses people give. Do that and you'll stand out just fine.

As I am growing in this area I also want to help you develop the habit of asking good questions. Below are 30 questions that can help you get started. Pick one or two questions and ask them over dinner tonight with your family, friends or roommates.  

1. What's the best advice you've received, who gave it to you & how did it help you.
2. What's the best advice you've ever given someone else?
3. If you could do one thing for everyone in the world what would it be?
4. What single event in your life had the greatest impact on you?
5. What advice would you give your 20 year old self?
6. You walk into a bar, what do your order from the bartender?
7. Who are you reading?
8. Who are you learning from?
9. What have you learned in the past year that has impacted your life the most?
10. What historical figure do you resonate with most?
11. What is one thing that you've learned in your life that you feel most people overlook?
12. How do you lead your family?
13. What single person has had the biggest impact on you?
14. What single person has had the biggest impact on your leadership?
15. What single person has had the biggest impact on how you lead your family?
16. How do you set goals? What are you currently working to achieve?
17. What is the most impactful book you have ever read?
18. What book do you most often give as a gift?
19. In what areas are you currently working to improve?
20. When you think of the word successful, who is the first person to come to mind?
21. What are your daily rituals?
22. What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life?
23. What are you best at?
24. Something people would be surprised to learn about you?
25. What one book would you recommend everyone read?
26. Do you have a morning routine? If so, what is the most important thing you do to start each day?
27. The Pareto Principle states, that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts, what is your 20%?
28.  What gets you out of bed in the morning? What are you most passionate about?
29. What rejuvenates your soul? What places or activities help you recharge?
30. When do you feel most productive? 

One Thing You Must Add To Your Daily Routine

As we head into a new week, I want to share a little nugget I've stumbled upon over the last few weeks. 

Journaling.

Ok, I'm late to the party. People have been journaling for hundreds of years, especially 13 year old girls. 

Like me you might have given journaling a try here and there over the years only to drop the habit after a few days each time. Maybe you lacked will power to commit, didn't have the time or see the return on your investment, or perhaps you simply didn't know what to write when you sat down. I've run into each of these hurtles over the years and each has prevented me from developing the habit of journaling, until now. 

What changed? In short, I addressed the three major challenges that prevent you from establishing any routine, especially one like journaling.

But first, why is journaling worth all the fuss?

Much of what we know of the great men of ages past comes from private journals. Though great in their time and busy as you are, these men elevated the practice of daily journaling to one of great import. At some point each day they would sit with pen in hand to move thoughts out of their heads and onto the page. Often journaling was the activity they used to jump start their day. 

Over the last several weeks I have become convinced there are three main benefits to establishing this daily habit that could change your world in relative short order. 

1. Journaling draws your attention to patterns in your life.

Over time you'll recognize patterns in your life that would have otherwise gone unnoticed or would have only been so when they made a wreck of things. Your mind can't hold everything, or if it does you're unable to access every part of it. Journaling is a great help in organizing your thoughts, feelings, lessons learned, and major events. As time goes on you will be able to look back and reference things you'd otherwise miss.   

2. Journaling helps you clear your mind. 

I can't overstate the value of a clear mind to getting things done. Every day you have a million things swimming around in your head that distract and take a way from your day. Why not trap those thoughts, feelings and worries on the page of your journal? You will immediately feel free. Your mind will be less cluttered and you will be able to focus instead on getting stuff done. 

3. Journaling helps you cultivate intentionality

Daily writing and processing your thoughts helps you approach the day with an active mindset. You begin to think about what you will do, how you will do it and form a clear picture of exactly what must be accomplished. Daily journaling helps you lead your day instead of simply accepting your day. People live most of their life in a passive state. They simply accept what happens each day, instead of actively trying to shape it. Another way to say this is that most people live unintentionally. Journaling is one key practice that helps you cultivate a habit of intentionality. Cultivating this habit more than any other helps you get more done, and improves every other area of your life. If for no other reason, cultivating an intentional mindset alone is worth keeping a daily journal.

The Pareto Principle

You have so much going on that it can be quite overwhelming at times. To make it worse, a lot of what you spend your time doing doesn't add to your bottom line or help you accomplish your goals. With your attention pulled in so many directions it can be hard to keep focused on what truly matters. But how do you break this cycle and cut through the waste so you can focus on the truly important? 

 Vilefredo Pareto just might hold the key to unlocking the magic code to increasing productivity and regaining your sanity.

Never heard of Vilefredo Pareto? You're not alone.  

Vilefredo Pareto was an economist of little note who lived and died Switzerland almost 100 years ago. Not much of his work or life garners our attention. However, at some point in his 75 years of life Pareto stumbled upon a mathematical truth that could truly transform your life.

The Pareto Principle first popped up on my radar while reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss a little over a year ago. At it's most simple The Pareto Principle simply states that 80% of outputs come from 20% of inputs. This has been found to be true across all manner of disciplines including time management, customers, and economics.

A few alternative ways to look at the principle include:

• 20% of your customers generate 80% of your income

• 20% of your customers create 80% of you problems

• 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort and time

It drives home the concept of prioritization. What you focus on matters immensely. If you are focusing all of your efforts on the wrong things you won't get the results your working so hard to achieve. You will run yourself ragged with nothing to show. Thankfully, you can learn and apply the 80/20 principle to your life and alter the outcomes you are working so hard to reach.

Pareto and the 80/20 principle will be of most help to you if you leverage them to assess your current efforts. Here are three ways you can apply it:

1. Take stock of current efforts. Write down everything you are doing and outcomes it is producing. Be unattached from the outcomes here, simply list out your activity and how it has impacted your work, life, etc.

2. Reprioritize what's producing. Perhaps you find that phone calls are driving your business and resulting huge returns for you, despite the fact that you make very few. In that case, pick up the phone and start making more calls. The key here is to determine your areas of strength and multiply them.

3. Eliminate waste. Consider cutting those things that are wasting your time and energy. It might be something you think would be generating results but its just sucking up resources. Cut it ruthlessly. Find your inefficiencies and eliminate them. This will free you up to focus on what's actually generating for you.   

These three steps show where to double down and where to eliminate. Apply this principle to your life, get a hold of the few things that truly matter, and see how drastically it transforms things for you. 

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Bonus tip:

Develop a "Stop Doing" List

A few weeks back I wrote a series of questions to help you evaluate the items on your "to do" list that pairs well with the Pareto Principle that will be helpful to you. Here is an expert from that post:

"The solution to your crazy schedule and consequently a crazy task list isn't just another list but the process of evaluating exactly what you are doing each day. A "stop doing" list helps you take a cold hard look at what you are doing and literally stop doing those things that are not the most fruitful for you and your team."

Bonus Resource:

For more on the Pareto Principle and other awesome tips that are sure to shatter your world, in a good way, check out The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. 

3 Tips That Help Me Get More Done

In this crazy, mixed up and hurried world we find ourselves, we have endless "to do" lists and dozens of other things going on with family and friends. There is little time to spare and the quick pace has us pulling our hair out because we simply can't get it all done.

There are a million different tips to getting more done. Over the last several years, three tips have made an impact on my life and I want to share them with you.

1. Start tomorrow today. Ever arrive at the office or start your day in the fog of indecision? You know you have a ton of things to do, but aren't really sure where to begin? This kind of indecision can be paralyzing. You end up wandering from task to task with no real sense of direction or plan to your day. You spend your day in a passive posture, allowing your day to lead you instead of you leading it. 

Actively engage your day by planning it out the night before. Sit down with pen and paper or your favorite "to do" list app and write down everything you need to accomplish in order to make tomorrow a win. Not only will you find that you sleep more soundly, you'll wake up with purpose. When your feet hit the ground you'll know exactly what to do.      

2. Use email templates. As Barnabas Piper recently stated on the 5 Leadership Questions Podcast, "Email begets email. You send an email it will come back three-fold." Answering email feels like a productive task, but in reality it keeps you from spending your time on what truly matters. The more email you send, the more you receive. Its a never ending cycle. 

One way to decrease the amount of time you spend on email is to create templates for common emails and use them. Better to spend time constructing a good and effective communication once than to repeatedly create ineffective email on the same topic. More on how to take back control of your inbox.  

3. Make fewer decisions. You can't make decision after decision without paying a cost. Many times this cost will be poor decisions at the end of the day. It could be something as small as wrecking your diet by making poor food choices or as major as an emotional decision with big consequences. In either case, you make the poor decision in large part because you have depleated your will power on unimportant things. The road to effectiveness lies in making the minimal number of decisions possible. The objective is not to do as much as possible but to save your decision making for the decisions that truly matter. 

The solution is to automate as much as possible. Much like using templates for email, you can make the seemingly mundane decisions you make each day, such as what to wear and what to eat, ahead of time. Script as many of these decisions as possible. Just as an offensive coordinator scripts the first several plays of the game, you can script the first hour of your day. This will help you begin the day on the right foot and a clean slate for the decisions you will have to make later in the day.  

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Bonus tip:

The Sticky Note Trick

If you are overwhelmed by everything on your "to do" list, pick three items and write them on a single sticky note. Next, focus on nothing else but those three tasks until they're done. Then wad up the sticky and throw it away. Repeat until you've conquered your list. 

Bonus Resources: 

How To Get Things Done via Tim Challies

Choice Minimal Lifestyle via Timothy Ferriss 

Business is Simple

Running a small business is one of the most rewarding things you can do but can also be one of the most difficult. What do you do when traction is hard to come by and customers don't show up?  If you are self employed, run a small business or have a side hustle you are working to grow, a lack of customers and slow results can be devastating and suck the wind from your sales. Things don't have to stay that way. There is a path out of the mess. 

Perhaps that's not you, things are going relatively well for you and your business. You just want to take things to the next level. Whatever your story is, there is hope yet for you. There is an incredibly simple path that will help you establish a new and thriving business or kick your existing business into the next gear. 

The process I am going to share with you today while simple, isn't easy. However if you will consistently execute on it over a period of time it will help you take your business to the next level no matter where you are in your journey. 

1. Treat people great. Think about the people and conversations that leave you feeling the best. What do they all have in common? They made you feel great! People will often forget what you say, but they will never forget how you make them feel. Make every interaction and experience about them not you. Do everything you can to communicate their immense value to you beyond the business relationship. Value them as people, not just clients. Ask them really good questions, get into their world a little bit. Take them to lunch or dinner. Spend time and energy creating an environment in which they feel valued and treasured.  
    
2. Serve everyone. An attitude of service and willingness to help others will do more for your business than any marketing or advertising campaign. While marketing may get your name out there, what type of business are you inviting them to check out? What will their experience with you and your staff be when they walk through your doors? What is working with you like? How do other vendors and companies you work with look at you? Do they enjoy the thought of working with you? 

Want to stand out from the crowd and leave your mark on your industry? Serve everyone. Not just your customers and clients, but every other vendor, competitor, and human that crosses your path. Do you see a need that needs to be met? Meet it. Trash on the floor that needs to be picked up? Pick it up. A perceived competitor who could use a little help or direction? Sit down and help point them in the right direction. Get in the habit of giving to others. Whether you see a direct return on your serving a person or not, simply help and serve them. 
    
3. Be professional. Behave in a professional manner at all times. This includes everything from how you dress, how you carry yourself to the words you use. Make the decision that you are a pro at whatever it is you do and act accordingly. 
    
Dress like a pro. Among the many things professionals do, they communicate that they take things seriously by how they dress. One of the perks of working for yourself or running a small business is that you can often set your own dress code. Don't take this amazing perk too far. A good rule is to dress a little better than you think the situation requires. 
    
Speak like a pro. One of the quickest ways to send customers running for the hills is to use the wrong vocabulary. You know what I'm talking about. There are certain words and subjects you use around your friends that are wholly inappropriate for business communication. But speaking like a pro goes much farther than avoiding those pesky four letter words. The words you use when talking about your business, matter. Your language has to connect. Professionals know and understand this. They use their words to play the role of the guide and make the customer the hero of the story.  Once again, it is all about serving and making the customer feel amazing. They have a pain point, or a goal they want to accomplish and you are going to help them. 
    
Carry yourself like a pro. Carry your head high and walk with confidence. Be bold and own what you do. When people ask what you do, don't sheepishly and shyly share what you do or go to the other extreme and beat them down with your sales pitch. Simply, look them in the eye and with a smile on your face, tell them exactly what you do. Own it with confidence. 
    
Work like a pro. Part of owning what you do, is doing it with excellence. Give everything your all. Don't do things have way. Go all out for the good of your clients. At its most basic this means doing what you say you will. If you say you will send an email, send it. If you commit to being somewhere at a specific time, be there early.   
     
Establishing and running your own business isn't easy but it is simple. All great journeys begin with a simple plan that if followed will lead you where you want to go. While this map is simple it can be incredibly hard to execute at times. When things get tough and you stray from the path, pull this post out and remind yourself of the target you want to hit then recommit yourself to doing business the right way.