Debra Kasowski

Are You Blocking Your Success Intentionally?

by Leave a Comment

Do you ever feel that you have more demands on your time than you have ever had before? You are working on getting more done with less time and sometimes things are falling through the cracks impacting your productivity and performance. You need to start guarding your time and treating it as a commodity or treasure. Time is not something you get back. By guarding your time, you can focus on what is important to you. What is your biggest priority right now? Are you spending the majority of your time focused on this area? Each day you should be focused on your priority or what Brian Tracy refers to as “Eat that Frog” – doing the hardest thing first. If you get the hardest thing done first, you will feel accomplished and get many other tasks done. If you only accomplished the one BIG thing, you accomplished a BIG thing and not too beat yourself up.

Keep a Time Log

People are often unaware of where their time goes. Complete a time log for the next 3-5 days. Keep track of where you are spending your time and how long a typical task takes. By track your time, you will identify where time is used purposefully and whether is it wasted. According to Parkinson’s Law explained on Wikipedia, the law is “an adage that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” If you give yourself 20 minutes to file, you will fill the 20 minutes. If you block off 3 hours you will fill up the 3 hours. Blocking time allows you fill the time allotted.

Focus on What IS Important

Time blocking allows you to focus on what is important to you during a specific time frame. Get rid of the to-do list and put the items on the list in your calendar. Suddenly, you make them your commitments. Items you place importance to. Assign tasks to a particular block of time. Be realistic with your time; we often underestimate the amount of time it takes to complete a task. Organize your errands to get things done in one block of time so you can dedicate a big block of time to things that require more of your attention.

Be Intentional with Your Time

At the beginning and end of each day, allow for 15-20 minutes of planning and reflection time. If you are always going from one task to the next, you are missing out on having time to vision where you want to be and the lifestyle you want. Block off the time you want off for long weekends or summer or family vacations. When you do some forward planning, you can create the lifestyle you want and work towards a goal. Email tends to be something we react to because it is usually what others want from us versus what we need from them. Block off time to attend to emails. Communicate your business hours. People often think because you work from home you must not be working and if you are you have the flexibility to run errands and take care of extra requests. You may even put in your email messaging that you check email at certain times of the day and if you are required outside of these times that a person should phone. You may also consider blocking off your hardest work for when you feel you do your best work – morning, afternoon, or evening. Don’t forget to block off leisure time too, otherwise, it tends to be pushed to the side.

Put Your Oxygen Mask on First

Remember the safety advice announced at the beginning of your flight – put your own oxygen mask on first. You cannot help other people if you are not taking care of you. Schedule in date nights with your spouse/partner and separate ones with each of your children as well as family time. It is more about quality time versus quantity of time. It is too easy to get caught up in over scheduling everyone that you cannot even have one family meal together.

Eliminate Distractions

Turn off your cell phones or shut down your social media apps and email and app notifications. You can easily give away your time surfing the internet or checking out what everyone else on social media is doing. Keep your office space free from clutter and other distractions.

Be careful not to squeeze too much into your day. Be realistic with your SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely). Time expands to what we allow. Allow for some flexibility as we know life happens and we need some time built in to not react but to respond with intention. Keep sticky notes in hand to jot down thoughts and reminders so you can capture fleeting thoughts and get back to them. It is best to capture the idea while it is at the forefront.

Start blocking your time with intention to get to the success you desire versus sabotaging it. It is your time – protect it and use it carefully. Put a dollar value on your time and you may start to value on it even more. Wasted time is wasted money, time, and attention if not used with purpose.

How important are your goals?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free e-book download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Stop Letting Your Troubles Keep You Awake at Night

by Leave a Comment

Do you dread getting up in the morning and going to work? Are you having trouble sleeping? Are you tossing and turning trying to get to sleep but nothing seems to work? Are you having trouble concentrating on simple tasks? You have many thoughts running through your head – all going in different directions. Some thoughts may be about how you are going to make ends meet or meet payroll, some thoughts may be about an interaction you have had or that you have yet to have with someone, and some thoughts may be that you no longer have passion or meaning in the work that you do. There can be many different thoughts troubling you. Don’t let them steal your joy, your happiness, or your sleep. You do have the power to change “what-is” to what you want it to be.

Identify What is Troubling You. You need to assess where you are at. What is troubling you? Is it one specific thing? Has your work become repetitive and routine? Do you look around and wonder if anyone else is feeling the same? Maybe you are wondering why you do not enjoy what you are doing anymore or you long to start your own business or jump into your side business full-time. Whatever is it, you do not have to face it alone. If you feel you need to brainstorm ideas or create a strategy, you can hire a coach to help you build an exit strategy or a plan. If you feel how you are feeling is related to anxiety or depression, a counselor or psychologist is the best person to support you.

Reflect on What Brought You Joy that You Stopped Doing. Everyone has things that they have built into their lives that bring them joy outside of work and business that creates anticipation and harmony (which some refer to as balance). Family vacations, listening to music, going for the morning run or partaking in sunrise yoga, or entertaining or long leisurely lunch with friends tend to be put on the backburner when we get consumed with work and family obligations. It is important to bring the things made you come alive back into your life. When you are happy and fulfilled, you not only share that happiness with others, you give them permission to do the same.

Decide What You Really Want. What are you passionate about? What makes you come alive because you have the burning desire to pursue it? The clearer you are, the clearer the path is before you to reach your destination. If you want to be a full-time entrepreneur, what does that look like? How will you spend your days? What is your product or service? How will you expose your product or service to the marketplace? If you want to change careers, what are you changing to? Do you need to go back to school?

“If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.” – Roy T. Bennett

Set a Date for Your Transition or Exit. Write down a specific date in which you plan to resign from your current role. Start planning backward from that date. What do you need to do to prepare for the transition? Do you need to save up a certain amount of money? Do you need to put together a training manual so you do not leave your replacement high and dry without some knowledge or history of your role?

Brainstorm What Barriers, Obstacles, or Roadblocks May Show Up. It is important to have these challenges in your awareness but do not focus on them. Know that there are internal and external roadblocks that may appear and brainstorm ways you may tend to them should they arise. You will be mentally prepared. They do should up.

Design Your Plan and Work the Plan. Write out your plan and create small milestones along the way. Breakdown each part of your plan into smaller tangible pieces; otherwise, you may get overwhelmed by all the things you feel you need to do. The daily actions will start creating momentum and propel you forward.

Celebrate Your Success. When you achieve your goal or reach your milestone, it is important that you take some time to acknowledge how far you have come from where you were. You took matters into your own hands and made decisions for YOU. You do not want to live with regret wondering what would have happened if you only made the leap.

Inject what you love doing into your life. If it does not make you say, “Hell yes!” or “Absolutely”; it means, “Hell No!” or “Not a Chance!” Life is too short to not do what you love and leave your signature out in the world.

What goal have you set that will make you jump out of bed in the morning and go after it?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

How to Handle the Pressure of Being an Immediate Success

by Leave a Comment

“Nobody works better under pressure. They just work faster.”
― Brian Tracy

It does not matter if you are a new leader or if you are entrepreneur launching a new business, there is an underlying pressure to be an immediate success. This is one of the top challenges that leaders face today. Some of the pressure is from the teams you lead or the senior leadership you may be answering to. The other pressure may come from family, friends, or investors with the expectation that failure is not an option. There is this expectation to deliver results and the pressure is on from all directions.

As with anything new, it takes time to develop competencies. Some knowledge, skills, and abilities are expected, however, any leader with a few years of experience under their belt will tell you that even though you reached one level that there are new challenges at every level along the way. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, discusses how leaders often think that the same skills that got them their current level of success will be the same ones that get them to the next levels of success. However, new challenges are faced and new knowledge, skills, and abilities get refine. You do not know your capacity to handle new situations until you are in them.

“Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.”
― Tommy Lasorda

Be Prepared to Commit to Being the Leader or Entrepreneur You See Yourself to Be. You can choose to be interested in your role or you can choose to commit and passionately pursue the vision you have. Ensuring that you are ready and prepared to face the challenges you face with a positive attitude means that you are over 50% of the way there.

Don’t Put Too Much Pressure on Yourself. Be kind to yourself. We are often our own worst enemy with putting unrealistic expectations on ourselves to perform. Mistakes are inevitable. You will fail. Learn to fail forward by being open and willing to learn and improve.

If You Do Not Know Something, Admit It. Don’t pretend to know something you do not. You could be putting yourself at risk. Why risk it? You can learn what you do not know, ask for advice from a professional or someone who does know what you don’t, or ask questions to help find out the answer. People would rather do business or work for someone who admits when the do not know rater than pretending that they do. Chances are you are not expected to have every answer. You are expected to know how to find it. Ask questions!!

Expose Yourself to New Situations. The more situations you work through, the greater the experience you will have. You will learn, adjust your course, and grow from the experience. Take time to reflect on how the situation unfolded and how it may be handled differently if a similar circumstance occurred again. A person is only as good as the experiences they have been exposed to.

Learn as much about the Industry as possible. By learning as much as you can about the industry, you are setting yourself up for success. You will be able to understand the trends and how to position yourself best in the market place. You will able to be more strategic with your decision making.

Stay Solution Focused. The more you look for solutions the more likely you will be to find them. When people focus on the roadblocks and challenges, they often find more of the same.

Discover What the Expectations of Your Team or Senior Leadership Are. How do you know if you met expectations if you do not even know what those expectations are? You could be putting needless pressure on yourself to have immediate success and you do not need to!

Take Time Out to Recharge and Rejuvenate. Excelling in a new role can be challenging. You want to ensure you are taking time to look after you. Eat right. Get some exercise. Sleep Well.

Remember that there are very few overnight successes. The people who we think are overnight successes were the people you spent many late nights refining and honing their crafts. There were sleepless night and many sacrifices made. A little bit of pressure can improve performance and motivate you to work at improving. Too little pressure you may procrastinate or become complacent. Too much pressure and you will become overwhelmed. You may even stop taking the actions need to get results.

Release the pressure! Step into the leader you know you CAN BE! Above all, BELIEVE in yourself!

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Start Loving Your Numbers or Break the Bank…You Choose

by Leave a Comment

Everyone loves money when it is flowing to them and not so much when it is flowing away from them. Money is not something that most people grew up talking openly about yet money is something that needs to be talked about. If you are running a household, a business, or an organization, knowing your numbers is crucial in decision-making. To make good financial decisions, you need to know what money is going out and what is coming in. I am not a financial advisor nor am I guaranteeing you a profit. You are in charge of how you manage your money. I want to encourage you to pay attention to what your numbers are telling you. I have learned that I need to tighten my financial belt in different areas to achieve my goals. Money, sometimes, needs to be redirected to pressing priorities or to where it will have the greatest impact.

Know what your financial goals are. Whether you are growing your business to reach a certain revenue or profit, you want to have some idea of what that number is. If you are planning a family vacation, you do not need to slap it on the credit card. You can do some advanced planning and drop the headache of dealing with the bill after you come back. Enjoy the vacation, know your numbers and save for it. You can save to save but you must have some idea of a number you want to achieve to know when you have reached it – it will be most satisfying! Write down the goal. Ink it so you can think it!

Know where your money is flowing. Keep track of where your money is coming in from and where it is going out to. Measure daily if you can, otherwise, weekly and monthly. You may catch overcharges and maybe even some undercharges. Are you investing your money in the right places? Could you be redirecting it to other places? Where is money being wasted? Are you buying too many gifts, grabbing too many lattes, or investing in marketing without a return on investment? Track your income and expenses. Are you waiting for money from anyone or are they waiting on you?

Know what you are willing to sacrifice, modify, or put on hold until you reach your goal. Are you organizing your errands? Are you buying things with an intention or randomly because it feels good? Can you limit the lattes or lunches? Where can you cut back on groceries (put buying steak on hold for a few weeks)? Instead of eating out, can you host a potluck or dine in? Are you willing to get part-time work if needed? What are you willing to do to make your goal become a reality?

Know what is working, what is not working, and what you can improve on. Evaluate what is working – keep doing more of it! What is not working? Stop it! What can you do improve on…do it!

Start loving your numbers…they might seem scary to look at in the beginning but when you start seeing the numbers climb and the debts decrease you will be in love. You will be able to reach some of those goals you have been thinking about, “Someday I will _________”. Instead of thinking about it, you will be able to say, “Today I will ________”. Wouldn’t that feel great? Your numbers are the pulse of your household, business, and organization. Do a pulse check and see where you are? Don’t wait until tax time to know your numbers. Your numbers also drive action. What needs to be done to make you love your numbers?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. She is a contributing writer for Diversity and Fabulous at 50 magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. www.debrakasowski.com

5 Misconceptions About Challenges That Every Leader Must Face

by Leave a Comment

There isn’t a leader who has never faced a challenge before. They are tried and tested. They have faced heartaches and triumphs but there are still many misconceptions about the challenges they face.

Misconception #1: Building a trusting team is EASY.

When you put a group of people together, you can not assume you will have a high functioning trusting team by default. Each person comes to the group with different knowledge, skills, and abilities. It is part of a leader’s responsibility to know what some of these knowledge, skills, and abilities are so they can be leveraged to work toward a common vision. To do so, trust must be built. It is the foundation of the team and without trust, you will not get results because people will fail to commit to the vision and hold yours.

Building a trusting team takes time and effort. You are bringing together people of different backgrounds and experiences. You cannot expect everyone to “just trust each other”. The members of the team must get to know each other as people first and have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities as they work toward a common goal. They need to be able to depend on each other to “get the job done”. It is not an easy task when team members are “me” focused versus “we” focused. There is a time and place to work on individual goals but they must be aligned with the common goal to be supported by the team.

Misconception #2: A leader does not need to ask for feedback.

Not asking for feedback is like saying, “Go ahead, run through the minefield. Nothing will happen.” Asking for feedback is crucial. As a leader, you must take the time to ask for and listen to the feedback offered by the people who work alongside you. They are at the frontline and can offer valuable input into the impact of daily operations. People are more engaged when asked for their opinion on things.

Misconception #3: Criticism is bitterness and should be discarded.

Even though criticism is hard to hear at the best of times, there is a lesson to be found. Ask yourself or the person offering the criticism what the ideal situation would look like. You may learn that information may have been miscommunicated or not communicated at all. When someone criticizes something, they obviously have a vision of what could be better so ask. The other thing to remember is not to take the criticism personally as it is someone’s opinion and not necessarily yours. What is the lesson to be learned? What can be improved?

Misconception #4: It is acceptable to let a setback set you back.

We hear so much talk about being vulnerable and as a leader, it is important to know how much to share and how much a setback will hold you back (and it better not for long or another leader will take your place). Your followers need someone to look up to in the face of setbacks. They need someone to continue to believe their skills and abilities to work toward a vision. They need to be reminded that setbacks are temporary and it is through action that new results can be achieved. A leader sets the tone for setting up the comeback from any setback. They may share their concerns; however, they must stand in confidence and stay motivated. The people see their leader as a role model and will do the same.

Misconception #5: To lead change, you must be at the helm 100% of the time.

Leaders are leaders because they lead, inspire, and build people. They know when they must step to the side and let their people demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities. They encourage creativity and innovation. They want to hear suggestions and ideas about how to become better. To do so, the leader must walk alongside their people to help them step up and into their potential. The leader does not have to be at the front the whole time. A leader must be able to share a clear vision for the people ensuring all actions align with the team’s core values.

If leaders led with conviction based on these misconceptions, there would be no followers. People need a leader who is willing to work toward building a trusting team and engaging their people in the process. A leader must trust in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the people hired to do the work and support them in areas that require growth. A leader needs to be open to feedback and appreciate different perspectives. A leader needs to lead with confidence and share the helm with those who have strengths that the leader does not possess to be successful in facing new challenges and adventures placed before them.

What are some of the misconceptions you have encountered as a leader?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. She is a contributing writer for Diversity and Fabulous at 50 magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. www.debrakasowski.com