Another year has FLOWN by.  What a year it has been.  I was looking through some of my photos from the year and, of course, realize I don’t take enough of them!!  But, it has been an eventful year and one that compels me to be grateful for so many things:

1) Medical advances – It seemed like the year of surgeries for the Gallagher’s and close friends.  Mom had knee replacement. Our friend, Stan Buck had major brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.  My brother had major heart surgery to basically rebuild his heart, and we finished out the year with Brendan having wisdom teeth pulled.  All of them are recovering well. 25 years ago, these stories likely would have been quite different.

2) People who inspire me – There are many who do inspire me.  This year, the ‘top’ inspirer would be Adam Ward, a friend and co-worker who inspired me to run my first 5K and subsequently, 3 more after that! 

3) Work that I love - I really do enjoy the work that I do.  Too often in today’s economy folks may be doing things that they just don’t love. 

4) Safe air travel – I had to log over 160 flight segments in 2011 and each of them landed the same way they took off!

5) Family  – Saving the best for last…Frankly, my wife, Chris and boys sacrificed this year as a result of #3 above.  They have been very gracious in affording my the opportunity to fulfill my purpose. 

There are many more things like time spent with friends (see photo above from WVU homecoming game! – Let’s Go Mountaineers!!) that I need to be grateful for all the time.  

So, what are you grateful for in 2011?  Take some time to reflect on this.  You will find it rewarding.

Then, I got a call from a great friend whose wife was going in for surgery due to the onset of breast cancer.  Her life was changed forever due to this daggum ‘c’-word.  I wondered what I could do.  Certainly, I could pray…and I did.  Then, I was reminded of the upcoming race just days away…”Fired Up for a Cure”…a cure for breast cancer that is!  Suddenly, my cold didn’t seem so limiting anymore.

In the past 6 months, the ‘c’ word has popped up with no fewer than 4 close family friends. 

Each time I find myself complaining while training/exercising by running (which I hate!), I am reminded of the pain these friends are enduring in their race to beat cancer.  30 minutes of heavy breathing is NOTHING.  I should be honoring them. 

A personal best is not about me…it’s about me honoring those friends.  Thank you for being an inspiration to me.

So, what is that small item that you want to regularly complain about that, if you really think about, you could honor someone by completing that task with excellence?!

For this 5K, my lesson learned is that sometimes you have to “go slower to go faster”.  My ‘running coach’, Adam Ward,  said this to me one day when I was telling him about my training.  He said I was running too fast during my training runs and had to go slower so that I could go faster.  I was skeptical, but he is training for an Ironman, so who better to listen to.  Sure enough, I was able to reduce my time by nearly 7% in just a 5-week span by…you guessed it…running slower!

Often as leaders, we get impatient.  We want to get to the answer/solution FASTER, and we sometimes forget that the learning process of getting there is even more valuable.  When we go too fast, we often get somewhere fast, but find that we are unable to sustain the results we achieved. 

As leaders, we need to be aware of when this is happening and slow down…so that we can go faster…and, as a result, be more ‘fit’ as a leader.

Do you remember a time you went too fast to a solution…only to find out that your results were not sustainable?  Share it with me below.

My question is, as leaders, can we be “in the zone”?  I believe we can.  Here are 5 tips for putting yourself ”in the zone” as a leader:

1) Work in your area of giftedness – Too often we are told “we can be anything we want to be if we just work hard”.  Well, that is just not the case.  I can work really hard at playing basketball, but at 6’3″ , I am probably NOT going to be able to work hard enough to get into the NBA. 

2) Practice – You cannot be in the zone if you don’t continuously learn and apply.  From a leadership perspective, this means learning from others by reading good books, attending seminars, following other leaders’ blogs like Michael Hyatt, and then applying 1 or 2 of those things you learn.

3) Develop Discipline – Discipline is doing what you need to do, when you need to do it…even when you DON’T WANT to do it.  Develop daily, weekly, and monthly disciplines that will move you forward.

4) Have Written Goals – If you don’t know where you are going, you likely will never get there.  Set measurable goals for yourself and write them down. 

5) Find a good coach – I have been working with a Life/Business coach from Building Champions for over 8 years now.  His friendship and accountability have helped me immensely.

Do you know how to get “in the zone” as a leader?  What are the things you do to get and stay there?

There are certain disciplines I need to get completed on a weekly basis.    When completed, I really do feel that I have gotten about 4 hours of work done in a short period of time.  How am I able to do this?  There are 6 things that must be done:

1) Schedule the time – Put it on your calendar.  If you don’t plan your time, someone else will.

2) Have a standard agenda – What are the things that must be done in that 2 hour period?  Create a checklist.  My checklist currently has 7 items on it that I need to complete on a weekly basis.  This list changed periodically based upon my needs.

3) Learn to say “NO” – Too often, others will ask to have things done during your time.  You know how it happens: “John, do you have a minute?” Generally, that minute turns into 5 or 10 or even 30 minutes.  You have got to learn to say No.  Or, at a minimum, “Not now, but can we meet at 11:00?”

4) Remove all the distractions – Turn off your social media, your email system, and all the other distractions(if you work out of a home office lime me, you will need to set boundaries with your family as well!).  It has to be focused time.

5) Start and end ON TIME  – a 2-hour block of time is about as long as any meeting can last to be effective.  (Even a meeting with yourself!).  If you don’t get all the work done in 2 hours, schedule another block of time later in the day to complete the tasks.  If you find yourself always running longer than 2 hours, you may need to re-evaluate your list! 

6) Reward yourself – If you are able to complete steps 1 through 5 successfully, reward yourself.  Maybe it’s a good cup of coffee or something that you enjoy. 

Now, if I can just figure out how to do this with the REST of my week!

What is your most productive time?  What tips can you share that help to make it productive? Please share by commenting below.