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I am often frustrated by the value that I don’t get returned for the time I invest.  Sometimes it may cost more than it is worth.

Do you know your hourly rate for your personal time?  It’s easy to calculate:

Target annual personal income / 2,080 (approx work hours in a year) = Hourly rate for your time

You can use this calculation to see if you are wasting more time on something than it is worth!  That project you are working on so you don’t have to call the contractor…. How many hours do you have in it????  What is it costing you?  Of course, sometimes cost is not the only variable that is important with your time.  There is family time that is priceless.  There is personal development time that increases your personal value. 

But, sometimes, the time it takes to do a task is simply not worth it.  I have now been on the phone for 25 minutes.  This ‘free’ replacement cartridge is costing me a lot of money!!!!

So, what is  your hourly rate????  What do you need to STOP doing that costs more than the time invested?

Each of these books in one way or the other should impact my life plan in a positive way, whether it be parenting, speaking, leading, or being a better husband.

What’s on your list to read in 2012?

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.

For the past couple months, I have been experiencing a sore shoulder.  Could be dragging the suitcase around for miles, could be the too-soft pillows in the hotels, but it has been a real ‘pain’.  I found myself with a few extra minutes this week after the red-eye and decided to take advantage of the spa treatment services in the airport.  When I go to the counter, I see a choice of “Swedish” or “Deep Tissue”.  In so many words, the girl at the front desk told me that meant “wimpy”, or “something that will hurt but you will actually feel better later”.  She was also challenging me in so many words, so I chose the ‘deep tissue’ shoulder massage.  That really was 10 minutes of ‘dis-comfort’.  However, today I awoke without the shoulder pain I have been experiencing over the past couple months.  So, what is the leadership lesson?

Too often, in leadership we are presented with 2 options – 1) the easy way – “swedish massage”, or 2) the right way – “deep tissue massage”.  Choose the easy way and you will feel better for a little bit, but likely, your problem will be even bigger in the future.  My friend, Kim Chaney, has referred to this as ‘peeing in a wet suit’.  Or, we can choose the arduous path.  The one that is more painful in the beginning, but likely solves the problem so it doesn’t happen again.

I know that I sometimes choose the easy way and, as a result, feel ‘chafed’ with the solution.  Yesterday, I chose the “something that will hurt but you will actually feel better later”, and, as a result, feel better today.

How do you manage this selection process in your life?

You can’t see a thing because you are so deeply mired in personal agendas that you can’t see what is possible.

So, how do you ensure you stay out of the weeds?  Here are 4 ways to do that with your team:

1) Define the case for action - Why are you trying to solve the problem?  Is it proactive or reactive?  Keep it as concise and short as possible.  You should also be able to use your case for action to ‘check-in’ during your problem solving session.  Review periodically to make sure you are staying on task

2) Define the scope - Too often, our scope is so large that it feels like we are trying to boil the ocean, when we really only want a hard-boiled egg! 

3) Define your current reality- Put this in metrics if possible.  It may be how long it is taking you to do something, error rate, or your grade in a class.  You have to know where you are before you know where you want to go

4) Define your desired state- How will you know you have solved the problem?  What does success look like?

When you have these 4 things outlined then, and ONLY then, should you start talking about the barriers, the obstacles, the problem.  Doing these 4 things will improve your problem solving effectiveness so that the problem never happens again.  Then, your view will change to this:

Has this ‘in the weeds’ situation happened before with your team?  How did you get out of the weeds?