Focus on Key Result Areas

The Key Question for You to Ask :

Why are you on the payroll? This is one of the most important questions you ever ask and answer, over and over again, throughout your career.

As it happens, most people are not sure exactly why they are on the payroll. But if you are not crystal clear about why it is that you are on the payroll and what results you have been hired to accomplish, it is very hard for you to perform at your best and get paid more and promoted faster.

Determine the Results Expected of You :

In its simplest terms, you have been hired to get specific results. A wage or a salary is a payment for a specific quality and quantity of work that can be combined with the work of others to create a product or service that customers are willing to pay for.

Define Your Key Result Areas :

Each job can be broken down into about five to seven key result areas, seldom more. These are the results that you absolutely, positively have to get to fulfill your responsibilities and make your maximum contribution to your organization. Your failure to perform in a critical result area of your work can lead to failure at your job. There is essential knowledge and skill that you must have for your job. These demands are constantly changing. There are core competencies that you have developed that make it possible for you to do your job in the first place. But there are always key results that are central to your work and which determine your success or failure in your job.

You Are Responsible :

A key result area is defined as something for which you are completely responsible. This means that if you don't do it, it doesn't get done. A key result area is an activity that is under your control. It is an output of your work that becomes an input or a contributing factor to the work of others.

Give Yourself A Grade :

Once you have determined your key result areas, the second step is for you to grade yourself on a scale of 1-10 in each of those areas. Where are you strong and where are you weak? Where are you getting excellent results and where are you under performing?

Here's the rule: Your weakest key result area sets the height at which you can use all  your other skills and abilities.

This rule says that you could be exceptional in six out of seven key result areas but really poor in the seventh. And your poor performance in the seventh area will hold you back and determine how much you achieve with all your other skills. This weakness will act as a drag on your effectiveness and be a constant source of friction and frustration.

Decide to Become Excellent :

The fact is that everybody has both strengths and weaknesses. Refuse to rationalize, justify or defend your areas of weakness. Instead, identify them clearly. Set a goal and make a plan to become very good in each of those areas. Just think! You may be only one critical skill away from top performance at your job.

Here is one of the greatest questions you will ever ask and answer: "What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?"

You should use this question to guide your career for the rest of your life. Look into yourself for the answer. You usually know what it is.

- By Brian Tracy

A Tale of Two Tags

Some months ago, my husband and I had tried tagging some military personnel and it had not materialized. Imagine our surprise when we landed at the same airport last month and noticed that there were military personnel waiting around in order to be shipped to some frontier. We literally rubbed our hands with glee and decided to tag them - and hopefully manage to complete it. Here is the story of the two tags - and both the tags (irrespective of the end result) left a great impact on us.

Tag 1 (6  months ago):

It was the end of our vacation and while we were waiting at the airport for our flight home, we noticed that there were a lot of military personnel waiting to be shipped out.  We had a thought - why don't we tag them with all with a beverage of their choice before they boarded their special flight.

So we went to the McDonald's in the airport and approached the manager. He was a young man and was initially a little puzzled that we wanted to tag the soldiers anonymously with a free drink. He was, however, sporting enough to want to help with the tag. Checking with the airline, we figured that there were about 127 soldiers in the airport, and we handed the manager about Rs. 3,500/-in cash to pay for a beverage for each of the soldiers.We asked the McDonalds manager to approach the carrier and make a PSA to the soldiers to step to their counter for a free drink - as a thank you from the country's grateful  citizens.

The manager approached the airline who refused to make the PSA as they could not understand why we wanted to do it. So the manager told us that he will go ahead and inform a couple of the army people waiting in the lounge and ask them to pass on the message to other army personnel in the lounge. So we walked back to where we had left our luggage, feeling a sense of warm glow.

Just our luck - the airline decided to make an announcement that the army personnel should board their flight immediately. And it was with a sense of disappointment that we watched them leave. We were disappointed that none of the army people had been tagged as the announcement came immediately after the manager had approached the first army person. However the manager said that he felt very warm and touched to see such a gesture, and gave us a free ice-cream (his way of paying-it-forward) ;)

Tag 2 (Fast forward to last month) :

At the end of another trip, we landed in the same airport to take our return flight home. And voila! The karma of RAK had sent a whole contingent of army people who were waiting in the airport for their flight. So we immediately went to the nearby snack shop where they sold pre-packaged snacks and sweets, explained the Smile Card concept to the manager there, and requested for his help.

He caught on to the idea at once, and asked one of his colleagues to select the snack items that could be used for the tag. While his colleague prepared the snack bags, we paid for 25 snack bags. We then asked him and his colleague to go around the airport offering a snack bag to each of the personnel stating that it was a thank you from all the citizens. We did not wait to see how the tag went, but I do hope it brought about a smile in a couple of hearts :)

- Unknown

The Law of Priorities

The very worst use of your time is to do what need not be done at all. The Pareto Principle says that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of the value of your activities. This means that, if you have a list of ten items to accomplish, two of those items will be worth more than the other eight items altogether.

To achieve great things, you must always be concentrating on the small number of activities that contribute the greatest value to your life and your work.

Determine the Consequences :

The value of anything in your order of priorities can be measured by assessing the potential consequences of doing it or not doing it. Something that is important has significant consequences to your life and your career. Something that is unimportant has few or no consequences of significance to your life or career. The mark of the superior thinker is your ability to consider possible consequences before you begin.

Ask the Key Question :

Continually ask yourself, "What is the most valuable use of my time, right now?" And whatever it is, work on that. Your ability to discipline yourself to work on those few tasks that can make the greatest difference in your life is the key quality that makes everything else possible for you.

- By Brian Tracy

Time Has Wings

Do not waste any of life’s precious time.
There is something to be gathered out of each moment.

We’re here for a little while. We’re only passing by.
Time has wings and the golden moments quickly fly.

- Unknown

Make Every Minute Count

Time management is the central skill of success. Your ability to manage your time, to focus and channel your energies on your highest value tasks, will determine your rewards and your level of accomplishment in life more than any other factor.

Save Hundreds of Hours and Thousands of Dollars in Personal Advancement :

Your mind is your most precious asset. You must be continually working to increase the quality of your thinking. One of the best ways is to turn driving time into learning time. Listen to educational CDs or audio cassettes in your car. The average driver, according to the American Automobile 

Association, drives 12,000 to 25,000 miles each year, spending 500 to 1000 hours that you spend each year in your car. That is the equivalent of 12 1/2 to 25 forty-hour weeks. This is the same as two full university semesters spent behind the wheel of your car each year.

Use Traveling Time as Learning Time :

If you did nothing but use that traveling time as learning time, this decision alone could make you one of the best educated people of your generation. Many people have gone from rags to riches simply by listening to audio programs as they drive to and from work.

Attend Every Seminar :

In addition, for personal and professional development, you should attend every seminar you can. You can often save yourself 100's of hours of reading and researching by attending a seminar given by an authority in his or her field. You can learn ideas, techniques and methods that can save you hours, days, even months of hard work and research on your own.

Increase Your Earnings :

Remember, to earn more, you must learn more. Your outer world of results will always correspond to your inner world of preparation. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.

- By Brian Tracy

The Brick

How many times have you asked yourself, 'why is this happening to me?' or 'why is God punishing me?' Whatever word you give to your problem and choose to search on the net for an answer or explanation, you will find thousands of places that claim to be able to free you from all of your tribulations.

You name it, there is a book, a site, and a 'guide' over there that will give the answers you desperately need. Some of them are sincere, and are honestly done to inspire hope and to support you in achieving a positive life and self-esteem. What they all have in common is that 'you hold the answer to all your questions, and the solution to all of your troubles.'

Maybe you don't even believe in God but nevertheless when something bad hits you over the head you question 'who, or what, is the power that threw me that punch?' Have you ever thought about first asking yourself the answer to that thorny question? Remember that little voice that is constantly nudging you? Well, that voice can be your best friend and advisor, or your worst enemy. If you believe in God or a force that connect and guides our dimensions you will pray and try to find comfort in your beliefs. If not, the road will be long, wide and hard. As one of these believers I pass to you this simple advice, if God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

What I call spirituality is not going to church every Sunday or joining any mystic group. Spirituality is being responsible for all of your thoughts and actions. The forces of the universe will take care to coordinate these thoughts and actions and transform your life and the world. As opposed to advising you on how to live your life, I will entertain you with this short story I heard a long time ago. Especially now at this difficult period of global uncertainty, when we are exposed to so much suffering, misunderstanding and pain, it has an even more poignant feel.

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared but instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.

The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid he saw standing by and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, 'What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?'

The young boy was apologetic. 'Please, mister....please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do,' He pleaded. 'I threw the brick because no one else would stop...' With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. 'It's my brother, ' he said, "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, 'Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me.'

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.

"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: 'Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!'

God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not. He didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but God did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

Let this thought sink in... If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. Have a great journey.

- By Ton Pascal

Playing The Game

Life is a game with a glorious prize,
If we can only play it right.
It is give and take, build and break,
And often it ends in a fight;
But he surely wins who honestly tries
(Regardless of wealth or fame),

He can never despair who plays it fair
How are you playing the game?

Do you wilt and whine, if you fail to win
In the manner you think your due?
Do you sneer at the man in case that he can
And does, do better than you?
Do you take your rebuffs with a knowing grin?
Do you laugh tho' you pull up lame?

Does your faith hold true when the whole world's blue?
How are you playing the game?

Get into the thick of it - wade in, boys!
Whatever your cherished goal;
Brace up your will till your pulses thrill,
And you dare - to your very soul!
Do something more than make a noise;
Let your purpose leap into flame

As you plunge with a cry, "I shall do or die,"
Then you will be playing the game.

- Unknown