The need to progress – to practice CANI, or Constant, Never-Ending Improvement – is an ever-present need in our lives, both personal and professional. Between social media and the fact of information literally at our fingertips, knowing what we should be reading, watching, researching or listening to can be confusing and often overwhelming. We often have feelings of lagging behind, and find ourselves wondering, how do we engage in that constant improvement? How can we be relentless in our progress as leaders? There are three simple ways to start – creating space, serving others, and finding focus.
Creating Space
My latest read, “The 5 a.m. Club” by Robin Sharma, embraces one solution. Sharma suggests that the confusion and distraction of technology and the amount of information we can Google cause us to remain stagnant – it causes us to not act, or to act slowly or too cautiously. Since as humans we learn by doing, Sharma says, we can mitigate the distractions by doing something differently – stretching ourselves and trying something we have never done before.
The book recommends establishing the routine of rising early (5 a.m.!) to create space from technology and distractions and prepare for your day. This habit provides space to let things come to you; it allows you to be open to receiving new ideas and to plan for your success and productivity each day. So far, this habit has been energizing for me (and I am not typically a 5 am early riser!) – helping me to be open to new ideas, to create focus, and to gain productivity in my daily schedule.
Serving Others
How could you be relentless in your progress to service others? You could innovate your service to your customers, your team, your leaders and your family. Shake things up. Do something differently. Big or small, we all have something to share and give – a listening ear, emotional support, kind words of encouragement, a smile, a compliment. Who could you empower today that might need a little push? Is there someone you should express your gratitude to?
Finding Focus
How do we spend our time working and being productive? If you find yourself feeling stale – not engaging in that Constant, Never-Ending Improvement – try staying focused for short bursts of time and not multitasking or jumping back and forth to emails. Turn off the email alerts and stay present on one project at a time. Can you?
How are you being relentless with your leadership development progress this week? Click here for more information, or schedule a call to discuss how leadership development coaching might be the next step in your development goals.
“Small daily, seemingly insignificant improvements, when done consistently over time, yield staggering results.”
– “5 a.m. Club” by Robin Sharma
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