Failing to Plan
Guest Blogger, Jake Miles
Motivation is the often-cited “key to success”. I am positive that you have heard, read, or even spoken about the role motivation plays in individual accomplishment: its inseparable importance to one’s most desirable outcomes.
The focus of this piece is to illustrate 3 important lessons:
Accountability outperforms motivation
Flexible, value-aligned plans succeed where rigidity fails
Leaders must model the standards they expect from others
Accountability
I have a morning ritual: wake up, cold shower, exercise or stretch (depending on the day of the week).
Every day before work my alarm goes off and my first thought is almost always; “I just want to stay in bed. Just ten more minutes, even just five”. Every day I step into the shower and wake up to the freezing cold water on my skin; breathless, cold, and instantly awake.
Most of us lack the motivation to leap out of bed at the beginning of our day - yet somehow we all go through our days regardless of this feeling of drive. Showing up in those situations is what forms us into leaders.
So why do it? In following through on our intentions, we set the standard that A) we can and will force ourselves to do things regardless of feeling B) that we can embrace hardships as they inevitably come up.
As we begin to embrace and model healthy behaviors, we should be careful to make them habitual. Do not compromise on your stated plan except in a true emergency. In this way you will begin to build the discipline necessary to succeed even in the face of adversity.
Accountability is essential to leadership: the example you set as a leader can enhance your credibility, inspire your team, give you the energy to lead with purpose.
As leaders, you will and should be held to a higher standard. It is simply not acceptable to show up only when the mood strikes you. Hold yourself accountable, even when you don’t feel like it.
Find the things that make you and your life better. As you solidify these traits, expand on them. Find more ways to show up and challenge yourself. Most importantly, STICK TO THE PLAN!
The Plan
Motivation: it is the “spark”, the “want”, and the “driving force”. It is also incredibly fickle, fleeting, and fragile.
Your responsibilities as a leader extend past yourself: you have a team that relies on you for guidance, mentorship, and morale. As you begin to implement healthy behaviors into your routine, set the example for those who you lead. By modeling the standard, you will not only enhance your credibility as a leader provide your team a concrete example to strive towards.
Remember that leadership can take place outside of your work environment: your “team” is your family at home. It’s you and your romantic partner. It is also the relationship you have with yourself. Setting healthy habits will improve group cohesion no matter what your team looks like.
Some days it will be easy to lead, others will challenge you significantly. When those situations inevitably come to pass, it is VITAL to the success of your team and yourself to be able to fall back on an established framework: a Plan, if you will.
A “Plan” does not have to be a comprehensive step-by-step guide. Often plans of this sort fail early and often as a result of the natural chaos around us. Without the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, even the best-laid designs will collapse.
A GOOD plan is one that is flexible yet provides structure. You can begin to design your plan by laying out clear values then finding behaviors that reinforce them.
Your plan should provide a framework for every decision you make. In this way you will free yourself from the value proposition of whether a choice is “good” or “bad”. The question becomes, “does this align with my values and simultaneously move my life forward?”. If the answer is yes, take the necessary steps to execute that action.
I understand that this is vague; perhaps you were looking for that step-by-step guide on how to be more successful. If such a thing exists I know not where to find it.
Here is my closest approximation:
Establish a set of higher values that align with your individual success, then that of the people around you. In that order. You cannot help others if you cannot help yourself.
Practice these values in any and all situations. Do not compromise these for any reason. If you slip, find your center again and continue forward having learned a valuable lesson.
Use your value system to establish a list of actions you need to take to be successful. Turn these actions into a pattern.
Do this every day, at all times, for the rest of your life.
Set yourself apart, lead by example, and follow the plan.
I encourage you to find at least one small habit you can incorporate into your daily routine. Once you solidify one step, the next become easier. If you’re unsure of where or how to begin, don’t hesitate to reach out. The Milestone team is happy to help.
Remember this, above all else; if it was easy, everybody would do it.
JM