Here at the Finisher's Blog, I try to observe and report what makes people great "finishers" in their chosen fields / areas. Then I try to connect those observations to business work...sales work...marketing work.
This week's observation is counter intuitive and a lot of people don't want to try it.
Great Finisher's subtract stuff from their list without apology.
(Here comes this week's Seth Godin Moment)...
Read The Dip...Seth's great book about when to quit and when to stick. He recently blogged about this idea HERE.
The idea is that you have to become the BEST in the world...and you get to define how broad your "world" is. In his blog post, he says that means you have to eliminate all the "a little of this...and a little of that" stuff. Be strict.
Great Finishers...whether they are in sports, in sales, in business or in real estate... SUBTRACT the stuff that is keeping them from being the best.
Addition by subtraction is not a new idea...but applying it to your day and applying it to your business WILL help with finishing.
What can you subtract this week?
Click HERE to see our SUBTRACTION CHALLENGE.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Finishers Seek Stress
The great Seth Godin wrote a post about stress the other day. He inspires me even in his "worth thinking about" moments.
HERE is the post entitled Stressed.
This is great stuff to think about if you are a marketer ... what is the language we use and how does it color our approach to what we do.
I also think that Seth's post is very applicable in the Finisher's Qualities arena...
Great Finishers seek out stress. If you can't turn stress to your advantage...if you can't take the stress that will come when you "put yourself out there" or when you find yourself in a stressful situation... then you will not finish.
The movie "Miracle" was on this weekend...it is the story of one of the great jobs of Finishing in sports history.
The 1980 USA men's hockey team grew and learned how to finish.
10 days before they defeated the USSR 4 to 3...they had lost to them 10 - 3.
Herb Brooks had put his team into a very stressful situation BEFORE the Olympics started so that when the tournament started...they had already gone through it.
Great Finishers seek out stress, fail, and then seek it out some more.
Thank you Seth for helping me with my blog this morning! I was stressed about what I was going to write about!
HERE is the post entitled Stressed.
This is great stuff to think about if you are a marketer ... what is the language we use and how does it color our approach to what we do.
I also think that Seth's post is very applicable in the Finisher's Qualities arena...
Great Finishers seek out stress. If you can't turn stress to your advantage...if you can't take the stress that will come when you "put yourself out there" or when you find yourself in a stressful situation... then you will not finish.
The movie "Miracle" was on this weekend...it is the story of one of the great jobs of Finishing in sports history.
The 1980 USA men's hockey team grew and learned how to finish.
10 days before they defeated the USSR 4 to 3...they had lost to them 10 - 3.
Herb Brooks had put his team into a very stressful situation BEFORE the Olympics started so that when the tournament started...they had already gone through it.
Great Finishers seek out stress, fail, and then seek it out some more.
Thank you Seth for helping me with my blog this morning! I was stressed about what I was going to write about!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Start Well to Finish Great
Great Finishers don't learn how to finish by accident.
Sure, we all understand that (performance enhancing chemistry aside) our sports heroes get great because of hard work over a period of time.
But how many times do you hear the story of a sports figure who is full of talent and never realizes their "potential," or they never achieve their big goals..whatever those may be?
How many times do you hear a nutty sports commentator say, "Well, the wildcats just wanted it more."
Ummm...no...the other team "wanted" it just as much, and god was just as much on the other team's side as she was yours...
No, I think the difference between finishing well and not quite getting there is how you START.
Over the years, Seth Godin has talked about doing the hard work early so that your project finishes well. This week his take on this subject is contained in a post called "Soggy"
How do you start well? I believe that you start well when you know worry about the details when others say, "let's just get started and then we'll figure that other stuff out later."
I am usually that guy! So, my lesson to myself this week is:
Finishers Get the Hard Stuff Done First.
Sure, we all understand that (performance enhancing chemistry aside) our sports heroes get great because of hard work over a period of time.
But how many times do you hear the story of a sports figure who is full of talent and never realizes their "potential," or they never achieve their big goals..whatever those may be?
How many times do you hear a nutty sports commentator say, "Well, the wildcats just wanted it more."
Ummm...no...the other team "wanted" it just as much, and god was just as much on the other team's side as she was yours...
No, I think the difference between finishing well and not quite getting there is how you START.
Over the years, Seth Godin has talked about doing the hard work early so that your project finishes well. This week his take on this subject is contained in a post called "Soggy"
How do you start well? I believe that you start well when you know worry about the details when others say, "let's just get started and then we'll figure that other stuff out later."
I am usually that guy! So, my lesson to myself this week is:
Finishers Get the Hard Stuff Done First.
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