Power of Finishing Strong

As I have stated in my “About Me” page I am a senior graduating in May of this year.  As that date is quickly approaching it gave me a reason to stop and reflect on my past four years and what I have learned from all of it.   If there is one thing I have learned in the past four years, it is the power of finishing strong.  I have found that it can be easy or even relieving to coast to the finish line, but the problem with this is you can fall short without even knowing it.  In a track race, the runner does not stop and simply touch the tape; they finish as fast as possible and break the tape.  We should be doing the same thing in our lives, no matter what the goal is or how close we are to the finish line. 

With finals the only thing standing between me and a degree, I have found it necessary to still study to finish the semester out with the best grades that I can.  The reason for this is one finish line in life is simply the start of the next race or project.  Finishing strong helps propel you into the next stage and getting a jump on whatever comes next for you.  Finals are little more than a formality for me now, but I want to break the tape not just coast to the finish. 

Another important note about this is the fact that many times in life the last few days of a project are the most important.  When working to put on an event the last few hours before the event are the most hectic.  That is why you must finish strong, mailing it in right at the finish line does not bode well for the success of the project you are working on.  In a business setting, the last few days usually is when the little details are being finalized and ironed out and as we stated in the power of paying attention, the little details usually make all of the difference in a project.

So the next time you are about to finish a semester or a project, remember to break the tape by remembering the power of finishing strong.

Power of the Pause

Today we will pick back up the power series of posts.  If you are new to the blog or the power series, I would encourage you to take a trip into the archive to start at the beginning.  Even though most posts could stand-alone, I still encourage you to read some of the other posts in this series of posts.

Now is an exciting time for Millenials.  Every single day more and more Millenials are ascending to the ranks of management and most will face a very similar challenge.   The challenge is Millenials like to do things fast and that is not always a manager or leaders best friend.  With social media and an always-connected lifestyle, every decision is made fast, and for a manager that can mean deciding on the first solution that comes to mind.  For programmed decisions or decisions that have been made in the past or have a set path to follow, fast is fine and actually beneficial.  Many programmed decisions are delegated to subordinates and do not require a managers attention.  For that reason, many decisions that managers face are non-programmed decisions, which should require some thought before making a decision. 

The first thing to do when faced with a non-programmed decision is to take a pause and think about your options.  Many Millenials have a fear of looking silly or stupid when taking too long to answer a question.  I can say from experience that it can be uncomfortable to not have an immediate answer for a subordinate, but it is more uncomfortable to give a coworker a less than ideal answer because that decision could have long-term repercussions more than being uncomfortable for a few seconds by pausing.  It is better to take a moment and be uncomfortable then to make a poor decision.  Another thing about taking a pause is it gets easier the more you do it.  By pausing every time you make a decision, it becomes easier to make ideal decisions.  Taking a pause is an idea that is derived from Major League Baseball where umpires are instructed to pause before making every call on the bases.  This is so if they think about a call it looks the same as when they know what the call is.  This keeps the look the same whether the call was close or not.  The same can work for a manager when faced with a decision.

Take a second, take a breath and start making better decisions today with the power of the pause.

Recent Rewind

Recently, I have been a little busy and have been unable to regularly update my blog, so today I will simply give a rewind and update of some recent activity on the site.   

One of the best posts from this past month was a post revisiting one of my first posts, the Power of Encouragement.   This post, like many of my posts, includes a story from my personal life, and in this post, the story is from a different perspective than the first one.  I would encourage you to read both of these posts with the original post being linked here, and the revisited post being linked here. 

In total, I have written three posts that belong in my power series in the last month.  All three of these articles are fairly strong, but perhaps the best post was the Power of “Why”.  The Power of Paying Attention feeds off of this post as well, but the Power of “Why “sets the stage for the next part of my power series.  I would encourage you to follow this link here, and if you like, what you see, please consider reading the next two posts in the series.

While I have not been writing blog posts recently I did publish an e-book.  Compiling many of my posts and articles and synthesizing them into a set of coherent thoughts took some time, but the resulting text was very rewarding.  It is a quick read and I believe it contains some great information for a young leader just getting started in their leadership journey.  If you would like to get a copy of this book, please feel free to contact me via my contact page which is linked here. 

I have a few more posts in the works so stay tuned for more content in the next few days.