Discipline is another word for…

 

BY ELLEN ROHR

contributing writer

 

It’s summertime in the Ozarks and nature is working her way into my house, my garden and my car. The spiders are creeping their way into my office. The birds are nesting in the roof of the shop. A raccoon ransacked my birdseed in the well house. And yesterday, I watched a big black snake slither its way into the undercarriage of my car!

 

Life in the country is about beating back nature. You move to a rural community to enjoy the grass and the trees and the critters and the bees. You just don’t want them all moving inside. So, you beat them back with broom, mop, weed whacker, power washer and the occasional shout. “Hey, get out of the birdseed.” You can slow the tide and carve out your own space. It takes discipline and the right action. (I have no idea, however, what I am going to do about that snake!)

Discipline is a loaded word. According to my dictionary, it means punishment inflicted by way of correction and training. It also means activity, exercise or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training. Bound by the first definition, I used to hate this word. As I explore the second definition, I am growing to love it.

 

Discipline your time

 

The busiest people I know have empty Calendars. If you don’t block out your time and plan your week, you will find your time sucked away by everything and everyone. If you don’t block out time to work on projects, the projects won’t get done. Instead, you will spin on the hamster wheel of too much work and too little to show for it. Once a week, sit down with your To Do list and your Calendar. In my May article, I encouraged you to set Goals for this year, and create your Top Projects list. Have them handy. Review where you want to go and commit to a few hours of focused activity that will move you in that direction. What are the projects – a project is activity that has more than one To Do in it – that will help you solve a problem or expand an opportunity? Block out time on your Calendar to work on them. Here are a few projects, for example…

 

• Work on Top Projects List (a good start!)

• Redesign the Service Truck inventory

• Create a Training Program for the Customer Service Reps

• Increase calls in through Acquisition

• Revamp the bonus and compensation program

• Establish a safety program

• Write the Operations Manuals

 

When the project time appears on your Calendar, shut the door, forward the phones and get to work. I rarely schedule more than two hours at a time to work on any project because if I do, I waste time. If I scheduled a whole day to clean my office, I would screw around for six of eight hours anyway. I’d make a cup of coffee, call my sisters, check out USAToday.com, after all…I have ALL day. I noticed that I only do about two hours of focused work if I plan eight hours for a project. So, now I just schedule two hour blocks.

 

Having the time blocked out on your Calendar increases the likelihood that the project will get done. And, I guarantee that you are wasting two hours every day. Or, spending two hours running around dealing with the fall out of a bad system. If you fix the system, you free the time. Stephen Covey calls this “sharpening the saw.”

 

Discipline your financials

 

Once a week, compare actual performance to Budgeted. Once a month, close the previous month with a line by line review of the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss statements. These are simple procedures that can make all the difference to your profitability. Intend to implement these systems and move in that direction. If your financials are a slinky-knot mess, consider a few projects that will move you in the direction of a Known Financial Position (kfp.)

 

• Meet with your cpa and review the financials, line by line.  

• Attend a Quick Books class.

• Read “Where did the Money Go?” by yours truly.

 

Put these projects on your Calendar. And, schedule the weekly and monthly meetings. Hold to them. Hold your bookkeeper accountable for working with you to get to kfp. Be disciplined about your Financial Stewardship.

 

Discipline your marketing

 

The phone’s not ringing? You may panic, and wonder, “What can I do right now?” Marketing takes discipline. Block out your Marketing To Dos on your Calendar. For instance, if you want to send out a Direct Mail piece once a quarter, pick those dates. Create appointments that say, “Send out Direct Mail pieces!” Then, move backwards in time and plug the needed To Dos in that will help you make sure you can meet those appointments:

 

• Update Marketing Plan and Budget.

• Brainstorm headlines for Postcards.

• Work with designer on postcard layout.

• Finalize postcards and order them.

• Assemble mailing list.

• Break the project into steps. Block out the time. Are you seeing how elegant and powerful your Calendar can be?

 

Discipline your counsel

 

I highly recommend using a consultant. I am one! If you want to learn how to golf, you would take a lesson. Maybe a group lesson, maybe a private lesson. You would practice the techniques you learned. You would experiment with your balance, grip and swing. You would keep score and track what works and what doesn’t. You’d take another lesson, maybe from another Pro. And, if you are disciplined, you will get good. If you are talented and disciplined, you could get great.

 

You can over-do the consulting, however. Are you a guru junkie? Do you search high and low for the next, best, brightest, smartest person to make sense of your business? Do you want someone to just tell you what to do to fix it? You can spend too much time and too much money avoiding what you need To Do to be successful and searching for someone to do it for you. Be disciplined in your approach to consulting and support groups. Too much information is confusing and can be distracting.

 

I use consultants to help me develop discipline. For 20 years I have been meaning to meditate for 15 minutes twice a day. In 20 years, I don’t think I pulled it off even one day. So, I signed up for a meditation class. At 7:30 a.m. and 9:45 p.m. we meet on the phone and our meditation coach takes us through an exercise. Yep, the appointments are on my Calendar. I am developing the habit, the discipline, and I am enjoying the benefits of more focus and peace of mind.

 

Discipline your mind

 

It is easy to do what needs to be done to be successful. Why then, do we fight the flow and embrace the struggle? Emotional and spiritual issues get in the way. Ultimately, your path is a personal journey and your business a reflection of that. A lifetime of negative self-talk and toxic relationships can wreak havoc on the best plan and intentions. Happiness and peace can be cultivated through disciplined practice.

 

Two thousand five hundred years ago, Lao-tzu dictated 81 verses of wisdom, known as the Tao Te Ching, the Great Way. The 64th verse includes the oft-quoted line, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

 

Discipline is about at once considering the horizon, where you are ultimately heading and taking one single step in that direction. It’s about acknowledging when you fall short and gently correcting course. There is no secret to your success. Apply the basics, today, then tomorrow, and keep moving in the general direction of your intention.

 

Another definition of discipline…is love.

 

It takes discipline to keep a house in order, a business humming, a relationship working. Most times, you know what needs to be done. I encourage you to take action. If you don’t know, sit with it a bit and ask for inspiration.

 

About that snake….                 

 

Need help? Reach me at 417.753.1111 or contact@barebonesbiz.com. You can also join in on our FREE “We love solving problems” Teleseminars at www.barebonesbiz.com.