When Life Forces You to Slow Down

The problem with Coach K’s “Next Play” philosophy

I've never been the type to slow down and smell the roses. But after 30+ years of triathlons, marathons, tennis, kayaking, open-water swimming and coaching baseball, the wear and tear on my body finally caught up. Step 1: Shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator, labrum and biceps tendon.

The physical therapy is going pretty well, but wearing a bulky sling 24/7, especially while sleeping, is pretty uncomfortable. Worse, it’s a constant reminder that I’m sitting on the sidelines, not in the game. Not only is there a big hole in my calendar, but with no scheduled workouts or competitions to prep for, goal setting has to be reconfigured—big time—and I have to find a new outlet for all the extra energy.

At first it took four times as long to shower, shave, get dressed and eat, let alone type a simple email or blog post. I’ve gotten that down to 3x normal and am shooting for 2x normal within next two weeks. Range of motion and the number of reps improves with each physical therapy session, so I jot that incremental progress down in my training log. At least it fills in the blanks where workouts and race results normally go and fools my brain into thinking I’m still training.

More on fooling your brain in a minute.

My wife’s been incredibly patient during this time. She’s always better at handling adversity than I am, and she’s certainly not doting on me. Her philosophy is basically: Suck it up, take your meds, do your PT and get on with your life. “At times like these, you can’t worry about what you can’t do. Just be thankful for what you can do,” she reminds me before going out for a run or hitting the tennis court.

Most of you on this distribution list are competitive Type A achievers. When life forces you to slow down, it can be a shock to the system. It makes you realize the lengths we go to every day to try to squeeze in one more assignment, one more Zoom call, one more client meeting or one more hour of work into an already overstuffed schedule.

I can't tell you how many of you highly compensated professionals complain to me about “time famine” more than any other work issue. Being overscheduled may make you feel productive and valuable, but does it make you happy?

The problem with Coach K’s “Next Play” philosophy

Legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, is a highly sought-after motivational speaker and business advisor. If you’ve ever watched a Duke game, you’ll hear him shouting “Next Play!” to his players throughout the game.

By that Coach K means you can’t spend your time dwelling on mistakes that you or a teammate just made. You have to shake them off and be 100% focused for the next play as your opponent brings the ball up the court.

“Next Play!” is a popular rallying cry in the business, sports and military worlds. I should know. I drank the (Gatorade-flavored) Kool-Aid for most of my adult life. But in the inevitable chase for NEXT PLAY, do we forget to celebrate our successes? Worse, do we forget to notice how much we've improved from earlier in the season? It's hard to measure progress when you're constantly obsessed about looking ahead.

 

Next time you read an obituary or visit a cemetery, tell me how many times you see the dearly departed eulogized as follows: “A wonderful and caring husband and father, who was always in the top 2% for billable hours”? Or “A generous and caring soul who always checked every item off his to-do list” or “A loving wife and grandmother who always answered every email in her inbox”? That’s right, never!

 

I don't think I'll ever adapt to a sedentary lifestyle, but I notice my concentration's been a little sharper since the surgery since I'm no longer shoehorning workouts, meetings and competitions into an already packed work and family schedule.

In many ways the surgery has forced me to forget about multitasking since it’s so much more challenging to complete even the simplest tasks of daily life. And for those of you still slaves to the billable hour business model I encourage you to read our client Kyle Walters’ recent columns in Accounting Today: The 64/4 Rule and Can You Earn $10K Per Hour? I also recommend Robb Zbierski’s book: Master Your Mind, which will teach you how to slow down your runaway brain, so you can accomplish a lot more in less time.

Conclusion

The big takeaway from Walters and Zbierski: It’s not about how many hours you put in; it's about what you put into those hours.

What’s your take? I’d like to hear from you.

#productivity, #resilience, #CoachK, #timefamine

Busting Through Writer’s Block (and Procrastination)

There’s no magic formula or pill to take, but these (mostly) old-school techniques still work

As the famous line from Alice in Wonderland goes: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Not to be your high school English teacher, but trying to write something without an outline is like trying to build a house without blueprints. You might be able to throw up a wall or two, but sooner or later you’ll get painted into a corner or the whole structure will come tumbling down on itself. That only leads to wasted time, money and frustration.

Outlines for real-world business people

With all due respect to my superb high school English teach Mr. Hallowell (see Stop Clearing Your Throat When You Write) I hated the academic outline protocol: Roman numeral I., subtheme A. and supporting point 1. That doesn’t work for many people who aren’t in academia and I won’t subject you to it. Instead think about how you’re going to “sell” your content to your target audience. I know you know how to sell!

1. Identifying the problem. Start out be clearly stating the problem you’re trying to solve for the reader. Even better, assure them they’re not the only one facing this problem. Sharing stats from a reliable source, quotes from a recent article/broadcast clip or a client example are great ways to draw readers in and convince them why they need to read your words right now!

2. Explain what happens to the reader if they continue to ignore the problem. Life gets worse, they lose money, the leave big opportunities on the table, they have a less than satisfying life. Maybe explain why skeptics don’t want you to address this problem. You get the picture.

3. Briefly explain the solution, i.e. “there’s got to be a better way.”

4. Show the reader how much better their life will be by following you the solution. Include compelling stats or anonymous examples of clients who followed the advice and are much happier for it.

VERY IMPORTANT! Don’t give away the whole solution here. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a short post or a feature-length book. Just give them a taste….not the whole meal. Show readers you know what you’re talking about, but if they want the full solution, they must book a discovery meeting with you to learn more. Make sure your Contact Me link is working on all of your digital points of presence and make sure it’s not too salesy.

5. Conclusion. Summarize the argument you just made and inviting them to contact you for a more detailed conversation about the topic. Share links to related resources on your website if possible.

Your finished outline should look something like this:
1. Intro: Identify the problem
2. Find common ground. Show readers they are not alone with this problem.
3. Explain dangers of ignoring the problem.
4. Introduce the solution.
5. Show reader how much better life is with solution in place.
6. Conclusion (with calls to action).

Outline complete: Now sell the Content
Now that you’ve completed the outline, don’t start fleshing out your piece yet. First think about how you’re going to sell it. You need to think about your headline (or book title) and Key Takeaways.

Headline
Start noodling around with some catchy headlines to hook in your busy readers. I’m not suggesting you engage in click bait or search engine optimization. Just ask yourself what will make a super-busy person you’re targeting take time out of their busy day to read what you have to say.

TIP: See what the headlines you’re considering look like in the subject line of an email. Do a few test-emails to yourself or better yet, send to unsuspecting colleagues and see which one gets the most (or quickest) reaction.

Key Takeaways
What are the three key things that you’d like the reader to take away from your article, post, white paper or e-book? Many of you follow our Key Takeaways protocol at the top of your writing. Trust me, in this attention-starved mobile age, there’s no better way to make your content skim-able and worth reading (and saving).

Now that you’ve got the outline and sales pitch for your content, you’re almost ready to start fleshing it out. But first, think about how this content will fit into your overall content schedule for the weeks and months ahead. Will it be duplicative or overkill? Should it be standalone or part of a series? Should it be the intro 101 version of your expertise, or is it more of your “advanced course”?

Map out your content schedule

Just as we never recommend writing anything without an outline, we don’t recommend writing anything in a vacuum, i.e. without thinking about how it fits into your overall content cycle. Think of yourself as sharing a body of work—not a series of random one-off takes about a subject. We recommend laying out your planned topics 12 to 24 weeks in advance. You don’t have to stick to the schedule as real-world conditions make certain topics more urgent than others. But following these tips will ensure you have solid “blueprints” in place and you’ll never be up late at night staring at a blank screen wondering: “What should do I have to write about next?”

Even better, once you have your content calendar laid out in advance, it’s amazing how many nuggets of great information you’ll start accumulating weeks, if not months, before you have to write your piece. It’s like having a “rainy day fund” for your content ideas.

Conclusion

You wouldn’t have clients invest their money without a plan. You wouldn’t hire an architect to build your dream house if he or she didn’t use blue prints. So, why would you start pushing out content to your universe of followers without a plan? Familiarize yourself with the 1-7-30-4-2-1 principle. My post The Power of Content Calendars has more.

#betterwriting, #outline, #writersblock, #productivity

Clearly, We’re Being Tested

At times like these, your clients need you more than ever. Are you anti fragile?

I’m not the most devout guy in the world. But on the eve of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) and the 20^th anniversary of 9/11, it’s clear to me our resolved is being tested by a higher authority.

The COVID Delta variant continues to spread relentlessly. We’ve had horrific wildfires on the West Coast and record-setting flooding and continued power outages in the South and Northeast courtesy of Hurricane Ida. We finally admitted defeat in the 20-year Afghanistan conflict, the eviction moratorium has been lifted, women have been stripped of reproductive rights in Texas, inflation is resurfacing and the economy can’t get out of first gear due to a chronic shortage of workers and raw materials.

Whew!

Many of your clients (and employees) may be losing faith in the world and prone to reckless emotional decisions. And then there are there’s the Biden tax plan that’s likely to put a boa constrictor squeeze on affluent and successful people like your clients starting in 2022.

Bottom line: Your clients and team members need you more than ever.

Nietzsche famously said: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." To that end, our client @KyleWalters (L&H CPAs) wrote a great piece in Accounting Today about becoming anti-fragile. According to Walters, there are three types of financial advisors:

1. Fragile advisors: You are fragile if you avoid disorder and disruption for fear of the mess they might make of your life. You think you are keeping safe, but really you are making yourself vulnerable to the shock that will tear everything apart.

2. Robust advisors: You are robust if you can stand up to shocks without flinching and without changing who you are.

3. Anti-fragile advisors: You are anti-fragile if shocks and disruptions make you stronger and more creative, better able to adapt to each new challenge you face.

Which one would you rather be?

First, make sure you’re communicating with clients consistently and frequently. Our annual CPA/Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ shows that firms expecting double-digit or greater growth over the next 12 months, are twice as likely as firms expecting flat growth to contact their clients multiple times per month.

During these difficult and unsettling times, why not shine the spotlight on the positive things in life?
COVID vaccines—developed in record time--have proven undeniably effective at preventing the spread of the virus. The financial markets continue to set all time highs. Those who listened to their advisors and stayed fully invested during the dark early days of COVID are up roughly 100% since mid-March 2020. And real GDP growth in the U.S. is poised to grow at a very robust 7% annualized clip in Q3. But wait, there’s more.

As bad as the California wildfires have been, drones and other advanced technology have made tremendous strides in predictive modeling which have snuffed out numerous potential fires before they started. Re: flooding and hurricanes, the Post-Katrina levee system in New Orleans held throughout Ida and at least where I live in the Northeast, utility crews have been showing up several days BEFORE major storms hit to cut down vulnerable trees and limbs.

Conclusion

Whether you’re on the way to the beach, barbecue, ballgame or synagogue this weekend, let’s take a break from the gloom and doom headlines and celebrate our progress during a time of tremendous adversity and uncertainty. Your clients need you. Your team needs you. Your family needs you. Your community needs you.

As former heavyweight boxing champ, Mike Tyson, liked to say, “everyone has a plan till they get a punch in the mouth.” We’ve taken a few to the face to be sure. It’s up to you how quickly you get off the canvas and get back into the ring.

What’s your take? I’d like to hear from you.