“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

-Steven Covey

It’s that time of year - corporate strategy meetings, team off-sites, global leadership meetings, board of director meetings; they’re coming fast and furious.  If you’re like my clients you are preparing at least one presentation, probably a few.  Some of my clients go into this process like a Chinese fire drill (which I realize isn’t exactly politically correct - I looked it up - it’s a pejorative expression originating from the 1900’s referring to a bucket brigade that is accomplishing nothing) so if I’ve offended you then so be it.

Now I love all these clients but let me explain what I mean by the fire drill.  One of them emailed his 14 page draft with about 17 slides at 10 p.m. the night before our 7:30 a.m. coaching session.  Another sent five separate documents related to her presentation with detailed notes five minutes before our 1-hour coaching call.  A third guy just went MIA.  We were scheduled to talk the day before a ”test run” with his boss and I never heard from him.  Three days later he replied to my voice mail with an email apology - he was sorry but it hadn’t been ready, he thought it was okay, not sure, would like to talk… but was heading out for a long weekend… catch up next week… 

Let me take a step back and say it’s fine to do some things “just in time.” If you’re asked to bring a salad to the neighbor’s backyard barbeque Saturday night you can run to the grocery store at 5:45, whip it together at their salad bar and show up looking like a hero.  However, preparing a presentation is not like making salad.  You can’t just toss it all together the day before you speak.  And once you’re past the third grade, the dog ate my homework excuse just doesn’t fly.   

Whenever clients fail to meet a deadline or go right up against it, you can take it to the bank - they’re doing the same thing at work.  With a coach, they’re just flushing company money down the drain.  At work it can be their careers.  In their wake - they create chaos.  It doesn’t just hurt them - it hurts everybody who is waiting on them and counting on them.     

We all have pressure.  Unless you work for the Save the Endangered Caterpillar division of the Environmental Protection Agency and your hours are 9 to 3:30 and everything can wait, you have deadlines. If you’re not busy you’re dead.  For the sake of your career and your sanity it is time to stop pretending that you can do it all.  You have to know your priorities and be ruthless about how you use your time.        

The other day I was on the phone with a client and I recommended he make a list.  1 through 10.  What are you priorities?  What’s the next action step?  When can you complete it?  How will you know you’ve succeeded?  It’s easy to do this with a coach or mentor but you can also do it for yourself.    

1. priority -activitiy - deadline- measure of success

2. priority -activity - deadline - measure of success

3. priority - activity - deadline  - measure of success

etc. 

It’s simply amazing what happens when you write things down.  Writing engages your brain, the list stimulates creativity and checking things off gets you pumped.  You don’t need a ten hours of strategic naval gazing introspection to get your priorities on a piece of paper.  They’re in your head anyway, for heavens sake.  It took my client ten minutes.   

Of course, if making a list was the start and end of success then we’d all be Warren Buffet. Once you have the list, you have to take one more step.  SCHEDULE those activities ON YOUR CALENDAR.  What gets scheduled gets done.  You know this because if you switch over to your own calendar right now you’ll see a bunch of things scheduled today.  You’re an efficient person.  these will get done.  

So stop trying to rearrange your to do list.  Put the important stuff first.  Get it on your calendar.  Stop the madness, set priorities and put down your bucket. It’s spilling all over the place. 

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 How can you get promoted to the top job?  Is the process really so mysterious?  Yes and no.  

The part that is mysterious is the cloak and dagger operation that characterizes how many companies approach succession planning.  It’s like Oz behind the curtain.  Who knows what’s really going on?  Few companies do it well, and it’s something you can’t control.    

What you can control is one thing - the way you think.  What you can control are the questions you ask yourself every day.  One question you need to ask yourself every day is, “Why not me?”   

Yes.  “Why not me?”

“Why not me?” is a powerful question because it eliminates the excuse of perfectionism, the negativity around the process, the drag on your psyche from perceived missteps or missed opportunities.  No one person is perfect for any job.  There are only great candidates, and there is always one who will be chosen.  When you ask yourself, “Why not me?” you empower yourself with the belief that you have as good a shot as anyone.  

Recently I have been advising a long time client who was going for a top job.  She is talented, respected, brilliant and savvy, yet at the outset, she wasn’t even on the list.  She didn’t fit the “usual criteria” for a candidate for this position.  They had someone else in mind - someone “everyone always thought” would get the job.  Yet, she decided to throw her hat in the ring.  She had embraced the question, “Why not me?”   

This attitude ignited a fire in her; she worked harder and smarter than any other candidate, she prepared better, she learned more, she built more support.  As a  result, interviewed better than anyone.  How do I know?  They told her.  She earned enormous respect from a board of directors that barely had her on the radar screen.  Whether or not she gets this job, I can guarantee this - she’s going to land another one, just as prestigious, maybe better, because she has started asking the question- why not me?  

Your confidence and self-esteen are the number one factor in your success.  Confidence isn’t ALL you need, it’s just that with confidence, you do everything differently.    

When you ask, “why not me?” you start spending your time and energy more productively, you make better decisions about your career, you find good mentors and coaches to help you; you open up to the experiences that will shape you; you invest in developing the skills you need to get to the top.  The question “why not me?” takes you out of your comfort zone to explore who you really might become.  I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times with our coaching clients.  Those who ask “why not me,” don’t look at coaching as something they “have to do” because it’s good for them; they see it as a process that will help them to realize their dreams.  

Hitting a home run isn’t just about taking enough swings.  You have to picture yourself in uniform, picture yourself at bat, picture yourself hitting it out of the park.  When you picture it, THEN you’ll take enough swings, take enough risks, try enough times to knock it out of the park.  

I am planning to write more on this topic, which is why I strongly encourage you to comment on this article.  Perhaps you would like to share a story about what has happened when you’ve asked yourself the question, “why not me?”  Click on “Leave a Reply” and tell me your story.  

Also don’t forget to follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/CEOCoachBates. 

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