As you look at last year, do you ever feel like there wasn't enough time in the day? Did entire afternoons...and sometimes days...slip by without your even noticing? Were you "too" busy? And when you look ahead this year, does it feel like you might relive that?

It's not an uncommon sensation. But, it's very familiarity creates a trap ' it often stops my clients from taking control of their time to set themselves up for the deliberate actions their future success requires.

When I suggest setting aside committed time for managing success, some folks look at me like a deer in the headlights ' frozen! Last week one of my clients asked, sincerely, "Really? You want me to meet with my direct reports weekly?"

I insisted. (We consultants and coaches get to do that!) And this week he reported back a discovery he'd made.

"It was amazing how much we got accomplished in 30 to 45 minutes. I realized that I've resisted holding meetings for the past 20 years because of how boring and useless they felt when I was a young lawyer and I was made to sit through meetings."

In that 45 minutes he sorted out a work flow breakdown that had frustrated him no end and stopped forward progress... for the past 6 weeks!

Is it possible to be a successful business owner or leader without having and using management skills? Not really.

Calculate for yourself how much might have been accomplished with that one weekly meeting in the last 18 years... in your own firm or department. How much greater success went missing?

Never mind. What's passed is past.

Now for going forward: I developed a system for managing the challenges that have you stalled, and I'd like to share it with you. It's not only efficient, it's easy!

"Shift" Your Attention - The first secret to getting un-stalled is to shift your focus away from the breakdown itself. Do you have a colleague who isn't following through on a commitment? A staff member who just never does a thorough job? Or too many choices for how to proceed? Are you having fun stewing about it? Carry On!

Or, declare that the way you've been dodging dealing with it isn't letting you make headway.

Start fresh by shifting your attention off of what is stymied right now, back to the larger picture - the goal. Ask yourself what the purpose of the project, effort, or work task is. Notice I said "Is" and not "Was."

Don't assume that this effort was kicked-off well in the first place. Take a fresh look at what you now want to accomplish. What specific, measurable, observable result is all the effort supposed to be targeting? Write it down in plain language that anyone could understand.

One of my attorney clients, "Mike" has been frustrated at the gaps in thinking one of the junior attorneys has produced. His words to me were "I asked for his recommendation. He's not backing up his recommendation thoroughly enough, so I have to do too much re-work." After I probed further, he was able to list 15 steps he wants to know have been researched, thought through, analyzed, challenged, and so on before that recommendation is brought to him for review. That's the result he wants, not the 'recommendation' he told his new attorney when he gave him the assignment.

Plan It in Reverse - After I choose a goal, I develop a specific action plan to accomplish it. The trick is to work from the goal, backwards to where you are now, and layout the plan as a road map of steps to be taken to get there.

For Mike, that meant designing how he'll 'know' when the goal is achieved... before that, how he'll remove any obstacles from the younger attorney's path to that goal, and what tools he needs to provide so that he can achieve it... and before that, how he'll walk the attorney through the steps he's expecting to see him take so there's no confusion...

Put It In Action - Discussing the reverse plan is all fine and good, but you must take action on this, too!

For instance with Mike, we developed the check-list he'll be using to evaluate whether the work was done to his satisfaction. Then we developed the reference tools he'll make sure are available to be used in the research. Then we scripted the conversation he's going to have to kick-off the work from a fresh start.

We've even found an additional use for this material ' it's going to give Mike the case study outline he'll be using as he interviews new attorney's he brings on board, so he'll know how they approach similar types of work, and he'll know what development and management needs there will be if he hires them.

With these 3 steps, you'll give yourself a fresh start for the year and be accelerating your results effectively, efficiently and successfully!

© 2007 Linda Feinholz.