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THE ACHIEVEMENT DIGEST® Winter 2002 Editor and Publisher: Gene Griessman, Ph.D. CONTENTS Leadership Tactics Of Very Successful People: Five Ways To Quit Procrastinating Lincoln's Log for Lincoln Lovers: Startling Similarities between Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin Great Quotations Travel Tips Feedback ****************************************************************** If you enjoy this issue of The Achievement Digest, copy it and send to a friend or associate. ****************************************************************** LEADERSHIP TACTICS OF VERY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Five Ways To Quit Procrastinating Leaders frequently tell me that they are procrastinators. Many of them admit that it's not more time that they need. What they really need is the energy and the willpower to use the time they have more effectively. Procrastination is an outer manifestation of an inner problem. Here are five tactics I recommend in my time management seminars and executive coaching sessions. 1. Engage in self-talk. This may sound simplistic, but it works. Successful actors use various techniques to get into the moment. One of the most successful is self-talk. In a nutshell, the technique is defined as intense and dramatic communication with yourself. You can find the tools to initiate the talk wherever you are. Here's how I used a quotation to finish the first draft of a book that I was struggling with. While I was writing, I visited Buckland Abbey near Plymouth, England. Years ago the abbey had been the home of Sir Francis Drake, who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. That voyage was a fearsome adventure, punctuated with fierce storms, battles with the Spanish and hostile native tribes, near-starvation, illness, and great loss of life. In Drake's former residence, I came upon this remarkable quotation, written in 1587. "THERE MUST BE A BEGYNNYNG OF ANY GREAT MATTER BUT THE CONTENEWING UNTO THE END UNTIL IT BE THOROUGHLY FYNYSHED YELDES THE TREW GLORY." I copied the quotation and placed it in a conspicuous place where I could read it every morning. Keeping that quotation in front of me held me to the task, and I finished the draft. Try it. I'm not sure why it works. It may be that the repetition of a quotation as a kind of mantra makes an impression on the conscious and the unconscious mind. You will probably find that after a while a particular quotation or motto will become so familiar to you that it will lose its power to affect your behavior. What to do? Find another quotation or saying that speaks to you. 2. Set deadlines Many leaders lose their edge when they rise to positions in which they have little or no supervision. For example, they may work out of their homes or on the road where there is no one to check up on them. Or they may run their own business so that they have no boss but themselves. What to do? Create your own structure, your own routines, and your own deadlines. In a previous issue, I quoted the legendary musician Duke Ellington, who said: "Without a deadline, I can't finish nothin'" If you've been used to supervision and structure and suddenly find yourself without it, you will flounder if you don't create self-imposed structure. 3. Do something easy. If you are a chronic procrastinator, one of the best ways to get on with a difficult task is to begin an easy one, like filing or answering a letter. The act of doing something--almost anything constructive--can get your engine turning over. One reason people put off hard tasks is because the project may be too hard to start when you're cold. Think of your mind as a muscle. Then, like an athlete, limber up and stretch a bit before attempting anything strenuous. 4. Pay attention to energy levels. Not enough attention has been paid to the role that energy levels play in effective leadership. Are you sleep deprived? Take a power nap. Have you eaten too much? Hit the treadmill or take a fast walk outdoors Skipped a meal and feeling light-headed or cranky? Eat something nourishing. Energy is produced by food. Pay attention to what you eat, and how much. Make a mental note of which foods raise your energy levels, and which reduce them. 5. Do a leading task A leading task is any physical act that moves one toward the desired goal. For example, if you need to write a proposal, but you've been putting it off, a leading task might involve getting out all the relevant papers, reference materials, specifications, and letters plus a template of a previous proposal--and setting them on the desk beside your computer. The leading task might involve creating a new file for the proposal on your computer and giving it a title. When these leading tasks have been performed, it's much easier to start doing the creative work. ******************************************************** If you have an effective way you deal with procrastination, please share it with me. For more ways to deal with procrastination, read "Time Tactics of Very Successful People", pp. 71-73. Available at all major books stores, and at www.amazon.com. For an autographed copy, click below: www.achievementdigest.com/ProductOrderForm.html ****************************************************************** LINCOLN'S LOG FOR LINCOLN LOVERS Recently while doing research on great leaders, I discovered a number of startling similarities between Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin. Here are some of them: Loved Reading Lincoln borrowed or bought every book he could find. So did Franklin. At the time of his death Franklin's library was probably the largest private library in America. Wrote Poetry Both started writing poetry during adolescence, and continued throughout their lives. Wrote Anonymous Letters Lincoln and Franklin wrote and had published caustic and often sarcastic anonymous letters, usually for political purposes. Awkward Relations With Father Neither Lincoln nor Franklin was close to his father. Neither of them attended his father's funeral. Weak Ties With Family Contact was infrequent with both Lincoln and Franklin. Even though historians point out that Lincoln was fond of his step-mother, neither she nor his father ever visited the Lincoln family in Springfield even though they lived in Illinois. Lincoln was fond of his sister and remained close to her until she died during childbirth in her twenties. Franklin maintained friendly relations with his sister until her death. One of Franklin's brothers died when he was young. Lincoln's brother, Thomas, died in infancy. Received Little Schooling Lincoln went to school about one year. Franklin ended his schooling at age ten. Early Manual Labor Lincoln stated in an approved biography: "Abraham,though very young, was large of his age, and had an ax put into his hands at once, and from that till within his twenty-third year, he was almost constantly handling that most useful instrument--less, of course, in plowing and harvesting seasons." Franklin was apprenticed as a printer at age 12. Early Adventures Lincoln took a flatboat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans on a trip full of excitement, including a fight in which he barely escaped death. As a youth,Franklin broke his apprenticeship and left Boston for Philadelphia where he began his career completely on his own. Strong Sex Drive Though the information was suppressed for years, Lincoln was sexually active prior to marriage. So was Franklin; he fathered an illegitimate son and was strongly attracted to the ladies throughout his life. Athletes Lincoln was a champion wrestler and loved to play ball. Franklin was an excellent swimmer and exercised regularly with weights. Both loved to demonstrate their physical prowess. Storytellers Both men were renowned for their ability to tell stories. Intensely patriotic They were both passionate about making the great experiment succeed. Deists Both were skeptics about many orthodox beliefs. Both prayed and knew the Bible. Neither joined a church. Both became devout. Publicly, both called for days of fasting and thanksgiving. Stoics One of Lincoln's favorite sayings was: "What is to be will be, and no cares of ours can arrest nor reverse the decree." Franklin's: "Things happen, after all, as they will happen." Masters Of Invective They both had the ability to demolish an opponent, and used it often. Both possessed sharp tongues and pens. Excellent Debaters Lincoln's debates with Stephen Douglas created a sensation, and made him a national figure. Franklin's debating is less well known, but he was regarded as a formidable opponent. Peacemakers And Harmonizers Of Conflict One of Lincoln's gifts was his ability to maintain friendships across political and ideological lines. Franklin did this again and again during disputes involving the colonies, England, France, and notably at the Constitutional Convention. Inventors Lincoln is the only President to hold a patent. Franklin is famous for his inventions and experiments. Targets Of Hatred During their lifetimes, both were vilified and despised by their many enemies. And, of course, Lincoln was hated unto death. Able Politicians Lincoln was known as "Honest Abe," and deserved that name; but he also was also one of the shrewdest politicians in the nation's history. Franklin spent the last decades of his life in elected and appointed posts. He was a master of the craft. Marital Relations Neither divorced, but both were separated from their wives during long periods of time. Lincoln spent months on the judicial circuit, and when he was home, the relationship was strained. Franklin maintained a friendly relationship with his wife, but they were separated for years at a time--she in Philadelphia and he in England or France. Franklin was in England when she died. Opponents of Slavery It is well known that Lincoln had a deep personal hatred of slavery and eventually issued the Emancipation Proclamation; Lincoln vigorously supported the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery. Franklin's opposition to slavery, though not well known, was equally dramatic and vigorous. Franklin became president of the first abolitionist society in America, which had been founded by Quakers in 1775. At the time abolition was an extremely unpopular cause in the North as well as the South. Franklin's last public act was to publish an anonymous piece under the name "Historicus," which lampooned a pro-slavery speech by a U.S. Senator from Georgia. Franklin died three weeks later. For more information about Lincoln, go to "THE WORDS LINCOLN LIVED BY" To order, click here www.achievementdigest.com/ProductOrderForm.html We have produced a beautiful color video of Gene Griessman's complete Lincoln performance before an audience of over 20,000 at the Georgia Dome. To order "An Evening With Abraham Lincoln," click below www.achievementdigest.com/ProductOrderForm.html. You may purchase the video at www.amazon.com **************************************************************** GREAT QUOTATIONS There is much talk of war these days, so here are six quotations on the subject representing several points of view: "I've often longed to see a war, and now I have my wish." Louisa May Alcott (Best known for writing LITTLE WOMEN, Alcott was an avid abolitionist; she became a nurse during the Civil War.) "Experience proves that the man who obstructs a war in which his nation is engaged, no matter whether right or wrong, occupies no enviable place in life or history. Better for him, individually, to advocate 'war, pestilence, and famine,' than to act as obstructionist to a war already begun." Ulysses S. Grant(Civil War General who also fought earlier in the war with Mexico; 18th President of the United States.) "It is well that war is so terrible -- we should grow too fond of it!" Robert E. Lee (Comment by famed Confederate general to an aide as he watched the slaughter of 12,600 Union soldiers in one day at Fredericksburg) "No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumph of war." Theodore Roosevelt (From a speech when he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy,at the Naval War College in 1897;Roosevelt fervently sought a war with Spain and subsequently became a hero in the Spanish-American War.) "To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war." Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of Great Britain; statement made during a visit to Washington, DC in 1956) "After much occasion to consider the folly and mischiefs of a state of warfare, and the little or no advantage obtained even by those nations who have conducted it with the most success, I have been apt to think that there has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a bad peace." Benjamin Franklin ("Letter to his old friend Jonathan Shipley during Franklin's negotiations that led to the Paris Pact which ended hostilities between the United States and Great Britain in 1782) **************************************************************** TRAVEL TIPS: WHAT TO DO IN THE U.K. If you are brave enough to rent a car in England and tour the countryside on your own, you are in for a treat. Here's a tip. Purchase a membership in the National Trust. For less than $100, you'll be able to visit scores of the most amazing castles, manor homes, and private gardens imaginable. Once you join, you can visit as many as you wish, as often as you wish. CHEAP EATS California Many travelers can't wait to get to California for the hamburgers and onion rings at IN-N-OUT BURGER. Don't expect ultra-fast service. Everything is made from scratch. The company prides itself that it has never owned a freezer, microwave or heat lamp. The buns are baked fresh every day and the lettuce is hand- leafed and the onions are hand-sliced. It's one of my favorite places. **************************************************************** FEEDBACK From the Evaluations: Lincoln Live "Enjoyed the Lincoln character and stories. It is a great way to learn." CEO, Vancouver "Meeting you has been very inspirational. I can tell that I will remember your ways forever." Company president, Calgary
How To Get More Out Of Every Day "A good mix of practical ways to become more effective as a person and a CEO" CEO, Seattle "Liked the easy flow of the materials; roundtable effect. Company president, Denver ************************************************************** For information about a Lincoln performance or a seminar or keynote for your organization, click www.achievementdigest.com/MostPopularPrograms.html If you would like a customized presentation for your organization, please send us an email at gene@achievementdigest.com.
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