Not long ago, I wrote a post entitled, Filling the Space Between Where You Are and Where You Want To Be. The space between our current reality and where we want to be never has a shortage of activities, feelings, or people waiting to fill it up. I am often reminded of how important it is to be mindful of what I allow into this space. The choices we make have immediate and long term consequences that either widen this gap or bring us closer to the life we want to live and the goals we are striving to achieve.

This past week I had the great privilege of speaking to the Christian Chamber of Commerce in Newberg, Oregon on this topic. In this 24 minute talk I share three tools and four different relationships that I believe are essential for business leaders to have in place when making decisions about how they fill the space between where they are and where they want to be in life and business:

1. Life Plan
2. Vision Plan
3. Personal Development Plan
4. Spousal Relationship
5. Group of Close Friends
6. Coach/Mentor
7. Faith

If you are not able to see this video in RSS Feed or Email, Click Here.

I hope you find this speech encouraging and helpful. If you are interested in having me speak to your group or team, Click Here.

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

KEYNOTE: FILLING THE SPACE is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

Recently, I blogged about how the American work force is feeling burned out and stressed like never before in history. The ability to “stay connected” to work while at home or on vacation has increased the risk of living a life out of balance and constantly under pressure to respond to others wants and needs.

I am no stranger to an unbalanced life. Early in my career, I struggled to balance a desire to grow a successful business, be a supportive husband, and be an engaged father to my young children. One day I realized that I needed to make changes. I was forgetting important events, missing special moments with my children, and always saying, “Yes, not a problem”, to every client request. I was feeling burned out, pulled in a hundred different directions, and to be honest, ready to quit.

Thankfully, I had a great business coach from Building Champions that helped me design a simple but meaningful priority management plan to help me bring order to my life and work. Our goal was simple, to help me achieve a high level of success while remaining intentional and purposeful in my health, relationships, and daily life.

My coach took me through a series of exercises (Life Planning, Vision Planning, and Business Planning) to help me develop a priority management plan that would become one of the greatest tools in my business and personal life. Perhaps you have a similar goal and need to shift from a crazy schedule to a high-payoff one? If so, I want to encourage you to consider building a priority management plan using the following process:

1. Track how you spend your time. Spend 3-5 days recording everything you do in 15 minute increments. Sounds terrible, and to be honest it is. Stick with it though.
2. Identify your high and low payoff activities. From your list assess each of your activities and identify them as either HIGH PAYOFF or LOW PAYOFF. You should have anywhere from 3-7 high payoff activities depending on your role with your company.
3. Create your perfect week. Take a blank weekly calendar and write out your perfect schedule for a week. You should block out time for the highest priority items in your life and business. For example, dates nights with your spouse, going to your child’s soccer game, working out, personal development, strategic thinking, and the daily disciplines that help you grow your business. Don’t forget to block time out for you to review your schedule and plan for the week ahead.
4. Delegate the low payoff activities. Assemble the activities that did not make it into your perfect week and that you consider low-payoff activities and delegate them to someone else. This person might be a personal assistant, a virtual assistant, or an intern.
5. Communicate your schedule. It is extremely important that you let your clients, team, and family know about your new schedule and priority management plan. People will respect your time if they see you value it. Post your schedule, the hours you are available, and when you are completely unavailable.
6. Practice delivering solution based “No.” responses. My high payoff activities become non-negotiable appointments on my calendar. If someone wants to meet during the time I have a high payoff activity scheduled, I tell them “No. I can’t meet with you then, but I can at ________ or at ________, which of these two times works best for you?” This is a solution based “No.” response and people prefer it to a simple “No. I can’t.” or “No. I’m busy then.” If an emergency does come up and you have to skip an appointment, then make sure you reschedule time for that high payoff activity right away.
7. Review your plan. Your new plan should be reviewed daily for the first 30 days. After that a weekly review is ideal. Shift activities to different time slots if needed during this review. Assess your energy level at certain times of the day and what level is required for you to deliver maximum results. Make adjustments and re-engage the next week.

As you go through this process you will experience the frustration of not achieving your perfect week and slipping back into doing low-payoff activities. This is normal and something you will improve at each week. Start by trying to win 4 out of the 7 days in a week, 3 out of 4 weeks in a month, and 10 out of 12 months in a year.

A well-executed priority management plan can help you avoid burnout and be a catalyst for your personal and professional success. If you need help developing your plan, please feel free to contact me. I’m happy to walk you through this process more in-depth.

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

CREATING A PRIORITY MANAGEMENT PLAN is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

The American work ethic is to be admired. It has led to advances in many industries, helped rebuild cities after war and natural disasters, and overall been a positive impact on our society. However, a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com revealed that the American worker is experiencing burnout like never before. According to their survey, American workers have the least amount of vacation time of any modern, developed society. When workers do go on vacation 20 percent say they plan to stay in touch with work. Over 50 percent of workers say they work under a great deal of stress and 77 percent say they feel burned out on the job.

I think it might be time for all of us to pause and do a quick inventory of our own attitude and stress level at work. Are you experiencing any of these six signs of burnout at work or in life?

1. Fatigue
2. Frustration
3. Feeling Overwhelmed
4. Low Self-esteem
5. Lack of Confidence
6. Desire to Quit

What are we to do? Many do not have the luxury of taking extra vacation or changing their job environment. Here are six simple actions you can take right away to help reduce stress and avoid burnout:

1. Exercise: If exercise is not already a part of your weekly routine then it’s time to start. No gym membership is required. Simply start by walking thirty minutes a day to get your heart rate up and maybe break a sweat.
2. Write: I used to hate writing but over the past two years have come to love journaling via my blog. It is a huge stress reliever for me because it allows me to take everything I’m thinking about and process it into a blog post or journal entry. It’s a great way to clear your head.
3. Read: Taking the time to read, even for just 30 minutes, will help you detach from the stress of work. Find a great book, blog, or magazine that is encouraging, positive, and fun to read.
4. Turn off Electronics: You must determine a time of the day when you shut all communication off with work and the social media world. Allow yourself at least 1-2 hours before you go to bed to completely wind down with no distractions from phone calls, email, Twitter, or Facebook.
5. Eat Right: Not to sound like your mother, but eating fruits and vegetables each day keeps the doctor away. Make sure you are eating three quality meals each day. Snack on healthy snacks and plan ahead so you don’t buy junk food on the run.
6. Sleep: Make sure you are getting a minimum of six hours of sleep each night. If you struggle with this, then take a 15 minute power nap on your lunch break. Sleep is so important to having a positive attitude, enough energy, and an overall healthy lifestyle.

These six actions will begin to help you deal with stress and feelings of burn out at work. However, they are not the final answer. In my next blog post, I will share with you the benefits of having a simple and meaningful priority management plan for your life and work, and how this type of plan can eliminate stress and allow you to find enjoyment in your life and work.

Make it a great day!

6 SIGNS YOU MIGHT BE BURNED OUT AND WHAT TO DO is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

In case you missed them, here are my top 10 posts and pages for the month of January 2011. Thanks to my recent guest blog post on Michael Hyatt’s blog, my About page was number one for the month. If you missed reading my guest blog post you can do so by clicking here. I had a lot of fun guest blogging for Michael and interacting with his readers. As of today’s date my post, “How Do You See People?” has generated 208 comments, 137 Facebook Shares, and 88 Tweets on Twitter. Thank you Mike for this great opportunity.

And thank you all for making January the busiest month for my site since I started blogging. I appreciate your comments, retweets, and sharing of my posts. Here they are, listed in order of unique page/post views:

1. About
2. 10 Attributes of a Great Leader
3. The War Between Head and Heart
4. The Desire to Be Known
5. Set Your Mind
6. 7 Elements of a Great Buyer Presentation
7. Are We Spinning the Truth?
8. 5 Elements of a Great Business Vision
9. Keep Pressing On
10. Six Key Relationships

Thank you again for reading my blog, engaging in the conversation, and recommending my blog to people you know. I appreciate you.

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

Top Ten Posts in January 2011 is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

This past week I was reminded of how important it is to be investing in and creating new relationships with people.  As we all know, some relationships can be rewarding and others not-so-rewarding. The best of relationships are subject to challenging times where there is frustration, emotional drama, and perhaps even a desire to end the relationship. However, the benefits of maintaining and building strong relationships in your personal and professional community far exceed the challenges and negative experiences that are inevitable as we go through life with each other.

Consider these benefits to being in relationship with others.

Relationships provide a sense of PEACE when we are struggling in life and business. It is comforting to know that you have friends and family to talk with, share your fears and struggles with, and to be in their presence when you need them the most. Who is that person or group of people that you feel the most at peace with when you are around them?

Relationships provide ACCOUNTABILITY to our values and vision that we have for our life and careers. There are times when I think about cutting corners or not living up to my values. I think about the impact my actions would have on my relationship with my spouse, my kids, or my clients if I followed through with those inclinations. The thought of the broken relationship, disloyalty to my values, and overall impact makes me pause and reminds me of the person I am and who I want to be. What person makes you want to be accountable to your values and vision?

Relationships provide HOPE that we can accomplish more working together than we ever can on our own. The impact two or more committed people can have working together to help someone or accomplish a dream, far exceeds the impact one person can have on their own. Is there someone in your community that you can make a difference with and impact the lives of others?

Relationships are an opportunity for PERSONAL GROWTH in all areas of our life. As we go through life in relationship with people we develop patience and understanding. We learn to about the power of grace and forgiveness. We grow as leaders and supporters. Who have you learned from and who makes you want to be better person?

Relationships are an opportunity to SERVE OTHERS in their time of need. Whether it be your clients, peers, friends, or family everyone needs to be served sometime. When we are in relationship with others we can identify those moments and act upon them or we can let them pass. When we do serve others it deepens the relationship and brings peace and joy to both sides. Is there someone you know or someone you can meet that needs a helping hand?

Relationships are the primary vehicle for us to display our LOVE for one another. We were created to be in relationship with people whether they deserve our love or not. The smallest act of kindness, the extending of grace, the encouraging word, the listening ear, the long hug and shoulder to cry on are all required if we are to truly be in relationship with others. We can love others because we ourselves are loved. Do your actions, words, and thoughts reflect the love you’ve been shown and that you need to show to others?

How do we learn to live our life, centered around the truth that investing in and creating relationships with others improves the overall quality of life for everyone and helps us become more purposeful and intentional as individuals?

As you ponder this post and these questions, I encourage you to think about the people that have not experienced the benefit of being in a healthy relationship at some point in their life. Seek these people out – try to identify them. Engage them. Serve them. Be in relationship with them.

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

Why Relationships Matter is a post from: Coach Dan Foster