If you’d like to view or share the video clip of this article please visit: Be a Work Warrior.

Ever had one of those moments, or days when you face a task (or two) that needs to be completed and you’d rather do anything other than that one “hard” thing?

Avoidance or even denial simply makes things worse:

• It creates anxiety.
• It makes the task seem more difficult than it really is.
• It eats away at your sense of worth and confidence.

Here’s one sure way to get through the situation quickly:

• Run at it!

Yes, run at it! That means you take one deep breath and charge. You take the task by the horns and do it! Maybe your task is large enough to take on one chunk at a time until every piece is completed. Maybe you just need one strong slash with your broadsword and you can finish it off at once.

One thing I’ve noticed and so have my clients, is that when you charge during these difficult moments, the tasks seem to get smaller and smaller and we start to get stronger.

Be a work warrior now. Run at not from what needs most to be completed.

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Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company. She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them. Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

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If delegation is not working for you, you might need to improve how you delegate.

The truth is we are always delegating. We don’t really think about it, yet it is true. In our modern society we’ve gotten pretty good at allowing other people to: deliver our mail, milk the cows, build our cars and design our clothing.

It isn’t difficult to perceive how we are fairly skilled at delegating within a collective. However, most of us need to imagine ways to start delegating better in our smaller circles of influence. As entrepreneurs we believe in ourselves so much that we forget, or have never learned how to leverage the talented folks around us.

So I suggest the first place to begin delegating better is to let go of some of the reasons why you might not be doing it well to start with:

• We don’t delegate because we don’t know what we can or should give away
• Sometimes we don’t delegate because we think we don’t have enough support to hand things off. However, usually we don’t pass things off because we don’t have enough trust or faith in other people’s abilities.
• At times we hold onto things because we want the experience or credit for the work that will be completed.
• We forget or don’t even think of including the people we delegate to within the planning stage of the work that will be passed off to them.

If you stop doing the above activities, you can immediately be better at delegating by doing the following:

• Ask for help in knowing what to delegate. Generally I find that my clients can eliminate 5 to 10% of what they are currently doing. Coaches, friends and co-workers are great at helping get a reality check on you can delegate and what you can’t.
• Begin believing in others and giving other people a chance to grow, learn, do, and contribute.
• See yourself as a builder of other people’s capacity. Get credit for mentoring rather than from doing everything.
• Bring people in early, listen to their ideas, implement some of their ideas and remember that one big lesson you learned in preschool – Play well with others!

Rest assured that when it comes to delegation, if you do it right, everyone is happier and healthier. The world sure could use a few healthier and happier entrepreneurs.

Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company. She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them. Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

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Sometimes as business athletes, we are forced to slow down and take a break for food, water or rest. I use the word forced because we are known for pushing the limits and often to the point of collapse, injury or illness.

If you are honest with yourself, you can think of times when some force larger than yourself made you STOP! So here is my coaching question: What would happen if just for today you stayed put, sat still and remained in one place?

I wonder if that thing that you really want the most would finally have a chance to land on your shoulder because you stayed still long enough for it to find you.

Just thinking out loud on this blog. What are your thoughts?

Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

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Let me interpret the title of this article: The difference between a good idea and a successful idea is work.

I didn’t say hard work.

I didn’t say a lot or a little work.

I only said work.

We each have to learn what this particular four letter word means in terms of our ideas.

For example: It’s a good idea to create a referral system for your customer evangelists.

And when you get around to designing and printing a referral card, the idea is still a good one. It even remains a good idea right down to packing a dozen of these cards into your wallet for quick distribution.

Is this idea a successful idea yet?

Nope. Not yet.

 There’s still some work left undone.  Until you hand out a hundred, maybe even five hundred of these cards, until you track who is sending folks your way and you are rewarding them for those referrals and until this is a sustained cycle of practice (not just a novel, one or two time experience) your idea is still just a good idea.

So pay attention to that that space between creating the cards and actually having a systemic cycle of referrals coming in and systemic awards going out.  This gap is the place where your work determines the difference between an idea being good and an idea being successful.

In the case that my example is not clear enough, here’s another:

Let’s say you have a great idea for selling your product to a very large client. AND let’s say you’ve been working toward making that sale. You’ve completed the imperative step of building a strong relationship (good rapport is considered work) with the potential client.  Let’s also say you have supplied the potential client with all the relevant information they need and you need so you both agree that what you offer is what they need (also more work).

Is your good idea a successful idea yet?

Nope. Not yet.

 You still have more work to do. In this scenario you need to close the deal.  You need to “close” the deal by asking for an agreement to exchange your product for their cash. Until you do this, you’re still playing in the “good” range with your idea.

 The point again:

The difference between a Good Idea and a Successful Idea is  how much WORK you are willing to invest in the transition between having a good idea and bringing that idea to full capacity. 

Hope this makes sense. Now get to work because if you are like most of us the majority of your good ideas are not successful yet.

About the Author:  Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

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A client once told me, “I’m wearing my body like a cheap suit.” He felt at times that his body did not fit right. He didn’t feel comfortable in his own skin. He went on to describe that this feeling occurs when he doesn’t pay attention to what his body needs.

This scenario happens often with entrepreneurs. We tend to put everything inside our business before our own basic need for healthy nutrition, appropriate amounts of sleep, exercise, etc.

Can you relate?

Are you wearing your life like a cheap suit or a fine tailored silk suit?

Maybe a review of the following table will assist in giving you ideas of how to get that fine Italian silk feeling back and to avoid wearing yourself down to the thread-bare, second-hand mode of operation.

 This chart was adapted from materials found on page 36 and 37 of High Trust Selling by Todd Duncan.

The idea here is to move more of our thoughts and actions to the right side of the chart. The more we drive our lives and our careers from the right, the more productive and powerful our experiences.

About the Author:  Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

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If delegation is not working for you, you aren’t doing it well.

We are always delegating. We don’t deliver our mail; we expect the internet or a postal service to do this for us. Few of us milk our own cows, we expect dairy farmers to get our morning “moo-juices” flowing. Even fewer of us build our own cars. We prefer to pick from designs already manufactured and ready to roll. It’s a sure thing, we are always using some elements of delegation in our survival system. We are fairly skilled at delegating within a collective.

Most of us are not so good at delegating on the smaller economy of scale – within our own business. There are a multitude of reasons why we don’t. We might avoid passing jobs on for reasons that include:

• Not knowing what we can or should give away;
• Not having enough support or knowing who to delegate to;
• Not having enough faith in delegation to trust that things will be done to specifications;
• Not wanting to give up the experience or the credit for the work when it is completed;
• Fearing that unless you do it all, it will fail.
• Not including the people we delegate to in the planning of the work projects they will be asked to do.

Rest assured that when it comes to delegation, if you do it right, you still have more control than you’d think. Delegation is a means to growth, improved effectiveness, increased efficiency and a host of other virtues. Nevertheless, you always have the ultimate control and responsibility. If delegation is not working for you, you aren’t doing it well.

We generally start to think about delegation, which is a two-way interaction, when we are knee-deep in planning, which for the entrepreneur is often a one person activity. When the people we delegate to are not part of the planning, they miss about 75% of the picture they’ll need to deliver on our expectations.

Here’s the best recipe we could find in outlining how expert delegation can occur.

First, use these three questions to guide your delegation actions. If the activity is a NO for all three questions, you can delegate it. We’ve adapted them from John Maxwell’s book, Developing the Leader Within:

1. What is required of me? In other words, ask yourself if this particular piece of work requires your personality, skills, talents, and involvement.
2. What gives me the greatest return? You are here to make a difference and to make money. Spend time on activities that affect your profit margin with high returns.
3. What is most rewarding? Sometimes we need to do things because we need a boost; we need to feel like we could raise our arm in the air and scream, “Yes!” All everyone to get a taste of this type of energy from the work they are doing.

Second, cement in your mind that delegation is a two-way conversation. It involves strong communication skills and regard for the people we pass to. Borrowing from the book To Do, Doing, Doneby G. Lynne Snead and Joyce Wycoff, here are important criteria to effectively hand off work:

• Make sure the person you give the task to has both the authority and the materials and skills to complete the job. If they need to make purchases, be sure they can do so. If they need a specialized piece of information or knowledge, make sure they are capable.
• Include these people in the planning stages of the work that will be passed to them. When we help plan out what will be done, we have greater clarity on the expectations and desired outcomes of the work we’ll be doing.
• Share the responsibility of the final results with the person you are delegating to. Allow the person to see up front how they will be given praise or be recognized for the final result. Allow them to see how the benefits of the completed work fit into your overall goal.
• Make agreements with the delegated party. Agree to support them as needed. Ask them to agree upon regular status checkups and to agree together on due dates.

Third, follow the process through. Follow-up often and follow-up with respect. Follow-up according to your agreed upon check-in schedule. AVOID what has been called the “dump and run” version of delegation. Without doing the actual work, do everything in your power to support the people you delegate to. Praise them for work accomplished on time and according to specifications. Clarify and explore the “how come” when things don’t work out and co-create solutions with those you wisely pick to hand off to.

Even when a task has been handed off, you still share responsibility for the work meeting expectations.

Happy passing.

About the Author:  Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

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The proverbial rat race is the one paradoxical location that most people have just as hard a time getting into as they do getting out. While this statement may seem contradictory, it is true. The rat race, according to Robert Kiyosaki, is the “churn and burn pursuit of a paycheck.” While the Rich Dad organization helps people find their way out of the rat race, this article pauses a moment to reiterate how important it is to first find a way to get into that rat race.

Being successful at business is basically a proposition of learning how to create your own little flywheel of commerce. Once you create a system for financial gain, business becomes a game of duplication. However, finding your own money stream can be difficult. This topic is of great concern to me since the workforce I generally support is the Free Agent, the small business owner, or the individual who is a self-proclaimed “Me Inc.” entity. I work with people who want to live their lives and earn their livings by doing those things that inspire them.

Finding a way into the “rat race” is more than a proposition of being able to eat. It is a necessary step on the path to owning your professional satisfaction. The good news is that neither magic nor voodoo is required for success. Here are a few ideas for those who want to learn how to make money.

1. Interview someone who is doing exactly what you want to be doing, and earning what you want to be earning. Find out the key behaviors that they consistently perform and attribute their success to. How many presentations, sales calls, follow-up e-mails and new business networking meetings must they complete in order to get a new account or client? Take notes. Experiment. Discover which components work for you. Create your own system of monthly, weekly, and daily tasks that contribute to your bottom-line. Create a system for charting your progress, and keep track of your statistics.
2. If you are looking to get hired for a particular job, read C.J. Hayden’s new book Get Hired Now! Another handy reference book is the most recent version of What Color is Your Parachute? Both offer you ideas and lists of key activities and behaviors that typically land folks jobs.
3. If you are looking to build new business for yourself or your own small company, invest in C.J. Hayden’s book Get Clients Now! You could take a course on this same material. Learn the basics of client acquisition. There is a science to the process.
4. Sit with your own intuitive nature and generate your own creative ideas. Then, be brave enough to experiment on these ideas. Use a coach or a sounding board to debrief after each experiment. Note what worked, what didn’t, what you learned and what new action can now be generated by what you’ve experienced.
5. Read the book Discover Your Sales Strengths. Take the test that comes with the book and learn what talents are waiting for you to develop so you can better sell yourself and your offerings.
6. Regardless of the industry, seek out the people you admire. Shadow, observe, as well as interview them. Then adapt their formulas and apply them to your own situation.

This is a simple and short list of how to get started in creating your own system to show yourself the money. Everyone has the capacity to build a system for creating an income. Find yours. Learn to duplicate it, and therein lies one basic secret to your own business success.

About the Author:  Lyn Christian is the founder of SoulSalt, Inc., a coaching and coach training company.  She is passionate about the “free-agent” worker who wants to earn their living and live their lives by doing what inspires them.  Get more information by visiting www.soulsalt.com or contact Lyn directly through lyn@thecoachtoolkit.com.

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I’ll admit it.  I’ve been a Yankee fan for over fifty years.  It all started for me when I was nine years old in 1961.  Mantle, Maris and the 61 Yankees made memories that can’t be denied.  I also was inundated with Frank Miller editorial cartoons in the Des Moines Register that boldly claimed an “official” World Series had to have the Yankees.

Whether you love or loath those Yankees, they are once again the World Series champions this year.  It’s their 27^th title—17 more than the next best Cardinals.  They have made 40 appearances in the Championship series—22 more than the next best Dodgers.  Success like that speaks volumes for entrepreneurs.  There are three important lessons to mention today.

1. Consistent Persistence.  Excellence doesn’t occur from random behaviors.  Excellence is a repeated behavior.  It is finding the principles and activities that work and repeating them for the same results.  Does it work ALL of the time?  No, but over time persistence will produce consistent results.  Customers come back because you have become dependable at doing the things they love.  You won’t always connect, but the successes will come.  My favorite explanation of this is from Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, When you’ve played this game for ten years and gone to bat seven-thousand times and gotten two-thousand hits do you know what that really means? It means you’ve gone zero for five-thousand.”

2.  Losses Gotta Hurt.  If they don’t hurt, nothing stops you from being willing to lose.  When you know that you can’t win them all, it become easy to shrug off the losses and pretty soon you become “casual” about losing.  A major part of the Yankee’s success is that they can’t do that.  Their home base is centered under a media microscope and they know it.  The Yankees, from GM Brian Cashman on down, know that they can’t become casual about losing or ALL of their customers will know it.  Have you ever had 8 million of your closest neighbors mad at you?  Losing should hurt enough that you don’t want to do it.  If you listen to interviews of the Yankee personnel, you know they don’t want to lose.  You will hear phrases like, “we owe the fans for sticking with us,” or “it’s been 8 years since we’ve had the title and the fans deserve better.”

3.  The Game in Your Head.  I’m struck time and time again by how much of the game of baseball is mental.  You would think that for professional athletes, much of what they do would be built on muscle memory.  That’s not the case.  They can describe what they were thinking at virtually any instance during the game.  Joe Girardi is an avid chess player and is willing to talk about it.  Just like you can’t play a complex game solely on your instinct, you can’t run a business based on your gut reactions.  As one of the most famous Yankees of all time, Yogi Berra, said, “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.”

What can you do to become the Yankees in your niche?  Can you find the parallels in your business and make sure that you are creating the winning patterns? 

About the Author: Neil Phillips is a founding partner of Team Connections and Director of the DSWA Coach Excellence program.  Get more from Neil on his Direct Selling Notebook , the DSWA Coaching Center and Twitter.

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