here is the rest

Rule 43: Set realistic targets for yourself – no, really realistic


We are not talking budgets here or corporate targets. We are talking personal goals, personal objectives, personal bottom lines. You have to set them or you won't be able to determine whether or not you are a success. There is no point, by the way, of judging yourself against anyone else. I always wanted to be terribly good at sport but I can't run and fail miserably. It has always led me to believe I am a failure, but I found out the other day that there is a gene for good sporting skills and it is one I obviously don't have. Am I a failure? Nope, just genetically challenged, and I can't beat myself up about that. I am good at other things and I measure my success against:

* how I was doing last year

* how I was doing five years ago

* how I am doing against my personal targets

* how I am doing against my long-term plan.

There is not another person in sight because measuring yourself against anyone else is a mug's game.

Rule 41: Be proactive, not reactive (paraphrase the whole thing here, plz!)

I know, I know, it takes you all your time just to get the job done, the paperwork tidied and the plants watered without having to think about the future or be a whiz innovator. But the smart manager – that is you again – puts aside 30 minutes a week for forward planning. Try asking yourself simple questions: 'How can I generate more sales?' 'What can I do more expediently?' 'How could I cut staff turnover?' 'How can I convert more leads to sales?' 'How could I streamline the accounting procedure?' 'How could I move into another sector?' 'How could I get my team to work harder, faster, brighter?' 'How could I get them to brainstorm more freely?' 'How could I hold meetings that would not waste so much time?'

There is an old saying, 'If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got'. And by golly (its meaning?) it is true. If you are not proactive (this means?) you will stagnate. And if you do that the crocodiles will bite your bum. You have to keep paddling, keep moving forward in the water. Sharks have to keep moving forwards all their life to keep water passing through or over their gills. They never stop. Be a shark. Keep moving forwards. Because if you do not there will be plenty of others willing to do so.

And believe me I know what it is like. You open your mail box and there are loads of e-mails to deal with. Then there is the post. Then there is the staff issues. Then there is lunch. Then there is the afternoon work to be done and then there is a panic to get all the post ready to go out and then there is a quick cup of tea and then it is about time to pack it all in and go home and there is this idiot telling me I have got to take 30 minutes out of a jam-packed day to think about the future. Yeah, in your dreams.

But that 30 minutes can be combined with another task. Once a week I have lunch on my own and spend the time being proactive, thinking about the future, thinking of ways to be one jump ahead of the competition. But I do have to go out alone for that lunch or people come and interrupt my mental planning session.