Eliminate Must

When attempting to motivate yourself or your co-workers to action don't use the word "must". Say "we will" or "we can" instead. This will provide more energy and enthusiasm. The word "must" trigger negative emotions preparing us to defend ourselves from the threat of failure making us feel insecure and powerless. For maximum performance take the word "must" out of your vocabulary.

Know Your Proposition

In project management and in all business it is how well you define your demarcations that determine your result. If it's what you decide to do that determines your revenue it is what you decide not to do that determines your profit. Feature creep in your products or service creep in your delivery can ruin a great opportunity. Simply know when to say no.

Sometimes Things Are Beyond Repair

At times a situation or a relationship may deteriorate too far. At that point letting go or parting ways can be the best win-win solution. Don't let that bother you. In your role as a leader don't take it as a personal defeat when you need to replace someone occasionally. You have to do it for the betterment of everyone involved. They will be much happier somewhere else and you will be happy you took the action.

When Is It Strategic?

You often hear the word "strategic" used to explain our making poor choices like going ahead with a bad business or dealing with unprofitable customers or chaotic projects. We excuse ourselves by saying "Well, you know, it is a strategic deal/customer/project!" This use of the word has clouded our understanding of the real meaning of the word "strategic" which means this is a very important business consideration that influences the outcome greatly.

Speed Up Your Decision Making Process

You don't have to have all the detailed facts in order to make an informed decision. To speed up your decision making process you only need to have the pertinent facts available. The key is to figure out what the pertinent facts are and gather that information. Pertinent facts are factors that impact and could sway the outcome. All other details are irrelevant as far as making the decision is concerned!

Time And Commitments

Everyone has the same amount of time. Time is truly democratic; distributed equally to everyone. People that complain about having too little time really don't have an issue with time but with too many commitments during a particular time interval. There are no time problems. You can't manage time but you can manage your commitments. Learn to say "No", or "Not now" more often.

Your Organizing Principles

It is not only what you decide to make important that matters. It is also the sequence by which you decide to organize them. For example; if you choose integrity, profitability and growth in that order, integrity takes precedence over profitability and profitability takes precedence over growth. In other words you would not trade profitability for growth or integrity for profit with this particular sequence. What are your organizing principles and in what order?