SigmaU Blog

There’s an old expression, burn the boats, which refers to a leader charging ashore and telling his men to burn the boats. This meant of course that success was the only option; they would conquer the land and turning back was not happening.

How many times do we pursue a goal with this type of commitment? When was the last time you burned the boats to follow your dreams?

Here are some indicators that you’re fully invested in your goals to make them a reality…

No Back Up Plan

I hear too many people say things like, “I’m going to give this a try for a year and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll go back to my current job.” This is half committal and sets you up for failure. When you have a soft cushion to land on, the vigor in which you pursue something is lessened.

You and I must be “all in” on our goals. This keeps our focus on one clear path and we’re able to avoid distractions that could derail our success.

Financial/Time...

The eternal optimist in me tends to avoid the negative and at times I must admit that I’d rather bury my head in the sand than face reality.

During COVID I started doing a lot of journaling. It brought clarity and increased focus and purpose for me. I’ve spoken about that in a recent blog (https://www.growwithsigmau.com/blog/Journaling).  One of the questions in my High-Performance Journal triggered me when I first saw it. 

The question is “A situation that might stress me out or trip me up today could be…” and the next question “And the way my best self would deal with that is…”.

I’ll admit, I didn’t want to answer the question at first. The question itself literally tripped me up! I resisted it because my rationale was to look for the good. If we look for the bad, we tend to find it.  While that may be true, when I started answering this question it placed me in a much better position to deal with...

The person who executes beats the person who is still planning and perfecting every time!

I was reminded of this recently as I watched my neighbours work on their ice rink.  They spent countless hours out there in the cold, wind whipping across the lake clearing snow. They set up systems where they had water pumping through a hose so they could flood the area each week. They painstakingly spent time and effort to trudge through the freezing water and mop the surface so that it would be smooth to skate on. Each time there was a snowfall, they were out there diligently shoveling and clearing their little slice of Canadiana! They were out there every single weekend for twelve weeks and I saw a ton of effort and zero skating.

While that was happening, a group of people about a nine iron away cleared a regulation-sized rink for the community to use. Everyone pitched in and shovelled here and there. There were times after huge snowfalls that only half of the rink was cleared, and the...

Confession

I have a confession! I’m an internal optimist, which means that I tend to see the good and block out the bad.  It has served me well through most of my life until COVID.

See, if I’m honest, I never really spent any time thinking about what could possibly go wrong. I was always reinforcing my goals and dreams and had a deep sense of gratitude for all of the good in my life. While this is incredibly important, the biggest lesson that I’ve learned during COVID has been the importance of planning for the worst but remaining in hopeful anticipation of the best!

Knock Out!

During one of our team huddles, the speaker (I cannot remember which one) said these powerful words and it knocked me on the chin!

“It's not the thing that broke you that broke you. It's that you never even thought about the fact that you could be broken.”

Hot damn! It’s true! I never considered failing. Failing was never an option. Going backwards was a foreign idea...

Do you do your best work when you fly by the seat of your pants? Not me! I’m a planner, in fact I don’t wing ANYTHING!

In order to show up as a strong leader and role model, I have to be intentional about it. It doesn’t come naturally but when I make it a priority it positively impacts the team.

Here are 4 ways you can be more intentional as a leader today!

1.  Map it Out!

Start your day off thinking about and writing down who you want to show up as that day. Perhaps it’s thinking about your phone calls, interactions, coaching with employees or meetings. How would your best self show up? Decide early in the day while you’re fresh how you can be most effective as a leader. You can also check out our super popular Intentional Journals here: https://www.growwithsigmau.com/books.

2.  Set Intentions before Interactions

Oprah famously starts each meeting asking, “What are the intentions of this meeting?” This is a great way to gain clarity...

When I’m afraid or feeling stressed my ego takes over! Bold statement, I know, but it’s true. I show up rude, sarcastic and I can be short with people.  When I’m leading as my best self and I’m intentional about how I want to show up as a leader, it’s a totally different story.

I’d venture to guess that as a leader, you may be able to relate. When you’re under pressure you just want things done and done properly with minimal questions and minimal interruptions so you can work on what’s most important.  This happens to most of us when we’re in reactive mode vs. being proactive and intentional.

Here are some telltale signs that I’m under pressure and my ego has taken over…

I assume the worst intentions. I have moments where I doubt the intentions of those around me and question if my team did all that they could in a situation vs. assuming the best in others.

When I’m operating from my ego, my ideas are...

Strategy by definition is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.

Most might assume that all companies have strategies that align with their goals, but you might be surprised! I’ll be honest, as we were growing our company very quickly, we barely had time to come up for breath let alone develop a strategy. I’d see the numbers growing and excitedly announce that next year “we’re going to double our sales” - meeting adjourned! I laugh when I think about it now because I wasn’t motivating anyone. In fact, they all probably thought I was a few screws loose or at a minimum were frustrated and confused about where to start. Our leadership team has since made a habit of using a strategic plan and updating it once a quarter and the benefits have been incredible. Here’s what we’ve seen…

It Starts with Transparency

The more willing you are as a leader to share the vision, goals, and direction of the...

Getting started is often the hardest part about accomplishing a goal. We know what we want but the task seems like a huge undertaking and daunting. We start doubting ourselves and our capacity to take on the challenge and another day slips by with our dream of becoming a new person! I’ve been there and so I wanted to share a few steps you might consider taking to make your next goal a reality!

#1 - Act right away!

Take one small action immediately after you set a goal. Example. I’m going to pay my house off by 2025 is a huge goal! Its great to have that on our vision board, read it out loud daily but if we stop there chances of paying off that bad boy is slim to none! One action step that could be taken right away would be to cancel your weekly cleaning services and have the $125/week come out of your chequing and go directly on to the principle of your mortgage. Now you’ve taken action on that big goal with a small task that will reap huge rewards!

#2 - Set...