Do you ever feel a little overwhelmed - or a lot? Do the mountains of to-do’s seem overwhelming or the projects seem daunting?

Sanity comes from being able to maintain productivity in highly demanding environments. If you wonder about the magic of how people take on huge projects and complete them so effortlessly, there is a simple secret:

Take it apart and distill the “goal” or “project” down into easily achievable parts or milestones. This has two overall positive results:

1. Sense of accomplishment: You feel like you are really in a zone of productivity when you can check off item after item you have completed.
2. Ensures project success: By completing each milestone you take one step close to completing your quest and diffuse possible obstacles to success.

However, one key component of the “break-down” is that you maintain your milestones in relation to your overall vision. That is, all of your roads (milestones) must lead you to Rome (your goal).

You’ve got to think about the big things while you’re doing the small things, so that the small things go in the right direction. - Alivin Toffler

All too often, in a project and in life, we allow ourselves to lose focus of our vision and focus on the problems at hand. This causes us to replace our original goal with a smaller much less meaningful goal that was originally a milestone - a  stepping stone in our project.

Only when we practice overcoming our milestone tasks in the context of achieving our grander plan, do we truly progress towards a path of accomplishment.

PS - a friend of mine over at KnowTheNetwork had some tips.

What tips do you have?

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

Justin Foster posted a great article on change over at his blog, BrandMilitia, entitled ‘The Bubble‘. This is a great commentary on how we all tend to become myopic in our focus in life.

You have to get out of your bubble to see and embrace change.  This is true with people and companies.  Seth Godin refers to it as the fundamentalist v. the curious. 

Too many people involved in marketing live in a bubble where they have no one challenging them; no one introducing new ideas.  Everyone is sniffing their own fumes … and either getting high or suffocating. 

Marketing use to be the realm of curiosity, but too many people are simply playing it safe.  They are trading a false sense of control for the reality that their brand belongs to the customer.

The bubble gives you false data; unrealistic viewpoints.

In the bubble, your shiny new TV ad sounds and looks great.  In reality, nobody saw it.

In the bubble, your brochures perfectly outline your value proposition.  In reality, nobody read it.

In the bubble, your employees have memorized your mission statement.  In reality, nobody cares.

So … get out of the bubble.  Listen to your people and your customers.  In fact, don’t get out of the bubble, break it so that no one else is in it.  The worse thing to do?  Paint the inside of the bubble so that you can’t see out.  Then you are in a shell …

Justin has been posting some really thought provoking articles. You should be sure to check out his blog. His link is included above and in the sidebar.

Change can be a tough thing. At times, to many of the associates in a company, a change may seem like another round in a Chinese fire drill. I would submit that some probably don’t look for answers, but I can’t solely rest blame elsewhere, when in point of fact, I am just as a guilty in maybe not communicating well enough.

While I may internally debate whether I have improved upon my communication skills to a point where changes make more sense, I ultimately still believe most individuals don’t care for any kind of change, and maybe not even positive change at times. Those that do embrace change are most likely reading this blog.

While this perspective may seem a bit, well glass-half-empty, it does offer opportunity to take a moment and reflect upon what I, as a manager, can offer to hopefully ease some of the stress in the change.

First, everything roots back to having the right people in the right seats on the bus - AND - getting the wrong people off the bus (as Jim Collins would say). If you have not done this, and know this to be true in your “gut”, do not pass “GO” and do not collect $200 - go directly to jail until you figure this part out.

Second, assuming you are redirecting a team of great individuals - my job is to not screw the good stuff up. This means I can’t just go in swingin’ and hope to hit something. I have to be able to take some measure of where the team is at in relation to objectives and customer perception.

You get this from listening: Listening to your team, listening to other teams, and listening to your customers. Part of listening comes in knowing when to put on the filter and when to hear the unabashed truth.

Once I know where I am at, I paint a vision. Once the team mostly understands this vision, I execute a phased approach. Remember, the team doesn’t get paid to fully embrace your vision. You get paid to teach them how to help you paint it - and sometimes it requires blind faith. This, incidentally, requires having the right people in the right seats on the bus - AND - getting the wrong people off the bus (did I say that already?).

Finally, I build for flexibility and consistent efficiency.

My team must understand change is the name of the game. Processes do help in offering some sanity, but will only succeed if we stay focused on why the process is used. We don’t want mindless robots following rules. We want thinking individuals making smart, customer-minded moves to secure the best outcome possible - in the most efficient manner possible.

In summary, here are the keys to managing change:

1. Have the right team.

2. Learn from the good stuff.

3. Listen

4. Paint a vision and refer to it often.

5. Build for flexibility and consistent efficiency.

In following these few steps, which aren’t easy at all to follow sometimes, you will succeed in building a high-quality, high-capacity team.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

Vision is the first thing I think every person must have; I call it “walking your critical path“. By soul-searching, goal-setting, learning yourself, or whatever you may call it, you learn those things that you put first - those things most dear to you. Is that enough?

No, I don’t think so. In life, I believe there are 5 truths that really make a person strong - 5 resounding principles that make you, well -  YOU!

About 10 days ago, I posted on 1 of them: Vision. So the next, natural question involves commitment. Are you committed to walking your critical path - your vision?

I have been practicing a form of Aikido for almost 2 years now. Aikido is a very subtle martial art, very unlike Karate or Thai Kick Boxing. It involves reading your opponents movements and redirecting the energy they offer in the attack - not combating it force-on-force.

One of the key things I am taught is to move, to enter, to commit to action and pursue an outcome of my choosing. I’m still learning how to get to that outcome and expect many more years of practice before I can expect the door of wisdom to crack open. What is important, however, is that I commit. I commit to pursue an outcome and move accordingly. If I falter, or pause (and I have faltered and paused), the attacker almost always demolishes me - seeking their own outcome.

The same is very true in almost every aspect of life, and especially in business. Business compels you to act, yet I see so many choosing to stick their head in the proverbial sand. What are they afraid of? What is it that makes them take pause?

Laziness, stupidity, stuck in a rut, closed-mindedness, [clinging to] tradition, fear of the future, bullheadedness, pigheadedness, noheadedness? - Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles.

All of these things are reasons (admitted or not) that give individuals and companies pause - that cause them to falter. Lack of vision, and lack of commitment to that vision, is a killer.

You will have peaks and valleys in business, and in your life. The view at the tops of the peaks are spectacular and don’t take much energy or commitment to sustain. However, the valleys are riddled with doubts and fears. It is your commitment, and clear focus on your vision, that allows you to climb back up your next peak. When you loose either, you risk falling down - or worse - settling.