First acknowledge that the elepants are there, that they are affecting you and everyone else around you. Then, get rid of those elephants from your room. The thing is, everyone else sees them in your life as well. The only person you are fooling is yourself.

Stretch, enjoy the space around you. That’s the only way you can grow.

Continuous calibration of our self-perception, therefore, is important, especially for those involved in leadership positions. Still, knowing one’s  strengths and weaknesses is only the first step toward self-improvement. How we react with that knowledge is even more important.

Remember that awareness is a  key step in changing the effect we can have on a team. But we also have to remember that we really can’t change who we are at the core. Many people at a point of self-realization try to transform themselves into someone completely different, which usually leads to a disappointing or disingenuous result. If you are not detailed-oriented, it is unlikely you can make that a personal strength. You, however, can try to lessen the effect of that weakness by acknowledging it and putting people in place to compensate for that weakness – as well as making a better attempt at the details. There are other traits that are more “fixable”, such as impatience, but again, it will be difficult to really change oneself at the core.

Play off of your strengths. Recognize and acknowledge your weaknesses, and be willing to compensate for it from a team perspective, rather than trying to transform yourself into someone you are not.

One of the more engaging conversations was with Pam Hoelzle, who is a business coach based upon her successful — and sometimes unsuccessful — ventures as an entrepreneur. We discussed how entrepreneurs and their companies become successful. Of course, we elaborated on cashflow management, execution of the business idea, planning, as well as eventual relinquishing of control.

In the end, however, we both agreed that TIMING is everything.  She said, “I wished someone would have told me that when I was younger.”

So true. Think about anything significant in your life. Was not the timing critical? One second, one minute, one hour or even a day off and would you not have a different reality today? 

In business, I have various personal examples. I was able to sell a relatively small analytics consulting company last March because we had assembled a very talented team. At the time, however, there was also a lot of  buzz around marketing ROI, and acquisitions were rampant with a healthy capital market.  Six months later everything changed. Timing.

Another company (that I follow) has had separate discussions for acquisition with two fortune 100 companies over the last seven years. Each time the discussions went deep into due deligence before unfortunate timing killed the deals (cannot elaborate at this time). The company itself is extremely viable and would have added tremendous value to either of the suitors. Timing.

In business and in life, notice and be aware of the role of timing. This allows me to understand what I can control and what I cannot. Just telling yourself to work harder is not enough. You need to work harder but be aware of the environment around you. Are the parts of what you are doing fitting in with what’s going on in your environment — in the world?

I try to plan ahead, work hard, be fair to others, and create momentum so that timing can work in my favor. Understanding the direction of your environment is an important way to fit in and open the best possibility of positive timing.  

 Sound crazy? Then, you haven’t had the experience of letting life work for you. When things are falling into place, you have a calmness of knowing timing is going to make the desired reality for you.

ZeroDash1 was an Analytics & Optimization company I founded that was acquired by Ascentium

The concept of Digital Analytics and Optimization is to measure all digital marketing initiatives against a set of KPI’s (key performance indicators) to ensure proper performance and to find ways for improvement. 

Wow, that’s some marketing jargon. But the concept is simple.  Why do you have a web site? Your most important reasons are your KPI’s. Then, how do you know you are achieving the goals of those reasons? You measure your performance against those goals, while continuously trying to improve your performance along the way. The same goes for your email campaigns, or SEO (search engine optimization) campaigns, and so forth.

I’m passionate about Analytics and Optimization because it’s such a tangibly measureable concept. You can keep score. As a competitive person, I’ve always loved keeping score on whatever I do.

Simply, I don’t understand how any organization can spend marketing dollars without involving Analytics in the planning.

Now, here’s another thought. How about running Analytics on yourself in your various roles within your family? What is your KPI as a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a husband, or a wife? And how would you measure yourself against the KPI’s of those roles? Is your performance in those roles meetings goals — and on a positive trend? If not, how can you optimize (improve) yourself in these roles?

Just like many marketers who often launch a web site without clear goals,  many of us don’t think enough about the “goals” and “reasons” of our various family roles. Sure, you may be a good provider as a father. But is that your only KPI? How do you score as an emotional supporter (possibly another KPI as a father)?

The key in developing relevant KPI’s is to get a group consenus on what truly are the most important goals. Therefore, getting your family members to agree on the goals of your different roles is absolutely critical. You must measure the truly important and relevant goals.

In our personal relationships, we often measure the “other” persons’ performance but not our own. You have some detailed opinion about your wife’s or your son’s performance relative to you, but not about your own performance relative to them. All the more reason why this would be a good exercise.

Trust me, if you are like me, you may be humbled at how much potential improvement your personal analytics reveals. Now, Analytics and Optimization can take on a whole new meaning.

Many years ago, I came up with a document called, “John’s Purpose”.  I keep it prominent on my desktop so that I can review it whenever I feel lost, or need help in deciding my priorities.  This document keeps me grounded.

With the new year, I would like to challenge others to focus more on their purpose than their specific resolutions.  Once you are satisfied with your overall purpose, then you can make measurable goals, which you can call resolutions.

Modern life tugs us in all directions.  The media tries to define our wants and needs. No wonder so many people today do not feel grounded.  A simple exercise of writing down your purpose will help you guide yourself to be the person you want to be.  Simple and effective.

To encourage everyone, I’ve decided to share my PURPOSE DOCUMENT.  Hope it helps.

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John’s Purpose

The purpose of my life is to fully appreciate all my gifts, utilize all my skills, seize the many opportunities before me, and remember my experiences — and to never take a day of life for granted. To give as much back to life as it has offered me.