3 tips for delivery

Great workers focus on desire, discipline and delivery. They begin by having a strong desire to reach a specific goal. They then follow daily disciplines and continue until they deliver. Looking back on your life, can you think of a time when you followed these principles? You may have been learning a skill, writing a book, launching a product or whatever. What did you do right then? How can you follow similar principles in the future? Let’s explore these steps to doing fine work.

* You can focus on desire.

Looking to the future, think of a goal you want to achieve. You may want to take care of your health, start a business, lead a team or whatever. Start by describing your goal, then consider your desire on several levels. First, be crystal-clear on what you really ‘desire’. Make sure you know the real results you want to achieve. Second, be clear on the benefits. You can keep focusing on these when times get tough. First, be clear on your level of motivation for reaching the goal. Make sure it is at least 8/10. Try completing the following sentences, then move onto the next step.

Desire. The specific goal I want to achieve is:

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The real results I want to achieve by reaching the goal are:

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The benefits of reaching the goal will be:


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The desire I have to reach the goal – on a scale 0-10 - is:

____ / 10


* You can focus on discipline.

Great workers develop good habits. Tiger Woods, JK Rowling and Steven Spielberg, for example, follow their daily disciplines. So do people who want to change their life-styles. Sophie, for example, wanted to retake control of her life. She wanted to be healthier, happier and feel successful. That meant developing fresh habits. First, she began eating healthier food. Being an inveterate ‘nibbler’, she chose to eat fruit, rather than bags of crisps. Second, she returned to attending dancing classes on the weekend, rather than sit waiting for her husband to return from his golf. Third, she developed the habit of getting an early success at work each morning and this helped to set the agenda for the day. How can you follow this path in your own way? Bearing in mind the result you want to achieve, try completing the following sentence.

Disciplines. The disciplines I can follow to work towards reaching the goal are:

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* You can focus on delivery.

Great workers are good finishers. They keep going until they deliver the goods. Professional writers, for example, break-down their assignment into chunks, establish a daily rhythm, encourage themselves on the journey and so on. “That’s the way I do it,” said one author. “Writing a book takes at least a year. So I set the goal of completing at least 3 pages a day. Reaching this target produces a sense of success.” What is your successful pattern for finishing? How can you follow it to reach your goal? Try completing the following sentence.

Delivery. The specific things I can do to do my best to deliver are:

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“Delivery is crucial in my business,” said one MD. “So I also use this three step model when leading teams. First, I establish that the team really has the desire to reach a specific goal. I ask: ‘Bearing in mind both the pluses and minuses involved, are we prepared to do the hard work?’ Second, I encourage people to pursue the required disciplines. Third, I do everything possible to ensure that people deliver the goods. Previously I made mistakes by assuming people were motivated, but not checking this out properly. Now I go through all three stages.”

You will follow these steps in your own way. Whether you are working as an individual or leading a team, you will focus on desire, discipline and delivery. This will give you the greatest chance of success.