Do you ever “sleep nervous,” awakening in the middle of the night with important things you forgot to do, or need to be sure and remember to do the next day? Do you ever come to the end of the week feeling like you’ve worked hard, but haven’t really accomplished much? If you do, here’s a technique I use, that might be helpful to you.

Every Sunday night I sit down with a legal pad and spend a few minutes thinking about what I must accomplish in the next week for it to be successful. Once I’ve identified the week’s achievements, I figure out which one’s are the most important for Monday and write them under the MONDAY heading. Those are the things I do on Monday. The whole process takes less than 30 minutes.

On Tuesday I’ll take the next most important things and put them under the TUESDAY heading.

I think you see where this is headed.

I always work from the same pads. Some items flow from day to day, or week to week. But that’s OK. Something that got bumped last week because of an unavoidable delay, can get picked back up in the week to come. So these lists become a diary of accomplishments—-completed and remaining to be completed. They help to focus my week, and my day. By writing them down on Sunday night I sleep well because my mind can “let them go” knowing the items are “captured” and I’ll deal with them in the daylight.

Recently I’ve taken to emailing my key team members each morning with the day of the week and the word “priorities” in the subject line. On Monday they’ll get “Monday’s Priorities” and a quick note of what I am working on, what I am concerned about, what I need help with, etc. It helps them to stay on task with me, and helps all of us to be “pulling together in the same direction.”

These tools aren’t magic. They are just tools that increase my effectiveness. I used them daily. If they help you, great!

What kinds of tools do you use to be more effective? Would you be willing to share those with me?

A few years ago my mentor Dan Sullivan taught me about the No Office Solution. It sounded so foreign at the time.

Dan’s concept is that an entrepreneur (or executive) really doesn’t need an office. “But where will I put my stuff?” you ask. “What stuff?” Is Dan’s reply. His point is that you shouldn’t have stuff. Your people should have stuff. You don’t have files. The people who work for you have files. Your entire “office” should fit into one bag and probably contains little more than a laptop.

If you follow Dan’s concept you’ll get to where your only time at the office is time spent in the area of your unique ability. In most cases that involves meeting people—in a conference room. If you are doing something else and need some space to spread out you can do so in that conference room, or at another workstation you’ve borrowed, but you really don’t need an office.

I’m almost there.

I’ve got an office. But I haven’t sat in it for weeks. It does have my “stuff” in it, just because we haven’t bothered yet to get organized in such a way that someone else has all my stuff. But we are SO close. In fact, if I had to, I could be officeless within an hour. And that is my success—-if you can be implemented in an hour, you’re there!

So, I’ve still got a corner. It’s outfitted in a duck theme…..(I’m no duck hunter but the paper looked cool). There are little ducks sitting around amid the nic naks and pictures of my family. There’s a cabinet full of files, and a desk top covered in papers people have handed me. But I’ve not touched it in a month, and pretty much won’t need to for another month.

It feels weird and wonderful to essentially not have an office. Everything I do is in my laptop (for the most part). And I only go in to the office when I am meeting with people.

It’s a good life. I like it.

I still have a job, but I am awfully close to owning a company instead.

When someone asks lots of questions that is a good sign. Questions indicate curiosity, and I’ve become convinced that curiosity is a necessary component to personal development, leadership and accomplishment.

People who are curious and inquisitive about all manner of things have a broad knowledge base. They can converse across a staggering array of topics. This makes them valuable to the team they work with, and the company they work for. They are problem solvers precisely because the breadth of their knowledge base can draw on such a wide variety of resources to solve a problem.

When you ask alot of questions just because you like to know how stuff works, you get a lot of different answers. You learn how different industries, different people, different cultures, different disciplines think and operate. All that information goes into the melting pot and creates the Stew that is You. That latent information lying in your brain suddenly comes to life while you are exercising, or taking a shower, or sitting in your favorite thinking chair. If you are like me, those are the times when you are essentially problem solving…..thinking about ways to fix or enhance things. Suddenly a concept you didn’t even know you knew launches an exercise in thinking that produces a new solution to your problem, or a new strategy for capitalizing on an opportunity. It all happened because a dozen years ago you got curious and asked a lot of questions.

I remember being on a Chamber of Commerce tour of a small company in Southern Arkansas that built the dump beds that go on the back of dump trucks. It was very interesting (how do they roll that steel into that shape) to learn about their business, who their customers were, how they got into the business, what supply and distribution problems they faced, how much their product sold for, where they found skilled workers, how they motivated employees, and what kinds of margins they operated on (yes, I ask the money questions). I recall that the rest of the half-dozen or so people on the tour just kind of stood around with their hands in their pockets and that at one point the lady giving the tour turned to me and enthusiastically said “You ask a lot of good questions!”

My buddy Jon Brownfield and I toured a cigarette manufacturing company once. Why? To see how they make cigarette’s, dummy. Just this year Jim Woolums and I toured the Louisville Slugger factory in of all places……..Louisville. Why? Well, because that’s the touristy thing to do in Louisville, silly. (Caught ya there didn’t I?)

Another friend—the Chief Resident at the University Hospital—took me into surgery once. Why? I asked. We saw butts, breasts and brains. It was really interesting. I’ll never forget watching them use hammers and saws on this lady’s knee and thinking: This is just glorified carpentry. It is!

Now, I can’t point you to any great decisions I’ve made as a leader, or even any great achievements in my personal life because I toured the dump truck, cigarette & baseball bat factories, but I do believe that four decades worth of  inquiry in various and assundry places has produced a library of knowledge that has helped me to be successful and that impacts my company and the people around me.  Just yesterday a brief conversation about the U.S. Postal service came up and out popped a piece of information about designing a mailer that could affect it’s deliverability. Where did that info come from? I don’t know. I didn’t even realize it was there. It’s just something I knew.

I’ve never thought about curiosity much, and only recently has it occurred to me that a person’s measure of curiosity might be a good indicator of their fitness for leading a company to achievement. My theory may or may not be right. It’s just that I think much of what makes me uniquely qualified to do what I do is rooted in my broad knowledge based which was built by asking lots of questions. My business partner even jokes that the first time we ever sat down and had lunch together he felt like he was on the witness stand. Of course, he’s too sensitive! But I’ll bet I did ask a lot of questions. Why? Because I wanted to know him.

As proof that I’m not the only curious one in our midst, I had dinner with a physician this evening—a bonafide Medical Doctor—who wants to get a Masters degree in Theology. Why? He’s curious. He wants to learn.

Cultivating Curiosity

If you buy into my theory that curiosity is important to achievement and success, what follows are some suggestions on how you might cultivate it within yourself.

#1. Be interest in other people and experiences other than your own. I’m generally interested in people and what their experiences are. I like to know about their religion, how they grew up, why they picked the mate they did, and why they listen to the kind of music they do—what about THAT music engages them? I enjoy people who can answer those why questions without feeling defensive. No offense is intended. I just wondered how their mind worked.

If you aren’t interested in other people, it is possible that you are too self-absorbed. If that hits a nerve I’ve got some advice for you: get over yourself. It’s not about you. There are many talented, interesting people in the world. Seek them out and learn from them.

#2. Ask philosophical questions that start with WHY and WHAT. Why did you choose this as your life’s work? Why do you vote Republican? Why do/don’t you exercise regularly? Why don’t you like any ice cream but vanilla? Why is your desk arranged in that manner? What do you think about……..whatever topic you want to bring up. What did you think of…….the most recent thing in the news. You learn a lot about how a person is wired using what and why questions. It’s amazing what people will tell you if you’ll just ask.

I’m convinced that we live way too much of our lives in intellectual and spiritual isolation because we are afraid to ask people questions. As a result, we have to figure out many things for ourselves when we could have learned from others and saved ourselves some pain if we’d have only asked.

#3. Read. Reading books, periodicals, newsletters, blogs and professional journals cultivates an inquisitive mind and stimulates curiosity. Personally, I digest a couple of daily newspapers, three or four magazines a month, and probably 50 books a year. I use reading services and tools to sort internet information that is most likely to be of interest to me. Recently I challenged the leaders of my company to read at least one book a month in order to grow themselves so they could continue to be the kind of leaders worthy of all those who are depending on us (Core Value #1).

If you aren’t a good reader, read! Proficiency will increase by doing.

#4. Travel. You don’t have to go far. I’ve been fortunate to see much of North America and parts of Asia, Europe and Latin America, but there are many opportunities to stimulate your thinking within a couple of hours of where you live. If you are in my neck of the woods, Eureka Springs, Sam Butcher’s Precious Moments museum, George Washington Carver’s Historic site, or the music festival in Mountain View, Arkansas are good places to start. I think the whiskey trail in and around Lexington, KY where my friend Jim lives would be interesting. How do they make that stuff and what’s the difference between whiskey, bourbon, and all those other liquors? While in KY I’d tour a Thoroughbred farm.

From liquor and racehorses to religion—–when I’m in Charlotte I want to tour the Billy Graham museum and home place. In Springfield, Ill I toured the funeral museum once. In northeastern Ohio learn from the Amish. How about swimming with the manatees in Florida? What is it with those rocks in Arizona?

Oh, what a wonderful world full of interesting experiences!

Well, I think I’ve made my point. A mark of an effective communicator is that he knows when to shut up and I’ve likely beaten a dead horse. But I really do think I’m on to something here. As I go forward in life, I’m going to try to surround myself with curious people who are interested in things, ideas, and other people. I want to hang out with big, crazy, “what if” kinds of thinkers. My friend Ken Channel calls them “guys who play intellectual pitch.”

Curiosity may have indeed killed the cat. But I’m pretty sure it’ll make you and me healthier, wealthier, and wiser.

Now, go learn something.

An entrepreneur’s stock in trade is confidence. When he has no confidence, he can’t function because entrepreneurism is fraught with risk—emotional and financial danger, risk to employees, risk to investors, risk to the family. More than one entrepreneur has bit the dust financially and lost everything they own because their business fell apart. So remaining confident in the face of danger is important.

The team that surrounds the entrepreneur exists to “guard his flank” by being sure the enterprise functions properly and successfully. The Flank Guards surround the entrepreneur like the Secret Service surrounds the President. As dangers pop up, the Flank Guards knock them down and keep the entrepreneur protected—more specifically keep his confidence high—so he can continue to creatively fleshing out the vision for the enterprise he is leading.

I’ve found that as my confidence increases my emotions de-celerate. They slow down. I’m not as jumpy—hasty—edgy—nasty. I’m nicer to people when I am confident. I am more patient and more flexible? I am the me I like.

Why is confidence emotionally decelerating? Because an entrepreneur is always guarding his enterprise. He’s always on edge, protecting the baby from danger. Sometimes it seems like there are mercenaries inside and outside the organization who are intent on screwing it up—damaging the baby; Shutting off the revenue; Increasing the expenses;  Draining the bank account; But when the entrepreneur is confident that his flanks are well-guarded and the dangers are protected against, he begins to relax; to not push so hard. His fear that “they” are going to “screw it up” begins to diminish. That’s why confidence is so important.

If you are an entrepreneur you should ask yourself “What am I afraid of? Where am I lacking confidence?” Answering those questions will tell you where you need to focus your attention.

If you work for an entrepreneur you should ask “What can I do to increase my boss’ confidence? Am I executing my responsibilities so he feels like his flanks are guarded?”

A successful bigger future begins with increasing your confidence today.

When it comes to executing your roles in your family, and in that responsibility for which you are economically compensated, are you a leader or a manager? Oh, I know some reading this post will say “I’m neither, I just……” but wait, in that case you are at least a manager; responsible for managing that particular responsibility which you’ve been assigned. So if you are willing to accept at least the “manager” designation, then I want to engage in thought with you about Leadership vs. Management. Perhaps in the mental conversation you’ll find a way to make a bigger difference in the world.

This matter arose in my company because of a management issue. I have colleagues who the world would call “managers” but I find myself talking to them about being better “leaders.” What’s the difference and why does it matter? Good question!

My mentor Lee Brower called my attention to the fact that we have way too much management in this world, and not nearly enough leadership. This is true from Wall Street to your street. Think about it: The large financial companies were gaming the system in the early 2000’s and proverbially “got caught with their pants down” causing legendary firms with centuries of history to vanish over night in 2008. The response was “We need more regulation.” That’s “management speak” and it’s wrong.

What we needed then and now is leadership which says “that’s wrong, danger ahead, you can’t cheat the system and keep inflating the numbers into perpetuity. There will be a pay day, some day.” Leadership speaks to the WHY behind those kind of decisions while management just seeks control. But control ultimately never works. In the 30’s the government tried to control liquor. All that did was make the bootleggers like Joe Kennedy and Al Capone rich. Today, we’ve got drug laws that seek to control use of illicit substances. How’s that working in your community? It won’t work on Wall Street either. Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme has already resulted in a great host of additional government “management” through financial regulations seeking to “control” unethical financial behavior. What’s needed instead is leadership born of personal morality that says “No. You can’t do it. We won’t allow it. And you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to do it. We shun you!” all the while teaching people about the financial, emotional, moral, social, and spiritual costs of such thievery. Really, we need stronger teaching, not stronger legislating. There are absolutes, and those of us who know that need to stand by them.

Lest you think this is just an issue on Wall Street, let’s look at your street. Lee has mentioned how leadership vs. management plays out at your kids school, or in their Little League, or Mighty Mights or whatever they are involved in. Have you heard about these places where the children’s athletic teams don’t keep score because “we wouldn’t want little Johnny to feel badly because his team lost”? Or how about the schools that don’t give grades because they wouldn’t want the low achievers to feel badly because they flunked. What kind of stupid thinking is that? Do you think that when these kids grow up they are going to get a passing grade in life and business just for showing up, without contributing…..”doing their homework” so to speak? Is no one going to keep score in life? Is their employer going to give everyone the same promotion and the same raise, or are there going to be winners and losers? Those who advance, and those who are held back? Those who succeed and those who fail? Ask the guy I terminated yesterday. He’s a prince of a fellow. I like him alot! But he wasn’t getting the job done. He wasn’t passing the class, and ultimately he got kicked out of school. He lost his job. To have kept him on the team risked the economic health of the entire company and ultimately the jobs of every person on the team. Management might have protected his job and thus his emotions, but leadership ultimately protected the jobs of 50 others.

I’m all for cushioning someone’s pain the best we can. Medicine calls it “palliative care” But I’m also for letting people learn by experiencing the hard realities that are life. You will lose, sometimes. You will get hurt. You will experience pain. You will someday die! This is life. Good leadership doesn’t try to “manage” away the pain, instead it equips people to overcome the negatives they face.

Are you leading your family, or managing them? What about your department? Your peers?

When it comes to the vision you are pursuing at home or professionally, are you throwing wood or water on the flame, or are you the keeper of the flame? One is management, the other is leadership.

Here’s another difference between management and leadership: Management focuses on short-term results—what will get the best response “tomorrow?” Leadership focuses on long-term results—what will ultimately make us the strongest as a family or a company over the long haul?

Which is best, short term management, or long term leadership? It depends on what you want. Pine trees grow rapidly. They are a “soft” open-grained wood and don’t have tremendous strength. Oak trees grow slowly. They produce a “hard” tightly grained wood with the greatest strength. So what do you want? A soft child that is emotionally weak? Then manage his environment so that he is protected from every unpleasantness. But if you want a strong family that endures and thrives amid the hardship of life you lead them in how they are to think, how they are to approach and experience life’s difficulties, and you produce a child that will have deep roots through which to draw water during the harsh droughts of adulthood.

In my company I want leaders. People come to us for our leadership. We even having a saying “We help people who have problems, not those who are problems.” That’s true. People come to us when their financial, investment, real estate and business life aren’t working, and we help them sort through their options and develop a strategy to move their life forward.

I want each member of my team—everyone I touch, really—to step up their leadership; to seek to influence for better, the situations in which they are involved and the people they are around. I don’t want people who know how to check boxes, though that is required. I want people who understand intuitively WHY we are checking the boxes. It’s NOT so we’ll have “checked boxes” at the end of the day. It’s because if we have checked all those boxes we’ll have followed a protocol designed to give the highest probability of a positive result for the people who are depending on us.

You see, it really is about WHY vs. WHAT. People who ask WHAT always work for people who KNOW WHY. WHY people set the temperature in the room. WHAT people monitor the temperature in the room.

If the WHY is big enough, the WHAT will always become evident, at least for bright people.

You are bright. You wouldn’t have been able to read this far in this lengthy epistle if you weren’t. You are bright enough to be a WHY guy (or gal). You can be a leader. You can be a difference maker in your family, your church, your community, and your workplace. It starts when you move through and beyond your management responsibilities to take up the mantle of leadership for all the people who are depending on you.