The Double Win

Every leader needs an assistant to manage low-leverage tasks so they can focus on driving results. A world-class assistant can easily remove 15 or 20 hours’ work from your plate. But it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Many executives aren’t used to the daily rhythm of working with a right-hand person. Others have tried hiring an EA before and had bad experiences.

You may wonder if really need an assistant—or feel unsure about how to leverage one fully.

Here’s help! If you’re dithering about hiring an EA—or if you have an assistant but don’t feel like you’re getting full value—this episode is for you. My ace executive assistant, Jim Kelly, joins the podcast to talk about how he takes a ton of work off my plate so I can concentrate on growing my business. Honestly, I don’t know how I ever did this without him. By the time we’re through, you’ll be dying to get the help you know you need. And? You’ll have the confidence to begin delegating effectively, right from the start.

Here’s what’s inside this episode—

• The real job of a rockstar EA.
• The foundational communication rhythms that make a strong partnership.
• The automation tool that can help you leverage asynchronous communication with an EA.
• Simple hacks for using your EA to tame your inboxes.
• Should your EA respond to messages in your name, or their own?
• Automated tools to help your EA communicate for you.
• What is “calendar proofing” and why your EA should be doing it for you.
• How to know when you should make a template for a given task.
• Should your EA answer your phone?
• How to use two phone numbers with Google Voice to reduce your phone time.
• What personal data you can share with your EA, what what you shouldn’t.
• The common-sense limits for which “personal” tasks an EA can legitimately handle for an executive.
• Some personal assistance tasks that an EA can accomplish on your behalf.

If you think you might need an executive assistant, you probably needed on six months ago. It’s time to stop thinking about the cost of having an EA and start thinking about the cost of not having one. Do the math, and you’ll be amazed at how much money you’re wasting on low-leverage tasks!After listening to this episode, you’ll be more than ready to pull the trigger on the most important hire you’ll ever make. And you’ll have the confidence to do it!

Are You the Only One?

I’m guessing you’re not the only one who has been unsure about how to work with an EA. If any of your friends are managers, executives, or entrepreneurs, you probably know quite a few people who need this content! Do them a favor and share this episode in your favorite social channel. Be sure to tag your most-overwhelmed friends. (Trust me, they’ll thank you for it!) And remember the hashtag #leadtowin.

Resources from This Episode

• Your World-Class Assistant by Michael Hyatt
• Slack
• Geekbot
• Sanebox
• Unroll.me
• Gmail
• TextExpander
• Google Voice

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Leaders are problem solvers, and that means coming up with the right answers. The problem is that you may have no one to go to with our own inquiries. It’s tough to be the one everybody’s looking to for solutions when you’ve got more questions than answers! The longer we’re in leadership, the more we’re convinced that asking the right questions is far more important than always having an answer in your hip pocket.

That’s why we take time out once in awhile to let you ask the questions that are on your mind. That’s what this episode is about. Think of it as a whiteboard session. We’ll tackle some of your most persistent questions and offer the benefit of our experience.

Here’s what’s inside this episode:

• Andy Comer asks how to create meaningful relationship goals in the SMARTER™ format.
• Jordan Brittley wants to know how to keep track of revenue goals—without becoming a slave to them.
• Sprout Marketing asks how to maintain a personal connection with employees as your business scales.
• Tom Tonkin poses a question about the definition of leadership.
• Katie Eckleman wants to know how to share her ideas about goal setting with upper management.
• Heather Button asks what to do when another department in the company isn’t leading effectively.
• Chad Ingels wants to know what are the first things to delegate as you scale up from a one-person organization.
• Kim Metzler asks for the best systems and hacks for someone who struggles with organization.
• Belinda wants to know when to “let go” of a project.
• Dee asks about how to land a job.
• Greg Brown has a question about how to balance your focus between the things you can control versus the things you can’t.
• Kevin Gomez wonders what to do when you personal growth plan causes you to outgrow your leaders. 

With questions on leadership, productivity, goal setting, and personal growth, we know there’ll be some positive takeaways for you in this episode.

After listening, here’s your next step: choose one practical action you can take today to begin making a positive change in your business or personal life. Remember, big changes always begin with one small step in the right direction. 

Resources from this episode:

• 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller
• Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt
• Focus on This
• Full Focus Planner
• “How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes: Part 1” by Michael Hyatt
• “How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes: Part 2” by Michael Hyatt
• “How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes: Part 3” by Michael Hyatt  

For more podcasts, visit https://leadto.win

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Leaders thrive on getting things done. The problem is that there’s more to be done than any one person can accomplish. That can leave you feeling overwhelmed, even paralyzed. Ever found yourself procrastinating because you couldn’t decide what to do next?

There’s a better way.

We’ve got a simple plan for any time you feel overwhelmed at work. These four action steps will help you regain your margin and be more productive than ever.

If you find yourself feeling dread rather than excitement when you think about work, it’s time for a change. Try it and see!

This episode of Lead to Win is brought to you by the new Classic, Executive, and Bold Full Focus Planners. Find out more at leadto.win/planner.

***

Here’s what we talk about inside this episode—

• What’s really making you feel overwhelmed.
• The real secret to ending overwhelm.
• How to regain a sense of control in your life.
• A simple technique for culling your to-do list.
• How your favorite productivity tool might be contributing to your overwhelm.
• How to recognize your productivity sinkholes.
• How the doom loop of dread, procrastination, and overwhelm contributes to your problem.
• How an associate or mentor can help you identify the key tasks that drive your overwhelm.
• Why not delegating costs you both time and money.
• How your need for control is driving your crazy!
• The emotional flip-flop that occurs when you learn how to delegate.
• Entry-level ways to begin delegating, even if you don’t have an assistant.
• Why it is vital that you calendar your work, not just your appointments.
• Why you need to add personal tasks and projects into your daily planning.

Once you’ve listened to this episode, here’s your next step. Do a “brain dump” and put all your tasks, projects, appointments, and commitments on the table. That will give you the objectivity you need to evaluate where you are and make decisions about your highest leverage tasks. You’ll start feeling better immediately!

Who Do You Know Who Needs This? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’re certainly not alone. Chances are good that you have a friend or coworker who could benefit from this episode. Why not share it? Drop a link to this episode into your favorite social channel, and take three or four people you know. Let’s help everybody regain their balance! Use the hashtag #leadtowin.

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Leaders like to plan their work and work their plan. The problem is that real-life gets in the way. Interruptions, distractions, and unforeseen problems can make a trainwreck of your week even before it leaves the station. By Friday, you can feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and wonder, “What did I really accomplish?” There’s got to be a better way to plan your week.

Well, there is! And we can teach it to you. We’ve seen our share of Monday to Friday chaos, and we’ve developed a simple system that lets you take control of your week and ensure that you stay focused.

Try these next-level strategies, and you’ll finally escape the sickening feeling of never getting anything done. You’re going to start loving Mondays again!

Don’t miss out on the free download that goes along with this episode, the Perfect Progress Checklist. It’s a simple tool to tuck inside your Full Focus Planner to kick your weekly planning into high gear. Get yours now.

Your Friends Need This

We’ll bet you have at least one friend who really needs these tips on weekly planning. Why not help them out by texting a link to this episode right now?

You can also share it on your favorite social media platform. Just click one of the links in the sidebar and use the hashtag #leadtowin.

Resources from This Episode

• The Quick Win
• Full Focus Planner
• “Self-Care as a Leadership Discipline” by Michael Hyatt
• The Perfect Progress Checklist

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We're happy to announce our new Michael Hyatt & Co. podcast: Focus on This! It's the most productive podcast on the internet.

If you want to achieve your big goals and return toyour most important priorities, focus is the key. Building off of the successful framework of the Full Focus Planner, hosts Courtney Baker and Blake Stratton will providepractical solutions to guide you back to focus.

Subscribe now and listen to two brand new episodes of Focus on This.

Apple Podcasts: https://focusonthispodcast.com/subscribe-apple

Google Podcasts: https://focusonthispodcast.com/subscribe-google

Spotify: https://focusonthispodcast.com/subscribe-spotify

Stitcher: https://focusonthispodcast.com/subscribe-stitcher

Also, don't worry! A brand new episode of Lead to Win will be available tomorrow (9/9).

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As a high-performing leader, we know you love using productivity products like the Full Focus Planner. But any new system can seem overwhelming at first. Honestly, our planner can seem that way at first. With so many features built in, it’s hard to know where to start. You may wonder if you’re actually getting the full value from this amazing product.

Not to worry. We’ll give you the inside track on setting up your new planner so you can start using it right away. Here’s the main thing: don’t try to use every feature at once. You don’t have to master the entire Full Focus™ system to get a huge productivity boost from the planner.

Follow the nine simple steps in this episode, and you’ll be more productive starting today. It’s really that easy to use.

Once you’ve listened to this episode, go ahead and implement step one immediately. Take the other nine steps at your own pace. You’ll be amazed at the results.

Also, if you want to introduce the planner to friends or team members, this episode is the perfect introduction. Why not text them the link right now?

Resources from This Episode

• Full Focus Planner

• Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt

• “The Benefit of Pairing Digital and Analog to Manage Your Day” by Michael Hyatt

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Leaders create change. The problem is that not everybody wants change. You’ve probably faced the frustration of having your team be less than enthusiastic about a new initiative. That’s when you hear all the familiar lines: “We tried that before.” “It’ll cost too much.” “Why do we need this, anyway?”

It’s exhausting. But there is hope! Here’s an easy way to get people onboard with a new initiative. It’s so simple, you’ll wonder you you haven’t thought of it before now.

Here it is: When introducing any change, from procedures or policies up to and including new product releases, ask people to think of it as an experiment.

Hold on! We know that sounds either simplistic or downright dangerous, but there’s a real logic behind it. And? It really works. We’ve used it dozens of times, both when we find ourselves procrastinating on personal change, and even when we launched one of our most successful products.

Try this yourself, and you’ll instantly overcome resistance and gain buy-in for your change initiatives. You’ll finally escape the purgatory of endless discussion about a new idea and quickly move to action.

This episode of Lead to Win is brought to you by The LeaderScore Assessment, a simple tool to evaluate the health of your leadership. Find out more at leadto.win/leaderscore.

TEXT A FRIEND

If this episode strikes home with you, why not text the link to a friend? Failure is a universal experience, and someone you know could probably benefit from this content.

While you’re at it, we’d love to hear from you too. Would you leave a review on iTunes? Good, bad, or indifferent. We’d love to hear what you think. We read all of your comments, and they really do help us make the show better! Thanks so much.

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Leaders are achievers. But nobody bats 1.000. We all experience failure eventually. That can be discouraging—even humiliating! That’s why most of us react in one of two ways. Either we globalize our failure by thinking we won’t ever succeed. Or we sweep the loss away quickly and forget it.

But what if there was a better way to fail?

Failure doesn’t have to be fatal, and it should never be ignored. We know because we’ve been there!

Your failures can make you a better leader if you take the time to examine them non-defensively, learn some lessons, and then move on with confidence. Based on years of business experience, including our share of ups and downs, we’ve identified six specific actions you can take to get every bit of value you can from an experience—even failure.

Here’s a preview of this episode:

• The most recent failure we experienced, and what we learned from it.
• The obvious—and difficult—first step in learning from failure.
• How ignoring your own failure undermines your confidence.
• How avoiding full responsibility for your failure compounds the effect.
• The most empowering action you can take after a failure.
• Healthy ways to mourn a failure.
• The downside of “staying strong” all the time.
• Six questions that help you learn from failure.
• The “KISS” method for processing an experience (it’s not what you think).
• The most important trait you need in order to avoid repeating a failure.
• The surprising and beneficial result of taking time to process failure.
• That day Michael literally got back up on the horse!
• How to keep failure from making your fearful in the future.
• The reason you can actually be grateful for a failure.

Now that you know how to profit from failure, try this: apply these six steps to your most recent experience of failure. We’re betting that’ll help you avoid being stuck in the past, and gain the wisdom you need to achieve even greater things in the future. Give it a try!

TEXT A FRIEND

If this episode strikes home with you, why not text the link to a friend? Failure is a universal experience, and someone you know could probably benefit from this content.

While you’re at it, we’d love to hear from you too. Would you leave a review on iTunes? Good, bad, or indifferent. We’d love to hear what you think. We read all of your comments, and they really do help us make the show better! Thanks so much.

Resources from This Episode

• “How to Recover When You Blow It Big Time” by Michael Hyatt (https://michaelhyatt.com/brene-brown-rising-strong/)
• “Why No Failure Is Truly Permanent” by Michael Hyatt (https://michaelhyatt.com/no-failure-permanent/)

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Good leaders want to do the right thing. But sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. Have you ever made a really dumb choice that cost you a relationship or an opportunity?

It’s so discouraging to realize you’ve made an avoidable mistake. It can even make you question your decision making ability.

But you can recover.

When we see people who seem to always make the best decision, it’s tempting to believe that they’re just smarter than we are, or maybe have a unique gift. Not true! Nobody is born wise.

The good news is that wisdom is a trait you can acquire.

Over a lifetime of practice (and the mistakes to go with it) we’ve distilled our learning into 3 habits that wise leaders consistently practice.

Put these habits to work for you, and you’ll begin to see a huge difference. You’ll avoid the regret and disappointment that come with repeated failure. Your decision making will improve, you’ll make better choices, and you’ll become the respected leader you aspire to be.

Once you’ve listened to this episode, ask yourself this key question: “In what area of my leadership am I most reluctant to receive honest feedback from others, especially those closest to me?”

Your answer will indicate the primary place to apply what you’ve learned here. When you do, you’ll be well on your way to wisdom.

SHARE THE LOVE

If Lead to Win is making a difference in your life, share the good news! The simplest way to do that is to click one of the social media buttons in the sidebar. Tag three people you want to encourage, and share the love.

And remember to follow us on Instagram: @michaelhyatt and @meghmiller. You’ll get the benefit of our latest ideas and advance notice of new products. It’s also a great place to engage. Yes, we do read your comments and frequently respond!

Resources from This Episode

• “The Primary Difference Between the Wise and the Foolish” by Michael Hyatt

• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

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