Jill Koenig posted a great piece of career advice on Facebook yesterday. Check it out…
“More often than not, discipline is the single greatest factor in determining whether or not you achieve your long term goals. Planning requires discipline, concentration requires discipline, a positive mindset requires discipline, visualizing your outcome requires discipline, all other skills necessary for goal achieving require discipline to manifest your desired outcome.”
Jill is a smart woman. I suggest you check out her Facebook page. Tell her I sent you. And, she’s right on here. Discipline is an important key to career success. And discipline takes persistence. Tweet 35 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Persistent people keep going; especially in the face of difficulties. Keep at it and you will accomplish your goals.” I believe you have to be disciplined to keep at it.
John Miller is a friend of mine. He is also the author of a great little book called QBQ! The Question Behind the Question. John says that all too often we ask the wrong questions when we run into problems. These questions focus on other people. They seek to find who to blame for our troubles and difficulties. John suggests that you (and I) should ask the question behind the question – the question that requires discipline, empowers us and helps us take charge of our life and career success.
John is on to something here. His question behind the question concept is great career advice. QBQs, as John calls them, help us become disciplined and persistent and keep going in the face of difficulties.
At the end of the book, John provides “a great list of lousy questions,” along with a QBQ that he suggests will help you move toward your life and career success. Check them out…
Lousy Customer Service Questions
- When will shipping start getting orders out on time?
- Why do our customers expect so much of us?
- Why don’t customers follow the instructions?
Customer Service QBQ
- How can I best serve our customers?
Lousy Sales Questions
- Why are our prices so high?
- When will our products become more competitive?
- Why won’t customers call me back?
- When will marketing give us better sales aids?
- Why can’t manufacturing make what we sell?
Sales QBQs
- What can I do today to become a more effective sales person?
- How can I add value for my customers?
Lousy Marketing Questions
- When will salespeople deliver our programs?
- Why won’t salespeople take the time to learn our new products?
Marketing QBQs
- What can I do to understand sales reps’ issues and concerns?
- How can I learn more about what our customers want and need?
Lousy Manufacturing Questions
- Why can’t salespeople stay within our capabilities?
- When will they learn to sell according to our specifications?
Manufacturing QBQ
- How can I better understand the challenges our salespeople face?
Lousy Individual Contributor Questions
- Why do we have to go through all this change?
- When will I get the training I need?
- Why don’t I get paid more?
- Who is going to clarify my role and responsibilities?
- When is management going to get their act together?
- Who will set our vision?
Individual Contributor QBQs
- What can I do to be more productive?
- How can I adapt to our changing environment?
- What can I do to develop myself?
Lousy Management and Leadership Questions
- Why doesn’t the younger generation want to work hard?
- When am I going to find good people?
- Why aren’t my people motivated?
- Who made that mistake?
- Why don’t people come in on time?
- Who dropped the ball?
- When are they going to catch the vision?
- Who will care as much as I do?
- When will the market turn around?
- Who do I have to do everything myself?
Management and Leadership QBQs
- How can I be a more effective coach?
- What can I do to better understand each person on my team?
- How can I be a better leader?
- What can I do to show I care?
- How can I communicate better?
- How can I do a better job of delegating?
Notice that all of the QBQs have the word “I” in them. “I” Implies a high level of personal responsibility. Asking yourself what you can do to make a situation better and move closer to the career success you want and deserve takes personal discipline.
The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Successful people are persistent and disciplined. As Jill Koenig says, “More often than not, discipline is the single greatest factor in determining whether or not you achieve your long term goals.” Become a persistent and disciplined person. Follow the career advice in Tweet 35 in Success Tweets. “Persistent people keep going; especially in the face of difficulties. Keep at it and you will accomplish your goals.” Successful people don’t search for blame. They search for what they can do to overcome the problems and difficulties that are getting in the way of their career success. They ask what my friend John Miller calls “the question behind the question,” or a QBQ. Questions behind the question focus on what you can do to solve problems and handle difficulties. They begin with the words “how” and “what”. They contain the word “I;” and they focus on action. Here is my best career success coach QBQ: “What can I do to create my own life and career success?” Ask and answer this question, be persistent and disciplined enough to put your answers into action and you’ll be well on your way to the life and career success you want and deserve.
That’s my career advice on being persistent and disciplined in pursuit of your career success. What do you think? Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment. As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.
Bud
PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained. It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail. Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy. You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.
Questions behind the question focus on what you can do to solve problems and handle difficulties. They begin with the words “how” and “what”. They contain the word “I;” and they focus on action. Here is my best career success coach QBQ: “What can I do to create my own success?” Ask and answer this question, be persistent and disciplined enough to put your answers into action and you’ll be well on your way to the life and career success you want and deserve.
That’s my career advice on being persistent and disciplined in pursuit of your career success. What do you think? Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment. As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.
Bud
PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained. It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail. Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy. You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.
Speak Your Mind