Stop Walking in Circles

By Les Taylor

Walking in Circles is the perfect metaphor for what happens to an individual or an organization that does not have a plan for getting them from where they are now to where they want to be. A five-year study from the Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany proved that absent some type of map or compass, people who are lost actually do walk in circular patterns. It's also true that individuals or organizations who do not have a plan for improving performance and productivity will, year after year, end up right back where they started.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9780978654023

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www.lestaylor.net

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to YOU. I wrote Stop Walking in Circles for the thousands of men and women, just like YOU, who are frustrated with not having a plan or a process for helping them get from where they are now to where they want to be.

The simple but powerful process described in this book will help you, your team or your company increase your performance capacity by helping you see clearly what you want to accomplish, focus intently on those few things that matter most, and work wisely – by linking your most important tasks to your daily calendar.

The process this book describes is your map and compass for leaving the wilderness of the status quo for the land of success and achievement. I wish you well!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It would be difficult, indeed, to try and cite all the authorities and sources I used in writing this book. It does, after all, represent more than thirty years of study, personal experience, reading, and talking with many people in many scenarios in this important field of performance improvement and professional development.

I do want to single out my friend, Bob Kelly, the Resident Wordsmith & Quotemeister of Wordcrafters, Inc. for all the time, effort and expert advice he offered in making this book a reality.

INTRODUCTION

Let me begin by asking you a question: How likely is it that you, and maybe even your company, are lost and walking in circles? Before you answer, I suggest you keep reading. You may be in for a surprise.

Even if you do have some idea of what you want to do, or something specific you want to accomplish, you may not have a plan or a process in place for helping you get there.

The Center for Advanced Research, which is the research arm for the Franklin Covey organization, estimates that less than five percent of the general population of the U.S. have written goals. What that means, of course, is if they have no goals, they have no plan for achieving what they say they want to achieve. They’re just walking in circles.

The failure rate for small businesses in the U.S. annually hovers around ninety-five percent. Eighty percent of that percentage will fail within the first two years of inception. Why such a high failure rate? You guessed it: they have no plan for turning their passion into a profitable enterprise. Small businesses in this country, for the most part, are walking in circles as well.

Large corporations aren’t any better off. If they do have a strategic plan for improving performance and profitability, the chances are somewhere between fifty and seventy-five percent that there’s a huge disconnect between what the employees are doing and what the company needs them to do in order to get to where it wants to be, both in the immediate and long-range future.

I believe Walking in Circles is the perfect metaphor for what happens to individuals or organizations that don’t have a plan, or a process for helping them get from where they are to where they want to be.

A year or so ago, I came across a fascinating study by the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, which proved that, without a map or compass or some type of navigational device, lost people do in fact walk in circles. This five-year study of hundreds of individuals – in various types of terrain – validated the need for some type of navigational device to safely get lost people out of the wilderness. The IBC study further confirmed that just the perception of moving in a straight line or in the right direction was highly unreliable. In other words, direction must be validated.

Do you feel as though you or your organization may have lost its way? Do you long for something you could use to help you get from where you are now to where you really want to be? Well, take heart. This book will provide you with a plan and a process, not just to get you out of the wilderness, but to also chart a very specific course for performance improvement or professional development.

I’ll explain how you can create a One-Page Performance plan that will:

• help you see clearly what you want to accomplish;

• focus intently on those things that matter most;

• work wisely by making your calendar your new best friend.

Creating a simple but powerful performance improvement plan is easier than you think. I’ll help you create a very specific vision for where you want to go, or for what you want to accomplish. We’ll develop strategies for pointing you in the right direction, set goals to guide your path and measure your progress, and carve ninety minutes each day for you to work on those tasks that lead to real and meaningful achievement.

You no longer need to live your life as though you’re lost and walking in circles. This book provides all the tools you need for a life of meaning and achievement. Are you ready for the challenge? Are you ready to begin an exciting and life-changing journey of success and achievement? Then read on, my friend, read on!

CHAPTER 1

Round and Round

If you don’t know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else.

~ Laurence J. Peter

Round and round she goes, and where she stops nobody knows. Once upon a time, that phrase signaled the start of a popular program, first on radio and later on television. Hosted by Major Edward Bowes, it debuted on radio in 1934, as the Major Bowes Amateur Hour. In 1948, it began a run on TV that would last until 1970. After Bowes left the show, he was succeeded by Ted Mack, who remained as the host until it went off the air. Along the way, the name was changed to The Original Amateur Hour.

Between Bowes and Mack, the round and round phrase was spoken 1,651 times. The she actually referred to the wheel which was spun at the start of the show to determine the order in which the contestants would perform. More than four decades after the final show, you’ve probably never heard it (unless you’re a lot older than you look).

I tell that story because it could well be the theme song of many individuals and organizations I’ve worked with as a consultant and coach. Year after year, they’d been going round and round, walking in circles, lacking plans and goals, with little or no idea of their destination – where she stops, nobody knows.

It’s an all-too-familiar tale. For instance, you’ve probably seen a movie or read a book about a plane crash in some remote desolate area. After reality sets in, the survivors decide they need to leave the crash site in order to find food, water and, hopefully, civilization. They have no map or compass, just the sun or moon above, or a landmark in the distance, to provide some general direction, and off they go.

The findings of the Walking in Circles study can certainly be applied to people, or organizations, operating without a specific plan for moving them in the direction they say they want to go.

After a few days of battling the elements, a wild animal or two and possibly even a band of unhappy natives, our weary travelers climb over one last sand dune and, much to their dismay, realize they are right back where they started, at the crash site. They’ve spent three days simply walking in circles.

Do Lost People Really Walk in Circles?

In the Introduction, I referred to a recent study conducted by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, to determine the validity of this widely held belief.

Led by Dr. Jan Souman and Marc Ernst, the team began conducting extensive research to determine whether or not lost people really do walk in circles. Over a five-year period, they placed men and women in unfamiliar environments, without a map or compass and,