You Will Never Hit Your Target If You..... Can Not See It!

As Yogi Bera said, "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." To hit your target, you need to be able to see it. That's why I'm excited to introduce the Elite Performance Matrix from EPP?, aimed at helping you work towards and end up exactly where you want to go.

As part of the launch of my book, "Elite Performance for Managers: The Essential Steps for Transforming Your Career, Life, and Destiny," I'll be sharing some insights with you leading up to the official launch date of February 13th, 2024. Last week, I asked the question, "HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET – TIME?" If you missed it, you can learn more about owning your morning on my website https://www.execpathfinders.com/insights .

My book outlines the pioneering methodology, Elite Performance Pillars?, which provides a roadmap of ten concise steps to fast-track your success in three critical facets of your career. The first Pillar, "Being a Better You," emphasizes that you and you alone are responsible for managing your career.

To help you get started, I gave two homework assignments.

The first was to record how you spend your time during the workday in 30-minute blocks for one week. This exercise helps you identify how you are currently spending your time and where you can make improvements. The second was to identify your top four life priorities and set goals. Without clear goals, you cannot hit your target. To make it even better, I recommend MIT's Sloan School of Management's FAST framework: frequently reviewed, ambitious, specific, and transparent.

How many of you completed the first assignment? It is so important to know where you spend your time. You cannot manage your time if you do not measure your time. With each of my executive coaching clients, it is one of the first homework exercises they complete, and every time the exercise delivers an insightful picture that results in tangible actions moving you closer to your target.

If you want to take it to the next level, start recording how you spend your time from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep. The second homework assignment was to identify your top four life priorities and set goals. This serves as the building blocks for your Elite Performance Matrix.

Did you incorporate the F-A-S-T technique?

F- is frequently reviewing, which is critical to sustaining momentum.

A- is ambitious. Achievable is okay if your goal is to meet the standard, but if you want to make an impact, be bold and ambitious.

S- Specific and Simple

T- is transparent, widely sharing what you are seeking to do, i.e., your statement of intent. Making your priorities visible is powerful, such that every day you are focused on the target.

To help bring the Elite Performance Matrix together, I have included an example to help you incorporate this game-changing tool into your life. The Elite Performance Matrix represents not only your professional life but also the three other priorities in your life. The finished product is a 4x8 matrix, with the first column representing four life priorities: Spiritual, Business (my two companies), Family, and Physical. The next column has 3-5 simple/F-A-S-T goals for each, while the last column has the next six individual months where you can denote progress and key milestones under each month's heading. During your week, you can track your progress and consolidate the summary into the monthly headings. The Elite Performance Matrix is a game changer.

To hit your target every day, I incorporate the following steps into my daily Elite Performance Morning Routine:

- Magical Morning 5-minute technique (6 days a week): Each morning, take 5 minutes to reflect upon your life's goals neatly summarized into an Elite Performance 4x8 matrix.

- Take advantage of these magical few minutes. Unleash your brainpower in the solitude of the morning, and you will be able to operate at full throttle.

- Row by row, take a quick inventory, a mark-to-market of each of the foundational topics, and the related goals for managing you. Ask yourself how you are doing. Celebrate the small wins and focus your efforts today on where you deem they are most needed. You have reflected on the past 24 hours and determined where to focus your efforts today. You have a game plan before you even go to work. You are an elite performer.

- It is best to perform any critical analyses in the morning when your powers of logic and deduction are at their sharpest. Scientific evidence supports the Elite Morning Performance Routine "EMPR" as your cognitive processes are best in the morning when there is less interruption, and your cognitive bandwidth is at its maximum.

- Plan for the week: I strongly recommend that at least once a week (I use Sunday Evening), you spend 30 minutes to reflect on your goals, record key progress made, milestones accomplished, areas that require attention, and corrective actions. Re-evaluate goals as needed. Set your sights with a clear mind and updated matrix for the week ahead. Add it up, and you are now dedicating 1 hour a week in your EMPR to manage your career and life.

Bringing it all together, you have a visual target, the four priorities in your life captured in the 4x8 Elite Performance Matrix. Make sure you can see your target. Have a digital copy of your Elite Performance Matrix on your phone, a printout in your office, or laminated in your wallet. Now, hold yourself accountable and make sure the time you spend is highly correlated to the priorities in your life. You defined it. Now own it.

“If a goal is worth having, it's worth blocking out the time in your day-to-day life necessary to achieve it.” — Jill Koenig

If you would like to learn more about how ExecPathfinders is changing the lives of elite performers and dynamic companies around the world. Please refer to our website for more information https://www.execpathfinders.com/ Email us at [email protected] or call us at +1 (949)-844-1912. Mention “Elite Performance Matrix” to save 25% off your first Executive Coaching or Strategy Consulting engagement.

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