Friday, February 4, 2011

It's Friday...Finish Strong


“…the quickest way to get started is to stop talking, and begin doing.”    – Walt Disney

It’s Friday…Finish Strong

Friday morning.  The weekend is just on the other side of that last email, meeting, or phone call later today.  You could probably relax and take it easy after lunch, right?  Probably just mail it in from about 2pm on…coast through the afternoon, going through the motions as you count the minutes until happy hour.

Or...

you could be awesome…it’s up to you

You could attack your to do list this morning right off the bat…first crack out of the box.  Spend the first 15 minutes of your day thinking.  Rudy Giuliani says in his book, Leadership, that when he was Mayor, “the idea was to get as much work as possible out of the way in the first hour of the day.” Prioritize your list, and punch out the most annoying item on your list first.  Eat the Frog. 


Think about your competition…Sales Managers of your rival company; Travel Agents vying for the same clients you’re targeting; other entrepreneurs working on making their next big idea a billion dollar business before you do; the other applicants going for the same job you’re going for…they’ll probably mail it in today at 2pm and be the first ones at happy hour.  You could get that much ahead of the pack, if you finish strong, rather than slacking off just because it’s Friday.

Think about your teammates…your peers…your staff…your spouse…or even your boss.  Could anyone use an extra hand in completing a project?  Brainstorming an idea?  Drafting a proposal?  If you’ve busted it this week so far and have the extra capacity, offer up your services to someone else. 

That question you answered for somebody on Tuesday…call them back and ask them how that turned out, whatever that may have been.  That client you said you would get back to with an answer or a proposal by the first of the week, hit them with a surprising Friday afternoon call with some good news.  How about that staff member that came to you yesterday with a random question to which you didn’t have the answer right away…go get the answer, and follow up with them before they leave for their weekend.  You’ll make them feel like a million bucks because you cared enough to do that. 

So many opportunities to make magic today…don’t mail it in just because it’s Friday…Finish Strong.

“…hop to it…do good today…”Kermit “the” Frog

Have a great day. 

Taylor 

Eat the Frog is from author, Brian Tracy

5 comments:

  1. I'm a senior journalism major at the University of North Florida- I stumbled upon you on Twitter and currently follow you- just had to let you know I shared a link to your blog because of this post- EXACTLY the motivation I needed for my long day at my internship! Thanks so much!

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  2. Welcome aboard, Brittney. I look forward to keeping in touch. Have a great day.

    Taylor

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  3. Holy Cow Tay - I want to be on YOUR team. I am going to take this approach starting tomorrow morning - maybe I can enourage a few people to "finish strong" with me! You are totally awesome!

    vicki

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  4. On point! I'm eating the frog for lunch today thanks to this post.

    B

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  5. Re-discovered this today...needed it! Finishing strong.

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