Imagine you’re an Olympic athlete, just weeks away from the winter games. You’re in great shape, but the weeks before the event will be spent in daily practice, increasing your workouts to make sure you’re prepared. Though the physical work is critical, the most crucial aspect of any training regimen is mental preparation. Athletes must remove any seed of doubt and focus on knowing they can and will win. No excuses allowed. Just after the holidays, you will be entering radio’s Olympics. Though no one can accurately predict the economy or the impact of the new administration, it doesn’t take a degree in economics to surmise that 2009 will be a rocky year. Expect the best, but plan for the worst. We must assume that the impact will hit all clients, all client categories, and our own radio billing. Treat your holiday break like the last weeks before the final event: Increase your speed, increase your stamina, increase every metric in your organization, increase your ability to do more with fewer resources and fewer people. Improve your sales closing ratio, increase the number of sales calls and presentations, and perfect your skills in helping businesses reinvent. Tax your creative skills to invent new ideas, new promotions, new solutions to old and new problems. This won’t be a time for the weak: 2009 will require longer hours, more face time with clients, and new advantages radio can offer over other media. Are you up to the task? DON’T WORRY — PLAN Use fear as motivation to take action. Rather than worrying about the unknown, condition your mind for any eventuality. You and your team need to be convinced that you will succeed no matter what, that you will get the dollars being spent, and that you will prevail. How can you prepare? Spend time in play, relaxation, and stress-free family time. Being well rested is the key to a fresh mind and peak stamina. Nonwork diversions are important to a clear mind. Avoid the BlackBerry obsession during the holidays. Lock it up, and put a vacation message on your e-mail. An hour of e-mail will put your mind back into work or worry mode and kill the regeneration process. Our e-mail obsession means we never get away completely. Your brain needs a break. By cutting off work 100 percent, you’ll achieve the mental preparedness necessary to compete in radio’s Olympics. You’ll be more creative, ready to work harder, and able to deal with work stress more effectively. I know you’re a workaholic who believes that no one will leave you alone and let you have time without office contact. But strong leaders will insist on time for themselves, and for their staffs as well.
Hi there, Not sure that this is true:), but thanks for a post. Thank you AlexAxe
Posted by: AlexAxe | March 02, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Great work, Eric! Advice I will certainly take.
Posted by: Jenn Jackson | January 09, 2009 at 04:38 PM