stickK to your goals

stickK

Do you have a few goals that you can’t seem to accomplish?

Do your New Year’s resolutions fade before the champagne goes flat?

If so, then check out stickK, a clever new website that helps you make good on your goal. Here is how it works:

stickK allows you to put a “Commitment Contract” out on yourself. Want to lose weight? Write the great American novel? Eat healthier? Run a 10K?

If it’s still just a goal, it means you haven’t reached it yet.

This ties in the two things necessary to accomplish a goal:
1) creating incentives and
2) assigning accountability

Your Commitment Contract obliges you to complete your goal within a particular time-frame. Not only are you challenging yourself, you put your reputation at stake. You enter ‘friends’ and ‘witnesses’ on the site. If you are unsuccessful, stickK tells them all.

For some people, reputation isn’t enough, so stickk uses one more incentive.

Cash.

stickK allows you to put your money on the line for any Commitment Contract. Achieve your goal and you don’t pay a thing. But if you aren’t successful, you forfeit your money to a charity or (even more incentive) an anti-charity, an organization you wouldn’t normally support.

The risk of contributing your own money to the “Kill Baby Seals” fund is usually enough incentive to get off the couch or choose a salad over pizza.

My good friend Paul has already accomplished many of his goals using stickK.

Paul-stickK-goals

You know you have a goal. Log it in stickK. If you want, put me as one of your supporters and I’ll personally help you stickK to it.

What's your weakness?

Chain Link

When is the last time you held a meeting to discuss your biggest weakness?

If a competing firm wanted to steal (or even market to) your customers, where would they focus?

Could they treat your customers better?

Ship faster?

Provide better technical support?

How easy would it be for them to make your customers feel better than you do?

Identify your biggest weakness and eliminate it before your competitors exploit it.

Stacking dominoes

Dominoes

Remember stacking dominoes as a kid? As long as you stack them close enough together, they’ll all fall down because they are the same size and weight.

Think of your competing priorities & projects as dominoes that are not the same size. Some are much larger and heavier. Some are smaller and lighter.

If you stack them in the right order, the momentum from the completion of one tips the others. But if you stack the smallest dominoes first, they won’t tip the larger ones. You’ll be stuck.

Will one successful product launch fund the next three?

Will one critical sale help close the next ten?

Lay out all your projects. Identify competing priorities. Determine how to stack them so that the success of the first sets off a chain reaction.

Stack the dominoes. Then focus manically on tipping the first one.

Your idea isn't special

petrock

I hate to tell you this, but someone else has already thought of it.

You know, that million-dollar gem that you thought of last year but haven’t told anyone about for fear they would steal it?

Go ahead. Tell them. Tell anyone. Tell everyone.

Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK wasn’t the first guy to think about making money by hauling people’s trash away. He just executed better than anyone.

Ev Williams and Biz Stone weren’t the first people to have the idea that microblogging would take off. But they were the first ones to build Twitter. They executed. They won.

The value isn’t in the idea. (Here are 999 ideas you can have for free.) The value is in the execution.

If you can out execute the competition, you’ll win. It doesn’t matter how many people know about your idea.

If you can’t out execute, be honest with yourself. That isn’t likely to change anytime soon, so share the idea with someone who can. Write a blog post. Send a letter to an expert. Start a Facebook page. Partner with somebody who can execute and maybe they’ll bring you the next idea.

Either execute on your idea or share it liberally.

Gaining approval

mypressi-twist-espresso-machine

Do you have a great idea for overhauling the company intranet but know that you could never get approval from the IT managers?

Did you just think of a great new product but are afraid that the R&D execs will squash the idea?

The good news:
I know the formula to help you get your idea implemented.

The bad news:

It will take time and runs counterintuitive to human nature.

Here is the magic formula.

1) Start small. Implement an idea that is of low enough risk to get the initial buy in from someone who trusts you. If it’s small enough and low risk enough, don’t even ask permission. Just do it.

2) Promise them all the credit. If it succeeds, you make sure it comes across as their idea. They get all the plaques, ribbons and accolades.

3) You take all the blame. If it fails, make sure they know it will be on your shoulders, not theirs.

4) Execute. Deliver early and under budget. Implement wow.

5) Rinse and repeat with something bigger. If you keep making other people look good and get quality projects executed, you’ll gain a reputation. And more autonomy.

Do this a few times and your biggest problem will be choosing who gets to take credit for your next great idea.

Do it a few more times and you won’t be able to escape the credit.

Do CEOs matter?

The Atlantic brings us an excellent article analyzing the importance of CEOs.

Should Apple’s stock price so closely track Steve Jobs’ health?

Was Lee Iacocca a hero?

Does industry and timing play a role into how much impact a CEO has?

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(Image credit: Tim Wagner/Zuma Press)

The 99 Percent Conference

I wanted to personally thank Scott Belsky and his team at Behance and Josh Rubin and his team at Cool Hunting for hosting the 99% Conference at the Times Center in New York City this week.

This was the first ever 99 Percent conference. Many inaugural conferences hit multiple snags in either planning or execution. Behance and Cool Hunting pulled this off like they’ve been doing it for years, and much more flawlessly than the amazing TED conference on it’s 25th anniversary. Maybe Scott and Josh will allow their conference committees to help out in Long Beach in 2010.

Unlike many conferences that focus simply on new ideas, this one was about making ideas happen. The name of the conference came from Thomas Edison’s famous quote, “Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” More than 350 creative thinkers gathered to hear nine 20-minute presentations focused on productivity and the process of executing ideas.

The speakers were simply amazing. Instead of rewriting my own synopsis, I’ll link to those who have already eloquently summarized the main points.

Fast Company

Technotheory

Design Arts Daily

Swiss Miss on Ji Lee

Swiss Miss on Seth Godin

Alex’s excellent Squidoo lens


The conference was amazing. I’ll definitely be back next year.