This is an excerpt from my latest book, Getting Results the Agile Way. It’s from the A Word from the Author section. One of my reader’s tells me that this was the most impactful prose for them. I think because it answers the question, “Why did I write this guide?” This is yet another reminder to me how important it is to lead with your why. Here it is …

“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.” — Arnold H. Glasgow

Getting Results is spreading. It’s leading to all sorts of interesting connections for me and it’s making a difference in people’s lives. I’m getting regular emails from people that have adopted the approach and found a new lease on life. I think the most surprising one for me came earlier this week … a raving fan liked the book so much he offered to translate it to Chinese!

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” — Ovid

One of the most important patterns in Getting Results is the Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, and Friday Reflection pattern. It’s a simple way to get meaningful results each day and each week. It’s how I avoid getting overwhelmed and how I drive results for myself, the teams I lead, and the people I mentor.

When i first joined Microsoft, I felt like I had joined an elite team of smart people that gets results. Microsoft is a big place, and I had joined the Developer Support Team. It was an interesting team and I was surrounded by people who worked smarter, harder, faster, and more effective than anything I had ever seen before. There were people that built robots and people that built rockets. There were former accountants and former professors. The intellectual horsepower was stunning and so was the passion.

I was curious how I too could become a skilled Softie.

I created a simple view of the Getting Results Knowledge Base for my latest book, Getting Results the Agile Way, which is a personal results system for work and life. The Knowledge Base provides simple job aids including Cheat Sheets, Checklists, How Tos, Guidelines, and Templates.

Effective is doing the right things for the right results. Efficient is optimizing. It’s the least waste of time and effort.

Before you try to be more efficient, first try to be more effective. There’s no point in optimizing ineffective things. I think of this as first asking, “What do I want to accomplish?”, then asking, “Where can I optimize?”

“If you don’t know the trees you may be lost in the forest, but if you don’t know the stories you may be lost in life.” —Siberian Elder

We’re wired for stories. Stories help us make meaning and they help us remember things. They can also help us simplify and avoid getting overwhelmed in our everyday things. The big idea to keep in mind here is that you’re the most important story teller in your life, and you can use little stories for getting results.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” — Chinese Proverb

I thought it would be good to share the momentum of Getting Results so far. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind and I’m seeing some great trajectory. I didn’t really know what to expect, but folks in the know are telling me the trajectory is strong and contagious.

If you don’t have a system for results, now is a great time to adopt one. I’ll give you a quick start and step you through adopting Agile Results. Even if you already have a system for results, you can adopt pieces of Agile Results to get more out of it.

Having a system on your side gives you a firm foundation. It helps you when you fall down or are overwhelmed. It also helps you move up the stack by not having to worry about the basics. By making results a routine and rhythm, you can direct your attention on to bigger and better things

The Getting Results Facebook Fan Page is now available. It’s for my latest book, Getting Results the Agile Way.

Getting Results is my first non-technical book and it’s all about making you great. You’ll learn the super skills for working on the right things, the right way, at the right time, with the right energy … unleashing your best.

“You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger.” – John C. Maxwell

When it comes to getting results, it takes motivation and ability. Motivation makes things happen. Where there’s no will, there’s no way.

I dedicated a full chapter on motivation in my Getting Results book, but I want to give you an introduction here. If you can master motivation, you can deal with life’s setbacks, as well as inspire yourself to always find a way forward, and create new experiences for yourself, and follow your growth. In this post, I’ll demystify motivation and give you the tools that really work.

“3 take aways” is one of my favorite ways to chop information down to size.  I also use it to make the most of a meeting or training session.  All I do, is ask myself, "what are 3 take aways?"   Does it sound simple?  That’s the idea.  It helps you avoid becoming overwhelmed.  It also forces you to focus and prioritize.  It’s a great way to turn insight into action.
For example, from my Crucial Conversations training, my 3 take aways were:

1) Master my stories.
2) Learn to look. …

This post is an index of my book nuggets from Flawless Execution: Use the Techniques and Systems of America’s Fighter Pilots to Perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World, by James D. Murphy. In this book, the author teaches you how to improve execution, using techniques, systems, and strategies from U.S. fighter pilots. This includes learning how to leverage the Plan-Brief-Execute-Debrief-Win cycle, which is the heart of flawless execution.
My Nuggets
Here’s my nuggets so far:

How To Avoid Task Saturation
How To Paint a Future Picture
Planning a Mission
Sharing …