Did you ever stand in the middle of a room full of boxes after a move, or look at your office with piles all over your desk (the floor, the table, etc) and feel totally overwhelmed? Having completed five moves across country in ten years – and being a great piler myself – I’ve been there. Done that, on both counts.

It is completely overwhelming.

That is exactly how I felt with the task of writing “What I’ve accomplished in 2012″ for my business coaching program. On the one hand, I was excited to think about what I want to (will) accomplish this year. On the other hand, just putting it all together was overwhelming.

Having recently written an article for the synergizer! newsletter – (Almost) Everything I Learned about Business I Learned from Chickens – it made me think about our little feathered friends. Chickens lay about 365 eggs every year. Personally, if I were a chicken I would be totally overwhelmed at the prospect of laying 365 eggs a year.

But thinking of laying one egg every day isn’t all that oppressive.

So I sat down and brainstormed what I want to accomplish in 2012 with the following categories:

• Creative
• Financial
• Personal
• Physical
• Spiritual
• The Women’s Center (a new revenue center for synergize!)

And then, since I am supposed to consider how I accomplished these goals, went back for each one and wrote what I did to accomplish it.

The time spent on this was well worth it – I ended the exercise ready to sit down at the piano, not eat that bowl of ice cream, get to bed on time, and get up before dawn to run.

What will you accomplish this year? Laying one egg a day brings astounding results at the end of the year. What ones do you need to lay to get you where you want to be at the end of the year?

I discovered recently that when I run I look at the ground.  And while it might help me avoid stumbling over a pothole, if I’m looking at the ground that means I’m not really looking at what’s ahead of me.  And then I’m not ready for what’s coming. 

On my vacation I did a 4 mile race, which means I did a pattern of running for 10 minutes then walking for two minutes.  Early in the race I passed an “older” man (who was probably my age – or younger).  Apparently he stayed behind me just about the entire way.  Hot, dehydrated and tired at the end of the race I was thankful to do a little walk before I would end with a run.

And he passed me, saying, “I’m really sorry!  You had me the entire way!”

When I looked up to see him zoom by (zoom, of course, being a relative term) I saw “FINISH” around the corner just yards ahead.   It would have been quite easy to see – if I had been looking for it.  And it would have been quite easy to finish before him, if I hadn’t lost the momentum by slowing to walk.  (He actually came up to me after the race and apologized for beating me!)

What kind of race are you running right now?  Where do you want to go?  What are you doing to get there?  Are you taking time to look up and look ahead at what’s coming?  Do you know what might potentially derail you and what might give you joy along the way?  Are you visualizing yourself at the finish?

Tunnel vision is very limiting.  If we don’t know where we want to go there’s a good chance we won’t get there.  But even if we do know where we want to go if we’re not looking for it we might miss it.

So look up.   Know where you are.  Watch where you’re going.  Enjoy each step along the way and appreciate it as moving you one step closer to accomplishing your goal. 

If you’re not sure where you’re going, contact me.  My Four Steps to Success process provides an excellent framework to help you accomplish your goals.

“What we’re really looking for is a nice looking female to sell for us.”

Huh?

Didn’t that kind of hiring go out with the collapse of Pan Am?

Apparently not – since a business owner just said that to me.

“Sex and the working girl” was cited in a recent synergize! survey as one of several challenges that women in the workforce face that men do not face. Others high on the list included work / life balance (number one at 34% of respondents), being taken seriously, pay inequities and gender stereotypes.

synergize! is excited to launch The Women’s Center to help women in the workforce deal with these unique challenges. (I mean, c’mon … can you imagine somebody saying, “What we’re really looking for is a nice looking guy who can sell for us.”)

Ummmm … I don’t think so.

The Women’s Center consists of programs designed for women to help them develop their potential, deal with their unique challenges and enjoy the support of other women in the process.  On August 23rd we will introduce the following programs and services:

1. Peer Accountability Groups
2. Individual one-on-one coaching
3. The Kee to Your Future Mentor Program (a partnership with the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which will be officially launched at the October 6, 2011, Professional Women’s Forum)
4. Our four steps to success process to develop stellar employees

Please be our guest for lunch on the 23rd to learn more about these exciting programs.  Or, if you’re not close enough to come for lunch, I hope you’ll contact us to learn how The Women’s Center can be a resource for you or for the women on your team.

• August 23, 2011
• 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
• FREE lunch
• The Hampton Inn, Greenfield Road, Lancaster, PA

The event is free but you must register to attend.  Just contact us and we’ll add you to the list!

Meanwhile … I think I’ll go look for a nice looking guy to sell for me ...

There it was. Right on the side of the road, right by a bus stop.

A big yellow sign from Lamar Advertising with a checkered flag that said, “Gentleman, start your business.” 

Gentleman, start your business?? 

I know this is from the “Gentlemen, start your engines” days when race car drivers were all men.  But where has Lamar advertising been?

Looking at the most recent facts from 2009:

• Female-owned businesses have grown at a higher rate than male-owned businesses for the last ten years
• 30% of US businesses – that would be 10.1 million – are owned by women
• Women-owned businesses employ 13 million workers
• 20% of firms with revenue over $1 million are owned by women
• Women are responsible for over 80% of US spending

I’ll bet if they tried, Lamar Advertising could have come up with an equally creative slogan that didn’t overlook the group of business owners that is responsible for $1.9 trillion of revenue in the US annually.

This advertisement may be a perfect example of the Good Old Boy‘s mentality that women in business come up against frequently, which goes hand-in-hand with being taken seriously, cited in a recent survey as the second greatest challenge women face in the workplace that men do not.  (The greatest challenge?  Work-life balance.)

Women’s reality is that we’ll never be able to get past some of that “Gentleman, start your business” mind-set, which is certainly not to say all men are like that.  (And, for the record, my best mentors and best bosses have been men.)  The men who do not share that way of thinking should believe us when we say that there really are still some chauvinists out there. 

Women in business who have experienced the GOB‘s should understand that in spite of how limiting their viewpoint is, the only limits we really have on our personal success are the ones we place on ourselves.   (And that, of course, is true for women or men.)  Whether our boss takes us seriously or not we’re the ones responsible for our careers. 

Because of the unique challenges women face in the workforce synergize! is developing some new programs for women in business. 

1. Starting in the fall we will offer two women’s accountability groups – one for women who are new to the workforce and one for business owners.  We hope to expand this to other groups in the spring.
2. synergize! will partner with the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce to provide the Kee to Your Future mentor program for women over the age of 30.  This will be introduced at the Professional Women’s Forum in October.

Women face unique challenges in the workforce.  Not worse than those that men face, just different.  Women have a long way to go when it comes to pay equity or a voice in upper management.  There is more pressure on women to maintain the home front as well as the office.  Perhaps those are reasons why so many women are starting businesses today?  As a business owner my only ceiling is self-imposed and I set my own schedule.

So, go ahead, women … start your businesses. 

And Contact us to learn more about the upcoming women’s programs at synergize!