Complete crisis management guide and free template

 This guide to crisis management and free template can help your business respond to an unplanned emergency, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Few times in recent memory have underscored the need for smart crisis management planning and management. Currently the United States and much of the world is in the midst of the destructive COVID-19 pandemic, and organizations of all types and sizes are dealing with the new reality. Many businesses have closed their doors, unable to sustain operations and pay employees. Supply chains are in varying degrees of disarray. Social distancing, working from home and increased cleanliness are the new norms. This is an international crisis of epic proportions.

At this point, your organization is probably well into its crisis management activities; however, the following preliminary steps are key to successful operations:

1. Ensure that your employees are safe and are practicing social distancing and good health habits.
2. Ensure that employees can work remotely or safely on site.
3. Establish communication protocols among employees -- e.g., regular team conference calls, status calls or management briefings -- to ensure their productivity is maintained.
4. Ensure that your organization's fundamental business processes are protected.
5. Begin planning for when your organization can resume normal operations.

In this guide, we will provide guidance on crisis management, including pre-event planning, managing the crisis and post-event activities. We'll examine the various types of crisis management, how to create a crisis management plan, how to manage your business through a crisis and how to strengthen your business based on lessons learned from the crisis. In addition to many other relevant articles, we also provide a free downloadable crisis management plan template and checklist to help aid your planning and response.

The importance of crisis management

The current COVID-19 pandemic has provided all of us with an all-too-real lesson in the importance of crisis management. Across the world, businesses are in varying stages of their response. Even organizations with traditional business continuity and disaster recovery plans are struggling with the unique challenges a global pandemic presents.

Without a plan and clear leadership from company executives, a business cannot continue to operate in a time of crisis. Crisis management involves taking the steps necessary to sustain the business, protect employees and ultimately recover and resume normal operations. Although some businesses will fail, an organization's crisis management response aims to minimize the long-term effects to the organization and its employees until the crisis resolves.

Incident management vs. crisis management

Often these two terms are interchanged, but they are different.

Incident management refers to activities that must be performed at the initial occurrence of an event to assess the problem and determine the initial steps to respond.

Crisis management activities are initiated if it becomes clear to company management and first responders that the event is likely to persist over an extended time. Whereas incident management might last only a few hours to perhaps a day, crisis management can extend to days, weeks, months and even longer.

A crisis management plan provides a broad range of guidance addressing staffing, resources, facilities, business operations management, employee health and safety, coordination of resources and -- perhaps most importantly -- communications. A crisis communications plan is essential to keep business leaders, employees, government agencies and the public aware of how the business is responding to an emergency.

Types of crisis management

There are two basic types of crisis management: responsive and proactive.

A responsive crisis management plan (CMP) goes into practice once the event has occurred and after it becomes apparent that the event will not be mitigated quickly and could continue for days, weeks or months.

By contrast, a proactive CMP attempts to anticipate the resources that a business will likely need if a future event occurs and gathers them in secure locations. A proactive CMP can be initiated in the aftermath of a crisis to take advantage of lessons learned from the previous crisis.

A crisis management playbook can help outline procedures and communication guidelines.

Tips on creating a crisis management plan

Remember that a CMP deals with ongoing activities to keep the business functional, employees productive and safe and making arrangements to return to normal business operations when appropriate. So long as major business activities and employee safety are being addressed, company management and crisis management teams can begin preparation for business resumption, as well as responding to unplanned events that might occur during the crisis.

Like any emergency-based plan, CMPs should be based on a formal structure. Organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency offer additional tools and guidance for preparing CMPs. In the following list, we'll detail several key elements of a crisis management plan that you can use as a guide to create your own CMP.

1. Introduction, policy and organization. Specify the purpose, scope, goals and objectives of the plan. Identify any regulations or statutes that govern the plan -- e.g., FEMA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration or local code. List who will have hard copies of the plan and who will have access to the plan electronically. Include a schedule of plan dates -- e.g., creation, revisions -- and management approvals and authorizations.
2. Crisis management strategy. Define the overall approach to managing the crisis. Will staff remain at the office, relocate, work from home or be quarantined? Identify alternate resources and succession plans. Define CMP team roles and responsibilities during an event -- e.g., evacuate people, provide first aid and coordinate remote work. Provide detailed lines of authority and criteria for responding to specific events.
3. Communications. Create an emergency communications plan. Define who will be contacted during the crisis, and in what sequence and frequency. Include a detailed contact list with all methods of reaching team members, key vendors, law enforcement, first responders, healthcare organizations and government agencies. Ensure that roles and responsibilities are delineated in the contact lists. Deploy communication technologies, such as video conferencing software, to ensure employees can keep in touch with their managers and team members.
4. Media management. Contact with stakeholders, vendors, supply chain members and many others will be essential to keep the business running. Establish guidelines for managing the media during and after the event. Prepare statements for delivery to the media, identify primary and alternate media contacts, set up a meeting place for media briefings and train employees on how to interact with the media. Similar preparation must be made for managing employee use of social media during the crisis.
5. Crisis procedures. Once the event has occurred, and company leadership determines it will be a longer-term event, members of the crisis team should convene, review event assessments and determine the initial steps for managing how the company operates. Response steps and procedures will differ for a hurricane than for a flu outbreak. Schedule regular meetings with crisis teams to assess progress. Communicate crisis status regularly to employees, stakeholders and the media as appropriate. Define steps to follow if additional events occur that are triggered by the initial event. Prepare an after-action report describing what worked, what didn't work and lessons learned. Prepare procedures and instructions that are logical, easy to understand and perform as intended.
6. Connection to other emergency plans. Define connections between the CMP and other plans, such as business continuity plans, crisis management playbooks, cybersecurity plans, disaster recovery plans, fire emergency plans and severe weather plans.
7. Awareness and training. Develop and conduct training programs for crisis team members. Create an awareness program to keep employees and stakeholders aware of the CMP and its associated activities.
8. Exercises. Schedule and conduct periodic exercises of the CMP, ranging from tabletop exercises to full, active simulations involving scenarios and activation of the crisis team and other third-party organizations. Update the CMP based on results of the exercises.
9. Plan review, audit and maintenance. Establish a program to review and update the plan at least annually or more frequently as needed. Create a schedule of activities during a calendar year -- e.g., plan exercises, plan reviews, management reviews and training activities.
10. Glossary. Provide a list of appropriate terms, definitions, abbreviations and acronyms.
11. Appendices. Add appendices that are relevant and support the CMP, such as forms, checklists and contact lists.

How to manage a crisis

The actions company leadership must take will evolve along with the crisis. Let's examine common crisis management activities by phase of the event: pre-crisis, during the crisis and post-crisis.

Pre-crisis
Prepare plans. This includes securing a commitment from management and budgeting for a CMP activity. Review previous crises, prepare policies, examine standards and regulations. Review resources from FEMA and other government agencies.

A crisis management playbook can help outline procedures and communication guidelines.

Form a crisis management team. Use guidelines and support from appropriate crisis organizations to select team members. Define crisis management team roles and duties, arrange training and schedule periodic exercises to ensure team members are prepared to perform their roles.

Identify weaknesses. In the course of initial planning and research, identify potential weaknesses in existing emergency plans, crisis plans or other emergency response activities that might affect employees and the business during a crisis.

Write a strategic crisis management plan. Prepare CMP procedures and the supporting document based on best practices, FEMA and other agency guidelines. Prepare the CMP so that it can be adapted to a variety of situations, while ensuring employee health and safety, along with the continuation of business activities.

Train employees. Prepare and deliver training to employees on potential crisis situations, how the company plans to respond and employee responsibilities during a crisis.

During the crisis
Crisis communications. Ensure that employees, management and external entities, including the media, are regularly informed on crisis status. Ensure that employees can communicate and perform their duties wherever they are located.

Business operation resources. Regularly review the status of supply chains to ensure that resources the company needs are being manufactured and supplied. Consider identifying alternate resource channels.

Employee well-being. Employee health is a primary issue. Ensure that employees are informed of the activities and precautions they must perform to ensure their health is maintained.

Financial considerations. Work with banks and other company financial institutions to ensure there will be no loan defaults, delays in paying rent, loss of cash or inability to pay employees and vendors.

Mid-course corrections. Regularly have the crisis team meet and discuss how to respond to new situations that might evolve into more serious problems (e.g., an emerging severe storm that could damage company facilities).

Management reporting. Regularly brief senior management on progress -- or lack of progress -- during the crisis. Brief local, state and federal government agencies, regulatory agencies and other organizations of any changes to company status.

Each stage of a crisis requires a different response from business leaders.

Post-crisis
Recovery and resumption. Coordinate with other emergency teams to facilitate procedures needed to return to business as usual.

Evaluation of successes and failures. Conduct meetings to evaluate how well the company handled the crisis. Evaluate the effectiveness of the CMP and the crisis team. Identify opportunities for improvement and prepare a post-mortem report to management.

Management reporting. Keeping employees and management informed during a crisis is an essential activity. Once the crisis is over and the company has resumed operations, brief senior management and employees on the key findings and recommendations of the post-mortem report.

Times of crisis challenge every organization. The survival and long-term success of your business depends on how well it responds in these difficult times. Use our crisis management plan template to kickstart your planning.

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Crisis Management

 Crisis management is the application of strategies designed to help an organization deal with a sudden and significant negative event.

A crisis can occur as a result of an unpredictable event or an unforeseeable consequence of some event that had been considered as a potential risk. In either case, crises almost invariably require that decisions be made quickly to limit damage to the organization.

The nature of the potential damage varies based on the nature of the crisis. In most cases though, a crisis can affect health or safety, the organization's finances, the organization's reputation, or some combination of these. A devastating fire could be a crisis that puts the organization's finances in jeopardy. However, if the fire occurs during business hours, then the fire might also jeopardize health and safety since employees may find themselves in harm's way.

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The first steps of the hard climb to recovery starts

About the Author: Joe Galvin

Joe Galvin is the Chief Research Officer for Vistage Worldwide. Vistage members receive the most credible, data-driven and actionable thought leadership on the strategic issues facing CEOs

Anyone who has completed the Empire State Building Run-Up competition will you tell the first 20 flights of stairs are the easiest and quickest. From there the rest of the 86 floors get progressively more difficult to climb, physically, mentally and emotionally.

The climb to recovery for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) is underway according to 1,392 CEOs who responded to the Q2 Vistage CEO Confidence Index survey. Analysis of Vistage survey data from the last 3 months illustrates that CEOs believe that the economy has taken the first steps toward recovery. SMBs are focused on getting their business up the first 20 flights of stairs; the most grueling part of the climb remains ahead.

At a glance: Q2 CEO Confidence Index survey results

The Vistage CEO Confidence Index plummeted to 65.5 in Q2 2020; there have only been two other times in the history of the survey – in the depths of the recession – that the Index was recorded so low. But data from this survey shows that business activity – driven by reduced quarantine levels – has picked up dramatically.

Our survey revealed that 18% of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have recalled employees who were working remotely, and another 31% have begun a phased approach to bring employees back to the office.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – leveraged by 80% of our respondents – have helped SMBs maintain payrolls. Of those that received loans, 54% reported plans to maintain their workforces after the funding period, and another 9% plan to increase headcount. Most significantly, 54% of CEOs agreed or strongly agreed that they have seen an increase in customer activity, compared with just 22% who disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Revenue rebirth, rising expectations

With the increase in business activity comes the first signs of revenue returning. Twenty percent of CEOs reported that, as a result of the pandemic, their revenues are equal to or greater than revenue levels at the beginning of the year. Additionally, 45% of CEO respondents expect revenues to increase in the next 12 months. As more people return to the workplace, business activity will fuel consumer spending, the necessary driver for economic recovery.

PPP funds provided critical cash flow for SMBs which, along with cost-cutting measures and improving revenues, helped them to minimize workforce impact as well as create a longer runway of cash reserves. Fifty-nine percent of SMBs reported having cash reserves of more than six months, a 9-point improvement from May’s survey in which 50% of CEOs reported having cash reserves of more than six months. This subtle but positive shift indicates that more SMBs will be able to ride out the pandemic and rebuild their business to thrive in the new, post-COVID reality.

The most powerful indication that the climb to recovery has begun is in the analysis of CEO expectations for the economy and their businesses. Fifty-four percent of CEOs reported that they believe the U.S economy will improve in the next 12 months, and nearly two-thirds (62%) believe the improvement will take place between three and 12 months. This momentum of positive expectations for the economy should continue to build over the next quarter as business activity increases and as the country enters different phases of reopening. It’s important to note that despite the positive bias, 56% of CEOs believe that in six months their businesses will be weakened to some extent, meaning the hard part of the climb to recovery has yet to begin.

The leadership challenge

Leading can be a challenge even in the best of times. The COVID-19 pandemic ended the good old days of 10 years of economic expansion by triggering an abrupt free-fall of economic activity. In terms of leadership, the pandemic created unprecedented circumstances for leaders, adding new challenges for them to tackle.

Our survey asked respondents about the most significant leadership challenge they face today. In our analysis of nearly 900 open-ended responses, the challenges mostly fell into four categories:

1. Morale: The most common theme shared by CEOs was maintaining and building morale with their leadership team and employees. It has been a highly stressful three months for everyone personally and professionally. The next three months won’t be any easier, which will challenge leaders to motivate a workforce with diverse needs. Priorities for leaders include keeping employees focused and positive, avoiding executive burnout and inspiring the organization for the hard climb.
2. Back to Work/ Work from Home: The pandemic has changed the workplace forever. CEOs are challenged to redesign the workplace with physical health and safety as a priority for the workplace, one that also creates the feeling of safety for those employees returning to that workplace. Compound that with the broad acceptance of remote working as a proven option, which forces leaders to adapt their culture and communications to incorporate remote workers, engage in hybrid meetings and accept that work-from-home is a permanent fixture in the new reality.
3. Growth: Leaders are challenged to crank the growth engine back on from a cold start. For 80% of businesses, revenue is down at some level since customers shut down or postponed non-essential purchases over the last three months. Creating new demand, re-engaging with customers and rebuilding opportunity pipelines are all prerequisites to rebuilding business volume. Quickly adjusting to changed customer behaviors and shaping messages that connect to their new reality will accelerate the return to the growth curve.
4. Uncertainty: Undercutting everything is the uncertainty leaders feel and face in every direction. There has never been a business scenario like this except in classrooms. Uncertainty about the length of the pandemic, the direction of the economy and the unknown impact to their markets are just some of the uncertainties that leaders are facing. Forecasting has become a black art once again as pre-COVID financial models have lost relevance. The absence of data or clear direction will force leaders to rely on their instincts and judgement to make the best decision and be prepared to quickly adapt.

Ready, set, climb

Our data shows that that the worst may be behind us. The virus is waning and the right health and safety protocols are have been identified for how we engage at the workplace and in society. Our knowledge about the attributes and characteristics of the virus grows every day while science accelerates its work on producing a vaccine. However, even the most optimistic economist foresees a long and hard climb out of the “covid-ditch.” Despite the positive jobs report, more than 20 million people – all of them consumers – remain out of work and therefore not spending.

Revenue is beginning to return and expectations for the future are improving. Increased business activity will continue to improve revenue expectations through Q3 with more to follow in Q4. 2021 is shaping up to be a strong year of growth. Getting to 2021 may feel like climbing another 86 flights of stairs. Expect a series of plateaus throughout the climb as we test the limits of the virus and our willingness to adhere to health safety guidelines in order to keep our communities and our economy open for business.

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10 Critical Best Practices for Your Sales Force in This Crisis

Posted by Dave Kurlan

We are in week 6 of lockdown, week 8 of voluntary work-from-home, while adapting, guiding and directing companies who still need to sell their products and services to generate revenue.  At this point sales is about so much more than generating revenue for profit or to keep employees working.  For most companies, sales is now about generating revenue to survive, as we stare down a whole new way of doing business.  Forget uncertainty!  Where we are right now is downright scary.  But if the past 6 weeks have taught us anything, it's that with the right tools, strategies, mindset and tactics, we can adapt and even thrive.  For those who may read this after May 1, 2020, the following best practices are based on where we are as I write this on April 27, 2020. 

Everyone Has a Remote Sales Team - It's not just the geographically distributed sales teams anymore; it's everyone, and we need to consider the biggest challenges of leading remote sales teams:

• Not everyone is tech savvy, especially in some old-school industries like building products, industrial distribution, and historical face-to-face selling environments.  You must set proper expectations about using phone and video, require all meetings to be virtual instead of phone, and provide proper training on using video technology.
• Not everyone is well-suited for working from home.  I'm not talking about the ability to focus without distraction.  I'm talking about whether your salespeople have the DNA for working from home, independent of their team, and without supervision; whether they are self-starters and have the necessary time and organizational skills to work on their own for an extended period of time.  Working from home is not temporary.  This will continue even after the lockdown is in the rear view mirror because as long as kids are at home (no school, no summer camp), parents will be at home too and customers may not be ready to have outsiders visiting their offices and plants.  Also consider that some salespeople aren't able to handle the emotional disconnect from being isolated from friends, co-workers, families and customers.
• Daily Huddles - Despite years of yelling from the rooftops that sales leaders must lead a quick daily huddle with their teams, it didn't happen.  It just wasn't convenient - for the leaders!  And despite the proven benefits of such huddles, most resisted while some compromised and ran weekly huddles.  The resistance and compromises must end.  You must huddle with your team twice per day to keep them connected, share success stories and demonstrate that we are in this together.
• Coverage - salespeople will be able to cover their territories more efficiently than ever before.
• Cost - Having your salespeople sell remotely is much more cost-effective.

Motivation - Your salespeople are scared.  They are looking to you for reassurance, positivity, motivation, success stories, support, guidance, direction and hope.  They are afraid:

• Will they be able to make calls without offending people?
• Will they be able to schedule virtual meetings?
• Will they be able to sell over video/phone?
• Will they be able to close anything in the short term?
• Will they be able to keep their jobs?

Call Reports - I can't think of a single reason why you would waste salespeople's time by having them complete call reports.  Consider:

• They use same piece of hardware for virtual meetings and emails as they do to access your CRM application.  Gone are the days where they were on the road, on site with a customer, on sales calls, in a hotel or airport or home too late without enough time to update CRM.  No more excuse making.
• They must update CRM in real time,  as they complete each conversation, virtual meeting and call.  
• You must make real time updates a condition of continued employment.  In the current environment of 15% unemployment, this requirement has teeth.
• It's like spaghetti sauce - it's in there.  Everything you could possible ask for in a call report will be in the dashboard and/or reporting section of your CRM application.  Ditch the call reports.

Pipeline -  The one thing that every salesperson can do right now is build pipeline.  My conversations with CEOs reveal two problems:  Delayed closes and insufficient pipelines to compensate so:

• Go on offense! Every salesperson - even account managers and farmers, should be all in, all hands on deck pipeline building mode right now.  If they won't do it you don't need them!  25 million people have already filed for unemployment in the US so 2.5 million are probably salespeople.  Unlike just three months ago when your salespeople were in the driver's seat, your salespeople can be replaced!
• Phones - They're being used as talking devices again!  We haven't witnessed this kind of reconnection with the phone since administrative assistants were replaced by automated voicemail systems.  Executives are taking and returning calls and you should not allow your salespeople to hide behind their monitors using emails to reach out when people are answering their cell phones!
• Viability - You need a comprehensive viability analysis of your pipeline to determine how much is high quality, how much is properly staged, and how much you will realistically win.  Without the viability analysis your forecast is a complete fabrication.

Coaching - Forget 50% of your time coaching!  It needs to be 75% of your time.  You have the time, even if you are responsible for personal accounts.  Every salesperson, every day, for a minimum of 30-minutes of one-on-one coaching to:

• Coach them up
• Coach them through opportunities
• Debrief completed calls
• Join them on calls (easier than ever)

KPI's -  It's time to rethink your KPI's:

• Focus on Pipeline Building KPI's!  Dials, Conversations and Virtual Meetings Scheduled. 
• Add KPI's for opportunities that advanced to the next stage, opportunities that were pushed back to a prior stage, and opportunities that are no longer valid.  Counting only the good stuff is head-in-the-sand leadership.

Targeting - It's more important than ever! 

• You may have lost entire Verticals (like travel/tourism), Segments (small specialty retail is a segment of retail) or Audiences (sales enablement and learning and development have been casualties). 
• Target the verticals, segments and audiences that you can sell to now, that are continuing to do business.
• Consider selling something different than what you usually sell to existing customers and seeking new customers for what you typically sell.
• Your competition may not have been affected in the same way that you were, especially if they have other channels, verticals, products and services than what you offer.  Will they be concentrating more or less of their efforts on your target market?
• Hard to Reach Opportunities are no longer hard to reach for territory salespeople.  They can reach them virtually!

Critical Skills - I can't be more clear about this and you have no option but to do something about this. If your salespeople continue to take a present/demo/quote/proposal-based approach to selling they will fail and the only business you will get will be low-margin business.  Only 15% of all salespeople have all four of the critical skills below as a strength: 

• A Consultative approach, based on listening and asking questions, is the only way to differentiate your salespeople from your competitors
• Value-Based selling, where your salespeople are the value, is the only way to maintain margins.  If you attempt to be competitive your only revenue will be low to no margin revenue and you will fail.  This is not talking about value; this is being the value.
• Thorough qualifying.  You can't afford for your salespeople to be wasting time on opportunities that are no longer viable; but they will if you don't require thorough qualifying and justification for pursuit, and add verification and accountability.
• Staged, milestone-centric, customer-focused sales process that supports the consultative, value-based, approach.

Right-Sizing - I'm sorry but you can't put this off.  There is no way around this.  You must do this today, unless you got PPP funding, in which case you must do this at 60 days post-funding!  You must be able to generate more revenue with fewer salespeople

• Consider factors other than revenue and performance. 
• Also consider overhead (sales expenses other than commissions)
• Suitability for the role they are in (half of all salespeople are not well-suited for the roles they are in
• Suitability for working from home (see remote sales team above - 41% of all salespeople are not well-suited for working from home)
• Pipeline viability (see Pipeline above - 43% of all salespeople lack viable pipelines right now) 
• Critical skills for selling in this environment - (See critical skills above - 85% of all salespeople are lacking these skills)
• OMG's SmartSizing tool allows you to run a complete viability analysis on your sales organization to right-size it today.

Hire Salespeople - If you have the cash flow to hire salespeople, do it now.  This is the first time in about five years that good candidates are available and actively looking for their next home.  Just make sure:

• Don't make any mistakes in your rush to hire
• Use OMG's trusted, accurate, customizable (for the role) and predictive sales candidate assessment.
• Rework your sales recruiting process for the current times.  You need to get every aspect right from the ad you post to your onboarding.

Get Help!  Sure you want to be a superhero but Kryptonite brought Superman to his knees and the enemy we are fighting today is our version of Kryptonite. Don't be embarrassed to ask an expert for help.

Image copyright 123RF

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18 Things to Control When Things Are Out of Control

ANTHONY IANNARINO

These things are within your control. Focusing on the things that are within your control is the best response to a world that is out of control.

1. Sleep: If you want to feel a lot better, have much more energy, be a lot more productive, and do better work, there may not be anything more important than getting a good night’s sleep. We underestimate how important sleep is to our overall health and our performance.
2. Hydration: Most people walk around dehydrated (I am one of them). After sleep, if you want to feel less groggy and improve your energy, drink a lot more water. Start your day with a large glass of ice water as soon as you wake up, rehydrating yourself as you start your day.
3. Nutrition: Trade eating things that give you comfort for food that fuels you. Maybe go with Michael Pollan’s recommendation, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Eliminating sugar is, by itself, a huge upgrade to your nutrition.
4. Exercise: The human body is designed for a different time. It is designed to do more physical work than what is required of knowledge workers (those of us who work with our minds, instead of our backs and hands). You don’t need to complete an Ironman unless that is your thing. Take a walk. Do some yoga. Lift some weights. You will feel better—and you will recognize a benefit in your overall performance.
5. Morning Routine: Starting your day with a morning routine can and will set you up to have a successful day. The list above this point offers several things worth the first hour of your day. Maybe you want to write morning pages or meditate. Maybe you want to pray. Do whatever ensures you are in the right frame of mind by doing what sets you up for success and get a sense of control first thing.
6. Attitude: The four categories above makes this one easier to achieve. Your attitude is a variable when it comes to your happiness and your effectiveness, especially in turbulent times. Your attitude is determined mainly by whether or not you are grateful. If you recognize your life as your greatest gift, you’ll generally have a good attitude. You could do worse than starting your day writing down the three things you are grateful for upon waking. Pro tip: Write down how the negative events you experience are valuable for you, and you’ll have an even better attitude.
7. Mindset: Each day, you are faced with a decision. You can choose to be the protagonist in the story you are writing, or you can be the victim. You can decide to be proactive, moving towards your goals, or reactive, passively waiting for the world to impose its will on you. Along with your attitude, your fixed mindset is going to determine your worldview. Control here is a superpower.
8. The Media You Consume: The media you allow into your mind is very much a type of nutrition. You can reject media that is designed to agitate you, to cause you to feel a sense of fear or dread, or sensationalize stories to capture your attention. Control comes from filtering out that which is harmful to your attitude and mindset, choosing instead to take in only that which strengthens you, improves you, inspires you, and supports your attitude, your mindset, and your goals.
9. Your Goals: There may be someone at work who has given you a goal, but outside of that, you are all on your own, left alone to drift unless you decide for yourself what you want. Setting goals provides a target, a beacon, to guide your decisions. Because they have a deadline, they compel you to take action and achieve your goals. Your life is either going to look like something you designed, or it is going to look a lot like all the others who drift.
10. Your Focus: You control your focus. When you allow something or someone to control your focus, you can easily find yourself focused on things that don’t serve you. You have a short time here, and if you want to make the most of it, you need to focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. There are not too many things you might do to move in the direction of your choosing. Call this your priorities.
11. The Quantity of Your Work: How much work you do is wholly within your control. You can spend your days accomplishing nothing, allowing the news of the day and small urgencies dominate your time, or you can decide to make major progress on what is important. Eliminating distractions and giving yourself over to your work will result in you getting more done faster, and pulling the results forward in time.
12. The Quality of Your Work: You also control the quality of your work. You can do just enough to get by, or you can do exceptional work. External factors have no power to impact the quality of the work you do; that is an individual choice you have to make for yourself.
13. Planning Your Week: There may not be anything more powerful when it comes to generating results as planning your week before it starts. Determining what you are going to accomplish, blocking the time to work on your goals and priorities, and executing your plan is control. Beginning each day already knowing what you are going to do eliminates wasting time responding to externalities and deciding what to do.
14. How You Invest Your Time: Lately, people have taken great pride in sharing how much time they spend streaming television shows. Most people leave their email open all day, waiting to respond to other people instead of doing something more important. There is nothing wrong with intentional distractions, but allowing them to dominate your time is to lose control.
15. Your Notifications: No law states that “One must be notified and monitor in real-time every email, text message, social media notification, or news story on their smartphone or computer.” If you want a greater sense of control and better results, turn off all notifications on your computer and your smartphone. Choose to review what is important a few times a day, always between the 90-minute blocks of uninterrupted time you use to do quality work, the work that moves you towards your goals.
16. Who You Spend Time With: There is an old saying that you will become the composite of the five people you spend the most time with, something I believe is an iron law of success. You are infected with other people’s beliefs, their views, and their values, just as you can infect others with yours. Spend time with the people you love, but also spend time with people who have something you want.
17. Who You Don’t Spend Time With: Of all the things I know with great certainty, I know that spending time with people who have low standards for themselves will have a deleterious impact on your attitude, your mindset, and your results. You can choose to avoid the pessimist, the cynic, and the skeptics, all who want you to commiserate as a way to validate their low standards and their fears.
18. Evening Routine: An evening routine will help keep you on track as you move back to the top of this list. Maybe you take account of your day. Maybe you write down what you learned or read a book for an hour before you go to sleep. Perhaps you reflect on your day and remind yourself what you are grateful for, a perfect end to the day. Whatever you do, the routine will benefit you, and it will give you a feeling that your life is within your control.

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