I sat down for lunch recently with a friend who I hadn’t seen in some time.  When I asked how things were going he replied, “status quo.”

As we moved into discussion it was clear things were a bit less than desirable.  A bit of erosion was setting in.  I have been exactly this kind of “status quo”.  I understood.  We used lunch to talk through a game plan to redirect and get back on the right track.  We also achieved consensus around this simple premise:

The “status quo” is dead.

If you aren’t moving forward it is likely you are going to be set back. The pace of change is accelerating too quickly to simply stay the same.  I am actually familiar with the status quo business strategy and I can assure you that a death grip on trying to stay the same is a recipe for eventual deterioration. We are living in a time that requires innovating forward.

A simple checklist to ensure personal productivity and performance are on the fast track:

-Who are the 3 most important new people you’ve met in the last 30 days?

-Who are the 3 most important people you’ve spent meaningful moments with this week?

-What are the last 3 books you’ve read?

-What is working better today that wasn’t working 100 days ago?

-What isn’t working?

-What are you going to do about it?

-What is the most important use of your time right now?

-What are you going to do about it?

-What are your 3 “go to” excuses?

What are you going to do about it?

It’s almost halftime (the end of Q2).  A good time to check the scoreboard.

How are you doing?

Hopefully better than “status quo.”