If the deficit super committee can’t come to an agreement then a guillotine cut will occur without touching Medicaid or Social Security by law. This means that key programs will be impacted; $1.5 trillion.

12 members picked by House and Senate leaders to reach a deficit reduction deal by Nov. 23. The panel is supposed to come up with a plan to slice $1.5 trillion in federal deficits over the next 10 years through spending cuts, tax hikes or a combination of both. If seven members agree on a plan, the resulting bill is guaranteed an up or down vote in both houses of Congress.

There are many households and companies that are struggling in today’s economy. The steps to successful management of deficits:

1) Decide upon your goal (dollars, deadline)

2) Pick a team

3) Care about helping the team reach the goal

4) Prioritize what you don’t want cut (people, services, etc…)

The key is getting to keep what you want by planning what you are ready to let go!

Usain Bolt false starts, eliminated from 100m final.

Instead of beating the clock, he beat the starting gun.

“Three steps into the race after the gun blasted, Bolt’s face turned into a primal scream. And in one instinctive move he started pulling off his Jamaica shirt, needing no one to tell him he had made the biggest error in his career.” Associated Press

In the business world, is there such a thing as a false start?

While we worry about “analysis paralysis”, we should be equally worried about “premature execution.”

The purpose of a completion is not to treat the project as a to do, it’s to emotionally connect to the intended goal and just maybe exceed it.

Forget the clock, forget the starting gun and focus on how you want to feel for a job well-done.

So you are driving on the highway and see a milepost and wonder what’s the purpose of the sign. By definintion, the milepost marks a particular mile from a fixed commencement point.

What if we decided to count the number of mileposts instead of looking at the mileage number on the sign? Would the number of signs really be relevant to you? Probably not…

Everyday we track things that have no personal significance to us. The challenge becomes making a connection of the stat with the improvement. If you are trying to be a better putter on the golf course then you would count the number of putts you take each round. If you are trying to become a better runner then you would look at how fast your run is and/or distance ran.

Another distinction to know is the pursuasive intention of the vital factor. Will it be used as a punishment or reward?

Put the human ego into the mix and you find pricinct bosses pressuring cops to report fewer actual crimes to manipulate crime statistics or car salespeople selling more cars at less profit when it’s the end of the month.

The invention of the microchip has empowered measurement to degrees that can be unmanagable.

Focus on what inspires you and measure it!

How do you ask for help when you need support?

One approach is to directly ask a person how they would fix something.

The other approach is to suggest your fix and ask for help assessing if that way is the best way to do it.

The latter takes more energy and effort which results in self-reliance. Determine how you want to be helped; within a spirit of empowerment or enablement.

It’s very easy to ask for answers and it does save lots of time.

Is saving time more important than building knowledge?

Have you ever passed a homeless person and remembered the face days later?

In the depths of many major cities there are tons of homeless people who are faceless to the world. Are they irrelevant?

The human spirit is one needing acceptance and admiration. Choosing to believe in facelessness is a fine line of balancing the distinction of being alone versus lonely to the world.

As a leader of your own destiny, your own company or your own household, it is important to master that you matter to the world that is important to you. As a father, your liberation begins with appreciating the faces that are important to you i.e. wife, children, extended family. As a business owner, your liberation begins with admiring the individuality of each employee (name, interests, dreams, culture).

Are you making the most out of the moment to see the faces that matter to you?

Live up to your own expectations!