PREFACE

AS I was writing this book, people asked me three questions. Here are the questions and their answers.

The first question is, What can I expect from Aligned Thinking? Aligned Thinking will help you do what most believe impossible: align every action with what you really want. Because of this, if your experience is similar to that of thousands who have discovered and use Aligned Thinking, you can expect a quantum leap in the following areas:

1.Overcoming the frustration of too much to do

2.Increasing accomplishment and satisfaction

3.Reducing stress and interruptions

In addition, Aligned Thinking offers at least three bonus benefits for the people important to you. For your organization, Aligned Thinking will help you increase productivity, motivation, and morale. For your clients, you will be able to deliver better service and establish higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty. Finally, for you and your significant other, Aligned Thinking will give you a process by which to have fun growing closer together.

The second question is, Where did Aligned Thinking— the process—come from? I interviewed over three thousand managers about maximizing their leadership effectiveness. Before I met with them, I had them complete profiles and plans for their own professional improvement. In the interview, I learned what they really wanted from both life and work and how the successful ones got what they really wanted. A summary of the best tools became the Aligned Thinking process.

Over time, I had the opportunity to share these insights with people from 140 Fortune 500 companies (for the list, go to www.SSAinternational.com). I have to thank those people for their help in making the process

Quicker to learn

Easier to remember—some have used it daily for more than twenty years

Simpler to use—just a nine-word MIN Secret

All-inclusive—it applies 24/7 both professionally and personally

The third question is, What’s the story behind Aligned Thinking, the book? Ken Blanchard helped me get my doctorate at the University of Massachusetts in 1972. Ten years later, just after The One Minute Manager was published, he attended an Aligned Thinking seminar. The seminar helped Ken focus on making his book the bestseller it is. Shortly thereafter, he suggested writing this book.

Over the next twenty years, I tried three times with over fifteen drafts to write this book by myself. My success was zero. Frustrated and out of options, I turned to my Higher Spirit.

Immediately, but oh so slowly, changes began to occur. The changes all seemed so natural, but after each change, progress was made! Literary agent Carol Mann said the first proposal for the book was terrible. After listening to the sad twenty-year history of the book, she insightfully insisted, “Ken Blanchard helped you; you helped him. Now together you need to help others.”

Ken agreed to help. At exactly the right time, he discovered Martha Lawrence, editor par excellence, who did marvelous things with the manuscript. At just the right time, Steve Piersanti of Berrett-Koehler appeared and helped us to bring out the simple elegance of Aligned Thinking. So many coincidences just seemed to happen at the right time. However, as Martha has said many times, “Jim, there are no coincidences.”

Your reading this book is no coincidence. When you understand and answer the three Life Aligning Questions and discover the MIN Secret, you will have a tool set you can use for the rest of your life. Judging from my thirty years of experience, I believe this tool set will help you successfully make every moment count, so you can daily, even moment-by-moment, move closer on your journey to what you really want.

I’m honored and delighted to share with you what I have been so generously given.

JIM STEFFEN
December 2005