365QOD-Day421

"I took a shortcut"- a line from a video

While at the factory the team's role was to accept three devices we had purchased.  The company through which we had purchased the devices wanted to test one of the breakers before us an for us to simply review the test documentation for the other two.

As the leader of the team I said NO!  I will not accept the products without seeing every one of them tested. Why?

It is my belief that what we often take short cuts.  The short cuts might not get us in trouble every single time but eventually they can bite us.  The last thing I wanted was to accept the equipment and for the equipment to fail during installation.  This is high voltage 138,000 volts equipment.  Failure at that level does not leave a lot of room and could hurt many people.

A long time ago I watched a video of a guy.  In it you see just his face.  He pulls you into his story about what happened to him on a particular day.   The story starts with his preparing to leave from home.  It moves through his drive to work and his interaction with his boss and co-workers.  He then talks about the job he was getting ready to do. Last thing you see is the camera pulling back from him to reveal his damaged body as he says the words, "and then... I took a shortcut."

Today's question is:
"Can and do you say no to short cuts?"

365QOD-Day420

"It went well"- my thought

This morning I had a series of two interviews.  It was for a newly created position in my company. 

I walked in the corporate headquarters and met with two teams of two interviewers.  They drilled me on behavior type of questions and some role fit questions.

Maybe I am strange because I never specifically prepare for interviews.  I go in and tell the interviewers what i believe I can and can not do.  While doing that I use examples to support my case.  As the old saying goes," Keep It Simple Sweetheart."  I often have to remind myself to just KISS it.

Today's question is:
"Do you use the KISS principle?"

365QOD-Day419

"What is on your reading list?"- my question

While on a factory visit I asked many of the mangers that question.  Every single one of them was reading a book and many had been to other plants to see their best practices.

Wow! 

During one conversation I offered to one of the managers that I had written a book.  Within an hour or so he had printed out the information for my book and asked me to do an hour presentation on it. 

I said OK. Since I did not have a topic to prepare on I decided to tailor my presentation on my book and relate it to quality issues.  Pulling some slides from top of my head and previous presentations I created a skeleton on which I can build a talk.

It has been six months since I stool before an audience.  I was a bit nervous.  Something that has not happened in years.  It was good nervous energy.

I believe that the presentation went well. I heard some good comments.  Amazingly they had purchased the book, the book arrived, and had me sign a few copies.  Print on demand is very fast!

Without trying to make it happen, this day was the start of the The Result book tour.  THANKS for the push ABB.

Today's question is:
"Did you do something unexpected today?"

365QOD-Day418

"Get lost and you will find your way" - Anonymous

I went out for a run this morning.  Since Sunday I have been in Pittsburgh.  My run was from the hotel room towards University of Pittsburgh campus. 

I had a general idea how far it was but did not measure it before I ran it.  The team I am on drove in that direction a few times.

This morning at 6:30 I simply put on my running equipment on and headed in the direction.  Amazingly as I was running, I started seeing the houses on the street.  Many of the buildings that were a blur while driving now had a meaning and I can examine them,  Some really cool buildings, a Jewish temple, a Catholic cathedral, etc.

I got to the central building on campus which was the tallest and most artistic in a Gothic style.   At this point I had no knowledge of what I was to see and simply I just ran around the campus.  It was still slightly dark but I can see the buildings and few of the students.

Next I went over a bridge and found myself in another campus.  It appears that Carnegie Mellon campus is attached to the University of Pittsburgh.  I was fun to run through it.

Eventually I made my way back to the central building and headed back to the hotel.  It was an hour and a half of pure bliss.  I never felt the run.  All I did was soak up the surroundings.  The run, like my runs at other places, helped me see things that I would not have seen if I had simply stayed in bed.  That would have been a waste.

Today's question is:
"How do you approach the unknown?"

365QOD-Day417

"If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is there to hear it, did it really fall?"- an old saying

I read a Wall Street article on digital hoarding.  It talks about how people never get rid of email, photos, files, etc.

I found the article interesting.  In my life I have been around folks who collected "stuff".  I worked with people who had lockers full of junk.  One former colleague of mine had piles and piles of paper in his office that looked like they would fall down with the smallest breeze. Or my favorite is when I see a person in a car with all of the other seats full of literal junk driving down the street.

Those instances are examples of physical hoarding.  To me digital hoarding does not hurt anyone except the person that hoards the stuff.  They are not the same.

So what if they have files from 20 years ago?  Digital storage is almost free.  Can you imagine the cost of 1Terabyte of storage 20 years ago?  Now probably for less than $100 you can store so much data.  Again, there is a big difference between data and information.  They have data that they might never turn into information.  The challenge is to find something you are looking for that was received but "misplaced".

Today's question is:
"If an unread email arrives, and it just sits in your storage, was it ever received?" 

365QOD-Day416

"...He(Alex Michalos) argues that people establish a perceived satisfaction based upon comparing three gaps:
1. What you have vs. what you want
    (I want a beautiful green grass)
2. What you have vs. what you think other people have
    (The neighbor's grass is greener)
3. What you have vs. the best experience of what you've had in the past
    (I don't like AtroTurf. I miss my old grass)
Chip adds...
4. What you have vs. what you feel you deserve
    (I have been working my tail off for this grass)"- Chip Conely

Note that I modified the paragraph above slightly to put it in the form I need.

You can almost see this as an equation:
PerceivedSatisfaction= a*(What you have/what you want)
                                     +b*(What you have/What you think other people have)
                                     +c*(What you have/The best experience of what you've had in the past)
                                     +d*(What you have/What you feel you deserve)

I believe that the four gaps do not carry an equal weight.  Some multipliers(a,b,c, and d could add up to 100 with the terms being at most a ratio of 1) could be used but that is of slight importance to you.  I do think that having a laminated index card that you carry around to remind yourself when in the midst of a situation would be helpful.

Today's question is:
"What is your perceived satisfaction score at this moment?"

365QOD-Day415

"Share, share, share"- a parent's admonition to a child
Awhile back, I read an article about a company which allowed people to make a micro loan to a needy third world business person.  The interest was agreed on and exchange occurred.  The repayment was in the high 90+ percent.  This is the giving side.  A small loan to a person that needs it.

What about the receiving side?  I recently read an Entrepreneur article which talked about making a short video presentation and hoping to raise funding for an idea.  Micro-investments that give you access to the product and you receive recognition for your loan.

I guess what makes both of these examples work is the smallness of the investments made.  If you ask many folks for a very small investment they are less likely to turn you down. Micro angel investing.

Today's question is:
"What else could be cut up into small manageable chunks that people would be willing to fund?"

365QOD-Day414

"Ahhhh thirteen... I remember that"- my thought

My son Milan turned thirteen today.  Amazing!  It seems like yesterday when I held him in my arms.  Now he is 6' 1" (as tall as me) and wears a size 13 shoe. My baby boy is becoming a man. 

This got me thinking.  Some moments are time based.  I could have marked the day on a calendar when he would have turned 13. 

Other moments are meaning based.  I can remember being at certain places and doing certain things but would have a hard time recalling the date on which they occurred. 

I prefer the meaning based moments.  They have a meaning that makes it memorable

Today's question is:
"What could make today memorable for you?"

365QOD-Day413

"From time to time, it helps to ask yourself if what you're doing is 'hard' or if you're something now that you wouldn't or couldn't do last month, or last year.  If the answer is no, you probably nee to turn it up a notch (or two)."- Men's Health March 2012 issue

I went to the library today and picked up five magazines.  My new library has a limit of five magazines.  When I got home I went through the five magazines and picked out the stories that I wanted to read and bent the corner of the page.

One of the articles I immediately started reading was on re-programing your metabolism.  Being a middle age guy I am aware that my body does not burn food like it did in my twenties.

To compensate for this lower metabolism I run.  Well, to be honest, even with running I am starting to put on a little weight. 

This paragraph hit me over the head like a brick.  Maybe I am fulling myself.  So what that I ran 10 miles two weeks ago.  I have been out of town and have not run since.  Once a week distance running is OK but not enough to get my metabolism to compensate for the sugar abuse I put it through during the week- jelly beans anyone?

I have concluded that I have stopped stretching.  So I either need to increase my running by adding a second or third run during the week OR by increasing the distance.  I think increasing the number of runs is the answer.  Need to do something to get out of the plateau.

Today's question is:
"How do you know you are at a plateau?"

365QOD-Dayy412

"I do not know what I want"- a common belief

I am reading Emotional Equations by Chip Conley.  Good book but I do not know if I will finish it.  I am short on time.

One of the equations that he presents is:
Life Mission=Pleasure/Pain

To maximize the likelihood that it is your life mission it must give you a lot of Pleasure BUT also minimize the Pain. Suppose you use 100 for pleasure and 1 for pain then the likelihood that it is your mission is 100/1=100. 

Note that if something causes you lots of pleasure but also causes a lot of Pain then the two cancel each other.  In this case the pleasure would be 100 but the pain might be a 50 then the Life mission score is only 2.

It seems simple enough.  Find something that you enjoy BUT also is not causing you any pain will be closer in line to your life mission.

Today's question is:
"What gives you maximum Pleasure and minimum Pain?"

365QOD-Day411

"Technical Hording"- phrase used in SuperFreakonomics audio book

While driving this morning I was listening to the follow-up book to Freakonomics.  The book is OK so far.

The phrase above caught my ear.  They told a story of a doctor who had developed a way of extracting babies out of the womb by using a tool.  He and his family horded the tool and this lead to loss of millions of lives.

As I pulled in the parking lot, I thought about the people in my career that were technical hoarders.  They had a niche at which they excelled and did not want anyone else to learn how to do it.

One great example was a guy who used to do the billing for the power utilized during the month by different steel mills.  He used to spend  two days massaging numbers until they made sense.  He did it so quickly that no one could learn how to use he tool he developed or the methodology he used to manipulate the numbers.
Since Iwas assigned to watch him I  did but eventually told my boss that it was a waste of time.

His hording was silly.  He thought that this was his job security.  It might have been.  It was also his terminal job since no one could replace him.  Eventually he had to train someone when he was to retire.  The sad part was that he was a very smart man and could have moved up to a better paying job.  His loss was also the company's loss.

Today's question is:
"What are you hording?"

365QOD-Day 411

"Can you believe the weather we are having?"- a persistent question

I was in Chicago last weekend.  A beautiful city that was experiencing 80 degree weather during March instead of the freezing cold snowy days that often occur.

Unknowingly, I must have used it at least ten times.  It was also used by everyone else around me.  No one could ignore the beauty of the weather.

Today's question is:
"Can you stop talking about a great thing?"

365QOD-Day410

"Love is all that it is"- song lyric

It is hard to not respond to attacks.  I always think that responding is a lot better than reacting.

People have their reasons for attacking.  They even believe to be right. 

Create a flame inside before reacting. Come from the angle of love.  Maybe it will not flame up.

Today's question is:
"How do you warm yourself up before responding?"

365QOD-Day409

"That is stupid"- my response

I saw a TV segment on the cinnamon challenge.  Kids and adults eating a spoonful of cinnamon without water.

People are desperate to get noticed.  Some of these folks want the videos to lead to fame and possibly a reality show.

Crazy? Crazy like a fox?
Even if it leads to something it will be short lived. It is not something that could improve your brand.

Today's question is:
"Would you do something stupid to get your brand noticed?"

365QOD-Day408

"It is easier to get forgiveness then permission"- advice

In my mail came an article from Inc. On 8 traits of great employees.

Trait 1 was that they ignore job descriptions. I often do so.

Sometimes doing this can put you in peril but you get better results and faster. This is easier in smaller companies that are not so formal.

Today's question is:
"Do you ignore your title?"

365QOD-Day 407

"Cut your resume to two pages"- advice that was given to me many jobs ago

My resume is currently about 5 pages.  It needs to be updated and most likely will go to 6 pages.  Yes you read that right.

Why?  Think about it... who reads you resume first?  The answer is computer which scans for key words.  Once the key words are caught then you make the first pass and you land on someone's desk.

The person looks at your resume and can see a lot of experience doing many things.  In 30 seconds or less,  they note that you have done many things and usually bring you in to see.

The conventional wisdom is completely upside down.  People want to get down to as few resumes as possible as quickly as possible.  Then allow the person to sell themselves.

Today's question is:
"Do you have an example where conventional wisdom is completely wrong?"

365QOD-Day406

"LIFE AS ART"- ad slogan for Ritz Carlton Residences

This slogan caught my eyes. It immediately raised questions:Can you live life as art?, What would that look like?, etc.

I have always believed that we tend to live life as we are rushing through it.  We rarely pause to hear the response to our question, " How are you doing?"

What "To live live as art" means to me is to allow yourself to be proud of everything you do.  To be able to say that no matter what you are doing it is done to the best of your ability with your mind present during the experience.

To me it is the essence of zen.  It is to live a simple life that is full of experiences and not excessively focused on "things". 

Today's question is:
"How would you live life as art?"

365QOD-Day 405

"Obesity is a disease.  It is not a decision"- bulletin board caption

I passed by this bulletin board the other day and it caught my eye.  I asked myself the question and the first thought that came to me is hat this is not true.

I could not think of a single person who was overweight that I have been around and somewhat familiar with their lifestyle, that this statement held true.  In all cases it was usually poor dietary choices that eventually lead to being obese.  All the bad choices coupled with decision not to get exercise and it leads to quickly getting obese.

I realize that there exist people who make great choices and  exercise but their systems do not respond.  But those folks would be an aberration to the norm that most of us would find. 

The bigger issue for me was whether something that is "politically" correct could be misleading and false.  No one want a large segment of the population pissed off at them because you are telling them that they are making poor decisions and not disease.

Today's question:
"Do you believe that some politically correct and accepted statements could be false?"

365QOD-Day404

"It does not matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.  We needed to to stop asking the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life- daily and hourly.  Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct."- Viktor Frankl

Chip Conley mention that in a classic play the Death of Ivan Ilyich Tolstoy writes of a man who learn that he will shortly die and is confronted with the fact that he's wasted life.  That last minute insight provides him with a sense of inspiration to become a new person in the short time that he is allotted.

I wonder how many people reach the end and wonder the same.  How many are truly happy at the end?

Since we do not know our end date, we can always begin today.  We can examine our life up to this point and answer the simple question whether we are pleased with our life up to this point.  The honest answer will allow us to decide the path ahead. 

For me if the end came today, I would say that I am happy with many things I have accomplished BUT unhappy with my current state.  I can be more and accomplish more.  Some of my relationships are terrible.  Others are healthy.  My relationship with me is OK.

Today's question is:
"Are you happy with your life up to this point?"

365QOD-Day403

"Emotions are like clay, and you can mold them  into the work of art that is your life.  You have the capacity to transcend your set of petty grievances and emotional annoyances.  The fact is that the biological life span of a particular emotion is about ninety seconds.  It's the afterlife of that emotion that we mortals revive and bath in"- Chip Conley in Emotional Equations

The fact is that the biological life span of a particular emotion is about ninety seconds. WOW!  You would think that it would be longer.  It seems like we dwell in a world full of emotions that tend to last and last.

This line also made me think about how when I get a pain while running that they come in cycles.  The pain comes, I feel it, and expect it to go away. 

I have never thought about emotions in the same way.  I can handle anything for 90 seconds.  Bring it on!  LOL The lesson is not to revive and bath in it.  Embrace it, take the energy, and mold it into something productive.


Today's question is:
"Can you be tough for 90 seconds?"

365QOD-Day402

"Between stimulus and response there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom"- Viktor Frankl

I often times try not to react.  In my opinion reacting is when you that space is nonexistent.  The stimulus is there and you without thought react.

The pause provides time to process the stimulus and think of several alternatives.  Then one can make a better choice in how to respond.  Notice that I said respond and not react.

So how do you introduce that pause?  Some folks simply count to ten.  Others use a mantra to calm their minds and allow for the nervous system to reach a better state.

The last line of the quote is very powerful.  It is with this pause, when our actions are better thought out, that we obtain growth and freedom.

Today's question is:
"How long is your pause?"

365QOD-Day401

"That is just unimportant"- overheard

Recently I had to attend safety training sessions.  I sent a group of the vendors that work for me to the class and also attended the class myself.  The training was wonderful.

A couple of weeks later we had an injury.  I investigated the accident and reviwed the training with the group.  Two weeks later we had another accident.  Both were hand related.  I investigated and discussed the issue with the employees. Both were momentary lapses.

Having taken part in safety training since 1989 I am always trying to remind myself to keep my mind on task, hands on task, keep my balance, and keep out  of line of fire.  Simple? No! Costly? Yes!

In the Fast Company magazine article that was written about The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he told the story of Alcoa:
"The sluggish aluminum company hired Paul O'Neill as CEO in 1987, hoping he'd boost revenue.  To the chagrin of investors, he chose to focus his energies on decreasing employee accidents, the result of unsafe work habits.  O'Neill streamlined the company's production process to force cautiosness, and by the time retired in 2000, Alcoa's net income had increased fivefold."

So I provided training, emphasised safety, and talked about taking their time.  It boils down to keeping focus and that is individual.

Today's question is:
"How do you keep your team focus on task?"

365QOD-Day400

"KISS- Keep It Simple Sweetheart"- one of my favorite sayings

I happen to glance at Fast Company magazine today.  In it there was an article that was written about The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.  It was a very short article with lots of pictures.

One of the paragraphs talked about Starbucks:
"As Starbucks planned its growth strategy in the 90s, managers realized that employees regularly cracked under pressure. (Tears were common.)  Starbucks implemented institutional habits for baristas, called the LATTE method: listen, acknowledge, take action, thank the customer, and explain why the problem occurred. Customer (and employee) satisfaction skyrocketed."

Brilliant! 

In terms of personal improvement, developing habits that support your long term mission are critical.  If you can take those habits and create a single word to remind yourself of what you need to do in different situations, you will handle the situation with ease- habit.  In my opinion we can have many words BUT we need to start with a single one. 

Today's question is:
"What is you habit word?"

365QOD-Day399

"Wow..that was fast!"- my thought

Monday night I needed to create a post.  I had read an article from HBS on procrastination and when I got home I wrote it.  I posted it to Facebook and Twitter and left to do some things.

Later on in the evening I checked my cell phone and had a text from one of the readers with a comment.   It was nice to hear from a reader and even more surprising the quickness of response.

Today's question is:
'Do you let people know that you notice their work?"

365QOD-Day398

"... and then it all went to hell.."- a frustrated person

I noticed a pattern the other day.  After my two half-marathon races I took a week off followed by a 3 mi weekend run, 7 mile weekend run, and a 10 mi weekend run.   Man the 3 mi seemed more difficult than the 13.1 half marathon. 

This morning while driving to work I was listening to an audio book- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.  I love his work BUT I had a hard time focusing on it.  Hum...

In the past I used to listen to audio books instead of the radio.  BUT for the last couple of months I have let myself slip.  So what happened?  Now I have a hard time focusing on the book while driving.

It seems to me that we can quickly build up our endurance in both mental and physical arenas BUT we can also even more quickly lose the endurance.  The answer is to never stop or take smaller rests between events.

Today's question is:
"How do you not lose your endurance?"

365QOD-Day397

"I'll get to that"- who me?

Most of us have struggled with procrastination at one time or another.  So can procrastination be good?

I read a HBS article today and one line in it stood out:
"NASA scientists and engineers found that performance increases as deadlines shorten, but when the deadlines became too short, performance declined."

In other words it is OK to procrastinate up to a point.  Once that point is crossed then stress sets in and the quality of your work will be greatly affected.  Maybe a point in which you have to get 100% of the work done in 80% of the time is the optimal procrastination point? 

I would guess that probably most people would guesstimate a point in time when 20% of the time is left to do 80% of the work.  In other words you have started, got 20% of the work done, and are quickly running out of time. 

Today's question is:
"How do you tell the optimal procrastination point to begin work?"

365QOD-Day396

"Again"-my initial reaction

Couple of years ago I sat in my favorite creative place.  It was a Borders bookstore on Michigan Avenue.  In it I would spend hours writing and creating.  I miss that place

One Saturday morning a thought came to me that there exist equations in life that could be captured as a book.  A book of Life Equations. 

The other day I went to my new library in Galveston and picked up a book.  The title of the book is Emotional Equations by Chip Conley.  I flipped through it and my initial reaction was the quote above.  Again, something that I created someone else executed.

Granted that my idea and his idea are different.  The thought of someone else creating what I thought was cool bugged me.  I remembered the old saying about God taking out insurance on us.  He gives the same idea to many people.  He does not care who executes it.

When Steve Jobs died I started writing a book about lessons we could learn from his life.  I quickly created 200 lessons from his life but I have not finished the book.  Again, I will eventually find a book with the same ideas I also though about.  It all boils down to quickly executing the ideas you get.  I need to do a better job of this.

Today's question is:
"Do you execute your ideas quickly?

365QOD-Day395

"Success is not guaranteed"- Anonymous

I believe that most things in life work out.  However, sometimes things do not work out.   Examples can be found in both personal and professional areas.

Since it is not guaranteed then we need to savour the sweet taste.  But what if it turns out a failure instead.  We need to savour it also.  What!  Yup...

Without tasting it and understanding it we will repeat it.  Think about it, bitch about it, understand it, and move away from it towards success.  After all it is just a result that you can change.

Today's question is:
"Did you savour your last failure?"   

365QOD-Day394

"Don't undervalue what people can do just because of their age.  And that goes for people who are older or younger than what you perceive as norm.  We should be more interested in great minds and solutions than the age of the people who are bringing those to the table"- Matt Smith freshmen at Georgia Tech and founder of two start-ups

Life rarely comes in neat little packages.   At times what seems one way often turns out differently.  The pretty girl/guy which catches your eye often turns out to be lacking in many areas.  The "seasoned" lady/gentlemen that is not so pretty but yet has a twinkle in her/his eye that you find attractive.

It is our nature to judge.  It often starts with the visual and then when we connect the audio we form an opinion.  But as the young guy above cautions us the greatness of a mind is not dependent on the age of the person. 

There needs to be a delay in our judging.  Listen to the idea without prejudice and then make your decision.

Today's question is:
"Are you able to introduce the delay in your judging process?"

365QOD-Day393

"
Q:You were the chief evangelist at Apple, so you know a thing or two about getting people to love your brand. But how do you promote your brand, and yourself, without becoming nauseating about it?
A: I think 90 percent of that battle is making sure that you truly have that great cause. What causes that "nauseation" is when you are promoting something that is crap. I don't think Steve Jobs nauseated people when talking about how great Apple stuff was. The reason why he didn't nauseate people is because it was true. The start of all great marketing is to have a great product."- Guy Kawasaki  in Inc. magazine Q&A

I believe that it is easier to sell a great product or a service.  And as Apple has demonstrated, you can charge premium for a great product. 

The ultimate product that we sell is ourselves.  As we all know, there is a fine line between talking about yourself and laying it on thick.  The opposite is also true.  If do not talk about your accomplishments then often times people will not know about them. 

Today's question is:
"What do you say when you sell yourself?"