365QOD- Day1060

Special Email

"Which reminds me... I had a very bright young woman in my office this week. She was bright and educated and clever and fantastic, but I have to admit, I wasn't buying her very well-expressed desire to join our team, so I said:   Hey, look, I do career advice for a living. When you put the kids to sleep, and you have a moment in your day, and it's just you, what do you dream about doing?"-Marc Cenedella (in a 4th of July email )

How often do you save two year old emails? Or even better, do you re-read an old email from a stranger?  Well, I have this old email from Marc Cenedella that he sent out couple of years ago and I have re-read the last two years.  Why?  Because it resonates with me.  It reminds me of what is important.

The quote above helps to put me into the conversation between Marc and the person he is interviewing.  The question asks the person as to what is important to them when the world no longer gets in their way.  Wow!  We often blame others and things for not getting to do what we need to do.  But what about when there is nothing in your way, what do you dream of doing?

Today is the last day of 2013 and I believe we need to ask ourselves this very important question.  It provides guidance as to what is truly important to us.  Why is this important?    Marc reminds us that:

"There's no storybook about "The Boy Who Followed Somebody Else's Dream", no movie rights sold for the tale of "It Wasn't Within My Purview To Consider Alternatives", no Sinatra tune entitled "I Did It The Way My Critics Requested I Do It"."

Today's question is:
"What do you dream about doing?"

365QOD- Day1059

New Resolution

“I will stop adding sugar to my coffee and  tea.”- my last year resolution

Last year I decided to stop adding sugar to my coffee and tea. I had read many studies that reported that just by stopping pop drinking you could lose 12 pounds.  It made sense so I decided to do a small experiment on myself.  I stopped for a year.

So what happened?  I managed to not add sugar directly to my coffee or tea for a year.  This may not seem like much BUT to me, before making this decision, it was impossible. Impressive?

Well, I think anytime we manage to improve anything about ourselves we should pat ourselves on the back and gloat.  I am.  But the drawback of the experiment was that it did not change my weight very much.  My weight tends to oscillate between 215 and 225.  If I exercise more it tends to be towards 215 and if I tend to overeat it leans towards 225.  Adding sugar made no difference.

To me what is important is that I do not miss the sugar.  Now I actually prefer the taste of my coffee black because I finally taste the coffee and not the cream, milk, or sugar.  Simply,  I just the taste the coffee.

Since it is the end of the year I have been thinking about what I want to get rid of in 2014.  It is only a day away and after some serious thought I have decided to give up my favorite vice- chocolate. I will not eat any desert during the next year.  What this means is that I have a lot of chocolate cleaning in my office to do tomorrow…LOL

Why chocolate?  I decided that even though I removed adding sugar I did not eliminate it totally from my diet because I still kept eating chocolate and deserts and once in a while drinking a pop.  Man this is going to be tough!  I will attempt to eliminate chocolate, deserts, and pop for a year.

Today’s question is:

“Could you give up your first and second favorite vices?”

365QOD- Day1058

Becoming Real

"You become.  It take a long time.  That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and you eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joint and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly except to people who don't understand." - the velveteen rabbit

This quote was on a painting that I saw in a gallery the other day.  How could I walk away without writing it down?  I could not.

I believe that I have many sharp edges inside me.  At times those edges get in my way of becoming Real.  Even with this, I at least realize the need to become Real.

As the quote teaches, the process takes a long time.  It requires us to become.  To me this means taking the time daily to reflect on one's life and how to transition to a better level.  Level of what?  It could be a level of anything.  As I wrote in Day1057, it could be reaching a new level of happiness.  For some of us it could be reaching a level of thinking, financial, love, flow, focus, etc.

Identifying the change in level,while smoothing the edges, is the key.  But retaining the level is critical.  If you slide back after becoming something you are not any better off than your old self.  You know what it took to get there but not how to stay there.  Note that the gains do not have to be great but they have to be continuously gotten and kept.

Today's question is:
"Are you becoming Real?"

365QOD- Day1057

A Formula For Happiness

"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."- Abraham Lincoln

God bless the PBS drives.  It is during these drives that I always get to see an unusual programs that I never seem to see the rest of the year. This was also true the other day when I caught a portion of Deepak Chopra's happiness seminar.

I did not see most of it but one slide he presented was full of wisdom.  With the slide he presented a formula for happiness.  It was made up three pieces.

The first piece is SetPoint in the Brain. According to Deepak, our brain's own happiness set point makes up anywhere from 40-50% of our overall happiness level.  In other words, our own internal belief of how happy we are makes up almost half of our actual level of happiness.  The old saying, "misery loves company" should become, "Happiness leads to more happiness."  Lincoln's quote specifically identifies this set point as the key to happiness.

The second piece is Conditions of Living.  He believes that it contributes 7-12% towards our level of happiness.  If you are struggling to meet ends meet then this places a burden on your mind and leads to less happiness.  So put your financial, work, and home life in order and your happiness score goes up by 10%.

Last piece that makes up happiness is Voluntary Choices.  Deepak believes that this part contributes 40-50% towards our happiness level.  So if we make bad choices we can not expect good results.  If we make good choices we can not guarantee good results BUT they become more likely to lead to our happiness level improving.

All together the formula is
Happiness= SetPoint in the Brain + Conditions of Living + Voluntary Choices

What is interesting about this formula is, that when you pull back and examine the three pieces, we are in charge of all three pieces.  We can set our happiness set point higher by exposing ourselves to positive inputs continuously.  Slowly we can change our living conditions to be better by attacking each area of our lives and nudging it to a better state.  In the end we can not expect overnight to reach nirvana overnight but choice by choice we can improve our choices and the level of happiness.

Today's question is:
"How happy are you based on your set point, conditions, and choices?"

365QOD- Day1056

Purpose Driven Team- Part 4

"What's a in it for me?" Lee Colan's forth question

Most corporate incentive systems are either carrot or stick type.  Either you punish the employee for not achieving or reward them for succeeding. Let us focus on the reward aspect.

I have seen people get rewarded and they are angry with the boss our company.  Everyone does not value money as the only reward.  Rewards are only meaningful if the individual values it.  If I value time but my boss rewards me by giving me  financial bonus I would only see it as a partial fulfillment.  I would prefer maybe a smaller reward with time off to enjoy it.

I believe that a new reward type that we will see is to provide employees with an experience.  Maybe a paid trip to a dental mission in Africa would be the most fulfilling experience that an employee would find most rewarding? Maybe the ability to work in a soup kitchen every Friday? Reward is very individual and needs to be understood.

Today's question is:

"What reward do you value the most?"

365QOD- Day1055

Purpose Driven Team- Part 3

"How can I contribute?" Lee Colan's third question in Inc. magazine

The first piece to developing purpose driven team are to transfer the vision into smart goals.  Second piece is to create specific plans to drive towards those goals.  So what could be missing by just doing these two steps?

The first two steps are group driven.  Now we need to assign personal roles that each team member will accomplish.  In other words we need to transition the we goals into me goal.

Each team member has to feel that their role will contribute towards the goals.  It usually works best if each member chooses which role they feel they can best contribute in.  Don't assume that team member who was a star at doing one thing will be great at doing everything. This halo affect can demoralize a key member.  By allowing the team to chose their role instead of assigning them gets them to buy into the goal as being their own.

Today's question is:

"Do you allow your team to choose their role in goal achieving?"

365QOD- Day1054

Purpose Driven Team- Part 2

"What are we doing to get there?" Lee Colan's second question in Inc. article

In first part of the purpose driven team we looked at translating a leader’s vision into concrete smart goals.  I simply applied the smart acronym in order to quantify them.  But having the goals is not enough.

The smart goals need to be translated into concrete execution plans.  In my understanding I see the translation from vision to goals as figuring out the “what”. Next we need to translate the what into “how” territory by creating plans. 

When creating plans we need to consider the

Scope,

Schedule,

Costs. 

These are the traditional triple constraints But I believe that Risk also needs to be considered.  The team should consider what risks can occur and get in the way of reaching the goals.  Many projects fall because of lack of risk awareness and plans to handle them.

Today's question is:

"How do you convert your smart goals into specific plans?"

365QOD- Day1053

Purpose Driven Team- Part 1

"What are we doing?" Lee Colan's first question in Inc. magazine article

Leaders often get a vision.  It is clear to us where we want the team to go.  Unfortunately, it is often clear as mud to our followers.

This question is the first of four questions that we will ask ourselves.  This question forces us to identify the team goals.  In my opinion, vision without goals is simply a thought in the leader's head.

This is where setting smart goals has its purpose.  Make sure your goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time bound

So in order to help your team become more purpose driven help them go though a goal exercise that translates your vision into specific smart goals.

Today's question is:

"What smart goals is your team working towards achieving?"

365QOD- Day1052

People Pusher

"The project manager first has to be tough, second place has to be flexible. A motto I consider important is “Never uncertain; always open.” I saw that in Latin (Numquam incertus; semper apertus) on the ceiling of a German fraternity in Heidelberg. It's important to always have a direction and be going there. You can't steer a ship that's not underway. But it's also important to be open to changes in circumstance and direction and not just to be completely bullheaded. A project manager also has to be a people person. Project management is a people function and most of the problems are people problems."-      Fred Brooks author of the Mythical Man Month

I manage people and projects for a living.  My goal is to always to get the project done ahead of schedule and under budget.  There is science and art to getting this done.

The science part consists of having the knowledge of the project management framework that your organization follows.  This is very different from one organization to another.  Sometimes it is well spelled out in manuals and training.  Other organizations do not follow a formal system and simply respond to the flow.

What Fred is talking about is the art piece.  As he wisely tells us, most problems are people problems.  You have to be tough to protect your organization's goal for the project but flexible enough with people to allow for reasonable changes.  It is a fine line.  The line, never uncertain, always open is the secret sauce.

Many project mangers tend to fall into one or the other camp.   I love both equally because I see them as complimentary and not as excluding the other.  Just because I know the flow does not can be effective on getting people to follow me.  One without the other makes one a very incomplete project manager.

Today's question is:

"On your path are you certain but open?"

365QOD- Day1051

Wildly Successful

"What would make this (fill in the blank) wildly successful?"- Mike Williams, CEO of David Allen Co.

We often walk into situations.  What I mean is that we walk into meetings, lunches, presentations, life events etc. where we just take part in the event.  Majority of the time this is done without a plan.

The quote offers great wisdom.  It makes sense to at least have a plan BUT to define what would make it wildly successful is genius.  By defining the goal as being wildly successful we set ourselves up for a better experience.

Imagine starting a meeting and asking this question:?  Imagine asking your date what would make it wildly successful and just listening to the answer?  In both situations you would be pleasantly surprised.  The pause to ask the question of yourself and others will be worth gold.  Try it!

Today's question is:
"What would make this (fill in the blank) wildly successful?"

365QOD- Day1050

Hurting Others

"If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another."-    Buddha

 I do not intentionally hurt others. But... it does happen.  I snap and without thought I say or do something that others perceive as hurtful.  This is where focused breathing helps to stop the blood from boiling.

The quote gives a very difficult task.   To truly love oneself is very hard.   We often talk the talk but fail to live up to that level.  It must be that we do not feel "enough" and just take it out on the people around us.

Maybe we should reverse it and work on the second part of the quote first?  Work on not purposely trying to hurt anyone and we might just get to the level of truly living ourselves. I think that most of us approach life and relationships in this fashion already. Judging by the amount of pain in the world, I do not believe it to be very effective.

So what is the answer?  We have to remember that the Buddha left his wife and  princely life in order to find himself.  This seems selfish to most of us but maybe by being selfish and truly developing yourself one can evolve to this level of love for others.

Today's question is:

"Do you truly love yourself?"

365QOD- Day1049

Remote Controlled Paper Airplane

"For how long will it hold their interest?" -my first thought

The other day was flipping through a bunch of stories online and one stopped me to think.  It was a story about how group has gotten funding through Kickstarter for a device that could be attached to a paper airplane to help improve the flight time.  The device is controlled from a smart phone.

This story kept coming back up in my mind.  Most of us when we were little played with paper planes.  And in the end we never quite got great at making them, we moved in to different toys.  Do kids these days even build them?

The power of the idea is in making something old into something new by adding technology to make it cool.  I believe that if you had a controllable paper plane in a park you would be swarmed by kids wanting to give it a try.  They would put their phones and  ipads down to be able to control a physical object through the phone.   do not think that paper would matter to them.  As a matter of fact after a while they would want one made up of special materials that they can fly with more control.

Today's question is:

"What old game you played can be turned into a cool new toy?"

365QOD- Day1048

Your Relationship with Time

"Work Like a Millionaire - Rich people treat time differently. They buy it, while poor people sell it. The wealthy know time is more valuable than money itself, so they hire people for things they're not good at or aren't a productive use of their time, such as household chores. But don't kid yourself that those who hit it big don't work hard. Financially successful people are consumed by their hunt for success and work to the point that they feel they are winning and not just working."- entrepreneur magazine story

Let us take this quote apart.

The first line that caught my interest is that the wealthy buy time while the rest of us sell it.  True!  Unless you have residual income coming in from something you have created before you are trading time for money.  The only difference is what the value of your hour is. mine.

Second idea that stands out is that they are willing to hire people for chores that are not productive use of their time.  If the time used is non productive then choose someone that can productively do it inexpensively.  The decision is actually very simple.  Suppose you make 20 dollars an hour and a task will take you three hours to do.  the task cost to you is 60 dollars.  Now suppose someone is willing to do the task for five dollars an hour and it only takes them two hours to do the work.  Your cost is ten dollars and you save fifty dollars.  The important gain is more than money.  you get three hours to produce at least sixty dollars worth of product while spending ten dollars to get the task you do not want to do that only costs you ten dollars.  

The third idea is the hunt for success.  You are hungry to find success while you have released others to do something that they are great at.  You need to focus on your path and let others find theirs.  This leads to a feeling of winning.

Today's question is:
"Are you winning or losing?"

365QOD- Day1047

Being of Service Costs

“Service is the rent we pay for living.”- Marian Wright Edelman, The Measure of Our Success

The other day I was reading an article about books that changed people’s lives.  One of the people referenced this book and this line.  It jumped out of the rest of the article to capture my attention.

What does it mean that we pay rent for living?  I do not think God is sitting up there getting ready to collect.  At least God does not do this in my world view.

But I like this line as a reminder.  We should be of service to others as a way of belonging here.  We pay rent in order to realize that we appreciate our life.  Why?  How many things that were given to you that were free that you marvel at and appreciate.  Most often you said Thanks and moved on.  But if you paid the price then you will remember it.

So being of service is important.  It keeps the agreement that we made with each other that we will help and love one another.  At least that is what I do in my world view.  I love the way Zig Zigler used to say this, “In this world you can have anything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”  That is service to many!  Be of service to many and all of your wants will be filled. 

Today’s question is:

“Have you paid your rent today?”

365QOD- Day1046

Legitimate Authority- Part 3

Principle#3 When one is in authority position, they are expected to be fair.  They have to treat each member in the group equally.  Discipline can not be enforced when one has their favorites.

Many years ago I was managing a large team.  One of the employees did something that was not allowed.  Instead of having one of my supervisor’s write him up I wrote him up.  Why?

Joe was a very popular guy.  Everyone loved Joe.  He had not intentionally violated the policy but he did violate it.  So as the manager I wrote him up.  When I was confronted by other employees as to why I wrote him up my answer was in order to be able to write them up.  They were puzzled.

If I did not write Joe, who everyone loved, then I would not be fair when I wrote someone else for the same offense.  You have to treat your followers as equals.  As a person you might get along with someone better than another but they are still your followers and deserve to be treated as equals.

Today’s question is:

“Do you have favorites or do you play fair?”

365QOD- Day1045

Legitimate Authority- Part 2

Principle#2 A leader has to set up a system that is predictable.  There has to be a reasonable expectation that the rules that we will follow tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as rules today.

One way to think through this is to realize that if A leads to B.  Then tomorrow A+(a changed A+) must lead to B+(slightly different output B).  If A does not lead to C then tomorrow A= should not lead to C+.

In other words, I cannot tell you something different tomorrow than today and for you not to lose my trust.  

You have to be predictable in order to be considered legitimate.

I have seen leaders who announce a change one week and next week go against the change that they announced.  This causes confusion and lack of trust because the team will wonder what the following week will bring.

Everyone has a change level and if you make the change too steep, many followers will get lost.

Today’s question is:

“How predictable are your small changes?”

365QOD- Day1044

Legitimate Authority- Part 1

“When people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters- first and foremost- how they behave.”- Malcolm Gladwell

In next three posts I want to explore the principle of legitimacy.  So let us begin with the first principle. 

Principle#1: People who are followers have to feel like they have a voice.  If they speak up that they will be heard.

Often times leaders will take a look at the unit they are responsible and would like to make a change.  Sometimes the change is market driven and often times it is a performance improvement driven.  So the leader wants to or is instructed to make the change. 

This principle teaches us that just because you as the leader want to make the change it still needs to be communicated to your followers.  And even better, when your followers make a suggestion or challenge your change effort to take that feedback to modify and improve the change effort.

Without that push back and feedback you are only as good as your desire to change.  By using the feedback you get stronger and the change is more likely to be accepted and followed.

Today’s question is:

“How do you make sure that your followers have their voice heard?”

365QOD- Day1043

Listening ROI

“Action-oriented people—like most entrepreneurs—tend to talk more than they listen; I confess I used to be one of them.  However, I’ve found out that speaking burns more energy than listening, and the ROI is generally lower.”- Esteban Reyes, Best Advice I ever Got Inc. Magazine article

For non-financial folks the definition for ROI is return on investment.  Most of us would never connect listening with return on investment.  I know that I do.

As Esteban warns, most of us “entrepreneurial” types tend to talk more than we listen.  In my world that is OK but you have to be wise enough to know when to stop.  That is the key.

I once negotiated with a company to do some training.  During the negotiations  the contact asked me what I wanted for a rate.  Being new to the business I had a figure in mind.  BUT as Esteban cautions, I kept quiet.  The contact made the first offer and it was four times higher than what I expected.  So I said, “Hum.”  I then asked to be paid for the development time.  She said OK. 

The moral of the story is that by keeping quiet I made four times what I expected and got paid to sit in my pajamas to develop the training.  Sweet!  The ROI was significant because I managed to sense that I would be better off keeping quiet and listening to the offer.

Today’s question is:

“How do you know when to listen more than you talk?”

365QOD- Day1042

Happiness App

“When you start monitoring anything, you start learning”- Robert Trajkovski

Nataly Kogan has a company that produces an app called Happier.  The app helps users document the things that make them happiest. The eventual goal of the app is to have enough data to be able to generate a happiness graph.  Cool!

In past posts I talked about the MyFitnessPal app which allows me to track my daily calories and exercise inputs.  I love the app although for the last month or so it has failed to work. 

I do not see Nataly’s app as being anything different.  It allows the user to track their level of activity along a certain dimension.  She tracks happiness, MyFitnessPal tracks calorie and activity level. 

What these two apps are telling me is that people want to track themselves and the easier you can make it for them to convert their lives into data the more financially rewarding it will be for your business. 

Today’s question is:

“What would you track in your life that can be graphed?”

365QOD- Day1041

Stressed Out

“The amygdalae are almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans.” - Wikipedia

I watched a special on PBS last night.  They always show very cool stuff during their money drives.  The special was called Mind Over Medicine .  The author Dr. Lissa Rankin presented her views of how some things are not explainable with western medicine and we need to be aware of alternatives.

According to Rankin, the amygdala is supposed to shut off within 30 seconds of a life threatening event.  An example of such an event is a situation in which a car almost hits you.  The life threatening event lasts for a few seconds at best.  Unfortunately, modern life stress causes the amygdala to stay active most of the time.

So how do you stop stressing?  I read an article by Bahram Akradi in which he uses the following technique.

1.  “If the present is stressful, put your focus on the future.”  This makes sense.  At times we do not have complete control of our present but we can clearly see where we are headed towards.

2.  “If the future is stressful, put your focus on the present.”  Sometimes we know of events that will occur in the future.  Just because we know what will happen it does not mean we know when or how.  In those moments we should pull back and focus on what we can do now.

3. If 1 and 2 did not work for you then, “If you’re still stressed out, make a contingency plan.”  This is when you take out a piece of paper and think through your options, approaches, and plan your response.

Today’s question is:

“Are you being stressed by the present, future, or do you need to make a contingency plan?”

365QOD- Day1040

How Do You Judge a Book?

"Not that many"- my words after reading Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath book

In my opinion, one way I judge a book is by the number of pages I have dog eared.  This allows me to quickly go back through the book and re-read the key points.  Often times some of these marked pages become topics for a future blog post.

Why is this important?  Well, I thought that this is a good way to judge a book.  But maybe I am wrong?  I just got through Malcolm's book and only made four marks.  I enjoyed most of the book and was excited to tell others to pick up the book before I finished?

The book is very interesting but not very useful to me as a thinking tool.  This could be because, even though I enjoyed it, I had issues with some of the conclusions.  But I never expect to find a book that I completely agree with.

Today's question is:
"How do you judge a book?"

365QOD- Day1039

How to Tell Stories- Level3

"The ultimate level: Storyteller"- my interpretation of a figure in the book Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi.

Top,third, level in telling stories is to become a Storyteller(S).

First requirement of being classified as Storyteller is to Create Demand(CD).  After a while on not abusing the trust that readers have entrusted you with, your audience will grow.  But to create demand you have to continue learning and developing in order to share your growth.  The demand will not be there if you talk about the same topic every day.  If you did that it sounds like preaching instead of sharing something cool with your audience.

As you continue to learn and develop you will start to differentiate yourself.  The second requirement of this third level is Differentiates(D).  If you sound like someone else then you do not sound like yourself.  It is easy to fall in this trap.  It is easy and lazy thinking.  Read others but think for yourself and provide that difference as the reason for your audience to want to hear your thoughts.  Remember that is everyone is thinking the same thoughts then no one is thinking.

Last requirement of the third level is to Creates Evangelists(CE).  This is when the audience snowballs your efforts and you experience step change levels in audience numbers.  The audience invites others to become members of the audience.  You then have Evangelists.

At this level the intersection is so large between these three requirements that it is hard to tell whether you are creating demand, differentiating, or creating evangelists.  Or all three at the same time.   As an equation, S=function of(CD,D, CE)

As a review, the equations for the three levels are:
                                                         CD= T +CD+ GG
                                                         TL= CT ^ MD ^ EF
                                                          S=function of(CD,D, CE)

So where am I?  I believe that I am somewhere in the Thought Leader level.    But now I realize that I need to improve my differentiation, creating demand, and hopefully convincing evangelists to help me.

Today's question is:
"How good of a storyteller are you?"

365QOD- Day1038

How to Tell Stories- Level2

"I want to be a leader..a thought leader"- my words

In post Day1037 we talked about Content Awareness as being the first level of telling stories.  This level is all about establishing trust(T), being found(BF), and generating greatness(GG).  In this post we will move on to level two.

Level two is when a blog creator becomes a Thought Leader(TL).

The first requirement to becoming a Thought Leader is to Create Trust(CT).  In level one we established trust and on this level we are creating trust.  What is the difference?  Either you have trust or you don't?  I believe that the difference rests in the time frame.  People will give you initially invest in you a small level of trust.  If they feel like you deserve it they will increase and the bond will become stronger.  I believe that if you have written without abusing this trust for a while, maybe 6 months to a year, you will reach the CT level.

Second requirement of being thought of as a TL is to start to Meet Demand(MD).  Your audience will get used to your publishing schedule and pretty soon you will be synchronized.  If you publish monthly they will know.  If you publish weekly they will tune in weekly.  Daily publishing is a challenging but in my opinion it is worth it.

The third requirement for level two is to become an Efficient Funnel(EF).  I believe that most people are too busy to dedicate themselves to following anyone.  They will sporadically read your work as long as you are able to help they learn something new quickly.  They do not want to be sold to and have to read a book every time they show up to your blog.  Short and sweet.  With that said, I have started writing slightly longer posts this year.  Why?  I noticed that the longer ones expressed my ideas better and lead to larger audience.  But be careful!  Key word here is Efficient.

Unlike level one where you had to move from trust to being found to generating greatness, level two works best as an intersection of these requirements.  I will model intersection as ^.

As an equation level two can be modeled as:
                                                                    TL= CT ^ MD ^ EF

Today's question is:
"Do you want to influence your audience's thoughts?"

365QOD- Day1037

How to Tell Stories- Level1

"Tell me a story about myself when I was young"- my daughter's typical urging

The other day I was flipping through a bunch of books.  One of them was a book called Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi.  In the book I saw a figure that tried to explain story telling as having three levels.  Immediately it made me think of my blog.  I will try to illustrate it by using my blog as an example in this and next two posts.

The first level in blog storytelling is Content Awareness.

When starting to tell stories to an unknown audience the first requirement for Content Awareness is Trust(T).  You have to create the trust necessary for people to believe what you are telling them is the truth.  As you know, it is very hard to build trust over time with people and extremely easy to loose it in a moment or post.  So write what you believe and be truthful.

Second requirement is to Be Found(BF).  So what if you are creating very good trustworthy content if no one can find you.  You have to be able to pull new visitors continuously in order for you to want to continue telling your stories.  If you are a blog leader with no followers, you are simply wasting time writing. At every opportunity tell people about your blog and invite them to come and check it out.

I believe that over time you will reach the third requirement: Generate Greatness(GG).  I can definitely tell you that I am still not happy with my writing level.  I know I can write much much better if I spent more time planning, writing, and editing.  My compromise to me is to write daily with passion and do the editing at the end of the year when I put the book together.

SO the equation is:
                                CA= T + BF + GG

Today's question is:
"How do you generate awareness of your content?"

365QOD- Day1036

Winning Contests

"Winning races is nice, but it was never transformative.  The pleasure doesn't come from running the fastest you've run, it comes from just the experience of very moderately testing yourself.  I find that kinda nice"- Malcolm Gladwell

This weekend during a visit to my favorite bookstore in Houston I read an article on Malcolm.  Since I was reading his new book it made sense to get to know a more personal side of this brilliant thinker.  I learned things that surprised me.

One of the things that surprised me was how great of a runner he was when he was young.  He even won races and championships in Canada.  Pretty impressive for someone that looks like he would be afraid to step onto a track.

The quote teaches us why he excelled in this sport.  It seems that Malcolm realized that incremental improvements and tests are necessary to transform one's performance.  He had used the process to become the best he could be as a racer.  What is interesting is that once he realized that he could no longer be the best he moved on.  He knew that his body could not take the punishment and that he had no Olympic hopes.  To me that is wisdom in knowing when you have reached the peak of your potential and need to move on to something else.

Today's question is:
"Do you  know when you have reached the peak of your potential and need to move on?"

365QOD- Day1035

Quality of Your Colleagues

"The reason academics are so obsessed with who their colleagues are is not just prestige:it is productivity.  The person that we hire and sits in the office next door influences our creativity and our thinking.  This extends to private sector research"- Enrico Moretti

The other day I had a conversation with a guy from New Jersey.  He has moved down to Texas for the opportunity.  BUT during the conversation it became obvious that he misses his previous life.

According to him, he lived in a place where most of big cities on the east coast were within one-two hour striking distance.  With this closeness he could take advantage of the different cultures and groups in all of these cities.

I immediately recalled this quote.  He was talking about closeness to centers as the driver in his quality of life. The quote teaches us that closeness to productive and creative colleagues improves our own productivity and quality of work.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to peak into a team before joining it in the private sector.  We might be able to look at best the leader of the team by looking at their LinkedIn profile.  Access to other colleagues is close to impossible.  Maybe that should be a standard question during interviews?

Today's question is:
"Are you satisfied with the quality of your colleagues?"

365QOD- Day1034

Having no Regrets

"It gets easier every day to project a future without regret; to be the best, most optimal people we can be today, so that we can look back without ambivalence.  Life is not mysterious, it 's mathematics.  All we have to do is track our productivity, our spending, our steps, our calorie intake.  All we have to do is count our friends and likes and follows.  The illusion of control that these tools grant us over every aspect of our lives is powerful.  There is always something we can do today to avoid regret tomorrow.  To admit regret is to admit to a previous failure of self-control." Carina Chocano, Aeon Magazine

Wow!  What a quote! Let us tear it apart.

As the quote teaches, life is not mysterious and it is simply mathematics.  For most part, I would agree with Carina.  I do belief that if we can account for all of the inputs and understand the system, then we can predict most future events.

Carina's guidance is to have systems that we use to track our lives.  These could be paper or electronic.  You will definitely have information.  BUT as Carina says, it is an illusion of control.  There is a bit of unpredictability that we will never be able to account for.

However, if we track our lives then we will have less regrets tomorrow.  This makes sense to me.  The failure to plan, track, execute will lead to regrets mostly because we did not exercise "self-control."

Today's question is:
"Do the things you regret about your life stem from lack of self-control?"

365QOD- Day1033

Busyness

"Being busy is a form of laziness-lazy thinking and indiscriminate action"- Tim Ferris

The other day I just had two appointments.  One at 8-*:30 and the other one from 3-4 in teh afternoon.  The rest of the day was left unscheduled.

In the resent few weeks I have been getting better at using my time energy management system and getting more things done.  This requires me to plan weekly and check in daily.  For some reason this day was left unplanned.

So what happened?  As the quote teaches, I was very busy.  But my busyness was focused on indiscriminate actions.  All of them needed to be done but maybe most of them could have been done another day.  This was without thought and fits Tim's first prediction-lazy thinking.  According to Tim, "Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions."

Maybe that is why I felt very unproductive and down at the end of the day.  I fought a war in which I won all of the small battles but yet lost the war.

Today's question is:
"Do you catch yourself when your day is full of indiscriminate actions?

365QOD- Day1032

What do you Truly Value

"Values do not get communicated, they get revealed"- Paul Balmert

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about a seminar I attended dealing with determining one's strengths and how to improve them.  The seminar was called StrengthFinder 2.0. I loved the seminar.

One of the exercises, about which I wrote about in a post, was on determining our one true value.  We started with 10 values each.  We were then were asked to get rid of half of them.  This was hard.  But then the instructors asked us to cut it down to three.  There were tears and pain at this point.  Lastly, the leaders asked us to get rid of two of the last three values.  In the end we were left with a singular value that was the most meaningful for us.  Some of us did not like the answer but the reality was that it was the one value which ruled us above all the other ones.

Paul uttered the quote of the day during a safety leadership seminar today.  By connecting the two events, immediately I saw why many companies and leaders fail.  The focus is on communicating but not necessarily having the value as "the one" value.  It is the difference between words vs. actions.  It is hard for companies to go through the soul searching exercise that I underwent.  Impossible!  So they settle for words.

Today's question is:
"What is the one value you have above all?"

365QOD- Day1031

Moments

"MoHI- moments of high impact"- Pail Balmert

I spent today in safety leadership training by Paul.  It was excellent.  I am definitively looking forward to the second day.

During the class Paul did a demonstration of how we see incidents and at times we miss critical moments that have great influence.  He calls these MoHIs. These are moments,if used properly, can improve the leadership position of a leader with respect to his followers.

What was interesting to me was how often we tend to miss these moments.  He even quantifies them as low, medium, and high.  In the example he shared it was difficult to label them properly.  The lesson for me is to use any moment and improve its MoHI potential by noting who the followers are and how to move them.

The key is to stay open and recognize moments as they are occurring.  I believe that this becomes easier with practice.

Today's question is:
"Can you recognize MoHI moments?"

365QOD- Day1030

Nonrenewable Resource

"Time Filler=Time Waster"- a scary equation

We do not invest our 86400 daily gifts(24hrs*60min*60sec) as wisely as we should.  It is not uncommon to check your email first as soon as you sit down at your desk.  For most this is a way of tuning into what is important.

I choose to start my day by walking and talking.  Most often I get my coffee and walk over to see what people are working on and getting updated on what I need to do for them.  This sometimes takes 15-60 minutes to accomplish.

Another big time waster is surfing the net.  I have a rule.  Every morning I go to my sources of information:Fast Company, Wired, 99u, entrepreneur, Inc, etc.  and download a single article into a word document.  I then print the packet and if I am tempted to surf, I just simply pick up the packet and start reading.  This eliminates finding out what goofy stuff the world is reading about.  If I want goofy stuff then simply just read the headlines on Yahoo.

Bottom line is that we need to look at the 86400 seconds as investments. We can throw them away or invest them into something that would help us become more of who we are and want to become.

We should always question.  Scott Gerber offers these four questions to determine if an activity is worthwhile:"
1. Is the activity essential?
2. Is the timing right or would you be better served doing something else?
3.  Is your presence absolutely necessary to complete the task?
4.  Is there a better way to engage in this activity?"

and afterwards

"1. Did the activity turn out to be the best use of your time?
2. Was adequate time allotted for the activity?
3. How could your time been spent more efficiently?
4. Will you participate in this activity again? If so, under what conditions?"

Today's question is:
"What are you investing your 86400 seconds today?"

365QOD- Day1029

Visualize Your Goals with Storyboards

"Storyboards show you things that words can not, and they help bridge words to experience"- Joe Gebbia, AinBnB

Write down an idea on a storyboard, envision it, and draw that snapshot moment where the idea enters the world.  What is one thing you can do next to move your idea forward?

My answer is storyboard.  I am a great believer in storyboards.  Most of us think visually.  58 percent of all communication is visual.  38 percent is tonality. Only 7 percent is the actual words we say.  So if we want to communicate to ourselves the best way is through visual means.

Many years ago I thought that creating a storyboard business was a wonderful business idea.  I though of creating a website that would allow one to insert pictures on a storyboard along different themes and then to have the final color version sent to you as a printed poster.  This would be cool to create and even cooler to have a poster of the idea.

I might just have to execute this.

Today's question is:
"Have you ever used a storyboard to visualize your future?"

365QOD- Day1028

Anti-Business Plan

"The One Paragraph Start-Up Plan"- section heading in Scott Gerber's book Never Get a Real Job

I am currently reading this book.  The first eighty pages were all about what not to do. Even though I agreed with most things I could care less about what not to do.  But when I saw this section immediately I started to enjoy the book.

Most business plans are not worth the paper that they are written on.  People over predict a rosy picture that is not realistic.  But just because someone writes it down it must be important.  Some plans are so full of pages that they require a book binding.

Scott suggestion is brilliant.  Write a very tight one paragraph business plan.  That by itself is brilliant but what I really was impressed with is that he tells you to convert it into an action step and to test it as if it is a hypothesis(belief that could be true or false). He suggests that you test each sentence by doing it and using these eight questions: "
1. What is the service your business performs or the product it provides today?
2. How does your business produce or provide the product or service right now?
3. How will customers use your product or service as it exists right now?
4. How will your business generate immediate revenue?
5. Who are the primary clients your business will target immediately?
6. How will you market your start-up to prospective clients with the resources you have at your direct disposal?
7. How are you different than your competitors right now?
8. What are the secondary and tertiary client bases you will target once you've attains success with your primary base?"

This idea lines up well with the Lean Start-Up idea of producing a minimum product and testing it. Once each step has been completed he suggest that you evaluate your overall findings by asking yourself these six questions:"
1. What worked and what didn't?
2.  What was the result of each action step?
3. Was the overall experience positive or negative? Why?
4. What did you learn during the process?
5. Which steps can be modified or improved for better results? How?
6. Which steps need to be deleted all together?"

Pretty cool!

Today's question is:
"Can you narrow your start-up idea to one paragraph and break it apart into actionable steps?"

365QOD- Day1027

Power Networking

"INTRODUCE YOURSELF & I'LL GIVE YOU A $1"- Scott Gerber t-shirt slogan

Imagine walking around a networking event with a t-shirt that has this slogan on it.  What would you predict would be the outcome? Scott Gerber did it and turned a $62 dollar investment into five clients and thousands of dollars in revenue.  

This idea is similar to that of Scott Ginberg I wrote about in Post997.  Scott walks around with a name tag with his name on it.  He has done it for four years and it has resulted in multiple books.  Again, a very successful result.

What these two stories have in common is the ability to pull people in.  One does it with money and the other one by letting people know his name.  Maybe the rest of us are too guarded and shy?

I believe that these two guys are onto something.  Maybe combining them into a single t-shirt with your name on it with the slogan that if people introduce themselves to you you would pay them $1 is the best.  I believe that people are scared of the paying one dollar per introduction.  

Suppose you went to a function and tested the idea by getting 100 singles and actually doing it.  That is the extreme of your loss.  Noting that Scott only gave away $62 dollars he most likely spoke to most people 2-5 minutes per person.  So 100 singles would give you anywhere from 3 hours and 20 minutes to 8 hours and 20 minutes talk marathon.  Consider that his return at minimum was more than 200+ times the investment. 

The magic would be to make the 2-5 minutes meaningful for both you and the person that is introducing themselves.  You want their info and contact information but you also want to hook them into what you are doing that would resonate with them.  If they are willing to continue talking and take action by purchasing your product then the $1 is peanuts if you could get 200+ times the return.

Today's question is:

"Would you pay $1 for an introduction?"

365QOD- Day1026

Nonlinear Life

“Step A then Step B then Step C…”- - the linear plan

As humans we like to plan our lives.  We even like to plan the lives of our children.  If little Johnny goes to this school, followed by this high school, followed by this college, and then gets a job with a great company he will be set for life.  This is an example of linear thinking.

Unfortunately, life is rarely linear.  It often forces us to do multiple things at the same time and it feels like our lives are chaotic.  This is an example of nonlinear life.  In this type of a life, step A does not lead into step B, step B might have to be done in parallel with C, next going for E before backing up to do step D.  Most of us fit this type of a life.

So is it wrong to think linearly?  Nope.  Even in the most chaotic nonlinear life there are linear subsystems.  As a matter of fact, while doing my masters level work, I learned that often science tries to treat nonlinear problems by linearizing them.  In other words, for a certain range the system is linear.  Once that assumption is made and verified then it is easy to use many linear techniques to solve the problem.  (The way to visualize this is to think of a curve which on a certain range looks like a line.)

Why is this important?  Well, often we feel overwhelmed and in the midst of chaos.  Stopping for a moment to ask if some linearity can be found in the chaos might make it more obvious on how to find the right solution.  Maybe doing things in parallel, multitasking, seems like a great idea but determining if those two steps could be done sequentially might eliminate the stress while not extending the timeframe by too much.

Today’s question is:

“Do you look for opportunities to linearize your nonlinear life?”

365QOD- Day1025

Making a Dent in the Universe

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why else even be here?”- Steve Jobs

Have you ever wondered why you are here?  What is the meaning of your life?  When the life candle burns out, what will the people left behind think was your purpose?  What dents did you make?

I believe that my mission is to influence others to do better.  When I was a teacher for 18 years I influenced several thousand students in seven institutions.    I believe that most if not all were better off for having me as a teacher.  Most would probably say that I was very different than most of their teachers in getting them to think outside the box.

Today, I influence through my work in industry and my creative writings.  Every day I write about a topic that peaks my interest.  I hope that it resonates with others.  Again, I am trying to think outside their comfort box.

I also believe that having a higher purpose doesn’t just help you find success. But finding it, it helps redefine the meaning of the word.  My highest value is to creativity.  My mission and highest value match up pretty well.

Today's question is:

"How will you make a dent?"

365QOD- Day1024

The Obliger

"I feel obligated to..."- a common expression

In this last post on rules I want to review and discuss what Gretchen defines as the last of four personality types when it comes to habits.  In today's post I want to review and discuss the forth type: The Obliger.

Ms. Rubin defines The Obliger as someone who is
1. horrible at adhering to inner rules
but
2. great at following all outer rules.

The way I would define this person is someone who has no confidence in themselves.  They never set up rules for themselves.  They feel that they are not worthy to create rules.  An Obliger cares more about what others want than what they need.

An Obliger follows all outer rules.  They tend to believe that rules made by others are better than what they could come up with and they do not challenge any of them.  They are the ultimate follower.  Unfortunately, many companies love to reward these followers with leadership roles.  Why?  Because they will not question rules and follow orders.  They are the perfect little soldiers.  In the example I used with all of the types, if they are the team leader and their boss tells them to execute X they simply do it.

A obliger can not create a future for themselves.  They can only survive in someone else's world.

Today's question is:
"Are you an Obliger?" 

365QOD- Day1023

The Rebel

"Rebel without a cause."- a movie title

In this third of four posts I want to review and discuss what Gretchen defines as the third of four personality types when it comes to habits.  In today's post I want to review and discuss the third type: The Rebel.

Ms. Rubin defines The Rebel as someone who is horrible at
1. adhering to inner rules
and
2. all outer rules.

The way I would define this person is someone who has great confidence in themselves.  They are out of control when it comes to setting up inner rules.  They feel that they need to live in the moment and not create rules of what can and can not be done.  A rebel just does not care if their rules make sense to anyone.  Hell, they do not even follow them themselves.

A Rebel can not follow any outer rules.  They tend to believe that they are outside of the hold of any rules set up by someone else.  This leads to making many transitions in relationships and jobs.  A Rebel is driven by a constant need for a new challenge.  In the example I used with the first two types, if they are the team leader and their boss tells them to execute X they ignore it and will simply not execute it.

A rebel has to create their future by working for themselves.  They can not survive in someone else's world.

Today's question is:
"Are you a Rebel?" 

365QOD- Day1022

The Questioner

"And why are we doing this?"- something I often ask

In this second of four posts I want to review and discuss what Gretchen defines as the second of four personality types when it comes to habits.  In today's post I want to review and discuss the second type: The Questioner.

Ms. Rubin defines The Questioner as someone who is great at
1. adhering to inner rules
and
2. questions outer rules.

The way I would define this person is someone who has great control of themselves.  They are able to self-correct their behavior by setting up inner rules.  As an example, it might be a person who chooses to take up marathon running.  They just start small by running a eating dinner.

They are great at creating and following their own self rules but they question outer rules equally.  In other words, if they are the team leader and their boss tells them to execute X they challenge it and will not simply execute it until the reason for the rule is clearly communicated.  This often has to be communicated face to face and not through email- an informal form of communication.

The way I would term The Questioner is someone who will make an idea better by questioning its need.  Once the reasoning is clear, I believe that the Questioner will follow the outer rule as if they set it up themselves.


Today's question is:
"Are you a Questioner?"  

365QOD- Day1021

The Upholder

"Making a habit= Following rules.  Some personality types thrive when given rules and some rebel against them.  To successfuly adapt our habits, we need to be aware of how we deal with rules we impose on ourselves("inner rules") and rules imposed on us by others ("outer rules")."- Gretchen Rubin Ted speech ideas and author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home

In next four posts I want to review and discuss what Gretchen defines as four personality types when it comes to habits.  In today's post I want to review and discuss the first type: The Upholder.

Ms. Rubin defines The Upholder as someone who is great at
1. adhering to inner rules
and
2. outer rules.

The way I would define this person is someone who has great control of themselves.  They are able to self-correct their behavior by setting up inner rules.  As an example, it might be a person who chooses to lose weight and they simply decide to not eat dinner.  They just stop eating dinner.

But not only are they great at creating their own self rules they follow outer rules equally.  In other words, if they are the team leader and their boss tells them to execute X they do not challenge it and simply execute it. This is OK for most unimportant decisions but for critical path changing decisions that is dangerous.

The way I would term the Upholder is someone who is a great follower.  Once rules are set up, inner or outer, they just follow.


Today's question is:
"Are you an Upholder?"  

365QOD- Day1020

Assumptions

“If I’m not getting the result I want, what are my assumptions?”- Tim Ferriss

In past post I told a story of being stressed out about a change and asking myself a powerful question, ”What is that I would have to believe for this to be true?”  It immediately took me out of the mindset that I had of, “Ohh no this is happening to me” into examining what needed to change.  Once I identified the base of my fear I was able to challenge it and find a way to resolve my issue.

Tim’s advice is for getting yourself to overcome a limitation.  In my opinion and Tim’s quote most of the time the limitation in the result that we are getting or not getting is in the assumptions that we make.    For example, if my assumption is that I can not touch a basketball rim then my result is always going to be less than touching the rim.

The key is to stop at the result and to ask yourself to identify what are those assumptions.  If I realize that that is my assumption that I might need a training program that improves my vertical jump until I comfortably reach the rim. After all if a 5 foot 3” inch former basketball star Spud Webb could reverse dunk a basketball then clearly my assumptions are holding me back.

Assumptions are not always physical but they are always mental.  If I do not believe I can, then no matter how easy the task is I will not accomplish it.  It is mind over matter. 

Today’s question is:

“Do you ever question your assumptions or do you just blindly accept them?”

365QOD- Day1019

A Better Mousetrap

“Of all the myths of creativity, the Mousetrap Myth is perhaps the most stifling to innovation because it doesn't concern generating ideas. Rather, it affects how ideas are implemented. It’s not enough for an organization to have creative people; it has to develop a culture that doesn't reject great ideas. It’s not enough for people to learn how to be more creative; they also need to be persistent through the rejection they might face. . .

We don’t just need more great ideas; we need to spread the great ideas we already have.” - David Burkus, The Myths of Creativity

The idea that if you come up with a better idea to do something that the world will immediately adapt is ludicrous.  It just does not happen.  The lone inventor developing a super complex idea is not unheard of but is rare.

I believe that most of us have great many million, if not billion, dollar ideas in our lifetimes.  The problem is that these ideas  only stay as ideas.  They are just mental flossing and they never see the intended customer as a product. 

In industry it is even tougher to get an idea to get accepted and executed.  This is where ideas need to be pushed through every layer of the organization.  This is not an easy process and the pusher most often gets tired and gives up.  The organizational culture has to be such to nurture those ideas(not reject them immediately) and give them nourishment to survive(funding). 

As I mentioned in recent weeks I have become fascinated with the show Shark Tank.  It seems kind of harsh when folks get rejected.  But at least these are folks that took an idea and executed it.  Some creations are more profitable than others and some people can sell the idea better to the venture capitalists(VCs).  In the end they have a mousetrap that someone buys into.

There are many who get rejected by all of the VCs but immediately after walking out say that they still believe in their idea and that they will prove the VCs wrong.  Some presenters even get contacted by other VCs who believe that they can help them. The key is the “they also need to be persistent through the rejection(s) they face…”

Today’s question is:

“What better mousetrap will you persist though many rejections in order to execute?”

365QOD- Day1018

One and Done

“I do not want to do this again.”- My thought during my PMP exam

Yesterday I took my PMP exam.  PMP exam consists of 200 questions that you must answer in four hours.  It was probably the second hardest test I have taken in my life.  The hardest being the qualifying exams for Ph.D.

The knowledge behind the test is something that I do every day.  I manage people and projects.  So getting a Project Management Professional certification is not too far of a stretch.  It makes sense to understand the framework of how to manage large projects and certify that you understand it.

What makes the PMP test so hard then?  Well, it is a multiple choice test so you are guaranteed the monkey score of 25% even if you do not know anything.  The problem with the test is that most of the choices were in the “gray area”.  To answer the questions not only did you have to understand what they wanted but most likely have applied it.  Book smart folks could pass the test but it is very unlikely in my opinion that without experience you can pass it.

The benefit of taking the test was the preparation for it.  It immersed me into the framework for doing projects and I started noticing the knowledge creeping into my every day conversations.  It is good to stretch ones knowledge and then test yourself to see if you mastered it.

I did pass the exam.

Today’s question is:

“What is a learning challenge you are trying to overcome?”

365QOD- Day1017

Predicting the Future

“I wish that I was more productive”- a common desire

This weekend I read a story called A smartphone app that predicts future to-do list tasks.  The company which produces the app is 24me.  It is one of the highest reviewed and popular apps at iTunes.  I checked immediately and there is not an android equivalent.

What attracted me to the app is that “its creators say can predict future items on a user’s daily to do list.”  It is in a sense according to them a “long-term personal assistant”.  This is all done through Artificial intelligence and access to your calendar and social accounts.

So why did I think this is cool?  I am eventually going to publish a book that teaches how to manage time and energy.  Managing time is just one aspect.  Managing time and energy together now that is where the magic occurs.  To me, creating an app that teaches my system is a future goal.  I never thought about adding the complexity of AI to improve the time management. 

I believe that this idea will improve the calendar feature by collecting information from different social accounts but it will not help one get a balance.  For that you need my app.  LOL!

Today’s question is:

“Is having a way of pulling information from social sites into your calendar desirable to you?”