365QOD- Day847

" Good for what horizon?"- my thought

Often times we just want to make a decision.  We just want to get over it.  In my opinion this is short term thinking

There exists a decision making technique called 10/10/10.  I believe it was originated by Suzy Welch.

In this technique you consider the effect of the decision
1. 10 minutes from now
2. 10 months from now
3. 10 years from now

Suppose you need to have an uncomfortable conversation with your boss.  10 minutes after the conversation you will still feel uncomfortable but you will be glad that it is over.  10 months from now you will most likely not worry about the effects of that decision.  10 years from now you will most likely now for for your boss and could care even less about this decision and conversation.  It seems
that decision making gets easier when you consider the different timeframes.

Today's question is:
"Do you consider the 10/10/10 effects of your decisions " 

365QOD- Day846

"Need at least two valid choices" - my conclusion

I am currently reading a book on decision making by Heath bothers.  In the book they mention a study of decision making. The study found that only five percent of the decisions involved three or more choices.  The other 95 percent were made up of two types: whether to do something or not(40), two choices(55).

Now it gets interesting. After some time has passed, the decisions got evaluated. Only six percent of the whether to do something or not were correct. 40 percent of the two choice decisions were correct.  Overall 46 out of the 95 percent were correct.

So about fifty percent of the decisions were correct.  What I learned from that story is that in order to improve we need to have at least two good valid options.

Today's question is:
"Do you have at least two valid options to choose from? "

365QOD- Day845

" A do not need your restlessness or your excitement.  A have enough Peter Pans, thank you very much.  What we need is a little more conviction in our difference makers. A need your focus, tort pluck, your courage. We need you to commit " - Jeff Goins

Many people are afraid of making a commitment.  They are interested but do not want to commit.

Without the commitment, a team suffers.  When the team members are not focused their efforts seem disjointed and not as effective. 

As the quote points out too many of us have excitement but no conviction.

Today's question is:
"Are you committed to your work? "

365QOD- Day844

"To 'know thyself' is hard work. Harder still is to believe that you, with all of your flaws, are enough- without checking in, tweeting an update, our sharing a photo a proof of your existence for the approval of your 791 followers. A healthy relationship with your devices is all about taking ownership of you're time and making an investment in your life. I'm not calling for any radical, Neo-Luddite movement here. Carving out time for yourself is as easy as doing one thing. Walk your dog. Stroll your baby. Go on a date- without your handheld holding your hand."  - James Victore

I love the line know thyself.  I have laid out a detailed outline of an autobiography.  It is intended for my kids to read and one day understand why I have made most of the choices in my life.

The second reason for writing a book like that is to spend some tome and truthfully examine myself and the choices I have made.  Maybe by knowing myself, I could make better choices in the future.

Today's question is:
"Do you know thyself?"

365QOD- Day843

" While this is obvious in retrospect, a  great easy to free up your time to work on something new is to give something up. Instead of optimizing every second of your day ( which is doable but very difficult to maintain), I believe the better option is to make a sacrifice"- Randall Degges

I have 168 hours each week.  You have three same amount.  We can try to squeeze as much as a can but eventually it will become unsustainable.

Since we can not make more hours then we have to figure out how to maker better hours.  By giving up some things that maybe have lost importance, we might gain enough time to pursue what is truly important to us.

Delaying a project is not the same a sacrificing. To me, sacrificing means to completely eliminate it from your future plans. that is the price for getting better hours.

Today's question is:
"What is on your schedule that could be sacrificed?"

365QOD- Day 842

" Building a moat: it takes time to digg the moat, but once established, it is nearly impossible to destroy." Steve Pavlina

The easiest way to think of a moat is the word advantage.  Steve continue in a blog post:
" If you stick to your chosen field long enough, it gets harder to fail with each passing year:
1. More people will be aware of your existence than when you first started. 
2. You'll have a bigger toolbox of strategies.
3. You'll have more clients and customers.
4. Your skills will increase.
5. You'll have more chances for fortunate opportunities to land on your plate. 
6. And you'll be committing against people with increasingly less experience than you have, relatively speaking."

I added the numbers for emphasis.  This quote wonderfully illustrates the benefits of sticking with something for a long time.  The advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages. 

Having worked in several industries I can tell you that the only disadvantage I can site is that you will be pigeonholed as that industry guy. When I left steel to go to academia I was asked why I wanted to do this. 

When I left academia to go into consulting and running a business I was asked why I wanted to leave academia.  When I left consulting and teaching to go back to industry I was asked why?

My moat is creative solution to problems.

To me industry is not important. Academia is not important.  What is important is the application of creativity to solving problems.

Today's question is:
" What is your moat?"

365QOD- Day841

"My advice is to abandon the passion mindset which asks 'What does this job offer me? Am I happy with this job? Is it giving me everything I want?' Shift from that mindset to Steve Martin's mindset, which is ' What am I offering the world? How valuable am I? Am I really not that valuable? If I'm not that valuable, then I shouldn't expect things in my working life. How can I get better?" - Cal Newport

I have written about passion many of times in this blog.  I am a firm believer that without passion we can get good results but never great ones.

This quote made me realize that the passion mindset is very self oriented.  Maybe Steve is correct?

In the end we would be more fulfilled if we satisfy the needs of others.  By serving others we increase our value to the world. The greater the number that we serve the greater our value.  I believe that they can be combined into a valuable passion mindset.

Today's question is:
" Do you have a valuable passion mindset?"

365QOD- Day840

" Regardless of the city you're in, you get into your car and your preferences- climate control, radio and seat positioning settings, itinerary destination, even favorite restaurants- are already programmed in"- Luke Schneider

This morning I read a story about a new rental car company called Silvercar.  What caught my attention is that it only uses silver Audi cars and the based on the quote the car becomes customizable.

My first thought was that there isn't enough of a demand but maybe I am wrong.  Maybe we all want things to be customized to us.  It seems that our attitude is "it is all about me".

I can imagine that getting in a car that feels like yours could be wonderful. But sometimes the fun is in playing with the gadgets and the different settings.  It is fun until you get it just prefect for you.  I hate it when I let my wife drive my car and I have to make the adjustments.  This teaches me that once it is perfect for me I do not want it changed.

Today's question is:
" How customizable do things need to be for you to be useful?"

365QOD- Day839

"Pay attention to the little things people do." - my words to myself

Many years ago I learned a valuable lesson.  I shared an office with a co-worker.  He was younger than me and I helped train him.  He did not directly work for me.  We shared an office and a desktop computer.  I also had a laptop that was issued to me. 

I noticed that he would take things that did not belong to him as if it was issued to him. If I left a dollar on my desk, it became his.  Any tool that I had became his.   Since the desktop was company property I could not complain.  However, on the desktop I had some personal files for my part time teaching job.

One week I left to teach a plant course on Spc and when I came back he had moved out of the office and taken the desktop.  I went to his new office and asked to retrieve my personnel files.  He said that he completely wiped the computer clean and destroyed my files.

I was pissed.  I did not care if he moved out or if he took the desktop but the files he destroyed took a lot of effort to create.  When I confronted his boss he just shrugged his shoulders. 

The lesson I learned that day was to look at the little things that people do and extrapolate( predict) potential future problems with that individual.  I should have noted his and hits boss' behavior and lack of boundaries when it came to assigned equipment and predicted that he could do something like what he ended up doing.

Today's question is:
" Do you extrapolate future actions from the small things people do?"

365QOD- Day838

" Gloria Price, professor at UC Irvine, found that technology workers got interrupted on the average every 11 minutes then it took 25 minutes to get back on track." - source unknown

Recently I read an article that talked about two different types of schedules: a creative's and a manager's.  It immediately made me think about my schedule and that of the people around me.

I am on a manager schedule.  If there is an empty spot on it schedule a meeting and I will  be there. This type of schedule trends to work in one hour blocks.

The independent contributors, the creative workers, tend to work in blocks of time bigger than an hour.  So stopping in and asking a question throws them of their flow. As the quote above suggests, they lose their place and have a hard time getting back on track.  The non creative types need to give them freedom from interruption during those blocks.

Even though I follow the manager type of schedule I probably need to block out twenty percent of my time ( two for hour blocks for creative work).  This will allure me to create and respond to requests instead of rushing yo another meeting.

Today's question is:
" What type of schedule do you follow? "

365QOD- Day837

"Fundamental Attribution Error- the tendency to ignore context and attribute an individual's success our failure solely  to inherent qualities" - definition

When I read this line it made me think about fixed vs. flexible mindset.  The fixed mindset believes that all results are due to being smart.  The flexible mindset believes in working hard and figuring things out as you move through the challenge.  To me, inherent qualities brings up fixed, born with ideas. 

After  reading the definition a second time, I noticed the 'ignore context' portion.  A success in one field does not translate into success in another field.  If that was true then Michael Jordan would be also the greatest baseball player and the greatest NBA executive.  He was average in baseball and in being a boss.

Success in one arena could be due to your skill set, your willingness to fight for what you want, your focus, etc.  The place where you fight is also critical.  A great boxer in a rink might not do so good in a bar fight.

Today's question is:
" Do you consider the context along with your skill set?"

365QOD- Day836

"That is easy. "- answer to the first challenge

Jim Rohn's second challenge that he believed life poses is:

How do we wisely use all of our resources?

Resources that we poses are money, time, attention, love, etc. If for a moment we just focus on time we quickly notice that we are very often not the guardians of our time.  Someone walls into your office and you drop everything to accommodate them.

Similarly,  we trend to watch the Pennies while dollars get blown away.  That pop in the machine is a dollar but that dollar adds up over time to a fortune.

Same thing with the other resources.  We tend to waste them until we feel the poison of not having them.

Today's a question is:
" How do you make sure you wisely use your resources?"

365QOD- Day835

" I am up for the challenge" - my response

A couple of days ago I finished listening to a six CD set by Jim Rohn on changing one's life.  There were many great ideas in it.  In this and tomorrow posts I like to discuss a couple of life challenges.

According to Jim, life poses two challenges that we should pursue.  The first challenge is:

How do we develop ourselves to our maximum potential?

I love this question.  Often we are afraid to go after what we want because our best might not be God enough.  So we pull back from giving it our all.  In order to give it our all we must develop our full potential. This takes wisdom to self evaluate where your gaps are and to figure out how to fill them.

Today's question is:
" What do you need to do to develop to your full potential? "

365QOD- Day834

"Why the shape of a cross?"- a question asked by a priest during a sermon

Many years ago I attended a sermon that I would not forget as long as I live. The priest who gave the sermon asked this question.  He proceeded to answer it.

He said that if you really started looking at the term commandments you could summarize then into two:
1. How man should behave towards men ( he motioned side to side)
2. How man should behave towards God( He motioned from bottom up)

The motions made three shape of a cross.  I lived his summary because many years late I remember three message.

Today's question is:
" How are your relationships towards fellow men and God?"

365QOD- Day833

"Let me tell you a story..."-typical beginning

Can you retell the story of the Trojan horse?  Most of us had heard it in school somewhere along the way and can probably retell it just as well many years later.

The last idea from the book Contagious is to tell a Story.  

I'm a believer that a great story can move people to action.  But a many greatly entertaining ads illustrate often they do not tie back to the product.  The story must connect back to you.  The Trojan story links back to the Greeks who built it.  The story has a purpose and in the end it links back.

Today's question is:
" What is the story you tell link back to you? "

365QOD- Day832

" Now that is useful to know"- something I always say

According to the Contagious book, the fifth component of making an idea viral is for it to have Practical Value.

I used to be an academic.  But I never published papers.  I have been credited as author on a few papers but not as a sole author.  Publishing academic papers was never of interest to me.

I love writing books and my blog.  I believe that these contribute practical ideas to the world.  Writing a paper that stretches some theory a little bit is cool but of limited practical value.

So if your idea is of practical value then it has a chance.  People have to judge it a something of value that can be applied immediately.

Today's question is:
" How practical is your idea?"

365QOD- Day831

" Build to show, built to grow"- from the book Contagious

The fourth important feature for an idea or product to become viral is for it to make it obvious to the Public.

In the book the example of Apple cover logo being upside down vs. right side up is highlighted.  Apple logo is upside down to the user but when the cover is open the logo shows up properly to the public around the user.  This is pretty strategic.  If it was the other way around then the user is happy for a minute but the public wonders why the logo is upside down.

By placing the logo that way the user's computer provides free advertising to the nearby users that the user prefers the apple brand. 

Today's question is:
" Do you built to show?"

365QOD- Day830

" To keep a fire going, put some kindle in it." - old advice from my grandmother

In my opinion the most important thing to align in order to make sure something gets done is emotions. The how is easy but the why is hard.

In order for the why to be bigger than the how you need to do something to get your emotions moving you in the right direction.  You would do the same to get an idea to become viral.

According to Contagious book Emotions are necessary in order to make am idea viral. What will inspire people to talk about it.  What well kindle the emotions. What emotion will move people to act?

Today's question is:
" What will ignite feelings towards you or your product?"

365QOD- Day829

"Top of mind, tip of tongue"- Contagious book

Second thing to keep in mind when trying to make an idea viral is to consider Triggers.

Think of a trigger as a memory device.  If a cue is presented, would it trigger a memory or a response?

Consider if someone says peanut butter.  What is the first thing that comes to mind?  For most of us it would be jelly.

What about if you need to blow your noise?  What would you ask for?  Most likely, you would ask got a Kleenex.

Today's question is:
" What triggers in your customers mind when you or your product/service are mentioned?"

365QOD- Day828

" Check this out...." - an urging

Recently I started reading an ebook called Laptop Millionaire.  I started reading the book but quickly realized i needed to stop and create a product. I also ordered the book on order to be able to work with it a little easier than an ebook.

So when I got it in my hand I thought ok now nothing will stop me from reading and working with it.  Well, I got a call from my favorite library in town that a new book came in for me. 
The book Contagious by Jonah Berger has been in front of me the last week. Its focus is on determining what makes ideas go viral.  In order took make the ideas memorable it uses the acronym STEPPS.

First idea from the book is that what makes ideas spreadable is that the person who spreads the idea wants to increase their Social Currency.  In other words, by spreading the idea the persons image gets a boost.

In a sense the purpose of this blog is to increase my Social Curgency.  By posting content that folks want to read I am hoping to be recognized as a creative thought leader who can absorb a lot of ideas and make them a approachable. In other words, we share things that make us look good in the minds of others.

Today's question is:
" How do you increase your Social Currency?"

365QOD- Day827

"... you got to become one with the bicycle"- Tommy Hendricks

Last night I was talking with Tommy.  We started talking about the keys to success.

Tommy gave a great example.  In his example he asked the question if anyone ever learned how to ride a bicycle without falling.  The obvious answer is that no one ever learned to ride a bicycle without falling.

The effort to ride the bicycle involves falling a few times until you understand the balance required to not fall.  But once you master the balance, you become one with the bicycle.

This idea holds true for bicycle riding, book writing, cookie making, business building, etc. you become one with" it", whatever it means to you.

Today's question is:
" What are you one with?"

365QOD- Day826

"We do know that fifty percent of the tome people are online they're procrastinating.  But we don't know whether, in fact, they wouldn't just use something else "- Timothy Pychyl

The thought of people waisting 50 percent of their time online is unbelievable.  I mean I believe it but it just seems such a waste.

In the last six months I have been trying to do things more analog.  I tend to sit at a desk that does not have a computer so I can think.  I also trend to go to a lot of meetings in which I just bring a notebook and my cell phone.  If I need to check email I can quickly do it on my phone but most of the time I just take notes in my Moleskine grid notebook.

For me this prevents me from sitting in front of a computer and potentially waisting time.  I do believe that I can do better at answering the mountain of email if I sat at the computer but maybe that is my next procrastination hurdle.

Today's question is:
" How do you spend your surfing time?"

365QOD- Day825

" I am working fill time on my job, and I am working part time on my fortune"- Jim Round

I love this line.  It fits well with my AND thinking belief.

Many people believe that they can only work on something full time.  But then they miss out on working on their fortune part.

It is so easy to just come up with reasons. Reasons such as lack of time, money, to busy, etc. come to mind very quickly.

It all boils down to what is important to you: working for yourself or for someone else.

Today's question is:
" Are you working on your or someone else's fortune?"

365QOD- Day824

"Take a bite...go on" - an urging

In life, we are often presented with many opportunities.  These opportunities offer growth and adventure.
However, just because the opportunity for adventure is in front of us we might not take it.  And when we do, it might be too late.

Not pursuing the adventure leads us to discover less, achieve less, create less, etc.  In the end we live a lesser life.

Today's question is:
" What pulls you towards adventure instead of away from it?"

365QOD- Day823

" There is a business concept called opportunity cost.  When you choose one course of action, you miss out on all the other opportunities you might have chosen to pursue but didn't.  People rarely stop to consider that until its too late."- Steve Tobak Inc. magazine

This morning I spent some time thinking about how wasteful my weekend was in total.  Yes I got a few things done but no major items got ticked of my list.

This quote teaches a wonderful lesson.  I did not consider the opportunity cost of doing the things I chose vs. the big items I could have accomplished.  Maybe the value of the NBA game should have been lower than finishing the editing of my new book?

The realization for me is to periodically stop and ask myself as to what is my opportunity cost for choosing to do what I am doing instead of getting an important task not get done.

Today's question is:
" How do you establish your opportunity cost of an activity?"

365QOD- Day822

" Who are the people shaking up their field most dramatically? To answer that question, we sifted through hundredths of names in scores of categories to come up with a dozen disrupted less content to improve the status quo than to blew it up." Forbes April 15 issue

Usually a hook like this over promises but falls to deliver.  But this story did not.

The first disruptor was a company Snapchat which has managed to do something pretty unique.  They realized that when we send photos it might be desirable if the photo has an expiration date- "self-destruct ".
It made me wonder if other things should have a self-destruct ability. First thought that came to my mind was email.

What would happen to email traffic if people knew that after 24  hours the email would destroy itself.  Maybe people would follow up with a conversation?

Today's question is:
" What else should self-destruct?"

365QOD- Day821

" Wherever you are is the entry point" - Rumi

Most of us expect a magic starting point with trumpets announcing the beginning of something big.  Reality never lives up to this fantasy.

Everything has a beginning and an end.  Both the beginning and the end are often very fuzzy.  You seem never certain that you are just starting or that you are completely done.

So with this in mind, Rumi's advice is a jewel.  It doesn't matter if the start gun had gone off, just begin.  It doesn't matter if the finish tape had been removed, just keep going.

Both the beginning and the end are entry points.  Just continue.

Today's question is:
"What is this adventure an entry point for? "

365QOD- Day820

" How would you live your life if you only had six months to live?" - a big question

It seems at times we lack clarity.  We feel we can always get to it tomorrow.  Whatever the it we are working or thinking about now.

While listening to an audio CD by Joe Polish with Brian Tracy, Brian asked this question.  He said that he felt most of us would be forced to focus if that was the reality for us.

For most of us that life or death situation does not seem real.  So we delay. And delay because we feel that tomorrow will always come.

The most extreme position is to imagine if this is your last day.  This is a zen idea. 

Today's question is:
" If today was your last day, how would you spend it? With who? Doing what? Eating what? Saying good bye to? Finishing? "

365QOD- Day819

"Good conversation is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. "- Anne Murrow Lindbergh

Last night I had a conversation with a new friend.  We talked about ideas.

He started telling me what he is working on.  I told him what challenges are stretching me.

In the end I felt refreshed.  My mind stretched.  But like the quote, it was hard to sleep and not think about the ideas we discussed.

Today's question is:
" Do you feel energized after a great conversation?"

365QOD- Day 818

" Another number story" - my observation

I can not help but notice that there are many stories that start with a number.  5 ways to become your best, 10 ways to be more productive, etc.

In my opinion, someone had figured out that a leading number catches the attention of readers.  So now they use it and use it and use it.

It makes me wonder when an effective technique gets old?  If you are getting results then you probably do not care but over time less and less people will read your stories.

Today's question is:
" How do you decide when you need to get a new method for getting a result?"

365QOD-Day817

" Can I have a minute of your time?" -common expression

I constantly work on several side projects.  And often I hit a wall.

The wall is usually a lack of knowledge or expertise in a subject.  Many times I even know who knows the answer.

While looking through Inc. magazine online stories it mentioned a site that offers access to experts such as Mark Cuban for a fee.  His fee is 160 dollars per hour. Some experts offer their time free. Gary V. offers 15 minutes for free.

It makes me wonder how valuable the short time can be and how to best use the short time.

Today's question is:
" What questions would you ask during a 15 minutes access to an expert"