365QOD- Day1331

Finding and Naming Your Ideal Customer

"My target customer's name is James."- Carissa Reiniger

Lately I have been reading many books and attending many webinars on the topic of hosting webinars.  It is a very interesting area to study.  The most surprising part is how well they are scripted.

Before starting a business one of the first things that one has to figure out is who is their customer or target audience.  Unfortunately this topic is the first one brought up but few tools exist on how to determine it.  So what does an entrepreneur do?  Calleen Rush offers great advise in her webinar training.  What follows is my interpretation and addition to Calleen and Carissa's ideas

An entrepreneur says,"Well, I know how to do X so the world must need X."  But just because you know how to do X and are exceptional at doing X does not mean that there is a customer willing to pay for what you are offering.  Great examples are my books.  I wrote them but only a few people bought them.

From what I have learned, determining your ideal customer involves identifying who you want to work with in detail.  For example, suppose I am developing a product that would appeal to crazy busy professionals.  That is my target audience.  

Once you can identify the audience, as Carissa advise, you should give it a name.  Suppose my customer's name is Carrie and she is a crazy busy professional.  I now need to sit down and completely describe Carrie up to the point that Carrie becomes real to me as a person.  I need to imagine the challenges that she is going through and how she deals with them.  Naming also helps you to ask personal questions whether something would be beneficial to her.  Or even better if she will attend the webinar.

After naming her and describing her I need to drill down and ask myself what is her "top of the mind" problem and how does that make her feel.  For example, suppose I believe that Carrie is often very very tired.  Even though she exercises she has a hectic life and is always trying to squeeze 48 hours in a 24 hour day.  What one word describes her?  Frustrated. Fanatic. Overwhelmed.

I need to chose a single word that best describes her.  Suppose I choose Overwhelmed.  Now I have to ask myself does she identify with that word.  I might feel that it describes her but it does not mean that she would use it to describe herself.  If it is not then I need to go back until I get that one word.

Only after I have the problem identified that is the audience, her top of the mind problem, named her problem am I ready to ask, "What is the solution that Carrie needs to help her solve her top of the mind problem?"

Today's question is:
"Have you named your customer?"

365QOD- Day1330

Dead or Dumb

"In business if you stop learning something new you are dead.  If you are learning something new but not changing because of that information then you are dumb. "- Carissa Reiniger

The best work advice I ever got was on my first day at work.  I shared an office with a gentlemen whose name was Jim Allen and he said to me,"Don't go home until you have learned something new."  It was worth gold even though I did not fully appreciate its value initially.

That advice has served me well.  I have forced myself over time to keep learning.  With the opportunity to learn I have made changes to my thinking process and knowledge base.

I believe that Jim's words indirectly capture the first part of the quote.  If you stop learning you are dead.  You have become the stiff tree that does not bend and the first strong wind that comes along breaks you in half.

Second half of the quote is a new addition.  It is a in your face statement.  If you are learning BUT not benefiting from that learning then you are wasting time or just simply dumb to absorb it.  Either way you are going to be out of business pretty quick.

I believe that the only choice is to be Alive AND Smart. Learn new information and integrate it into your whole.  Periodically trim the old information and processes that no longer serve you or function the way that it should.

Today's question is:
"Are you learning and doing something with that information?"

365QOD- Day1329

Two Out of Three

"In life we always have a choice to make.  It is between work, friends, and family.  You can have two out of three but not three out of three"- a paraphrase of Kevin Koput statement on Eventual Millionaire

I believe that most of our lives are spent out of balance.  The way you can visualize it is as a wheel with several spikes.  If most of them are about equal then the wheel rolls smoothly down the road.  But if one gets out of whack then the wheel goes WHACK WHACK WHACK

So this quote is wisdom.  It makes us realize that often the imbalance is due to choosing two out of three instead of all three- because we can not have all three.  Or can we?

So 
If you chose work and friends then your family suffers.
If you chose Work and family then you lose your friends over time.
If you chose friends and family then you do not succeed at work.

I believe that Kevin is right and he is wrong.  It is our American mindset that fools us into believing that we must choose.  We are driven and do not understand that the balance is the key.  Maybe getting less of each moves you ahead instead of maximizing two out of the three.

That is my belief.

Today;s question is:
"How do you chose what is important without disturbing your balance?"

365QOD- Day1328

Drifting Towards

"What are you drifting towards?"- Michael Hyatt

I believe that often we have to make a decision.  When we make a choice it is because we chose something over another thing.  We are conscious that we want that something rather then the other thing.

So if we make a choice why is that over time we lose our focus and start drifting?

I believe that we start thinking that the grass is greener over there and we slowly start to drift.  This is not as conscious decision as the original choice but the actions we take slowly move us away from it.

That is sad.  It is the reason why I feel at times my life can be visualized as islands of success.  I slowly drifted away from one to another. I might not even completely know the island I am on before drifting away.

Today's question is:
"What are you drifting towards?"

365QOD- Day1327

YouTube Success

"The most successful YouTube channels are game reviewers/ walk through/commentators,  toy reviewers. comedy videos, prank videos"- My research

The other day I read an article that ranked the top twenty YouTube starts by the amount they made.  My research of the top twenty summaries how they make the money.

So if you want to make money on YouTube your first choice wold be to be a game reviewer/commentator/walk though person.  And you would have to compete against some very successful people.

What I find interesting is that success for most parts is based on one simple word- Reviewer
Yes, there are comedians but that  was a small minority of  the twenty.

Today's question is:
"What could you Review on YouTube?"

365QOD- Day1326

Sword of Wisdom

"With The Sword of Wisdom, Sever The Doubt In Your Heart" - John McConnell Yoga video #22 A practice contemplating a quote from the bhagavad gita

This great wisdom is hard to do.  

Suppose you get some Data.  You manage to turn it into Information.  Over time the Information becomes your Knowledge.  Lastly, it becomes ingrained in you and becomes Wisdom that you can act upon.

This is what I believe happens in the learning process.  The quote, to me, indicate someone giving you wisdom.  With that wisdom you are to sever the doubt and just act.  This is the part I have a hard time with.

As human beings we often turn away from wisdom because it did not originate from us.  As I often phrase it, "We would hit our head on a wall rather than believing that wisdom that someone gave us that the wall is hard."  

This is human nature.  This is why kids do not listen to parents.  But as adults we have no excuse.  We see the wisdom, and as the quote teaches, we must sever the doubt and act.

Again.. hard to do..

Today's question is:
"Could you sever the doubt in your heart with the sword of wisdom?"

365QOD- Day1325

Expectations

"Expectations of others are a killer"- wisdom

Expectation of self are difficult.  We usually are our own worst enemy.  We expect and often fail to deliver.

BUT when we start placing expectations on others we introduce so many more variable to the mix.  We might think that something is important and want it so bad. BUT that expectation does not mean that it is important to others.  

We have to be very clear as to what is the expectation.  The harder part begins next with getting the other person to truly buy into that expectation being important to them also.  Without this you are setting yourself up for failure.

Probably the best way is to have the other person restate the expectation and their buy in as important. This is key in teams when the effort can make or break the team's success.

Today's question is:
"How do you assure that the expectation you have is important to others?"

365QOD- Day1324

Most Valuable Product (MVP)

"What is your hot dog?"- a very strategic question

Imagine wanting to open a hot dog stand.  You know just teh right corner.  The corner is busy full of people and you see that at lunch you would be successful.

Now you decide to formulate your strategy.  You can not decide which one would be better:
Strategy 1 is to offer a hot dog with just hot dog, ketchup, and mustard.
Strategy 2 is to offer a hot dog with 10 different condiments(relish, exotic seasonings, bbq, melted cheese, etc.)

You can argue for either strategy.  You could make a case that sells one over the other.  

However, there is only one answer.  Strategy 1 is the only answer.  Why?

You always have to ask yourself what is my most valuable product that I am offering to my customers.  In this example it is the hot dog.  That is what you need to focus on.  Give your customers the best hot dog at a great price.

 You can even argue that the ketchup and mustard are extra and should be eliminated since they are not the MVP.  You would be correct but the expectation is that most people would expect the minimum condiments.  In a sense that is your MVP Plus product- an improvement on the MVP but not an excessive move away from the MVP like the 10+ condiments.

Today's question is:
"What is your MVP Plus product?




Most Valuable Product
- starting a hot dog stand with all extras
- starting a hot dog stand with just hot dogs

365QOD- Day1323

Doing vs. Reading

"You don't have to read the book, you are already doing it"- Jamie Tardy

Recently I was listening to Jamie's show and I heard her offer this advice to a millionaire.  She refered to a book and then acknowledged that the person was already doing what the book recommended.  In next sentence she told the person that because they were already doing it they did not need to read the book.

I do not understand her logic.  Just because you are doing something does not mean you can not learn additional things to compliment what you are doing.  

I would especially have recommended the book for him.  He would have been able to read and understand how someone like him was doing the same thing.  Maybe taht person is getting better results?  Maybe their sequence is better?  

There infinitely many things we can learn by simply studying success in others.  Studying success in others who are doing what we are doing is a gold mine.  You would be able to quickly learn things that others would have to take more time to figure out.  

Today's question is:
"Do you read books on things you are already doing well?"

365QOD- Day1322

Celebrating Success

"Celebrate success to increase confidence."- Brenton Hayden

I believe that I do not celebrate success well.  I might take a moment to acknowledge it but often I do not celebrate it.  

The quote above is great guidance.  It teaches that just by celebrating it, you will increase your confidence.

Why is this important?

I believe that by increasing your confidence, you will increase your success.  It becomes a circle- a circle of success. 

So why am I not doing it?  I am probably just being cheep.  The quote does not indicate taht it has to be costly but that it does have to be celebrated.  Maybe my association is that it has to be costly prevents me from celebrating it.

I need to change that belief.  From now on I will celebrate each success with a small gift to myself or even better someone else.

Today's question is:
"Do you celebrate success to increase your confidence?"

365QOD- Day1321

Be a Billionaire in Your Own Mind

"I Want To Be A Billionaire So Freaking Bad..."- song lyrics

The other day in a post I wrote about studying success and learning the mindset of the person you are studying.  I believe that knowing how to do something is not enough.  You must also know the mindset of why the person does what they do at the time that they do it.

SO the quote above urges us to be a billionaire in our own mind.  Can it hurt?  NO!  It is adopting the mindset and testing to see if it fits you.  

Some people might argue that money is not that important to live a great life.  With few exceptions(mother Teresa, Gandhi, etc..) so most people the money is key to living a great life.  It is the great lubricator.  It makes everything go smoother.

SO what happens if you shoot for a Billion and hit millions?  Well, you are still better off than someone who does not have that mindset at all.  You might not have hit the moon but you get into a higher atmosphere than most of us.

Today's question is:
"Do you want to be a billionaire?"

365QOD- Day1320

Missed Opportunity is Irresponsibility

"It is better to be prepared for an opportunity an that opportunity not show up than to have an opportunity show up and you not be prepared"- Anonymous

Amen!

This quote is wisdom.  We tend to always focus on looking for opportunities.  That is important BUT once we have found what we believe is the best opportunity that can come our way we need to start preparing.  

Preparation is the key.  What price are you willing to pay to be prepared so that once the opportunity manifests you can step in and perform?  Yes, there is a price.  The price could be one of money or time or effort or all three.  

The title of this post might seem harsh.  It is intended.  If it is something you have self identified as important to you and for you not to make the effort to prepare for is irresponsible.  That means you are not responsible and will eventually fail if the opportunity come to you. 

The world has changed and you will not be given the time to prepare yourself when you start the opportunity.  You will be expected to be prepared before you start the opportunity.

Today' question is:
"What opportunity are you getting yourself ready for?"

365QOD- Day1319

Copying Others

"Replicating what other people have done can make you miserable."- A belief

I believe that we can learn great things by studying others.  But we should not copy them.  Copying might be a compliment to the person you are copying but it does not speak well of your creativity.

Don't get me wrong.  We should study success in others and ask ourselves how applicable it is to us.  We need to understand their success and more importantly understand their mindset.

Recently I listened to a podcast in which a successful entrepreneur said that he reads a biography/autobiography every tow weeks.  While he is reading it he tries to put himself into the mindset of the person.  

He even adopts some of the physical habits the person has.  For example, when he studied Buffett he drank a cherry coke at 10:30 and 2:30 each day.  Why?  Because Buffett does that every day.  After he is done studying the person he is able to recall the mindset in the future and gets rid of the physical habits.  

This is interesting to me because I also agree that it is important to study others but I believe that we should try to improve upon what we see others do.  Once I understand a method that someone is using I should be able to ask myself many questions about how to improve upon it.  This extra effort makes it my own.  It might have the other person's method as a subset but the new method will be my own.

Today's question is:
"How do you differentiate between copying and improving upon and idea?"

365QOD- Day1318

Steve Jobs a Used Car Salesman

"In our country sales has a bad name.  Maybe it is because people have been burned by car salesman so bad that this attitude persists"- an observation

Is it so bad to be a car salesman?  No it is up to the salesman to make it a priority to sell ethically and not to take advantage of their customers but to build a relationship.

With that in mind, why did I title this post by combining Steve Jobs and Used Car Saleman?  Well, most of us would not have considered Steve Jobs a salesman BUT he was.  He was an acceptional salesman.  He sold products to people that they didn't even know they needed.

One interesting fact that many people overlook is that he was not a technical genius.  He was a great visionary that knew when something was great or not.  The technical visuionary for Apple was Steve Wozniak.  Who more than anything wanted to stay at HP as an engineer. 

So Steve Jobs had to sell his on starting the company.  If he had not he might have ended up in car sales... probably not 

The point is that we are always selling.  There is nothing wrong with selling your ideas and products.  Steve Jobs sold Steve Wozniak in order to form Apple.  

Today's question is:
"Are you comfortable selling to others or do you see it as dirty?"

365QOD- Day1317

How do you make coffee?

"Step 1 is..."- a procedure

I have a definite way of making coffee in the morning.  My approach has detailed in a post written many months ago.  It is pretty elaborate.

So why write an article about how do you make coffee?  

The other I watched a short video of a guy who has perfected in his mind the perfect machine for making coffee.  I thought how I made coffee was elaborate.  I was wrong.

He not only created a machine but details the steps needed to make the coffee to the point of it being a job.  So to me there is a fine line between elaborate and an obsession.  

The funny part of the story is that I can see his machine and see that even though he is obsessed by the art of making coffee his device is no better than any store bought machine.  He uses filters that he places in water before using them to remove the pulp.  But he still uses filters and the natural oils get captured in the paper.

Today's question is:
"How do you differentiate between a very strong passion and an obsession?"

365QOD- Day1316

The Sniff Test

"There is something about him that I do not like"- Intuition

The other day I listened to a story from a millionaire.  He talked about how he felt it was worthwhile to meet people with whom he was going to do business online.  Even though he felt that he was making a good decision he believes that nothing compares to a face to face before doing business.

What was also interesting about him was that he requires his new potential partner to meet his wife.  She does the "sniff test".  She is the one that makes the final decision whether to do business or to walk away.

In a sense she is open and not invested.  If the personality is not a fit then she says no.  If there is a feeling that this person is not a fit, she says no.  She serves as an independent judge of fit.

Today's question is:
"Do you or someone for you do a sniff test of future potential partners?"

365QOD- Day1315

Creating an Algorithm

"Can I predict the winners next week and do better the following week?"- My question

I have been watching the NFL season more regularly this year than past.  In the past I tended to get focused on the games when it was getting closer to the playoffs.  This year I am starting early.

In the office a few of us decided to play for bragging rights to who got most games correct.  We did not want to play for money but for bragging rights.  So week 2 we all picked our winners and on Tuesday one of us was the clear winner.

Being a mathematician I decided to see if I can get a hold of some data to improve my predictions.  I used the Yahoo sports website to get some data. Note that the ESPN website has incredible amount of data but I thought that the amount of data was overkill.

So I dumped the data in a spreadsheet and assigned weights to different aspects of the game.  I then determined a total score for each team and can easily pick which team did better based on the weight for each aspect of the game.

My goal is to continuously tweak the weights in order to improve my algorithm.  Wish me luck!

Today's question is:
"Do you ever create prediction algorithms?"

365QOD- Day1314

A Different Way to Breathe

"Place a finger on the right side of your nose and hold it close, breathe in through your left nostril.  Now place a finger and close the left nostril and breathe out through the right nostril"- A yoga breathing technique

My yoga instructor, Carmen, the other day provided this technique.  I found it very interesting and new.  So I tried it and loved it.

She said that many people find it hard to do without the hand.  A challenge!

Yesterday when I went for a walk I practiced this technique.  She was correct.  Initially it was hard to do but after working with it the technique became easy to perform.

Why is this important?

Many years ago I was told that we often breathe through one nostril at a time.  Stop for a moment and take a deep breath.  I believe you will find that this is true for you.  The reason this is important is that when we are breathing through the left side we are using the right side of our brain.  When we use the right nostril we tend to use the left side of our brain.  In other words we are either logical or artistic.

In order to maximize the effect I used to blow my nose before each exam.  This way at least initially I had both nostrils open and was using both sides of the brain.

This technique is an interesting twist.  Can I continuously force my nostrils open during the day?  It will be worthwhile to learn to breathe this way continuously.

Today's question is:
"Can you perform this breathing technique without hands?"

365QOD- Day1313

Maverick MBA

"Why not? I can sell it."- powerful words

I used to teach MBA courses so I have a couple of opinions:
1. do not get an MBA unless you get it from a top school 
2. most people have not managed long enough to benefit from getting one

So why do I call this post Maverick MBA?  Because I believe that the group that would best benefit from getting the MBA is is the group least likely to get it.  Why?

People that succeed in business and are identified as fast movers eventually will go get an executive MBA.  Someone has tapped them on the shoulder as a fast mover and this is their ticket to the next level.  But are they the best ones to get an MBA?  No!

The people that would best be suited for the MBA are people who have risen through the organization initially but have stalled at a level.  This means that they are perceived as competent that the company does not want to move them up because they are afraid to lose what they got in that role.  
So these folks need to explore getting the degree as a way to force their company to eventually move them up or have outsiders more interested in them.  Where should they get their degree?  Top school if possible or if not then start picking up courses online from top schools.  This way you get the knowledge and do not get stuck with the bill.

Today's question is:
"Do you fit the bill for a Maverick MBA?"

365QOD- Day1312

Being a Questioner

"Why?"- usually a dangerous question

I remember the first class I instructed.  After the introduction which is a funny story that broke the ice- see post  , I asked for a volunteer.  The students were confused.

I asked for someone that would be the class questioner.  They were still confused.  I explained that often students were afraid to ask silly questions and to heckle the professor.  I did not want that.

I explained to the students that I wanted to be challenged and pushed.  I  told them that I was no better than them and that I wanted to be challenged.  I also told them that most of them would say they could but most often they would chicken out and not do so.

So I wanted someone who was a bit of a maverick.  Someone that would push me and make sure that I did not lose them by going to fast or not explaining a concept clearly.  Finally someone raised their hand and accepted the job.

I loved it.  Officially there was someone to push me and not let me get away with anything.  What a brave soul!  It is difficult for people in authority to get challenged.  First they do not want it and second the people that are following them are afraid to do so.  That is unfortunate.

Today's question is:
"Have you ever been a Questioner?"

365QOD- Day1311

Change Your Story

"You either choose your story or someone else does it for you."- My belief

Recently I heard a story about a your guy trying to sell bookmarks.  Selling of the bookmarks was done as a part of a Junior Achievement project.  

Just like girl scouts selling cookies he tried selling them one on one.  He would approach people and ask them if they were interested in buying a bookmark.  Some people bought and others did not.

Then it dawned on him that he needed to change his story.  He decided to go to businesses and offer a young entrepreneur trying to earn money for college story.  The owners bought the story and allowed him to place his bookmarks with the story in their stores.  The result was incredible and he ended up breaking all kinds of Junior Achievement records for sales.  

I love the story because it teaches how just changing the story and audience can get us much better results.  We can not be afraid to make the change to see if we can get an improved result.

Today's question is:
"Do you force yourself to change your story or do you wait for others to change it for you?"

365QOD- Day1310

Rolls and Rolls of Paper

"And why do we have these hundreds of rolls?"- my question to my boss

Many years ago I started my career in a steel mill.  After starting in the company I shared an office with a co-worker.  But fairly quickly, my boss got a new role and he moved to a new office that was bigger and his office became open.  So I asked him and he allowed me to move into his former office.

Well, that might seem like a great move except the office was full of crap.  It literally took me a year to get rid of all of the stuff that was there.  One of the first thing I noticed was that inside my new office was a cabinet full of paper rolls with graphs on them.  These graphs were generated by a machine that determined the speed of a breaker.

Being a newbie I asked the question.  My boss was so proud and took a couple of graphs for a breaker that showed the results from the last two tests spanning a five year period.  He laid the graphs on my desk and said, "Look we can compare the plots by placing them one on top of the other."

I looked enlightened.  But I asked a silly question, "So no one ever converted these graphs into data and mathematically analyzed the data?"  The look on his face was one of confusion.

His team had collected data on probably 50 breakers in outside yards for the last 25 years and all they had to show for it was graphs.  They could not mathematically show whether their opinions were correct by analyzing the graphs and converting it into information.

So I created a procedure and systematically got rid of all of the papers by analyzing them.  I looked like a genius and then I can get rid of the cabinet.

Today's question is:
"Do you question enough?"

365QOD- Day1309

Wrong Perspective

"Man I just did not see it that way."- hard to admit statement

Last of the techniques that the 99u.com article on how to apply lateral thinking is to: Change perspective

I always say that I know what I know but do not know what you know.  This is my way of reminding myself that I need to be open to the ideas of others.

One of the phenomenons that I have observed in my life is the idea of a fresh perspective that a beginner brings to a solution.  A beginner does not have preconceived notions that people ingrained in the system have absorbed over time.  
So a newcomer comes in and asks questions that are uncomfortable.  Maybe that are just trying to understand the way to do something and a piece does not make sense.  Naturally they ask, "Well, what about...?"  You immediately ignore it and then after scratching your head you realize that it is a valid and not just an naive question.

You could play that newbie.  How?  By changing your perspective to one that challenges any preconceived notions by asking why?  The article suggests asking yourself how someone outside of your field would solve the problem.  Maybe your problem is an engineering problem but you ask how an artist would solve it?  

Today's question is:
"How do you force yourself to change perspectives?"

The article can be found at:

http://99u.com/articles/31987/how-to-apply-lateral-thinking-to-your-creative-work

365QOD- Day1308

3..2..1

"Work backwards."- great advice

Sometimes visualizing the end result can help get us out of linear thinking.  Why?  At times it is easier to see the end rather than the next step towards the end goal.

We can ask questions such as:
“How would I get into a trapped room if it were adjoined by a room made out of a magnifying glass?”

By re-framing the question the details get removed and you are not "over-thinking" the answer of being trapped in the room.  

The article suggests re-framing vague questions 
“How could we make the city more energy efficient?”
into more specific question
“How could we renewably generate 10 gigajoules of electricity?”

This will help with removing answers that are not helpful to get to a fresh solution.

Today's question is:
"How do you reframe your questions to remove vagueness?"

365QOD- Day1307

Why Question?

"We believe.  No matter how wrong it is."- my observation

Third suggestion to improve our lateral thinking is to Question the question

Start by asking yourself:
“What if I could rewrite the question?” 
"How do I rearrange the pieces to form a new scenario?"

"In the trapped room scenario, instead of, “Which do you go through?” you might rewrite the question to ask, “Will you go through one of them?” or “Will these really kill you?” or “Do you even need to go through one of them?” 

These questions challenge the questions that we used to come up with the conventional solution.  If we ask better questions we could potentially identify a better solution.

Today's question is:
"How do you rearrange the pieces that you identified?"

365QOD- Day1306

Connections

"A leads to B and it leads to C which leads to failure."- a typical linear path

Second suggestion to improve our lateral thinking is to Verbalize the convention

The article suggests asking yourself questions such as:
"How would a typical person approach this problem?” 

Understanding the typical solution helps us to "map out the obvious".  It helps us tap into conventional wisdom.  But conventional wisdom almost always follows linear thinking.  

So to change the path ask yourself:
“What if I couldn’t go this route?” 

In other words, take that path off the table and think of options that conventional wisdom would not consider as solutions.

Today's question is:
"How do you verbalize the conventional thinking and take that option off the table?"

365QOD- Day1305

Lateral Thinking

"Pretend that you’re trapped in a magical room with only two exits. Through the first exit is a room made from a giant magnifying glass, and the blazing hot sun will fry you to death. Through the second door is a room with a fire-breathing dragon. Which do you go through?

The first door, of course. Simply wait until the sun goes down. "- U99.com article

I love this example.  Almost immediately we jump into linear thinking and having to chose one of the two choices.  Why?

Edward de Bono, who coined the term in 1967 explains that, “We assume certain perceptions, certain concepts and certain boundaries...  Lateral thinking is concerned not with playing with the existing pieces but with seeking to change those very pieces.” 

So how do we go about changing those pieces?  The article offers five suggestions to help us improve our lateral thinking.  Let us break them apart in next five posts.

First suggestion is to List the assumptions

"When confronted with a question (problem, challenge, etc.), write out the assumptions inherent to the question. In the case of the puzzle above, the list might include the following:

• You want to get out of the room
• You have to choose one of the two options
• You have to do something now
• Room One will kill you no matter what (or so we think!)
• Room Two will kill you no matter what"

I would add WHY? behind each one of those assumptions.  

Today's question is:

"Do you ever list the assumptions you are making during difficult times?"

365QOD- Day1304

Privileged

"What affects are we privileged to make?"- Seth Godin

We happen to live in a country with many opportunities to do whatever we dream up.  Often time the enemy that stands between us and our dreams is us.  A persistent enemy.

I heard this question by Seth on the Eventual Millionaire podcast and understood that I have been neglecting my blog for the last couple of months.   I have been neglecting the people who read it regularly.

First question I asked myself was why?  Why have I not been regular at writing my daily posts.  It seems like I am always playing catch up.  Sometime I write the posts a week to two late.  

First thought has been that maybe I am just not reading enough.  After some thought I realized taht that is not true.  I am constantly reading.  However, I am not capturing the learnings the way I used to.

The bottom line is... no excuses.  I apologize

Seth is correct.  I am privileged to be allowed to spread my thoughts to my readers and followers.  I need to act like I deserve the privilege.

Today's question is:
"How do you not abuse your privileges?"

365QOD- Day1303

Single Point of Failure

"I will fail my test"- my daughter's words

My daughter recently started college.  I am so proud of her.  My first baby is in college.

As any parent, I have my worries.  She is a very focused person.  I have even written posts about her laser focus.  

What worries me is that with that focus I am seeing a weakness.  The weakness is a willingness to stop if  she does not get a concept the first time.  This is the fixed mindset I have written about in the past.  

The fixed mindset is all up to us to change.  As Henry Ford said, "If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right."  So what can we do?

In my world, the idea that I can fail excites me.  That means an opportunity to learn and stretch.  Any fall means an opportunity to jump up higher than I was before.  I will not let a single point of failure stop my forward progress.  At best it will make me go sideways.

All you can control is your action.  Empty your mind and move toward your fear and see it disappear.  A single success or failure does not define you.  It does if you let it.  So look any result as feedback and work on how to improve.

Today's question is:
"Do you fight through a single point of failure?"

365QOD- Day1302

Investing in Yourself

"I just did not have the $1300."- a response during an interview

I recently interviewed a designer for a job.  The interview went very well.  The person had the skills needed for the temporary job I was offering.

However, when I asked the designer if they had a skill that was highly needed in the industry I got the above response.  I was shocked. So I probed more.  

If you know that this skill is highly needed why did you not get the training?  The answer was that they taught they would not be out of work for an extended amount of time and that it would have required the investment.  This belief led to them being out of work much much longer than if they would have known how to use the tool.

After the project we parted ways. I gave them some tools to held reduce their gap. 

But I kept thinking about this designer.  If a person is not willing to invest in themselves, they will struggle and find the path more difficult.  I believe that the problem for most people is that they do not have the $1300 to invest.  

I believe that everyone should set aside at least $100 per month for a year and call it their education fund.  Create a separate bank account and deposit the money in there and make sure that every year you ask yourself if there is a skill you need to develop.  If so, then you have the seed needed to let it grow.  If not, keep it and keep adding to it.  One day you will have a nice size personal education fund. 

Today's question is:
"What should you be investing in to improve yourself?"

365QOD- Day1301

Having an Archenemy

"I do not have competitors.  They are just JV partners"- Sean Donahoe

I work hard to get along with everyone.  That does not mean that I like everyone.  I work hard at getting along.  There is a difference.

In my recent past I had a boss with whom I just did not see eye to eye.  His ideas and my vision just did not mesh.  Even though I did not like him I wanted to get along with him.  

He chose an alternative path.  His view of someone with differing ideas is to see them as an archenemy.  What a waste of time!  The company lost someone who was not afraid to offer differing ideas and settled for a yes man. 

The quote shares my wisdom.  Combine the strengths of both and improve the system.  The willingness of both to improve the system is the key.  Sometimes people and companies rather stay enemies.

Today's question is:
"Could you work with competitors or would you prefer to make an archenemy?