365QOD- Day1292

Your Potential

"You are Mr. Potential."- sarcastic words 

I have used those words to be a smart guy.  People love to believe that they can do anything.  And as adults I believe we can do anything.  But we often we don't.

The other day I was listening to an Eventual Millionaire podcast with Grant Cordone when he gave an interesting formula for success:

Success= MyPotential-MyReality

What is interesting about the equation is that often we tend to believe in our selves and we simply judge ourselves on the potential we have.  Therefore, our potential, MyPotential, is very high.

The second part of that equation is MyReality is where the magic occurs.  A truthful examination of all aspects of one's life has to be conducted to evaluate what is the true reality.  You only know what are the different dimensions along which you want to evaluate your life.  SOme might be physical, emotional, metal, spiritual, relationships, financial, etc.

Now imagine that you believe that, on a scale 0-100, your potential at teh moment is 80 but your reality is only 60.  The difference is 20.  In a different example, is your potential is 80 and your reality is 80 then the difference is 0.

Which is better?

I believe that the second example means that you are living up to your potential and that you would be better off.  The equation really should be:

MySuccess= 1/(MyPotential-MyReality)    

with the difference between MyPotential an MyReality never being equal(bottom can not equal 0)

The closer the reality is to reaching my potential then the larger my success.

Today's question is:
"How close are your potential and reality?"

365QOD- Day1248

Memory Gaps

"Man I just can not remember being there!"- my words

Recently my son sent me a picture from many years ago.  In the picture I am sitting on a sofa and he is in my lap.  Immediately I fell in love with the picture.

However, the picture became a giant puzzle for me.  There were several elements in the picture that just did not make sense.  His age at the time of the picture.  Another one was the location of the picture.  My dress was out of place also.  Many, many more odd things about the picture.  If I did not know better I would have bet that he used Photoshop to play a joke on me.

Unfortunately, the reality is that I have a memory gap.  I usually have a great memory when shown photographs as to when and what was going on around the time frame when a picture was taken.  Most often our minds abhor gaps in memory and they will fill them in automatically.  But this time it is not happening.  I just can not recall the time the picture it was taken and by whom.

This realization has made me confront the reality that my memory is just starting to fade away.  The only was to remember things is to make the experience memorable and very vivid.  Even then we could forget it over time.

Today's question is:
"Have you ever experienced a memory gap?"

365QOD- Day1229

Two Types of Presents

“Wherever you are, be all there”- great advice

The word present is a powerful word.  Interestingly enough the word has a dual meaning.  One meaning is that it is a gift.  The present that someone has given us or we give.  We should receive it with joy and give it with love.

The second meaning is one of time.  To be present in the moment is the greatest gift we can give ourselves and others.  When we are working we should be working.  When we are relaxing we should be relaxing.  Multi-tasking is a myth.  Stick to one thing and really savor it.

Being present also affects others.  Have you ever walked into someone’s office and they were busy in the middle of a task?  They are trying to rush to finish before giving you attention.  Unfortunately they do not do either one well.  So the task gets delayed and their attention is going back and forth between you and the task they set aside.

A while back I tested a mindfulness app and found it very helpful.  I believe that random reminders to check in and determine if we are present are a powerful tool to get us to be more present.  The reminders allow us to measure it by asking ourselves if we are truly present at that moment.

Today’s question is:

“Are you present?”

365QOD- Day1191

Lifetime Value of an Employee(LVE)

"What is the LVE of this employee?"- My question to a hiring manager

Most of us in business like to think in terms of Lifetime Value of a Customer(LVC).  Simply the LVC is the perceived value that doing business with that customer will contribute to your business.  Some are very valuable and others are not.

No one talks about the lifetime value of an employee.  So this is a concept that I am proposing. Why?

Many years ago I worked in a steel mill.  While there I created many procedures and papers.  I would predict that if I walked into my old office there will still be two three inch binders full of papers.  So even though I left 13 years ago the value of what I worked on is still being utilized by my former employer.  The same is true for my other employers.

How do you measure this?  If you are an employer or manager you need to give your employees some time to create things that you might utilize over time.  This requires vision from you as to what is important and will not change greatly in the next several years.

Even better, can you look at your current tasks and identify tasks that will increase your LVE.

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

365QOD- Day1151

One Percent of Your Day

"Take 1% of your day to plan 20% of your life"- Ameritrade ad

As you know, in one day there are 24 hours, 60 minutes per hour.  This gives a total of 1440 minutes available to us in one day.  So what is one percent of a day?

The math teaches us that .01*1440=14.40 minutes= 14 minutes and 24 seconds.  Let us round it up to 15 minutes.  I never realized before today that 15 minutes is about 1% of our day. And by extension 15 minutes each day is one percent of our life. The 20% of your life portion of the quote is most likely the average amount of time people spend in retirement.

How wisely do we use our 15 minute blocks?  I believe poorly at best.  But now that we know that 15 minutes is 1% we need a strategy.   What I believe is the best thing we need to do is to pause after every 15 minuteblock and ask ourselves some questions:
1. Was the 1% meanigful?
2. Was it productive?
3. Were you present?

If it is not then you have another 15 minute block starting soon.  What will you do different in order to get a triple YES!

In addition, the quote advises that we should spend one of those 15 minutes of our day towards planning our retirement.  This could be as simple as reviewing the status of your accounts, bills, 401k, etc.   We can use the same thinking to extend our life by exercising at least 15 minutes.  Another 15 minutes could be used to meditate and say our prayers.

You get the idea...

Today's question is:
"Do you mark the passing of 1% of your day?"

365QOD- Day1127

Fourth Discipline of Execution

"One liter per day- easy"- my observation

A few blog posts ago I talked about making a change and used the idea of drinking one liter of water as a challenge.  I even explained the three components needed for the change to take place.

So what happened?  I have not been consistent.  Mentally I know that it is a good thing to do.  I have seen people dehydrated and have some emotional attachment to the issue.  However, I could not find a way to set myself up on the path to success.

The results have been hit or miss.  Some days I make it and it is easy but other days I get busy and forget to keep on the path.

I need to refocus.  I will start recording the amount of water I drink as a way to remind myself.  Like the old adage says, "If it worth doing, it is worth recording."  But I  believe that it is more than that.  I never set up a system where I was held accountable by someone.

That brings up to the fourth discipline of execution.  So far we have a goal that has been set up, and we have leading and lagging indicators, and we have to made sure you have the right lever.  Last discipline is to make it a team effort by having weekly meetings with the team and review what you have done towards the leading indicators and what you will do next week.

I need to find a water buddy...

Today's question is:
"Do you find someone to be your buddy during a change effort?"

365QOD- Day1126

Third Discipline of Execution

"So I got a goal and I got a lag and lead indicators"- my thought

I am really enjoying this book on execution.  It seems very practical so far.  I can see walking into a group and guiding them to apply it.

So suppose I have a goal to change my weight from 220 to 200 by June 1st.  It fits the From X to Y by Z date format.

I have also identified leading indicators and a lagging indicator.  My leading indicators is controlling my calorie input to 2000 calories.  A second leading indicator is to exercise enough to burn 500 calories.  My lagging indicator is to monitor my weight every morning.

The third discipline of execution is to make sure I have the right lever.  I have to make sure collecting data on these two leading indicators I will move the weight towards the goal.  Is there another better indicator than those two?  Should it be a single lead indicator?  I believe that these two are the best ones I can come up with.  You have to make sure that it is the right lever.  A poor lever will not nudge the bolder(my weight) that we are trying to move.

These three disciplines, according to the book, are setting up the game.  In other words, these three are simply setting up the rules by which we believe we can get a win.

Today's question is:
"Do you know if you are pulling teh right lever?"

365QOD- Day1125

Changing X into Y

“ I want to drop my weight from X to Y”- typical weight goal

What is wrong with this goal?  I have used the format and so have many others.  Do you see it?

It lacks a definite date.  A better format should be

     Change X into Y by Z

Where Z is a date

Setting any goal without a date is a BIG mistake.  So lets assume you have set your wildly important goal correctly:

     I want to drop my weight from 220 to 200 by June 1,2014

It is still not good enough.  Why?

Suppose you measure your weight daily.  That is a lagging indicator.  It tells you a result today of what you did yesterday and before to get to this point.  Interestingly, we use lagging indicators in business all of the time.

What would be leading indicators?  Well how about calories input and exercise performed.  Every day we can monitor the calories we put into our system and exercise performed to burn them out.   Note that the better the leading indicator that we chose the easier it will be to get to the WIG.  It is like finding the right lever to lift the rock.

What I am describing is the First and Second Disciplines of Execution from the book  4 Disciplines of Execution that I am currently reading.  You need to set a goal in the Change X into Y by Z with lagging indicators to monitor it and leading indicators to move the X towards the Y.

Today’s question is:

“What do you want to Change X into Y by Z date?”

365QOD- Day1123

Connections Between Motion, Emotion, and Knowledge

“Conventional wisdom is that for successful change first you need to know what you want to do.  Then you use that knowledge to make your move.  Conventional wisdom is wrong.

In reality, change happens the other way around.  Doing comes first, knowing second, as you do something start your exploration, get out and look around, gather impressions and information- you start to know what it is that you really want to do.  Doing preceded knowing, it turns out.”- Life ReImagined book

In an old post I discussed the idea that most people believe that they have to ‘feel’ like it in order to move them to do something.  Another way to say this is that emotion leads to motion.

     Emotion è  Motion  (wrong)

The reality if that by doing something it leads one to feel positive enough to continue doing it.  Or simply,

     Motion è Emotion

This quote adds another piece to the puzzle.  It instructs that the old knowledge leads to motion is wrong.  The true reality is that it is motion that leads to knowledge.

     Motion è  Knowledge

Combining these two ideas gives us a new result

     Motion è Emotion è Knowledge

This idea teaches that we should just start.  The emotion will come along and we will ‘feel’ like continuing.  By continuing, eventually we will become knowledgeable.

I like it…

Today’s question is:

“Have you inadvertently used Motion è Emotion è Knowledge?”

365QOD- Day1113

The Past, Present, and the Future

"So how do I use nexting and later?"- my question

In a couple of posts I discussed the concepts of nexting and later.  These two concepts in a sense are our way of controlling the near future and predicting the long term future.

For a moment think about a past event.  I bet you will be able to recall it fairly easily.  During your recall even things you can not remember will be filled in.  There will be no black holes in your movie of your past.

How about a future event?  Can you describe it in detail?  Of course you can.  Again no black holes in your movie about your future.

So our brains play a trick on us.  Things that happened long time ago or have not happened at all are completely filled in with details.  The brain is so good at this fill-in game that it is scary.

The reality however is truly different.  According to Daniel Gilbert, our near past and near future are very concrete.  They are the concrete how.  We can recall the details very well of how something played or will play out.

BUT when it comes to distant past or long term future we are dealing with the fuzzy why.  We gave a general idea of what happened and why we want it to happen the way we want it BUT we forget the details and the mind fills in the fuzzy parts with what seems real to us.  We have to become more aware that the brain is filling these details and making it appear real.

Today's question is:
"How do you become more aware of the fuzzy past and future?

365QOD- Day1111

Selection vs. Rejection

“Either you are pregnant or you are not.  There is no such thing as half pregnant.’- words of advice

For most of us worlds are very gray.  We tend to live with compromise positions.  By definition, compromise position is a loose-loose position.  Both sides loose.

Imagine having a choice between going to two vacation spots.  One is Averagonia where everything is average: the beaches, the food, the hotels, the people.  Second one is Extregonia where the beaches are great, the people are not friendly, restaurants food is great BUT hotel rooms are not so clean.  When most people are asked to chose where they would rather go they most often chose Extregonia. 

But now imagine a slightly different situation.  You have tickets for both and you need to cancel one.  Which one would you cancel?  Most people cancelled the Extregonia.

So we are both selecting Extregonia and rejecting it.  Amazing!  Why?

It was determined in experiments that when we select something we base it on positive attributes.  But when we reject, we reject based on negative attributes.  Marriages are perfect examples.  We choose our mates because of their positive traits and if we decide to get divorced we reject them because of the things that we hate about them.

Today’s question is”

“How do you select or reject?”

365QOD- Day1102

Pavlov’s Phone

“…and then he would ring the bell and the dogs would salivate without the meat.”- my recall of the story

Ivan Pavlov was a 19^th century physiologist who worked with dogs to demonstrate the effects of classical conditioning.  In his experiments he would present dogs with a food while ringing a buzzer at the same time initiated the dogs to salivate.  The dog, over time, starts associating the food with the buzzer.  Eventually when the buzzer is sounded the dog starts to salivate whether there is food or not because the dog expects it to show up.

What made me think about this story is how we have become like Pavlov’s dogs when it comes to our phones.  It is hard not to notice the similarities.  I believe that most of us associate the incoming call or text with some pleasurable response that we find hard to ignore.  If a phone buzzes we go into a state of anxiety that we come out of once we know who is trying to communicate with us and we answer.  What is very interesting is the feeling that we must immediately respond to the buzzing.

Test yourself next time your phone buzzes.  Observe how your body reacts and try to ignore the call.  I promise you that the world will be OK if you are not available 24/7 (24 hours seven days a week).    How does it feel?  Are you stressed that you did not answer it?  Worried that you are missing out on something?  I believe that most people feel that way.

I believe that by responding on your own terms you will break the conditioning pattern.  The loop consists of the buzzer(stimulus), the repeated pattern(you rushing to answer  the noise), and reward(you feel connected).  Create another loop such as: if buzzer rings(stimulus), you start counting till 100, take and release 10 deep breaths, and when it is convenient answer the phone.

Can you do that?

Today’s question is:

“How addicted are you to the buzzer?”

365QOD- Day1086

The Three Percent

"Can you drink a liter of water each day for thirty days?"- a question to an audience

The other day I watched a snippet from a seminar.  In it the presenter explained to the audience that most of us are dehydrated.  He then asked the audience if they could drink a liter of water for the next thirty days. The logic for thirty days was the old belief that if we do something for 21 days continuously it will become a habit.  Everyone raised their hands agreeing that they would drink the liter of water.

The presenter then informed the audience when this experiment was done with 1000 people the result was that only 3% percent of the audience actually stayed committed to the end.  Shocking?  I was expecting the three percent.  It is no different than the number of people with written goals.  The same number who actually persevere to achieve the great things with their lives.

So why did they fail?  I believe that they committed intellectually.  They know that drinking water is good for them and that the effect would be positive.  As the Heath brothers would categorize it, the rider committed to the journey.

However, there was no emotional connection to the goal.  Drinking water is not something that most of us get emotional about.  Unless you have seen someone dehydrate in a matter of a couple of hours there is no emotional commitment.  As the Heath brothers would categorize it, the elephand moved towards a different goal.

Even better there is no way to set yourself up on the path to getting to the one litter goal.  It is not like pre-punching 2 holes on a reward card as Subway did.  It is not like someone could have started you with one forth of liter base level.

So the experiment is  a set up for failure?  Nope.  In my opinion it is strictly a willpower to commit and stay with that commitment.  I urge you to set it as a goal and achieve it.  Then raise the bar to 1.5 liters.  I will commit to do so also.

Today's question is:
"Can you commit to drinking a litter of water for a month?"

365QOD- Day1078

Becoming Above Average

"But I am not average."- a common belief that we all have

It is not uncommon to believe that we are better than the average.  In yesterday post I discussed the idea that you are the average of five people you spend the most time in your life.  I am sure that some, if not all, of you had a reaction to that idea.

So what does it really mean and how do you change it?  Imagine a team of five members A, B,C, D, and F.  Their values are 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively(5=excellent, 1=OK).  You are the C.  Why? Their average is sum/5=(5+4+3+2+1)/5=3 ==> C (you).  Any team will always have members that are better and below average.

Now suppose everyone on the team raises their level by one.  The average becomes (6+5+4+3+2)/5= 4.  This is above average.  The lesson is if everyone improves the average gets better.

Now what would happen if we drop the top team member (A) from he original team and replace the member with an average team member.  The average becomes (3+4+3+2+1)/5=2.6 (slightly below average).  And suppose everyone again raises their level by one.  The new average becomes (4+5+4+3+2)/5=3.6  Not as good as the 4 before but pretty close.  In other words even replacing team members with average ones but the team strives for better you still come out better off.

Consider would happen if we drop the bottom team member (A) from he original team and replace the member with an average team member.  The average becomes (5+4+3+2+3)/5=17/5=3.4 (slightly above average).  And suppose everyone again raises their level by one.  The new average becomes (6+5+4+3+4)/5=4.2  Better than the original 4.  In other words replacing team members with below average scores and the team strives for better will make you the best team possible.

Today's question is:
"How will you become better than average?"

365QOD- Day1077

You are the Average of Five People

"The best advice I ever got is: You’re the average of the five people you associate with the most," Ferriss, author of the best-selling book "The 4-Hour Workweek  the advice from a wrestling coach when he was in high school

I have heard this advice before but today I was reading a Business Insider story on best advice 12 successful entrepreneurs received and for some reason this one stopped me.  My first thought was, "The advice is truthful but is it actionable? "

If I take the time and think about the 5 people, or most meaningful several people, in my life and ask myself, “What do these people average out to?”   I can consider their income.  Is my estimate of their income higher or lower than mine?

Another dimension I can consider is their overall happiness.  Are their lives more fulfilling and happier than mine?  Do they seem to exude happiness?

Overall balance is another dimension I should evaluate.  Do they tend to spend their time working or living?  Are they tied at the hip to their smart phone while spending time with the people in their lives?  Do they take vacations to recharge?

I am sure there are other dimensions that you can come up with that might be more meaningful to you.  The idea is powerful and very true.  In the end you might decide that one or more of the people in your life are no longer aligned with what is important to you.

Today’s question is:

“What are you and average of?” 

365QOD- Day1069

ReMarkable

“What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?”- John Green

We all get one life.  This quote brings home the idea of how important it is for us to do something meaningful with it.  That part is the challenge

Unfortunately, most of our days are no different than the day before.  We tend to live our lives as if tomorrow is guaranteed.  For some reason we also believe the old age is guaranteed.

The wisdom in this quote is the word remarkable.  The word remarkable to me means ‘worthy of remark.’  If no one comments on my post, is it remarkable?  If no one takes the moment to think about it how it applies to them, is it remarkable? These are small ways I can test if my work is being noted or not.  In the end if no one follows you or remarks about you, do you really contribute?

Today’s question is:
“Was your day worth remarking about?”

365QOD- Day1067

Life Performance Review

“I am great!”- one employee’s comment on their performance review form

At this time of year companies force their employees to do a self-evaluation of their performance.  Their  opinion hopefully matches the opinion of their supervisor.   Either way it is stressful and seldom helpful.

But what I am talking about is an end of year review with yourself of yourself for yourself.  You take a look at your performance across all areas of interest to you(work, family, financial, etc.) and review how well you did or did not do. Now that should be helpful.

I am a firm believer in stopping and thinking through our years.  I have an underlining theme for the year(This year is The Year of the Sales) and I come up with 1-5 goals in each key area of my life.  It is amazing to me but sometimes I do not even look at my list till the end of the year when I realize that many of the items have been achieved.

Today’s question is:

“Have you ever given yourself a Life Performance Review?”

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- 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- 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?”