365QOD-Day435

"Turn up the silence"- Tommy Henderson

I was having a conversation with Tommy when he used this line.  I thought... Wow!It is rare that we are ever alone.  With people comes noise.  With people comes a need to address their needs.  Often times these take away from our needs.

How rare is to sit in silence without noise and people?  Think about the last time you were truly alone.  No people, no TV, no radio, no Internet, no games, ... just you.

Today's question is:
"Can you handle the silence?"

365QOD-Day434

"So what. A case of the envy?" - my initial reaction

A friend of mine sent me an article about a former University of Chicago dean making 700k per year.  I thought that the article would be negative.  This is why I thought envy.

It actually was surprisingly positive.  It highlighted the achievements that the dean had lead and the school accomplished during his tenure.  Impressive results- 800M in funding over his time.

So if we are to reward performance, why shouldn't a dean make the money he deserves.  I never fault anyone for what they earn.  It is their business to get the most for their labor. 

In my opinion we should focus on what we earn, how to maximize that, and think of additional sources of income.  Thinking about someone else's deal is just a waste of time.  It shouldn't matter to us what they are getting paid and whether they are worth it.  It is rare that the two are equal.

Today's question is:
"What are you getting paid vs. what are you worth?"

The article is shown below:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120412/NEWS07/120419934/was-booth-schools-snyder-worth-700k-a-year

365QOD-Day433

"Dr. Doodle"- a name I got called during a meeting

Fourth creativity characteristic is to Sketch Out the Idea

Sometimes it is very to stay awake during meetings.  It seems that people are talking but they are not really saying anything worthwhile to listen to.

It is at times like these that I start sketching.  It could be something I am thinking about or I might just sketch a person in the meeting.  You know it is a long meeting when you have time to sketch all of the participants.

You do not have to be an artist BUT all of us can sketch an idea.  As a matter of fact, a few years ago I read a book called The Back of the Napkin that teaches how to sketch your ideas.

Today's question is:
"Can you sketch basic shapes in 3D?"

365QOD-Day432

"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.  Scientists made a great invention by calling their activities hypotheses and experiments.  They made it permissible to fail repeatedly until in the end they got results they wanted"- Edwin Land Polaroid co-founder

Fourth rogue trait is to Embrace Failure.

Pretty wise those scientists.  Allow your guess to be called a hypothesis.  Pretty fancy.  To prove you are wrong then you create a hypotheses, an alternate hypotheses, run an experiment, collect data, analyze the data,  and test your conclusion.

If you hypotheses fails then you accept the alternate hypotheses or start again with a new hypotheses.  Eventually you get a hypotheses that fits your data perfectly.  You have failed until you get the results that you want.

Cool!

Today's question is:
"What hypotheses did you test today?"

365QOD-Day431

"When I was doing my vacuum cl"We're taught to do things the right way.  But if you want to discover something that other people haven't, you need to do things the wrong way... When I was doing my vacuum cleaner, I started out trying a conventionally shaped cyclone, the kind you see in textbooks.  But we couldn't separate the carpet fluff and dog hairs and strands of cotton in those cyclones.  It formed a ball inside the cleaner or shot out the exit and got into the motor.  I tried all sorts of shapes.  Nothing worked.  So then I thought I'd try the wrong shape, the opposite of conical.  And it worked"- Sir James Dyson

Second rogue characteristic from the article is Wrong-Thinking

I love the line.. you need to do things the wrong way.  It is permission to turn your thinking upside down and produce an unconventional result.  If everyone is doing A, followed by B, followed by C, maybe that is the way they have been instructed to do.  Maybe they are doing it without thinking? 

As Dyson illustrates, he understood the right way to think through his problem BUT it was not producing a satisfying result.  Only when he turned to something that intuitively seemed wrong that he found the answer.  He has to disagree with his own belief(s).

As the old saying goes, "When no one disagrees, then no one is thinking"

Today's question is:
"Do you allow yourself to do things the wrong way to discover the new way"

365QOD-Day430

"That is stinking thinking"- anonymous

While reading an article on What It Takes To Innovate: Wrong-Thinking, Tinkering, and Intuiting I learned the characteristics of  some past creators.

The first one was to Produce and Test More Ideas.

In a recent post I talked about a boss demanding new ideas that had been implemented in three different fields.  Unreasonable?  I think it is more eye opening.

According to the article, the researcher Michael Michalko discovered that"
"Edison guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas.  His own personal invention quota was one minor invention every 10 days and a major invention every six months"

Wow!

If you set the bar high enough you will have to work harder to reach it BUT if you do you will be rewarded greatly.

Today's question is:
"What quotas do you set for yourself?"

365QOD-Day429

"Cute"- my evaluation

The other night I watched the movie Midnight In Paris.  It is a movie in which the main character, on a trip to Paris, leaves his fiance every night and at midnight get transported back in time to the 1920s.

While there he falls in love with a lady who is also being charmed by Hemingway, Picasso, and others.  Very interesting concept.

He eventually decides that there is no perfect time in the past and decides to live in the present.  The present creates many challenges.  Often we remember the "good old past" and think that there were no difficulties like the present.  Maybe we are fooling ourselves?

Today's question is:
"Would you chose a different time to live if you had a choice?"

365QOD-Day428

"I know Dad...I read about it in your blog"- Stefani's answer

I was catching up with my daughter yesterday.  Since she is away at school it seems that catching her to have a conversation is often a task.

Our conversation was about a hand injury that she thought she might have.  I started telling her about my own when she stopped me.  I know Dad... I read about it in your blog.

This was the highest compliment that my daughter could pay me.  For her to read my posts and remember them is the ultimate high.

In the past, when my kids and I were in my car I used to tell them stories.  Now since the three of us are in three different places it is hard to do.  BUT Stefani's statement opened my eyes.  If my kids were willing to read my posts it is as good as telling them stories face to face.  It might even be better.  They can always read them and share them with their friends.  Wow!

Today's question is:
"Have you ever underestimated your influence?(I did)"

365QOD-Day427

"My mind got the best of me today"- my thought this morning

Today is Saturday and I decided to go for a 10 mile run.  I decided to keep things fresh so I chose a slightly different path.  I ran about 4 miles and instead of my normal turn I kept straight. 

In my mind the path forward was about equal to the my normal turn.  But as the time kept ticking I realized that it was most likely closer to 13+ miles. 

With a couple of stops I made it back to my normal turn spot and stopped.  All of a sudden my back started being stiff.  My right knee kept feeling funny.  After a couple of attempts to resume I just gave up.

What was suppose to be a fun distance run turned into a grueling 4 mile walk back to home.  It was frustrating to know that I should resume but my mind decided otherwise.  I don't know if my mind just simply decided I was not ready for 13 or it just didn't feel like it.

As the old saying goes, " A mind is a terrible master".  Today it got the best of me.

Today's question is:
"How do you do something else then what your mind tells you to do?"

365QOD-Day426

"While walking along a each, a young gentlemen saw someone in the distance leaning down and picking up something and throwing it back into the ocean.  As he got closer he noticed that the figure was that of an elderly man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.  The young man smiled and asked, "Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"  To this the elderly man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out.  If I don't throw them in, they'll die.

Upon hearing this the young observer commented, 'But Sir do you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish along each mile?  You can not possibly make a difference!'

The elderly man listened politely.  Then he bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, 'It made a difference for that one.'"

This story was on the back of a RE/MAX index card.  I changed the young man and elderly gentlemen positions in the story.  It made more sense to me that an elderly person would be wise enough to be concerned with the affect on one starfish.

In our youth we are almost most often concerned with ourselves.  It takes time to realize that the effect we have on others helps to create or destroy relationships.  Like the story above, we have to realize that every interaction is like a starfish with at least five legs:
1. how we see that person (now)
2. how that person sees us (now)
3. how we want that person to see us (future)
4. how we want to influence that person in this situation (near future)
5. how we want the relationship to unfold in the far future (future)
(I am sure you can come up with your own version)

It seems that majority of the interaction should be future focused.  Maybe with a long term view the interactions would be more nurturing.

Today's question is:
"Did you nurture someone today?"

365QOD-Day425

"Mistakes are simply data" - Josh Linkner blog

I read this post  The Dirty Little Secret of Overnight success today.  In it Josh makes the statement above. 

As I have said before when talking about my book The Result you always get a result.  This quote game me another way to phrase it.  The result is simply data.  Don't read too much into it and try to get a better result.

Never be afraid of a result- good or bad.  It is simply data...

Another quote I got from his post is:
"the ubiquitous WD-40 lubricant got its name because the first 39 experiments failed.  WD-40 literally stands for 'Water Displacement- 40th attempt" 

Maybe we should number our results in order to keep track of how many times we have made an attempt?  Maybe this will clue us in not believing that we have tried something a million times.

Today's question is:
"Do you number your results?"

365QOD-Day424

"My boss likes to say , 'I want a totally new idea - and three examples of where that idea has worked before"- boss' request in the article Are you Learning as Fast as the World is Changing

From yesterday's post(habit 2) and the article this quote was memorable.  The author initially dismissed it as silly but later on saw the wisdom.  Just because your field does not have the solution it does not mean that it does not exist in another field. 

Why three examples?  The more I thought about it the only reason I came up with is that by finding three you definatively convince yourself that the solution will work for you in your field.   I also believe that finding only one might not provide enough insight into the solution.

Today's question is:
"Which one of your problems has a solution in another field?"

365QOD-Day423

"The real act of discovery consists of not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes."-Marcel Proust

I read an article today in Harvard Business Review titled, "Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?"  The title caught my eye and it made me pause to ponder the answer. 

In past posts I have talked about reading many different magazines and books. But is that enough?

Maybe exposing oneself to different types of people is the answer?

The author of the post, Bill Taylor, offers three habits of the mind that would help:
1. First, the best leaders (and learners) have the widest field of vision.
2. The best source of new ideas can be old ideas from unrelated fields
3. Successful learners work hard not to be loners

I believe that the last two habits lead to the first.  If one goes out of their way to meet new people, from different fields, and connect ideas from their field into their own they will learning as fast as the world is changing.

For me this was very easy to do in Chicago.  It has been a lot harder in Texas.

Today's question is:
"How do you expose yourself to new people in different fields?" 

365QOD-Day422

"No way!"- my initial thought

I watched a Yahoo story video of a 86 year old woman on parallel bars
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/86-old-performs-parallel-bars-routine-164528695.html

Impressive to say the least. For a 86 year old to have that level of flexibility is admirable.  It made me feel good for her and inspired me to do better.  I do a little bit of running and weights BUT I have not done yoga in years.  Maybe I need to start again?

Today's question is:
"How flexible are you?"

365QOD-Day421

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day420

"It went well"- my thought

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day419

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

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

Wow! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day418

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day417

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day416

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day415

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day414

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day413

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Dayy412

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day411

"Technical Hording"- phrase used in SuperFreakonomics audio book

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day 411

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day410

"Love is all that it is"- song lyric

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day409

"That is stupid"- my response

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day408

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day 407

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day406

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day 405

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day404

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day403

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

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

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

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


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

365QOD-Day402

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day401

"That is just unimportant"- overheard

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day400

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

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

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

Brilliant! 

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

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

365QOD-Day399

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day398

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day397

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day396

"Again"-my initial reaction

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day395

"Success is not guaranteed"- Anonymous

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day394

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day393

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

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

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

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

365QOD-Day392

"If you don't have the time to do it right the first time, how will you ever have the time to correct it?"- Anonymous

Currently I have placed all of the last year's 365 posts in a Word document and have read through it once.  It is amazing how many mistakes I made during the writing of the posts.  sorry....

The writing process is about passion.  Write what you are passionate about and hopefully the readers sense the energy and are motivated to keep reading.  The editing process is tedious.  You are looking for mistakes and it requires a different skill set.

Ultimately I will produce a book which groups the posts by topic. I will read each chapter and re-order the posts for the best flow.  This will also show me the gaps that need to be filled by future posts.  Another insight will be to see how each group connects to each other. 

The really cool part of this exercise is to take 365 pieces and organize them to create a mosaic.  One in which each piece stands on its own but together they make the picture clearer.  It seems to me that this is something that we often fail to do in life.  We expose ourselves to a lot of inputs but rarely do we take the time to organize that data into information. 

Today's question is:
"Are you connecting the dots or simply splattering paint on your canvas?"

365QOD-Day391

"Wow someone finally did it!"- my surprise

About 15 years ago a friend of mine, Vincent Kostoff, and I discussed starting a business.  The idea for the business was born because I had three people with 30+ years of experience retire in my group without transferring their knowledge to anyone.  This seemed a great waste of human capital.

The business would provide software that would capture knowledge of a person, as the person was creating materials towards a project, so that others could learn from it .  Great idea that was ahead of its time.

In an earlier post I mentioned the idea that God takes insurance against us by giving the same idea to several people at the same time.  God does this because God is interested in the execution of the idea and not who does it.

With this in mind, I read a story in Entrepreneur magazine about a company that has created software called TeamBrain.  The software does pretty much what we had envisioned.  In other words, God got tired of waiting for us.

Today's question is:
"What great idea are you sitting on and not executing?"

365QOD-Day390

"I hope you have to struggle during lent"- my priest

Lent starts on Wednesday.  Those words would seem kind of cruel if they were not followed with an explanation.  The explanation was that lent is intended as a spiritual journey through which we move through.

Extrapolating to real life, we undertake smaller journeys throughout our days.We have a beginning, a small struggle(or a big struggle), and eventually we have an end.  If we examine these small journeys they polish us, take the rough edges away, in different dimensions.  Lent is simply a spiritual polishing.

You can think of a struggle as a learning lesson or as punishment.  You are correct in either belief.

Today's question is:
"What small journey are you struggling with today?"

365QOD-Day389

"I am way over-educated for my job"-Walt Bargeron Ph.D. (while serving as Plant Manager)

In a recent article in Forbes the education of the Forbes 400 was displayed in a table
HS                           27
College dropout       36
College                  160
Graduate school     161
Law degree             35
Ph.D.                      21
M.A.                        6
MBA                     84
MS                        29
M.D.                        5

So what do you notice?  College and graduate school accounted for 321 out of 400.  The table is misleading in that people in MBA group got counted in graduate school group.. but 321 out of 400.

The shocking one was that only 5 M.D. went on to be the richest...

How about 27 HS graduates becoming richest?  In other words if you want it bad enough you can make it happen even if you do not have the great education.

Today's question is:
"How necessary is education for success in your field?"

365QOD-Day388

"The advice I would give to young people? Quit your job.  Don't work for anybody.  You really can't make any money working for someone else."-Phil Ruffin on looking out for No. 1

This is easy to say BUT hard to do.  I think you have to be sure of yourself and to know how to continue working.

The being sure part can only be possible if you believe that you have a service(i.e you are an expert at something) or a product you believe in.  This might be the easier of the two.

How to continue if a challenge.  You are working for client A while schmoozing client B.  Or you have such good references that client B wants you.  You almost need a job agent that can "pimp" you out.

Today's question is:
"Could you work for yourself?"

365QOD-Day387

"I don't plan on leaving any time soon"- my initial thought

While reading the paper the other day I came across an interesting article about predicting your death. 
Would you want to know how much longer you really got before you die?

A website ePrognosis.org uses a 16 questionnaire that can roughly predict the survival odds.  It does this over a period of 6 months to five years for older adults.

Again, would you want to know?

I don't.  I try to improve my habits over time.  This is the dash portion of my life.  The start and the end I have no control over.  Ideally, my zen thought is that, I am ready to begin and depart any day.  In reality, I would like a little more time to fix some of the mistakes I have made and improve as a human being.

Today's question is:
"Will you visit the site to determine your end date?"

365QOD-Day386

"Mission statements are worthless"- my thought

I recently read an article about a powerful mission statement in Inc. magazine.  It talks about Holstee's mission statement. 

I believe that you have to live those values.  If they are simply written on paper they are meaningless.  Companies tend to formulate these dry statements that non one can remember or apply.

For example, employees are our number one priority.  What do you do with that?  Especially when there is the first sign of difficulty and you get rid of people.  Meaningless?

BUT if it is written and you follow it and make it a part of the culture then it is probably worth gold.  I would bet that that would require quite an effort to achieve.

Today's question is:
'Do you have a personal mission statement that you can convey in 30 seconds or less?"

365QOD-Day385

"I am a horse for a single harness, not cut out for tandem or teamwork"-Albert Einstein

About 15 % of the population is made up of introverts, 15% is extroverts, and the rest of us that are both.
Extroverts tend to get their energy from interacting with others while introverts tend to go inside their minds.

Why is this important?

Well most teams that you will be on consist of both types.  You need to recognize the types and help people to accomplish their tasks for the mission to succeed.

So for an extrovert, talk with them, get them to talk to other people and keep moving them toward the task by having them think through an issue.  For introverts, get them to verbalize their thoughts and share their ideas.  You will need to pull them away from thinking too much.

Today's question is:
"Can you recognize these types on your team?

365QOD-Day384

"The Navy vet slept in an ancient Rolls-Royce on Sunset Strip as he slung shampoo door to door before making it bog with Paul Mitchell. 'I've learned sales and marketing from knocking on a hundred doors a day.  You quickly discover taht you'll get 99 slammed in your face before you make a sale.'"-John Paul DeJoria (Forbes 16, 2012)

I guess if you have to sleep in a car it would be nice that it is a Rolls...  LOL

BUT I think the important part of the quote is the 99 doors being slammed in your face.  Colonel Sanders got 1007 no answers before he struck his deal.  Now that is an incredible number.  Maybe the moral of the two is that we must accept a lot of no answers before we can get to a yes.

Why do we shrug from a single no?  Maybe it is lack of persistence that holds us back in life.  Maybe we can learn and modify our strategy after each no?

Today's question is:
"How many no answers can you stand before giving up?"

365QOD-Day383

"If Facebook hadn't worked out after he left college to join Mark Zuckerberg, he said,'I could have gone back to Harvard anytime.  My friends might not be there anymore.  I might have to start over socially.  That was a risk.  But it was a pretty small risk compared to the opportunity at the time"-Dustin Moskovitz

First thought is to dismiss this quote as only applying to a young person.  It surely can not apply to middle age or a seasoned individual.  I believe it does.  Often it is simply fear that holds us into our current situation. 

Imagine finding a job for which you need to move.  If you feel that you can not move from one region to another it is usually stated as, "well, the market is bad and I would lose a lot" or "I do not want to be far from my family", etc.

Now suppose you got the courage to move and things did not work out.  Can you go back?  Many people would let pride get in the way and state no.  But again that is fear.  Fear of looking foolish.

We can not grow if we fear making changes or simply looking foolish.  Forward, sideways, or backward moves are OK.  As long as we hit our desired target.  Don't take any of them as personal.  Use them all for learning purposes.

Today's question is:
"When is the last sideways move you made?"

365QOD-Day382

"When these incredible tools of knowledge and learning are available to the whole world, formal education becomes less and less important.  We should expect to see the emergence of a new entrepreneur who has acquired most of their knowledge through self-exploration"-Sean Parker (Forbes Feb 2012)

Having been a professor since 1993 I like to believe that this is not possible.  Maybe it is job security? Maybe it is observations of thousands of students.  Maybe this is true for US students?

I believe that we currently live in a world where information is at our fingertips.  We can simply type a word or two and google it.  Then with a little effort find exactly what we are looking.  However, usually what we are looking for is a small nugget of information.  Maybe a few papers at most to read.

Teaching yourself requires discipline and a sustained effort.  These traits are in short supply.  I also believe that for the younger instant gratification generation they are less common. 

Learning anything worthwhile takes a sustained effort.  This is why courses are typically 45 hours long.  This allows one to explore a lot of topics in one subject.  What is magical about 45 hours? Nothing. But it is long enough that it requires discipline to show up and pay attention. 

Today's question is:
"Could you self teach yourself a subject?"

365QOD-Day381

"Be in the now"- guidance

One of the teaching of zen and many religions is to live in the present.  To be in the now by living the moment-the present.

I try to follow this wonderful advise but it is difficult.  Often we worry about the future and replay our past.  Both of these we have little or no control of.

I was flipping through a magazine and came across an ad for Capella University.  In the ad there was a single point from which two lines diverged.  The point was labeled now and the gap between the two lines naturally grew larger.  There were labels above and below each line.

For example
- the top line had more money
- the bottom line had same salary

A little to the right
- the top line had more freedom
- the bottom line had same responsibilities

To the rightmost
- the top line had more meaning
- the bottom line had same old, same old


What I liked about the ad is that it visually displayed how choices over time lead us to different end points. If you do not like the end point, then you have to change the choices you are making in your life.

Today's question is:
"What one choice would you make that will make a big difference in your life?"

365QOD-Day380

"5.3inch vs. 3.5 inch iPhone" does it make a difference?

I sat at an airport today and read about a new phone Samsung Galaxy note.  My phone for the last 5 years has been the Tilt.  A windows based phone with a stylus.  I love my phone and I am finding it hard to switch.

It would seem that the iPhone is pretty popular but is it the right one for me? I use the stylus all the time.  I use the hard keyboard all of the time.  I wish I had access to the net and the iPhone app universe.

So the new Note provides some of these features but not all. Great screen, stylus, and some apps.
It looks like I will have to settle or continue to wait... With a missing back and a few dings it is on it's last leg. ugghhhhh...

I guess I have to figure out what I can live without....not easy.

Today's question is:
"What do you do when you can not find the perfect fit for you?"

365QOD-Day379

"Confidence is not believing that you will not fail but believing that if you are failing you will figure out a way to  succeed"-backpack quote

I was walking in an airport today and in front of me was a quote that said the above.  I loved it! 

Too many of us live in a success or fail world.  Once failure is tasted the guts to continue disappear.  But the message above says that we should allow ourselves the room to figure it out.  In other words, when your sauce does not taste right figure out how to fix it.  It might require several ingredients.

The key is to observe the result, remove any attachment to it, determine your intelligent modification, and make another attempt. 

Today's question is:
"Do you believe that you can figure it out if you need to?" 

365QOD-Day378

"It's a big deal for a professor to dump a university.  But dump Stanform Sebastian did.  He dumped Stanford because he realized that he-as an individual-- holds the power, not Stanford as an institution"- Dale Stephens Fast Company article

A professor that leaves a great job at a great institution to pursue an opportunity to teach directly without the middle men.  Sounds like an entrepreneur to me.

If you have the guts to work for your self, then you will be rewarded more than working for another.  I agree with that statement.  So why do most people fear leaving to work for oneself? (I did work a while and did not like my boss). 

In my opinion, they do not if they can sustain the client flow.  Your employer provides the constant work.  At times it feels like too much but it is fairly constant.  As a self-employed person you not only have to do the work BUT also seek new work.  I found this very hard and suspect that others do also.

I also wonder how many people value the degree more than the source of information for that degree.  A great professor can not teach every course in a program.  So having a few courses from a single person would be great but enough for a degree would be impossible and undesirable.

Today's question is:
"Could you work for yourself?"

365QOD-Day377

"You are not the boss of me?"-a kid's response

I read an interesting article by Jason Fried in which he talks about his company's flat organization.  Many companies claim this but often they just mean that there are not many layers of management. 

What does flat organization mean to 37Signals?  They do not promote great employees to management positions.  So what do they do?

A team self-manages.  Team members take turns being the manager.  This forces everyone to respect the weekly manager because they eventually will be in the role and will need the respect of the team in order to get things done.  Brilliant!

I currently happen to be a member of team of four.  We have a boss but are mostly self-managed.  In different meetings we all take turns being the leader.  Not as structured as 37Signals but it works.

However, there is an opening for a team leader and eventually we will have an immediate supervisor.  It will mostly likely be one of us.  So like 37Signals..show respect and you will get respect.

Today's question is:
"Are you working on a great team?"

365QOD-Day376

"Don't put him on a pedestal"-an admonition

It is not uncommon for us to meet new people and become in awe with that person.  At times the person exceeds our expectations and we are even more amazed.

But what happens when that person falters and falls below our expectation?  It is not only the person who fails but we also fail.  We fail because now our own judgement comes in question.

We are all human.  We will exceed and fail to rise up expectations.  It seems so hard not to pre-judge people but to let them show their true colors over time.

I have had two instances in my life when people who I believed in completely lose my belief in them.  In both instances the person thought that they can raise their level by lowering a group down.  Unfortunately both did not realize that one can never rise up by pushing others down. 

Today's question is:
"How do you react when people fail to meet your high expectations?" 

365QOD-Day375

"Spotlight can light you up or burn you up"-Whitney

I woke up on Sunday morning and turned the TV on.  I happen to overhear Chaka Khan talking about Whitney.  The first reaction I had was that she had died.  Unfortunately I was correct.

What I wondered at that time was how destructive can a person become? 

Her image early in her career was very polished.  Her voice was very smooth and powerful.  However, over time her voice became strained and weak due to the "lifestyle" she lived which involved many unhealthy choices.

But many people make unhealthy life choices for extended amounts of time and still reach old age.  As an example of an artrist who has abused his body, consider Keith Richards.  So it has to be much more than that.

It is combination of the physical and metal abuse that kills people quicker than either one by themselves.
And most people do pretty good at managing both. Periodic bouts of stress reduce the lifespan fairly quickly.  Physical complacency reduces it slowly over time.  But in my opinion it is the combination that does one in the fastest.

Today's question is:
"How do you reduce the combination effect?"

My favorite Whitney song lyrics My Love is Your Love are shown below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxZD0VQvfqU

If tomorrow is judgment day (Sing Mommy)
And I'm standing on the front line
And the Lord asks me what I did with my life
I will say I spent it with you

If I wake up in World War III
I see destruction and poverty
And I feel like I want to go home
It's okay if you're coming with me

'Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couln't hold us
'Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couln't hold us

If I lose my fame and fortune
And I'm homeless on the street
And I'm sleeping in Grand Central Station
It's okay if you're sleeping with me

As the years they pass us by
We stay young through each other's eyes
And no matter how old we get
It's okay as long as I got you baby

'Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couln't hold us
'Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couln't hold us

If I should die this very day
Don't cry, 'cause on Earth we weren't meant to stay
And no matter what the people say
I'll be waiting for you after the judgment day

'Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couln't hold us
'Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couln't hold us.

365QOD-Day374

"I can not do that because I do not have the XYZ"- typical excuse format

You have heard this line.  You have probably used this line also.

This line provides us with a hint at the perception of lack of resources.  Typical resources would be:
1. Time
2. Money
3. Technology/Tools
4. People/Contacts
5. Experience

To overcome the lack one needs to be resourceful.  Resourcefulness could be in terms of:
1. Creativity
2. Determination
3. Passion
4. Resolve
5. Curiosity

If you feel that there is lack of time in your life to get something done you could use creativity to find time.  For example, if you need 2 hours per day you might get creative and shorten your sleep from 8 hours to 6 hours for a while by getting up at 4 instead of 6.  I promise you that no one will demand your time at 4.

Today's question is:
"Which resource lack will you replace with resourcefulness?"

365QOD-Day373

"The lesson here is less about real estate than it is about business itself. Whenever you make something, you make something else. Your byproducts may not be as obvious as sawdust, but they're there. Maybe it's the knowledge you've acquired by running a business. Maybe it's a piece of software you wound up making when you made another piece of software. It's there; you just have to look for it. You may even find a business you never knew you had."-Jason Fried

There are a few folks whose writing I enjoy a lot. Jason's Inc. column is a pleasure to read and think about.  I read this article on his company's use of their real estate to make additional income instead of just costing them money for rent.

I started thinking about this word "byproduct" and could not get it out of my mind.  How can someone use their byproduct?

As a teacher I generated notes.  the notes could be put together in a book and sold.  The book would be a byproduct.

As a martial arts instructor, one can video tape the workout and sell access to the videos on the web for a fee.  The videos would be a byproduct of teaching a class.

As a project manager, one can write a book about their company's project flow or make it generic enough to get their name out as a project guru.

As a blogger, one can take a year's worth of posts and put them into a book. Hum!!

Today's question is:
"What is your product and byproduct?

365QOD-Day372

"Keep looking for new trouble"-George Clooney

You are probably sick of me quoting George.  BUT if the material is good then use it...it is just a tool to start discussions.

I love this line.  New trouble?

I am constantly getting in trouble in my life.  I push myself and I push others.
Currently I am authorized to install a single system at work and I am already staging the second and planning the third before the funding is approved.

It is my current "new trouble".  The worst thing that could happen is that I fail.  But if I fail fast and learn quickly then the next job I do will be a bigger success than expected.

I agree with George..... keep looking for new trouble.  It is the only way to stretch and grow.

Today's question is:
"What new trouble will you get in today?"

365QOD-Day371

"My life isn't focused on results.  My life is really focused on the process of doing all the things I'm doing, from work to relationships to friendships to charitable work.  If I focused on results, it's only about the ultimate results, I'd be a failure in Sudan, I'd be a failure in film, I'd be a failure with my friendships, I'd be a failure in relationships.  I look at it as an ongoing process"-George Clooney Esquire magazine

I believe that one of the mistakes that we often make is that our focus is often only on the results.  I agree with George that the process of how we do things is often the key. 

The process will lead to better results.  Focus solely on the results and you will become frustrated when you slightly miss the mark. But by focusing on the process you will know how to modify it to get closer to the desired result.

This is the theme of my first book... The result.

Today's question is:
"Are you focused on results or on the process?"

365QOD-Day370

"At what point do you give away a portion of your soul, and to what extent does it actually cost you"- George Clooney on negative political ads

The same thing could be said about many things in life.  We trade time at work for money and take time away from what might be our true passion.

Often times this is a necessary evil.  We have to do it in order to get something else which often is money and some life.  But if you are working ungodly hours (whatever that means to you) then you are giving away your soul.

Today's question is:
"What are you trading your soul for?"

365QOD-Day369

"I glow"- anonymous

Can you glow?  As Wayne Dyer has said many of times, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience BUT spiritual beings having a human experience".

So if we are spirits how do we use this?  I believe that one way is to imagine a warm glow inside you and try to project this outwards.  I believe you will see an immediate change in your interactions with people.

Today's question is:
"Are you glowing?"

365QOD-Day368

"Another one bites the dust"- song lyric

Today is the day of the second half marathon I will run in a three of months.  Last one proved to be a challenge.  I even suffered a setback and after the race passed out.

I however did not give up running.  I spent some time examining why I passed out.  It was a combination of low sugar and low blood pressure. 

As you read this I will run  in the Galveston Marti Gras half marathon.  I have prepared differently for this one.  I started eating an orange/apple before my long runs.  In addition, I also drink V8 before the run and water with baking soda and just water during the run.

These changes are the choices I am making in order not to pass out like I did last time.  Small changes that hopefully will lead to better results.

Today's question is:

"What small changes are you making to get better results?"

P.S. I finished in 2:28...My goal was 2:20 but got a few cramps during the last 2 miles...

365QOD-Day367

"No one likes change."- a statement made to me during  conversation

The old saying is that the only constant in life is change.  If it is then why do we spend large portions of our lives fighting it?

I believe because of the discomfort.  Change takes us of our current balance and forces us to find another equilibrium point.  So is we accept this then the change would not be a big deal.  BUT for most of us it is.

In my work life I touch many projects during a typical day.  My role and duties change constantly.  If I did not accept the change I would go nuts.  For me it is a must.  Maybe that is why it is easy for me.

Today's question is:
"Do you accept change or do you fight it?"

365QOD-Day366

"He sucks..."-my outburst

I recently find myself at home in the evening watching American Idol.  Watching TV is something I do very little of so this is a new guilty pleasure.

What amazes me is the quality and the lack of quality on the show.  Some people can really sing.  Others have a good story so they get passed through.

The ones that boggle my mind are the truly bad ones who get upset.  These, often 20+ year old, contestants believe that they can sing.  In their mind they can hear themselves singing well.  However, the output that I hear is so poor that I can not help but watch the train wreck.

I keep asking myself, "why didn't anyone tell them along the way the truth?"  The only thing I can think of is that most people are too nice to tell us the truth when we lie to ourselves.  I believe we have to ask folks for honest feedback and tell them to hurt your feelings instead of hiding the truth from you.  We have to know in order to make better choices.

Today's question is:
"What are the people around you not telling you?"

365QOD-Day365

"The Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Single Step"- Lao Tzu

WOW!  365 days ago we began a journey.  The funny thing is it seems like yesterday. 

I look at the labels I have assigned to the posts

acceptance action balance branding business change communication connections creativity decision making demanding Direction doing exceeding fear feelings financial focus giving happiness I am influence integrity leadership learning learning about others life mission making mistakes mastery momentum motivation passion procrastination receiving sources strategy stretching success intelligence teamwork transitions zen

 

and to me they boil down to two words: self help.  The best advice I ever read about self help comes from Jim Rohn who said that self help is like bathing... best done everyday.

 

I have learn many things along the way.  There are about 500+ devoted folks who regularly read the posts.  Amazingly, only a few have made comments.  I try to pose the questions in such a way as to hopefully make you stop and ask yourself a question that could change your day.  

 

In the age that we live, it is so easy to change channels.   All of you could have started to read something else or just stopped reading the posts. 

 

But you did not.  For this I can only say THANKS...

 

Today's question is:

"Can this crazy guy write for another year?"

 

P.S. I am and soon will be starting a second blog.... 

 

365QOD-Day364

"Most people will succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions"- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I have always heard that they way we do small things is how we do big things.  Unfortunately, we often start with great ambitions.  This puts undue pressure and eventually leads to quiting early.

It is in the development of daily routines that lead to that end that we need to focus on.  By having good routines, which we can eventually do automaticaly,  we can achieve anything.

So determine your great Ambition, Break it down in the smallest of tasks, Create rotines that support those tasks, Design your routines wisely so that you can, Effortlessly follow they by having a daily, Focus on your small things by , Greatly.....

Today's question is:
"What are your ABCs?