365QOD- Day1029

Visualize Your Goals with Storyboards

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

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

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

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

I might just have to execute this.

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

365QOD- Day1028

Anti-Business Plan

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

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

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

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

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

Pretty cool!

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

365QOD- Day1027

Power Networking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's question is:

"Would you pay $1 for an introduction?"

365QOD- Day1026

Nonlinear Life

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s question is:

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

365QOD- Day1025

Making a Dent in the Universe

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

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

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

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

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

Today's question is:

"How will you make a dent?"

365QOD- Day1024

The Obliger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD- Day1023

The Rebel

"Rebel without a cause."- a movie title

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

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

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

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

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

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

365QOD- Day1022

The Questioner

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

365QOD- Day1021

The Upholder

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

365QOD- Day1020

Assumptions

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s question is:

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

365QOD- Day1019

A Better Mousetrap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s question is:

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

365QOD- Day1018

One and Done

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

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

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

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

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

I did pass the exam.

Today’s question is:

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

365QOD- Day1017

Predicting the Future

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s question is:

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

365QOD- Day1016

Eliminating or Adding Steps

“Toyota is known for eliminating any steps that are intermediary or unimportant”- Tim Ferriss

Many times we tend to make things for complex by adding steps.  Companies are very good at adding hurdles on the path to execution.  They do not tolerate risk and by including extra steps they feel that they have better control of the system.  However, this often creates frustration because it lacks common sense of what needs to be done in order to execute a job.   

The quote illustrates that some of the most efficient companies do the opposite.  They want to eliminate the 

unnecessary work and steps in order to get better quality.  To most American companies the extra steps are needed to guarantee quality. 

I believe that intermediate steps are needed in order to assure people know why a particular step is needed. This is very obvious when one watches a martial artist perform a kata form.  Most forms consist of anywhere from 10+ to 100 individual steps.  Just remembering the steps for some of the complex ones requires months and years of learning.  The level of knowing how to do one without thought takes even more time.  

Eventually, you learn the pattern and you can perform it without mistakes. This is just information that has become knowledge.  It is not mastery.

Mastery requires one to go back and look at the intermediate steps that are missing.  As an example consider that the transition from one position to another requires the turning of the head from current position to the new position without turning the body.  This is awkward for most students.  However, would you ever turn the body into danger before you have to by simply rotating the head to see what is coming at you from that direction? Most students do so because they do not know the intermediate steps.

Today’s question is:

“Do you know the purpose of the intermediate steps of your job?”

365QOD- Day1015

Plan the Journey NOT the Goal

“Is the goal more important than the journey?”- A philosophical question

I tend to be a goal oriented person.  When a goal is important to me, I identify what the goal(G) is and then break it down into objectives(O), consider multiple strategies(S) to achieve each objective, plan(P) the proper sequence through the objectives and which strategies to use, while assigning a daily action(A) while paying attention to the learnings(L).  This is my version GOSPAL version of Bryan Tracy’s GOSPA technique.

While reading 99U posts I notices this blurb by James Clear from iDoneThis:

“Instead of giving yourself a deadline to accomplish a goal and then feeling like a failure if you don’t achieve it, you should choose a goal that is important to you and then set a schedule to work towards it consistently.  That might not sound like a big shift, but it is.”

The L in gospaL is intended to make one realize to pay attention to the progress and to be wise enough to make adjustments.  The P in gosPal is the planning of the sequence and scheduling of the tasks.  I often use a 3 month window to fight through a worthwhile goal.  The A in gospAl is where the schedule is broken down on the individual tasks that need to get done in order to reach the ultimate G.

With this bit of breakdown, I conclude that James is correct and that my goal achieving procedure contains his idea of focusing on the schedule and the journey not the big goal.  This allows me to focus on the tasks instead of feeling overwhelmed at the size of the goal.

Today’s question is:

“Do you focus on the journey schedule or on the goal?”

365QOD- Day1014

Parkinson’s Pareto

“Combining two ideas makes it orders of magnitude more powerful”- my thought

Recently I read an interview of Time Ferriss by Derek Sivers that was done back in 2008.  The post I wrote about Parkinson’s Law was inspired by that interview.  Today’s post is no different.

In many past posts I have talked about the 80/20 principle that Vilfredo Pareto originated. 20% of my activities contribute to 80% of my success.  The vital few are hard to identify while moving through the noise.

Tim Ferriss offers advice on how to combine these two ideas, “With the 80/20 principle, you’re limiting your tasks to the critical few versus the trivial many to decrease the amount of time required.  Then with Parkinson’s Law, you’re constraining the time allocated to force yourself to focus on the critical few”

Brilliant strategy! Limit yourself to the vital 20% of the tasks and give yourself a time limit to get them done.  Simple idea on paper but I think that the challenge is the getting clear as to what is the 20% and what is not critically important.  But once you are clear then the combination become like adding 1+1 and getting 3 as the result.

Today’s question is:

“Can you limit yourself to the vital 20% of your tasks and give yourself a time limit?”

365QOD- Day1013

Parkinson’s Law

“Work expands as to fill the time available for its completion”- Cyril Parkinson

I agree that a task will swell to fill the time.  I also believe that this is true mostly because of believed complexity and perceived difficulty depending and upon the amount of time that you allocate to the task.  Let’s drill down into these.

Complexity is interesting.  When I say complexity what I am saying is something that might not be very difficult but require many steps to complete.  If it requires you to do 20 steps to get to the end, the goal is complex because you have to go through 20 hurdles to get it done.  Each one of the steps might be quick and easy but without all 20 the task does not get completed.

Similarly, perceived difficulty is in the eye of the beholder.  If I believe that something is difficult for me to accomplish then I have already created a wall I have to really want to jump over.  However, just because I believe it to be difficult does not make it difficult for others.  There are adults that do not know how to ride a bike. 

I can see the wisdom in Parkinson’s statement.  Work will expand to fill the time available.  Sometimes complexity or level of difficulty is not even an issue.  If I get up early and have three hours to kill before I have to leave home then guess what?  I will find something to fill those three hours.  It might not be very productive but it will fill the time available.

Today’s question is:

“What can you do not to fall into Parkinson’s trap?”

365QOD- Day1012

What is Next

"If all of the wealth is taken away from the 1% within 10 years they would be back in the 1%"- Anonymous

The quote is something that I had heard before and it makes sense to me.  If you know how to do something, and you did not just get lucky, you should be able to recreate your path to success.  In theory it should be no harder to do it a second time.

Today I was having a conversation with a friend, Tommy, when this topic came up.  He shared his business success story and his eventual failure.  However, he has not been able to repeat the success.

 As we decomposed his story it it quickly became obvious that many years ago he noticed an opportunity.  He quickly saw the next step in the opportunity and jumped on it.  Next he grew it.  According to him, his demise was due to lack of certain management skills.

He pointed out that he has never seen another opportunity like the one he exploited.  I quickly reminded him that in his current role he comes across many people that are very successful. All he has to do is ask them.

I suggested that he ask them, "What opportunity are you excited about now?"  Once, he gets pulled into their world then I suggested for him to ask himself, "What is next?" This is in order to allow his brain to explore the next step needed to exploit that opportunity or come up with a new original opportunity that is loosely based on the one given to him.

We both agreed that one thing that has to be true is that a person has to be "present" in the now in order to recognize opportunities.  Let yourself be quiet enough to hear and understand the opportunity.

Today's question is:
"What is next in your opportunity?"

365QOD- Day1011

Unloved Products

“First, find the most annoying, obvious problem that millions of people deal with every day.  Then ask if things really have to be that way.”- Andy Rooney’s business plan according to Farhad Manjoo

While reading a Wall Street Article on Big Innovations from Small Annoyances by Farhad Manjoo, I read this line by Tony Fadell, “There are products that have been unloved, that are basically the same as when we were growing up”.  It immediately pulled me in and got me thinking.

What pulled me in was the unloved products part.  By his definition these are products that have not changed since we were little.  In other words,  what products that function and most likely look the same for the last 30+ years that you use every day?

What product fits this mold?  The thermostat that Nest redesigned certainly fits this mold.  It took the thermostat and made it cool and sold it at $250. 

Any ideas? How about the toaster?  The microwave?  The can opener?  Can these be redesigned to become cool once again.  There are many unloved products to which we can apply Andy Rooney’s business plan idea and come up with newer and better cooler versions.

Today’s question is:

“What is an unloved product that you use every day?”

365QOD- Day1010

Passion Retirement

“I refuse to be old, I don’t mind aging, but I will never be old.”- Dwan Smith-Fortier

Most people do not live very long after they retire.  Unless they have a physical goal and a mental goal, they wither and die.  This is because their social network typically consists of co-workers and their mental stretches are only due to the type of work that they perform. 

Recently while reading Oct 29^th 2013 USA Today I came across a story about a different type of colonies that let seniors color outside lines.  It was built on the idea of people there becoming involved in different types of art and creativity projects. Some got involved in acting course, photography,  some in painting courses, zumba,  etc.

About a year ago I read a book about thriving in retirement.  It seems that people that do well in retirement, according to the book, are people who go back to their passions before life got in the way and exploring them.  This community idea seems like a perfect match for that passion pursuit.

The idea of having a retirement community built around a particular passion is wonderful.  I believe it will extend most people’s lives because it will give them a reason to get up in the morning.  This is one of the four requirements to living to an age of 100.

Today’s question is:

“If you were to retire today, what type of community would help fulfill your passion?”

365QOD- Day1009

Recording Your World

"GoPro"- name for a camera

Many years ago I wondered what it would be like to record my life.  Immediately I concluded that a pair of glasses with tiny cameras mounted on the side would serve the purpose.  At that point I knew that all it would take is time for those cameras to come onto the market.  As I said this was a thought I had many years ago.

In the mean time I read of a Microsoft scientist who caries around a camera around his neck.  The camera with many sensors records his life.  Wonderful idea.  He can reduce a day into fifteen minutes and review. So if you take 365*.25=91.25 hours to review a year.  What would you do with that review?

Google glasses is another version of is idea.  It however adds the ability see a computer screen in front of you.  So not only do you record your life but you can also surf.

Tonight on 60 minutes I watched a segment on the GoPro cameras and what people are doing with them.  There is a whole movement to record cool and crazy things that people are doing.  Mostly athletic endeavors but also some silly and fun life happenings.  It made the inventor one of the newest billionaires in the USA.

I still believe that what I envisioned is a great idea.  Someone will eventually produce it.

Today's question is:
"Would you record your world?"

365QOD- Day1008

Delayed Life Plan

"If I could just have X then I would get Y."-my version

We always think in terms of this equation. For example, have you ever said," if I only had time I would finish my project." Or, "if I had money I would build my project." Substitute whatever word is relevant for you instead of project. This statement crates a life delay.

The biggest delay in our life that we fool ourselves with is that we can work a whole life unhappy in jobs and relationships and at the end we will live out Nirvana.  Nirvana being retiring and traveling the world. 

Foolish!

In an old post I shared some wisdom given to Jim Rohn. When he said that if he had money he would have a plan. His adviser, Earl, reversed it by advising that "if he had a plan he would get the money."  Great wisdom.

Maybe by doing the project you will get excited and squeeze in the time? Maybe if you do the project money will show up? Maybe if you travel and enjoy life you will find Nirvana now?
The answer is if you do the Y then X will come.

Today's question is:
"What are your Y and X?"

365QOD- Day1007

Seven Days of Hell

"A phone for me is a tool, not a toy."-my words

My phone battery started not to charge fully about two weeks. So I starred charging it more often.  I even decided to buy a replacement battery.  Hell, I bought three batteries and an external charger since I do not plan to change my phone for a few years.

Almost immediately after I had ordered the new batteries my phone went completely dead.  I mean completely dead.  It put me in a serious bind.

Currently I an using my phone a lot to practice for the PMP test.  Also, while I drive to work and back I have been listening to past episodes of Shark Tank.  So not only did my studying get distributed but my drive lost its purpose.  It sucked!

I do not know about you, but this experience taught me how integral my phone is to my new routines.  Without it my routines suffer and my productivity gets worse. 
Interestingly, when I went on my month long hiatus last year and this year I do not miss my phone. 

Maybe my exportation is that I would not use it much.  So if I had to do without it during vacation it would not bother me much.

Today's question is:
"Which routines would get interrupted if you did not have a working phone for a week?"

365QOD- Day1006

Restarting a Habit

"Why did I stop?"- my question to myself

Couple of weeks ago I created a weekly plan on Sunday.  I then created daily time and energy plans.  At the end of the day I marked off the items I accomplished.  Amazingly, most of my items got done and I felt very productive.I felt like my days flowed better.

Which brings me to my question to myself.  I know how well my system worked for me in the past.  So why did I stop?

Why?

I kept asking myself this last weekend and the only reason I can come up with is that I focused on new things in my life instead.   I know that since I did my time energy planning routine for an extended time it had created a habit. BUT just like I was able to create a habit I broke the habit.

What this experience taught me is that maybe I need to go back to some of the habits that were effective for me that I have stopped doing.  I need to review what worked for me before, test it if it is still effective, and if it is then re-teach myself the habit.

Today's question is:
"What old habit do you need to restart?"

365QOD- Day1005

More Expensive than Gold

"The processed venom can fetch as much as $7000 per ounce"- Men's Journal article on venom collecting

The other morning I was reading a story about a man who nurtures 280 diamondback rattlesnakes.  Every two weeks he milks his 280 snakes and each one gives him 3/4 of a gram of venom.  In other words the 280 snakes give him a total of 210 grams of venom.  Since there are 28 grams per ounce this results in 7.5 ounces.  In other words $7000*7.5= $52,500 every two weeks.

Wow!  This is a serious business since the venom is used by pharmaceutical companies to make medications. 

I do not like snakes but this is an impressive business.  At over a million, the person running it is earning over a million.  His costs would be feeding the snakes two mice per month which is about $1 and the healthy maintenance of these animals. In other words minimal cost high maintenance.

So why do I care?  Most of us would not believe the profitability of this dangerous business.  Yes it is dangerous BUT once you master the handling of these snakes the rest is pure business.  It is scary to those of us who do not like to handle snakes but I believe a viable business for many who are not so squeamish.

Today's question is:
"Could you handle running a snake venom business if it means $1 million dollar profit?"

365QOD- Day1004

Leading From the Side

"Don't lead me, I'll wonder off. Don't follow me, I'll get you lost.  Walk beside me and help me cause trouble."- unknown

I found this quote while checking my Facebook page.  Immediately I noticed the uniqueness.  Is this a way to lead?

You often are taught that we should lead from a front position.  We have to have vision and hopefully the team will follow us on the journey.  Unfortunately, many leaders that lead from the front do not bother to look behind to see if they are followed.  They assume because of their positional leadership that people should just follow them.  That is not always the case.  As I always say, "If you are leader without followers, then you are just taking a walk."

Leading from behind is another way that people believe that one should lead a team.  BUT I have never found this to be effective.  It is better to lead from up front than to lead from behind.  People believe that they are pulling you along and since you are the leader than they lose faith in you.  No one will follow people that hide in the back of the pack.

The wisdom in this quote is the leading from the side.  Walk beside me and help me cause trouble.  I love it!  This fits my style.  I lead by allowing myself to stray off the beaten path and getting people to follow their instincts that the journey off the path is truly the best path.  I don't have to convince them because they convince themselves.

Do you know what is a another word for trouble? Change.

Today's question is:
"Do you ever lead from the side?"

365QOD- Day1003

A Wasted Experience

"Waterfall, river, and lake"- the authors visualization of the ten days of meditation

This morning I was reading Men's Journal and came across an article about a guy who spent ten days in an ashram in India.  It caught my interest because I felt I could learn from author's spiritual journey.

What I learned was how uncomfortable he was and how he tried to break the rules.  In the end he says that he is a changed person.  This did note seem real to me.

He choose to go there to be changed, to learn how to meditate, and get closer to the source.  Instead of choosing to embrace the experience he fought it and then claimed that it changed him.  Maybe I am judging him?

I just feel sorry for him that he wasted such an opportunity.  How many of us would have an opportunity to spend ten days learning to pray and getting closer to God.  Probably not many.

Today's question is:
"Do you embrace the change that you want to happen or do you fight it?"

365QOD- Day1002

Belief and Action

"You are what you believe yourself to be."- Paulo Coelho

Many blogs ago I shared a quote by Henry Ford , "If you think you can or you can't, you are right."  I love that quote because it teaches us how important is having a belief of whether we can do something or not.  It teaches us that we place artificial limits on ourselbed.

The quote by Paulo extends this to our belief of what we are.  If we believe we are good then we must be good, if we believe that we are smart then we must be smart, etc.  it is a belief.

The interesting part is to combines these two ideas into one:  We are what we believe ourselves to be and we will do what we are capable of. 

So if we want to be something different then we must start believing that we are different.  That is a start but we must combine it with belief that what we want to do  we are capable of.  Paulo's quote is a prerequisite for Ford's.

Today's question is:
"What do you believe yourself to be?"

365QOD- Day1001

Out of Curiosity

"Just out of curiosity, what do you like best about your job?"- Geoffrey James

I could not sleep this morning so I started reading articles on Inc. on line. An article about asking yourself a great question came up.

The question above is a great conversation starter.  It allows the other person to talk about positive aspects of their job.  The opposite could be achieved if you ask about what they hate about their job.

What made me focus on this article is its focus on asking this great question of yourself.  I do believe that it will lift your mood and remind you why you like your job.  But to me that is limiting.

Most people self identify with a job title.  I do not.  As I have written before, I identify with the word cREATOR with a small c.  That word could fit whether I am working as an engineer, manager, blogger, writer, teacher, etc.

I do believe that this is a great question to ask ourself but ask it of different aspects and people that make up your life.  Do not limit its power to just work or encouraging others. Ask it of your relationships, interests, friends, things and if possible let people know why you like what you like.

Today's question is:
"Just out of curiosity, what do you like about your life?"

Day 1148 out of 21000(Refer to post 12 for the meaning)

365QOD- Day1000

Today marks an important milestone. To me to do something for 1000 days continuously is impressive.  I believe that it had taught me to think and do differently.
I just want to say THANKS for visiting and following the blog.  Hopefully your journey leads you to your desired destination.  Now let's turn to something related.

Millionaire at 15

"Is it what she thinks or how she thinks?"-Tommy Hendricks

The inspiration for today's post came from season the of Shark Tank.  A mom and two girls walk in and the oldest of the the tag colds about the business she came up with when she was 10 to sell trinkets made from bottle caps.  Her contribution to the "economy of stupid" lead to her at 1.6 million in sales of which profit was 1 million.

I told Tommy this story and we both were impressed and wondered about her thinking process.  Immediately, Tommy wondered what made get think the way she does our even better how she thinks.

My thoughts were more on the execution side. What made her execute her ideas and lead to her success.  I am sure many young kids have ideas but their ideas are usually in their head and if they are lucky they make it to paper.  But usually that is as far as they go.
To execute something, like she her sister and mom have, great requires the willingness to pay the price. You have to be willing to go from thinking to doing and move to doing it every day even when you don't feel like it.

I believe that that is the lesson of writing a big for a thousand days: become disciplined to do something for an extended amount of time and not quit. I do not believe that I am the same person that stated this journey a thousand days ago.

Thanks for your support..

Today's question is:
"What would you become after doing something for a thousand days?"

365QOD- Day999

Bigger Problems

"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom."-Earl Shoaff

In several previous posts I have talked about the idea of not wishing your problems to go away.  The same thing can be said about complex people in your life.

The quote reminds us that we should strive to be better, more skillful, and wiser than our problems.  I completely agree.  By being more of those our problems will seem smaller and could be managed.

Problems never go away.  They morph into different problems or more difficult version of the same problem.  By being in the now and focusing yourself on solving it you guarantee that you will know how to solve it in the future.  This moves you up to bigger and more challenging problems.  Before you say that you don't want that, remind yourself that bigger problems = bigger $$$.

I wish you bigger problems in your life.

Today's question is:
"What are you truly wishing for at this moment?"

365QOD- Day998

The Start and the End

"Start strong"- my thought

I started doing something this weekend that I have not done in years.  Many years ago I created a time and energy management system that is great.  I followed it for years so I know it works.  But then I stopped.

This weekend I sat down on Sunday night and planned out my whole week.  I placed all of the big pieces that would make the week a success. 

This event made me notice an article on what some CEOs do after work.  They try to cram in a little family time and then go back to working.

Wow! What a lack of balance.  Is doing emails till 12 the best way to recharge for the next day?  I doubt it.

I believe that you should do weekly planning on Sundays, review the plan for the day at the start, and conduct a detailed review at the end of the day.

Today's question is:
"How do you start and end your days?"

365QOD- Day997

My Name is

"HELLO, my name is Scott"-Scott Ginsberg's introduction

Imagine walking around with a paper name tag.  Unless you are in a large meeting, most likely a few people will stop you and tell you that you have a nametag on with the expectation that you remove it.
But what if you want it there by design?

Scott had been doing just that for a few years.  This was a strategic move to make him more approachable.  It helped him land a book deal.

This old story from Success magazine made me think about how approachable we are.  By design, I always have my desk in such a way as not to place a barrier between myself and the person entering my office.  To me, this is critical in being approachable.  People want you see you as approachable before they approach you.  So why crate walls?

In my opinion most people are not aware that they are building walls and that translates into being perceived as not approachable.  If you want to be approachable, tear down the walls.  Be the first to extend your hand.  Smile first and say hello. Our wear a name tag.

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

365QOD- Day996

Learning or Winning

"The great ones treat failure as a necessary part of their journey. It's not win or lose. It's always win or learn," says Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of Groupon

I love the line it is always win or learn.  If you look at experiences as just that then what do we have to worry about.  Either we will win or we will learn.

The win might have taken several learning steps to reach.  It is not guaranteed to occur on our first attempt.  But we should be able to bring it closer in our future attempts by examining each attempt and making intelligent adjustments.  That is the premise of my first book, The Result.

We should always learn from our non-wins as we should not take too much credit for our wins.  Be humble and keep working and learning should always be out motto.

Today's question is:
"Do you always learn if you don't win?" 

365QOD- Day995

Phone Brick
"A lot of people hate changing their phone"-a news story hook
The other day I watched the evening news and heard a story about a young guy who had come up with a way to change the way we update our phones.  His idea was to make the phone modular.
The PC is made up of many sub systems.  If you want a CD drive you put one in.  If you want to add a DVD drive there is a slot for that.  You want to change the video card, take it out and put in a better one.
The story explained his idea by showing that one side of the phone is simply a screen.  Behind the screen was a two sides base into which one side plugged in the screen.  It plugged in pretty much like a Lego  block.
On the other side of the base the user could choose what functions and capabilities were important to them. So you want extra long battery time, plug in two battery blocks. Don't need wifi then take the block out. Don't need a sound card take out that block. Need more memory then add an additional block of memory.
You get the idea.  To this phone block you would add or remove blocks to fit your purpose.  I think that the idea is very interesting but late.  Most of us expect to get a new phone every two years in order to keep up with all of the new changes in capabilities.  We want that new shiny toy. 
I am not convinced that we want to modify our old toy.  Maybe I am wrong? For most of us a phone is a toy, not a tool.  The new and shiny appeals to us.
Today's question is:
"Would you stay with your old phone if you could modify it out do you want a new one?"

365QOD- Day994

Phones are the New Cars

"People used to customize their cars now they customize their phones"-Roland, a barber shop patron

I went to get my haircut today.  This is a once a month event for me.  I always look forward to it because it usually involves having a conversation that dies not fit the mold with another customer.

Roland stated talking about cars of yesterday and how kids in the poorest used to modify them to fit their personalities and show uniqueness.  He said that he felt that today the cell phone is what they modify.

I argued that even though I agree with him on the modifying, it does not fit the same need.  When someone modifies a car they want everyone to notice them.  How do I notice the app you installed that you think is cool.  In my opinion, it is only through purchasing a new phone that you get uniqueness.  But anyone can go out and buy that phone and your uniqueness just disappeared.

Today's question is:
"How do you stand out as being unique?"

365QOD- Day993

Economy for Stupid

"I want to draw a cat for you. I want to draw a cat for you...."-Steve Gadlin

I watched an old segment of Shark Tank season three in which an entrepreneur came on the show, danced for the investors, and asked them to invest 10k for 25% of his company.  He charged about ten dollars to create a drawing and post it on his website so that the person can download it.

When introducing the idea he said, "There is an economy for stupid and I am overflowing with it." I could not resist writing this line down. It made me wonder if he is correct that people want to buy stupid stuff.

If we look back to the seventies we see the pet rock.  Paint a cute look on a rock, put it in a cute box and ship it to people.  Millions later the entrepreneur is laughing all the way to the bank.  Remember the cabbage patch kids? Elmo?

Same types of examples can be found for the eighties, nineties  till today. People are interested in buying things that fit the economy of stupid idea.  The only question is how do we exploit it and make money?

Today's question is:
"What can you contribute to the economy of stupid and make money?

365QOD- Day992

Kicking Your Own

"If we were replaced tomorrow, what would our successors do first?"-Andy Grove question to Gordon Moore

Intel was in the memory business.  They were the industry leader.  But they sensed that the market was changing and that they needed to get out of the memory business.  They debated it for a while.

One day while having a conversation Grove and Moore wondered what would their successors do if they were replaced by the board.  They both looked at each other and said, "Get out of the memory business.  So if they would get out of the memory business, why don't we leave the building, come back in and do the same thing?"

This is an interesting question and deals with how we should all approach our jobs.  If we were to be replaced what would be obvious to our successor to change that maybe we should change.  Maybe we should change it? 

How about on a personal level?  The other day I was listening to am old Shark Tank episode in which Mark Cuban said, "I often ask myself, if I wanted to kick my own a$$ what would I do?"  I thought that this was a personal version of the other question.  We should always be aware of our weaknesses and how someone could use those against us.  Change them,  reduce them , conquer them before they destroy us.

Today's question is:
"How would you kick your own a$$?"

365QOD- Day991

Designing a Life

"Life is meant to be designed- most people just react or fly by the seat of their pants."-Lauren Zander
I believe in destiny.  There have been too many instances in my life where I have seen evidence of the fingerprints of God. With this said, I do believe that Lauren is correct.

We are given a free will to do with our lives what we wish. There will even be instances when we make choices that are self destructive.  I believe that most of us fit the second part of that quote in the we either react or fly by the sit of our pants.

Even with the help of God's fingerprints, we are responsible to design the life that we want.Many years ago I sat for an hour brainstormed a perfect life.  I can tell you that at times portions of that vision were realized but never completely.

A couple of years ago I redid this exercise and what came out was completely different vision of what my life should look like. The life I would design today is different than the life I would have designed in my late twenties or thirties.

Life design could result in a separate blog or book by itself.  In this one post, I want you to think about whether you are the designer of your life or just a spectator.

Today's question is:
"Are you a spectator or an active designer of your life"

365QOD- Day990

Meaningful Life

"It is very difficult to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life.  And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work, or to have meaningful work without all the legs of the triangle."-Jim Collins

In post i described the legs of the triangle: Success, Growth, and Service.  This quote comes from the same article on Jim's teaching at West Pointe and leadership. 

The easy way to visualize this quote is:
Success   => Meaningful=>Meaningful => Great
Growth        Work                Life                   Life
Service

Maybe I am wrong but I do not self identify with the work that I currently do.  It is meaningful work But it is not my life.  Don't get me wrong, I care about being successful, growing, and being of service to others.  I even enjoy it but it is not leading me to a meaningful life.

There have been times when I felt that my work at that time, teaching at a major university, was leading me to a meaningful life.  And maybe if I had stayed on that path it would have led to a great life.  Maybe?  The difficulty was making a living at which you can thrive instead of just survive.

Currently, writing and creating gives me the meaningful work and meaningful life.  I believe that it will eventually lead to a great life.  A life where I spend most of my time creatively.

Today's question is:
"Do you believe that your current work could lead to a great life?"

365QOD- Day989

The Triangle

"Leaders need to know when to become followers and followers need to know when to become leaders."- Jim Collins business guru

While reading the latest issue of Inc. I noticed an article about Jim Collins and his teaching at West Point.  While at West Point he noticed that leadership model that they follow can be thought of as a triangle.  One point of the triangle is made up of Success, second point is Growth, and the last one Service.

A leader has to want Success.  You have to believe that it is achievable.  And you have to want to do your personal best to reach success.

While you are reaching for Success you will taste failure.  Failure is inevitable.  But learning from it is optional.  However, it is learning from it that will lead to Growth.

The last piece is Service.  Without wanting to pull people along on the journey towards success, the journey is not as fulfilling.  Wanting success for them is just as important as wanting success for yourself.

Today's question is:
"Do you believe in the triangle leadership model?"

365QOD- Day988

Overchallenging

"Do I need to go down and get my certificate that says I am the CEO of this company to Get you to stop challenging me in this?"-Jeff Bezos being a jerk

While reading a story in an online issue of Entrepreneur I came across a story that talked about how Bezos like Jobs is a jerk sometimes to his employees.  So why did this catch my attention?

I happen to have a boss with whom I differ on strategy very often.  We even disagree publicly.  I don't disagree without being respectful.  He is the boss.

I might disagree and challenge my boss but the winner is our company.  If ideas are challenged and the best ones implemented then the winner is our company. As long as the company wins then there is no such thing as too much challenging.  If a boss has to pull out his certificate then that speaks of their weakness in persuading others that their idea is the best.

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

365QOD- Day987

"Me and my shadow"-words to a song

I was reading an online version of Inc. magazine and came across a story about Jeff Bezos.  In the story it tells how Jeff has a person who is assigned to shadow him and serve as his sounding board.

Some of his shadows held that position for a few years and then became a CEO of a division.  This is a brilliant way to develop the shadow in the way you feel well set them up for success.

In the story Jeff tells that shadow success is defined by each person getting to know the other and then developing trust.  This is very risky since the shadow can then find an executive position elsewhere.

I love this idea but unless you are the CEO how do you apply this idea? I believe that a younger coworker might be interested in becoming a shadow of a more senior employee.  The senior takes the shadow to meetings and then asks them for feedback.  What went good and what went bad?

If both agree to get to know each other and trust each others opinion then both will grow.  It does not have to be full time either.  I say 20% of time overlap is ideal.

Today's question is:
"Would a shadow be beneficial to your development?"

365QOD- Day986

Success Vs. Confidence

"Competence leads to confidence, but not vice versa."-Thomas Chamorro Premusic article Confidence Does not Lead to Success

One of the self help bits of advice that you get is to "fake it until you make it".  If you don't know what to do then simply ask yourself, "What would I do if I knew what to do?" But this article completely disproves this idea.

According to the article there is only a 30% correlation between success and career confidence.  In other words we would only be 20% more accurate than if we just guessed(50/50).  So what does this mean?

Most of us would say that confident people are more successful.  But that does not hold as a truth.  According to the article, being talented makes you more competent which in turn leads to make you more confident and successful.
In other words,
Talent =>competence= >confidence =>success
(TCCS)

The path is one directional.  You can't fake the success hoping to build your confidence which will lead to competence and ultimately result in a talent. It does nit work in that direction.

So how important is talent?  I do believe that we often find some things are easier for us and they appear as talent.  In my life I have taken things that were NOT talents and worked on them until they become easier.  In other words I became competent.  To get to confidence I needed to be passionate about improving and continuing to learn and improve. Doing all this lead to success.  Maybe not as big success as if i started with a talent.

Today's question is:
"What is an example of TCCS in your life?"

365QOD- Day985

Nurture vs. Nature

" The old debate."- my thought

On post 984 I talked about two different ways of presenting information.  My conclusion was that they were both correct.

So what about this question.  In another post I talked about my three books.  I have created what I believe are three wonderful books.  That is the nature part.

But I seriously lack the nurturing part.  I do minimal social media marketing.  After I publish I post them on my Facebook and twitter pages.  But that is it.  And barf on the sales, it us not enough.

My advice yesterday was that we need to train ourselves in one type of presentation and then expand to the second type in order to become more complete.  The same advice follows fire me, now that I have learned how to create and publish, Nurture, I need to spend some time learning and doing the Nurturing.

Today's question is:
"How do you know it is time to move away from Nature and move into Nurture of an idea?"

365QOD- Day984

Six Minutes FortySeconds

"How bad can it be to listen to someone for six minutes and forty seconds?" -my question

This morning before I got my day started I read a couple of stories in Inc. magazine.  They approached public presentations from two completely opposite angles.  What helped me note this was that they were right next to each other but they did not reference each other.

The Pacha-Kucha presentation format consists of forcing yourself to only 20 slides with each one lasting 20 seconds.  So in 6:40 you are done talking.  You stop. This forces the presenter to cut their slides down and to cut to the chase quickly.  I can see this turning into just the facts not a lot of fluff presentation.

Second story talked about Moth storytelling.  In this format you personalize the story to pull the listener in.  So this format is more about taking your time and connecting to the audience.

In other words dry facts vs. touchy moving speeches.  So which one is the right format? Both are ways but you need to determine what your audience needa.

I do feel that we all need to train ourselves on being able to do the 6:40.  This will teach us to focus.  But then go out and also learn how to tell that great story that hooks the audience.  So as I said, both are correct.

Today's question is:
"Can you give a great speech in 6:40?"

365QOD- Day983

Intellectual Risk

"I am smarter than that."- self encouragement

I believe that our intelligence can grow over time.  If we choose to expose ourselves to continuous learning then our whole life will make us smarter.

As you might have noticed, our world is moving at an incredible pace.  If you are not drowning in email then you have not checked it yet.  There are so many channels on TV that you can easily just keep flipping without stopping to see a while show.  How about the number of new books that are published each day?

The world around us provides us with a ton of new data.  It is so much data that we seldom have time to convert it into information.  But we must.  That data can then become knowledge and over time lead to wisdom.

It all starts with exposing ourselves to new information.  Noticed that I said information and not data.  Information is processed data.  It is one step above.

This is where intellectual risk comes into play.  What if we are not smart enough to absorb the information?  Or even better, not smart enough to find the information we need?

365QOD- Day982

Financial Risk

"Money, I got to have it..."-song lyric

I think of each dollar as 100 soldiers.  Ever one of these soldiers deserves our attention and respect.  Without the attention and respect we are exposing ourselves to greater financial risk.

Most of us will easily earn more than a million dollars in our life.  But most of us will never become millionaires.  Why?  It is our exposure to risk.

I believe that our mindsets are not set up to become millionaires.  We tend to expose ourselves daily to poor financial decisions.  Decisions that just take money out of our pocket.  $5 Latte anyone?

We are letting or soldiers go into fights and get wasted.  Even better, we give then away to others by making questionable purchases that have use in only the short term.  This does not allow us to grow our army. We put ourselves in a position where we are constantly trading our time soldiers, seconds, for money soldiers, pennies. In other words, we work to spend.

Today's question is:
"Are you giving away your soldiers?"

365QOD- Day981

Emotional Risk

"This is going to make me cry"-men's ultimate weakness

Many years ago I sat on a beach and read The Power of Full Engagement.  I doubt that a week has passed since that I have not referenced it in conversations.  The book teaches us about four energies we all share: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

I believe that most of us guys tend to ignore the emotional dimension to our lives.  This choice exposes us to a lot of emotional risk. How?

Suppose your spouse needs one hour per day of your undivided attention.  This might not be a solid hour but split over many smaller chunks of time.  That is what she expects but suppose you only give her 30 minutes for an extended amount of time.  Eventually this creates tension and you will have to spend hours trying to get back on track. These hours are usually spent arguing.

It is the classic pay me now our pay me later.  If you were to average out the time spend connecting with arguing and the approach that uses  daily emotional connection, I bet it will average it to the one hour need.

The difference is in spreading out your emotional risk vs. concentrating it during arguments.  Which one is better?  I believe that setting time aside every day is a better choice.  This way you exercise your emotional muscles ever day and they get stronger.

Today's question is:
"What emotional risk did you expose yourself to today?"

365QOD- Day980

Social Risk

"To be social or not be social, that is the question now."- RT

Remember starting a new job.  You were the new kid on the block.  The one everyone is curious about.

In that one and many other social situations people want to get to know you better.  So how much of you do you reveal?  You want to be social but you also want to be guarded is my advice.  There should be a bit of mystery to you and your life.

I believe that the more people know about us the more social risk we expose ourselves.  With this, I am not saying not to share a portion of your life but sharing everything exposes to many weaknesses.

So what is the right amount?  I believe that 20% of your life is a good guideline.  It is the 80/20 rule.  This leaves a lot of mystery for people to wasn't to find out over time. 

The number will grow over time towards 80 but it should not ever get to100. I believe that this also holds true in relationships as well as marriage.  It keeps the relationship fresh.

Today's question is:
"How much of yourself do yo reveal?"

365QOD- Day979

Risk Profile

"I get a knot in my stomach"-Anonymous

In an article by Jocelyn Glei I learned of five primary types of risks.  I would like to explore these in
next five posts.

First type of risk is physical.  I am sure you have heard the quoted expression.  Physically you feel that what you are about to do will put your body in danger.  You might not get the knot but your hands might get sweaty.  Your ears might get red.  The response is very unique to you as a person.

I mentioned in another post that I do not like to handle snakes.  So I do not.  The risk is a physical
fear.  What if I get bitten?  The reality is that if I handled a snake that the probability of getting bitten is so small.  So my conclusion is to get over this fear next time I am around a snake.  This is my way of using logic to convince myself that the physical risk is not worth fearing.

How about bungee jumping? I also don't care for extreme heights.  So jumping over is a physical risk that the rubber band would break.In reality it is not the fear of heights but fear of jumping into the unknown.

 I better start with the snakes.

Today's question its:
"what do you consider a physical risk?"

365QOD- Day978

Write Badly

"Have the Courage to Write Badly"- title by Herbert Lui

I have to admit that I write badly most of the time.  This should not be a surprise to you.  Since I write with passion I tend to write quickly in order to capture my thoughts and my blogger will substitute words on my cell phone Swype keyboard that I did not intend.

This is an excuse.  When I do take the time to read the posts after creating them i will often find several mistakes easily.  So I can edit my work but due to my rushing I choose not to. At the end of the year I take the time to rewrite the stories before they make it in my boois.  My books are, in my opinion, well written because I have debugged them.

So I find the time to do it properly the second or third time but not the first time.  This is nuts and a waste of time.  So since this is silly I have decided to drop rewriting the story and instead focusing on reading the poorly written pieces out loud before I hit publish.

Today's question us:
"Do you have the courage to write badly?"

365QOD- Day977

Scared of What

"Give no mercy to your FEARS ."- anonymous

Long time ago I read somewhere that we can look at most of our decisions and note why we made them.  How?  Imagine a circle with a line inside it supplying it in half vertically. Write the word faith in the left semicircle.  Inside the right semicircle write the word fear.

Faith is a belief that you can on your own or that you will through some external help from another person or God prevail.  There is no doubt about the end result.  So you move towards it.

The fear side is more complicated.  It is the belief that you can not on your own nor with the help of another person or God prevail.  But more than a belief, you are held into place or pushed back by an invincible force that you will not even try it.  That is the force of fear.

As the quote advises, give no mercy to your fears.  Once they have an inch they will demand a yard.  Push back and say that despite your fear you will push forward.  As Churchill wisely advised, "Never. Never. Never ever give up. Never." Push forward.

Today's question is:
"Is your belief on an issue based on faith or fear?"

365QOD- Day976

Scary

"Despite campaigns aimed at educating both clinicians and patients, studies show that hospital staff comply with hand washing periodicals only 50% of the time"-WSJ article

I was reading a Wall Street Journal article about SwipeSense when this statistic cough my attention. Immediately it make me wonder.

Why would people that know that "since 1880s that hand hygiene decreases the risk for infection and transmission from person to person" not follow the requirement. It is a classical gap between knowing and doing.

SwipeSense is providing sensors and gel dispensers designed to analyze and provide an incentive for the staff to follow the protocol.  But why is the knowledge not enough.

I believe that in this instance doctors feel that they know more than the rest of us and see themselves as above the rest of us. Even thigh their oath emphasizes that they do no harm they are doing harm.  It is their ego that is driving their decision making. 

Today's question is:
"How do you prevent your ego from driving your decisions?"

365QOD- Day975

The Man with Two Watches

"So why do you wear two watches all of the time?"-my question to a friend

Many years ago I worked with a friend of mine whose name is Ivy.  He is a very interesting person with whom I have had many conversations over the years.

The quote above was the start of one such conversation.  I was curious as to why he always wore two watches, one on each hand, at all times.  So I asked the question.

Ivy told me that he has a young wife and that he also has two watches.  Everyday he makes a choice to wear both watches in order for them to be worn.  He said that every night he also makes love with his wife as if it was his last time.

I could not resist asking why?  His answer was that he did not want to die and for some guy to come in and find brand new watches and a wife that had not been loved.  So he lived his every day trying to use to the fullest what made up his world in order for their value to be zero to anyone else.

Today's question is:
"Do you appreciate and use everything in your world?"

365QOD- Day974

Both Sides are Idiots

"I hate both political parties equally."-my words

I am saddened that the two parties are full of politicians that are holding our country hostage.  This is not what our founding fathers intended. Consider a few issues.

The country needs a basic health plan.  I do not think it should take 2000 pages that no one has read to formulate it. There is no western country without basic health care plan.  Why are we different?  Because medical lobbyists write the laws and politicians get paid by them. 

Our medical system is broken.  When someone without insurance goes to an emergency room for basic care then all of our costs go up.  Do young people need the same coverage as elderly or middle age folks? No.  So a plan needs to be formulated for 20-30 year old and older people that is different and cheep.

The other issue is spending.  It is amazing to me that when either party is in power that they do not decide to control spending.  Fir example, the Republicans like their wars and police actions around the world.  We have gone from the most admitted nation to the most hated in the last 30 years. 

The Democrats like their social programs.  This is their way of employing more people that will vote for them next election.  By spending on programs that do not work, they prevent the creation of programs that will work.

Neither party cares about the little working guy.They give lip service.  What they care about it getting reelected.  If they do not follow their own party line they will get kicked out by their own.  They serve the party not us.  Thus is why an Obama white house member said that "they are winning" on this government shutdown.  They care about getting reacted more than fixing the problems.  Sad.

Our forefathers wanted statesmen who would argue the issues and do what is best for the country.  They were intending for people to go to Washington for a few years and dedicate themselves for the best of the country. 

This is not what we got now.  We have a group of people that only care to last long enough to get their pension and lifelong medical.  This is because they see it as a job instead of service to the country.  We deserve better.

Today's question is:
"Would you be willing to vote out every currently elected official?"

365QOD- Day973

Too Many Questions

"Life is to short to be wasted in finding answers.  Enjoy the questions!"-Paulo Coelho

One of these days I am going to take all of the questions from my blog and put them in one document and reread them out loud.  I believe it will be hard to just read them.

By now you should know that I enjoy posing questions to think about.  Rarely do I get upset if the answer does not pop out immediately.  I do not expect it.  If it is a worthwhile question then the answer will also take time to arrive.

So how does one enjoy the question?  I believe that by letting go and not expecting the answer is the way to enjoy the question. I also think that this also places the question in our subconscious.  So your brain is really working on the question when you do not think you are working on it.

Unfortunately we are often to eager to ask or next question that we might not even hear the answer. It is the pause that allows the answer to come up.

Today's question is:
"Can you enjoy the delay to the answer?"

365QOD- Day972

Start or Stop Talking

"When you approach two peorple talking, you will be acknowledged in one of two ways.  If the feet of their torsos stay in place and they twist only their upper torsos in your direction, they don't really want you to join the conversation.  But if their feet move to include you then you know that you are truly invited to participate."-Carol Kinsley Goman

 I saw this line on the Behance web page and immediately recognized the feelings.  There have been times when I felt uncomfortable stepping into a situation between two petiole.  And there have been times when I got smiles and was warmly welcomed.

I believe that the secret is your smile. If you approach the situation with a great attitude then you are most likely will be welcomed.  If internally you are judging yourself not  worthy of being there then your vibe will keep you out.

The author adds that this is also true for when conversations are over.  A coworker who seems to be paying attention with their upper body angled toward you but their legs and feet are towards the door, is signaling that the conversation is over.

So start paying attention to peoples upper and use body positioning as a way of telling how people feel.

Today's question is:
"How do you know that you are welcomed or done with?"