In his book, ‘Why We Make Mistakes’, Joseph Hallinan describes an experiment whereby volunteers are given a logic problem involving cups of water. There is a solution, but it’s relatively complicated. In a second experiment, they are given more jugs and cups of water and this time the problem can be solved in two ways: a replication of the first problem’s solution and a second, far simpler, solution. The people who participated in the first experiment nearly all followed the solution they’d found previously. But 95% of a second set of volunteers who hadn’t seen the first problem found the simpler solution.

Hallinan summarizes: “People in the initial experiments had become so set in their ways that they were blinded to the newer, simpler solution. But to those who came to the problem fresh, the simpler solution was obvious.” That is one of the problems with the continuous improvement meme – in your company, you might make a 1% improvement each year. But a new company who is coming to the problem fresh may be able to come up with something completely new. Incremental improvements in laptops are nothing next to the ipad (depending on what you want to use the device for ).

One of the ways to get out of the space you’re in mentally is to explore paradigms outside of your company, industry or country. There’s an article on the BBC website today about the application of the ‘no-frills’ airline business concept to the hotel industry. How many people in the hotel industry thought, when they got on a budget airline, how does this apply to my industry? How does it apply to yours? How does Starbucks or Apple or Amazon or Dell or Expedia apply to a legal firm or a plant manufacturer or a papermill? It’s asking questions like this that allow for more than incremental improvement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11114802

http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Make-Mistakes-Without/dp/0767928067/ref=sr_…

Manager Tools believes that the key to great management is knowing your people better than average, constantly talking about performance and asking for significant improvements in that performance. The Trinity (One on Ones, Feedback, Coaching and Delegation) are designed to operationalize those key behaviors.

In 2006 Gallup released a follow up to ‘First, Break All The Rules’ called ‘The 12 Elements of Great Managing’. The authors summarize their list of 12 as being the workers saying “If you do these things for us, we will do what the company needs of us”. No Manager Tools member will be surprised that the 12 elements directly and indirectly reflect the Trinity. For example: “I know what is expected of me at work” and “In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work”.

At conferences we also talk about the need for managers to professionally care about the people who work for them. Management isn’t power, or a payrise. In order to be a great manager, we’ve got to genuinely care about our team and want to see them grow and develop. The Gallup research bears this out too: “My supervisor… seems to care about me as a person”. Lucky us, that we know this, and we know what to do every day to make it happen.

http://gmj.gallup.com/content/25390/Gallup-Publishes-LongAwaited-FollowU…

For many of us, brainstorming is a lot like play: it’s something we used to do in the golden age of youth, but these days, we have serious work to do, and have no time for futzing around with different colored pens and butcher paper.

In some workplaces and industries, a strong reliance on processes can reduce the perceived need, opportunity and respect for brainstorming as a valid work process. Where brainstorming does take place, it’s often on a “corporate retreat” and adopts a cheesy, hackneyed air — the inference being that it’s not “real work.”

I find brainstorming an immensely helpful process, and I think one of the reasons it’s so commonly dismissed as a frivolity is that few people actually know how to take the outputs of brainstorming and apply them to whatever it is they’re supposed to be doing. Here, I’d like to outline some tips for getting the most out of brainstorming — including applying what you learn.

Why Brainstorm?

You don’t need to be a big-shot creative, or part of a team-building exercise, to find brainstorming useful. As an independent freelancer, I find it handy, first and foremost, for starting difficult tasks.

If I’m not sure how to tackle a job, or what to do about a work problem, I can wind up avoiding thinking about it altogether — a very unproductive way to go about things. I find brainstorming an excellent way to get around this problem.

Similarly, brainstorming can really take the pressure off when you’re working on something important. Since brainstorming is unstructured and fun, using it to tackle different work challenges can reduce the performance anxiety I can feel when I’m facing a tough deadline, important client or career-defining project.

Finally, I find brainstorming a fantastic way to innovate, to get disparate thoughts “organized” (or at least work out roughly how they might fit together), and to relieve my thought patterns from the process-oriented tracks they usually run along.

Make Brainstorming Work

I’ve found these tactics to be especially helpful in making brainstorming a valid, valuable aspect of my work practice.

1. Know what you want.

If you want to be able to use the outputs of your brainstorming exercise, you’ll need to know what kinds of outcomes you want from the work.

Usually for me, the answer to this question is “story ideas” or “pitch angles” or something similar, but obviously it will depend on the task you’re brainstorming. In any case, I usually try to visualize what I’ll have at the end of the process — a list of bullet points, a mind map or a process flow, for example — so that I have some idea of what I’m working toward.

2. Set limits.

To get the most out of my brainstorming, I usually set limits — or, more specifically, a time limit and an output goal.

The time limit helps me avoid dwelling on any one idea for too long. If I’m only brainstorming for fifteen minutes, I know I have to keep my thoughts moving, and not get bogged down in details. An output goal supports those objectives — it provides motivation for me to keep thinking, and thinking, and thinking, rather than to stop after I get one or two ideas that I think are OK.

I find my ideas go through a bit of a lull in the middle of a brainstorming exercise: the first few ideas might be acceptable, then they head downhill, and then I break through a sort of wall, or get a second wind, and there are a few more good ones. So setting time and output expectations help me to stay on track and produce usable outputs.

3. Leave your desk.

I find that it helps me mentally distance myself from my “normal” work processes and thought patterns if I can leave my workspace and brainstorm somewhere else.

If I can’t leave my desk, I usually switch off my monitor and turn myself away from my usual working position. For purely psychological reasons, this seems to help me to clear my mind and focus on doing “something different” from the usual.

4. Use different tools.

My brainstorming is always most effective when I’m not at my desk, and I’m not using my computer. I usually brainstorm using a notepad and pencil — and if I have some, unruled paper works wonders.

I find that my thoughts move more freely when they’re not constricted by the structures applied by software or technology. The paper is really often only there to capture random thoughts and help me remember how I put them together later. In short, using different tools for brainstorming than you would ordinarily use for everyday work can signal new freedom to a tired, restricted mind.

5. Get it down, then move on.

When I’m in idea-generation mode, I try to stick to the mantra that no ideas are dumb ideas (which is definitely easier to believe when you’re brainstorming solo!) and that once they’re noted, I can move on.

This increases brainstorming productivity, but it also helps me not to get too bogged down on the issue of whether an idea is clear, appropriate, or just plain good enough. Whatever it is, I write it down, because my brainstorming philosophy says that once that’s done, I can move on to other ideas.

6. Sum up.

Once your brainstorming time is up, don’t just throw down your pen and head out for coffee. Take a moment to list your outputs, or formulate them somehow into a usable format.

Then, when you come to apply them in your work, send them to your team mates, or try to extend them further in your next brainstorming session, you’ll have concrete, pragmatic items to work with.

These are the main approaches I use to ensure that my brainstorming work is as productive as possible. What tips can you add from your brainstorming experience?

Rereading Getting Things Done last week, I was struck by what David Allen says about ideas. He says: “If you’re waiting to have a good idea before you have any idea, you won’t have many ideas”. When Mark talks about brainstorming with conference groups he asks: “If you have a small pile of ideas, and a big pile of ideas, which pile of ideas is most likely to have most good ideas?” Both of them are saying the same thing: in order to have a good idea you need lots of ideas.

Mark also tells groups that a manager’s role is generally to reduce: to make a decision between x and y and z, and to go forward with one. That’s why brainstorming is hard. It’s the opposite of what we normally do – it’s increasing our scope instead of reducing it.

If you ask Google how many thoughts we have a day, it gives numbers from 12,000 to 60,000. However many we have, it’s many many many more than we’re conscious of. Most of them are fleeting, because our ‘reducing habit’ dismisses them. If you want to have more ideas, start writing down your random thoughts. Don’t be instantly dismissive. Follow the rabbit for a few more thoughts and see if a good idea turns up.

Chickasaw Nation hosts Family Fun Day – Ada Evening News – This free event is designed for family fun and is being conducted during Child Support Awareness Month, which is celebrated nationally to recognize child …

Arrow Trucking trustee addresses wage claims – Tulsa World – 8, also apparently withheld child support payments from employees’ paychecks but didn’t send the money to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. …

While everyone experiences job-related stress at one time or another, those of us who work mostly or entirely online have a slightly different type of stress. We trade stressful commutes and stressful office environments for the stress that results from spending too many hours in front of the computer with little human interaction. We all need to find ways to deal with stress before it becomes a problem. Over the years, I’ve developed some stress reduction techniques that help me manage stress without letting it get out of control.

Balanced Approach to Control

First, you need to take a balanced approach to stress by focusing on the things you can control. Most people who have real issues dealing with stress let too many things that are out of their control increase their stress level. If something is out of your control, then worrying about it or dwelling on it to the point that it causes you stress just isn’t productive. Take a step back and think about the problem with an objective eye toward focusing your time and energy on those things that you can control and focusing your work in areas where you can have an impact. Learning to let the rest go and not letting those things that are out of your control increase your stress level is very difficult, but it can be mastered with practice. People who regularly read my posts will notice that this is a common theme for me; in most things, I have learned to focus on a few areas and let the rest go.

Get Out and Get Moving

Getting regular exercise and keeping your body moving is a time-honored way to reduce stress. Exercise increases your endorphin levels and gives you a boost, which is why I try to exercise during lunch when the weather isn’t too hot because it gives me a nice little break in the middle of the day and lets me hit the afternoon with a fresh burst of exercise-induced energy. This is also a perfect opportunity to get some fresh air and maybe even a little sunshine, depending on where you live. Even if you just get outside long enough to make the trip to the gym, getting out of your home office for a short break and a little fresh air can be useful. On those days where your schedule refuses to cooperate, even a 5-10 minute walk around the block can really help reduce your stress.

Socialize

Great conversation and laughter with friends is one of my favorite ways to reduce stress. When was the last time you had a nice lunch away from the computer or went to happy hour with some friends after work? Make it a point to plan a couple of activities with friends every week. This doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming. Take a 20-minute walk at lunch with a friend, work out or run with a partner, invite a few friends to happy hour or dinner, or even attend some local social events related to your areas of interest. Talking to real people, in person, is a great way to decompress after a long day at work and reduce our stress.

Reading and Hobbies

Turn the television off, shut the lid of the laptop and spend a few minutes doing something in the real world that doesn’t involve typing. I love to read, and I try to spend at least 30 minutes every evening with a book — the dead tree kind — to get away from the glare of the computer screen. I also like to turn on some music and cook a real dinner occasionally (you know, the kind of dinner where you recognize the ingredients as something from nature, rather than something out of a box). If you don’t have a hobby, find one, and spend some time relaxing and forgetting about the things that leave you stressed out at the end of the day.

The real key to managing stress is to stay ahead of it by making your stress reduction techniques just another part of your daily routine. By exercising, getting fresh air, socializing with friends and making time for your hobbies, you naturally keep your stress levels down without having to take any drastic measures later.

What are your favorite ways to reduce stress?

Photo by Aaron Hockley of Hockley Photography used with permission.

Is there an area of your life or business where you just can’t seem to get a grip? You try and try, but can never seem to fix it.

I was thinking about this recently over something that’s been plaguing and frustrating me on a daily basis for quite some time — not consistently sticking with an exercise routine, and I started wondering if there was something more to it.

The fact that I don’t exercise more bugs me all the time. “You need to exercise,” or some variation of it, crosses my mind a minimum of ten times a day. That’s ridiculous. The energy, attention, and time I spend on simply thinking about exercising is far greater than what it would take to simply stop everything and actually do it, so what’s the problem? The answer: Something is controlling me. In my case, it’s a schedule.

I feel a constant pull to conform to someone else’s idea of when I should work and what times things should happen: What time to wake up, eat, work out, run errands, go to bed, etc. It’s silly, but true. A schedule (or really some crazy idea I have of what constitutes a “normal” schedule) is controlling me and making me not live the way I want to live. It doesn’t matter that I might function better and be more productive and content following an altogether different routine than everyone else on the planet. No, I’d rather struggle to do things the way everyone else does. I’d rather see how many ways and how many times a square peg will not fit into a round hole.

Why is that I can commit to forging my own path in every other area of my life, but struggle with this one? I think it’s because it’s so easy to become controlled and not live or work the way we really want to live or work. Think about it. Maybe you’ve wanted for many years to:

• Write a book,
• Become a runner,
• Get up early,
• Get in shape, or
• Build a thriving business.

But, why haven’t you? What’s stopping you from doing what you want to do?

• Maybe you long to be a writer, but hate the thought of having your work criticized. The critics are controlling you.
• Maybe you wish that you could get into better shape, but can never seem to find the time or routine to make it work. A schedule is controlling you.
• Maybe you want to build a thriving business, but can’t imagine putting yourself out there and promoting yourself or your business. Your fear is controlling you.
• Maybe you need to hire an assistant or a coach, but hate to have to turn to someone else for help. Your pride is controlling you.
• Maybe you’d love to get up early, watch the sunrise over coffee, and enjoy some quiet time to yourself before starting yet another busy day, but have never been able to stick with going to bed and getting up early. Your laziness, indifference or complacency is controlling you.

If there’s something in your life or business that you want to do, something that you know would make all the difference in your productivity or contentment, think hard and honestly when answering, “Why am I not doing it?” Are circumstances, other people, your attitude, your complacency, or anything else controlling you?

Once you know (and perhaps admit) that something is, in fact, controlling you, what are you going to do about it? How will you take back your power?

Sometimes simply being aware of something can change the way you approach it. Just having the knowledge that I’m allowing some arbitrary definition of a “normal” schedule control how I live and work makes me reevaluate how I spend my days and, at the very least, question my motives for doing things a certain way.

In the past, what has stopped you from doing things the way you wanted to do them in life and business, and how did you find a way to overcome them?

Photo by Flickr user seantoyer, licensed under CC 2.0

I was both lucky and blessed to vacation at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, last week. It was a kind of busman’s holiday insofar as I was teaching editing classes four of the six days I was there. But there couldn’t be a more splendid place to do so!

One of the treasured takeaways from my week in paradise was learning about a beautiful way to start the day. I read it in a book that the ranch’s former Fitness Director and now yoga and meditation teacher Phyllis Pilgrim, self-published. Phyllis’ classes gently attuned me to my breathing and my body so that when I left her classes, I felt taller, grounded and centered. I loved the classes so much that when I heard about Phyllis’ book, The Hidden Passport, which describes her early years in Japanese concentration camps during World War II (she was only five years old when her mother, brother and she were led away to the first of four camps), I went straightaway to the mercado (gift shop) and bought a copy. 

While hers is an amazing story of resilience and love amidst grueling, inhumane conditions, what I will remember best from the book is the intention that Phyllis’ mother learned from her nanny and used to keep hope alive in the camps:

 “See something beautiful, hear something beautiful, and say something beautiful today.”

These simple words can be a powerfully positive portal into your day. Print them out. Post them in your bathroom, on your computer or fridge. Use these words as a morning prayer. They could change your life.

By Anne Simpkinson, July 29, 2010

Anne Simpkinson is the online managing editor of Guideposts.com. She co-authored Soul Work: A Field Guide for Spiritual Seekers and has edited two anthologies Sacred Stories: A Celebration of the Power of Stories to Transform and Heal and Nourishing the Soul: Discovering the Sacred in Everyday Life. Therapy, a spiritual practice, good friends, a lakeside cottage and two cats continue to transform and enrich her life.

Mondays aren’t always the most productive days. Busy weekends leave us lagging, and it’s sometimes hard to find the motivation to get things going, so here’s a quick “jump start” to kick off your week and get you moving closer to achieving your goals.

1. Realign with your intentions. Stop everything. Close the social networks, the news feeds, and your email program, and give yourself a fresh start. Get a notebook and pen or open a Zoho or Google document and list your top priorities in life and business right now. What kind of life and business do you want to lead? What is most important to you? Rather than working in reactive mode over the coming week, commit to living proactively and moving your life and business in the direction you want them to go.
2. Choose your “Big Three.” Make a list of the three things that would make the biggest difference in your life or business if you could accomplish them. Think about it. What three things, if achieved, would have the biggest impact on your overall success? In your business, maybe you need to do more marketing and lead generation, or maybe you need to hire a coach, and on the personal side, maybe you need to take better care of your health or spend more time with family. We have a tendency to work on things that are easy, don’t take much time, or are lower in priority, instead of focusing on those few things that would cause the biggest change. This week, take an entirely different approach and spend at least half of your time working on the most important things.
3. Reserve time for your “Big Three.” You’ve listed your absolute top priorities. Now it’s time to adjust your schedule and to-do list to reflect your intentions. Open your calendar and set aside time each day over the coming week to work on each of your top three priorities (see sample calendar below). If possible, reserve the mornings for working on your “Big Three” so that, no matter what happens the rest of the day, you’re sure to make progress on those things that are most important to you.
4. Choose the tasks you will complete this week. In order to move each of your top priorities forward, you have to take specific action steps to help you achieve them. What could you do this week for each of the items on your list to move them forward as much as possible? List one to three specific tasks, depending on complexity, that you could do to make progress around each priority. Create a to-do list (on paper or within an online tool like Backpack), listing them out by day, if necessary.
5. Work from the schedule and list. When you start each day, the first thing you need to do is refer to your preset calendar and to-do list. Do not open email, news feeds, or social networks until you’ve completed your reserved time blocks and all of today’s tasks associated with your “Big Three.” Whatever is in your email inbox can wait.
6. Do a daily recap and setup. At the end of each day, recite your top three priorities so that you stay in alignment with those things that matter most to you. Run through your to-do list to see what you’ve accomplished and what’s left to do over the remainder of the week. Adjust your to-do list to reflect any changes or additions that will help you make even greater progress on your top priorities. Finally, clear your desk and your browser so that you have a clean slate for the next day, and open your calendar and to-do list so that they’ll be the first things you see the next morning.

While it’s not always easy to stay aligned with your priorities and remain proactive when approaching your days, by taking the time to plan ahead and by making a firm commitment to your goals in life and business, you’ll be far more likely to achieve them. Stay focused, remember what’s most important to you, and approach each day with intention and purpose.

What’s your system for staying on track with your goals?

Photo by Flickr user Joe Lanman, licensed under CC 2.0