When it comes to habit change, Start Small (Habit Series 5/7)

When you are thinking about starting a new habit, it seems like resistance has other ideas.  Partly because some people devise an elaborate plan and create grandiose expectations.  No wonder it is hard to follow habits when the bar is already fixed so impossibly high before you have even begun.  When we start small, pick one, and jump in, substantial things happen.

BJ Fogg, Director of the Persuasive Technology Lab has spent decades thinking about modifying behavior.  One of his key insights is that when we are looking to establish habits, we want to begin with tiny changes. He often uses the example of flossing. You want to start with one tooth. When you set the mental bar so low, you will likely begin and continue until the whole job is done.  In contrast, by designing a higher goal like flossing for 5 minutes 3 times a day, our brains immediately start finding ways to hack our well-intentioned plans.  It is essential to gain some early wins before you expand. 

In thinking about starting small, here are some steps to consider:

1. Define your new habit.  It should be specific, granular, and accomplishable in a minute or less.  The micro-habit is much harder to find an excuse not to do it.  For example, if you want to build a habit to think strategically first thing in the morning, do not just say, “I plan to do some strategic thinking.”  Get more specific, “ I plan to walk into my office and sit with a sheet of paper and pen at my desk for a minute.”  The same technique works for writing, if you are having trouble writing a book, commit to one sentence or 100 words a day.  When you write so little, more will flow out; the initial hurdle of beginning is the hardest.  After, momentum kicks in, taking you for the ride. Also, we have different motivations on different days. If your bar is only to write one sentence a day, you can fulfill that minimum on tough days, but if you are feeling high energy, you can tackle harder goals and write pages, but you do not have to. Einstein offers a good reminder - “everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

2. Pick one habit at a time.  Leo Babauta, the author of ZenHabits, uses this strategy.  He said, “We’ve all had those moments when you want to declare, ‘I will change starting today! I want to go to bed earlier, eat less sugar, eat more vegetables, exercise more, be more generous, call my mother regularly, stop checking Facebook obsessively, hug my children, write a book, and declutter the house.’ And if you try to do all of that at once, you end up failing at everything.  But when you devote your energy to just one change, you have more success.  Once one part is habitual, you can move on to the next shift.  Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism, would agree.  He states that you can only be doing one thing at a time so what is the most important thing you want to be working on?  It is a simple, yet profound concept.  If we do not eliminate, we become overcommitted and our energy will be dispersed instead of concentrated in one area.

3. Calibrate expectations.  When people get started with a new endeavor, they almost always overdo it.  Their ambition leads them to think big and set stretch goals. But high achievers with good intentions can fall short.  When we tempter our expectations and take tiny steps consistently, we can radically improve our lives instead of mustering up giant leaps.  If you decide to work out two hours a day for five days a week, it may be hard to continue that pace.   If you do not get into something you can reliably maintain, you will not do it at all or give up quickly.  We win when we take the right steps day in and day out, but when we do too much too soon, we see obstacles and falter.  Instead of beginning with a 2-mile jog, start with a 5-minute walk and build up.  Your outcomes are determined by your moment-to-moment choices until they become your habits.

According to one study, there is a reason why 25% of people abandoned their New Year’s resolution within the same month because some change is hard.  We are adamant about change initially and then we lose steam and sometimes try to do too much too quickly.  It is easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate making small improvements daily.

4. Preserve and maintain.  When you are creating new habits, it is crucial to keep a system of preservation in place.  You may decide to work more so you can hit some financial goals, but what systems are you putting in place to preserve your health or protect your family time?  People tend to go hard on their goals and have them consume their life that they leave little time for other things.  It’s another reason why starting small helps, so you can keep the other aspects of your life intact that feed you energy.

5. Start Now.  You may be wondering – when is the best time to start my habit?  Maybe during the winter when you will not be out as much and not be as tempted.  Perhaps Jan. 1st as a New Year’s resolution?  On a Monday?  Any day but the weekend?  The answer – any of those options work, just start!  As the Chinese Proverb goes, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” And, if you’re saying that you already began too late, well, that might be just another tired script in your mind, it’s never too late.  As Albert Camus reminds us, “those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.”

We can approach habit change as this complicated process or we can tackle it microscopically.  It is the tiniest sparks that can ignite the most remarkable and most sustainable changes.  Let’s start somewhere, anywhere, and let momentum do its work.

Quote of the Day: “We exaggerate yesterday, overestimate tomorrow, underestimate today.” -John Maxwell.

Q:  What’s the first habit you would like to create?  When will you start? Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you!

[The next blog in this series 6/7 will focus on the power of consistency in habit change]

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with people to cultivate habits that serve them, contact me to explore this topic further.

Now is always the best time to start

The Dangers of Not Prioritizing (Priority Series 1/5)

It can be common to feel like you have a never-ending river of responsibilities. You put in what feels like a productive work session, but cannot quite seem to make a dent in your pile.  Learning to prioritize your most important work will allow you to make meaningful progress in your life.

Choosing not to prioritize comes with some dangers.  Here are a few:

1. When we do not prioritize, everything becomes important.  Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism, shares a story of how on the day after his daughter was born, he was urged to attend a work meeting by a colleague.  Feeling pressured and not knowing his priorities, he left his wife in the hospital and showed up to work.  When he got there, clients looked at him perplexed and could not understand why he was not with his family.  When you are not clear on your priorities and say yes to everybody to please them, you end up doing more damage in the process – in his case - harm to his family, his integrity, and client relationships.  Agreeing to requests seems like you are being helpful, but you are not; it is much more important to know your priorities and act in accordance with them to serve yourself and others even better.

2. If we do not prioritize, we can get overwhelmed with too many choices.  An abundance of options can be problematic.  In The Paradox of Choice, Professor Barry Schwartz argues that having more choices can lead to unhappiness because it can be harder to cut through the noise and make a decision.  But when you know your priorities, you can look past the superfluous because that diamond is shining so brightly in front of you that you do not even see any of the other enticing stones.

3. When we do not have a clear sense of our priorities, we can engage in multi-tasking by trying to do it all.  Our brain can only focus on one thing at a time, so when we aim to go after two or more high priority items, we pay the price in time and effectiveness.  What happens is not multi-tasking (you cannot solve a math problem and share original poetry at the same time,) instead, what occurs is task switching, spending time on one task, and then moving to another.  A bounce between activities wastes our time because we have to reorient our brains to the new job.  We lose up to 40% of task effectiveness and sometimes more depending on the assignment’s difficulty.  Prioritizing helps us focus on one thing at a time for a longer duration, and that uninterrupted workflow can lead to higher productivity.

4. With no prioritization, we live in reaction mode.  If we do not know what we want to do, we may say yes to things that others want us to do.  Jim Rohn said, “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan.  And guess what they have planned for you?  Not much.”  Getting clarity on your most essential work will allow you to feel good about the job you are doing that supports your mission and vision.  

5. A lack of prioritizing can lead to burnout.  We all know those people who consistently stay late at the office or work on the weekends to catch up.  Sometimes, it’s unavoidable, but when it is the norm, it may be due to a challenge in prioritizing.  This activity is not something to wear as a badge when it comes at the expense of quality family or wellbeing time.  Conversely, there are those people who consistently leave at 6:00 pm to go to the gym because they have prioritized exercise, and knowing they have set boundaries garners great respect.

We may have 100 visions a day, but we cannot accomplish them all simultaneously.  Less is more.  Prioritization is a cornerstone of productivity and once you build this habit, it will help with time management and work-life balance.   

Quote of the day: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Q: What is one skill that you can be excellent in that would have the most significant positive impact on your career?  How willing are you to prioritize that skill development?  Comment and share with us, we would love to hear from you!

The next blog in this series 2/5 will focus on the importance of long-term planning to facilitate prioritization]

As a Leadership and Executive Coach, I partner with others to help discover and clarify priorities, contact me to learn more.

What’s your cost to not prioritizing?

Top 3 Reasons To Delegate (Delegation Series 1/4)

As a star performer, you have just been promoted to a managerial role and might be feeling tempted to continue to follow your usual routine of doing excellent work, while also trying to motivate the team to get results.   You start to notice that you have a pervasive feeling of being buried with assignments and keeping up feels like your biggest challenge.  The best skill you can foster to address this challenge is to learn how to be a master delegator.

Surprisingly, most managers do not delegate.  A 2007 study on time management found that close to half of the 332 companies surveyed were concerned about their employees’ delegation skills. At the same time, only 28% of those companies offered any training on the topic.  It is also quite possible that as a high achiever, you may not even be aware that you are unnecessarily hoarding work; after all, you are used to handling everything and getting results. 

A great way to learn if you are under-delegating is to keep a journal on how you are spending your time and look for patterns of low energy activities.   The most glaring sign that you may be insufficiently delegating is if you are always working long hours and having the feeling of being indispensable.

Top 3 Reasons To Delegate:

1. Maximize your contribution.  There are jobs that only you can do in your senior role so when you can spend more time doing just that and less time on work that can be done by others, you are advancing yourself and your company. Richard Branson said, “managers should delegate so they can put themselves out of business for that job and be free to think bigger.”  Proper delegation allows you to multiply your output and increase your high-value work.

2. Develop your people.  One of the most rewarding and important parts of your job as a manager is to grow your people.  A great way to do this is to motivate them to take ownership of the task, give them autonomy to experiment, learn from their mistakes, and have chances to flourish.  It is advantageous to give the entire job and support them in the process so they can experience control and success. Brian Tracy says that the average person works about 50-60% of their capacity, but the best managers know how to tap into their team’s potential to yield as high as 90 -100%.  Through effective delegation, managers can elicit the highest quality performance and build capabilities and confidence in their team.

3. Grow Your Abilities.  Effective delegation requires you to be a tremendous teacher, communicator, listener, and more.  Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford said, “Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off.”  The more you can achieve outcomes through others, the more you are able to rise in your leadership journey and take on even more challenges and opportunities in your organization.  Indeed, great leadership involves putting in place a successful system that supersedes your influence.

Quote of the day: “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” – Jessica Jackley, Co-Founder of Kiva

Q:  What was the last thing you decided to delegate so you could have more time to do something else that was even more important to you? Comment and share your thoughts with us; we would love to hear from you!

The next blog in this series 2/4 will focus on setting up the delegation process

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to help them delegate more effectively, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you delegate?

Learn By Unlearning

In a world where people are battling with information overload, so much of the emphasis appears to be on learning something new every day.  But what if I told you there could be just as much benefit in unlearning?

Typically, when we are thinking about learning, we approach it from a purely additive perspective – which means taking in new information with the goal of building on your current knowledge base.  But learning can also involve subtraction. In fact, the best kind of learning also includes our ability to unlearn.

Often, our unwillingness to unlearn causes us to carry around old mental models that may be irrelevant or ineffective.  For example, in describing the people who purchase their products, business leaders may still use the word consumers, which can be so transactional.  While in the more collaborative world of today, it is far more powerful to think of them in more personal and synergistic terms such as customers or even co-creators.  Unlearning in this instance provokes a simple shift in language that can help change our mindset to suit current times better.

If our dominant paradigms have served us well in a previous time, but are now outdated and thus obsolete, we must make changes by unlearning.  When we do that, we essentially step outside of one mental model to adopt another.   Three years ago when I was in India, I got the chance to drive a tuk-tuk, an auto-rickshaw usually used as taxis.  Other than adjusting to the dizzying swirl of the Indian streets, I was sharing a road with no markings, few traffic lights, and littered with cyclists, cars, pedestrians, and cows, all while quickly learning the controls and driving on the left side.  At the same time, I had to unlearn driving on the right because at that precise point, that knowledge was not serving me well.  Choosing to unlearn things even temporarily or indefinitely can be a valuable asset and help to reassure a bunch of nervous tuk-tuk passengers.

Mark Bonchek, founder of Shift Thinking recommends three tips to unlearn:

1. Recognize that the old paradigms are obsolete.  Sounds simple, but incredibly difficult since we can be unconscious to this fact, in the way fish are to water.  Even if we do notice, it can still be hard to admit it because that could mean starting over and giving up control over the knowledge we once had.

2. Find or create a new archetype that can better achieve your goals.  You can start with a language shift (customers rather than consumers) which can lead to a mindset change.

3. Be patient.  Unlearning is not a linear process so even when you think you are not gaining ground, you are.

Progress requires learning and unlearning.  Indeed, becoming the best version of ourselves compels us to continuously edit our beliefs and update them to fit the changing times and/or perspectives.

Quote of the day: We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. -Albert Einstein

Q: What is one thing you would do well to unlearn? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear from you!

The importance of unlearning

Why Knowledge Without Action is Incomplete

Here is something I have been thinking about lately, how can I balance my love for consuming information with prolific, quality output?

There is no shortage of books, podcasts, articles, interviews, Facebook lives all offering a front row seat to some of the most thought-provoking conversations and ideas.  But the challenge comes once you have absorbed new information,  how do you ensure that you are taking action on the lessons learned to produce real results?

Learning is indeed a beautiful thing, when we are in the act, it makes us feel like we are moving forward and accomplishing something, but for the most part, learning is still just a passive action.   For example, if I am trying to learn how to cook healthier meals, I may read books on effective cooking techniques, and review recipes that give me ideas of what to do, but until I do the work and apply the concepts, I am still starved of results.

Now, I am not saying learning is irrelevant, but that the cognitive and emotional facets of knowledge consumption are incomplete without the commitment to ongoing action.  According to author Peter Brown in Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, he explains, “With reading, there is a Forgetting Curve - in short order, we lose something like 70% of what we just heard or read, then forgetting begins to slow until the last 30% falls away more slowly.”  Every time you learn something new, you change the brain, but it does not just happen with reading and rereading.  That’s only the first step.  To complete the cycle of learning, you need to process the material to understand it, apply it, reflect on it, practice, and then repeat a few times until it becomes ingrained and easily retrievable.

Most people prefer to consume over create, according to Author Brooke Castillo, an average ratio hovers around 90% intake and 10% output.  But what would it feel like if your ratio was 50/50?  Imagine if every time you signed up for training, read a book, or learned a new concept, you applied it immediately.  The experience would most certainly be transformational.

Let’s Explore Ways To Strike More Of A 50/50 Balance Between Learning And Applying:

1. Talk about what you are learning.  In my case, I’m in a book club, and after we read a nonfiction selection, we think about a takeaway that can be immediately applied to our lives.  For instance, I was inspired to write this very blog on learning and applying after reading this line in Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich – “Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.” Even if you are not part of a formalized group, share your ideas with like-minded individuals who enjoy tackling concepts and making better sense of them, your understanding will be solidified only when you talk about what you are learning and processing. 

2. Create consistent and concrete action goals.  For example, let’s say you read a book on weight loss, what is one practice you could start doing immediately for a minimum of seven days, which would be long enough to measure the results of change or for the habit to begin to take root?  It is important to write out your goals so you can look at them as you march towards progress.  You can also create a three-month timeframe and then break your goals into two-week sprints.  Make your goals measurable and specific so you can monitor your progress.

3. Take risks and practice your skill.  It may feel utterly awkward at first like when you follow a new recipe and the food turns out to be the opposite of what you imagined, but doing that same recipe for 30 days, tweaking and tinkering, and taking risks along the way will allow you to commit that recipe to memory eventually, and maybe even improve on the original.  Don’t forget to celebrate small wins and little screwups throughout your learning process. Michael Bloomberg once said, “If people tell me they skied all day and never fell, I tell them to try a different mountain.”  Most of the thrill of living happens when we are experimenting and being a worker, rather than merely observing and being a student.

Quote of the day: “Knowledge without application is simply knowledge. Applying the knowledge to one’s life is wisdom — and that is the ultimate virtue.” ― Author Kasi Kaye Iliopoulos

Q: What was the last thing you learned that you immediately put into action?  How did you find success? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear from you!

Learning to apply is where the power lies

Top 5 Reasons To Say Yes

In the last article, we discussed reasons to say no, even when it is most difficult, and offered a few examples on how best to phrase it.  But, when is it ok to say yes or even hell yeah!?

 Here Are The Top 5 Reasons To Say Yes:

1. If it is an opportunity that directly aligns with your goals, it can be an easy yes.  The sooner you can connect to your mission, the happier you will be in all aspects of your life.

2. When it is a project that stirs up ecstasy within you. Entrepreneur and Author Derek Sivers’ motto when considering a request is to avoid saying yes to projects he is sort of interested in; it’s either hell yeah or no, nothing in between and that makes the decision-making process so much easier for him.  Doing something out of obligation is an immediate no.  Instead, he has to be completely entranced by the project to commit.

3. When you are aiming to build your skills and you know it is a project that will stretch you, say yes.  What I have found is that the more experiences we have, the more diverse the perspectives we accumulate, and it is precisely this type of cross-pollination of ideas that fuel innovation and leads to significant personal growth.

 4. Say yes to things that scare you because the best way to eradicate the fear is to do the very thing that frightens you.  Sure, the thought of giving a big speech in front of your company may cause the nerves to rattle.  But, just saying yes, even when you are unsure about the likelihood of pulling it off, generates a surge of confidence that becomes critical to conquering that very fear.  I find that most things seem hard initially, but when you jump into it and apply hard work, discipline, resourcefulness, and a learning mindset, even mountains become molehills.

5. It has a unique and altruistic impact on others.  If you have the power to make a small gesture, which will not consume all of your time, in order to have a massive effect on others, go for it!  Service to others is the highest calling and will create an avalanche of positive benefits for all involved.  

 Quote of the day: "Opportunities multiply as they are seized." -Sun Tzu. 

Q: What is something you said yes to that was initially terrifying, but later it turned out to be an incredible decision?  Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!

Saying yes when you really want to feels great

The Power of Saying No

We exist in a world that is constantly on overdrive. The plethora of communication devices and apps at our disposal means that our services or input are always in demand. So, learning how to say no may be the most valuable response we can arm ourselves with today. 

The effectiveness of the word no comes from its ability to instantly free up time that can be put toward the things that really matter to us. This, in turn, offers further clarity about our purpose, at which time the once daunting act of saying no suddenly begins to feel very natural because it creates the space to fill our moments with value.

In the book, Essentialism, Greg McKeown describes how distinguished Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi once reached out to Management pioneer Peter Drucker and several other innovative individuals requesting an interview for his book based on creativity.  Drucker responded by saying that he appreciated the offer but would have to disappoint him. He wrote, “One of the secrets of my productivity is to have a big waste paper basket to take care of all invitations such as yours.”  A chief reason why Drucker was able to turn down such an enticing offer was because he was passionately driven by his own work.

While we may not all possess the same natural directness as Drucker in rejecting others, here are a few suggestions to offer a no when you are still searching for the right words:

1. Thank the person for thinking of you and simply let them know that you do not have the bandwidth right now.  When you remember the things you are currently working on that excite you, it becomes easier to say no because you will not have to shortchange the activities that arrest your attention.  Here is another way to phrase your no:  “I want to do a great job, but my other commitments I have may preclude me from delivering the quality of work in which I can be proud.” 

2. Pause. If you are unsure what to say, you might want to try pausing for three seconds after the request. You do not have to respond at the moment; you can say, “let me check my calendar and get back to you” or “I want to take a careful look at what is currently on my plate right now before I let you know, would that be ok or how does that sound?”  Sometimes letting the thought marinate for a little will provide you with even more clarity and just the right words for the appropriate response.

3. Reprioritize. If it is just a case of being overbooked, you can let your boss know that you are happy to make this a priority, but ask which other projects should you deprioritize, postpone, or even abandon to pay attention to the new project. Which resources need to be diverted to this new assignment? You could also ask, “if you could not do the whole project, but just a part, which piece would you want me to do?” “Are their parts of this project that are more important than other parts?” These sorting questions can yield great clarity for both sides and possibly curtail the scope of the project to its most essential.

4. Postpone. If it is a request for a coffee catch-up meeting from a loose connection, you could let the person know that you would love to get together, but you would have to wait until after your project is completed.  They can send a message to reconnect in the next season.  If a window of time opens up after your project is done and the person is persistent in reaching out again, perhaps they can catch you in a yes-type-of-mood.

5. Set automatic message. You can set up your automated email away message and let others know you are in monk mode until you finish working on your project which already has enormous demands on your time. 

6. Be brief. If somebody is trying to schedule a specific time with you and you cannot make it, no need to overshare and give your reasoning. Instead of saying, “I can’t make the meeting because of x, y, z., you can say, I cannot make it at this time, but how about these times…?” The justifications dilute the importance of your time; focus on what you can do rather than not what you cannot do.

7. Delay send. When you receive a message, instead of responding instantly, even though you may want to cross it off your list, you can draft the message, but delay the delivery for a couple of days for nonurgent emails so you establish the expectation of having adequate time to respond. Another way to set email expectations is to put at the bottom of your signature that you will be checking emails during these two windows (9-10 and 4-5) so they know when to roughly receive a return message. Of course this depends on the nature of your job.

8. Share the work. If your teammate is suggesting yet another change to the project, you can tell them to make the revisions and you would be happy to review it so it is a collaborative effort and the ownership is split.

While saying no can have a potential short-term impact on your relationships, it will yield greater respect in the long run because you will be known as a disciplined person aiming to achieve big things.  Chinese writer Lin Yutang said it best when he said, “The wisdom of life exists in the elimination of nonessentials.”  It is only when you permit yourself to stop trying to do it all, that you can make your highest contribution to what matters.

Thought of the day:  “Innovation is saying "no" to 1,000 things.” -Steve Jobs

Q: What is something you can start saying no to immediately so you can dedicate resources to a passion project??   Comment below, we would love to hear from you.

As a Leadership Development & Executive Coach, I partner with others to have difficult conversations, say no, and create boundaries so you can take a proactive approach for greater fulfillment, contact me to learn more.

Get more comfortable with saying no

How Accurate Are You In Judging Your Performance?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that most of us likely know somebody with an overrated assessment of their capabilities. Often, it is a coworker who thinks that he/she is the team’s MVP, when in fact by every objective measure, this individual performs well below average.

Interestingly, this phenomenon does not just limit itself to the workplace, but permeates our everyday life, from family members to close friends and yes, even ourselves. In Jimmy Kimmel’s Late Night Talk Show live news segments, he asks questions to random pedestrians containing false premises, such as their opinion on a brand that does not exist. What’s shocking is how much confidence some participants display in advocating for that nonexistent brand almost as if they were founders of the product.

Is it really possible that someone can be so unaware or even delusional about their abilities? A resounding yes, according to psychologist David Dunning and Justin Krueger who offer the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Their research showed that people who are least competent at a task often incorrectly rate themselves as high-performers because they are too ignorant to know otherwise.

Dunning and Kruger provide two explanations for how the unskilled became so unaware. People rarely receive negative feedback about their abilities in everyday life because nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. However, if their poor performance goes unaddressed, the cycle repeats. A second reason is that if they are not shown the work of other great performers, they cannot vividly see the comparison, which only perpetuates their underperformance.

Thankfully, there are steps we can take to immediately begin to address our pockets of incompetence:

1. Seek out a qualified mentor or professional coach to keep you in check. If one is not available, ask a trusted friend or coworker for honest feedback so you can get an objective view of yourself. You can even take a 360-degree assessment, so you get multiple perspectives on your performance.

2. Continue to learn so you can fill critical knowledge gaps. You can compare yourself today to how you were six months ago and ask, how much have I improved, how much have I learned?

3. Consider how your thinking may be flawed by asking questions to increase understanding. Perhaps specific responses can cause you to challenge your views.

The next time someone is gloating about abilities that they are still yet to master, ask them about their thoughts on the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It could be the first step toward a more honest assessment of their capabilities and a catalyst for personal growth and development.

Quote of the day: “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance” - Confucius

Q: What is an area where you feel you may be overestimating your abilities? Comment and share your thoughts with us, we would love to hear from you!

Don’t fall prey to the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

When the going gets tough, take a brain break

“Living is not for the weak,” a quote attributed to the DC comic Green Arrow. While this statement may seem over the top, we can all agree that life can be pretty taxing at times; grappling with its unending list of impossible demands while dodging a steady supply of curveballs.  Failing to find a way to develop the capacity and resolve to deal with these challenges can quite literally take us to our breaking point.

As someone who often pushes the limits towards my personal growth, I am constantly in search of methods that allow me to keep up with my ambitious personal goals while also avoiding burnout. One of the most effective ways I have discovered is to invest in my myself to replenish my energy.  Stephen Covey’s bestseller, “7 Habits of a Highly Effective People,” describes Habit Seven: “Sharpen The Saw” as seeking continuous renewal personally and professionally.  He explains the things you should do each day in the dimensions of the body, mind, heart, and spirit to feel rejuvenated so you are able to do your best work. Simple activities such as exercise, eating well, having an enjoyable conversation, reading a book, or watching a movie can have massive positive effects.  In doing so, you will find that you are better equipped to help yourself and others.

In the book Leadership: In Turbulent Times, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin chronicles effective ways leaders would replenish their energy.

Abe Lincoln went to the theater over 100 times during the Civil War and was criticized for it.  People wondered how he could see a show in the midst of war.  For Lincoln, watching Henry IV and imagining himself in the War of the Roses was the necessary escape from politics that created relief from his crushing anxiety. While Teddy Roosevelt was leading the country through challenges of the Industrial Revolution and the burgeoning gap between the rich and poor, he found time every afternoon for a 2-hour tennis match, a strenuous hike, or a wrestling competition. The physical activity complemented his mental labor. During World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt hosted a daily cocktail party and his one rule was that nobody could talk about the war.  Interestingly, it was when he was on a 10-day fishing trip in 1940, before the US entered the war, that he devised his famous lend-lease solution, a way for the US to help the British war effort without violating neutrality.

Whether it involves strengthening your spirit the way Lincoln sought entertainment, or your heart the way FDR yearned for a connection with others, or your body, the way Teddy frequently exercised,  they all found time every day for renewal.  When you work smarter and not harder, you can view your challenges through a refreshed and positive lens which in turn allows you to navigate even your toughest difficulties. 

Q: How do you disconnect and relax when you are stressed or feeling overworked?  Share your thoughts with us, we would love to hear!

Quote for the day:  “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” Anne Lamott

How do you restore your energy levels to do your best work?

Getting Unstuck

It’s common to feel stuck at times.  To ask, what is my next big move?  Am I merely going around in circles? 

One may attribute feeling stuck to having too many dreams or not knowing which one to pursue first, a sort of paralysis by analysis.  In other instances, the reluctance to take the first step stems from not knowing what you want or whether it is aligned with what you are meant to be doing.  While the path forward may seem elusive, there is this overriding feeling of being late to where you need to be. 

One key to breaking the impasse is to stop fixating on rigid timelines and listen more to what we want to do over what we have to do.  The truth is, there is no place that you “have to” be by the end of the year or decade.  When we tell ourselves that we need x, y, and z before an arbitrary deadline, we could start to do things against our natural interests.  Sure, understanding the macro life picture is important, however, it’s more crucial to focus on your next 24 hours and exercise discipline to do one thing really well that fuels your development and aligns with your values.  It is that action that will put you in a position to find answers to bigger questions along your journey that will allow you to paint more specifics to that grand vision.

Brandon Stanton, the author of Humans of New York, shared a time when he felt like he was walking in tar.  He had just dropped out of the University of Georgia as a business major because he lacked the zeal for his classes.  Not knowing what his next move was, he decided to stop focusing on the big question of “what am I going to do with my life?” Instead, he opted to pursue an activity that would nourish his soul and for him, that was taking pictures.  In conjunction, he started to work on something else that mattered to him which was getting an education in a subject he thoroughly enjoyed.  This was essential because he had this overwhelming feeling of falling behind academically since he had always done the bare minimum to pass in both high school and college.

To reach his new learning goals, he committed to reading 100 pages per day, whether it took two or five hours, that was how he was going to spend the chunk of his days for the next several years. While reading, he became fascinated with biographies and history.  That new interest in people combined with his love of photography led him to found the photoblog site - Humans of New York, which has a following of over 25 million fans.   

When you prioritize your development, great things happen, and what you are meant to be doing becomes clearer.  Stop dwelling unhealthily and only on the big picture and start creating discipline in each day. That action will give you the necessary data you need for purposeful breakthroughs.

Q: What’s one thing that you do every day toward your personal development?   How disciplined are you with it? We would love to hear your comments!

Quote of the day: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” - Maya Angelou

How can you achieve a small win ?

Never Arrive Late Again With This Easy Hack

Even with generating anxious and unpleasant feelings for all parties involved, lateness is an occurrence that has plagued the best of us time and time again. So why does it happen and what can we do about it? In 1979, renowned economist Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky proposed the Planning Fallacy.  It states that people are lousy at figuring out how much time they will take to complete something because they overestimate their abilities and underestimate the degree to which they are estimating, since they think they can do more than they actually can.

Say for instance, you were supposed to meet a friend at 2pm downtown.  Since it only takes 40 minutes to get there, you calculate a 1:20pm departure to arrive in the nick of time, right? Well, let’s examine that logic a bit closer.  Here are some of the assumptions you may have made in your decision: a) you will get dressed in time and out the door by said time, b) the trains are running smoothly and you make your transfer, c) there will be no amazing subway entertainers who distract you resulting in missing your stop and d) you will be able to walk the 3 blocks with no foot traffic from the congested streets, and avoid the myriad of other random popups. 

Here are some strategies to overcome the planning fallacy:

1. Add 50% Additional Time. The trick is to remain cognizant of the potential to be late while planning for the worst-case scenario; then, the probability of being late immediately begins to dwindle. So, go ahead and assume that you may not be able to find that coveted shirt that you had been wanting to wear or that the trains are going to be slow. Just by adding 50% extra time to your original estimate; in this case - aiming to leave at 1:00pm instead of 1:20pm will significantly improve your punctuality.

The same challenges arise with intellectual tasks as people are not good at estimating how long it will take to get something done because of an optimism bias. You may think, of course, I can complete the book by the end of the year; after all, I am smart and capable and will get it done.  Unfortunately, people are often really poor judges of their abilities.  A good way to address this is to gather more information, which in turn allows for better planning.  Getting an outside perspective to see how long it will actually take can be helpful.  That may include talking to a published author so you can learn about all of the smaller steps in the book writing process that you may not know of or you may have overlooked. 

When Danielle Kahneman was planning on collaborating with other professors to write a textbook on morals for his university, he thought it would have been completed in about two years; but the Dean, who had seen so many professors in his position before, said it would be more like 3-5 years.  In his experience, about 40% of professors who started a massive collaborative project similar to this one did not finish.  Indeed, the Dean was right as it ended up taking them much longer to complete because they based their timeline on the best-case scenario and did not factor in the general vicissitudes of life including divorce, death, and bureaucratic obstacles that slowed the work of the team.

2. Add a buffer for the unknown. We absolutely cannot plan for every scenario, but a good way to reduce stress is to create an additional allowance for unexpected events that can potentially put a wrinkle in our schedules. 

3. Use the 10/90 Rule. Another way to be a more effective planner would be to invoke what Brian Tracy dubbed the 10/90 Rule for personal effectiveness.  He notes that when you spend 10% of your time planning and organizing your work before you begin, you will save 90% of the time in getting the job done once you get started.  Lots of good things happen when you think on paper. 

These three strategies - a) adding 50% additional time, b) creating space for the unknown, c) and utilizing the 10/90 rule can help in combating the planning fallacy.

Q: What are your favorite hacks to achieve punctuality in your work?

Quote of the day: "Amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics."  -General Omar Bradley

Anticipate and Avoid the Planning Fallacy

Role models are critical to our growth

We all need somebody to emulate, someone to push us to our next level and demand the best from us…a role model. 

Think about three people who fascinate you and study them, synthesize their best efforts, add your own twists and use them to march forward with passion and purpose.  Having visible examples of the extraordinary heights human beings are able to reach can inspire us to make the most of our lives.

One of my personal role models is Leonardo da Vinci. He was born out of wedlock during a time when being illegitimate was debilitating because in order to climb the socio-economic ladder, one had to come from a distinguished family. However, he was determined to overcome his common origins.  He had a code that he lived by, “if circumstances hold you back, always find another way to achieve your goals.”  So, Leonardo became an apprentice in Verrocchio’s workshop and got to learn from one of the best.  Legend has it that after Verrocchio saw one of his art pieces of an angel; he never painted again because his student had eclipsed his capacities. 

Leonardo believed it is only the mediocre apprentice that does not surpass his teacher.  He was not just an amazing painter, but had talents in every area – he was a sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, cartographer, writer, and much more. As somebody with a voracious appetite for learning, I aspire to be as much of a generalist as he was because I believe the best innovations happen when you can intersect disparate ideas from a variety of fields.

Role models are sources of inspiration to propel you to greatness.  The aim is not to become a carbon copy of your role model, instead, you should assess his/her value and then find that point of departure where you take your unique approach.

Q: Who is your role model? Comment and share your thoughts with us, we would love to hear from you!

Quote of the day: “Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating… too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life.” -John Wooden, Championship Coach

Who are your role models?

The Unspoken Power of a Job Half-Done

What if you discovered that the old adage “you should always finish what you have started” is actually not the best advice in all cases?  In fact, stopping something midway could yield some incredible benefits such as causing a surge of creativity.

Ernest Hemingway, a prolific writer who entreated his readers to over 25 classics during his lifetime capitalized on this trick.  One of his favorite productivity techniques would be to stop his writing not at the end of a paragraph, but in the middle of a sentence.  This act created a sense of incompletion that became the driving force to compel him to resume his work the following day with immediate momentum.   

Generally, we like to finish what we have started and when we leave things incomplete, we feel bad about it and are eager to reconcile those feelings. This phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik Effect, which describes the tendency to remember unfinished tasks over finish ones. If we tell ourselves we are done with work for the day and still have incomplete tasks, our mind will eagerly anticipate the moment when we can continue the job with vigor and to a close. 

However, there is one important condition to the Zeigarnik Effect - the undertaking needs to be interesting enough so that it compels a conclusion. If we find the assignment unattractive due to its banality or degree of difficulty, the Zeigarnik Effect ceases to occur.  So, the next time, you are in the middle of your work, try stopping midway and see what direction you take your ideas the following day; you may be surprised with the additional and always-welcomed boost of motivation and ingenuity.

Quote of the day: “Make an empty space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it.” -CEO Dee Hock

Q: What activities in your life do you see this application having the biggest impact? Comment and share with us below; we would love to hear from you!

The Zeigarnik Effect

Start Small, Go Big

How often are you tasked with a hefty assignment or struck with a grand vision, yet the starting point continues to elude you? Maybe, nerves are stalling you and creating an influx of debilitating thoughts of whether or not you will do a good job.  Often, the culprit is just a general lack of direction – not knowing how or where to begin, accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of simply needing to do too much.

 Whatever the reason, all equally harrowing, the key to getting started is simply just that, sit down and begin. 

 Here are some tips that I have used to help me ignite my start:

 1. Break down your idea or project into reasonable bites.  As Mark Twain noted, "the secret to getting ahead is getting started, the secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and then starting on the first one."

 2. Ask for help. 90% of the questions you have which are causing you to worry have simple solutions that you begin to unearth once you start asking people.  Having knowledge of how to get something done is empowering and energizes you to take on the task(s) at hand.

 3. If you need to write, take action and begin at any part and with any word.  More often than not, the body of work that oozes out, will stun you – well beyond your initial expectation.

Believe in the power of smalls steps.  Author Margaret Meade did when she proffered, “never doubt that small things could change the world.”

 Q: What’s your first go-to step in completing a project?  Comment and share below.

The power of taking small steps

Productivity in a world full of distractions

Distractions can be the kiss of death to our productivity and creativity.  But, if you can manage your disturbances, you can improve your attention and do more “deep work,” a term coined by Professor Cal Newport, which he describes as the act of focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.  When you are in this state of high productivity and performance, some of your best work may be done. He posits that most people can do about four hours of deep work a day.  The good news is that the time does not have to be continuous, instead, it can be broken up into shorter segments.

So, how can we minimize these time-suckers and focus on what matters?

1. Have a better understanding of where your time goes so you can identify the culprits and take action.   In the Effective Executive, Peter Drucker explains how most people think they know how they dedicate their moments but are startled when they learn that they are usually way off.   

2. Avoid checking your email first thing in the morning because you empower others with the right to design your day.  What happens is that when you take a peek, you feel compelled to get through all your emails and respond, but there is no rule that says we get extra life points achieving Inbox Zero.  Instead, designate a block of your time to check email so you can batch the work.  

It’s also important to avoid scanning your email while in your work zone because even one quick glance at your messages could leave you with an unsettling feeling of something requiring your attention. 

3. Do not answer calls or allow yourself to be available during your work block, even if it is a seemingly five-minute distraction.  It is not about the brevity of minutes pulling you away from your work, it is more about the cost associated with task shifting and trying to get back into your optimal work state. One hour of uninterrupted time is worth three hours of interrupted time.

All Work and No Play – For That, We Have Machines

It is highly recommended to give your brain a break after continuous quality work so go ahead and reward yourself with a generous shot of dopamine by doing something you deem entertaining for at least 20 minutes.  Depending on your environment, you may choose to engage in “shallow work,” that could be web surfing with music in the background, organizing your calendar, cleaning, cooking or just about any task that is non-cognitively demanding. 

Ultimately, if we can find ways to limit our distractions and devote more time to important work, we gradually place our greatest potential within reach.  Warren Buffet was asked to define in one word, “what makes you successful?”  His response, focus. 

Q: What’s your favorite strategy to avoid distractions? Comment and share below.

Thought for today: “One way to boost our willpower and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us.”-Daniel Goleman, Author.

The path of least distractions is always the one worth taking

How often do you schedule time with yourself to think?

It is so easy to get sucked into the daily grind that instead of focusing on ourselves, we merely react to a never-ending to-do list of requests and demands from others. If that sounds like you, then when do you go on the offensive and carve out space to unleash your mind and prime it for exciting discoveries?  When do you do the necessary long-term planning to prepare for a rapidly changing world?

Every leader should always aim to leave a portion of their time unscheduled.  That slot in the calendar reserved for you allows you to reflect on current undertakings, learn from experiences, and take actions to recover from inevitable mistakes.  It is about iterating on what you already do so you can do something different and even more innovative in the future.  Managers often overlook this recommendation and instead push back with talks of being too busy, however, when you do not take this necessary time, you can’t develop a competitive edge and likely will waste even more time in the future struggling to keep up with changes rather than leading them. 

Here are some ways to build in think time: 

1. Schedule time in your daily calendar.  It can be as short as 3-4 minutes in the morning where you set your intentions in how you want to experience the day, you can set mini reminders along the way to stick to your plans, or simply have that reflection time at the end of the day where you evaluate how your actions from the previous several hours have gotten you closer to your big-picture goals/vision?  Esteemed Management Consultant Peter Drucker insisted, “Managers need to take one hour to think every day.” 

2. Schedule time in your weekly calendar.  Looking at your week ahead, build in 1-3 time bocks for a thinking activity where you are generating new ideas, working on innovation, developing new systems, or trying to solve long-term problems.   Successful people know the value of cultivating both insight and outsight.  LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner schedules two hours a week for thinking time.  By doing this, he gets to be in charge of his day by choosing where he wants his mind to be, instead of being in reactive mode and being controlled by whatever tasks that are set upon him. 

3. Schedule time in your monthly or yearly calendar. Take one longer block once every month or every two months for a 2-hour thinking/reflection session.   To jolt your creativity, you can schedule lectures or classes so you are keeping updated with the information in your field, you can reflect on your readings and think about how you want to apply the insights, you can have coffee dates with friends in your industry and in other fields and see how they are solving problems.  The goal is to have dedicated time for philosophical discussions and inquiries and find the patterns in all the activities you are engaged in. Twice a year, Bill Gates takes a week off to seclude himself so he can think and read.  Taking this amount of time can seem unrealistic for Type A personalities who are addicted to achievement and filling their schedules, but it is only when we can pause and break the cycle of short-term thinking, can we reset and prime ourselves for future possibilities.  Usually, in those rest spaces, can we separate the essential from the trial and know how to make the necessary adjustments to be more proactive about how we want to live our lives and how we want to lead.

Your mind contains infinite ideas so the very act of thinking and planning sorts through the clutter, unlocks your mental powers, and triggers your creativity.  Taking action without thinking can be a prime source of problems.  As Voltaire noted, “No problem can withstand sustained thinking.”

History has kept a long record of great people who have engaged in activities designed for thinking and breakthroughs.  Einstein turned to his violin whenever he was stuck. Woody Allen changed rooms and took multiple showers. Beethoven took hour-long strolls.  And for me, the everyday person, it’s when I run that I feel that my mind ignites interesting ideas.  All in all, these sacred acts remove you from everyday life and primes you for a more receptive state.  When you let your mind be and think, great ideas come to you. 

Quote of the day: “Plan your work and work your plan.” -Napoleon Hill

Q: How much time do you have in your schedule dedicated to “think time”? Where do you do your best thinking?  Comment and share with us below.

As a Leadership Development & Executive Coach, I work with leaders to prioritize their time so they can live a more meaningful life, contact me to learn more.

How often do you dedicate time to yourself to think, be, and wonder?

The upside of being a moderate procrastinator

When is the right time to get started on a project? Procrastinators would say an hour before the deadline, while pre-scrastinators, people who have the inclination to complete tasks quickly and in advance for the sake of getting things done sooner rather than later, would say, right when you get it.

In the book Originals, Professor Adam Grant cites a research study conducted by one of his students who surveyed managers to find out how innovative their employees were.  Astoundingly, the results showed that the ones who rushed in and did everything early were less creative, the same went for the chronic procrastinators who were unable to contribute any novel ideas at the 11th hour.

The sweet spot was moderate procrastinators, those who fused both approaches were found to be 16% more creative. 

Here is how it works:

When you get a task, start working on your first draft, jot down preliminary ideas and put it away.  While you are doing other things, your mind is still working on it and remains in capture mode. When you resume activity, you can deposit interesting new ideas and take unexpected leaps in your work.

Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci, a famous procrastinator has more unfinished works of arts than finished ones?  He toiled on and off for 16 years with the Mona Lisa, each time, adding interesting touches to his masterpiece.  Although Martin Luther King Jr. had a draft of his famous March on Washington speech written in advance, he was putting last-minute touches on it up to 3 am the previous night.  Even moments before going on stage, he was scribbling additional notes.  In fact, his famous “I have a dream” utterance was not in his original script.

Next time you are working on something, try being quick to start and slow to finish because you leave yourself open to the widest array of ideas and allow for creativity boosts.

Quote of the day: “You call it procrastination, I call it thinking”  - Aaron Sorkin, Executive Producer.

Q: What tasks are you struggling to complete now?  Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you!.

The surprising benefits of being a moderate procrastinator