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?

What are you doing to stand out in your profession?

What if I told you that no matter how good you are at what you do today, your knowledge and skills are destined for obsolesce.   In fact, continuous learning as a minimum requirement is the only guaranteed inoculation against this outcome, and what sets you apart as a leader. 

So, how does one become an expert in your domain? According to Brian Tracy in the book Eat That Frog, he purports that there are three steps to mastery in your field:

1. Set aside an hour daily to read industry-relevant materials.  The typical CEO reads four or five books per month.  According to the Huffington Post, when Warren Buffett was once asked about the key to success, he pointed to a stack of nearby books and said, “I read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.”  He currently devotes about 80% of each day to reading.

2. Take courses and seminars on the key skills that can help you progress. Does your manager encourage you to go to conferences?  Go!  Does your job pay for an advanced degree? Take it! Even in his twilight years, motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar remained dedicated to learning and continued growth; it was not uncommon to find him diligently taking notes at professional development conferences.

3. Listen to audio programs during your commute. The average car owner sits behind the wheel 500 to 1,000 hours and the average round trip for NYC jobs is about 55 minutes.  You can turn that dreaded traveling time into learning hour with audible and gain access to a large selection of books.  When you can transform the routine into the riveting, suddenly commuting is not so bad, dare I say, exciting because you get to have dedicated time for your development.

4. Apply your learning. For maximum understanding, be sure to take action on your education. Write about your discoveries so you can gain greater clarity, have conversations about what you are reading so you can integrate the material, or teach/present the new concepts so the information becomes easily retrievable. If you have just finished reading a book on negotiation, what is one technique that you can practice immediately in your social or professional circles? The most profound learning comes in the action.

For tips on learning, check out one of the most popular Coursera classes of all time, “Learning How to Learn.”

Quote of the day: “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.” -Abigail Adams

Q: What is one way you stay at the forefront of your profession?  Comment and share below.

A life of learning is a purposeful one

Do your managers build you up or burn you out?

A study in the Employee Engagement Series led by Kronos Incorporated found that nearly half of HR leaders say employee burnout is responsible for up to 50% of their annual workforce turnover. 

So, where does this burnout originate from? It can be internal as some people are natural workplace givers; they do favors for others and run out of energy to complete their work.  It can also be external as those who have a proven track record of competency and success end up getting even more work piled on to them by their superiors.  We don’t all have the extra time luxury to follow Napoleon’s oft-repeated advice, “when you want something done right, do it yourself.”  Therefore, a common action for managers to take in lieu of doing it themselves is to delegate work to the people they trust the most, even if their plate is at capacity.

In the book Give and Take, Adam Grant argues that while Givers often sacrifice themselves, they make their organizations better.  The more that people are sharing their knowledge and mentoring, the better their organization performs on every metric - higher profits, customer satisfaction, and employee retention.

Knowing the value Givers can deliver, here are some things an organization can do to protect their best:

1. Work with the Giver to set personal boundaries by specifying the times their help is available.  Adam Rifkin, a successful serial tech entrepreneur, spends a tremendous amount of time helping other people with his Five-Minute Favor, a small way to add big value to people’s lives.  It can be as simple as making an introduction between two people who could benefit from knowing each other, sharing his knowledge, giving feedback, or recognizing somebody’s work that has gone unnoticed.  Helping does not have to always be an all-encompassing affair.

2. Build a culture where Givers succeed.  A position can be carved out, such as Chief Helping Officer or Giver in Charge whose sole job is to lend assistance.  This creates a culture where help-seeking is the norm, which can benefit the many who prefer to avoid asking for help since they are worried they will be perceived as incompetent or as a burden to others.

3. As a manager, reward your givers with the gift of less so they can have the time to be ambitious in pursuing their own goals, while also assisting others.

Success is about helping others, so let’s help others help.

Quote of the day: "Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you." -Misty Copeland

Q: What other things can managers do to energize the Givers in your organization? Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you!

The outdated practice of micromanaging

Do your goals reflect your values?

The best goals to have are the ones that are congruent with your values.  Dale Carnegie wrote, “Tell me what gives a person his greatest feeling of importance and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life.”

Values are statements about the way we want to live in the world and the kind of people we want to be, while goals are objectives we want to achieve.  Combine the two and VOILA….productivity magic.

One of my values-based goals is to read 5 books a month because learning and development are crucial for me.  For some, this goal could be viewed as a chore, for me, it is a euphoric feeling because it aligns with who I am.

Here are some helpful tips for completing your values-based goals:

1. Identify a value and connect it to a goal. Think about something you are actively trying to improve on and link it to a key value.

2. Write it down.  Research from the University of California shows that people are 42% more likely to stick to their goals if they write them down. Having them etched in ink means that you get to see them as opposed to getting distracted by other things and forgetting about them.

3. Tell a friend.  According to Psychology Professor Dr. Gail Matthews, individuals who wrote their goals and sent their progress reports to their friends were 76% more likely to achieve them.  The accountability piece keeps you on track.

4. The night before you go to bed, write down one small thing you could do tomorrow to work towards your goal.  Your mind will be processing as you sleep and you will wake up eager to get started and achieve.

Quote of the day: “When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.” -Roy E. Disney

Q: What is one value-based goal that you have?  Comment and share below.

The best goals are the ones connected to your values, purpose, and vision

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

What’s your superpower?

In the book StrengthsFinder 2.0, Tom Rath found that out of a poll of more than 1,000 people, not one was emotionally engaged in their work when they were not focused on their strengths. In contrast, people who have the opportunity to hone in on their assets are 6 times more likely to be engaged in their job and 3 times more likely to have a better quality of life.

When you’re not in the strengths zone, you dread going to work, have more negative than positive interactions, treat your customers poorly, tell your friends what a miserable company you work for, achieve less on a daily basis, and have fewer positive and creative moments.

How come people are not living in accordance with their best gifts? Well, in some cases, they simply may not be aware of them.  Esteemed Management Consultant Peter Drucker asserts, “Most people think they know what they’re good at.  They are usually wrong. And yet a person can perform only from strength.” 

Are you on a journey to discovering your strengths?  Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Ask yourself, “what do I enjoy?” Write down a list of at least 10 things.  Even if you only managed to think of two, keep writing, you will be surprised by what you unearth.  Usually, your interests are connected to your strengths.

2. Seek out valuable resources: 

·      I’ve personally found books like Rath’s Strengthsfinder 2.0 particularly useful for learning about different types of strengths and abilities that weren’t even on my radar.  Like, who would have thought that being an arranger is actually a strength?

·      Take a self-assessment, such as the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) or SWOT Analysis, which will help you to better understand your energy level and capabilities.

3. Ask your friends or coworkers to list your strengths.  Having that outside perspective can lead to a breakthrough insight.

4. List your weaknesses. What are you not good at? What do you dislike? This is helpful for comparison purposes.

Knowing our strengths provides a deep well of energy and passion on which to draw. When we focus on our superpowers, we operate from a place of confidence, complete tasks quicker and with precision, and are more likely to be engaged at work and happier.

Quote of the day: "What makes you different or weird, that's your strength." -Meryl Streep

Q: What are you good at doing outside of work?  Comment below and share with us.

We all have superpowers, some that we may not even be aware of.

Only 20% of what you do today will move the needle

The 80/20 rule goes like this, 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results.

For companies, about 20% of sales reps will generate 80% of the overall business. 20% of customers account for 80% of overall profits.

For individuals, if you have ten items to accomplish in a day, it turns out that two of those items will be worth more than the other eight items combined. 

Handling every task that gets thrown your way is impossible so how can you use the 80% rule to gain more time in your life? Determine what is the most important and either delegate the rest or simply let it go.

Bestselling Author Brian Tracy recommends the way to apply the 80/20 rule or Pareto Principle to goal setting is to ask yourself: If you could only accomplish one of the goals on your list today, which one goal would have the greatest positive impact on your life? 

You should also start with the hardest item first because it will have the biggest payoff as it will provide the momentum you need to tackle anything else.  

Quote of the day: “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” - Dale Carnegie

Q: What’s your best method for focusing on what’s vitally important? Comment below and share with us.

The Pareto Principle

Do you suffer from the 18-second syndrome?

Harvard Professor and Physician Jerome Groopman in How Doctors Think argues that the key to collecting useful information and solving the patient’s health puzzle is to let the patient say his or her piece.  Yet, that is not happening;  the average doctor interrupts after 18 seconds!  Feeling like an expert and thinking the problem is identifiable, the doctor doles out a prescription and is ready for the next patient, but the odds are, Doc Know-It-All likely has not scoped out the problem.

The more you know, the harder it is to say less, but the best of the best are extraordinary listeners. With nods and nudges, they elicit facts, observations, opinions, and even confessions, if one needed to be had. 

Key steps to being a more effective listener, according to renowned author Tom Peters:

1. Own up to the fact that you might be an 18-second interrupter. If you do not tackle the problem head-on, it will persist. Be open to when others give you feedback that you may have a proclivity to interrupt.

2. Take action to change the habit. 
-Be patient, let the other person stumble to clarity without interruption.
-Don’t finish the other person’s sentences.
-Be exhausted after your encounter, if you are not, you may not have been truly listening.

Quote of the day: “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” – Will Rogers

Q: What’s your favorite way to listen or to be listened to?  Comment below and share with us.

Stop talking, start listening