New is a requirement

We are creatures of habit.

We enjoy and feel comfortable with a routine.

We create routines in our personal and professional lives constantly.

We wake up around the same time, go to work at an appointed hour, drink coffee at a scheduled time.

We tend to focus and concentrate on our specific career area, and in doing so are excluding influences and relationships that matter.

New and different influences and relationships that can dramatically change the way we work, feel and create.

Even our free time is scheduled and programmed.

We read the same papers, watch the same programs, go out at the same time, and surround ourselves with the same people and experiences.

In order to maintain interest and excitement in our professional and personal lives we need to learn, experience or add something New.

Turn the microscopic view of our lives into a telescopic view and look for the New relationships and New elements of influence.

We can’t change, innovate, modify, evolve and grow if we don’t have access to New.

New ideas.

New learning.

New skills.

New methods.

New relationships.

New challenges.

New does not seep into us by accident, it requires active participation on our part.

We must seek it out, experiment, and take chances.

Find it, analyze it, embrace it or reject it.

New does not always make us happy, in fact it can create conflicts and anxiety which ultimately lead to better definition of what we want, or what we are doing.

We can find New in books, magazines, web logs, articles, especially if they are unrelated to our current business.

New can be found by taking a different route to work, shopping in a different area, eating different foods or in different spaces.

New can be found in any person whom we haven’t had a conversation with.

We have to make the conscious decision to break our routines and seek out New.

When was the last time you encountered something New?

When will be the next time?

What can we do today to find New?

When creating our weekly agenda, keeping in mind that we must dedicate time to actively seeking experiences and information that are outside of our comfort zones and areas of expertise.

Find something New today.

Start a list, when you find something New write it down.

Encourage the people around us to discover and share something New.

Watch how New begins to change your life and decisions, enthusiasm and attitude.

Related Links

5 ways to promote creative thinking and idea generation

Does your company like new ideas

Individuality and chaos in the workplace

Are you on the right team?

 When the focus at work is on providing a great product or service to the customer (maximizing) the perceived value of the product is higher for the customer, and they are willing to pay more.

This translates into more profit for the company.

When our focus is on maximizing profit for the company, management tends to rush toward cost cutting and/or reducing product quality (minimizing) many times resulting in reducing perceived product or service value for the customer.

The customers may not buy your product now, resulting in less profit for the company.

It’s all about providing a product or service that will be appreciated, sought out and embraced by the market.

Creating a product or service that is valuable to the market.

The more people want YOUR product, the more money they will pay for it.

It’s about listening to customers, creating new ideas, innovating, and taking calculated risks based on your expertise and understanding of your business.

It’s not easy.  Creating has never been easy.

Success is not guaranteed.  In fact the higher the risk the higher the potential payoff and profits.

But it sure is more exciting and rewarding than cutting pennies off manufacturing, administration, sales and logistics costs.

It takes a different type of leadership, management and employees to make this happen.

What team do you want to work with, lead or manage?

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The point of no return

The hardest part of decision making is passing the “point of no return“.

While the situation is being analyzed we’re safe.

Wacky, imaginative and wild solutions can be discussed and their impact and effect weighed and discussed. But it’s theoretical, it’s safe.

The minute we have to make the decision, take responsibility for the action and outcome, then we enter into scary territory.

The key to decision making is to get the momentum, confidence, courage and motivation in order to pass the point of no return.

I’m not saying that your decision will always be correct. But what is important is to make a decision and not spend hours, days and weeks agonized and postponing the process and decision.

Picture yourself on a diving board. High above the water. It’s scary to think that you may not perform the dive perfectly. A belly flop would be embarrassing and painful.

There are three options available.

1. Stay where you are, agonizing over the decision to jump.
2. Go back down the ladder, let someone else jump.
3. Jump.  Leave the diving board, cross the point of no return, make the dive.

When we are sure of our abilities and understanding due to good research and experience, we have confidence.

When we are not afraid of making a mistake, we have courage.

When we know the decision is important and necessary in order to keep things moving and get on with other activities, then we are motivated.

Focus on the task and problem, create the solutions and make the decisions on time.

Push yourself to pass the point of no return quickly and with confidence.

Jump.

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Motivation - Heroic Moments

Decision-making, how they used to do it 400 BC

How to systematically analyze any situation for better decision making

Perspective

I took 2 weeks off for end of the year holiday and discovered several very important lessons.

1.  I didn’t read, answer or write any emails during the vacation, I did not turn on my cellular phone for 14 days.  Nothing negative occurred, the world did not come to an end  and I spent a great deal more time with my family and my thoughts.

2.  I had written a list of “to do” items that I considered to be of great importance upon my return.  Today I found the list to be 90% irrelevant.

3.   I spent the morning going through my hundreds of emails, and found it effortless to answer, delete and deal with a mountain of work.  It was almost fun.

4.  I have a much more relaxed and patient attitude toward the work that must get done this week/month/year.  Not that I want to do it slowly, but I understand what must be done and am going to do it, without panic and anxiety.

Perspective.   I have a different perspective on my life and work.  That’s what vacations and holidays can provide.

Break up your routine.

Give yourself the opportunity to rest, recharge and refocus.

Get a new perspective on your life, work and problems.

Motivation - heroic moments

Determine which actions during the day, are your “heroic moments“.

Heroic moments might be viewed as simple required actions, obligations by others, but deep inside us, we understand that these actions require us to make a yes or no decision. We have to commit ourselves.

Heroic moments consist of an internal decision to do something for the greater good, to contribute to an idea or organization, to participate in a selfless act. The decision to start, follow-through and finish a project or activity that will benefit others.

It’s a moment when we say to ourselves “I will do this, no matter what”.

Heroic moments occur when we decide and commit to actions that that we know are required, expected or desired by others.

The most important heroic moments happens daily, when we make the decision to leave the comfort of our warm bed, wake our sleeping body and mind, and start the day.

A heroic moment occurs when you make the decision to face the angry customer, and resolve the problem.

A heroic moment occurs when you dig into the pile of paperwork on your desk.

A heroic moment occurs when we pick up the phone and start “cold- calling”.

A heroic moment occurs when we’re having a miserable day and keep smiling and don’t take it out on others.

A heroic moment occurs when we decide to motivate or lead others through inspiration and not fear.

A heroic moment occurs when we start an exercise program.

A heroic moment occurs when we decide not to involve ourselves in an personal argument or conflict.

A heroic moment occurs when we DO involve ourselves in an argument or conflict in order to solve a organization or family problem.

As employees, leaders, managers, parents, children, siblings, co-workers, or even as strangers, we are confronted with many opportunities to make “heroic” decisions.

We don’t do these things because we’ll be recognized. We don’t do them because someone will build a statue. They may not be monumental actions. It’s not the type of heroism that makes it on to the front page of the newspaper.

The only person who might know about it is you.

Finding and identifying the heroic moments in our lives is a simple way to motivate ourselves and feel good about our decisions and how we are interacting with the world around us.

(Thanks to Jesus Sotomayor for the phrase and idea)

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The power of something extra

What defines an exceptional leader

Are you involved in creating the future?

Facts serve no purpose by themselves, they exist.

We confuse the accumulation of facts with education.

A good education should inspire us to continue to discover and understand more. It should give us the tools and teach us how to think.

Thinking is the abilty to visualize, create and discover relationships between facts.

Intelligence should not only be measured by how much we know, but rather on how we apply our thinking and on much of that knowledge is passed to others for the future.

The future will be in the hands of those learning today.

Are you sharing your intelligence with others and creating that future?

(inspired by the study “Are they really ready to work?”)

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Are they really ready to work? (PDF)

The power of something extra

“Here is a simple but powerful rule - always give people more that what they expect to get.” - Nelson Boswell

What defines an exceptional leader, a great manager, a super business, or remarkable experience? Something extra.

There are two words (one French and the other Spanish) that convey and represent the concept of something extra, lagniappe and pilon.

Lagniappe (hear it) is the word commonly used in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi. It’s defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as an extra or unexpected gift or benefit.

Pilon is the Spanish word used in the southern US and Mexico to describe a gratuity given by tradesmen to customers settling their accounts, it’s something extra, and not expected.

Incorporating something extra in our actions, results and as a business philosophy can be incredibly powerful.

Something extra:

• forces creativity and innovation.
• demands clear understanding what is expected of us by others.
• focuses our attention of adding value, and not on cutting costs.
• is positive.
• is rewarded with good will and positive reactions.
• will lead to continual improvement.
• is fundamental to continued success.

Something extra is all about the little things and details.

Something extra is not just something “free”, it must arrive without anticipation, unexpectedly in order for it to be special and make an impact.

Something extra allows you to surprise the customer.

Something extra will make think about your results and expectations. It will make the difference between simple compliance and outstanding results.

Something extra will make you and your results different from all the others.

Embracing something extra and applying it on a daily basis, will make you great.

Giving something extra is not a difficult task. It’s all about applying small acts of innovation and creativity to your results, especially for routine and day-to-day tasks.

The power of something extra can change your life, your products, your processes and how others perceive you.

“If you want to be creative in your company, your career, your life, all it takes is one easy step… the extra one. When you encounter a familiar plan, you just ask one question: What ELSE could we do?” - Dale Dauten

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Individuality and chaos in the workspace

Is your workspace unique? Should it be?

Does your company project the image of sameness, order and uniformity by having cubicles and work-spaces coordinated and equal to one another? Why? Because it looks good, gives the impression of order, control and discipline?

Is this sameness and order a good thing for sparking employee creativity, innovation, happiness and positive results ?

Alexander Kjerulf offers up ideas about workspace, sameness and creativity and roadwitching at The Chief Happiness Officer.

If we want to have a creative, enthusiastic workforce why do we want them to work in ordinary, uninspired surroundings?

Does it just look better when the office layout is coordinated and everything has a mathematical formality about it? Is it a fashion statement or is it about control, and the desire to reduce chaos and “environmental noise”?

Is there a study that shows that working in neutral sameness and coordinated surroundings makes us more productive or efficient?

The industrial world used assembly lines and standardization to increase time efficiency and mass production. Are we applying the assembly line system to today’s information workers without questioning the efficiency and effect on innovation and happiness?

Alex writes “…..so many workplaces have lost their human touch to a desire for sameness, efficiency and professionalism. It’s a shame, because it makes people less efficient.”

The same goes for meetings. Why are they always in the same conference or meeting room? You know the drill, everyone files, in, sits in the chair they always sit in, and the meeting drones on. How much innovation, creativity and enthusiasm will people bring to the meeting if you change the location?

Distracting, perhaps. Maybe, just maybe, people will focus on the task at hand and not the structure, hierarchy and safety of a routine. Perhaps being outside what is “comfortable” is what is needed to provoke new ideas or new ways of analyzing the same situation.

Move a meeting to the cafeteria, to the sales floor, under a tree, to the park, to the library, to another unfamiliar location and see what happens.

Ted Dewan (Link): “One thing that might be fun is renegade meeting rooms. I once heard of a group that set a meeting table up in a parking spot (they were meeting to plan Roadwitch-like activities) and they found the experience envigorating and it helped their thinking as a result. It might be a bit distracting, but depending on the sort of meeting, it’s worth a try I suppose. I’d test it first before offering it as paid-for advice, of course.”

You choose:

Choice # 1 - Chaos - Energy - Random Opportunities - Innovation

Choice # 2 - Order and Control - Suppression of Energy - Routine - Lack of Innovation

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Successful managers should be breaking the rules

With nothing, anything is possible

Leadership, do you want the job or just the title and benefits?

Everyone wants to be in charge. Being the leader seems to be a universal goal of most people working today.

Do you really want the job, or just the title and benefits?

A leadership position requires the use of many abilities and skills which most of us do not have, or do not have fully developed. It requires sacrifice and discipline. A leaders life is filled with decisions that are not black and white.

It’s all about people, motivating, directing, and evaluating, listening and learning with them.

A leader is often lonely, but never alone. Highly criticized and analyzed by their own team and by outsiders. Must be flexible and adaptable, and at the same time firm and unwilling to compromise.

Are you ready for the job?

Guide vs. Signpost. Do you enjoying pointing people in the right direction, telling them where to go? This is not leadership. A signpost points the way, offers no resources or plan and no strategies on how to get there.

Leading others is far different from pointing the way. Leaders take responsibility for everything that happens during the journey, they prepare strategic and contingency plans, provide resources, and keep their people motivated and on the right road.

Teaching vs. Criticism. Able to see the flaws in others, their work and their results? The ability to find flaws is important only if you use these opportunities to teach others how to prevent or improve their performance or results. Pointing out flaws and errors for any other reason is not part of the leadership function.

Coaching vs. supervision. Telling others exactly what to do, and how to do it, is part of a supervisory role, not a leadership position. Leaders are coaches, they convince others to create and embrace goals and objectives, and to use approved systems and methods in order to achieve them.

Fair compensation vs. jackpot rewards. Do you think leaders and managers make a lot of money for doing nothing? Leadership demands personal responsibility and acceptance of risk. No one gets into a leadership position without sacrifice of some sort. These qualities are paid for and compensated with higher salaries and often perks and privileges different from the other members of the organization. It is compensation well earned, and the entire organization should understand this. It should never be looked upon as a jackpot, or undeserved compensation. If the organization does not view it this way, it’s time to modify the compensation packages or get a leader in place that leads and earns the respect and support of the others organization members.

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How to motivate yourself on Monday

Here we go again, Monday morning, back to work. Need some ideas on how to get pumped up for the week ahead?

1. The survivor approach. Challenge yourself to attack the most difficult work problems first thing today. Admit that it has to be done and might be the most uncomfortable or unpleasant activity you will encounter during the week. Once this is out of the way you’ll be surprised how much easier the rest of the week will be.

2. Send out positive energy. Be cheerful, upbeat and responsive to customers and coworkers. Say hello to everyone, acknowledge their presence. If you encounter grumpy, sad or depressed individuals smile at them and move on. Leave everyone you meet with the impression that you’re happy, full of enthusiasm and motivated today. Sound completely out of character for you? Good.

3. Monday is list execution day. List makers should prepare their weekly to-do lists on Friday afternoon or Sunday evening. When you walk into the office on Monday the plan is waiting for you to dig in and execute it.

4. You are working for you. Remember that you are working in order to achieve your personal goals. The work is part of that process. You are not working for XYZ corporation, you truly are working for yourself. It’s your decision to stay or to leave the company, your future is in your hands. Try that attitude on and see what happens.

5. Make someone proud of you. Everyone has a person or persons in their lives that they love and respect. Who are these people in your life? What could you do today at work to make them proud of you? Do it.

6. Act like an invincible leader. Feeling miserable and trying to spread that misery, gloom, doom and depression to others is a pretty pathetic way to live. Do you like to be around people with this attitude? Why would others want to be around you if you are a walking “cloud of misery and darkness”? You are a victim if you agree to be one.

7. Give yourself prizes. Set some work goals and create rewards for their completion that can be enjoyed on the weekend.

8. Motivation through memories. On the way to work think about the times in your life when you were the most enthusiastic, excited, motivated and happy. Remember the way you felt, identify why you felt so good, relive those experiences.

9. Go to work with a specific mission and deadlines. Make specific commitments for goal completion to others.

10. Decide to take a vacation. Burned out, stressed out, unable to focus, unable to get excited? Take time off, disconnect from work (that means no email, no telephone calls). Recharge your batteries. Figure out when you are going, for how long, with who and where.

11. Let cosmic forces and your subconscious decide. Sit down in a quiet spot, turn off the cellular phone, lock the door and try to clear your mind. In a matter of minutes you will begin to be bombarded with ideas or things you should be doing, and their priorities. Open your eyes, and get started.

12.  Music.  You know the tunes that start your feet tapping or set your soul soaring.  Record them, put them in your I-pod, burn a disk for the car.

13.  Change.  Setting a routine is quite normal, and comforting, but not motivating.  Change something.  Maybe it’s breakfast, the way to work, your clothes…who knows.  Fiddle around with your patterns and routines.

14.  Altruism.  Do something for someone else, without seeking anything in return.  Random acts of kindness.

R elated Links

Showtime - how do you want to live your life

Motivation, what gets you out of bed

10 things you should do on a Friday afternoon

Managers choice, rules or limits?

I found myself in strong disagreement to this post on Lifehack.org, Reining in the Rule Breakers.

I understand the need for policies and rules to insure employee safety. This post might be appropriate for those situations. It also might be justified when attempting to standardize jobs and activities that require no creativity or individual decision making in order to function correctly. I sense the post was geared to managers dealing with these type of positions.

This approach toward strict adherence to the “rules”, just smacks of a 1930’s factory or grade school, and is the exact opposite of what I feel a workplace in 2006 requires to remain creative, enthusiastic and productive.

I do think it’s important to define limits. Very different from rules. Limits give maximum or minimum boundaries, but do not bind individuals into procedures and don’t stifle creativity.

It is important to define goals and objectives, basic coordinated procedures and time limits. Allow the team, organization or individual to find the best path to the goal. Before you scream chaos and anarchy, understand that standard operating procedures and existing policies will normally be the jumping off point for most of the organization. Any changes that occur to those procedures will often be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Focus your energy and your people on objectives and not on blindly following the rules.

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5 ways to promote creative thinking and idea generation

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Three ideas for Friday

1. You might be frustrated, angry or bored with the way things are done at work. There are three easy solutions.

• Create a new method or solution and actively work to implement it. It does no good to have great ideas and keep them silent. There are millions of great ideas in the world. Very few ever get implemented. Work for the changes you want to happen.

• Change your attitude. If you have no solution, accept the present circumstances. You are working to achieve a goal, and the current procedures and problems are part of that process. Don’t lose sight of the goal. Smile and be positive once in a while I promise it won’t kill you.

• Find a new environment (leave your position). If it can’t be changed, and you can’t accept it, the best alternative is to remove yourself from the situation.

2. Reward yourself

• Are you enjoying the fruits of your labor? Are you using the money, power or prestige to make yourself and your family happy?

• Despite what some people think or strive for, work is not a world of giggles and frolic filled moments. Work is work. It can be fun, and it can be very rewarding an pleasant, but it is never better than a vacation or your free-time.

• They say that some people live to work, and that others work to live. What camp are you in?

3. Identify what gets you excited and enthusiastic.

• Finding and identifying the events, circumstances or ideas that get you excited is the first step in motivating yourself and others.

• Excitement and enthusiasm are contagious. Spread it around

Related Links

Things you should do on Friday afternoon 

10 Things you should NEVER do on Friday afternoon

Successful managers should be breaking the rules

Hell, there are no rules here - we’re trying to accomplish something. Thomas A. Edison

I’ve found the most successful and exciting environments to work, study or play in are those with “no rules”. Environments that are open and flexible and not strictly controlled with things you can’t do. It’s exciting to be in these situations, inspiring, sometimes a bit scary, but always memorable.

Rosa Say has a brilliant read for all managers about how the use (or abuse) of rules often limits our creativity and enthusiasm. What are the Rules? Hopefully, none.

• “No rules” requires clear objectives and goals.

• “No rules” requires planning.

• “No rules” requires discipline and commitment.

• “No rules” demands responsibility for actions and outcomes.

• “No rules” is about inventing process. Creating and forming the process required, or desired, in order to get the job done and reach the objective.

• “No rules” is about allowing creativity and innovation into every decision that brings us closer to our objectives.

• “No rules” is about questioning the status quo in order to explore new and different solutions and methods.

• “No rules” is about accepting and integrating new ideas.

• “No rules” is about tolerance and examination of new concepts.

• “No rules” is about getting excited and energized by every life or work experience.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results. George S. Patton

It is good to obey all the rules when you’re young, so you’ll have the strength to break them when you’re old. Mark Twain

Related Links

What are the rules? Hopefully, none.

5 ways to promote creative thinking and idea generation

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Showtime - how do you want to live your life?

I’ve had limited experience in show business. The highlights of my entertainment career include the magic show I produced and starred in at age 8, various band performances, and a walk-on supporting role as a wise man in a Nativity play. Oh wait, I forgot to mention, my biggest show business role. I was involved in retail sales.

Retail sales can be a limiting and brutal environment, physically and emotionally. But it is one of the best environments for learning and practicing how to perform with and for others.

Retail sales is all about people, it is not about merchandise. Listening to what people want and helping them find it. You are performing all day, and when you realize this, it can be an exhilarating and fun experience. You can prepare, rehearse and modify your performances daily.

What am I talking about? Performing? Exactly. If you assume the role of an enthusiastic, informed and helpful person you can give something to each person you encounter during the day. You will feel great about yourself and the client or co-worker walks away with an unexpected gift of meeting and connecting with a positive human experience.

I was involved in the fresh flower industry. Olga and I opened a “bucket-shop”, which at the time was an innovation, and dedicated ourselves to making every customers experience distinct and important.

No one buys flowers because they have to. They are sought when one wishes to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, birth of child, graduation, religious holiday, or wedding. They might be using the flowers to recognize an illness or death, as a thank you, to recognize a special person, to say I love you or I’m sorry, or as a emotional pick me up.

Flowers are objects that represent an emotion. Customers were not buying flowers. They were seeking a symbol of their feelings or the feelings they wished to transmit. Isn’t that true about most consumer items?

Understanding this, how can you NOT be enthusiastic about coming to work and giving your best performance?

During the time clients were in our environment, we were part of their search to represent their emotions, our advice was of great importance in order to find the right symbol, the perfect flowers. It was much more than a commodity transaction.

It’s important to recognize that false enthusiasm isn’t going to work. You have to believe in yourself, your abilities and knowledge. You have to believe that you are going on-stage everyday, and that your “performance” has to be genuine. You have to listen to the people around you, and determine what they are really seeking, and help them get it.

People used to stop in and visit us to get a shot of enthusiasm and positive attitude. There was always a smile, a greeting.