Seeking Coastal Utopia

Swallow Your Pride

2018-12-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

It is ok to be wrong. Suck it up. Own your mistake. Be a big kid and recognize you were wrong and move on. Holding a grudge does not win friends and creates a toxic environment for everyone around you and relationships suffer. You were wrong. Do not try to blame anyone else. Do not deflect it.

Own it.

“look what I can do! What? I’m peacocking?” photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Swallowing your pride can also be about doing something that you may believe is beneath you. Like carrying out your own office trash. Sure, you have been there in the business since God was a kid, so what? Do something that is human, something that is not designated as cognitive dissonance. Stop trying to remind everyone that you are better than that. Swallow your pride.

The key behind swallowing your pride is taking action to remedy it. Note “action” in that sentence. You made a decision and you are choosing to do something about it. Even though you may be embarrassed. You may feel it is showing weakness (which is hardly the case), or that it is putting you in a lower position to those you were wrong against.

So. What.

Actions speak louder than words.

“Sometimes we all need help” photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

Remember, you do not have to win every time. Also, recognize when you need help. Sure, you may be superhuman compared to your peers. Yet, you are quickly becoming the bottleneck by trying to do everything yourself. Get off the pedestal you set yourself upon and ask for help.

When you choose to swallow your pride, you get a mulligan. Get out jail free card. Humans are messy. We tend to make trainwrecks every now and again. This is an opportunity to take a more empathetic view of your situation. Take stock and look at the situation from the perspective of those you may have wronged. You may actually learn how you can listen and understand what they are saying. Put your perspective aside.

You may even have to make an effort to say sorry to your customers. That is terrifying. If you ignore it, whatever “it” is — the misstatement, the faux pas that you or your organization made — will it go away? No. You need to stomp that fear into the ground and do what is right, swallow that pride.

These efforts, the opportunities to grow will make you a more tolerable person. It will give you greater insight and clear the cobwebs from your eyes. Your peers, the coworkers that support the business, your subordinates, will all enjoy working with you. You will win friends. You may even win the lottery.

And remember Rule #6.

Go forth and be brilliant.

You Don’t Always Have To Win

2018-12-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

It’s okay. We still love you. You do not always have to win.

There are those of us who are competitive, and then there are those of us who are really, really competitive. The ones that cannot stand to lose. The ones that absolutely, barring any cost, consideration, or rules, must win. Must.

“I love winning” photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash

In the effort of trying to win everything every time you burn bridges, you destroy friendships, you make relationships suffer. Winning at all costs is not a rational decision.

Inter arma enim silent leges — Cicero ~60AD

Specifically translated — “for among [times of] arms, the laws fall mute.” Loosely interpreted as ignoring the rules, win no matter what, win at all costs.

Winning. Winning is the only option in your eyes. You always have the first word, always having the last word, always being right — even when wildly wrong. Making your point louder does not mean it is more right. Talking over the top of others is not making it correct. Repeating it many times does not turn fiction into fact.

“I am winning because I have a motor in my frame” photo by Rob Wingate on Unsplash

Winning is everything. If you are in a conversation in public, or with your friends or peers, you continually one-up them. You are not trying to keep up with the Joneses, because you are the Joneses!

You have a better car, a better job, a better life, a better child, a better spouse. Better than everyone else. No matter what anyone says, you have a better response.

Example:

Average Person — Oh man, my legs hurt from exercising…

Winning person — Well, I broke both my legs last night while I was trying to squat a semi-truck after running a marathon

BAM! Sit down, junior!

Because you want to win everything makes it even more ridiculous when you try to act like you are a member of the team. That you are someone who enjoys and supports collaboration. You are not an “A type” person you are an “A++” type person.

“I will win” photo by ARTHUR YAO on Unsplash

Take the mask off and review this from their (losing) worldview. It is hard to do. You have to tap into a term called empathy to view it from their shoes. Mastering empathy allows you to take another’s perspective. It allows you to win.

Recognizing the other’s view can become your own. You become connected to other feelings, although not agreeing with them, stomping their idea into the ground is not winning. You learn to communicate properly, and everyone needs to be seen and heard. Yelling them down does not win. Talking over them does not win. Asking them what they think, but ignoring what they said is not winning. Stop trying to win the battle, for the sake of losing the war.

You can win at a cost. Ignore the terms ANY and ignore ALL. That difference is not insignificant. Those three-letter words have a major impact on the decision to win.

Winning does have a cost, and sometimes to win, you have to lose. You have to make sacrifices. You have to make hard choices. You have to stifle that ego. You have to understand the importance of relationships, because relationships matter.

“book lot on black wooden shelf” by Giammarco Boscaro on Unsplash

Of course, winning at all or any costs has both ethical and legal implications. Understanding the behavior that drives the cost of winning is necessary. Having the courage to have high ethical standards, the discipline to adhere to legal requirements keeps winning at all costs in check.

As a leader, recognize that certain rewards that are dangled like carrots will change behavior, in order to win, lines will be crossed.

To reach that big bonus at the end of the quarter, or the end of the year, the behavior will change. Quality will be suspect. Cut a corner here, cheat a little there. Stealing of customers, orders and ideas can become commonplace. You change behavior by measuring results.

Take the time to recognize how your winning behaviors can affect the others around you. It is good to win. It feels great to win. You need to recognize that you do not always have to win.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Nothing Is Ever Easy

2018-11-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of my most favorite phrases ever. This is a prominent phrase stated by the character Zedd in the Sword of Truth ( series by Terry Goodkind (Wizard’s First Rule, Chapter 7, page 77). For some reason, I have loved this remark primarily because it is so true and its simplicity.

Nothing is ever easy.

“Oh, maybe this is easy?” photo by Tommy Lisbin on Unsplash

Remember the first time that you tried something new? How much you struggled with it? You (your ego) may have mentally gone into it thinking, “oh this is a piece of cake!” Then you quickly realized as you started spending more time with it, that you underestimated the amount of effort that was required to be able to take onto this task.

Oops. Well, that was not as easy as I thought.

Now we need lean the words of Theodore Roosevelt for his take on the “easy” button.

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

(Meaning = nothing is ever easy)

You discovered unconscious incompetence. Meaning you didn’t know that you didn’t know. You did not realize that you were really bad at trying to do that “something” for the first time. When you began to realize partway through that learning process of how bad you really were, you become consciously incompetent. You became aware you were really bad.

“I made my first line of code! Easy!” photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash

Even the simplest tasks, the tasks that you now consider simple were not easy the first time you tried them. You can trace this back up the whole way through your entire life. When you were younger you were certain you could tie your shoes or ride a bike the first time. Or when you got to drive the car the first time. Or build your first line of code or your first machine. Your first managerial role. Your first business. It was not easy. Nothing is ever easy.

Coaching, learning, failure, and repetition made it easy.

Coaching and learning can come from anyone. Only if you are ready to accept it. Receiving coaching and applying the learning is not easy. You can learn from a peer, a subordinate, boss, friends, neighbors, spouses, children, even you yourself. The day you stop learning is the day they start dumping dirt on your body.

Fail - Photo by iSAW Company on Unsplash

Failure. Face it. We will fail. Accept it. Embrace it. Do not fear it. Fail and fail often. When you fail, it means you are trying something new. You are doing something that you have not done before. You may be trying to do something that no one has ever done before.

It is not easy to fail. It is uncomfortable, frustrating and demoralizing at times. It is painful. It is difficult. How you accept that failure and what you do after it is what makes you who you are today. Keep trying. Never stop. Have discipline. Persist.

It is all about repetition. Do it again. Over and over and over again. Keep trying until it becomes muscle memory. Once again, discipline is key. Discipline is not easy, and it will never be easy. With discipline and your drive to keep doing something over and over again, only then will you realize your success. Nothing is ever easy.

Think of the things around you that are not easy. In your work or business. In your home. What if you viewed it through someone else’s eyes — from their worldview? Do you think it will be easy for them? What can you do to make it easier for them to do that work? For them to try to do something new the first time?

“yes, you need a coach” photo by Jesse Orrico on Unsplash

Coach them. Guide them. Provide them instructions. Give them an opportunity to succeed in your efforts. You blazed the trail; you cut the trees, bulldozed a path, and graded the road. You have made it easier for them to go further and faster than you were able to go.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Stop Hiding Behind an Electronic Mask

2018-11-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

Your face is bathed in a white-blue glow. This is the mask of the 21st century.

“are you allowing your children to grow up this way?” photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash

Who are you? Are you the same person that is represented on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat? Are you the same person when you are face-to-face?

Or are you hiding behind an electronic mask, where the online-personality presents someone who is different than what you portray in the real world?

“Guy Fawkes mask” by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

This is a world where many of us seem to present ourselves differently online, using electronic anonymity. Is it because we are unhappy with who we are when we are at work? Or are we afraid? Is the online persona a different person when you are home? Why?

Has the chameleon effect taken over when you are online with your “friends?” Is it healthy that we all have multiple faces, but the one in public is someone else?

Too often we have seen someone post some conflagratory (conflagration + inflammatory) remark to one of the social media sites that is immediately disclaimed. Depending on the person, it is a message or notice that garners major media attention. Then it is attempted to be deleted before it becomes a major public outcry, yet some netizens have taken a snapshot of it. Why was that message or notification posted to begin with?

If someone posted, yet immediately retracted the statement, why? Are they afraid to say the same thing in the real world? But the brain fails to kick in until after the action, by then it is too late. Running in the wild. Maybe we should have taken time away from the keyboard.

There is a negative benefit when posting something inflammatory to a social media site. It must be the lack of control when wearing an electronic mask.

No constraints. No one looking.

Freedom.

Although social media has its opportunities, unfortunately, the Luddite in me fails to see the full purpose. I am certainly blind to it.

I have yet to pick a plumber based on his Instagram. I have never picked a roofer based on his Twitter account. Maybe someone has selected a doctor based on their Facebook account, not me.

Yes, true, not all social media is negative, and I am not against these sites but I do not allow them to rule my life. I have discovered a wild amount of awesome material out there. It has forever changed multimedia greater than any media generation before it. There are social aspects of sharing in the online community. We are humans, we are social. We collect and connect with others like us. The electronic online medium allows this on a tremendous scale.

It has given voice to many people that would never speak up in a public setting. They are using the mask to be someone else. To not have fear of rejection in a “public” setting is liberating. It allows them to save face.

Yet, when humans hide behind these systems and start using social media to push ugly objectives to influence or change things for their benefit, it has lost its purpose. It is time to disengage.

“trust who she is?” photo by Asif Aman on Unsplash

Can we accept the ugly online persona as that is really who they are? That online face may be honest. The person in the cube next to you may be wearing a mask now.

Be careful with who you are — online and in the “real” world. Especially as you begin to search for the next role. Your postings may actually affect your chances at the next job. Your tweets can haunt you years later. Your digital stomping can derail your career faster than you believe it can.

Re-learn how to be physically social. In the present, in the great wide open. Push away the electronic tether. Detoxify. Re-introduce yourself to your real friends and family. Relationships matter.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Does Your Worldview Eclipse Their Worldview?

2018-11-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Whose eyes are you seeing the problem through? Whose perspective are you taking when you propose a solution? Are you sure that you are doing the right thing for the end-user, the customer, the person you are trying to understand?

“Will this help magnify their worldview?” Photo by Ronan on Unsplash

Understanding and accomplishing an empathetic viewpoint is imperative for success. Being able to see the problem from their eyes, within their world, is necessary for building strong relationships, adoption, and overall change management.

How many times has something changed within your business? The way you used to access something, or the software or hardware that you came to depend upon worked well. The system you were comfortable with?

And. It. Has. Changed.

Here comes the Information Technology team within your organization, almost out of the blue. They are here to solve a problem that you did not realize even existed. To provide you with a solution without understanding the nuances of what your work actually entails? Your first response was (or still is) to pillory the aforementioned IT department. How dare they….

Or when the products you enjoy, get changed. The performance of the new vehicle is not the same as the previous model. The hair gel smells different. The face cream makes your skin dry out. What decisions brought on these changes? Someone else’s worldview. They have decided for you. This is what you want.

“I like my avocado without plastic please!” photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

It is the pre-cooked eggs that have been peeled but placed inside a plastic wrapper. Or the peeled avocados also wrapped in the ever-loving plastic cocoon. What the?!! When did convenience such as this become our de facto acceptance of the world? I was never asked for either of those options. The last time I checked, both of those biologicals had their own packaging.

In your workplace, do you find that you may be working on a project and your perception of the problem does not jive with the rest of the group? You presented your worldview of a group of people that are not in the room to support — or deny — your desire for a fix yet later found out it was not the same as they had asked you to represent?

Are you in a room right now, with some of your peers, and you present your view of something, but you are oblivious (read — tone deaf) to their reaction? That you also got completely wrong?

What causes this myopic vision? How did your worldview become a supergiant star?

Personal filters. Experience. Beliefs. Maybe even one or more of these affect your worldview — you may have heard of some of them: race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy and any conditions related to pregnancy, origin, ancestry, age, veteran status or military service, disability, and genetic information.

Yes, your cognitive bias got in the way. It happens to all of us. This is what makes us who we are.

How quickly you recognize the biases, and how you manage them and learn to become more empathetic to views beyond your own, is up to you. Stop holding onto your perspective. Your way is not the only way, just one of many possible ways.

Where are your cognitive biases at? — codex

Be sure to recognize that each interaction with others is an opportunity to learn and grow your own worldview. Recognize those times when your worldview is louder and larger than everyone else’s and you need to pull back and understand what THEY are thinking. What they are saying. What they are doing — and why. Your worldview is not for everyone.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Why Vote? Because Every Grain of Sand Makes Up a Desert

2018-11-28T06:37:00.002-07:00

Every vote counts. Every single one. Hence the word “count”, as in tally, calculation, enumerate, add together, or totalize.

“Go get your exclusive sticker” Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Go! Vote! NOW!

Why would you choose not to vote? You need to be engaged in your community, in your town, city, county, state and the United States. If you do not vote, where else would you have any say? Where else is your voice being heard? Do you know who your local representatives are? Or what initiatives are running in your voting precinct? How can you affect change — and “because I said so” is usually not received very well.

“why are you sitting there — get out and vote!” photo by Dylan McLeod on Unsplash

Sitting in the armchair, railing against the television or the Internet, against your local news feed, shrieking of how screwed up things are — what did you do to make a change? Did you vote? Are you even registered to vote? What are you waiting for?

Go register and vote.

To have an apathetic view that “my vote doesn’t count” is an escape. It suggests you really do not care who is in office, what laws are enacted, or what taxes that you pay. You are effectively throwing your money and your voice away. By not voting, a referendum may not pass, a candidate that will affect your life may or may not be elected. By not voting, you are throwing away your opportunity to make a change. By not voting, you are shirking your responsibility to yourself and those nearest you.

Why Every Vote Matters - The Elections Decided By A Single Vote (Or A Little More)
Many Americans say they are disaffected with the system of politics and sit on the sidelines, especially in midterms…www.npr.org

I know I care where my vote goes. I bet your neighbor cares where her vote goes, too. Take the time to study the ballot and the literature, research the candidates, the bills, the races that are being run to determine the best answer. To make the best choices. The best choice is sometimes different than the right choice.

Ignoring the party lines, you may find that one candidate is better than the other. That voting NO on the ballot for a particular initiative is a better choice. Or that voting YES can make schools that much better for your children — or even your children’s children.

Be better than your neighbors. Be better than your coworkers. Prove to them how important it is to get out there and vote!

YOUR vote can actually make a difference.

Originally published on Medium on 05Nov2018

Pareto is Your Friend

2018-11-26T19:11:00.001-07:00

How many of you have heard of the Pareto Principle? Many of you do not know who or what Pareto is all about.

“these are easier to do because of Pareto” photo by Giorgio Tomassetti on Unsplash

Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto was born into this world in the mid 19th century and died in the early 20th century. However, his contributions have long lived on, making the lives of engineers, sociologists, and economists much simpler due to his identification of the distribution that is now known as the Pareto Principle.

The Pareto Principle is simply described as the 80/20 rule. It can apply to a number of generalities and allow you to quickly estimate (versus calculate) distribution or allow you to understand proportional values of something quickly, without having to do the deep dive calculations to multiple decimal points. Pareto Distributions occur naturally; it certainly occurs with humans and our activities.

“20% is one portion and the 50&+30% gives us the 80%” by Artem Bali on Unsplash

For instance, in business, 20% of your customers provide you with 80% of your revenue. Or conversely, 80% of the work that you build in your factory accounts for 20% of your profits. Or the one I personally hate, the last 20% of a project is 80% of the effort and work!

The 80/20 rule is not necessarily written in stone, as there are a number of anomalies, however, with all things being equal, when you are looking at the population the percentage of the whole will usually break out into a very similar distribution that is 80/20.

Great! Now, what can the 80/20 rule do for me?

First of all, it helps you from trying to boil the ocean. You have a project to complete, an activity to take on, however, the scope seems massive. You can use the Pareto rule to help distribute the work as needed to identify what constitutes the greater bulk of the work, the volume of effort, needed to accomplish the project’s completion.

“use Pareto to sort this stuff” photoby Fancycrave on Unsplash

Recently, one of the projects that I am running in the factory today uses Pareto rules to identify the top 20 processes within the factory. That way we could focus only on those particular activities and develop the recording model to collect data specific to those areas in the workplace.

By doing this distribution, it helps sharpen your focus to a specific area without having to worry about the whole show. Without having to worry about getting into all the details of all the processes that may be occurring within the facility allows you to identify a solution that is robust.

In the same project, we also used Pareto to guide us in identifying the top 20% part numbers within the factory. This identified those that flow through the factory both in sheer volume and in cost. In those efforts, we also identified and used Pareto to quantify the number of quality issues within that same part numbers population to once again help hone and focus our vision on that specific subset of part numbers that are the biggest headaches for the organization.

By using Pareto, it allows us to focus on those few items that cause the most problems for the rest of the factory. It helps us use a Napoleonic approach to fighting the battle by identifying the primary targets and amassing forces in those areas to work on those particular issues quickly and effectively.

“the right amount of detail communicated easier” photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

When using Pareto, you are also able to communicate to upper levels of management much easier. You do not need to get into the details, or the specifics, as the amount of discreteness of your data does not add value to the overall scope of the discussion at higher levels of the organization. By having a Pareto-type understanding of the information you are sharing, of what you are capturing, the value of the discussion meets the “significance” test. It provides the right amount of information that allows decisions to be made.

Salute Pareto!

Go forth and be brilliant.

It Is What Is, Now What?

2018-11-26T19:07:00.003-07:00

Something happened. Something got broken, something was ruined, something did not go as planned. Now what?

“I have to hurry up and do this wrong!” photo by Christopher Johnson on Unsplash

Freak out!

Nooo-oo.

Can we just stop and give up?

Again, no. Absolutely not!

No, you cannot curl up into a fetal position and start sucking your thumb either. You need to get up, put on your big kid pants, and make a decision to move forward quickly, to recover.

If anything, we gained wisdom. We now know something new! We are able to learn from that experience! We now know what NOT to do next time and we probably now know what we need to do next. Or maybe we really don’t?

Your project has gone sideways and you are out of money and is significantly underwater. The staff has too many other competing priorities, is it freak out time? Certainly — but only a little. It is what it is. You cannot change what has happened. You can not change the past.

Now what? Embrace what has happened — start with either OODA — Observe, Orient, Decide, Act or PDCA — Plan, Do, Check, Act. Start planning your next steps.

“we are not stepping down into the death spiral” photo by Dmitry Sovyak on Unsplash

What are your next steps? The first thing you need to consider is if the project is worth its value. Does it have the right support? Is this the right idea? Can it be recovered, or has the window of opportunity passed? Or should you just kill it and ignore the sunk costs?

There is no doubt that a quick post-mortem is required. You need to discover what some of the issues were, where it fell off the rails. Discover the activities that were actively worked on that were not (and are not) the most important things for the team to be doing. The primary choice right now is to decide whether to continue or to cancel the project.

Maybe there are too many competing projects, so you have to cancel something. Do not look at it as a failure. But you do have to look at it. You have to get into the weeds, into the nuts and bolts. You have to make a decision.

Another scenario. You missed a date to submit a proposal or to submit documents, now what? It is what it is. You missed. Now what? You need to recover. What is the first thing you can do? You can ask for forgiveness. Ask for an extension. Ask for an opportunity to submit anyway — but you better be ready to submit immediately. You do not get to reset the time, this is the last gasp to get you into the fray. However, if you do not ask, the answer is always no!

“time for a hot wash” photo by Jennifer Burk on Unsplash

Once again, what should you do? It is time for a hot wash of the process. You gather your team, put as many eyes on it as you can, investigate where you missed, you get to see the missed opportunities, you identify, you learn to correct. Now you can set up a new plan. What went well being the leading way to recover. It helps extremely well for the next opportunity you are pursuing.

The hot wash requires you to quickly document your mistakes. You have to realize that this is a quick activity. You learned of your mistakes, the things you need to look at later to gather in more detail, but now it is time to move on. Take that as wisdom. Take it as lessons learned and be sure to document. You now realize what you need to do next time to correct that issue.

Now, “it is what it is” is also a trap. It smacks of the status quo. Of acceptance. Of complacency. Of apathy. This is an unacceptable approach. When you hear that phrase you need to poke! You need to challenge the status quo.

“is this the line for the DMV?” photo by Melanie Pongratz on Unsplash

How many times have you heard “it takes as long as it takes?” It is a shield. It just means that you have not taken the time to discover a better way. You have not taken the time to standardize the process. Nor have you taken the time to streamline the process.

It is not optimal to misdiagnose this project or to miss-deliver. It happens at times. Leadership is expecting to see results. We did not go into it planning to fail. We just failed to plan properly. Yes, it is painful. Yes, it is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to evolve and not repeat the same mistake later.

If you do not take the time to understand past failure modes or to discover what the possible pitfalls were, you are bound to repeat them. You need to do a fast, deep dive, you need to do the post-mortem, you need to do a hot wash. Look at the details, the failures, and faults, and understand what it takes to not make that same mistake again.

Make the phrase “it is what it is” extinct.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Are You Doing the Right Thing?

2018-11-26T19:02:00.002-07:00

Are you sure that you are doing the right thing?

“Should I make dinner or weld the trailer frame?” photo by Christopher Burns on Unsplash

What is the right thing? Whatever it is, are you sure you are supposed to be doing what you are doing right now? How did you get to this point, and not realize that you are working (or not working) on the right thing?

I struggle with this myself even as I sit here and write this blog. I believe I should be exercising, using fitness as a stress reducer, using it to remain healthy. Staying healthy so I can provide for my family. Watch my children grow old. Should that be the most important thing?

the pendulum continues to swing… photo from the Omnibus Theater

My problem is the pendulum swings too far and I either spend too much time pasted to the computer working or creating blogs or I spend too much time exercising, running down the miles. I rarely ever find that right balance which forces me to ask — am I doing the right thing, today?

Where is that list of things that you are supposed to be doing? Are you following those things on your list? Of the things that are on that list, have you identified a priority? Did you identify the ones that are the most important things to be working on? The one thing?

If you struggle with setting a priority, is there someone that you can ask to validate your list and help you consider the most important thing? You could even use that somebody to vet those ideas and challenge you to remain on task. Forced (or better yet — correct) discipline.

Try to find a way to measure your activities to ensure that you are doing the right thing. If you do not have someone that can mentor you, is it possible to set up an old video camera and record yourself throughout the day to review later? That way you can see what was distracting you from a third-person position.

We all waste time throughout the day, not doing the important stuff. Now is the opportunity for you to address those lost moments. Measure your own productivity by creating a shortened list of three items. Then set the priority for the most important thing (singular) on those three items. You will now measure the time that you have spent or the time that you are working on those priority items, which will help you become more proficient, productive and effective.

“This balance is the most complicated” photo by Form on Unsplash

They say we should try to find balance. I do not believe that it is possible to have a true balance because sometimes the balance is false, due to the pressures of “the right thing.” There is always the right thing that you need to be doing at that time, which happens to be the right time.

If you were to ignore that right time to find your balance, you may not accomplish what you are intending to do. You may lose that window of opportunity, that once in a lifetime chance to hit it big! The challenge is that you may not know if it is the right thing at the right time. Sometimes luck just allows things to happen.

We know the right thing is to not be wasting time doing ineffectual work. We have to be effective. We are to be engaged. We have to get involved. And quite often we are to work hard. If we are sitting back and waiting for things to happen, we will never finish. We do not see our full potential. It is like dropping a boomerang at your feet. You did not put the energy into it — you did not throw it hard enough to let it fly. You need to put energy into the right thing in order for a return on investment to get that energy returned. A return on investment.

Create a goal that is in your line of sight and realize that it is where you want to be. In that effort, you need to identify the smaller steps, tasks, and pieces of the puzzle that allow you to reach that goal. Those are the right things. Those are the things you should be working on. Do not get distracted by the chrome squirrels!

Most of us know what the right thing is. You do not need me to tell you what it is. I am just reinforcing the discipline that already resides inside of you. The right things are not always the fun things. But the right thing is the right thing. Learn how to stay focused and have discipline and ensure that you continue to work on the right thing.

Go forth and be brilliant.

It is Time to Wake Up

2018-11-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

Wake up!

“do not let this escape” photo by Adrien Robert on Unsplash

This is not about getting enough sleep or using music or yoga or exercise to help someone wake from their dance with the Sandman, this is about us as a society turning a blind eye to things around us, ignoring the opportunities we have to make a change.

Why have we turned into a society that is completely unconscious and underwater? It is though we hardly care about what is happening today, let alone tomorrow. Time for us to wake up. Time for us to take a step forward and make a significant change in our work and our lives today. Believe we can make a difference in our lives.

We need to make the conscious choice to do something positive in our lives. What is happening right now that you can support? What is happening right now that you can take action on? What are you afraid of?

“this plucky robot had the guts to try something new” photo by Dominik Scythe on Unsplash

Most of us go through life mechanistically.

We wake up, stumble to the coffee pot, drag a brush through our teeth and hair, run out the door. Most of this time and activity you are staring at your phone. Your commute is rarely one of engagement with your seatmate, or with the person near you. You stare at your phone. You go to work, get some tasks done, but just enough to keep the boss off your back, checking your phone throughout the day, waiting for the clock to tell you it is time to leave. Head home, with your face pasted to the glass on your phone.

You have no awareness, you have no idea what is happening around you. You have become a character in Wall-E. You do the same thing EVERY day.

All of a sudden you glance up and blink the fog from your eyes and it is the end of the year.

Is that life? Is that what you are meant to be? At what point in your life did you decide to become complacent? At what point did you decide to just shrug your shoulders and say “meh”? Why did you choose to sell your soul just for the sake of a paycheck?

As a kid growing up, did you say to yourself, “I want to grow up to be a mediocre manager?” Or was it, “I only want to play recreational sports, no major leagues for me.” You said you were going to be an astronaut and go to the moon, but you went to Texas instead? Why did you give up? Because it was hard?

Who are you and what do you want?

Take stock of what you are doing today. Is what you are doing today the thing that you want to be doing? Or are you going to continue through life eyes half-closed doing the same thing day in and day out?

“when you come to a fork in a road…” photo by Oliver Roos on Unsplash

Every day you choose to do the same thing. Yes, it is a choice. The most obvious choice is that you choose not to make an improvement in yourself, in your work, or in your products. You choose to sell the same thing over and over again without making improvements. Never changing. You are just clipping coupons.

Wake up! Stop making excuses.

You will not say to yourself that you can’t do something! Are you saying that it is impossible to do that? Why are you letting fear freeze you in your place? Use fear to your advantage. Use it to break out of this cocoon of comfort you have built around yourself, out of fear of failure. You need to move forward, you need to do something real with your life. Wake up! It is another day, stop letting the minutes tick by because you will never get them back. Do something with them now!

Waking up also means checking to see where you are at. Are you in the same spot as you were yesterday? Time to climb out of that rut. Challenge yourself! Find something that you are extremely uncomfortable doing and try to do it.

Expect to fail, because you will. But try again. And again. Try to master it! Go through the effort of learning a completely new task with a skill that you are completely unfamiliar with. While you are doing this, share your knowledge with somebody. Find a mentee and take them under your wing. Begin to train them, to guide them and help them become leaders. Help them to become greater than you are!

Start a side business, a side hustle, that will force you to practice your new skills or that hobby that you have been talking about but never take it seriously. Become a professional at it. Work on turning it into a business. Stop watching TV, stop staring at your phone, stop playing games. Stop wasting time. Use that time to develop and grow something new. Volunteer.

“I'm a real artist” by Chris Curry on Unsplash

Learn to steal like an artist by looking at what some of the experts and leaders, what are those professionals doing? Can you take what they are doing and do the same thing or even build on it? Leverage their experience, their knowledge. Use it as a bridge to cross the chasm you put before yourself when you want to try something.

Start measuring your results. Work to get more done in the day by tracking your activities. Load computer tracking software like RescueTime on your computer see where you are wasting your time. It will be eye-opening. Take the time to put together a list of priorities and work on one thing on your list. Nothing else. No more multitasking and learn to finish your tasks to completion.

Be active.

Be engaged.

Be social (in the physical sense not electronically).

Be responsible.

“Go vote!” Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

No matter what, do what you need to do to make this a better place. To make yourself a better person.

Do not sit back and complain. Do not sit and armchair quarterback the situation. Show yourself and show the world that you are a person of action and not just words! Stop going through life in a coma.

Do not wake up tomorrow thirty pounds heavier, receding hairlines, no new knowledge, running in the same ruts you have been running in. Do something now so that you can kill any possible regrets you may have. Grab your time now, it’s never too late. It will be hard work. Stick it out, have the discipline and the fortitude to get stronger, better, faster, every day.

Start right now!

Go forth and be brilliant.

Dude, Brush Your Teeth!

2018-11-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hygiene is important. Cleanliness is next to godliness and all that. Hygiene is important everywhere but it is very important in the workplace.

Hygiene means you do not smell like a goat. It means you try to wash your hands, face, your hair, or your body. It means you take effort in shaving or brushing your hair.

“dude, brush your teeth” photo by Dan Cook on Unsplash

It even means brushing your teeth. If we are talking on the elevator and less than arm’s length away, admittedly, I do not want to smell your stale coffee breath and what you had for breakfast this morning, nor do you wish to smell my bacon-egg-jalapeno bagel let alone see it stuck in my teeth.

Men and ladies, quick tips, keep a travel-size deodorant, floss, toothbrush, and toothpaste in your work bag, just in case, it will surprise you how often you use it.

“I can still smell it” photo by Paulo Silva on Unsplash

Hygiene does not need to come with overpowering scents.

These scents include natural and chemically enhanced scents. Obviously, body odor, as well as perfume, can both be overwhelming. For those of you that wear cologne and perfume, please dial it back to something less than mosquito DDT fog. It does not need to overpower the office so much so that our body’s natural reaction is to shut down our sense of smell throughout the rest of the day. The fact that we can smell you across the whole office space or down the hall five minutes after you have passed is a little much. Some scents are mixed in with the many hygienic products today and are usually subtle enough.

Hair is always a tricky wicket and that depending upon the role you are in, certain hairstyles are better or are required either from a culture or from a safety standpoint. Many hairstyles exist primarily because of the clientele or the business peer group that you are working in is “standard” or expected. Some hairstyles are better than others from a functional standpoint, certainly keeping the hair out of your eyes or if you must wear a headset all day or if you are an emergency responder position, some hairstyles work better than others. Just choose wisely and keep it in tune.

Men’s facial hair and beards are popular, but many of you need to learn how to tend your beard and keep it properly trimmed and clean. There is no reason to look like Grizzly Adams or have food stuck in your beard. Some of you, like me, are genetically challenged to grow a beard, and it looks like a patchwork quilt, please stop trying to grow one.

“mannequin wearing red notched lapel suit jacket” by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Hygiene also means dressing for business. There are some articles of clothing that you should not be wearing within a workplace, even if it is fashionable outside the business. Dress for the right environment. Ripped jeans may be in style per the recent periodicals, they are not always appropriate in the workplace. Club clothes should remain in the closet until it is time to go to the club. Unless of course, you work in a club. Recognize the difference between Friday casual and weekend casual.

Your clothes should be clean and wrinkle-free and not smelling like you have worn them for three days straight. They should fit nicely, not excessively tight nor too baggy or oversized. Gentleman, you should be wearing a belt with any pants you wear. If you wear shoes that require polish, usually most leather shoes that are out there, take the time to get them polished. Make the effort to dress up a level.

“Damn, I look better than this mower” photo by Reuben Mcfeeters on Unsplash

This is not directly about you. This is the unfortunate perspective of others around you — the ones you work with. Your manager or business owner is looking for the next one in charge. If you are in sales, you are putting yourself forward as the brand of the company — you are the company. If you look sharp, then your business looks sharp.

You are that person that is looking to level up and you begin by checking the basics. By having proper hygiene and taking the time to be sure that you are dressing professionally will be recognized. What you will also find when you start dressing up is that your peers will also pay more attention and will recognize those activities and begin to make changes themselves. They too will up their game.

This is not an attempt to make everyone anonymous (rule #6). It is not to make people “normal” so much as a check to see if you are playing well with others and *ahem* following the dress code of the business you are working in. You are your business card. Look the part.

Look clean, look crisp, smell clean, subtle scents go a long way. The age-old — dress for success — has value. Take the extra step to ensure you make a good impression, every time.

Go forth and be brilliant.

All Talk and Less Work Makes Mike a Dull Boy

2018-11-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Wait, wait.

This is all wrong. It is supposed to be ”…all work and no play…” and in the reality of life, I would agree with you.

I would much rather spend my day mountain biking, running, swimming, climbing, playing sports, SCUBA diving, you name it — if I could be outside, sweating bullets, that is where I would rather be.

Yet unfortunately, it is a choice. I can choose to do those things I just described without receiving income, or I can choose to work and earn money to afford those things I want to do. The balance struggle begins. But I digress….

“why are you all swimming in circles? get to work!” photo by Pascal van de Vendel on Unsplash

We work because most of us need to. When we work, we are expected to carry out tasks and activities to be remunerated for our efforts through cash, stocks, bonds, or horse trading. So how do we complete those activities? Good old-fashioned labor. Nose to the grindstone.

Get. Stuff. Done.

Humans are social beings and we love to gather together, have a chat, smoke and joke, and carry on like cackling hens. There is always a time and place for social activities like that, yet work is not the best of those places. Yes, relationships matter, but so does productivity and effectiveness. Especially if you want your business to survive or if you depend on that paycheck. We learn to be effective by completing the tasks we must get done.

“more meetings” by Akson on Unsplash

However, each week we bemoan the fact that we have this meeting and that meeting. How do those meetings help the business? How many of you this past week sat in a minimum of five meetings?

How about ten? Or fifteen? I bet some of you have even sat in twenty-five meetings this past week.

What did all those meetings really accomplish? Of those meetings that you attended, how many of you had input, had a response and said something during the meeting that added value? If you are not engaged and not adding value, why did you even attend it? Is it FOMO?

In my original statement, “all talk and less work make Mike a dull boy” really means that all these meetings, with no action or no results, does not allow me to shine. The opposite of dull, of course. These meetings with no actions take away from the time available to complete assigned actions. These meetings do not allow me to complete the activities clean off the table, to make it bright and shiny and start anew with another project.

Please realize that I am all for meetings, however, I do not want to have a meeting just for the sake of having a meeting. What if you found the one person you needed the answer from, and you picked up the phone and asked them the question. Or you visited them in their cube or office and asked the questions you needed answers to, received them, and proceeded to finish your activities. Without calling a meeting?

“This Must Be The Place for a meeting” by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Let us say we need to have a meeting. We need more participants involved. We need those stakeholders to help provide direction and receive status updates of preceding actions. How many times do your meetings fall into the default one-hour category that your productivity software automatically assigns for you? How many of you deviate from that standard one-hour and choose a 45-minute meeting or even a 30-minute meeting? How many of you take the time and energy to create an agenda with specific talking points? And hold to that agenda? How many of you take notes and send those meeting notes out after the meeting with actions owned by specific people with due dates, so who does what by when?

I have certainly held my share of meetings where they were ineffective, those meetings that tend to wander aimlessly before eventually returning to the original topic (if you are lucky). It certainly happened earlier in my career, but now as I get older and less complacent, more urgent, I find it necessary to complete projects sooner and be more effective with my time. Not only with my time but also with the time of everybody else in the room? That lightbulb hit me one meeting when I did the quick math of everyone’s time in that meeting and it was northwards of $2,000 per hour and the actions that were the result of the meeting were trivial. That forces you to ask yourself, “do I even have the right people in the room?” Are the necessary decision-makers there? Are the owners of actions there?

Again, meetings can have value if managed properly. They do have a function, but like everything else, they need proper planning, a defined agenda, and explicit actions that need completion, questions answered, or problems solved during that time. You need to get stuff done.

Be ruthless.

Have your agenda defined to the minute. Stay on that agenda. Start on time. Even if all the parties are not there. If they are not there, they can catch up with the notes. Having a timekeeper assigned will ensure the meeting remains on task. Be sure to have a notetaker to capture the salient points of the meeting so it can be shared at the close. Always assign tasks and actions that need to be done BEFORE the next meeting. I urge you to assign tasks to those that were late (yes, that is passive-aggressive).

As a note, it would be good for you to practice feedback to those on an aside if they are late. “John, when you are late to a meeting it causes disruption and forces the team to retrace their steps, causing delay, please be ready to participate and on time for the next meeting, it will be better for everyone. Thank you.”

“task list and calendar — get stuff done” by STIL on Unsplash

Remember the tasks that need completion need to be done before the next meeting. Not at the time of the next meeting. That will require you to follow up through the slack time between that meeting and the next to ensure that people remain on task. It is called “management.” During the day or the week leading to that next meeting. During the meeting, staying on task to the agenda forces the conversations to remain in line with the problem being solved.

If your conversations deviate from the agenda, parking lot them. Put it on a topics list that needs to be addressed later. Do not allow that conversation to derail the purpose of that meeting.

Get. Stuff. Done.

This is hard work. Sometimes hard work is not fun work, but it is the most effective work you can do. Proper planning is necessary. Take the time to plan the work and actions and follow through with those actions. Do not allow yourself to become dull. Be shiny.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Quit Talking About It and Do It Already

2018-11-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

What happened?

You just looked at the clock and it is the end of the day, and you did not do what you intended to do. Although it was on your list of things to do, you talked about it, you made the plans, yet you never got to it.

How is that possible? Retrace your steps during a typical working day.

“what the hell happened?” by Jonathan Rados on Unsplash

Email.

Facebook.

Instant messaging

Meeting

Phone call.

Meeting

Another phone call.

More (a metric buttload more) instant messages.

Meeting.

Email.

Huh, look at that at, the end of the day.

And you did not do a single thing on your list.

“person distracted by their stupid smartphone” by Erik Lucatero on Unsplash

Now let’s look at the weekend. The intent is to work on Halloween costumes or carve pumpkins, or .

Coffee

Web searches

News

Exercise

Xbox

Chores

Grocery shopping.

XBox

Cleaning

Dinner prep.

Dinner

Movie or TV

Bedtime.

Well, damn, I never worked on the costumes or carved the pumpkins or the other things I intended to do. I talked about doing it. Even argued about doing it. And didn’t. What do you think the problem is?

Priority.

“there are only so many clicks in the day, make them worthwhile” by Phil Desforges on Unsplash

You did not find the tasks you were intending to complete and the most important thing to do. I, unfortunately, do this myself every day and there are a number of tasks that I keep pushing them off.

Now what?

You have to make the activity you want to complete the most important thing on your list. Really really make it the most important thing. Meaning you ignore everything else, no matter how badly you want to check email. No matter how “important” you may think it is to remain in contact with the outside world.

Most importantly, you need to break your pattern of behavior. We easily fall into a pattern of activity that burns excessive amounts of time daily. To hack this, you need to start by turning off those distractions. It will force you to begin to deliberately break your normal day-to-day activities.

This act of breaking, um, your activity pattern, will enforce your skills to be sure you are doing something that is anomalous to your actions. It will help you build a new habit of actually doing the real things on your list that have value.

This is hard to do. It is practically a withdrawal when you pull away from social media such as email and messaging. Because they have become so habitual, they feel like they are the most important thing to do.

How many times do you check your phone daily? OH MY GOD, I MISSED A MESSAGE, oh, wait never mind, it was just a Google News search update. Meanwhile, the bus just ran you down because you were distracted from the most important thing at the moment, which was crossing the street.

What do you think is the most important thing? (note — I already removed the distractions below)

So when your son or daughter comes to you and asks, “Dad, can you help me build my costume?”

When your partner comes to you and asks if you will assemble the Ikea furniture while they go to the grocery store.

Your boss asks you to finish the voice over for the training slides that are required for the upcoming safety shutdown.

Is email or XBox or random distractions the most important thing? Unless your screen name is Ninja, no.

“I am sorry I did not pick up the dry cleaning, I was too busy playing cards” by Joanna Nix on Unsplash

Make sure you take the time to pay attention and focus on the most important things. Do not allow trivial distractions to get in the way. Admittedly it is harder than you think and it takes lots of practice. You have to make choices. The choice is to focus on the most important thing and you need to remain disciplined to finish the most important thing.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Yeah dude, Toastmasters, I know right?

2018-11-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

Really. In all seriousness, you need Toastmasters.

“comfortable presenting” by rawpixel on Unsplash

Primarily you need it because you end sentences with the “I know right?”

I needed, er, wanted it, because I knew I could be better. I was suffering from unconscious incompetence. Ego said one thing, actions, that I was blind to, spoke volumes contrary to the damn ego. A skunk cannot smell its own scent, they say.

Here are some of the things I have learned on my Toastmasters journey. I would suspect you have the same issues:

I would umm, ahhh, tsk, and use verbal crutches anytime I would talk to somebody in senior leadership or when I would give a presentation to people in a group setting.
I needed it because I would blend my words together and I would mumble or speak too fast for anyone to clearly understand me
I did not enunciate while I would annunciate, nor was I able to articulate my narrative in a succinct manner.
I was unable to or did not know how to modulate my voice volume correctly.
I had no tone.
I did not know how to present properly or professionally
I was unable to stand comfortably in front of a group and share materials without the impostor syndrome taking over.
I did not know how to stand and I would rock back and forth
I did not know how to put my hands anywhere, let alone how to use my hands while presenting, often gesticulating incorrectly or wildly. I had an annoying habit of chopping and inserting imaginary things in the air with my right hand.
I would pace. Or the complete opposite, I would freeze, like a statue
I did not know how to listen

Even if you say “no, this is not how I am, I don’t need Toastmasters” I dare you to set up your phone or camera and video yourself the next time you speak in front of a crowd. Or better yet, just speak to yourself in front of the mirror (yet still record yourself). Watch it. You will see each and every one of those above behaviors.

Eerily uncomfortable.

You need to learn how to present. Learning how to present is what allows you to expand your career, to advance your career. You need to get better.

“no we do not drink during a Toastmasters meeting — although we want to” by Bobby Rodriguezz on Unsplash

I am a recent Toastmasters convert. Additionally, I am currently the President of our local Club after holding the Secretary role prior. Hell yes, I drink the Kool-Aid.

However, for years I did not join Toastmasters. Nonetheless, I would put “Join local Toastmasters group” into my employee goals and reviews each year. I would tell my employees that they should consider Toastmasters in order to advance their careers. I held a myopic view that I was beyond needing to go to Toastmasters because I had already reached a managerial position within the organization without it. I “felt” I was reasonably comfortable talking to people in a public setting in a group setting.

However, that was a feeling. Hardly measurable.

About two years ago when I sat through my first Toastmaster introductory meeting to stand up a new club in the current organization I was with, I immediately realized how unpolished I was. Watching an experienced Toastmaster was eye and ear opening. I would stumble over my tongue, blend words together, and use verbal crutches in my efforts to speak in front of a group of people, and watching and listening to these mature Toastmasters speak was amazing. They were smooth, fluid, correct, and engaging.

Whoa! Reality check. I needed to learn how to enunciate correctly, I need to learn how to speak slowly. And I also needed to learn to be more concise and not drawl on for ages. And, above all else, I needed to learn how to present. Professionally.

If you talk to groups of people. If you have to present information. If you have to talk in front of your peers or management, you need Toastmasters. No matter how good you think you are, you need Toastmasters.

Check Your Ego at The Door

Look, I’m not going to lie, this is going to be a shock to you the first time you go and participate in your first Toastmasters. If you are bold enough in your first meeting as a visitor and volunteer to have the ah-counter click you every time you say ahh, um, or err, you better be ready. Good for you! I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I guarantee you will hate that ah-clicker and the person clicking the clicker in that first meeting, or second meeting, or even third meeting.

My suggestion would be to just have them silently count your crutches for the first few meetings and give you the results. When they click you, you will be extremely agitated by the time you are done with that meeting which may lead to you not wanting to return. Usually a series of excuses to not return — I don’t need this, I am too busy, I have to go to another meeting, etc.

No. YOU. NEED. THIS.

“get some!” by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

In addition, Toastmasters are going to tune your ear. Even after the first meeting you will be sitting in subsequent meetings outside of Toastmasters and realize how poorly most of our peers and leaders speak. You will stop focusing on the content of the meeting and laser in on the ums, ahs, and errs. It teaches you how to listen.

What is the purpose of Toastmasters? The purpose of Toastmasters is to improve yourself. To educate yourself. To advance your capability, improving your knowledge and polishing your presentation and communication skills. You do not do it because you are a masochist, and if you are, please keep that to yourself. But whatever gets you through that door, then go. And keep going.

Discipline.

You do it even if you think you are good or you really are good and you need to polish. Some of our senior Toastmasters are Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) or multiple times a Distinguished Toastmaster. They go through it because they realize how important it is to be clear and concise and comfortable speaking in front of groups of people or presenting to leadership. They also do it to help pass on their experience and knowledge. To support the next generation of leaders.

Toastmasters skills you learn allows you to be a better communicator, but it will also teach you how to become a better leader.

Toastmasters club meetings have a very explicit and regimented agenda. Within that agenda, there are very distinct blocks of time for each of the functionary rolls to be performed, which includes measurements and scorekeeping, because, without measurement, you will not change behavior.

Reporting and feedback allowing people that speak during a Toastmaster session to become better due to immediate feedback. Timekeeping skills are imperative to leadership, and there is a formal time-keeper for all meetings to keep the meeting moving along promptly.

Keeping to an agenda and forcing a meeting to remain on time is extremely important for any business. All too often we get into meetings that are loose, freeform and quite messy and has little effectiveness when it comes to an overall meeting.

Toastmasters helps you understand how to make a proper agenda, including how to make appropriate time blocks for those particular roles or opportunities to speak and then provide feedback to each of those particular skills or reports.

“find a Toastmasters club near you” by Andrew Stutesman on Unsplash

The Toastmasters organization is global. If you want to compete locally or even internationally, you can do that. Most likely there is a Toastmasters club or even many Toastmasters clubs within a five-minute drive of your location. You may be lucky enough to have a Toastmasters club within your own organization. If you do, why are you not attending? For those where English is not their primary language, Toastmasters will help build your confidence and provide you with a safe place to practice your speaking and presenting skills.

Invest in your future. You are worth it.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Stop Making Excuses

2018-11-24T14:09:00.001-07:00

We all do it. I am really good at it.

I make excuses like a champ.

“this is a pile of books I said I would read but didn’t” photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Too many times I find myself in a situation, trying to rationalize why I did not complete a particular task. I may even spend more time trying to formulate an excuse for not completing a task than it would be for me just to go ahead and do the activity. Or I said I was “done” but, maybe 67% is not done.

Does this sound familiar? I highly doubt that I am the only person that does this. So how do we break out of that self-sabotaging behavior?

It is time to own it. Own that activity. You made the mistake of saying “yes” or “I will do that” or any other positive affirmation when someone asks you to do something. We just do not know how to say NO and we have a list of 214 things that need to be completed by tomorrow.

When you say “yes”, you immediately realized in the back of your cluttered mind that you would not be able to complete that activity. Or even better, you said “I can” to a project that you know is not at all fun, or had no intention of having to take on that particular action.

Yet you said you would do it anyway.

Dumb ass.

Now someone has come to collect on your commitment, your weakest moment, and the first thing you do is find an excuse.

Oh hey John, yeeeaaah, I need a little more time. You know a weird thing happened the other day and it totally hijacked my plans. You see this spaceship landed in my front yard and needed directions to …

Sue, I tried to get to the hardware store and pick up that paint, but a buffalo got stuck in the passenger seat, and, well, one thing led to another and we were at the bar drinking and you know, you aren’t supposed to drink and drive…

Stop doing that.

What? Stop promising to do stuff, or stop making excuses?

Yes.

Learn when to say no.

Stop making excuses. Are you afraid? Are you too busy chasing chrome squirrels? Do you need help?

Own it.

Recognize that you A. promised to do something, and B. you were unable to complete the task as you had intended. Now you need to atone for that lack of activity.

“I can fill a book with stuff I haven’t finished — or started” photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Start by making a priority list of activities, er, no. Wait.

First (really first), start measuring all the things you have promised to do. If you do not count and measure the number of times you say “yes” you have probably forgotten the things you promised to do.

NOW you can start making your lists. Create a list of threes. Break it down into a prioritized list of threes. If you do not have this list put together, you need to, otherwise, you just read a story on how to fix the mess you are in, and it becomes #215 on the list of things you intended to implement in your life to make it better.

After that list of threes is prioritized, identify the very first one. Here is where it gets tough…

Now go FINISH the first thing on your list.

Wash

Rinse

Repeat

Go forth and be brilliant.

Who is Driving This Clown Car Anyway?

2018-11-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to the circus or have you ever seen videos of the clown car? A bunch of clowns cramped inside, clambering out one after another. Yet you never really know who is driving. They had no purpose other than piing in with most likely no specific directions, no specific purpose other than being slightly silly?

In case you are slightly analytical and curious about how they fit so many clowns into cars, Car and Driver devised some physics to justify the science behind clown car stuffing.

“plenty of room in this beauty” photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

When you think of the image of the clown car where multiple clowns cycle in and out of the vehicle, running in various directions, switching sides, changing locations, you lose track of who is where and which ones are in the show. The misdirection, constant change and people moving all over the place can cause you to lose track of who is doing what.

Unfortunately, some organizations are much like clown cars. The tenure in some positions seems fleeting, and bodies are moving from one space to another as rapidly as those clowns bailing out of a clown car. They are only in the role for a short period of time, not allowing a recognizable, productive and effective culture to take place. It is difficult to keep track of who is in charge and with which group or which teams.

There are also times when an organization has an imbalance of managers to direct staff and it is difficult to support a particular interest guessing who may or may not be on the project each month. This causes multiple inputs, changes from the original or intended direction, and the lack of continuity causes slack discipline and failure to complete actions as needed.

This myopic churn also creates an apathetic workforce and the response is usually “what is the latest initiative — oh well it won’t matter next year.” This is unfortunately too common. Too many misdirections or redirections, conflicting instructions or lack of instruction causes workers to begin to feel like they are the ones being shuffled in and out of the car like clowns at the circus.

So how do we stop the clown car culture from occurring? Here is a list of habits that are effective. Although not in any particular order, they are all important and should all be implemented.

Stability
Discipline
Unified vision
Delegation
Urgency
Action
A sponsor or a specific manager of that particular activity or concern
A clear identifiable leadership structure hierarchical and stable with the least amount of disruption.
A clear business or project plan, an identifiable scope, a detailed problem statement with requirements, owners and completion dates that are clearly communicated.
No ambiguity in the instruction or direction
Dedicated staffers that are empowered and are not multitasking or being shuffled from project to project
A clear definition of priorities and understanding the importance of particular initiatives or job that is required to be accomplished
A clear communication plan that is well defined, is clearly documented and is communicated often
A clear map or diagram (or RACIX — roles and responsibilities matrix) of who the players are
A stable culture
Leadership that listens
Owning your mistakes and striving for excellence

It is a choice. Make it and go.

“best career decision…ever!” photo by Mark Flanders on Unsplash

Or climb in and grab a wig, the face paint, slip on the big shoes, drop some banana peels and play around in buckets of confetti. It will all work out.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Delegate to The Lowest Level

2018-11-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

As you know, as a leader, you should be taking the time to train your replacement. One of the easiest ways to train your replacement is to ensure that you are tasking and delegating activities to those that you have selected in your succession planning as a possible replacement.

“you want me to do this?” photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Exercise your ability to effectively delegate and task activities to the lowest level employees or peers where possible. This gives your team a greater opportunity for growth at the lowest possible cost for the organization.

Additionally, when delegating activities and tasks to your employees and your peers, these individuals that you want to grow, it enriches their experience, it increases their capability, leading to greater engagement, and advances the organization by level loading the team and expanding the capacity of the organization. It develops relationships. You are building a depth chart to lean on for possible shortages due to growth or lean times.

“if you do it this way…” photo by NESA by Makers on Unsplash

What is the difference between delegating and tasking individuals?

To task someone with a particular activity means that you remain as the owner of the outcome and results of that particular activity. You are asking someone to do a particular piece of work or to undertake an activity possibly outside their “normal” working activities. With tasking, you are the owner and you are assigning specific work or duties to help complete that particular activity.

Delegating an activity to someone means that you are abdicating the ownership of those particular activities and they are now the owner of that effort. They are the authorized people to fully represent you and are entrusted with the work and decisions related to that delegation. They now have the responsibility and the consequences from hereafter. They are expected to complete and report on the work as required. They could, in their ability to take on the delegation, could task another to support that effort.

Here are some examples of how to task or delegate activities to members of your team.

Task John with creating collateral and developing an agenda for your meeting. You give John the instruction and guidance of the items you need to be collected for that particular meeting. You may also require that he create an agenda of the topics to be covered within that meeting. John will provide you with that information for use in that meeting. You have the right to modify or delete information provided as needed, as you remain the owner of the detail.

“John is keeping time” photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Within the meeting, John could keep time and ensure the meeting meets the agenda by remaining on time while learning valuable time management skills. He can help collect the notes and details needed for action items as meeting follow-ons/outcomes. You could give John additional guidance in leadership and documentation, by ensuring that people are properly tasked with or noting the activity status of their previous actions. All these efforts help the growth of John and the organization. John remains doing these activities under your guidance.

“Sue running the show” photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

To delegate your activities such as creating a report, your delegate Sue will now become the owner of that activity in its creation, documentation, reporting, and distribution with no ownership or additional guidance from you in that effort.

The delegation is a good way to have her gain experience in the creation of reports, the necessary research and collation of information, the ability to create an effective communication tool for presentation, not to mention the ability to present information to senior leadership in a manner that develops accurate, concise and clear communication skills. Sue could also prepare a series of questions and answers for sharing at the close of the presentation. These activities ensure a functional meeting and the opportunity to learn how to own a particular effort and the results.

As you become better at tasking or delegating efforts and activities to the lowest level provides the best time and value for you and the organization. For instance, you would not necessarily want your senior staff doing the deep dive into the raw data when a lower-level staff member could be collecting and inputting the information into the reports for the same senior level staff.

It would be best for your senior machinist or engineer to put together a list of instructions and guidance for the tooling that needs to be assembled, but then tasking an apprentice to build, assemble and set the tools. It is not the best value to the business with that senior-most machinist assembling tools unless it is absolutely required.

You would not want your lead engineer to fill out a detailed data spreadsheet. The senior level engineer’s value comes in strategic design, identifying and developing architecture. Utilize, engage and enrich that entry-level engineer by having them investigate where the data comes from, how to get the information, how to develop the spreadsheet and the models that would be generated from the architecture.

You are a leader in your organization because you have learned and developed over the years. You are still a contributor, but your experience gives you greater insight into the information around you, and having the experience and knowledge of where to swing the hammer to fix the issue is your best value. Continuing to shovel coal is not utilizing your experience. Develop and nurture your replacement. Task and delegate like a boss!

Go forth and be brilliant.

Do Not Allow the Lizard Brain to Take Over — Unless Your Life Is In Danger

2018-11-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

The lizard brain. The primitive brain stem. The one system that is the oldest portion of your brain. It is the location where raw instincts reside and flow from. This is where fight-or-flight lives. You feel aggression — it comes from the lizard brain.

When you feel fear, it comes from the lizard brain. The lizard brain is that tool your body is wired into that tells it to get the hell out of there and run away or fight to the end using a brick or a 2X4 to ensure you walk away.

“get out of your mind” photo by Alex on Unsplash

Fast forward to modern-ish times. The popular thing to do lately is to get your DNA sequenced to figure out who (or what) you descend from. I’m going to save you $250 by telling you who your ancestors are.

Ready?

We all come from a long line of liars, cheaters, thieves, murderers and cowards. Many of our ancestors ran away or hid in the underbrush. Our lineage comes from those predecessors whose lizard brains decided for them to let them live to see another day. The lizard brain motivated (or soothed) them to escape from what they were afraid of most.

Feel whole now? Have a better understanding of where you come from? You are $250 to the positive now. You are welcome.

Sure, there are those angry folks who want to fight everyone everywhere. Yet those types usually do not last long in this world. Deceivers, connivers and sleight-of-hand types are learning how to escape, and their generations live on. If we were all Conan the Barbarian’s or the Red Sonja’s of the world, there would be no one left. If we keep attacking the saber-tooth cat with a stick, eventually we will die.

“I told you not to use a stick” photo by Rubén Bagüés on Unsplash

For us to survive, we became smarter, yet fear remains.

Yes, we are smart, but afraid. We are rational even. We can use our more modern brains and our opposable thumbs to find the best way to approach and solve problems. Yet we are afraid of the result. Sometimes the best way to approach a problem (maybe) is to walk (run) away from it.

We think through a solution that is elegant, yet at times we would rather be smashing it into pieces. Hulk smash is not an appropriate response! Running away like Monty Python is often a better approach. Yet that is the lizard DNA flowing through your veins. We need to combat that apathy.

What is our defense against the lizard brain? What activity should we work on that allows us to overcome resistance?

First you need to recognize that the lizard brain is taking over. It is that action alone that you make a choice, to decide to make yourself uncomfortable. Leaning in, stepping up, leaping forward; these activities counter the lizard brain. The lizard brain lulls you into the comfortable, into the “safe” place. Away from the danger. Away from the scary stuff. Fight that lizard brain activity. It is okay to be one with discomfort, the scary stuff. The things that make you feel out of your skin.

“how fast can you run” photoby jean wimmerlin on Unsplash

Because of all the thousands of generations, we have evolved from our ancestors from the trees, most of us have the flight mechanism. We must reprogram it. Or ignore it. Most of us have that fear trigger that overwhelms us and we run away. We fear that we will fail. We fear that someone will judge us. We fear that people will see us as the Imposter. That is the lizard brain. That lizard brain tells you to run away from that uncomfortable space.

Learn how to do the following things that will smother the lizard:

Realize and recognize that you are stalling. That you are looking for excuses. Immediately and actively choose to stop allowing those excuses to happen.
Be open to new experiences, new ideas, new concepts that are not even remotely close to your head. If someone suggests you do something that is so contrary to your “normal” actions, then you should consider doing it.
Do not make excuses.
Did I say to stop making excuses?
No longer have the fear of failure. Failure is really a success. It is a badge of honor that you have the guts, the intestinal fortitude to try.
When the first recognition of fear or stalling begins to creep in, turn it into a bias for action. For overcoming that fear. Do an activity that counters that fear and just do it. Do not overthink it. If the fear is to walk away, turn it into an opportunity to run AT IT. Like Nike’s slogan — Just Do It.
Let your energy be your device to carry you to success. If you throw a boomerang, you must throw it hard enough to make it come back. You must to throw it with purpose. With energy! With conviction!
If you come to a path that seems less traveled, or that you are on the frontier. Embrace that gift. Take the next step and another. Have the discipline to stick it out.
Stop sandbagging. Stop playing safe. Reach for the stars.
Do not fear success.
Do not fear hard work.
Stop saying one thing and do something contrary to it. Self-sabotage sucks. E.g. I want to get fit. But I do not have time and I will start next week/month/year. OR I want to be successful — but I will start after I finish playing this

What are you waiting for? You must make a choice. You should choose to step up. You must decide to ignore the lizard brain.

Go.

Do.

Now.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Done Means DONE — Please Think Binary

2018-11-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

Communication is seriously overrated.

“help!” photo by Hugo Jehanne on Unsplash

It seems we are unable to be clear and accurate in our ability to use words and sentences to convey a particular description, status, or closure of an activity.

Please do not get caught in this sort of death spiral:

Person 1: Is ready for production? Person 2, are you done with and ready to turn it over to production?

Person 2: Oh yeah, that has been done and ready for three weeks.

Person 1: Did you communicate this to the production staff?

Person 2: Yeah.

…Later…

Person 1: Hey Production 1, has been ready for your use for three weeks. Was this communicated to you?

Production 1: No idea what you are talking about. No one said anything to us. We would love to use the new machine — is it ready?

Person 1: *!*

…A few more minutes later…confirming email to Person 2.

Person 1 Email: Person 2, it was reported that is done and ready for production. Production has no indication or notification that is ready. What needs to be done for to turn to production?

Person 2 Email response: Yes it is done, except* I need this, I need to do this, and need to have this done.

Person 1: *#*%&!!!

“more than once a day…” screaming by Gabriel Matula on Unsplash

This is not an effective communication or activity. It is wasteful and unproductive. We need to stop having discussions like this.

When someone asks you “is it done” or “is it complete” the response is expected to be a binary answer with no exclusions* or additions*. “Done” does not mean “yes…but”. “Complete” does not mean “it is but”. Either of these responses are wildly inaccurate.

When you are asked the question “is X done” and you still have activities related to that task, the response is BINARY. 0 (zero) means NO it is not done. 1 (one) means YES it is done. Think of the question like a light switch. Done means done. There are NO MORE ACTIVITIES required. Complete means complete. NO MORE WORK IS REQUIRED!

“done” by Johny vino on Unsplash

Done — to achieve or complete

Complete — finish making or doing. Whole or perfect.

“NOT done” by Rick Mason on Unsplash

*No caveats.

*No excuses.

It is either done or not done. Plain and simple.

So when someone asks you a question and the activity they are inquiring is incomplete, please do not say “Yes it is done, but I need to do this…” because that statement is like shaking your head side to side while your mouth vomits out the word “yes”.

Stop making unnecessary noise. The perfect response would be “No it is not done. I need to tighten the widget X on the Y. I will be DONE with it today at 4pm. I will let you know when I am complete”

Same goes for when someone asks you status.

Boss: Gary, what is the status of the work on X?

Tap Dancer: Hi Sue, it is going good.

Um, that response is NOT a status. Status would be “50% complete”. OR “It is behind/ahead of schedule” which indicates a status. Red, Yellow, or Green would be a status. COMPLETE or DONE would be a status. “It is going good” is not a status.

Also, when it is COMPLETE or DONE, it is still not complete or done until you have provided status to who gave the task or activity instruction to you or the parties that are waiting to use it. So when you are tasked to do something, you are complete when you say…

Hey Sue, is complete on

When you give a closing statement, you have completed the task. It is final.

Any questions?

Go forth and be brilliant.

Own Your Mistakes and Create a Lessons Learned Diary

2018-11-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ouch!

“top view photography of broken ceramic plate” by chuttersnap on Unsplash

You made a mistake! You screwed it up! Now what?

Own it!

Things happen. If you are not making mistakes, if you are not making a mess of things, then you are not engaged and you are not trying. If you are not making mistakes, then you are just standing on the sidelines, waiting for other people to do something. Consumer.

That is not you.

“take a leap” by Kid Circus on Unsplash

You are looking for the next thing. Looking to make changes. You are a producer. You are making an effort to better yourself and others. Yet sometimes stuff happens and it does not all go to plan. If you are making mistakes then you are showing the world that you are trying.

You are making an effort to do something that you have not done before. Guess what? You are a rock star for trying. You are doing something that most people are afraid to do. Yet now it is time to own your mistakes.

By the way, making mistakes is a good thing. It is a micro-success. It is a learning experience that gets you one step closer to your resolution. To that breakthrough.

No Excuses

By owning up to your mistakes, you are putting on your big girl pants. Wearing a mantle. That action of ownership makes you realize your efforts are going to change what happens next. If you make an excuse, it is somebody else’s fault — even when it is not.

Not even close.

Your behavior is going to change through ownership, primarily because you do not want to make the same mistake twice. This newfound wisdom that was earned by messing up on what you were trying to do previously becomes the architecture and roadmap for the next time you do that or a similar activity.

“white and blue sticker” by Greta Pichetti on Unsplash

Most people find excuses.

The sun got in my eyes.

It was so-and-so’s fault.

These people, not you, find reasons for their mistakes and hide behind them like shields. They are afraid of being seen as incapable of doing the action correctly. The fragile ego that comes from the fear of making mistakes needs to be strengthened and solidified, which can only come from ownership. Stepping up.

You cannot be afraid of making mistakes, no fear. You most certainly cannot use excuses as to why the mistakes were made. Own it. You now need to create a log of those “lessons learned” from your mistakes and document the best practices.

A Lessons Learned Journal/Log/Bible/Diary can be simply made using a notebook, a notepad, or an Excel spreadsheet. The key is to document it, no matter the method. Depending on your dependence on technology and the level of effort you wish to use to capture Lessons Learned notes, just capture them. It may be a combination of a manual handwritten log that gets transferred to Excel or Access. Something that can easily be searched at a later date.

When creating the Lessons Learned Journal, you simply need to document the lessons you learned that were generated from that mistake. Identify the error or mistake by describing the situation in one sentence or a few words, capturing the essence of what you were trying to accomplish. Once you have identified the problem or the mistake you made, you need to also create and document the solution and fix to that mistake.

By documenting that learning effort helps you recognize potential problems earlier the next time you are in a similar situation. The key is to learn so that you will not make the same mistake again.

Opportunity — Missed posting the correct document to the server causing the team to lose three days while I was out of office and unable to be contacted.

Lesson Learned — Quality control. Making sure the document I created was posted to the correct folder and sending an email to the team indicating the location where it is before leaving town. Build a simple checklist to make sure the right information is in the right place.

By documenting these Lessons Learned, you can even create a “frequently asked questions” (FAQ) or your own Wiki that captures the challenges that may arise, identifying the failures you have made during a particular activity or process.

By creating this Lessons Learned document you can now share your wisdom and your knowledge of what you learned and help others to solve a similar problem. Imagine if you had someone on your shoulder being able to provide guidance during the same learning experience as you were when you made your mistake?

There is gold in those mistakes. The value exists.

Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

Yet, this journal is not a substitute for those trying to learn some new subject matter without actually doing the activity, this journal gives them guidance and instruction to help them notice things that may become potential issues. It helps them to miss the potholes you found when you were tromping through the frontier. It helps them avoid an actual mistake or error.

Your Lessons Learned now becomes instructions and guidance for those that have not had the same experience as you have, and this can have great value for the guy or gal that uses it and it saves them days, weeks, or months of pain from making a mistake.

The same mistake you made one, three, or five years ago. It makes them more efficient and makes you a linchpin to the organization. It makes your value skyrocket because you have a strategic vision to ensure you do not make the same mistake twice.

You make the effort to document your mistakes so you can train your replacement. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Use your experience and wisdom as foresight and guidance to grow your team, organization or business.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Train Your Replacement — What Is Your Exit Strategy?

2018-11-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

When are you going to be able to enjoy your life away from the workplace?

“this is good work, and we should move to the next level” photo from NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Are you developing and maturing your team, program, business, or organization to survive after you leave?

When you start working on a new process or a new solution, are you taking that same time to invest in someone that can own that work beside you?

Are you taking the time or effort to transfer your knowledge to the next generation or a peer that is looking to advance their skillsets?

“why let work bind you” photo from Zulmaury Saavedra on Unsplash

Why are you a slave to your work?

Do you really think that the business cannot run without you at the helm and if that is the case, why is it that way?

Did you not hire the right people around you?

It is possible one of the reasons why is that you have not taken the time to do proper succession planning. You have not taken the time to train your replacement. You have not taken the effort to task or delegate your subordinates or peers to be able to do the work you do, or of the skills that you have when you are no longer there.

You have failed the business.

You have failed the organization.

You have failed yourself.

Early in my career, I was soon to recognize the importance of ensuring that someone else was able to do my job. This was not because I had brilliant foresight. It really was not an altruistic act originally, as it was that I was covering my behind. I was looking for the next opportunity, but I wanted to make sure that the work that I was doing was picked up by somebody else. Most likely a carryover from the military and doing handoffs and pass-downs on work we accomplished each day.

Admittedly, there was a bit of selfishness in my original efforts to train my replacement, I did not want to do my job anymore (read “lazy”). Yet as my career progressed, I realized how important it was to continue to train those around you. To expand the envelope for some of my peers and employees that were not familiar with some of the work that was necessary to keep the business moving forward.

“let’s figure out how to do this together” photo from rawpixel on Unsplash

Training your replacement does not have to be hard, it just needs to be thought out as to what activities you can task or delegate to the person you want to hand over the reins to within your team.

When you task someone with a particular effort, that means you still own that effort, the named person is tasked with the effort but you own the output and consequences.

Yet when you delegate a particular action to someone, they are now the primary owners of it. They become the owner, lock, stock, and barrel of that particular action and the consequences behind that activity.

However, it is imperative to recognize that just by tasking or delegating an action to someone does not mean they know what to do or how to do it. Tasking and delegating must come with training. If you have not trained them on how to do that action, you can not wash your hands of those actions until they are able to stand on their own.

Remember the first time you picked up a task that was unfamiliar to you? Your progeny (apprentice, padawan, chosen one, selected, mentee) is now in the same situation that you were the first time you learned something new. You need to train them and help guide them through methods or instructions on how to complete that activity.

If you do not, you fall into the Academic creep trap which can cause the person you chose as a replacement to fail. It is because you assumed they know what you know, that their experience has been your experience. It is human nature. You project your image onto them even though they have never done some of the work or activities that you were trying to get them to own as part of this transfer of power.

“pick the right timeline that is realistic” photo from JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

In this effort, you also need to pick a timeline that is realistic both for you and for the person that you want to level up. It is not unrealistic, certainly depending upon the complexity of the role, that it will take six months for a particular activity to be understood and mastered by the person you’ve selected to become your replacement.

It may take a year for that person to understand two-thirds of what you do, but is only capable of one-third of what you do. You are probably now thinking, “Oh my gosh, it is going to take me three-years to train my replacement ?!!” Yes, in order to be successful, it is sometimes better to go slow, because slow is smooth and smooth is fast. It will take that long to train your replacement.

So why are you waiting to start training someone to replace you — why not start today? Even when you are put into a new role, or in a new leadership position, you should begin the training for your replacement soon after you start your new role.

You need to have that strategic vision to recognize how important it is to find somebody to be able to step into the breach in case you are unavailable. Maybe you are away or traveling and your team needs someone to help provide guidance — this is that opportunity.

A caveat — even though you train someone, recognize that you may fail in the training of your replacement by telling them exactly, explicitly, what to do to the point of micromanagement of that particular task. Your goal is not to make a mini-me.

Your goal is to find someone that is capable of working the activities that you have delegated to them with more success and greater effectiveness than you were able to accomplish yourself originally.

You can only revel in that success by providing them guidance (the guardrails) and then allowing them to discover that role on their own. Allowing them to wade around in that new knowledge and figure out how to do those activities the way that works best for them is key to build that ownership and understanding of the demands of what you do in your work every day.

Take the time to recognize who you want to take on your mantle and begin training them today.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Stop Trying to Boil the Ocean

2018-11-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

What image does that title bring to mind? Boiling the ocean.

What an immense feat!

The level of effort that would be required to accomplish that task. The amount of work that would be required to boil the ocean. The immensity makes you wail internally with despair….

“a lot of water” photo by Giga Khurtsilava on Unsplash

This phrase is descriptive of a very difficult task, close to impossible. The project is massive in scope and scale, which may have been improperly scoped originally. It could be the type of project with an extremely ambitious goal which can potentially cause stress, frustration, and disappointment for those that are also involved because the project has an extremely low chance of success. So what do you do?

Manage the scope.

Scope is a life ring for the drowning person.

In the case of a project that is out of control (or never in control), it is the tool that is used to ground everyone, in reality, providing a clear definition of the project and its intent. Having the foresight to realize it is necessary to re-scope, de-scope, or just properly scope a project is a key to the success of the team and the organization.

Without this redefinition, this becomes a primary source of burnout for your coworkers and team. By rescoping the effort allows a dose of reality to be injected into the project or program. It enables the team to become more effective. It allows the team to have the chance to make an impact and change the organization successfully. It is not an opportunity to sit back and make the program or project a walk in the park, as there still need to be stretch goals to reach, but not the ones that destroy your team.

What are some examples or indications that you are boiling the ocean? For instance, try to design, develop and deploy a solution in six or nine months, when it was originally estimated to be a three-year program.

Or not having an understanding of the true intent and purpose of a process control system that is expected to measure multiple process lines that are lacking an identifiable problem statement, and it needs to be done quickly (no real “deadline” except hurry up) — even though you have never done it before.

Or trying to find the needle in the stack of needles — big data — without (again) a problem statement. Mountainous tasks that do not have a clear definition, a realistic target date, or the right level of support required for the effort.

“person under the waterfalls” by Rio Hodges on Unsplash

When the scope is clearly identified, requirements are clearly stated, with expected results requested and validated, then the ocean no longer needs boiling.

Much like businesses cut costs, cut unnecessary scope out of the plan.

Keep the scope creep from blowing up your project beyond proportions. Hack away the pork fat (ooh, if you also do this, it would be great) and focus on the core intent and expected results.

Clearly identify the problem statement — the thing you are trying to fix.

Develop a method of intent — how you will approach the problem, the who does what by when.

Identify and focus on the priority items, the big hitters, the items that move the needle, by scoring and prioritizing the tasks through the use of risk prioritization numbers.

Maybe even using Pareto’s rules to filter the most important things — the things that are most significant — 20% of the most important work is 80% of the effort.

By making these efforts, your team can better allocate the right resources and estimate your work and time. You should be asking these questions:

What can you do?

What are you strongest at?

What can you push to another team?

Can you delegate?

Who can you develop a partnership with and task certain efforts?

Can you just not do that particular thing now, can it wait for later?

“make a plan and stick to it” by Felipe Furtado on Unsplash

The U.S. Marines (other branches use it too) taught me a trick when I was young — the root of the efforts for a successful mission is by using the 7Ps. It helps frame the issue and reminds stakeholders of the importance of the effort.

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Go forth and be brilliant.

Simple Is Often Better

2018-11-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Maybe we should even restate it by saying that simple is always better.

“eyeglasses with black frames” by Jess Watters on Unsplash

Simple.

The word itself is simple.

The opposite of complex, the opposite of making it so confusing that it requires three people to work on it. It is as simple as one element, one piece. Simple is elegant in its scarcity. When you say “wow, that was simple,” you say it with a smile. When you say “wow, that was complex” it is usually prefaced or closed with expletives.

Now, this is not a treatise against technology, even though technology is taking over. It is adding more complexity to our cars (e.g. self-driving vehicles) or that our appliances are now connected to the web and have browsers and screens built into them, enabled to determine where you are short on foodstuffs.

There are (lots of) times when you want simple. It is recognized that self-driving vehicles are required to be complex because of the daunting task for engineers and developers to consider all the failure modes of an autonomous 4,500-pound system hurtling down the road at 75-miles per hour.

Yet, there are times when a refrigerator should be just a refrigerator. Not a web browser. If you need a grocery list, you could *gasp* use a pencil and paper. Think in reduced fractions, whole numbers. When you write, make it simple. When you program, make it simple. When you design something, reduce it to its base elements, making it simple.

“ready to fly this puppy?” by Franz Harvin Aceituna on Unsplash

When we design items, there are systems that need not be included in the development as it provides a level of complexity that is often unneeded that can lead to failure.

For instance, developing a software interlock that requires an operator to input information and without this information, the next steps cannot be realized or completed. What is the simplest thing that can occur in that system? The operator will not have the details “required” and can no longer continue with the operation or transaction. This can lead to lost opportunities, lost customers, lost revenues, lost time.

When trying to solve a problem, why do we need to design an interface that is a “workaround” for the problem? Why not think more along the lines of Occam’s razor, thinking of solutions as being as simplistic as it can possibly be and just do away with the problem as it exists, rather than designing around it.

If a particular adhesive is required in a manufacturing process but is it so toxic that a complex solution is required to protect workers, would a simpler solution be to find or create a new adhesive with no outgassing or is non-toxic?

Or that a particular operation currently requires nine tools and the operator can rarely remember which tools to use in which sequence, possibly consolidating the tools into a much smaller subset, so that a single tool can be used, reducing complexity and making it simple?

Use estimations when possible, does the 3rd decimal place really matter in that annual throughput calculation or in that efficiency standard?

Can you use pictures instead of words?

“I just want something to drink” by Victoriano Izquierdo on Unsplash

Have you heard of “decision fatigue?”

Effectively it is the mental and physical drain that comes from making decisions when there are too many choices. It is the end of a long day where you have to make many decisions, you get home and your partner asks what you want for dinner and you lose it.

You do not care, you could be fed dog poop on a platter and you frankly do not care. As long as you do not have to make another decision that day, you are fine.

So to reduce or even eliminate that decision fatigue, you could easily start your day with the same clothes, or align your clothes each week so that you know you have to move from the left to the right through your closet as your week progresses.

No thinking, just grab the next hangars and go about your day. Steve Jobs did. So did Einstein. Carrie Donovan, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Kors. Heck, even Simon Cowell does. So why do you need 44 pairs of pants, 64 shirts, 12 pairs of shoes and 23 pairs of socks? By the way, that is 777,216 combinations.

Do we need that many choices?

Make. It. Simple.

Why? Because we need your brain to do more important things.

Making things simple can lead to reduced stress (no more stressful decisions (like OMG, what socks do I wear?), more free time (what do you want to do? I dunno, what do you wanna do? ad infinitum), stronger ego and better self-esteem because there is no more second guessing (argh, did I make the right choice?!?) and generally a much easier, calmer, happier life.

Why NOT make it simple?

If you make simple the habit, then the habit can be repeated, allowing you to do it better and better every time. This, in turn, allows you to spend that excess brain power into doing things that are more important (no, not multi-tasking), like trying to figure out how to make it simple. Making things simple is not easy. It is often difficult, challenging, and usually frustrating. Simple is not a shortcut. But when you discover the simplest solution, the rewards are immense.

Simple can even be complex, depending on the solution. We need to stop trying to make things complex.

Go forth and be brilliant.

What is The Sound of Silence?

2018-11-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

What comes to mind?

Is it a passive-aggressive response to a pithy title like that? A response but not a response? One where you decide not to say anything just to see who responds first?

Or better yet, is it the reimagined song Sound of Silence by Disturbed, or the original version by Simon and Garfunkel? If you listen to either version of those make sure you actually listen to the words that are being said such as “..people talking without speaking, people hearing without listening….”.

We are a race that makes a bunch of noise, sound and fury, but with little effect. We are too lost in our own worlds, distracted by the things we invent to make it easier for us to communicate.

“white space and silence” photoby rabby ahmed on Unsplash

What if we were to use silence? The effort to use silence to help generate tension that may create more open communication between parties. However, in some cases, silence may not work and old-fashioned talking combined with nonverbal communication, the physical gestures, body positioning, human actions while people are communicating with one another is also a way to communicate.

Silence

That awful awkward silence. Silence is a vacuum, and what does nature abhor? A vacuum. So what does it do, it forces that vacuum to be filled. When you are in a period of silent tension, one of you leaks and fills that void with noise. Words, groans, sighs — something. Once, a customer told me “you have one mouth and two ears, which do you think you should do more of?” He was suggesting that I should shut my mouth and listen.

It works wonders.

Have you ever been around a professional negotiator (or even a great instructor) that can use silence to her advantage? They will ask a question to you or of a room full of people and wait. And wait, and wait, and wait.

Eventually, someone can no longer take it and starts blabbering away like they are being waterboarded. You need to be comfortable to wait for an answer. Learn how to live with that silence.

When you ask a question, stop. Wait.

Wait some more.

Let the other party understand, digest, and formulate a response. Do not fill the silence with a following question, or with an explanation.

Just.

Wait.

If you learn to use silence properly, it can help coach others that you work with. Instead of you telling them the answer, they can ask questions to find the results. It forces them to be more engaged when that silence envelopes them. They will answer their own questions.

You can also use the silence to learn from somebody. Asking them what do they want, or what do they need, and let them do the talking. Let them fill that void. Yet, you still need to be engaged and listen to what is being said, as well well as what is not being said. The words in the quiet space between the words. Learn how to be an effective listener.

To learn how to become better at using silence as a tool to get others to open up and fill that quiet tension, count in your head. Say the alphabet in your brain. That internal dialog will keep you from falling into your own void until you get in the practice of using silence as a way to generate tension. But remember to stop counting when the other person begins to speak, you need to pay attention!

Body Position and Nonverbal Communication

Not surprisingly we are becoming less connected with non-verbal cues. Body language. Is this because of asynchronous electronic “instant” forms of communication like email, IM, text, iMessenger, Skype, Zoom, Snapchat, etc., etc.? It is asynchronous because it is not interpersonal, face-to-face. You can choose to ignore a message, and it is not required to have an immediate response.

…oh, sorry dude, I just saw this… (translation — I actually saw it three hours ago but I was distracted by something more important than your message)

Body language is important when you are speaking with someone, in person, synchronously. Real-time. The physical gestures, facial expressions, and body positioning all speak volumes to the “listener” and if they are paying attention, then they need to realize when it is necessary to change the message being sent.

Non-verbal communication is often through instinct and habit, rather than through conscious deliberation. You probably do not know why you struck a certain pose. It is not to say that someone uses deliberate body positioning to effect a change in your communication with another, but those that are in tune can use it to their advantage to help build relationships and successfully negotiate when required.

We must recognize that our body language transmits your level of attention, your involvement in the conversation. Much like the “lean in” statement and book of the same. What does that simple action phrase mean to you?

“stop!” photo by Isaiah Rustad on Unsplash

When using or receiving non-verbal communication, you need to learn the strength (value?) of each sort of languages.

Gestures and body movement — for instance when speaking in front of a group of people, simply holding your hands up can be perceived as “stay away” or “do not come any closer” and your audience will react accordingly Yet, a more engaging speaker may use a “come here” arm wave, or “come closer” finger waggle to engage a more intimate conversation. Learn to use fast movements to initiate urgency, but not frantic movements of a person in panic. Use slow movements to engender patience and calm.
Eye contact and facial expressions — wow. This is missed almost always. How often do we have people failing to look at us directly, averting their eyes, or furtively glancing around the room for the escape through door #2? But even eye contact can be modified through the use of your brow. If you have a furrowed brow or it is pinched in anger or pain, it gives a much different perception than brows raised, eyes wide in excitement!
Facial expressions part 2 — um…remember to smile.
Touch — not everyone likes to be touched. Some people hate to touch others, but it is what brings relationships closer. Handshakes are key and men you need to learn how to do it right. It is not a power struggle. Women especially need to learn, no cold fish baton passing please. Learn how to shake hands. But even a touch on the shoulder or arm can engender a stronger emotion than just words alone.
Space and position — get away! If you read your audience, you would quickly realize they do not want the bro-hug or the chest bump. Arm's length is good. Some people are space hogs and are all up in your stuff. It is OK to take a step back and you can use hand gestures to ward them off like a kung-fu master. Yet, sometimes you can use space to your advantage — for instance if I am engaging with someone I need something from and we are outside, I make an effort to position them so they are not looking into the sun or any distracting activities around us, but looking at me, forcing them to look at me when I say “hey, look what I can do.”

“smile” by Brian DeSimone found on https://www.briandesimone.com/

So when you are in a conversation with someone or involved in your next meeting, watch around the room and see who is engaged, or disengaged. Look for the ones blocking or pushing against whatever is being said, and for those that are drinking every last drop of the kool-aid.

Additionally, try and practice using silence to your advantage. Try to use silence to learn more about someone. While you are doing that, you can also look for the non-verbal cues to help fill in the gaps.

Ask a question.

Shut up.

Pay attention.

Be engaged.

Lean in.

Go forth and be brilliant.

It is Okay to Say No…Sometimes

2018-11-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

When our boss* comes to us to ask you to do something, do you ever say no?

It is probably depending on which boss that it is, but most of us probably say “yes” and do the work.

We say "yes" even though we already have a plateful of work in front of us, and falling behind on the similar work. It is rare that a person says “no” to the boss and we need to figure out how that balance can be beneficial for both relationships.

For those of you that say “no” outright, this is for you, too.

“You are the best and I need you to get this done” by rawpixel on Unsplash

Most people realize that work is necessary. It provides us with the currency to purchase stuff.

Important stuff like food, shelter, and clothing. It allows us to purchase things we want too, the toys like a medium format digital camera or a tranquility pod. We do not want to lose that opportunity to earn that paycheck. We do what we can to provide the right answer to keep us in good graces with the boss and the business. So we say “yes” to everything.

Why?

“No” photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash

If you are in the position that gives your boss the level of trust that they can come to you and you.will.get.it.done. Hell or high water, you figure out a way to do it. Yet, in that effort, you have allowed other work to slip. Or you try to multitask, becoming less efficient at those other tasks.

You drop the things that were more important yesterday or last week, yet are still needed to work on this new thing. You want to be able to finish that other work, but there seems to be a neverending flow of crisis projects, a continual “we have got to have this by X:00, can you do it?” How many times over your career has the boss came to you 30 minutes or so before going home — “hey I need X, can you have it by the morning?” Ugh.

You certainly have the skills, the capability of doing anything. MacGuyver has nothing on you. No matter what the challenge, you are up for it. Do you know how to fix the copier? Nope, but you can figure it out.

Do you know how to set up international shipping — never done it before, but sure, why not.

Can you sequence this genome using FISH, SAGE, or ELISA, an abacus and a used popsicle stick? Probably not, but let’s give it a try.

You find a way.

The side effect of saying “yes” all the time is that you become a crutch. You are supporting someone else in their efforts and they need to lean on you, heavily, in order to be successful. Okay, not an issue so much. But when it begins to affect your work, you start to stress out a little. I really need to get this done too, you think. You leave work barely accomplishing the latest thing, but in the back of your mind, you know you have a laundry list of unfinished work. There are now nine more things to complete tomorrow, instead of three, generating even more stress, distress from not completing your work.

That increased stress is causing bodily harm to you, mentally and physically. You lash out at your friends and family because of the stress. Eventually, all the times you say “yes” degrades your performance, and you have too many “priorities” — things that are all rated a 10 on the importance scale, and you get nothing completed. If you say yes to everything, and everything is a priority, then nothing is completed and nothing is important. A vicious cycle that resembles a swirl going down the drain.

So what do we do now smart guy?

Learn how to say “no” because that will save your life. You do not have to be a jerk about the word “no”, you just have to learn how to balance the priorities and determine what is the most important thing. Do not give a lame excuse about why you say no — just learn how to be sure to understand that in this case, no means yes while providing an opportunity to be successful for both parties, the asker and the doer.

“negotiation” photonby rawpixel on Unsplash

Here are some ways you can learn how to say no. The best method is to use collaboration, which helps build relationships, and relationships matter. Negotiation is also a great method, you are not saying no, so much as you are saying “if I can do this, instead will you do that instead”. A bit of give and take. You help find a way to complete it but at a different time.

Alternative methods are also strong. Trying to find a different solution or offering to find a different solution. This may play into your ability to leverage previous work you have done, or with a different person. Outright no is the tough ones. This is the last resort, as it shuts the door and is not a collaborative effort, and is usually a cry for help. Here are some simple ways to say “no”:

No, I cannot do it right now, but I can do it Wednesday at 10am.
No, but I can if you do X for me.
No, but I can do this, will that be equivalent/acceptable?
No, but Samantha can do it, she is capable.
No, but we can have our subcontractors do it by tomorrow/next week/next month
No, because I did it already, and it can be found….
No, sorry, I have to finish this other work
No, but if I know the priorities, I can better schedule an acceptable solution
No, I need help, there is too much to do.

“group of people doing fist bumps because we are awesome” by rawpixel on Unsplash

Trying just these few for practice may provide you the experience on how to say “no.” In reality, you really are not saying “no” so much as you are saying “yes, if” which keeps the doors open and helps strengthen those around you.

It allows the work to be shared, level-loading the organization and builds the skillsets of those around you that are not as capable. It reduces your workload. It provides the business with more opportunities and it allows it to grow because you are no longer the bottleneck. It gives your boss more faith in those around you. It strengthens relationships with your coworkers and builds camaraderie.

Go forth and be brilliant.

*Boss — this is defined as your working boss, business owner, customer, husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father or any combination thereof.