Strategies of Genius Blog

What is my definition of genius?

tarynvoget — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:39:59 +0000

When you think of people who are geniuses, who pops into your head? And why are they geniuses? What makes them special? Have you ever stopped to consider the definition of genius?

Merriam Webster defines genius in the following way:

ge·nius (noun)
1: extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity
2: a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; specifically : a person with a very high IQ

But does this definition encompasses the full spectrum of genius? Do Tiger Woods and Richard Branson have “extraordinary intellectual power”? And are all people with a high IQ therefore geniuses?

I have been exploring the idea of genius. I have had the opportunity to study and work with some of the world’s best on topics ranging from wine tasting to parenting. The conclusion I’ve reached is that genius is more about the uniquely inspired output of a process rather than a static personality trait or the meaning we assign to a score on an IQ test.

In this video, I share my thoughts on genius and the elements I see present in people who are operating at extraordinary levels in any field.

I believe we are all capable of genius.

What are your thoughts? Share your ideas in the comments below!

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Strategy of Genius: How to Get Anyone to Instantly Like You

tarynvoget — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:57:50 +0000

Want to get anyone to like you instantly? Here is a great strategy we modeled from a highly successful door-to-door salesman. It works for getting plane upgrades, job offers and great seats at restaurants! And it’s just a great way to make new friends.

This is a complement to the full strategy How to Get Anyone to Like You I wrote about recently.

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Strategies of Genius: 3 Secrets of Success from the World’s Best

tarynvoget — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:39:23 +0000

In a moment of inspiration a few months ago, I created a video as part of a contest challenge. The challenge was to share our three top secrets of success. I got out my camera and featured 3 strategies of genius that I’ve discovered when working with the world’s best. These are strategies I use consciously every day.

It turns out the contest holders liked the video too, and I won a free, all expenses paid trip to Brendon Burchard’s “High Performance Academy” conference!

It was a great conference, packed full of a lot of the great insights into high performers. After 4 days at that conference, where Brendon was on stage for 9 hours all day, every day, without missing a single beat, I discovered that one of Brendon’s genuii is his ability to present. He was as energetic, fun and articulate at hour #9 as he was in hour #1. I was impressed. If you ever want to see how one of the world’s best motivates large audiences and keeps it fresh and lively for 4 solid days, attend one of his conferences. Amazing.

I hope you enjoy these 3 tips!

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Top 50 Greatest Geniuses of All Time

tarynvoget — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:13:49 +0000

Traipsing around the internet in search of something in particular for a project, I stumbled across a most interesting list. Over the years I’ve seen dozen’s of lists about the “Greatest Geniuses of All Time.” These lists contain the usual suspects of Tesla, Einstein and Stephen Hawking. It goes without saying that now every new list includes Steve Jobs. But this particular list caught my eye. This list was compiled by a nice looking older fellow who spends way too much time in the library.

Tony Buzan, who runs a charity called The Brain Trust, painstakingly cataloged and quantified the work of thousands of geniuses. He assigned each genius (or group of geniuses – such as the Pyramid builders) points for each of the following categories:

Dominance in Field
Active Longevity
Polymathy and Versatility
Strength and Energy IQ
On-Going Influence
Prolificness and Achievement of Prime Goal

In each category he awarded a range of 0 to 100 points. He also established three further bonus categories:

Universality of Vision (bonus of 15)
Outstanding originality (bonus of 10)
Deliberate desire to create Teaching Avenues or Academies to further the genius’s ideas (bonus of 10)

The grand total available is a maximum of 835 possible points.

According to Buzan, “The Active Longevity category required special attention. Those geniuses who managed their personal physiques to the maximum to ensure the widest possible time span for the accomplishment of their life’s visions deserved extra credit.” Put another way, you got points if you didn’t walk around in your pajamas all day and occasionally put on some gym shorts.

Buzan also note, “However, so as not to overweight this category, we established this scale: a range of 16 points from youngest to eldest rewards those who ‘hung in’ and does not penalize those who died early; on our chart, death between the ages of 33 and 36 scores 84/100, death between the ages of 57 and 60 scores 90.”

It all seemed so very thorough and definitely geeky. So in the event you find yourself at Trivia night being asked, “Who was more of a genius: Einstein or DaVinci?” You’ll know the answer.

Top 50 Greatest Geniuses of All Time

Leonardo da Vinci (822)
William Shakespeare (818)
Great Pyramid Builders (817)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (816)
Michaelangelo (814)
Sir Isaac Newton (810)
Thomas Jefferson (809)
Alexander the Great (808)
Phidias (808)
Albert Einstein (804)
Thomas Ava Edison (799)
Homer (797)
Plato (797)
Euclid (7950
Elizabeth 1 (795)
Archimedes (790)
Aristotle (798)
Filippo Brunelleschi (788)
Andrew Carnegie (785)
1st Ch’in Emperor (783)
Sinan (782)
Nicolas Copernicus (780)
Ludwig van Beethoven (779)
Pablo Picasso (777)
Leon Battista Alberti (777)
Ivan Pavlov (776)
Michael Faraday (776)
Igor Stravnsky (772)
Benjamin Franklin (770)
Charles Darwin (769)
Sophocles (784)
Muhammad Ali (763)
Vyasa (756)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (755)
Alexander Graham Bell (754)
Salvador Dali (752)
St Thomas Aquinas (750)
Jorge Luis Borges (750)
John Milton (746)
Genghis Khan (744)
Johnann Sebastian Bach (741)
Walt Disney (740)
Christopher Columbus (739)
Ueshiba (739)
Martha Graham (739)
Marie Curie (738)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (737)
Paul Cezanne (734)
Guglielmo Marconi (733)
Wilbur and Orville Wright (732)

The full findings of this research are published in Buzan’s Book of Genius. I am sure that is where we would find out who Sinan, Ueshiba and Vyasa are. If some brainy reader knows that answer off hand, enlighten us in the comments below!

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How to Get Anyone to Like You

tarynvoget — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:32:25 +0000

Last week I was indulging a very guilty pleasure and trying out the delicious new Dorito Taco at Taco Bell. During my dining experience they begged me repeatedly to “Like” them on Facebook. They asked me 5 different times, in 5 different ways. The uptown girl in me had to marvel at WHO on this earth would admit to all of their FB friends that they “Like” Taco Bell?!!! As it turns out, over 8.5 million people admit that. Amazing.

How to get 8.5million people to like you on Facebook certainly deserves its own post. But for purposes of this post, I am focusing on the old fashioned way to get anyone to like you the moment they meet you. It’s the strategy that will get you a free hotel room upgrade, score the best table at a restaurant, or impress your bosses boss. It’s the strategy to use for nailing job interviews, getting a free extra few minutes of a foot massage from your mani/pedi girl, or inspiring a cute guy at the bar to buy you a glass of champagne (and maybe even ask you out on a date). Simply put, this strategy will get you anything you want in life, including (but not limited to) friends, upgrades and more fun at parties.

Some time ago behavioral scientists studied the question, “Why do we like the people we like?” They interviewed all kinds of people from all walks of life and asked them questions like: “Why do you like your best friend?” “Why do you like your favorite employee?” “Why do you like the barista at your coffee shop?” The answers that came in were things like: “She makes me laugh.” “He smiles at me when I arrive.” “She remembers my name.” “He makes it a point to call me on my birthday and holidays.” “She always listens.” “He compliments my clothes.” etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.,

What was fascinating is that these scientists were able to take all of this input and then boil down “likeability” into a simple formula. And here is it: People like people who make them feel good about themselves. Put another way, we like people who make us feel good about ourselves.

That’s it. It’s that simple.

There are a million ways to make people feel good about themselves. And when you make someone feel good about themselves, they will be nice to you. You can regale them with funny stories about your dog, compliment their pink plaid shoes, or send them an e-card with a sheep on a skateboard and a caption that says, “Thinking of Ewe.” Lots of things work. When it comes to getting a complete stranger to instantly like me, I have adopted a strategy I learned from a successful door-to-door salesperson: my brother Cameron.

When Cameron did door-to-door sales he just knocked it out of the park. Old ladies in particular just loved him. Here is how he describes a large part of his sales strategy, “As I am walking up to a door, I start imagining some person who will open it. I start saying over and over in my mind, ‘I love you. I love you. I love you. You’re amazing. Gosh I just like you so much.’ I repeat this over and over in my mind, directing these thoughts toward whoever is going to open that door. I get myself in a place where I really do like whoever is going to be on the other side. So when someone answers my knock, they see me all lit up. They FEEL how much I really like them. They instantly feel how wonderful I think they are and, more often than not, invite me in and start chatting it up. Once I get into their house, I know I can make the sale. The approach is everything.”

Brilliant.

I have taken this page out of my brother’s sales book and have used the “I love you. I love you. I love you.” strategy with hotel clerks, sales clerks, possible customers, and a mechanic who I wanted to give me a free new license plate light bulb to replace mine which had burned out.

Aside from getting what I want, whether it be an extra 10% off a pair of shoes or a better seat on the airplane, I instantly make friends. Everyone at my local coffee shop knows my name. My hair colorist remembers to bring me a People magazine. And the waiter at my favorite Mexican restaurant automatically brings me a water with no ice and lemon the minute he sees me and says, “Hola amiga!” It feels good.

What also feels good is everyone who bravely and publicly admits to “liking” my company on Facebook. Thank you. I like you too. And to all of my amigos (and readers) all over the globe, I hope you know that: I love you. I love you. I love you. You’re amazing. You make my world a brighter place. Thank you for being you.

You can check out the video of the strategy here.

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How to Taste Wine Like a Pro

tarynvoget — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:55:17 +0000

Back in 1992 Tim Gaiser did what many believe to be nearly impossible: he passed the world’s most elite wine tasting exam and became the 19th American to earn the rare and prestigious title of Master Sommelier. Earning this title is like climbing Mt. Everest. Many attempt it. Few succeed. It’s just that hard. Today there are still fewer than 200 people in the world to ever pass the test. For those who have passed, there is a good chance they have learned some of what they know from Tim.

For the past 20 years Tim has been teaching wine tasting to the top tasters in the world. The men and women in white aprons who advise you on what to drink with oysters or what to pair with your cornish game hen have likely sat in one of Tim’s many popular classes. In a way you could say that the Tim teaches the world how to taste wine and pair it perfectly with any dish.

I had the great fortune of meeting Tim several years ago. Over lunch one day I asked him if I could deconstruct his tasting strategy. He was delighted at the idea as he had always wanted to know more about his own ‘gift’ for tasting and how he could use that knoweldge to better teach his students.

What came out the interview was nothing short of extraordinary. The strategy has been written up in the Sommelier Journal (see the article attached below) and is changing how people learn to taste wine. I asked Tim if he would share a bit about his background and tasting strategy here.

Q: You’re so lucky to be an amazing taster. You must have grown up in a family that enjoyed wine?

A: Not even close. I grew up in a big Catholic family in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Albuquerque was definitely not a mecca for food and wine. My parents drank nothing but bourbon and coke–wine was not even close to being on their radar. With six kids (four boys, mind you) dinners were barely controlled chaos where everyone managed to get fed without something resembling a rugby scrum breaking out at the table.

I do clearly remember tasting wine for the first time when I was about 10. It was at a neighbor’s house on Easter Sunday after mass. The wine was white, out of a box and not chilled. I remember it tasting somewhere between lemon juice and battery acid and thinking, “who in their right mind would drink this stuff?” Not exactly appealing. I didn’t really discover wine until I was in my mid-20’s in graduate school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I was fortunate to bartend at two restaurants that had incredible wine lists. I had to crash-learn about wine in a very short period of time in order to be able to talk about literally dozens of wines by the glass and I ended up getting bit by the wine bug.

Q: What do professional tasters like you do that other people don’t?

A: Dr. Adam Gazzaley, a noted specialist on the brain, neuroplasticity and aging, says that all thinking is about “perception, attention, and memory.” I completely agree with him especially when it comes to tasting. On the surface a professional taster is simply more focused and takes more time when it comes to tasting. Most people pick up a glass of wine and hoover it with a startling velocity taking little or no time to smell it before it goes down the hatch. Wine is different. It’s not like other beverages– even other alcoholic beverages–in that it really requires you to sip it in small amounts and take your time with it. Even the size and shape of a wine glass discourages intake at high speed or in massive quantity.

Q: What else separates great tasters from novices?

A: Generally two things: first, and this again points to Gazzaley’s comment, it’s all about memory, specifically olfactory memory. Scientists tell us that the sense of smell accounts for over 85% of the sense of taste. Having a refined olfactory/smell memory is absolutely key when it comes to being a professional taster and that presupposes the repetitive tasting of thousands of wines over a long period of time. Second, being able to very precisely calibrate the physical structure of wine—literally how much acid, alcohol and tannin. That, too, is all about memory as one is again comparing the wine in the glass to memories of previous wines.

In the end an experienced taster draws from a rich and very deep personal treasure trove of smell memories and not just limited to previous wines. Other memories may be taken from one’s childhood and school experiences to different places lived and/or visited to favorite (and not so favorite) foods and other beverages. Any and everything is fair game and it really is surprising how a single sniff of a glass of wine can take you back to a long ago time and place in an instant. Smell memories are indeed the most powerful ones we have.

Q: What exactly do you do internally when smelling a wine?

A: A great question and one I couldn’t possibly answer until a few years ago when I worked with Tim Hallbom and you at the Everyday Genius Institute. Of course, the full strategy is in the Taste Wine Like a Pro product you created. But here goes my process when it comes to smelling the wine, which is over 80% of the process of tasting a wine:

When first picking up a glass to smell the wine I look down and to the left with an internal voice (my own) asking, “What’s there?” That question triggers the rest of my tasting sequence.
Next I look up and to the left at a large image of the Master Sommelier Deductive Tasting Grid (a tasting outline). This is a like a checklist of everything I need to look for in the wine.
I start by checking for fruits. Any aroma I recognize is confirmed immediately with an image in my minds eye of that fruit, spice, etc. If I smell cherries, I literally see a picture of cherries pop up in front of me. Once I identify the aroma the image moves down and to the side.
I repeat the same sequence categorically for fruits, non-fruits (spices, flowers etc.), earth and mineral notes, and finally oak. The sequence is started each time by looking down and to the left with my internal voice asking “what else is there?” As I recognize other aromas in the wine, I generate more images. The group of images collectively stays in a grid or collage that is positioned left to right in front of me in the following order: fruit, non-fruit, earth/mineral and wood.
If I have trouble recognizing something in the wine I literally “push” all the other images out of the way and bring whatever it is closer until I can recognize it.
Once I can’t recognize any new aromas in the wine I look at the collective group of images and then try to confirm the identity of the wine given past memories and tasting experiences, which reside in my mental catalog.

The tasting part of the process is like the smell. First I want to confirm on my palate what I have smelled. Then I look back up at my Tasting Grid and use that to remind me to look for acid, alcohol, tannin and the finish. I put all 8 of those categories together and use that to analyze the quality and complexity of the wine.

What I discovered in my own tasting was just how visual the process was for me inside my mind when I slowed it down. I also realized that I run the same sequence with every glass of wine I taste. As I’m about to taste a wine, I move my eyes to a very specific starting position, which kicks off the rest of my tasting process.

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For more on Tim’s strategy, check out the the Sommelier Journal article below. Also check out Tim’s blog, which features hilarious and insightful articles on wine, food and life.

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How does a Kid Whisperer handle a child’s disrespectful behavior?

tarynvoget — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 01:49:15 +0000

Heather Criswell is a true Kid Whisperer. She has spent over 25 years working with over 30,000 children. She has figured out exactly what to do to get results with every child, every time. And the children who have had privilege of working with her blossom and thrive in ways that would make your heart sing.

I have spent the past several months deconstructing Heather’s parenting strategies. I was so inspired by her genius that I knew I had to share it with the world. So Heather and I decided to co-author a book, How to Raise a Happy Child (and be happy too): Modern Parenting Techniques that Work, which will be released later this year.

This book is full of truly genius parenting strategies. This blog post features just one of her many techniques, answering the question every parent wants to know: “How do I address my child’s disrespectful behavior in a way that works?”

I figured out Heather’s strategy by watching her eye movements. In literally about a nano-second her eyes darted to 4 different places – each place was a step in her mental process. The eyes are like a map of the brain and tracking eye movements is one of the best ways to slow down someone’s thought process. I’ll let her take it from here and explain:

Enter Heather Criswell:

When I am interacting with children I am aware of opportunities for teachable moments – for chances to connect with a child.

Recently Taryn and I were talking about how I guide children’s behavior. Until Taryn unpacked my strategy and thinking process, I was not consciously aware that I had such a rehearsed mental script for dealing with a child’s disrespectful behavior. These steps happen so fast in my mind, after so many years of practice, I had become completely unaware of my own strategy. All this time I just assumed it was intuition. It turns out my intuition has a structure. Who knew the steps in my process could be understood by tracking my eye movements?!

So let’s take an undesirable behavior as an example. Let’s say my young son just hit me out of anger and frustration. Here is exactly what I do, step-by-step:

1. I immediately ask myself: “Is this a behavior I can let go, or do I need to address it?”
This one is easy. It’s a “deal breaker” behavior for me. I need to address it. I don’t deserve to be hit by anyone.

2. I instantly recall a situation where my child was behaving completely opposite of what he is doing now.
I remember a moment when my child was loving and respectful. I remember his light and smile in that moment and hold it in my mind. As I hold that image of him, in my mind and heart I know my child is love and this behavior is not who he is. It is important for me to remember this so I can approach him in a loving state.

3. I now ask myself: “How can I connect with him?” Then I ask: “How can he hear what I need? How can I hear what he needs? How can we both get what we need from this situation?”
I recall a time I connected with my son and we both heard each other. I remember what I did in a previous situation where we connected. (Note: Connecting to me means putting any of my own anger or frustration aside and looking at each other eye-to-eye and connecting heart-to-heart.)

4. I then repeat that past strategy in this moment.
In this particular case, the best way for me to connect with my son is to have a moment of silence. Then I simply tell him, “I don’t deserve to be hit.” I ask him, “What do you need from me?” I then remind him, “If you want to hit something, you are welcome to hit the punching bag in your room.” (I direct the child to where it IS appropriate to demonstrate that particular behavior.)

5. The situation is now considered closed. It is free from shame, guilt or frustration.
We both have had an opportunity to be heard. We both know what to do next time we feel the same way.

[Taryn’s comment: Can you imagine what it would feel like as a child to have someone hold an image of you at your best and then address you with that image in mind and a feeling of total love for you? Can you imagine what it would feel like as an adult?! Secondly, can you imagine how much more effective your own parent (or boss or spouse) would be if they made sure they had an energetic connection with you before they addressed you? It sure beats yelling across the house, “Go clean your room!!!” I believe that the difference that makes a huge difference is Heather’s simple question to herself, “How can I connect with my child in this moment?” It drives her entire strategy. It drives HOW she talks with the child in a way the child can hear. She gets herself in a good emotional state - a state where she can connect with the child - by remembering a time when the child was great. This step puts her in a place of love so that when she talks with the child, the child feels her love and he wants to listen.

Over the years Heather has built up a huge catalog of examples to draw from on how to connect with children and what to say in any given moment. (Many of these scripts can be found on our parenting techniques blog and in our book.) Parents will be able to draw on their own catalog of examples of when their child at their best and when they connected successfully.]

Back to Heather for another example using this strategy….

I realized I use this same strategy, regardless of the undesirable behavior. For example, a couple of months ago my husband and I watched a friend’s 9-year old child, John, for a couple of days. John is sitting on our couch and demands brownies. He says, “Go get me some brownies.”

1. I immediately ask myself: “Is this a behavior I can let go or do I need to address it?”
This one is easy. It’s a “deal breaker” behavior. I need to address it. I deserve to be addressed with respect.

2. I instantly recall a situation when this child was behaving completely opposite of what he is doing now.
I remember a moment when John was loving and respectful. I remember John’s appreciation when we went to his favorite restaurant for lunch. As I hold that image of him, in my mind and heart I know this child is love and this behavior is not who he is. It is important for me to remember this so I can approach him in a loving state.

3. I now ask myself: “How can I connect with him?” I then ask: “How can he hear what I need? How can I hear what he needs? How can we both get what we need from this situation?”
We are not around this child often, so I have to add a step to my process. I pull from my mental catalog of the children I’ve worked with over the years. I remember a child from my school that reminds me of John and I recall a time I connected with this other child. (Note: Connecting to me means putting any of my own anger or frustration aside and looking at each other eye-to-eye and connecting heart-to-heart.)

4. I then repeat that past strategy in this moment.
In this particular case, I state what John CAN do with an unwavering energy and tone to my voice. I look John right in the eye, make sure we connect, and then use the following script

Me: “You are more than welcome to go get brownies if you want them.”

John: “Will you please go get me brownies?”

Me: “Let me be clear. If you would like some brownies, you are welcome to go get them yourself.”

John: “I’m going to go get some brownies.”

Me: “I think that is a great idea! I would do that too.”

6. The situation is now considered closed. It is free from shame, guilt or frustration.
We both have had an opportunity to be heard. We both know what to do next time we feel the same way. (Note: I didn’t have to tell him he was being dis-respectful, he knew exactly what he was doing. That’s why his second response added the word “please.“ As long as I stay clear and consistent, he gets it without words.)

That’s it. That’s what I do! Next time you have an opportunity, try this strategy out with a child in your life (or heck, even your spouse). It took me 20 years of practice to perfect my own technique. I’m sure your child will give you 20 years too! :-)

For many more strategies, visit our new website at raiseahappychild.com.

How to Generate Ideas that Get Big Results

tarynvoget — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:47:33 +0000

Tim Hallbom and I recently interviewed five of the top Chief Marketing Officers in the country. These are CMOs who hit it out of the park time and time again. They are CMOs who just have a knack for coming up with innovative marketing ideas that get huge results. They are CMOs every major brand wants to hire.

We deconstructed exactly how these genius marketers achieve unheard of 60%+ campaign response rates, fill a $12M sales pipeline in just weeks, get CBS sports announcers to mention their brand name over 50 times in a week for free, and go from a no-name to a globally recognized brand in one sweet move. We learned exactly how one CMO took his company from $10B to $40B a year in sales in just a few short years.

We discovered the patterns that these CMOs use to come up with creative ideas that score big. We noticed that there is a structure to their intuition. So what has taken these marketers years to figure out, you can learn and model in a fraction of the time.

These strategies aren’t just great for marketers, they are great for ANYONE in business.

If you want to be more creative in any area of your life, there are strategies here to help you. For example, I am currently training the staff at a large Fortune 100 company on how to be more creative when working with suppliers. Guess what? These marketing strategies work brilliantly for supply chain innovation too. And I’ve incorporated many of these strategies into the creativity and innovation training I do for companies.

Download a FREE copy of the special report below. After I wrote this book, I was so excited about the content – and how it could help people – that I decided to make it available to everyone.

Feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues! If you are a teacher, feel free to share it with your students (I know of several marketing teachers who have made this required reading!).

Enjoy!!

I’d love to hear from you! Share your comments below!

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How to Go From Being Busy, to Kicking A$$

tarynvoget — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:54:23 +0000

“One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.” -Bruce Lee

For well over 20 years I have been obsessed with the idea of how to get more done in a day. If only I could just be faster and more efficient, then I could be more productive and my life would be filled with enviable success. I bought every book and system on time management, getting things done, efficiency and prioritizing. I’ve owned Franklin Covey planners, digital To-Do applications and created a hundred file folders in my email system to organize it all. I was a firm believer in the results-by-volume approach.

I’ve realized in modeling Geniuses that I had it all wrong. I’ve learned from the world’s best and brightest is that it’s not about doing more, it’s actually all about doing less. It’s not about optimizing a large workload, it’s all about eliminating the workload in the first place. What can’t get eliminated can get done more effectively by employing a few tricks.

I have a friend who is a high level Executive VP at a Fortune 100 company. He controls a budget of $700M. He’s a busy guy. For every 5 emails I send him, he MIGHT respond to one. And his response will always be one word. Maybe two. Things like: “Yes.” “Interesting.” “Busy.” Or “On it.” He never offers to DO anything in email. In all the years I have known him, he has never initiated an email to me. And he has trained even his closest friends and colleagues to not expect a response to any email they might send. Until I realized the brilliance of his strategy, I would tease him that he has the Steve Jobs approach to email. And then I realized that this was a perfect example of simply doing less. He starts by eliminating. Then if he decides to engage, it’s so short and sweet and to the point that there isn’t a wasted word. There is a reason he is at the top. He isn’t being rude or dismissive. He makes lots of time for people in person. He is just prioritizing his output, making sure that he is producing real results, and not getting caught in the email vortex which claims so many lives. Smart. So I started modeling his strategy. It’s taken a month or so, but my email volume is way down. I seriously have more hours in my day. If I offend a few people with short responses, I hope they’ll forgive me and know that I am now a lot happier because I am spending less time at my computer and more time getting important things done. My fantasy is that more people adopt this strategy.

I was recently asked to share with a large women’s magazine some strategies on how to go from “Being Busy” to “Getting Things Done.” Below are a few points I shared with the magazine that I have gleaned from spectacularly effective people. Some of these examples apply to mom’s and women. Swap out the examples for things in the workplace and you’ll have a winning formula.

1. Be Effective, Not Busy – There is a universal truth that most of us keep ourselves busy to avoid doing the uncomfortable, yet critically important, things in life. We use being busy as an excuse for why we can’t get other things done. For example, many people say “I’m too busy to get to the gym” or “I’m too busy to makes that cold call.” We pride ourselves on getting a lot done, but we never stop to ask ourselves if we are getting the IMPORTANT things done. Do you really need to find a new job that makes you happy? Make an uncomfortable sales call? Find some quiet time to write that book you’ve always wanted to? Nearly all of us use the the excuse of ‘being busy’ to avoid what really matters. To dramatically change your life, try this exercise: for 3 full weeks, put an alert on your computer or phone that goes off at 10am, 1pm and 4pm that asks a simple question when you read it “Am I being productive or just active?” What you are really asking yourself is: are you being busy or are you being effective? What are the top-three activities that you use to fill time to feel as though you are being productive? If you want to get control of your time, figure out what really matters and cut out the busy work that you use as a way to avoid the important. Stop trying to be more efficient. Focus instead on being more effective. What is important to get done? Do that and forget the rest.

2. Create “Not To-Do Lists”. Just because you’ve thrown a Fourth of July Party every year, doesn’t mean you need to do it again this year. Or just because you attend monthly networking or PTA meetings doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it. The fastest way to get through your work is simply to eliminate some of it. Spend an hour really looking at how you spend your time in a month, whether it’s on social commitments, roles you’ve taken on at work, tasks you consistently do at home, etc., and decide what you aren’t going to do. For example, many people have significantly cut back on their Christmas gift giving list. Or have outsourced their lawn care to a local kid in the neighborhood. Take a really hard look at your list and make some tough decisions. Although you might feel obligated to volunteer at your child’s school event, give yourself permission to take a year off. Decide HOW you want to spend your time and then eliminate activities that take up a lot of time but don’t serve your or your families goals. It’s OK to not respond to every email these days. And it’s ok to ask your boss to help you prioritize your work and eliminate the low value tasks. The best question to ask to figure out what’s important and what’s not is: If you had a gun to your head and HAD to stop doing 4/5 of different time-consuming activities (e.g., email, phone calls, conversations, paperwork, meetings, driving, services, etc.), what would you remove that would keep the negative effect on income to a minimum? Train people not to expect email responses, or that you’ll show up to every meeting. Get clear about your Not To-Do list and then share that list with people. They’ll respect you for it.

3. Make Tight Deadlines Your Friend - Do you ever wonder how you are able to get about three weeks of work done in the day before you leave for vacation? Where without such a deadline that same work would take you, well, three weeks? This phenomenon has actually been extensively studied and has a name: Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law states that a task will swell is (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for it’s completion. It’s is the magic of the imminent deadline. The shorter the deadline, the greater the focus. The longer the deadline, the bigger monster in your mind you create. So if you have a large to-do list, take the related tasks, batch them up and then give yourself a tight deadline in which to complete them. Tight deadline require focus so be sure an eliminate distractions like email, text messages, Facebook, etc. when you work on them. Physically remove the distractions from your space. If you need to focus on something, lock your phone in the car outside and disable the internet on your computer. Put yourself in a place to focus and set a timer with a goal for what you want to complete in that amount of time.

4. Use a Magical Motivation Strategy – It’s pretty hard to get motivated when you read through your To-Do list and see items like “Clean the Garage,” “Weed the Garden,” “Research Summer Camps,” and “Write the Report for my Boss.” The problem with To-Do lists is that when we read them, we put ourselves in the mental act of doing the work that often, in and of itself, is not all that fun. Highly effective people make “Goal Lists” instead of To-Do lists. This focus their attention on result instead of the work involved. Change your list to read, “Sparkly Clean Garage,” ”Healthy, Beautiful and Weed Free Garden ,” “Summer Camp Registration Complete,” and “Boss is Raving about my Completed Report.” By focusing on the goal and mentally stepping into the good feelings you get from achieving the goal, you are naturally more motivated to complete the work. And it feels more fun.

5. Batch Your Activities - This might sound obvious, but it’s amazing how many people don’t think about batching up activities to save time. If it takes 10 minutes to drive to the store, the post office, the mall, a meeting or whatever, you can figure it’s 20+ minutes roundtrip for one errand. It’s actually more because you have to spend time getting ready to leave the house/office and then more time getting back into the groove. So really a trip to the store is more like 30-40 minutes in transit, plus the time it takes you at the store. The same goes for meetings. One of the fastest ways to increase productivity is to batch up activities. Batching up errands and meetings is the simplest. Run a whole bunch of errands at once. You can also batch up things like calling friends and family. Allocate 2 hours once a week to calling everyone. Or batch up 3 coffee dates with friends or colleagues all in one afternoon. Batch up bill paying, home maintenance, laundry, etc. into chunks of time where you can get a lot of it done at once. If you have a ton of laundry to do, it’s probably faster to get it all done at once at the laundromat rather than interrupting your work every 30 minutes at home to get it done. Think of how you could batch your meetings or calls at work. Doing things one at a time is a huge waste because of the set-up and transition time between activities. Batching will give you back countless lost, unproductive hours in your week.

One of the best books I ever read on being more effective is The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss . If you’re interested in more strategies on being effective, read Chapter 5: “The End of Time Management” pages 67-85. And Chapter 7: “Interrupting Interruption and Art of Refusal”, pages 94-118. (And there is another strategy of genius. Don’t read a whole “How To” book from cover to cover. Find the salient bits and just read those parts. See now, I just saved you 10 hours.)

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How to Learn New Things Quickly

tarynvoget — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:16:53 +0000

Back in the 1970′s two remarkable behavioral scientists asked the question: How is it that some people just learn things faster than others? These two scientists, John Grinder and Richard Bandler, were teaching some classes and noticed that some students picked up the techniques they were teaching much more quickly than others. They decided to interview these highly effective learners to discover what they were doing in their minds that allowed them to apply new material quickly.

After interviewing several fast learners, they discovered that people who learn things quickly follow the same mental process. They found that effective learners had a natural ability to ‘rehearse’ something in their mind before actually doing it. Mental rehearsals allowed them to easily install new habits or behaviors that they wanted to do in the future. They mapped out this process, and then created a simple ‘technique’ anyone could use to learn new things quickly.

Want to learn a new golf swing technique? A new dance move? How to make your hair look the way your hairdresser does when you are at the salon? Or nail that big presentation you have to give at work? Follow this strategy anytime you want to quickly learning something new. For example, I personally use this strategy every time I am at my workout class and the instructor shows us a new move. I get it in a few seconds and notice I do the move near flawlessly right away while the rest of the class fumbles. The first couple of times you use this process it might take you a few minutes. You’ll get fast at it and be able to move through these steps in just a few seconds.

How to learn new things quickly, step-by-step:

1. Identify something you want to learn how to do. Break the steps down into appropriate chunk sizes so you can learn the pieces that make up the whole if it’s too big to learn all at once.

2. If you have someone teaching you this information, watch this person very closely. Make a mental recording of it. For example, if you have someone teaching you a new golf swing, watch this person do it and remember what they did.

3. Once you have a clear model of the desired behavior, imagine there is a virtual movie screen in front of you. Watch a mental movie of yourself on this screen and notice what you are doing NOW. If you are trying to learn a new golf swing, watch a mental movie of how you are currently swinging the club.

4. Next, watch a movie of you doing the new desired behavior. For example, watch yourself swinging the golf club in the way you WANT to be swinging it. Notice yourself swinging the club in the same way your instructor modeled it for you.

5. Once you see yourself doing the new behavior and it feels right, step into the movie and rehearse it being in it and experience it as if you were actually doing it. Move your body, say things to yourself. Really get into the act of doing the behavior as if you were really doing it. For example, physically practice the new golf swing with a club in your hands (real or imaginary). Rehearse it until it physically feels right. Make any necessary adjustments.

6. Imagine doing that new behavior in the future. Watch yourself doing this new behavior 1 week in the future, 1 month in the future, 6 months in the future, etc. Think of doing it with different people in different situations.

This rapid learning technique can be used for almost anything. If you have a big presentation to give, watch a mental movie of yourself giving the presentation perfectly, then step into the movie and physically rehearse it until it feels like you have it just right. Then imagine seeing yourself giving this presentation perfectly in the future. You’ll be amazed at how fast you’ll learn new things when you follow this technique.

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