Archive for May, 2006
I enjoy motivational quotes and things which keep me mindful of staying on-track to improve myself and develop new skills.
At my office I had some dead space on a cork board since I use whiteboards pretty exclusively.
So I thought, “Why don’t I create some quick little motivational cards I can print out to pin up on my cork board?” I had a 4″ x 6″ photo printer and a little free time, so I whipped up a batch that looked reasonably good arrainged in a 3×3 grid.
Once the cards were up people around the office commented on them. Some asked where I bought them, some asked where the quotes came from. They became a little conversation piece. Hopefully they had a positive influence on others in the office.
So I decided to share them everyone.
(click to enlarge)
There are 9 cards in total and they’re sized to print and look pretty good on 4″ x 6″ photo paper.
I hope you enjoy them and I hope they have a positive influence on the people around you!
Click to download SuccessMinders-Motivation-Cards.zip for yourself.
May 24th, 2006
I’ve written about the process of practice before, but I don’t think the importance of planning and practice can be stressed enough.
When you practice a couple of things happen (as if by magic). You can quickly identify where you’re weaknesses are, you can uncovered general logistics problems (timing, flow, effort needed), and most importantly you can screw up in private!
There is no excuse for not practicing. I frequently hear (and sometimes even tell myself) there just isn’t enough time for adequate practice. That’s a pretty poor excuse - there is often plenty of time for practice if you manage your time well.
But now you’re going to say, “I don’t always get to set my own schedule! Sometimes there isn’t time in the schedule I’m given to practice!”
If this is true - and I’ve known some managers and bosses that would hand out impossible deadlines - you have a bigger problem than not practicing. You have a problem with general time management and the expectation of time management by your superiors. And frankly, is that a relationship you want to be in?
There was a reality television show on the Discovery Channel called American Hot Rod which featured Boyd Coddington’s shop of the same name. I’ve watched the show a few times and one thing that never seemed to change was the near impossible deadlines that the crew would be put under to deliver a finished car. All of the pressure created stress which sure made for good television, but it was typically artificial pressure. It looked like Boyd Coddington couldn’t turn down a client’s request OR manage his team’s time to make sure they weren’t always in a crunch.
Quite a few people left the company during the handful of times I saw the show. And every time a “key person” left it was in the middle of a tight deadline - all of the deadlines were tight. Boyd Coddington always told the same story, “I just don’t understand why they left…”
So if you’re in a situation where your time is not your own to control, and it’s being managed unrealistically, you first have to fix your situation before you can worry about practicing.
But assuming you do have control over your time and/or your managers are able to budget time-lines correctly, what’s keeping you from practicing?
There are several reasons; it’s not glamorous, it’s tedious, it seems like a lot of effort for the results.
And it’s precisely because of those reasons that you should make time to practice. Your competition likely won’t - practice is hard and often dull - and that’s a huge advantage for you.
Let me give you a real-world example of where practice makes a huge difference. Our company recently held it’s annual meeting. It’s a mandatory, all-hands affair with a goal of showcasing excellent performance from the past year and talking about where the company is headed in the coming twelve months.
At this meeting each core department head gives a brief speech - usually less than ten minutes - about the state of their department. This year we had eight departments presenting.
You could tell who had practiced just by listening to the speakers. We have a few who are fairly “natural” speakers, but even handicapping them for extra ability they might have and really listening showed who was rehearsed, poised, ready…practiced - who was winging it - and who was just reading directly from their notes.
The reaction from the audience was visible when a practiced speaker was in front of the crowd. Those speakers held their focus and attention much better than the unpracticed speakers.
So how much practice is enough? The reality is there is never enough practice. You can continue to refine yourself - always striving for perfection - and you’ll spend more than one life time and still never practice “too much”.
Consider those who’s lively hood relies on practice; athletes, magicians, musicians, or professional speakers. When we see them it’s after hours and years of practice.
Magicians don’t walk out on stage and make a car disappear - they practice and plan and practice some more. At the beginning of the season, athletes don’t show up at the ballpark or the golf course and just start playing. They’ve spend the off-season practicing, improving their skills, and working with trainers. Musicians don’t pick up a page with the lyrics to a new song as they’re headed out on stage.
So why are we so hesitant to practice as much?
I can give you a good example using myself. Photography is a passion of mine - I love creating images and I spend a lot of time behind a lens. About two years ago I was asked if I was interested in photographing a wedding for some close friends. The wedding was months away, but I spent those months with as much time behind the lens as I could squeeze in. When I wasn’t shooting images or testing my lighting systems, I had my nose buried in books and magazines about weddings and wedding photography.
When the big day finally arrived I think I was as nervous or maybe even more nervous than the bride and groom! But my months of preparation and work helped me immensely and when the bride started down the isle I was at ease because my practice kicked in. All day long people who knew I wasn’t a full-time photographer commented on how professional and polished I seemed.
Did I do a good job? Yes, I think so and so do the bride and groom. Do I still see hundreds of ways each image I shot could be improved? I sure do - ever time I look at them or show them to other people. However I’ve shot other weddings since that first wedding and each time I am able to practice and improve, and each time I find a few fewer flaws with the finished result.
Practice is never ending.
I’m sure that I’ve got a lot more practice that I should be doing in all areas of my life. I’m willing to wager you do too. We should take a page from the playbooks of athletes and musicians - there is a reason why they spend so much of their “free” time practicing - we should too!
May 23rd, 2006
Recently my wife complained of severe abdominal pain and nausea, so bad she asked to be taken to the hospital. When she was admitted, the doctors tried to get her feeling comfortable while they puzzled over what might be causing her problems.
The doctors listened with their stethoscopes, drew blood tests, had x-rays taken, and scheduled CT scans. Almost every test came back completely normal with one exception - a slightly enlarged appendix.
“Ah Ha!” cried the doctors, “Call in the surgeons, her appendix needs to come out!”
And in came the surgeons. They poked and prodded and asked for lengthy medical histories. Finally they concluded they thought the problem might be the appendix, but they weren’t sure; they decided to operate and remove it anyway.
While all of this was going on, my wife’s mother kept telling the doctors, the nurses, and the surgeons, “You know, when I was just a little older than her I had very similar symptoms. It was my gallbladder, can you test that?” The surgeons all thanked her for her input, but you could clearly tell they didn’t care what she had to say since she wasn’t a medical professional…The appendix was removed.
A week later my wife was again complaining of severe abdominal pain and nausea, she had been doing well the week before, this second attack came on suddenly, like the first - so we went back to the hospital. This time her doctor was G.I. specialist who ran the same blood work tests, asked for the same x-rays to be taken, and prepped her for a CT scan - all of which came back completely normal.
He came into her room and started telling her that he wasn’t sure what the problem was - it might in fact just be a nasty virus. It was about this point that her mother flew off the handle and demanded they perform a gallbladder function test. She was so adamant that the G.I. doctor was - I think - caught off guard. He agreed to perform tests on her gallbladder. A few hours later a surgeon came back in and announced the tests showed her gallbladder was functioning abnormally and needed to come out; surgery was scheduled for the next morning.
Throughout the entire process, the think that consistently stuck in my mind was how much each persons “bedside manner” varied, and how much those variations impacted my opinion of the person.
The internal medicine specialist was fabulous, she was caring, concerned, and compassionate. Her bedside manner made us feel completely as ease even while she told us that according to all of the test results, my wife was completely normal.
The G.I. specialist was terrible, he seemed have more important things to be doing than explaining what might be causing the G.I. symptoms my wife was experiencing. He was rushed and didn’t seem to have (or want) any emotional connection to any of us. He left us all feeling more anxious about the situation.
Finally, the surgeon was - as is often stereotyped - arrogant. He was very calm and self-assured, and while he did a very good job of explaining the procedure at a highly intellectual and technical level, he didn’t make any attempt at an emotional connection. The general feeling we all got from him was he didn’t really care one way or the other. After the surgery he seemed indifferent, even put off, by my wife’s questions.
The nursing staff varied from excellent to worthless depending on who was assigned to my wife.
The major differences between all of these people, with all of their extremely specialized training, was their bedside manner. Some really became involved and drew us in; others left us feeling distanced and unconnected. It made me really think about the relationships I’ve had and currently have. How is my “bedside manner” when it comes to establishing and building relationship?
I realized that, for me, the act of establishing a relationship wasn’t difficult, but the maintenance of relationships was. For me, maintenance or relationships is a weak area that I need to work on.
I found it interesting to think about my relationships in this doctor/patient “bedside manner” framework. How much better could my relationships be if I tried to make sure I had the characteristics I admired in the first doctor? Caring, compassion, concern - those are powerful concepts that Dr. Harris had nailed. In the little time she spent with my wife, she “felt” like an old friend even though she didn’t really know my wife. When you can feel like an old friend in only a few minutes, you’ve made a powerful connection.
So, how is your bedside manner? Do you strive to build deep relationships or are you aloof and distanced? If you were a patient laying in a hospital bed, would you want your doctor to act like you do in relationships? When I stop to really think about it I know there are certainly aspects and behaviours of myself I wouldn’t want a doctor to have while working with me.
As for me, I need to triage my bedside manner and send it to the ICU for some critical-care changes! Maybe you do too?
May 17th, 2006
I’ve been experimenting with power naps for 100 days now and as such I’ve found I’ve settled into a bit of a pattern. I don’t necessarily need one every day, and I’ve found a good barometer is that the more I feel like I don’t have the time to take a power nap, the more I really need one.
The only real problems I’ve encountered have been external; the idea of napping isn’t widely accepted once you’re older than 5. People look at you like you’re slacking off and not being productive, and woe to anyone who isn’t always 100% “on” and “productive.”
So there is quite a lot of social stigma surrounding napping. Those that “get it” are far outnumbered by those that don’t. And being a napper almost feels - at times - like being a drug user. Sometimes you have to sneak off to get a power nap in. There seems to be a correlation between how much you need to take a break and how much you feel you have to sneak off to squeeze it in.
The major benefits I’ve found include:
- Increased energy
- Increased productivity
- Dramatically increased problem-solving - I have many more breakthrough and “ah ha!” moments after napping.
- Increased level of wellness (I’ve not been sick since I started power napping on a semi-regular basis).
I’ve also found that for me twenty minutes is just about perfect. Often my eyes pop open about 30 seconds before the timer goes off. If I try to power nap for less time I never seem to get the same benefit and if I go much longer than 20 minutes I get increasingly sleepier and groggier and I feel terrible when I finally do rouse myself.
Overall I’m completely sold on power napping. Several times in the last three months it’s been an invaluable tool to finding solutions to vexing problems. It’s made me generally feel better and it’s increased my energy and productivity levels.
If you can get over the social stigma or you’re fortunate enough to work in a nap-friendly workplace then it really can’t be beat.
I encourage you to go and try out power napping for yourself!
May 16th, 2006
