by Helena Escalante | Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset
TODAY’S IDEA:
Random acts of kindness equal extraordinary teams
— From: The Best Team Wins: The New Science of High Performance by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
I usually share ideas from books that I have read, yet in this case, I have not read the book because it just came out today… I just ordered it and can’t wait to have my nose in it!
What I learned (and loved!) about the book is what I saw about it in a video (below) from Dave Kerpen (featured here a few times) interviewing Chester Elton, one of the authors of The Best Team Wins: The New Science of High Performance. Elton shares 3 takeaways from the book, including a great story about the astronauts at the International Space Station.
Whether professionally or personally, I’m sure that you are part of one or many teams. Thus, I’m sure you will enjoy Elton talking about the importance of soft skills:
«The International Space Station… over six months, had three Russians, two Americans, one Canadian… The Canadian was the Commander, and he said “we exceeded every goal the six months we were up there.” Six big guys in a little tin can. And he said, “The biggest reason why we succeeded was… yes, we were all technically proficient, we all knew our jobs, and we were really smart, but we had one unwritten rule that made all the difference and it was this: that every astronaut had to perform one random act of kindness every day… And the message is ‘I care about you, I’m supporting you, I’m cheering for you, I love you, and we’re in this together.’ And they were little things… ‘I’ll clean up… I’ll help you with the calculations… let me cook dinner…’ That one unwritten rule was the difference between us having a great mission and an extraordinary mission.” One random act of kindness.»
Below is the video so that you can watch it. Well worth 5 minutes to hear the latest on how teams perform best nowadays (the story of the International Space Station starts at the 4-min mark). Some things may seem obvious, but I find that sometimes I need someone to point out the obvious to me so that the idea can sink in.
ACTION
TODAY & FUTURE: How about following in the footsteps of the astronauts and committing to perform a random act of kindness every day for your team members? I’m in!
Let me know in the comments or via Facebook or Twitter if you’re in too! Enlist your team members as well, and please tell them to join us.
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
This person is my teacher
— From: Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals by M. J. Ryan
Years ago, I was going through a rough time at work because I had the boss from hell. My mother told me that I should think of that person as an inverse mentor, to learn how not to do things, and how not to treat people. That idea made me focus on something good that could come out of such a difficult situation. Since I was planning my escape, my new focus enabled me to be very clear—going forward—on the things that I did not want and that I was not willing to tolerate. (Thanks, Mom, I know you’re reading this!)
So, when I read “This person is my teacher,” in M. J. Ryan’s book, I knew I had to share it with you. The concept behind this Buddhist practice is powerful:
“It’s about seeing everyone who annoys, frustrates, angers or otherwise bothers you as someone who is providing you the opportunity to grow some positive quality in yourself—your equanimity, your kindness, your patience, your boundaries, your tolerance…It’s up to you to figure out what you are supposed to be learning.”
Give yourself the opportunity to keep growing and learning even in the most difficult and craziest of situations. By thinking “this person is my teacher” you’ll create awareness in you, and soon you’ll be making the most out of the situation.
ACTION
TODAY & FUTURE: When someone or something is bothering you think, “this person/situation is my teacher” and figure out what you need to learn from that experience. It’s hard and it’s no fun when you’re going through it, but it will be worth it for you in the end.
I found this to be life-changing and hope you do too. Let me know if you got any a-ha moments in the comments, please!
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Mindset, Planning
TODAY’S IDEA:
The ten-thousand-hour rule is only half true
— From: Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman
A few years back, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the “10,000-Hour rule” in his book Outliers: The Story of Success. Briefly, the rule states that the key to mastering any skill at world-class level, is a matter of practicing around 10,000 hours.
However, Daniel Goleman, in his book Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, states that the problem with the rule is that it’s only half true, despite the fact that it has “become sacrosanct gospel echoed on websites and recited as litany in high-performance workshops.” He explains, “If you’re a duffer at golf, say, and make the same mistakes every time you try a certain swing or putt, ten thousand hours of practicing that error will not improve your game. You’ll still be a duffer, albeit an older one.”
Goleman contacted Anders Ericsson, the psychology professor at Florida State University who is known as the world’s foremost “expert on expertise,” and the one who conducted the study of the 10,000 hours that Gladwell mentioned in his book. Ericsson said:
“You don’t get benefits from mechanical repetition but by adjusting your execution over and over to get closer to your goal. You have to tweak the system by pushing, allowing for more errors at first, as you increase your limits.”
The important thing to keep in mind is that this does not apply solely to the physical practice of something (sports, musical instruments, etc.). If you follow this advice of constantly improving and increasing your limits, you too can achieve the highest levels of performance in your field. This is great news because it means there’s hope for all of us.
My take on this is that the rule may not have to be so-daunting: while you may indeed need the 10,000-hours to achieve one of your goals with mastery, “good enough” sometimes works out very well too. And because good enough is a step on the road to mastery, you’ll have to go through there anyway. For example, if you are going to Italy on vacation and are learning Italian, with 10,000 hours you will likely be able to write an Italian best-seller, but with much less than that you will be able to speak well and have wonderful, memorable conversations on your trip.
Whether you want to achieve mastery or sufficiency, the best way to go about it is applying what Ericsson calls deliberate practice, “where an expert coach […] takes you through well-designed training over months or years and you give it your full concentration, […] and it always includes a feedback loop that lets you recognize errors and correct them.”
That’s the key formula: don’t spend the hours merely repeating something that doesn’t work. Spend the hours, instead, in studying people who have done what you want to do, hiring a coach to help you get there, focusing on improving, and getting out of your comfort zone. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until you reach your goal.
ACTION
TODAY: Look at your most important or pressing goals and determine which ones need mastery and which ones need sufficiency. (This mere exercise, to me, was an enormous eye opener. It took the weight off my shoulders because I had mistakenly believed that I needed to achieve mastery in many things, when in reality sufficiency was all I needed).
FUTURE: Plan for mastery or sufficiency accordingly. Look for your role models. Who has achieved what you want to do? Are they within your reach? Do they offer coaching/training or some sort of teaching? If not, who can they recommend you work with? Or ask around for a competent coach/teacher/mentor in that area. Figure out how long it will take to get to where you want to go. Commit. Get started. Don’t look back. Enjoy the journey!
Any major a-ha moments while reading this? Please let me know or leave a comment!
by Helena Escalante | Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 24 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Actualize your dreams during the weekends
–From What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend, a short guide included in What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: How to Achieve More at Work and at Home by Laura Vanderkam
Remember how Laura Vanderkam helped us reframe the way we view our weekends? Well, how about bringing her back in to help with the actual planning of the weekend?
Laura says that, when figuring out what to do over the weekend, the best way to frame the question is to ask, “What do you want to do more of with your time?” And, invariably, with that answer comes the realization that we’re going to need more fingers and toes than we have to count all the things we want to do. So, she suggests creating a List of 100 Dreams and brainwriting “anything you might want to do or have in life.”
The first entries on that list will likely be large, once-in-a-lifetime happenings, such as “…go see the pyramids in Egypt. By Dream 100, however, you’ll be coming up with more everyday founts of joy, which tend to make excellent weekend events.” Further, she suggests, “keep going until you have a good long list of these doable dreams. You could also think of these as a bucket list focused on activities within a two-hour radius from your house.”
Keep the list handy so that, as you plan your weekends, you can access it and check off the items that you are going to do over the weekend. Also, the list is dynamic: you may want to change, add or delete from it according to the things you cross off, additional interests you want to include, or changes in your life’s circumstances that will prompt you to modify things on your list (such as moving to another state).
And don’t forget to include in the list the wishes of your kids, significant other and anyone else who spends weekends with you. You’ll all be creating memories together, so might as well plan for them together and enjoy the anticipation together.
Vorfreude: (German noun) The joyful, intense anticipation that comes from imagining future pleasures.
ACTION
TODAY: Start (and if you have enough time, finish) your list of 100 Dreams. Divide it into things you can do over a weekend and things that require more time than a weekend (save this last one for future planning).
FUTURE: Take your “weekends” list of activities and plan to do them during future weekends. Enjoy doing this!! Laura gives an example about a woman and her husband who “sit down with beers on Friday to plan out their weekends. It’s more about catching up and brainstorming what they’ll do (and drinking beer) than a chore.” Take it easy and have fun, that’s what this is all about!
Have a lovely weekend and let me know in the comments what you are going to do!
by Helena Escalante | Planning, Productivity, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
There is no such thing as a shortage of ideas!
This idea is a segue from yesterday’s post on practicing proactive procrastination to generate ideas. Yet instead of procrastinating and getting bored, today we are going to do the opposite: take action.
How many times, when we need an answer, do we ask “hey, do you have any ideas on…?” only to hear our teammates, or even ourselves, say “no, I really can’t think of anything…” This answer naturally leads us to call for a brainstorming session. But more often than not, during brainstorming sessions everyone tends to agree with a few of the first ideas tossed out and that’s it, we’re stuck again with a less-than-desirable solution.
This happens because, usually, the most vocal people in the group toss out the first ideas and the rest of the group either agrees or keeps quiet, leading to groupthink (“the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility” – Google Dictionary). To avoid this, the concept of brainwriting can be used. It’s very simple: have everyone write their ideas down in paper before either saying them out loud, or passing the list on to the next person as a way to spark more ideas. That’s it.
The process then can follow many different courses (examples here and here). Yet it ultimately follows the course of whatever the moderator wants to do with the many ideas generated.
I recently put this to the test with several friends where the task was to generate as many business ideas as possible in 10 minutes. We came up with over 130. Of course, not all of them were good or viable, but they were all valid for what we wanted to prove to ourselves: that anyone is able to able generate many ideas at once with this method, and that it’s better if you do it as a team because you’ll produce many, many more ideas than as as individual. And once you start discarding the crazy, unviable ideas, you’ll be left with a handful of good, actionable ones that you can start putting into practice right away. As Seth Godin says, “you can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.”
So there you have it. Use brainwriting instead of brainstorming, and you’ll never be at a loss for ideas again.
“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.”
— Linus Pauling
ACTION:
TODAY: Play along with the idea of brainwriting for yourself. Take 10 min and write down as many ideas as you can think of for an issue you want to solve or for a goal you’d like to achieve. Don’t judge the ideas, simply write them all down and let your brain loose while you’re doing this exercise. You’ll see that you can come up with a great amount of ideas and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at yourself. Then discard the bad ideas, take the good ones and implement them.
FUTURE: Get together with a group of friends, colleagues, or family and brainwrite answers to a challenge or problem that you are facing. Alternatively, set a goal (e.g. write down 50 ways to improve a process in your company, or 100 places where you’d like to go on vacation, etc.) and give yourself a finite amount of time, say 10-15 minutes. Then be in awe as to how many ideas you come up with! Vote for the best ones, discard the bad ones, and happy implementing!
Enjoy learning this new process, it’s easy, fun and VERY helpful in all aspects of business and life. Let me know how you did in the comments!
