by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Collaboration, Creativity, Mindset, Wellbeing
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 21 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Santa Claus and his millions of helpers
— From Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs
Happy holidays!!
Today is Christmas Eve: the evening in which Santa Claus delivers millions of presents to the kids all around the world.
And today’s post is dedicated—with a BIG and heartfelt thanks—to all of the millions of helpers that make this incredible feat of happiness and toyness happen year after year.
In his book Thanks a Thousand, gratitude guru and best-selling author A.J. Jacobs went halfway around the world thanking everyone who made his morning cup of coffee possible. Along the way, he met Ed Kaufmann, head of buying at Joe Coffee (where Jacobs purchases his coffee every morning).
Jacobs recalls the conversation with Kaufmann, as the latter was surprised to hear that the author would be writing about him. “It’s kind of odd that you’re featuring me in your book,” Kaufmann said. “I’m usually more of a background guy. I’m a bassist.”
In his spare time, Kaufmann plays bass guitar in a rock band, so he meant that literally and figuratively: “I like being the bassist… Everyone wants to be the lead guitarist or lead singer, and we need those. But we also need bassists. I’m necessary, but I’m background.”
This concept struck the author and prompted him to dive deeply into it. Jacobs says, “In our society, we fetishize the lead singers. And not just in music. The front people in every field—art, engineering, sports, food—get way too much attention. The cult of celebrity has spread into every corner. We overemphasize individual achievement when, in fact, almost everything good in the world is the result of teamwork.”
And I would add to this that sometimes—as was the case in the book—some team members don’t know of each other’s existence. For example, the designer of the coffee cup lid, possibly didn’t know of the existence of the pest control people who make sure that the bags of coffee are not infested by moths in the warehouse; and these folks, in turn, had no clue about the existence of the people at the water reservoir who pick up animal droppings to prevent water contamination so that the water can be safely used in making coffee.
Yet, for those that do know who is in their team but fail to thank and acknowledge, psychologists have coined the term responsibility bias. Jacobs points out that, “For one thing, it causes a lot of pain and resentment among the billions of unacknowledged bass players in our world. But its long-term consequences might be even worse. By elevating individual achievement over cooperation, we’re creating a glut of wannabe superstars who don’t have time for collaboration. We desperately need more bassists in the world… The idea of the lone (person achieving success on his or her own) warps reality.”
And that is why I don’t want to warp reality and, instead, I want to thank ALL of you who help Santa Claus year after year. Millions of kids rejoice because of you. While Santa is indeed the lead singer, and his elves and reindeer are the lead guitarists, the rest of you are the bassists who help make it happen.
We would need Jacobs to write another book to figure out all the ways in which people help Santa Claus all over the world, but from:
- The farmers who take care of the cows that produce the milk in the glass left for Santa
- To the cookie makers whose cookies are left in a plate for Santa next to the milk above
- To the schoolteachers who teach and help kids how to write a letter
- To the paper mills that produce the paper in which the letters are written
- To the postal service with Operation Santa
- To the employees at Google who bring us the awesome Santa’s Village and the Santa Tracker
- To the camera makers for making memories of opening the gifts on Christmas Day…
Every one of us plays a role, especially, the parents: thanks for taking care and raising good kids so that Santa can bring them gifts at the end of the year. The world is a beautiful and better place because of all that you do for your children.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for making this beautiful tradition happen. 🙂
A very merry Christmas to you and yours with much love and gratitude!
ACTION
TODAY: Think about the enormity of the effort—individual and collective—that represents bringing toys to all children in the world… No wonder there are so many big and small roles that people play to make this happen! Santa indeed has millions of helpers.
FUTURE: As you gather with your family to enjoy Santa’s gifts tomorrow, play the gratitude competition that A.J. Jacobs plays with his family (see Today’s Action here). In this case, modify it to suit Christmas and Santa Claus: think of the most obscure and furthest-removed role that you can think of in terms of helping Santa Claus. How about the mill workers who produce steel to make the nuts and bolts that hold together the sleigh? Or how about the rig workers in the North Sea who drill for oil which is then used to make the synthetic hair on a doll? Or the cotton farmer whose fabric was used for Santa’s clothes? You can spend hours having fun and being grateful! And for more on gratitude check out the series of videos where I interview A.J. Jacobs.
Please help me spread the holiday cheer by sharing this post with other Santa’s helpers via email, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 52 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 30 Questions to Ask Before Setting Business Goals
— From Marketing: A Love Story: How to Matter to Your Customers, by Bernadette Jiwa
As this year comes to an end and we think of what new and wonderful things await for us in the New Year, it’s only natural to plan ahead. However, when setting business goals—or general goals—for something completely new, the limitations of knowing “how-to” do something, tend to scare us, or even stop us on our tracks, as the uncertainty befuddles us. Yet these limitations are actually a gift, even though we may not see it at the time.
“There is no one right answer” when starting something new, says marketing guru Bernadette Jiwa in her wonderful book Marketing: A Love Story. Whether you’re setting a goal of starting a business or creating something new for your business, “There is no one way to get to where you want to go, and that’s a GREAT thing. If there were a how-to guide, then everyone would have the formula and nothing we created would be unique.”
“Nobody told Jobs and Wozniak how to build a computer company [Apple], let alone how to make it one of the most loved brands in the world; and Howard Schultz didn’t get the Starbucks’ magic from a manual. Nobody can tell you what to stand for or how your values, wants and needs should intersect with those of your customers and then manifest as a business, an idea, or an experience. Figuring out the destination is hard, but recognizing it is more valuable than knowing exactly how you’re going to get there.”
Jiwa says, “Until you do the hard work of understanding the why? and the who for? every tactical how-to has the potential to take you down the wrong track. The most useful answers are the ones we take time to figure out by ourselves, not the ones everyone can find in a handbook.” And to figure this out, she shares 30 questions to ask before setting business goals: the answers will bring much clarity and will turn into a roadmap to follow. While she geared these questions to startups and entrepreneurs, I believe they are also helpful for any businessperson who is setting a goal of starting a new project that hasn’t been done before.
30 Questions:
- Why are we doing this?
- Why are we the people to do it?
- Why is now the time to start?
- What will happen because this idea exists?
- How will this change how people feel about x?
- Who is it for?
- Why will they care?
- What do the people we hope to serve want?
- What do they believe?
- How do they feel about the problem we solve?
- What do they do—where, when, why and with whom?
- What will customers say to their friends to recommend this product or service?
- How can we make customers feel good because they recommend it?
- What are we really selling beyond the utility of the product or service?
- How can we add more value?
- What happens because our business or project exists?
- How will people find us?
- Where are they already looking, or not looking?
- What’s our greatest strength?
- What weakness might get in the way if we don’t address it?
- What does success look like, today, this year, next and five years from now?
- What do we value?
- What do we want to change?
- What promises do we want to make and keep?
- What matters most right now?
- What’s going to matter more three, six or eighteen months from now?
- What’s our difference?
- What do we need to do today, to make sure that we can keep doing the things we want to do tomorrow?
- If we could do anything today would this be it?
- If not this then what?
Jiwa points out that “Having your own map is more powerful than having someone else’s directions. Once you have the map, you’ll always have a way to get from where you are to where you want to go.” It’s worth putting in the time and effort to answer these questions before setting your goals: the answers will turn into the actual goals and help you draw your own map to accomplish them.
Cheers to you finding your own path!
ACTION
TODAY: As you are setting business goals for the New Year, and especially if you are starting something new, make some time in your calendar whether today or over the next few days to answer these questions. Create your proverbial roadmap so that it can take you to your desired destination.
FUTURE: Even if it’s not for the New Year, whenever you are setting business goals and/or starting something new, come back to this list and go over it again to paint a clear path for your success.
Know someone who would like these 30 questions? Please share them via email, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Creativity, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Ideas to Create Your Own Virtual Water-Cooler Moments
— From Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships in a Hyper-Connected World by J. Kelly Hoey.
Networking guru J. Kelly Hoey is a specialist in forging strong bonds whether in person or virtual, for mutual benefit. After all, that is the essence of her book Build Your Dream Network, where she details the wonderful benefits and experiences that having a strong and nurtured network can provide.
One of the ways to make this happen is to create serendipitous encounters. Hoey points to Tina Roth Eisenhower, the famous Swiss-Miss blogger and entrepreneur as a master at that. She created a coworking space called Friends Work Here and designed it in such a way that it leads to water-cooler* moments: “circumstances where conversations can lead to magical results.” And some of this magic has led Eisenhower to launch several of her businesses, so there are indeed tangible results to serendipity in your own network if you decide to take action.
But what if you don’t have a proverbial water cooler around which to gather? Hoey says, “Social networking platforms are where you seek those relationship building, water-cooler moments. Water-cooler moments can happen on Slack or during a Twitter chat or from upvoting a product a Product Hunt.”
Hoey suggests aiming to “create multiple touch points when creating your own water-cooler moments.” And she gives us a menu of ideas to consider:
- If the person is an influencer, follow their posts on LinkedIn
- Sign up for their newsletter
- Write an Amazon review for their book
- Read and comment on their blog posts
- Subscribe to and spread the word about their podcasts—and rate their podcasts on iTunes
- Share their content, whether by forwarding the insights to your friends via e-mail (or Facebook updates) or a post on LinkedIn or even simply a tweet or retweet.
- Remember to use their #hashtag
- Participate in a Twitter party they’re hosting (or Q&A session hosted on the platform)
- Engage in their event(s) or meetups via Periscope or watch the livestream (many TEDx events do this)—and while you’re virtually participating in the event share your insights on another platform (such as Twitter)
Also, how can you create water-cooler moments if you travel a lot?
Hoey points to Andrew Grill, Futurist Keynote Speaker and former IBM Global Managing Partner, who “creates not-entirely-left-to-chance interactions every time he travels—he refers to it as #SocialSerendipity. [Grill] makes it a point of mentioning where he is going, when he’s arrived, and where he’s staying (as well as looking for these cues from others in his global network).”
I’ve followed entrepreneur and author Peter Shankman for years, and he used to do a similar thing: he’d tell his network where he was traveling to and where he’d be at a certain time, say the lobby of the hotel he was staying at, and invite anyone to come have coffee and chat with him during that time. Brilliant!
So there you have it. Now go put these ideas into action and let the magic of serendipity stem out of these water-cooler moments.
ACTION
TODAY: Take action on one of the ideas above to create a water-cooler moment.
FUTURE: Figure out which of the ideas above work best for you (or come up with some that do) and make it a habit of creating the conditions for serendipity to take place.
Know someone who would like to create some water-cooler moments? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, thank you!
* For our international gurupies who may not be familiar with the meaning of the “water cooler” idiom, it means the socializing. It comes from the conversation that usually goes on when people take a break from their work and walk over to the water cooler: they run into other people taking a break there, conversation ensues, and you never know what great things and projects will come out of it.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 51 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Questions to ask when creating new habits
— From Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits–to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin
I’ve been immersed in reading books about productivity and habit-formation lately: the end of the year always prompts me to do that. In my reading, I came across Gretchen Rubin’s list of questions to ask when creating new habits: this is a list she came up with in her book Better Than Before to tailor new habits to our own nature and, by knowing ourselves, to make sure we give our new habits a chance to stick better.
Whether you are the kind of person who likes to build a new habit gradually—one tiny step at a time—or the kind who thrives on making major changes at once because this motivates you better, Rubin says that sometimes one single question can give us a fresh perspective on ourselves.
She wrote the following list to help us find the best way to create a new habit that will work for us according to how we spend our time, the things we value and our current habits. Hope this gives you clarity and helps you discern a few patterns so that your new habits can not only stick, but also flourish in your favor.
Here’s the list of questions:
How I Like to Spend My Time
- At what time of day do I feel energized? When do I drag?
- Do I like racing from one activity to another, or do I prefer unhurried transitions?
- What activities take up my time but aren’t particularly useful or stimulating?
- Would I like to spend more time with friends, or by myself?
- Do I have several things on my calendar that I anticipate with pleasure?
- What can I do for hours without feeling bored?
- What daily or weekly activity did I do for fun when I was ten years old?
What I Value
- What’s most satisfying to me: saving time, or money, or effort?
- Does it bother me to act differently from other people, or do I get a charge out of it?
- Do I spend a lot of time on something that’s important to someone else but not to me?
- If I had $500 that I had to spend on fun, how would I spend it?
- Do I like to listen to experts, or do I prefer to figure things out for myself?
- Does spending money on an activity make me feel more committed to it, or less committed?
- Would I be happy to see my children have the life I’ve had?
My Current Habits
- Am I more likely to indulge in a bad habit in a group, or when I’m alone?
- If I could magically, effortlessly change one habit in my life, what would it be?
- If the people around me could change one of my habits, what would they choose?
- Of my existing habits, which would I like to see my children adopt? Or not?
Happy thinking about your new habit creation!
ACTION
TODAY: Give the list some thought today. Set up a time in your calendar to sit down, say, over the weekend, and answer all questions.
FUTURE: Keep coming back to this list of questions every year or every time you want to create a new habit. By understanding our nature, we’ll give ourselves a better chance to create successful habits.
Know someone who is trying to create and establish a new habit? Please share with them this list of questions via email, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Habits, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Time, Tools
Links to other parts of this miniseries:
New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 1
New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 2
New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 3
New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 4
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 56 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 5
— From Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
So far, in this miniseries we’ve been learning how to make new habits stick. Yet one of the things we haven’t talked about is how to stay focused on achieving your goals when you get bored.
James Clear, the author, recalls meeting an elite sports coach and asking him, “What’s the difference between the best athletes and everyone else? What do the really successful people do that most don’t?”
Clear remembers the coach answering first with the things you might expect: “genetics, luck, talent…” but then he said, “At some point it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over and over.”
The coach’s answer surprised Clear, who had at that moment a shift in perspective:
“Mastery requires practice. But the more you practice something, the more boring and routine it becomes. […]
People talk about getting ‘amped up’ to work on their goals. Whether it’s business or sports or art, you hear people say things like, ‘It all comes down to passion.’ Or, ‘You have to really want it.’ As a result, many of us get depressed when we lose focus or motivation because we think that successful people have some bottomless reserve of passion. But this coach was saying that really successful people feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom. […]
The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. We get bored with habits because they stop delighting us. The outcome becomes expected. And as our habits become ordinary, we start derailing our progress to seek novelty. […] As soon as we experience the slightest dip in motivation, we begin seeking a new strategy—even if the old one was still working.”
So, what to do about boredom then?
You have to anticipate that it will happen and, when it does, accept it and welcome it into your life. Clear says, “You have to fall in love with boredom.”
There will be days when you don’t feel like doing your habit. And many others when you’ll think of not showing up, or not finishing, or quitting altogether, but “if you only do the work when it’s convenient or exciting, then you’ll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.”
ACTION
TODAY: What habit are you bored with? How can you fall in love with that boredom? Go through a mental list of the immense benefits of sticking to it—despite the boredom—vs. quitting. Find that point where your mind shifts and you “fall in love with boredom,” that is, fall in love with the results. Perhaps instead of thinking “This is a great habit, BUT…” you can exchange the BUT for an AND to accept and welcome the boredom and the long-term results that sticking to the habit will bring.
FUTURE: With any habit, anticipate that boredom will occur. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Knowing what to expect will enable you to think of a plan and set up a rule to handle it. Take a look at this recent post from this miniseries on setting rules for guiding future behavior, and create your own: “When boredom strikes and I don’t feel like doing [YOUR HABIT], then I will [YOUR RULE].”
Know someone who is about to quit due to boredom? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Habits, Mindset, Miniseries, Opportunity, Planning, Time, Tools
Links to other parts of this miniseries:
New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 1
New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 2
New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 3
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 11 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: New Habits: How to Ensure They Stick – Part 4
— From Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
In the past three posts (1, 2, 3) we’ve been learning how to cue and stack our new habits to ensure we’re successful in making them last. Today, we will learn one more great technique from James Clear, habit guru, in his book Atomic Habits.
Clear tells the story of Ronan Byrne, an electrical engineering student in Ireland who knew he needed to exercise more but loved to binge-watch Netflix. Trying to connect these two seemingly opposite activities, he hacked his stationary bike in such a way that it would allow him to watch Netflix only if he was pedaling beyond a certain speed.
Clear says that what Byrne was doing is called temptation bundling, and this is a method to make the new habits we want to build more attractive and desirable. “Temptation bundling works by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do,” and the latter may not always be something that’s easy or that you’re too keen on… “In Byrne’s case, he bundled watching Netflix (the thing he wanted to do) with riding his stationary bike (the thing he needed to do).”
“You’re more likely to find a behavior attractive if you get to do one of your favorite things at the same time. Perhaps you want to hear about the latest celebrity gossip, but you need to get in shape. Using temptation bundling, you could only read the tabloids and watch reality shows at the gym. Maybe you want to get a pedicure but you want to clean your email inbox. Solution: only get a pedicure while processing overdue work emails.”
Temptation bundling is one of the tactics used to apply a psychology theory known as Premack’s Principle. It states that “more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors,” thus we can condition ourselves to do the less probable or desirable behavior if it’s tied to doing something enjoyable and that we really want to do.
So far so good. Here’s where it gets better: What if we combine temptation bundling with habit stacking? Hmmmm, now we’re talking!
Clear gives us the formula to set the rules to guide our behavior and make our new habits stick:
- After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [HABIT I NEED].
- After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT].
Here are some examples to illustrate it.
If you want to watch sports, but you need to make sales calls:
- After I get back from my lunch break, I will call three potential clients (need).
- After I call three potential clients, I will check ESPN (want).
If you want to check Facebook, but you need to exercise more:
- After I pull out my phone, I will do ten burpees (need).
- After I do ten burpees, I will check Facebook (want).
“The hope is that eventually you’ll look forward to calling three clients or doing ten burpees because it means you get to read the latest sports news or check Facebook. Doing the thing you need to do means you get to do the thing you want to do. […] Engineering a truly irresistible habit is a hard task, but this simple strategy can be employed to make nearly any habit more attractive than it would be otherwise.”
ACTION
TODAY: Make a list of things you need to do and one of the things you want to do. Crosscheck them for bundling opportunities.
FUTURE: Whenever you find yourself resisting something that you need to do, try pairing it with a very attractive opportunity to do something you want. The more anticipation you build the better and more motivated you’ll be to act.
Know someone who would benefit from temptation bundling to set up a new habit? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
