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!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
Need help on something? Create your own FAB PAB
–From Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business by Carrie Kerpen and The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want by Dave Kerpen.
(Yes, Carrie and Dave are married, they are both rock stars, and they have one of the coolest wedding stories you’ll ever hear!)
So what is a FAB PAB you ask? It’s your own FABulous Personal or Professional Advisory Board.
But isn’t an advisory board for corporations? Originally, yes. But who says that you cannot use the power of an advisory board to your advantage? “You can form an advisory board for any purpose, duration or idea that you choose,” says Dave in his book. And the multiplier effect of having very smart people in the room together—all with the intention of helping you—generates sparks that produce powerful results.
Are you thinking of taking time off from work and going back to school to get a law degree or an MBA? Create a Personal Advisory Board of people you trust who can guide you to make that decision.
Are you thinking of starting a business or growing your existing one? Do as Dave did: realizing he needed a mentor—but being the one with most seniority in his company—he built a Professional Advisory Board. “The members of my advisory board have been game changers in helping me tackle problems I’ve really needed help with and achieve things I’ve really wanted, including launching [a] software company… I found my own mentoring program and I haven’t looked back since.”
“No matter who you are or what you do for a living, a well-constructed advisory board can help you take the next steps to grow personally and professionally. The board can help challenge you, guide you and teach you. […] The key is to find smart, experienced people in whatever area you’d like to focus on.”
And as Carrie’s book explains, we all need guidance on a lot more than workplace related issues. Our lives have many different, interwoven threads and, very likely, one person won’t be able to help you in every single area. That is the beauty of creating your own advisory board made up of people who love you, respect you and want what’s best for you.
Whether formal or informal, your FAB PAB is an invaluable tool to help move you forward. Consider creating one for a reason, a season, or a lifetime, depending on your goals and aspirations. And don’t forget to pay it forward when your turn comes!
ACTION:
TODAY: Figure out where you need help. Draw a circle on a piece of paper: that is your table. Who would you like seated at that table sharing their experience and expertise with you as part of your FAB PAB? List their names (choose wisely and carefully). Contact them.
FUTURE: Once you have contacted them and they’ve agreed to help you, figure out the best way to run your meetings (in person or virtual) so that they are structured, solid, purposeful and efficient to maximize everyone’s time and knowledge. Dave suggests starting with an icebreaking exercise, then sharing one or two challenges, and then going around the table to give everyone a chance to weigh in with their experience, ideas and suggestions. I love this formula. I would add to that: making a promise to the PAB to move swiftly on implementing the ideas/actions, and following up with them individually (prior to the next meeting) to celebrate when a little win happens based on a particular PAB member’s idea, or an introduction they made, etc. (it’s important to keep them in the loop and to show your appreciation).
Happy FAB PABing! Let me know how it goes, and if you’d like to bounce any ideas with me, I’ll be happy to do so. 🙂
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Mindset, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 0 seconds. 
TODAY’S IDEA: Move forward imperfectly.
— From Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff.
Confession time: I am a recovering perfectionist. Yet the more I talk about this, the more I realize that besides the child, the introvert and the party animal inside all of us, there’s also the perfectionist inside us that sometimes rears its ugly head.
If this is your case, read on, your life is about to get so much better!
One of the concepts Acuff describes in his book is that of all-or-nothing: for us perfectionists, when we decide to start something we are all excited, gather the things we will need, and start with big dreams. At some point (usually sooner than later) something happens, there’s a hiccup somewhere, and because it’s no longer perfect, instead of continuing, we give up altogether.
Acuff calls this the day after perfect: “…when imperfection arrives we usually quit. That is why the day after perfect is so important. This is the make-or-break day for every goal. […] The day after perfect is what separates finishers from starters. […] Unfortunately, perfectionism dies slowly. It’s persistent and particularly dangerous because it masquerades as excellence… [People] think the opposite of perfectionism is failure. It’s not. The opposite is finished.”
The good news is the realization that perfectionism exists only in our minds, and thus we have tools (such as the ideas in this book) to control it. Let me leave you with this thought from the book:
“Move forward imperfectly.
Reject the idea that the day after perfect means you’ve failed.
That’s just not true.
You get to try again.
Today, tomorrow, next week.”
ACTION:
TODAY & FUTURE: Commit and recommit every day to move forward imperfectly. Tell someone close to you and whom you trust about this commitment. This way, when the day after perfect strikes and you’ve quit—or you’re thinking about quitting—this same person can remind you of your commitment.
SURPRISE!
I’d like to send you an electronic quote card (for you to print out) to remind you to move forward imperfectly. All you have to do is give me your name and email address in the form below so that I know where to send the card. You’ll get an email message with a PDF file for you to print, cut in four, and put each card in a visible place to remind you to reject the idea that the day after perfect means you’ve failed. No. No. No. Never again. We’re moving forward imperfectly!
by Helena Escalante | Growth, Mindset, Planning, Productivity, Resources, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
“Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what is not working.”
— From Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, by Derek Sivers.
The idea of persistence and dogged determination has been ingrained in us from a very young age. While there is enormous merit in being persistent, we have to make sure that said persistence will take us somewhere: sometimes we are just trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.
We do have to try (or see someone trying) to fit the proverbial round peg at least once into the square hole to realize it won’t work. Substitute this for whatever is not working in your business or life. Once you realize that this is not working for you or anyone involved, improve, switch, redesign, reinvent, modify… experiment and iterate again and again until you get it right. As Leadership Guru John C. Maxwell so wisely says: “Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”
By failing “forward” you know that you will learn something and apply that learning to the next iteration of whatever you are doing. Eventually, like Edison*, you’ll find the formula that works. As Derek aptly says in his book:
“Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what is not working […] Don’t waste years fighting uphill battles against locked doors. Improve or invent until you get a huge response.”
How do you know it’s finally right? Derek says that your clients will tell you: “Wow! Yes! I need this! I’d be happy to pay you to do this!” Or depending on what you’re doing, you may get any other positive expression of love, gratitude and/or desire to acquire.
* The story goes that Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent filament for light bulbs, experimented and failed ten thousand times before finding the one that worked. When asked about it he said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
ACTION:
TODAY: What is a proverbial round peg that you’re dealing with now? Ask WHY 5 times to see what’s the real reason why you’re not moving forward. What is one action that you can take today, (even if it’s just scheduling time in your calendar to deal with this next week) that will move you towards improving what is currently not working?
FUTURE: Grab a journal and take inventory of some—or all—of these areas of your life (the ones that apply to you): physical, intellectual, social, financial, spiritual, marital, parental, emotional, professional, and your hobbies. I’m sure you’re determined to make all of them work, right? (I hope so!) Where are you banging your head against a wall trying to make something work, but it’s just not happening? Write down a few experiments you’d like to try. Write the time/place/date where you will take action, then take action and see if your experiments work to improve the issue. If not, ask WHY 5 times to see what’s the real reason, write it down and try new experiments. Note: the experiments you try can be big, but I suggest breaking them down into small, manageable chunks. It’s easier when the chunks are not earth-shattering, enormously time consuming or eat up a month’s budget: minor tweaks work too.
I’ll share with you a couple of examples of small tweaks that worked for me recently:
- My husband and I, for a while, tried to have a “date night” on Wednesdays… dismal failure. Work and everyday obligations got in the way. The experiment? Switched it to Saturday mornings. The result? It’s just fantastic because we don’t have to worry about work the next day, and we can tackle any pending issues over the rest of the weekend.
- I was going crazy with one of my client’s electronic billing systems. I do some work for this client on and off; so it’s not often enough to remember clearly how to deal with the convoluted system, but often enough to deal with the system to the point of annoyance. Then I read somewhere that it’s worth establishing a system for anything that you do more than TWO times. Eureka! What a concept… eye-opening indeed! The experiment? Create a system. My “system” became a cheat sheet where I detailed the process—step-by-step—that I needed to follow every time. The result? Smooth sailing every time now that I use my client’s system. Voilà! No more frustration.
So now it’s your turn. Try out inventing, experimenting, improving, enhancing… and let me know how it goes!
by Helena Escalante | Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Tools
TODAY’S IDEA:
Rule Number 6.
–From The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life, by Rozamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.
I must preface this post by saying that this book is one of my favorites and I think it should be in the hands of every person in the whole wide world! I cannot recommend it enough. Also, the audio book is a treasure, because it’s filled with beautiful music thanks to Ben Zander, who serves as musical director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (on the date of publication of this post).
There is no better way to explain today’s idea, Rule Number 6, than to quote this masterful story directly from the book:
«Two prime ministers are sitting in a room discussing affairs of state. Suddenly a man bursts in, apoplectic with fury, shouting and stamping and banging his fist on the desk. The resident prime minister admonishes him: “Peter,” he says, “kindly remember Rule Number 6,” whereupon Peter is instantly restored to complete calm, apologizes, and withdraws. The politicians return to their conversation, only to be interrupted yet again twenty minutes later by an hysterical woman gesticulating wildly, her hair flying. Again the intruder is greeted with the words: “Marie, please remember Rule Number 6.” Complete calm descends once more, and she too withdraws with a bow and an apology. When the scene is repeated for a third time, the visiting prime minister addresses his colleague: “My dear friend, I’ve seen many things in my life, but never anything as remarkable as this. Would you be willing to share with me the secret of Rule Number 6?” “Very simple,” replies the resident prime minister. “Rule Number 6 is ‘Don’t take yourself so g—damn seriously.'” “Ah,” says his visitor, “that is a fine rule.” After a moment of pondering, he inquires, “And what, may I ask, are the other rules?”
“There aren’t any.”»
Don’t you just LOVE Rule Number 6? I know I do. Whenever I’m all worked up about something, I think of Rule Number 6 and I laugh out loud, even if I’m by myself (thank goodness my dog doesn’t speak, otherwise the stories about me he would tell!).
Rule Number 6 snaps me immediately out of whatever funk I’m in. It makes me look for another angle to solve a problem or a different way to make things happen. It also helps me make a positive experience out of whatever may be happening at that moment (and that I consider too important and too serious).
Another way in which I’ve come to apply Rule Number 6 is by thinking this: if I may be able to look back in the future and laugh at what I’m going through right now, what prevents me from laughing at it this very moment? How can I make that mindshift now and shorten the time it takes to get to the laughter and the lessons learned? Easier said than done, but a worthwhile exercise every time I’ve tried.
ACTION:
(NOTE: One of our gurupies* had a great idea: to give actions in bite-size pieces; some sort of “Today’s action is….” for those of you that don’t have much time. I think this is brilliant and I’m implementing it right away. Also, for those of you that may want to continue applying the action in the future, I’m also including things you can do if you want to explore a bit more. Let me know how you like this new approach, and of course, I welcome ALL your ideas and suggestions with open arms!)
TODAY: Share the story of Rule Number 6 with your world; I’m sure they’ll love it. Make a point of keeping it in mind throughout the day and seeing the many ways in which you can apply it (or in which it could serve others to apply it!).
FUTURE: Ask your family, friends and colleagues to remind you of Rule Number 6 when you need it. Ask if you can do the same for them. It will eventually become a habit to invoke Rule Number 6 and find new ways of seeing things. You’ll be less stressed and much happier.
Happy RuleNumberSixing! 😀
* Gurupie = blend of guru and groupie = how we fondly refer to the EntreGurus’ community, because we all follow the ideas of the gurus.
