Actions or Intentions?

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Peter Drucker

Ever developed a great action plan and didn't follow through after a training session?  If you are like me, a motivational speaker can pump my juices.  Our intentions to implement the plan soar to a peak.  But what does it take to follow through? 

7 Road bumps that prevent follow-through  

1. New concepts lost if not acted upon When a coach leaves after a concentrated training session, people's urgent tasks cry for attention. Tasks usurp focus so that newly learned information can easily spill out of the brain's working memory. Three or four fresh details fill the working memory's temporary storage capacity.  When learning is fresh it works well to take immediate action to begin using it.

2. Should do When a person says she should do the first step in an action plan, the words do not reflect immediacy so it can be set aside for long periods of time and perhaps abandoned. Margaret Meloni lists three levels of intention revealed through words used.

• Level One: I should or I need – This indicates recognition of or a desire to make a change or take an action, but is not an action plan. 

• Level Two: I want or I am going to – Now the talk about a change or action is being transformed into a plan, it may make the top of the to-do list.

• Level Three: I am – A clear statement of intention reflecting action and ownership for the results. This is the execution and this is where an intention becomes a reality.

3. Fear stands in the way  If fear creates a barrier between where you are now and where you want to be Carolyn Rubenstein suggests you ask WHY.  When you get to the bottom of your fear, you can face it and take the bold action needed to start the first step of your plan.

4. Boss shuts down ideas "Stubborn bosses treat change as if they have 'cooties,'" Lyn Taylor contends.  "They don't want to touch it, get near it, or handle it themselves unless they initiate the change.  Why?  Many people want to initiate change themselves so they make the work environment uncomfortable for those wanting to follow through with a new action plan. 

Tyrant bosses, want to be right, get the recognition and avoid risks just to maintain the status quo.  
Taylor offers these solutions:

Choose your words carefully  To get better footing, Taylor suggests you use positive language to relax your boss when he's stuck in a rut. Words of affirmation will calm him," and thus release serotonin, a brain chemical of well being. 

Offer choices and compromises that empower your "Terrible Old Tyrant." Rather than asking questions that lead to yes/no answers, offer your boss choices. Change "Can we end the meeting early today?" to "Should we end at 4:00 or 4:30?" That gives your boss decision making power.

Align your needs with boss's - "Remind your boss how your ideas reinforce her larger objectives," Taylor suggests. Keep showing that you are on the same page.

5. Procrastination Everyone has things they want to do, but can't seem to start the first step.  So what's the answer to this foot dragging?   Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen suggest that you put together an "unschedule", a chart of your time that is already taken, as a way to see how much time you really have left for your goals.

Since you did not start this habit yesterday, it is deeply embedded in your brain's basal ganglia. The more you do an action, the more your brain has rewired dendrite brain cells for repeating the same action.  Good news is that human brain has great plasticity and can rewire for a new approach. So each time you start early and accomplish a task the more this new pattern will be rewired in your brain's memory bank - the basal ganglia.

Burka and Yeun suggest how to develop better work habits methodically, one step at a time. They recommend starting a 2-week program right away using varied strategies.  Here are some they list:

• Avoid perfectionism
• Be specific
• Make goals that are observable
• Take small steps
• Reward yourself!

Add some sure fire strategies of your own so you get started today.

6. Lack of Focus Stifles Follow-through "Those leaders who lack the focus and attention to detail needed to apply leverage and resources in an aggressive and committed fashion will perish," Mike Myatt observes. "Leaders who do not possess a bias toward action, or who cannot deliver on their obligations will not be successful. Leadership is about performance…Intentions must be aligned with results for leaders to be effective."

If a leader is easily distracted during a coaching session, she misses some of the detail. Since the human brain is easily bored, Ellen Weber explains why "you might think other people or work bore you and that is why you are not getting ahead." It is a myth. "Reality," according to Weber, "is that boredom is more a habit formed in brains, and shaped by your choices."

7. Innovation is rhetoric rather than reality  When people inside large organizations were asked to describe their corporate innovation system, almost none could do it, Gary Hamel discovered. " When asked if innovation is rhetoric rather than reality, they said, overwhelmingly, 'It's rhetoric. We don't see the reality.'"

One explanation for this is that top management is paying lip service to innovation, according to Gary Hamel. "But another -- and far more likely -- explanation is that senior leaders do not have a clear, well-developed model of what innovation looks like as an organizational capability. And since they don't know what it looks like, they don't know how to build it." One reason is that they focus just on products and services. And, second, many organizations "devote much more energy to optimizing what is there than to imagining what could be. Hamel's answer is that "we need to create constituencies for "What Could Be."

A way past the rhetoric, is to unleash the passion for innovation company-wide. That is taking the first step!

What would you suggest to insure intentions are acted upon quickly to create fresh realities?

Stick to It - You Can Do It!

If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something. ... it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein

My eight-year-old Toshiba laptop died last week. A 14" light, Toshiba Satellite, with long lasting battery power fit my needs to a T. But, its systems were new and unfamiliar. My basal ganglia, the brain's storehouse for memory was full of patterns that were familiar and comfortable. In trying to get new email operating smoothly as in past, I fought against data systems that did not allow me to insert needed information. Everything was totally different. The fight to work with the new laptop's systems taxed my brain to the utmost.

You see I had begun to work in my brain's working memory. Trying to get everything up and running caused much discomfort since all was new and unfamiliar. When I reached that point, I set everything aside to come back at a later time when I could think more clearly. Then, I worked a chunk at a time so that I did not get overwhelmed.

This morning a technician gave me a hand to convert my Outlook Express mail to Windows Live Mail. Expert help lifts us over the bumps. I can already see advantages to the new.

Our brains have great plasticity. We can accomplish things never before accomplished by using parts of your brain never before used. ~ Ellen Weber

Change Ruts - Adopt Life-Changing Habitudes

If you approach teaching and learning more as a detective, what would happen? Angela Maiers explores clues and possibilities in her innovative 21st century approach to Classroom Habitudes. Through detective work, Angela shares collected tools to stir imagination, curiosity, perseverance, self awareness, courage and adaptability, -- the six habitudes.

Twenty-first century students, well-rehearsed in fast-paced video games, can out-maneuver me any day with their dexterity and skill. Sound familiar? They think differently because historically, they're oriented to the world through more visual approaches. In fact teens read less than they did in past. Angela Maiers tosses out practical approaches for teachers craving a lifeline to connect to digitally oriented students.

Intriguingly, Angela's new book, Classroom Habitudes, pitches questions, problem-solving, creating, inventing and collaboration as desired skills of today's and tomorrow's businesses. Students do not obtain such skills by completing worksheets or day after monotonous day. Many teachers today are looking for helps past this disconnect because old methods don't work and actually prevent students from tapping their brains. Here're several disconnects...

Student

bored by worksheet - Bombarding students with information can actually shut down learning. To escape, some children daydream. Getting students to "play with ideas" at any age activates the brain for doing rather than passivity.

turned off by teacher talk with no opportunity to respond - Remember lectures that bored you? No wonder brainpower dies daily in our schools. Move Brainpower into Reconfigured Learning.

cringes and shrinks inside when teacher names him/her to gain attentiveness - Yelling or reprimands can trigger cortisol in a student's brain. Angela provides teachers with several "Anchor Lessons" to provide stimulating classroom conversations that engage students so that students are attentive. This leads serotonin, a brain hormone of well-being to flow in learners' brains.

has no opportunity to use multiple gifts and talents - Angela questions tired practice that shuts down many learners... "Couldn't there be an assignment in addition to coloring shapes that maybe included handing them blank sheets of paper and asking them to invent and name a shape that no one has ever hear of before...?"

To zero in on Courage Angela, takes a closer view - with students. She models strategies teachers can use in classes right away by providing lessons and suggested teacher prompts she uses with students. The five lessons:

Looking Fear in the Face
Taking Action
Get Uncomfortable
Courageous Conversation
Everyday Heroes

Maiers challenges, "As learners, you put yourself at risk of falling into learning traps when you do not expose yourself to challenge and discomfort." As I read this, I asked, "Do teachers also need courage to expose themselves to discomfort as they begin to use 21st century methods by giving up the comfort of worksheets, teacher talk, and pointing out a student to gain attention?" What do you think? Here's a list of brainstormed possibilities Angela shares:

• Talk to someone new today
• Ask a question [maybe several throughout the day]
• Challenge something [respectfully] a teacher or person in authority says
• Try a new genre
• Teach a classmate [colleague] how to do something
• Speak publicly - Teach something to a group
• Learn a new skill or strategy
• Draw something to capture idea
• Become a character

You build your courage muscle like any other in your body-the more you stretch it, the more you work it out, the stronger it becomes. Muscle and brain work require lifelong maintenance. Just because you lifted weights once--does not give you strength for life. Stretching and building your courage is a daily, lifelong workout! Happy lifting!... Angela Maiers

Angela, as you challenge others and me to change past practice, you actually encourage us to give our working memory a workout to override ruts. That can be very discomforting. But, as you point out the more you practice doing different activities, the less discomfort you experience. Good news is that the brain's plasticity enables us to change those tired routines that no longer work well in 21st century schools. Students might also benefit from specific software programs as Resources for Teachers and Students in addition to the excellent selected readings.

Thanks for forging ahead to publish Classroom Habitudes. What a huge leap! You model courage, perseverence, imagination and adaptability. Keep up your excellent work.

Obtain your copy at LuLu.

Zoning Out When Doing Routine Tasks?

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge -- Danile J. Boorstin

Ever zone out? You read a couple of pages in Newsweek and realize you missed the point. Or, on the way to a monthly meeting, 10 miles past the expressway exit, you finally come to. It's as if you were on auto-pilot.

Lack of attentiveness can occur to you and me, when we assume we know something. We're so accustomed to the route, for example, that we no longer see it. What's going on, anyway? It's connected to the way your brain works

Picture part of your brain as a filing cabinet chock-full of routines developed over a lifetime. That's how your brain's basal ganglia works. Not too surprisingly, when you read something that isn't interesting to you, your eyes routinely take in the words, but you're day-dreaming of purchasing that new HD TV you saw a few pages back. Similarly you may be so familiar with a route that you don't pay close attention to it, though you are aware of the cars around you. In some ways that's scary. But the driving routine's deeply entrenched.

Good news... we can overcome mindlessness by seeing our world with fresh eyes, according to Ellen Langer of Harvard. "To be mindful," Langer notes, "stressing process over outcome, allows free rein to intuition and creativity, and opens us to new information and perspectives." Tapping intuition and creativity stimulate your brain's working memory.

Picture another tiny part of your brain as a graph that takes in new information quickly, combines it with what's stored in the filing cabinet to develop brand new patterns. That's similar to the way your working memory works. And the problem is if you do not act on the new information, the graph can quickly lose all the data.

Override your brain's default for ruts, Dr. Ellen Weber says. Get control of your distraction reflex...Put the ordinary under a looking glass and discover a surprising element. Or, change your performance in subtle ways as Weber advises.

Test your concentration level Here's a quick test to determine your ability to concentrate on a task and whether you have a well-developed portfolio of strategies to apply yourself.

How would you Reinvent Yourself through Mindful Creativity at work? I'll include your ideas in a follow-up blog.

Mental Rehearsal Boosts Performance

Ever take a golf lesson, practice, think you have it, but it's not working a couple of days later? Happened to me last time I paid for a lesson.

You and I don't retain all details when learning brand new tasks. Here's why... The brain's working memory holds only small bits of new information. Steps just learned for a great golf swing sequence easily spill out of the working memory during activities you engage in before you're back on the course.

Interestingly, you can use mental rehearsal to raise performance.

Just think, if someone teaches you to use video software or to play a solo on your sax, running through a routine in your mind, sometimes benefits you more than doing it. When I learned that golf swing, evidently I lost some information... so next day, I practiced incorrectly. If you physically go through a skill incorrectly, you can hamper learning in future lessons... I can see why now!

The secret -- envision the whole new task as soon as possible. Thirty minutes of mental practice works well. Mental practice helps you and me remember since the process is picked up by your brain's basal ganglia. The more you practice, the stronger the memory. And once you "have the skill," you can improvise and even adapt to new situations.

Matthew Hutson, Psychology Today author, suggests three tips for optimum mental rehearsal:

1. Stick to Vivid Detail Try to remember your own body movements and visualize as accurately as possible.

2. Adjust Your Speed When beginning, go slowly through process so you can focus on detail. If you're an excellent golfer, quick works best.

3. Watch and Discover Take time to observe others who perform well.. Careful observation activates the brain's motor skills as if a person were performing the task.

See possibilities to rehearse new skills on your next plane trip or as you wait in the doctor's office? Thoughts?

Experiencing Electronic Overload?

"My brain has stopped working -" Ann Michael commented, "I'm turning off all electronic devices for a 'reboot.'" Ever feel you're on electronic overload? I do at times, Ann. How do folks slip into high gear again?

I nudged Ann to try a 20 minute power nap for a pick-me-up. At this point, Ann clarified the problem and posed a question... "It isn't that I'm tired it's just that I've been looking at a screen (whether large or small) for too long - any remedies for that????"

Ann, there's a reason your brain's tired and wants rebooting. Your working memory's on overload. No doubt, you viewed hundreds of images on your screen. Using the working memory takes energy. Working memory has limited slots compared to the parts of your brain that store long term memories. For example, visualize the amount of water a thimble holds compared to a water glass. This helps you approximate the size of the working memory compared to the basal ganglia.

Interestingly, of all the images on your screen, you remember the striking ones or those that hold import. Why? Because your working memory's very small. Images without much meaning "spill out." Since the brain has no need to store images you won't need in future, it "forgets" these on purpose. Can you see why you had the feeling you needed to "reboot your brain?"

Okay, Ann, if you've looked at your computer screen too long, here're several activities to bring relief...

1. Tea-break option. Stu Carter of the UK set his computer to flash a picture of a cup of tea on the screen every hour. When he sees it, Stu leaves his computer for five minutes to get some tea.

2. Run up and down stairs for five. Set a timer to go off at hourly intervals and run up and down stairs. This will spike oxygen flow to your body and brain.

3. Put on headphones and tap your feet to music. This can help keep your circulation going and help you to concentrate. Music moves your brain waves in ways that help your focus at the same time.

4. Walk to the water cooler every hour. Friends gather here so you can share humor and drink a glass of water. Water fuels your brain so drink up. Humor releases serotonin, a brain hormone, that relieves some of your stressors.

5. Focus on objects at varied distances. Close your eyes and take five deep breaths; look into the distance or at a photo of a distant scene; look at something very close (your shirt button or your nose) then look out the window; turn your head from side to side and let your eyes skim over objects in front of you; close your eyes and remember a time when you felt relaxed and calm; get up and stretch.

6. Alternate computer activities with other tasks. Keep a to-do list on your desk so that you can easily set a pattern.

7. Use artificial tears to moisten dry eyes. Sitting at your computer can dry your eyes so the "tears" make a difference.

8. Adjust lighting near computer to avoid glare and reflections. Also try a non-glare filter over your monitor

9. If you wear glasses, be sure to include a UV filter and transition lenses. I find my transition lenses not only prevent too much sun outside, they help ease eye strain from work at the computer.

10. Blink frequently. When you work at a computer screen, likely you tend to stare and do not blink as much as you might otherwise. Focus on blinking more to prevent discomfort of dry eyes.

We all need new strategies to "reboot our brain," Ann, especially when we sit at our computers too long.

What tips might you add for Ann or for that matter for yourself... to relieve long hours at your computer screen... especially to keep your brain at full tilt?

Blue Light Revvs Up Your Working Memory!

Blue light waves in particular help the brain to stay alert and support working memory tasks that take deep thinking or problem solving. Working memory … according to Ellen Weber it’s your mental capacity to hold onto a few different facts while you noodle them to solve a problem or to create something new…

Findings from a recent study show show we're influenced by wide ranging effects of light on how we perform and feel. Additionally there are implications for the development of better artificial light environments and a better understanding of the effects of light on the human brain in general.

Ready to make some changes in your lighting so you can ratchet up your working memory? How about energy efficient flourescent bulbs? Many produce blue light. Your brainpower can go green, too!

Thoughts?

Your Brain on Numbers

Music is a secret exercise in arithmetic of the soul, unaware of its act of counting --Gottfried Leibniz, philosopher and mathematician

"Fixing on a number helps me generate ideas, create new options, and crystallise my thoughts," Joanna Young declares. And, she leaped to a challenge of presenting 7 writing tactics in a numbered list. Interestingly the concentration helped her reach 7 unique points to meet that goal. Her mind let go of it once the 7th was complete. Joanna's curiosity led her to question me as to how that might be connected to the brain. You'd be surprised at how many connections play out...

Logical-mathematical Intelligence the math parts of the brain are especially fun for those who think logically or enjoy numbers, according to Ellen Weber. You'd enjoy Ellen's post chock full of blog tips for your math intelligence.

I'm curious, Ellen, as to whether you set a number of tips before you write and how having a number in mind ahead of time impacts your writing. For instance, the math tips include 10 ideas, and you recently posted a challenge to stretch our brains daily in March, which includes 31 suggestions for your readers, as well as the post you developed to list some suggestions for the 22 stressors people face in the course of a day. Do you find that your brain keeps working on these till you hit the magic number like Joanna?

The logical-math part of your brain includes high ability for logical reasoning, predicting probability, organizing, and sequencing as well as numerical dexterity. You'll be surprised with results when you challenge your brain through your math intelligence or any of the others. Here's why...

Puzzles and Challenges: Present your brain with a challenge and your brain steps up to meet it! The human brain thrives on unraveling puzzles and sorting out ambiguities. Recent research shows that your unconscious mind works on the problem...

...a strong Aha! sensation involves minimal meta cognitive (monitoring of one's own thoughts) processes and unconscious restructuring or, better, an automatic, subconscious recombination of information which stands in contrast to conscious mental restructuring which is an attention-demanding process involving executive control. The study shows that it is possible to identify these processes before they reach the level of verbal awareness.

In other words the backburner of your mind is warming the answer as you may be working on other tasks. Bursts of insight may come on the spot or take a day or more... Your brain can reach flow as you compose from a series of "aha's"...

Flow: Flow's described as "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it," according to psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who wrote Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Csikszentmihalyi theorizes that best moments in life occur when the body and mind are stretched to the limit in an effort to accomplish something both difficult and worthwhile. That's likely why you stayed on the path to meet your quest, Joanna.

Invention: When people launch a project they generally follow routines, and in this case, approaches you take to write. Your brain first retrieves methods and schemas from your basal ganglia whenever you approach a task similar to many you've completed in past. Take driving for instance... You build many different skills which arise to meet different road conditions. However, if you're on black ice for the first time, you remember what you read in the driver's manual, and you're forced to use something novel.

On the other hand, notice the difference when you work out of novelty, as in your new approach to focus on a number, Joanna. You tap into your brain's working memory and Ellen Weber explains that in everyday language...

When the brain registers an idea it goes into the short term or working memory. Think of your working memory as a fine wine glass where new wine is poured daily. Your mind’s wine includes exciting ideas you hear, discussions you have or insights you garner from business blogs … or maybe it’s just a reflection beside a quiet stream. Since only a few ounces of wine fit into your wine glass… I mean your working memory … then yesterday’s wine will get washed out or so diluted by today’s. You’ll no longer feel excited by an idea’s possibilities for change unless you move it into action and lead it forward with rewards for excellence. It’s how the brain works to lose or gain business … each time you pour in new ideas or actions that are unrelated to the old ones there, the older ones are replaced. It’s also why multi-tasking may not be a good solution unless these tasks relate to change ideas and actions already in your working memory.

No doubt, Joanna, you desired to use novelty as you wrote because you wanted different outcomes. Not too surprisingly, your brain worked on your challenge till you generated ideas, created new options and crystallized thoughts for the seven ways that numbers help you write. In my next blog I'm giving myself a number challenge so I can go more in depth as you did.

Joanna, your theme of writing leaps and bounds, is something we can all have fun with! The music of your soul comes forth with many melodies from which we all learn.

Here are additional ways for blogging through your intelligences...

Blog Tips for your Math Intelligence

Blog Tips for Your Musical Intelligence

Blog Tips for Your Spatial Intelligence

Blog Tips From Your Intrapersonal Intelligence

Blog Tips from Your Interpersonal Intelligence

Blog From Your Linguistic Intelligence

Blogging From Your Naturalistic Intelligence

Try just one and see the difference in your next blog!

8 Strategies for Happy Holiday Memories!

Are many of your happiest memories connected to Christmas or the special holiday you celebrate this season? I know mine are and the most memorable connect to precious family and friends.

When an event replays in your mind, no doubt you see the people who made that memory what it is. What would that event be if different people were there? Maybe you begin to see the powerful relationship between our interactions with people and memory as you reflect on it.

To be prosperous at work is to be strongly connected in our personal relationships. What happens in your home deeply impacts the contributions you bring to your work.

With this in mind, I'm planning to make this year's festivities light-hearted, yet memorable for all the people I cherish. See what you think of these strategies...

1. Look for magic...
2. Notice unexpected melodies and express pleasure to others as they occur
3. Recapture memories together
4. Keep gifts light and unexpected... give on a day when nobody expects it
5. Laugh at yourself - often and hard
6. Play a game that a child chooses for the two of you
7. Take a food or small gift to a neighbor
8. Remember the best things in life are free

In thinking about number three, I remember my daughter impersonating me with just a tinge of exaggeration and I never laughed so hard in my life. I often replay the laughs when my twenty something daughter gave her older brother "The Book of Farts" [a children's story book] as a gift. When he read it for us the tears streamed down our cheeks. Do you have memories like that?

And as I consider the more sacred, I'll never forget our first Christmas with our adopted grandson. He was a very long awaited and unexpected treasure from the hand of God.

I'm hoping to create the kind of celebration that all enjoy during our gathering. I'll review these several times so they don't slip out of my working memory before the event takes place! In fact, maybe by practicing these right away, I'll lock them into my brain's basal ganglia! What do you think?

Scott McArthur's Method to Unstick Your Brain

Scott McArthur says to relieve braincramp challenge your schemas. Scott revs up his brain by using templates Chip and Dan Heath share in their recent book Made to Stick. Challenging the schemas you've embedded in deep recesses of your brain's basal ganglia is a great approach, Scott.

You see, we all have preferred ways of doing things, or the schemas we have programmed because they're comfortable and trusty. Once you grasp ideas or skills, they're stored in your brain's basal ganglia. They require little effort, they're familiar and let's face it - just plain comfortable.

On the other hand, when you operate from your brain's working memory, it takes more effort and it's discomforting to you because you're treading swift running water and you need to stay afloat. You see, ideas and new ways of doing things easily spill out of the working memory because its so small compared to the basal ganglia.

Scott suggests, "if you get braincramps you need to get yourself a new template!" He lists six below based on the Heath Brothers research:

Pictorial Analogy
Extreme Consequence
Extreme Situations
Competition
Interactive Experiments
Dimensionality Alteration

So how about challenging your routines and dive into a new template that unsticks you from comfort zones? By so doing you'll deeply engage your working memory and find those creative surprises that currently elude you.

Tap Into Your Naturalistic Intelligence

Have you ever been stuck for new ideas as you sit at your desk? The familiarity of your office or cubicle might stifle creative thinking. How so? The basal ganglia, the part of the brain that stores routines and patterns based on daily activities, is not the only well-spring of creativity.

Even though your imagination can take flight as you sit at that desk, unfortunately familiarity can slow you down. What can you do then when you're at your desk and no new ideas come your way? Here's a suggestion - tap into your naturalistic intelligence...

Get outside... even during your lunch hour. The natural world can help spark new insights. Here're a few ways it can benefit you...

1. Fresh air... provides more oxygen to the brain so it functions well. The brain uses 21% of the body's oxygen.

2. Animals, birds, plants and scenery may stir new ideas about projects. The natural world can stimulate you to think differently. These might take the form of metaphors to represent ideas in a new way.

3. Working memory kicks in to "play with" new thoughts and ideas that take life in your mind. The working memory is that part of the brain that works hard to solve challenges and puzzles.

4. The mind relaxes in an environment with less stress. Stress actually shuts down the brain's capacity to reason and problem-solve. Just going outside can bring a shot of Serotonin, a chemical which brings calm and well being to the brain.

5. Movement... stimulates blood flow to the brain, which enhances the oxygen supply.

Next time you feel stale, bored or stuck for ideas while you're sitting at your desk, I suggest you move outside...Maybe your lunch hour is just the time for this. Ready to give it a whirl? Please come back and share what it does for you...

Building from Questions and Curiosity

Since I determined to visit new blogs and listen more, I'm already richer. And, a great way to connect more to other bloggers is to ask two-footed questions. Here's how it works...



Start with something in the blog that intrigues or rouses your curiosity. Ask that blogger a question that requires him to speak from personal experience in relation to the topic. Ellen Weber explains more about two-footed questions.

For instance, when I checked out Sweska's blog, I found that she lives in Singapore, is 20 something, and attends college. Sweska took time to scan family photos and arrange them for her family to "squeeze in" and share. She said family members pointed out photos and recalled events. I pictured this in my mind's eye as Sweska shared the details from Old Gold Pics.

I wondered what advice an older, 60-year-old Sweska might give to young, 20-something Swezka. So I asked. And Sweska replied that she reflected much. Here's two wonderful gems from her list of five:

1. Keep working and loving what you do...there's no such thing as retirement!
2. Continue learning new things and new skills...maybe a type of dancing!

Wow. I like the focus!

Chris Cree of Success Creeations is currently taking a break by traveling North by car with his wife,Gorgeous. Chris hopes for more one-on-one time with her during the extensive trip since he would be away from distrations for a log duration. When I asked Chris how this was working out, he responded, "I'm coping ok through the withdrawal." Love the next line, "At least the twitching has moderated somewhat!" Hope you're still laughing Chris!

And there's great wisdom to glean from Elizabeth Perry's journey in art at Woolgathering. Liz says to "give ourselves permission to sit still, look around and fool around." I want to draw. Since Liz began two years ago with no prior experience, I know I can. In the do-ing, it happens. I'm buying a sketch pad today to start. According to Liz, art shapes itself.

At Servant of Chaos, Sharon Sarmiento, commented that "community is the heartbeat of the blogosphere." And Gavin Heaton, at Servant of Chaos, really shows that. When I inquired if he had tips to build great community Gavin provided a link to Mike Sansone's Converstations, http://www.converstations.com/2007/01/building_reader.html. Just goes to show that bloggers go out of their way to help each other.

OK, my working memory is overflowing... That's the portion of your mind which processes new information and it only holds a limited amount before it spills over. Somehow, my cup is overflowing with great nuggets from the blogging community. Thanks, Swezka, Liz, Chris, Mike and Gavin!

Step Past Control and Status Quo

Why is it that most people stick with the status quo? What are the results when someone at your workplace wants to try something edgy? You’d enjoy a cartoon at Scientific Integrity. Do you see your workplace here?

Seth Godin provokes our thinking about status quo in 50:1, a current snapshot of employees as they fit in to a workplace. Just think about it. Seth says that only a tiny number of people get fired for attempting to do something great. Interestingly, Seth contends that Carly got fired for challenging the status quo…Thousands of employees embraced comfort zones and got laid off.

Though Seth’s mailbox is full, he says that only about once a day does he get mail from a person worrying that she is too edgy, too willing to cause change and growth…or risk getting fired. He concludes, “I almost never get mail from people who figure if they keep doing the same boring thing day in and day out at their fading company that they’re going to lose their jobs in a layoff.”

Ellen Weber counters mediocrity as she considers results when organizations reward high-performance minds. Weber wonders why leaders say they hire for talent, and yet some facilitate and reward mediocrity. Does mediocrity result when folks are treated as if they have no contributions to make, or their ideas do not count, or expectations are part of a conservative status quo? How do mediocrity and status quo develop?

In some cases, a control culture leads to mediocrity and status quo. When you consider the feudal system or the advent of manufacturing in the industrial age, a few folks at the top made all the decisions and controlled every detail. Though today's workplaces are not that extreme, control cultures are still in place in many organizations… the Baron or boss’s way or the highway. Employees
suggestions are generally ignored. Why is that?

Two reasons…most frequently fear of the unfamiliar and a basal ganglia deeply embedded for hierarchy. Since your brain’s basal ganglia stores everyday routines, people know what is expected and easily fall into everyday patterns. Over time, routines are just plain comfortable…

When change comes, and you engage new tasks, you dip into working memory, that part of your brain which holds only a small amount of information… and the new easily spills out. For example, how well do you remember all the details when first using new software? To use working memory requires deep focus, problem solving and doing tasks in new ways. The more you do it, the easier it gets because you are rewiring your brain for the new. At times “living change” may seem burdensome and frustrating. It's so easy to push your feet into comfortable slippers rather than break in new shoes! Good news is breaking old routines helps you dance past the status quo.

Consider five MITA steps as a way to revitalize your organization in roundtables where all voices are heard.

QUESTION: All are free to ask hard questions…Questions to which the asker is connected.

TARGET: Employees consider possibilities and target improvements that bust barriers

EXPECT: Negotiate expectations together

MOVE: Move innovation using employees' gifts and talents

REFLECT: reflect to adjust and change.

Folks work together over time to renew. As a result, an organization builds a system for on-going change through collaboration, life-long learning and problem solving processes. Innovative processes replace former routines in employees' basal ganglia.

What is driving your workplace today – status quo or invention? What possibilities do you see?

Are You Taking Risks that Fly?

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors -- African proverb

Why are some CEO’s ready to take risks while others bask contentedly in a short-lived growth spurt? Risk-taking is discussed daily by business leaders and pundits. But, what separates ordinary risk-takers from those who are extremely successful?

Overconfidence and overgeneralizing may be key components of entrepreneurial success for those who take the plunge, according to a study by management professors, Jay Barney of Ohio State and Lowell Barney, University of Houston. They studied 124 entrepreneurs and 95 top business managers to test confidence as they revisited answers to questions. While both groups were overly confident, the entrepreneurs were even more so. But, is overconfidence enough?

Just for fun I considered three prominent business bloggers' suggestions about risk-taking. What do you think?

Smart, Hard Work, Not Providence Word of Mouth Marketing “is smart, hard work, not providence,” according to Steven Sibukin. “It’s an outcome that requires a convergence of smart risk-taking, unyielding focus on a well understood target, and a keen strategy for initiating a dialogue with willing influencers at the right time. And, of course, a brilliant product.” Steve garners wisdom from Judith Clark’s marketing plan for Baby Einstein.

To develop a Word of Mouth Marketing plan, Sibukin suggests we reflect on the following questions:

• Who are the small handful of influencers that I most need to target upfront – and what is my high-touch, unique plan for winning them over?
• How will my Word of Mouth Marketing strategy need to evolve as my product awareness grows, and as other elements of my marketing mix get refined?
• How will I prove and maintain a genuine and authentic voice as my business grows and communication points proliferate?

As you approch influencers and supporters do you have a plan?

Risk-taking involves “doing your homework,” Tom Belford, at The Agitator suggests to avoid being a Happy Loser. Consequently, by the time you go out the door to meet a prospect face-to-face, Belford asserts, “you should be looking at closing the deal… If not, why not?”

Belford suggests savvy fundraiswers ask these questions before approaching potential doners:

• How thorough was your research?
• How much sifting of the wheat from the chaff did you do -- did you set priorities in terms of likelihood to give?
• How well did you prep your prospect, both in terms of tailored material and references from within the prospect's own network?
• Was there a specific reason or cultivation scheme behind a face-to-face meeting that wasn't intended to win closure?
• Did you send the right messenger, and was he or she well-prepared?

How might you update your approaches in future?

Risk-takers must tolerate the uncertainty and chaos associated with choices and decisions that are unconventional. Mike Wagner at Own Your Brand opens a window to understanding as he shares Mary Minnick's story.


Transformation Is Easy to Talk about – Hard to Do! In There’s Something about Mary, Mike Wagner tells the story of Mary Minnick, Coca-Cola’s President for Marketing, Strategy and Innovation. Mike applauds risks Mary or any leader takes to grow a brand:

Leverage chronic discontentment for the good of the brand. Minnick told investors, "I tend to be quite discontented in general." And, “It will never be fast enough or soon enough or good enough."

Wagner contends, “Too many business leaders have lost their hunger. Not their hunger for more money, but the hunger for intellectual, emotional, and relational challenges of the marketplace. Brands stop growing when the hungry stop leading.”

Embrace the pain of a changing marketplace. Mary Minnick is more than aware that onsumers are flocking to a new breed of coffees, juices, and teas -- all categories where Coke has been weak. According to BusinessWeek, PepsiCo Inc. has blown past Coke in stock performance, earnings growth, talent development and buzz. Pepsi now has a market value equal to Coke. Ten years ago, Coke was three times bigger. Brands stop growing when their leaders stop listening, observing, and growing with their customers.

Don't “work around” the problem. Minnick doesn’t apologize for her direct approach: “Historically, we had a culture where putting the hard issues on the table made some people uncomfortable.” Mild-mannered people, talking in soft mild-mannered tones about wicked problems, will not save the brand. Brands stop growing when leaders prefer unity over brutal facts and accountability.

Know transformational innovation when you see it. Coke has been unusually prolific by launching more than 1,000 new drinks or new variations of existing brands worldwide in the past 12 months. Some, like the brisk-selling coffee-flavored Coca-Cola Blak, have been hits. But Mary knows that, in the long run, new flavors and brand extensions won't be enough to make Coke a growth company again. She’s pushing to transform Coke from a soda-centric organization offering "me-too" products, to an innovative organization creating categories while identifying consumer trends.

“Transformation is easy to talk about -- hard to do,” Mike Wagner asserts. “That’s why many tweak their brands rather than transform their brands. Brands stop growing when leaders let their organization suffer from ‘hardening of the categories’ rather than embrace real change.”

Risks that transform old ways of doing business are hard because we are forced to step out of our basal ganglia, the part of our brain that stores business-as-usual approaches. Leaders willing to tap into their working memory to overcome problems, face challenges with possibilities and create innovative work cultures and products soon learn it takes extra energy, extreme focus and flow, as they go beyond talking, to live change.

Is super confidence enough for successful risks? In light of Steven Sibukin, Tom Belford and Mike Wagner’s wisdom, what are your thoughts? What would add wings to your risks?

Surprises Come to Those Who Listen!

Why is it that a brief message whispered from one person to the next, in a line of ten people, changes by the time the last person receives it? What does this tell you about listening?

The ability to listen well requires active engagement – your brain is not only taking in facts or information, but interpreting and organizing it in relation to past experience and knowledge to hypothesize and problem solve creatively. How might that look in relation to an everyday business deal?

Interestingly, financial writer William Devine shares that a client asked him to negotiate the purchase of some land. Trouble was the person's offer was $100,000 below asking price. Mr. Devine stayed on the phone a long time with the owner and resolved most problems, but the owner returned to the money issue and declared, "The price your client proposes will leave us well short of our projections. That makes it very tough on us."

During a pause, Devine reflected on his alternatives. Since the developer hadn't asked a question or made a counteroffer, Devine waited. Finally the owner proposed, "…it's good for us to just get the deal done, so we'll do it." Devine declared, "I had saved a client $100,000 by simply immobilizing my jaw." Mr. Devine made a great choice because he was not merely focusing on his own agenda here, but listened actively to make a choice. Would you have listened and allowed silence? Would you term yourself an engaged, active listener?

Try this listening quiz to see where you stand. List A, B or C as shown below to answer.

A = less than 20% B = 21 – 59% C = 60% or more

1. Do you think about other things when someone is speaking? _____


2. Do you “tune out and turn off” a speaker when you are not interested? _____


3. Are you easily distracted when someone else is talking? _____


4. Do you quickly begin developing arguments in your mind if someone presents ideas opposite to your beliefs? _____


5. Do you plan what you want to say as someone else speaks so your voice can be heard at the first possible pause? _____


6. Are you uncomfortable with silence when no one speaks for a couple of minutes? _____


7. Do you allow “catch phrases” to destroy your focus? _____


8. Do you mainly listen for facts and jot them down rather than formulating bigger ideas? _____


9. Do you look away from a speaker’s eyes during a conversation? _____


10. Do you listen more easily to recreational topics than ideas that challenge your mind? _____

Eight or more A responses and B responses: you are a good listener, but you can target areas to improve.

Mostly B responses [4-7] with some A responses: you are not truly an active listener and you can benefit at work by rewiring your brain by using new active listening strategies.

Some C [1-3] responses, plus [4-6] B responses: you can benefit by purposefully engaging in active listening on the job beginning today.

What do recent discoveries about the brain reveal about our ability to listen? Our ability to listen well is affected by multi-tasking, distractions, and our ability to construct a “play-back loop” for a message.

According to UCLA psychologist Russell Poldrack, “Tasks that require more attention…will be particularly adversely affected by multi-tasking.”

Insightfully, Poldrack found the brain's hippocampus plays critical roles in processing, storing and recalling information. For the task learned without distraction, the hippocampus was involved. However, for the task learned with the distraction of beeps, the hippocampus was not involved; but the striatum was. The brain’s striatum underlies our ability to learn new skills.

"Multi-tasking makes it more likely you will rely on the striatum to learn," Poldrack said. "Our study indicates that multi-tasking changes the way people learn."

These researchers suggest that you should avoid multi-tasking when trying to learn something new that you hope to remember. Do you sense multitasking affects your attentive listening ability?

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University show that your brain is forced to process messages as you listen which requires much more from your working memory. Ellen Weber describes working memory as, “your mental capacity to hold onto a few different facts while you noodle them to solve a problem or to create something new…”

To scientists' surprise, there were two big differences in brain activity patterns while participants were reading or listening to identical sentences, especially at the level of understanding meaning. During reading, the right-brain was not as active, which opens the possibility that there were differences in the nature of the comprehension you experience in reading versus listening.

Second, while listening was taking place, there was more activation in the left-brain region that usually activates when there is language processing which requires recall. The greater amount of activation in the left brain suggests that there is more language processing and working memory storage in listening comprehension than in reading.

“Because spoken language is so temporary, each sound hanging in the air for a fraction of a second, the brain is forced to immediately process or store the various parts of a spoken sentence in order to be able to mentally glue them back together in a conceptual frame that makes sense… to re-play spoken language, you need a mental play-back loop” according to Marcel Just, Carnegie Mellon psychologist.

Leaders in a boardroom often think fast on their feet, process information and communicate ideas based not only on written reports in a meeting, but even more crucially, their ability to listen actively.

Tips to rewire your brain for active listening:

1. Probe with questions to take speaker "deeper." What are you curious about?


2. Detect tone and purpose. What’s in it for the speaker?


3. Focus on key points so you can repeat them later


4. Jot down key words quickly


5. Wait before judging what speaker says. Consider speaker’s approach first.


6. Read and outline main points from articles with “complex” ideas to learn how to process many-sided issues when you're a listener.


7. Do not be distracted by hot or politically incorrect words


8. Keep your eyes on the speaker as you use a receptive body stance


9. Consider content and not delivery bumbling


10. Mentally summarize and form a picture of the whole


11. Value silence at times

Ready to grow skills for more active listening? How might you be an even better communicator no matter what? I'm working on allowing silence more in conversations. Do you suppose $100,000 is just around the bend?