Monthly Archive for December, 2008

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Lose Yourself… or Lose this Day Loitering?

Published on 19 December, 2008 in Change, High Performance and Personal Growth. Closed Tags: , , , .

Lose this day loitering – ’twill be the same story
Each indecision brings its own delays,
To-morrow – and the next more dilatory;
And days are lost lamenting o’er lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute -
Begin it, and then the work will be completed!
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated -
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

While The Secret is riding its wave of popularity it is easy to forget that things change when we change. Not just when we think, but when we do. Not think about doing, but actually do.

Von Goethe wrote about a tendency towards activity with such precision that his words continue to be repeated and contemplated perhaps two hundred years after he wrote this piece. While he was one of the creative giants of history – and a polymath, having attained world-class status as a dramatist, novelist, poet, journalist, painter, statesman, educator and natural philosopher – it is clear that as creative as he might have been, he made things happen and got stuff done.

Intellectualisation, rationalisation and introspection are some of my favourite hobbies. I like to think that many of the mistakes that I have made shall not be repeated as many times because I took the time to notice and amend the cause. But there is nothing quite as powerful as doing stuff! A bit of science helps us understand this – it seems that eminent performance comes after about a decade of disciplined and focused practice within a domain (from Ericsson originally, but more accessible here). Instrumentality – believing that what you do will make a difference – has a big impact in results too (kids who believe that they can get smarter if they work harder do get smarter!)…

But once you’re done intellectualising, the only way that you get somewhere is to get on the phone or the internet and buy the plane ticket… or buy your own plane of course.

Oh yeah… and a huge thanks to Daniel Lewis for his photographic work. You’ll see it here soon!

Daniel Smith

What would you do on the moon?

Published on 17 December, 2008 in Change, High Performance, Personal Growth and Purpose. Closed Tags: , , .

A while back, NASA came up with 181 things to do on the moon. While there are a few cool ideas about how to enjoy your time on the moon (eg mHH8 – “Provide leisure activities, in the form of arts, entertainment, and recreation, for people living on and visiting the Moon”), it looks like they have a few ideas about science too.

What I thought was interesting was the structure that they gave this information. The table is structured with the following headings: Category, Objective ID, Name, Summary, Value and then which of the six themes that the objective supports. I love seeing the parallels between business and personal life, so it really strikes me that this could be a great way for people to structure their objectives.

Goal setting is great, but it’s really easy to mess it up! Goal achievement is usually more hit-and-miss than anything else; often because of a lack of personal alignment. We might want to do something, but to actually make that happen is a different story altogether once you factor in ‘divine redirections’ (aka failures) and new opportunities.

The Balanced Scorecard/ Strategy Maps/ Alignment approach is powerful, though it’s still pretty limited in application to the business world. Covey’s ultra-popular “Roles” approach is nice and neat, though lacks the power; Tony Robbins’ RPM/OPA system is beautifully presented but (like so much of Tony’s stuff) lacks the real robustness (even through his Time of Your Life course – a course that sounds so great yet delivers so little at the real front line) that would allow it to really work. The best (in my view) at personal productivity is David Allen, and while he says “consider this stuff”, he largely abdicates any structure for higher level thinking in favor of the methods that do work very well at a tactical and operational level. I believe that the ’solution’, at least for me integrates the “Roles” of Covey within a BSC/SM/A framework somewhat like the NASA outline, and, while being mindful of the Outcomes championed by Tony, structures efficiency through the GTD/ David Allen approach. If that really didn’t make any sense, ask me about it and I’ll see what I can do…

I like the notion of identifying the themes that we are trying to fulfill… trans-disciplinary outcomes that we are using a range of vehicles to fulfill.

From an education framework, to me this is an uber-cool way to introduce personal excellence and achievement into science-minded students.

Daniel Smith

What is Genius Anyway?

Published on 16 December, 2008 in Expert vs novice. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

One of the challenges with writing about the meaning and nature of genius is finding an adequate definition. Let me identify a characteristic of an expert – or a genius:

  1. Experts solve problems that novices cannot.
  2. Experts solve problems that novices can solve but much more rapidly and accurately.

We also observe that the thinking process used by genius to solve problems is briefer, reflecting that more subprocesses have been automated.

I have taught martial arts since 1998. Last week, I was working with one of my students, a man named Kenny, on punching. I wanted Kenny to throw a left jab then a right cross. A novice would need to be told "left punch, right punch" – or something even more simple. Someone who had trained with me for a while could be told "double head punch". However, Kenny had done quite a bit of boxing training; for him "one-two" was enough. Indeed, even after a few minutes, if I used the term "left-right" or "double head-punch", he would internally translate that as "one-two". Kenny is skilled, but he is not an expert.

My original fascination in genius came from the contrast between Jack and Barry. Barry studied hard. Jack didn’t. But they got similarly outstanding results.

When we were 16, they completed an examination in advanced mathematics. Here, they were asked to show a proof. However, the proof was impossible. Each identified that the question was flawed and so in a sense ‘solved’ the problem. To gain marks for the problem, Barry provided six pages of working. Jack only provided three pages.

At the time, we thought that Jack was smarter – after all, he had worked it out in half the time that it took Barry. However, while Barry was granted full credit for his six pages of working, Jack was only granted half-marks.

One more thing to remember (that has relevance to the self-help goal setting world):

  1. Experts work forward, noticing and reporting consequences of the ‘givens’ until a solution appears, at least on problems that are easy for them.
  2. Novices work backwards from the problem goal.

Let me encourage you to work on the framing of your questions. Through finding the right framing and noticing the most appropriate characteristics, you increase your chances of finding the models and strategies that can give you the answer you seek.

Daniel Smith

Career Decisions of a Hyper Achiever

Published on 15 December, 2008 in High Performance and Innovation. Closed Tags: , .

Marissa Mayer (VP at Google) looked at the best decisions that she’d ever made and came up with two commonalities:

  1. She works really hard – big projects are an exciting challenge.
  2. She surrounded herself with really smart people. That’s the best place to learn and grow – as a result, she ended up as Craig Silverstein’s assistant for her first two years because he’s one of the smartest people she’s ever met!
  3. She believes in doing something that you’re a little not ready to do… that’s where you really explore and find your limits.

It seems to be working for her…

I like her nine notions of innovation too…

  1. Ideas come from everywhere
    Google expects everyone to innovate, even the finance team.
  2. Share everything you can
    Every idea, every project, every deadline – it’s all accessible to everyone on the intranet
  3. You’re brilliant, we’re hiring
    Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin approve hires. They favor intelligence over experience
  4. A license to pursue dreams
    Employees get a “free” day a week. Half of new launches come from this “20% time”
  5. Innovation, not instant perfection
    Google launches early and often in small beta tests, before releasing new features widely
  6. Don’t politic, use data
    Mayer discourages the use of “I like” in meetings, pushing staffers to use metrics
  7. Creativity loves restraint
    Give people a vision, rules about how to get there, and deadlines
  8. Worry about usage and users, not money
    Provide something simple to use and easy to love. The money will follow.
  9. Don’t kill projects — morph them
    There’s always a kernel of something good that can be salvaged

I love her style… especially as captain of the pom pom squad and debate teams!

Daniel Smith

The Rules and Laws of Life and Success

Published on 12 December, 2008 in Personal Growth. Closed Tags: , , .

There are the Seven Habits, the 48 Laws and The Rules. So many different models and theories, mostly unvalidated, frequently so abstract that they border on platitudes. But since these books represent some of the most popular and perhaps at times thought provoking pieces of work, perhaps some consideration ought be given.

I like The Rules of Work. It’s simple and applied. I prefer Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power – but it’s a little more abstract, even in the pocket version, but the style is magnificent. Of course, if you don’t know Covey’s Seven Habits by now (and even his Eighth Habit – find your voice and help others find their’s), perhaps you should wake up and smell the self-help section of your favourite bookstore.

The enduring challenge is that books don’t succeed: People succeed. No matter how abstract or applied, the challenge remains how to convert concepts into reality into results… and, to me, how to have a hell of a fun time along the way!

Daniel Smith

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