Content

“Authentic content that educates or is otherwise seen as valuable to the consumer is the new currency of marketing.”

I used my professional blog to keep track with my experiments. At first it served me, it was my journal. I used it when I needed the info I used before. Very convenient. The loop was as follows:

• Experiment with technology.
• Document steps I have taken and the outcome it produced. Usually what it takes to make something work including code snippets, error codes, references to where I found answers, etc. The key was to make it self contained, from zero to something working.
• When in the need use search engine to find it on my blog and follow the steps. The need could be either myself or a colleague or a customers who were asking questions I already found solutions, so I usually was sharing the link to it – effective and efficient.

Using this loop I found that there is key piece that could be massively improved – usability. While there was ton of value in the content I was producing it was not extremely usable. Specifically It needed to be improved for it’s scannability – the ability to quickly skim through the content and find relevant piece of it. It also needed to be improved on the findability side – how well it performs when being searched online.

The more I was improving on the these qualities the more critical my online content become as my tool of trade – both when solving problems and as my online marketing tool.

Bottom line:

• Dump your brain online, make sure it of value – if that’s something that helped you solve a problem chances it’s valuable to others.
• Organize the dump in a way it’s easily consumable – quick read/skim through, SEO optimized.
• Make it a habit so you flow your content continuously.

Context

“While we now enjoy access to an enormous amount of information, we’re also overwhelmed with the need to filter, aggregate, and make sense of it all”

Context and focus work great in life, work, and with virtually everything else. My professional focus was put on application performance and security – quality attributes of software that cause most pain to anyone involved: developers, project managers, stakeholders, end users, and who not. I realized this should be a good market and this is what I was focusing on my professional side. I have always been off the bench since then. Same with my online presence, I kept it focused on the context I cared the most – security and performance. It helped humans quickly navigate and find relevant information on it. It helped search engines to index it the same way and help me get on first pages when someone was searching for related keywords.

Bottom line:

• Define your context, niche, focus and stick with it.
• Don’t pollute your online presence with randomness – introducing randomness shows as such to readers and to search engines too, and it backfires at you in the end.

Connect

“By using technology to allow prospects to connect when and where they choose, they [most remarkable businesses] allow people to connect more deeply when and where they choose.”

One thing to make sure my content is found online, another is closing the loop and making sure prospects can reach out to me and develop further relationship. Isn’t it the key outcome of all marketing efforts? I made every effort and I still do to make sure I can be easily approached with lowest friction possible. Contact forms, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts are prominent where appropriate so that prospects can easily contact me. When contacted I make sure to answer immediately to show my interest in the connection. If I don’t have an answer off the heap I respond immediately that I have received the email and will be answering it shortly. In many cases such quick engagements developed into long term connections. It allows me to reach out to the same guy and ask for a favor such as ask for review or ask for recommendations. Sometimes I was just sending out materials that potentially could be of value, in most cases people genuinely appreciated it.

Bottom line:

• Make it frictionlessly easy to contact you.
• When contacted, respond immediately either with answer, or that it would take some time for you to respond.
• Keep the connection warm, reach out back once the connection established on timely basis.
• Don’t abuse the connection else it will die.

Community

“While the notion of community-building online has become a very commonplace practice, the opportunity for community-building offline is richer than ever… The consultant who routinely invites small groups of customers to lunch so they can network and share ideas with peers is providing an essential community-building opportunity.”

As I kept focusing on specific context using my online efforts my connections grew and developed. At some point I had quite a few like-minded people in my network. I started to introduce them one to another in some occasions. Most  prominent case is when someone reaches out to me with a question and I introduce another guy who may know things better than me. I witness how this new connection develops and how people help one another strengthening their ability to solve problems faster smarter and more elegantly. I am lucky to have many opportunities to meet people in-person I got to know only via emals and online before. Any time I have such opportunity to meet in-person I cease it, I found it’s the best way to make the connection better and more fun.

Bottom line:

• Introduce like-minded people in your network one to another.
• Make an effort to meet your online friends in-person.

Related

• Marketing For Consultants
• Remarkable Marketing By Seth Godin
• First Law Of Usability – Don’t Make Me Think, And Other Facts Of Life On The Web
• Content Usability: Design Pages For Scanning

image by Jesslee Cuizon

It’s easier to say than do. Or is it?

In the book Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success the authors offer prescriptive strategies that were scientifically proven to work and help change happen. There are basically 4 key strategies that focus on crucial moments, vital behaviors, 6 sources of influence, and good data. I decided to test it and make a personal change – lose weight applying the strategies. I was able to shed 3 Kg (~6.5 lbs.) last month, and I am now on the monthly sprint to shed another 3.

Strategy # 1: Identify Crucial Moments

The authors write:

“When it comes to personal change, you don’t have to be pushing yourself to the limits all the time. You need to focus on only a handful of moments when you’re most at risk.”

Since it relates to time I decided to make it simple and set time boundaries when I should not eat carbs rich foods. I decided to stop consuming carbs rich foods after 7pm. This is how I motivated it: carbs are fuel needed to generate energy to move my body. When I am not active I don’t need carbs. I am least active in the evenings and when I go to bed. If I consume much of carbs but never use it, it will turn to fat. That’s it, as simple as that. No carbs after 7pm – this was my crucial moment.

Strategy #2: Create Vital Behaviors

The authors write:

“Once you’ve identified your crucial moments, our next task is to create the rules you’ll follow when temptation pays you a visit. … you’ll want to set specific rules (not vague guidelines) that guide you to act in ways that eventually lead to what you want.”

One rule I made was very clear – no carbs rich foods. It’s pretty hard to resist the temptation and I wanted it to be also fun vs. torture, so I made a distinction what carbs rich foods mean. It was anything made of flour, crackers, cookies, bread, snacks, rice, potatoes, and related. Another vital behavior was mentally marking my pantry as a red zone. Any time I was instinctively approaching pantry to grab a snack I was putting myself on alert. It usually ended up with couple of raisins or an apple being taken away from the pantry..

Strategy #3: Engage All 6 Sources of Influence

The authors write:

“Having identified your crucial moments and vital behaviors,you now have to develop a change plan to get yourself to recognize those moments and engage in those behaviors… The only reasonable way to battle the wide world out there, which is so perfectly organized to keep you making the same mistakes, is to use all six sources of influence in combination.”

The 6 sources of influence are:

• Personal Ability. I felt I could easily do it. 
• Personal Motivation. I had personal motivation as just a challenge and also wanting to get into my perceived normal weight.
• Social Ability. I posted about the no carbs after 7pm sprint on Facebook. Few people reached out to me offering their insight how to cope with the situation and be more effective and successful. I picked few insights that helped me.
• Social Motivation. M friends – those on Facebook and in real life started to talk about it with me and encouraging in what I am doing.
• Organization Ability. My organization, my family, was able to create an environment where I could easily stick with the new habit. Biggest kudos go to my wife who’s best chef ever. She never tried to seduce me with carb rich foods after 7pm…
• Organization Motivation. My kids do sports and very active at that. My wife also goes to sport classes. All that created motivating environment to keep up with the sprint without major struggle.

Read more about the Six Sources of Influence.

Strategy #4: Turn Bad Days into Good Data

The authors write:

“In the face of what feels like abject failure, you’ll become either depressed or curious. …If you become curious, you’ll step back and examine the data, learn from what just happened, and then adjust the plan. …or you can experience the very same setback, become curious, and turn a bad day into good data”

In my case the bad days were when I actually ate carbs rich foods after 7pm. Another view on bad days could be when I could not shed even smallest weight despite not consuming carbs rich foods after 7pm. I became curious why this could be. One reason to that could be that it takes time to show results in the long run. This idea motivated me to stick with the experiment and it paid off by the end of the 30 day sprint – now I am at the begging of another sprint and I am motivated even more, last time I was able to change myself effectively – there is no reason I cannot do it once more. I am now on 30 day sprint no carbs after 3pm.

image by rolands.lakis

1. Bigger container equals more eating. This conclusion the authors call out based on the experiment where people ate more popcorn if they were given a bigger containers. This is how you can apply it. Think of the containers as of problems you hit. My personal observation suggests that the bigger problems people tackle the more likely they tend to fail. On other hand if they take on smaller problems at once chances they will be successful to solve it. Another good thing with smaller problems is that when failed to solve it chances it will go unnoticed since it is a small one. When you hit big problem break it into smaller ones. Drop insignificant ones altogether from the breakdown and tackle few vital small problems. For example, if you have 3 vital and solved only 2 of them this is what counts, the other one that dropped off your plate will be unnoticed or overshadowed by the other 2 significant you solved. This is what I do and it serves me well – in life and at work.
2. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. My personal observation suggest when hitting a problem people tend to focus on people – either their opponents, partners, or themselves – to solve it. Shift the focus from the people to the situation instead. Once done, the situation could be treated in one of the tree ways: avoid it (don’t’ get involved in first place or “leave and let live”), adopt it (accept it and be affected by it but don’t complain afterwards), or change it (fight for your right to party!). Next time you hit a problem look at the situation or context and act accordingly. When trying to solve it ( or change it) shift focus on the situation that would benefit other parties vs. trying to persuade them directly asking to change.
3. For anything to change, someone has to start acting differently. My personal observation suggest that the pattern “say yes do no” is quite prevalent. If you are told one thing, don’t take it for granted until you witness actions that support it. Actions speak louder than words. Same applies to yourself. If you promise something act upon it immediately. Do something small that supports what you declare, otherwise it’s worthless.
4. To change someone’s behavior, you’ve got to change that person’s situation. This one works best with small children. When a toddler throws her tantrum don’t try to explain or convince or worse get mad at her. Take here to another room and switch focus. Change her situation and distract from the tantrum. Works for me in most cases with my kids. It works also at work. You don’t have to take folks to expensive offsite meeting to change their perspective. Instead, create new mental image for them. It takes though storytelling skills but works fairly well with adults – both at work and in personal life.
5. For individuals’ behavior to change, you’ve got to influence not only their environment but their hearts & minds. Back to storytelling skills. To tell an appealing story you need to connect to people’s values. That’s what works best. Next time you watch TV or listen to the radio notice what caught your attention (let alone made you actually buy the advertised product). Was it something based on reason or the one that tried to connect to your values and emotions? I bet it was the later vs. former. Well, “50% off” works great too, and it somehow does connect to our values, eh? But this won’t probably work for you when trying to persuade your colleagues at work unless you are a manager with unlimited budgets. Instead, tell the story that connects to their hearts and that has a meaning to them. And most important it connects to your heart first. Convince yourself first.
6. Self control is is an exhaustible resource. Getting yourself out of your comfort zone is important to your growth. It requires lots of willpower and self control though. Be careful with this resource, it’s exhaustible, use it with caution and for a good purpose. When drained, fill it by getting back to your comfort zone. For example, do something you especially love, something that bring you joy frictionlessly. In short, to keep your self-control reservoirs filled give in to something you don’t need to force yourself periodically. Once filled get back to trenches and keep up with the good fight.
7. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. This is one of the biggest a-ha’s from the book for me. Clear and concise problem or vision statement goes a long way. When hitting resistance or challenge, ask simple question – “what’s the problem?” or “what’s the challenge?” Even with yourself, when you feel anxiety about something or fear just ask “what’s the problem?” or “what’s the challenge?” Then answer precisely with simple one liner. That’s the hard part and that’s about being extremely clear. Once problem one liner clearly stated solution will come naturally, or even better you will realize there is no problem at all. Works for me at work and in personal life very well.
8. If you want people to change, you must provide crystal clear directions. Stating vision/problem clearly is half way to solution. Another half is actually providing it. The key to successful solutions is being precise and prescriptive. Instead “we can” or “we need” consider “1. Do that; 2. Do this; 3. Done” This is the approach I used back in the field when I was working with customers as principal consultant. This is the approach I am using now when creating technical guidance. It serves me well and I have proven track for success using it.
9. What looks like laziness is often a exhaustion. I am big fan of friction free things. It’s especially important when you need to drive change. It’s even more critical when you need to drive change and you are not in the position of the authority. To have better chance for success when driving the change find out what would be the easiest path for people to buy in or to adopt it. Start with WIIFM (what’s in it for me) to identify what would be most natural for the parties to act upon, then wrap your idea in this and “market” it this way. Otherwise folks will need to spend more cycles trying to understand how it fits their life/work style and their objectives. People are not lazy to think about your new great ideas, they are phreakin’ overloaded with their own and with their managers’ ideas, people are exhausted already. Make it easy for them to grasp your ideas and improve your chances for buy in.
10. Son, if you don’t take out the trash tonight, you’re fired. You can fire your reports, you can even “fire” your manager or the whole company by just leaving them but you cannot fire your family. And you probably don’t want to. Skim through the list above and start applying it with your domestic situations. It works for me. It will work for you too.

Happy New Year!

Image By Nina Yasmine

  “I should be able to ‘get it’ – what it is and how to use it – without expending any effort thinking about it.”

If you are building products, offering services, or building web sites you better read a book  Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug. Indeed the more we make people think the more hurdles we set for them on their way to buying and using what we have to offer. I strongly believe that usability is a key competitive advantage especially in the era when the information and advice for a better product just click away. I like how Krug sets the stage by “demystifying” few facts of life – we do not read pages, we do not make optimal choices, and we don’t figure out how things work. I call it usage scenarios or patterns. Once you know the scenarios you can design your product or service that can be used frictionlessly.

We Scan Web Pages

Krug writes:

“One of the very few well-documented facts about Web use is that people tend to spend very little time reading most Web pages. Instead, we scan (or skim) them, looking for words or phrases that catch our eye.”

I can safely confirm that that’s the way I use the web. Back in consulting I used to work in under-the-fire mode, I needed priceless answers to customers’ tough questions fast. The cases I was successful is when I knew the answer (very rare cases) or I knew how to quickly find one that is hidden somewhere on the Web. Google rarely helped, it usually brought a lot of noise and I needed to work hard to find the needle in the haystack. The solution for me was to collect those gold info nuggets found on the Web into personal scannable knowledgebase.

We Search For The First Reasonable Option

Krug writes:

“… we choose the first reasonable option, a strategy known as stisficing. As soon as we find a link that seems like it might lead to what we are looking for, there’s a very good chance that we’ll click it.”

I think there are two key messages here:

• Provide list of options.
• Organize the options by relevancy to the task.

From my experience, most successful resources I used effectively and efficiently were those that organized content in simple lists categorized by tasks. I could easily jump to specific and relevant category and pick from a reasonable amount of options the one that seemed most optimal for the case at hand.

Muddling Through

Krug writes:

“Faced with any sort of technology, very few people take the time to read instructions. Instead, we forge ahead and muddle through, making up our own vaguely plausible stories about what we are doing and why it works.”

…and another one

"For most of us, it does not matter to us whether we understand how things work, as long as we can use them. It’s not for lack of intelligence, but lack of caring. In the great scheme of thing, it’s just not important to us."

Reflecting back on my consulting experiences I can perfectly remember times when I was brutally stopped when trying to explain how things work. I was directly demanded to show how to make it work! No one could care less about under-the-hood stuff. But everyone cared to get things done and go home early.

image by Evil Erin

During the workshop there was an interesting data that shows how much influence each part of your introduction makes. This is the breakdown:

• 7% – what you said
• 33% – how you feel about
• 60% – why it means so much

Based on the breakdown above the following is the suggested pattern for influential introduction

• Hello, my name is… [set context]
• I am working to… [future focused]
• This is important because… [speaks to the deeper meaning]
• I am trying to figure out… [a call to action inviting other people to help]
• If you ever want to … contact me… [an offer to maintain a connection and an exchange of a currency]
• Again, my name is… [repetition]
• It is (I am )… to meet you… [shows positive regard for the other person]

Very cool, eh? Let’s test it!

• Hello, my name is Alik Levin, I am Sr. Programming Writer at Microsoft.
• I am working to make developers raving fans when they consume Microsoft’s technical guidance.
• This is important because using technology should be as effective as enjoyable and efficient experience. This is partly achieved by rock star content and guidance.
• I am trying to figure out what it makes to help developers find priceless answers to their burning questions fast.
• If you ever want to share your frustrations or success stories about technical guidance or learn from mine contact me freely!
• Thank you for your time. I truly value it. I really do.

Worked for you?

Image by NASARobonaut

My biggest takeaways from the  book is a marketing mindset I should have as a consultant and also the prescriptive guidance on how to build my marketing strategy.

Here is my distillation. Read on…

Consultant’s Marketing Mindset

The authors of the book provide an attributes of guerilla marketing for consultants. These attributes helped me to get into the mindset of eternal demand creation for my services I offer as a consultant. And that’s the essence of any marketing – creating the demand.

• [Marketing]Is the business. This attribute reminds me that I am in constant contact with a customer which is just perfect situation to market my service, and that’s not by running the halls yelling “me! me!! me!!!” rather by delivering first class services. Quietly. Results speak louder than blah blah blah.
• Focused message. This attribute reminds me I should be delivering narrow range of services . I deliver performance and security services. I am a SME [subject matter expert], not a generalist.
• Insight-based. This attribute reminds me that I must not keep IP [intellectual property] to myself rather readily share it with a customer [unless there is a violation of some policy or law]. Telling a customer “I will tell you how to do it after you sign a contract” is wrong. Better off to share the overall approach of the solution to customer’s problem generating demand for more detailed engagement.
• Build intellectual assets. This attribute reminds me to keep sharing the knowledge via my professional blog. This is the best investment I have made when it comes to marketing to customers, my managers, and potential employers.
• Build client relationships. This attribute reminds me to not only strive to full engagement with a customers but also to cherish the connections. These connections serve me well when it comes to market research, leads, and referrals. Or a friendship.
• Enhance profit. This attribute reminds me that marketing is done to enhance my profits, not the philanthropy [at least at this stage of my career]. It helps me targeting my efforts to niches with more pain. The more pain, the more demand for SME’s.
• Reveal reality. This attribute reminds me I should share what I have witnessed – without beautifying or hiding parts of the reality. Clients are smart beasts, they spot fake in no time.
• Listen and serve. This attribute reminds me that marketing does not end by throwing stuff in the air – it reminds me I need to listen to reactions and act when there is a demand, even when no budget is allocated for it.
• One size fits none. This attribute reminds me that marketing, like life, is ongoing experiment – there is no rules. The only rule is “do what works, if it does not work – stop doing it.”
• Create markets. This attribute reminds me to be an entrepreneur, or inntrapreneur, or event soloreneur. It reminds me I cannot totally depend on someone else to create a market for my services.

Consultant Marketing Vision

The authors of the book offer extremely dense and prescriptive guidance on how to build a marketing strategy. I used it with my managers to get my message across. I think it clicked. Here is the guidance:

1. Sentence one explains the purpose of your marketing.
2. Sentence two explains how you achieve that purpose by describing the substantive benefits you provide to clients.
3. Sentence three describes your target markets(s).
4. Sentence four describes your niche.
5. Sentence five outlines the marketing weapons you will use.
6. Sentence six reveals the identity of your business.
7. Sentence seven provides your marketing budgets

Write your answers and see if your strategy sticks.

Practice This – Get Results

• Get Consultant’s Marketing mindset – focus your marketing efforts on high impact stuff.
• Follow 7 steps to build your marketing vision – if it sticks you’ll be just fine. If not, refine until it does.
• Read Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Breakthrough Tactics for Winning Profitable Clients – it’s loaded with insights from the guys who got results, not fluff.

My Related Posts

• Remarkable Marketing By Seth Godin
• From Part Time Aspiring Blogger To Marketing Top Gun
• Basic Instincts And Marketing

by mollypop

What does it take to change the world? What does it take to change self? What does it take to make others change?  These questions seem completely different. Aren’t they? At first they might. But not after reading the book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.

In the book  I learned practical and simple pattern of making change, be it little or global.

Change – The Master Plan

The authors of the book offer simple scheme for making change happen:

	Motivation	Ability
Personal	Make the undesirable desirable	Surpass your limits
Social	Harness peers pressure	Find strength in number
Structural	Design rewards and accountability	Change the Environment

I like the breakdown and it seems very reasonable and common sense to me.  Here is my interpretation of this scheme:

• Personal: Want to surpass your limits? – Make the undesirable desirable
• Social: Want to multiply your strength? – Harness peers peers pressure.
• Structural: Want to make the change? – design reward and accountability.

Sounds good to me, the question is How?

J.D. helped me with his distillation from the book and related training:

• Six Sources of Influence
• Influencer Training Day 1.
• Influencer Training Day 2.

Make My Teammates Want Blogging Plan

Publishing on corporate blog should help market our services we sell. As a consultant I have sympathy to this, nothing more. I am technical consultant – not a marketing guy. So in fact I do not really care about it. If marketing guys suck then fire them and hire better ones, right? No!

On other hand blogging became a serious marketing weapon lately. It’s power lays in offering value, not marketing high level stuff. It’s hard for me to imagine a marketing guy blogs about how to solve specific problem – something consultant lives and breathes. Are we in the dead end? Not sure.

How do you motivate a consultant to start blogging? WIIFM [What’s In It For Me], right? What’s in corporate blogging for a consultant? Nothing, unless it helps him grow personally. And if it helps him grow personally efficiently he is hooked, right?

My plan is simple – motivate consultant to surpass his limits by helping him to unleash a blogger inside. If I help a consultant to deal efficiently with the following issues I think there is a chance.

• How to find time for blogging?
• How to quickly find the topic to blog about
• How to quickly write the post?
• How to quickly weed out less important stuff and leave only the meat?
• How to write scannable posts that people like reading/scanning/bookmarking?
• How to enjoy from blogging?

What’s your take?

Practice This – Get Results

• Connect on personal level, identify WIIFM – motivate, do not dictate
• Offer value – it’s the currency of Influence Without Authority
• Share efficient techniques – everyone loves getting more with less.

My Related Posts

• Single Step Toward A Journey Of Thousand Blog Posts
• Check Point For Aspiring Blogger
• From Part Time Aspiring Blogger To Marketing Top Gun
• From Flash Fiction To Flash Blogging

by katiebate

"The basic difference between an argument and a fight: an argument, done skillfully, gets people to want to do what you want. You fight to win; you argue to achieve agreement."

Win Customers – Argue, Don’t Fight Consulting is all about conflict. Consultant’s goal is to either solve the problems or reveal latent ones. Problems are usually no fun for customers. Problems create tension that often leads to conflict. Consultant is always in epicenter of the conflict. Otherwise why call the consultant in first place? The basic question consultant should ask himself is "What do I want? Do I want to win or do I want to win a customer?". My answer is "Win a customer". To win a customer I follow another pattern presented in the book – virtue, practical wisdom, selflessness. More on the approach read What Aristotle Could Teach You About Consulting Win Managers – Argue, Don’t Fight Fighting your boss would be a …ehm serious career limiting move. I have done it – take my word for granted, it never works. Worse, it creates the atmosphere that is much less than inspiring (in case you stay with the position and not get fired). What worked for me is arguing. Not always. At least I had a chance to present my take without major emotional losses and avoiding making more enemies. By "arguing" I mean applying the same basic principles of persuasion – virtue, practical wisdom, selflessness. If you hit the case of being saddled with a bad boss I suggest you go over this great article – How to Handle a Bad Boss. What worked especially great is "Don’t Act Immediately" and "Play the Game". Playing the game not only helped me to stay in the game but also persuade in some cases. Good stuff. Win Kids – Argue, Don’t Fight Kids are stubborn. Kids might sometimes drive you just nuts. They try out the boundaries, they try to take you over it. The natural reaction is "Stop doing it!", "No!", "Don’t!" in other words the natural reaction is fighting them. It is effective and it works but it leaves very bad taste in my mouth and it does not add to the kid’s self esteem. It also misses the great opportunity to teach and learn. What worked for me is arguing. Really. First I let my kids win a little by initially agreeing but then I develop an conversation trying to argue with her. Giving examples from previous experiences or making it up on the go. Hey! Aristotle could teach me a lot about how to be a good parent, eh? Practice This – Get Results Want to win but lose the game? – Fight. Want to win and stay in the game? – Argue. Master your arguing skills – read Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion My Related Posts Consultant Speaks Language Everyone Understands Consultant "Kills" With A Borrowed Knife Manage Your Manager For Fun And For Profit Effective Techniques To Handle Your Kid’s Temper Tantrum

]]> http://practicethis.com/want-to-win-argue-do-not-fight/feed/ 20 http://practicethis.com/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/ http://practicethis.com/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:32:12 +0000 alik levin http://practicethis.com/2009/03/31/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/

Are you satisfied with you outcomes? If you are not you better grab Jack Canfield’s book The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Canfield shares many simple yet practical methods for improving your personal performance.

For example::

If you do not like your outcomes, change your responses.

This advice can sound too obvious, but how many times you witnessed people change their approaches? How many times you changed yours?…

Change Response To Failures What’s the usual response to a failure? Regret, anger, emptiness. None of these help to succeed next time. Worse, it consumes your energy for nothing draining your personal power. Change response to a failure! Ask yourself questions. Admit. Say it – “I failed”. Stop lying to yourself. Reflect. Where did I go wrong? Refocus. Adjust yourself. Set yourself for success with realistic goals. Plan. What do I need to do to make it successful next time? Reward yourself. Even when failed reward yourself. “No matter what, I gave it a try!”, “Now I know better!”, “Hey, I am still alive and kicking!”. “I have not failed. I have just found ten thousand ways that won’t work” – Thomas A. Edison. Change Response To Customers In consulting your ultimate goal is making your customer happy. It is not about proving you are right. It is not uncommon customers treat you the way that is far from what you’d expect it to be. What can you do? Explain customer he is wrong? Prove you are right?  Your goal is to keep the customer happy while keeping the profitability of the gig. Arguing and creating conflict situation is a surest path to lose the customer. Adopt a “hero” mindset. Tell the customer – “It was pleasure serving your”. Tell yourself – “I did the right thing”. Smile. Change Response To Managers The simplest yet effective change of mindset I have made was moving focus from “How can I excel?” to “What’s your biggest problem?”. The meaning is the same but the perception is… everything. It is easier for manager to spit out his challenges off top of his head vs. trying to deeply understand you so that he can pave your path to the excellence. You become low maintenance employee, the one who gets desired results with minimum investment. Managers appreciate it. Change Response To Kids You are your kids leader. One of my favorite leadership lessons from John Wooden is “Call Yourself A Teacher“. Not a preacher. Stop preaching, start teaching, start leading. Lead by example. My Related Posts 3 Easy Steps To Become A Superhero Consultants, Beware Of Procrastinators, Disengaged, And Distracters! Effective Techniques To Handle Your Kid’s Temper Tantrum John Wooden’s 12 Lessons In Leadership [For Kids]

]]> http://practicethis.com/improve-your-outcomes-by-changing-your-responses/feed/ 17 http://practicethis.com/use-wordle-to-conduct-online-research-on-who-does-what-including-yourself/ http://practicethis.com/use-wordle-to-conduct-online-research-on-who-does-what-including-yourself/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:51:30 +0000 alik levin http://practicethis.com/2009/03/02/use-wordle-to-conduct-online-research-on-who-does-what-including-yourself/ “What do you do?” is becoming an obsolete question and soon it’ll be completely removed from the day-to-day use. The reason is that everyone has online presence – either minimal membership on a social web site like Facebook or a full blown web blog.
by http://www.wordle.net 

I like this transparency (despite my software security background). I actually massively use it when I research others. I also use it when doing research on myself.

Recently I discovered www.wordle.net that helps analyzing words on the web sites. It creates word clouds. A  word cloud is a great way to visually demonstrate the focus of the web site, it also helps demonstrating the lack of focus…

PracticeThis.com

I have ran it on this blog – www.PracticeThis.com. It’s clear I have been focused on Consulting recently:

I thought this is a good time to step back and reflect on what I publish here. It’s time to reflect on my main categories which are:

• Blogging
• Career
• Consulting
• Entrepreneurship
• Influence Without Authority
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Parenting
• Physical
• Time Management

I’ve tried this technique on blogs I like reading with the following results:

SourcesOfInsight.com

JD at www.SourcesOfInsight.com is focused on Problems solving. He seem to be in the Know about getting Results, and that is by asking the right Questions:

JD, was I right?

Jimmy, Editor In Chief

My good friend, Jimmy (Aspiring Geek), who’s also contributing his effort as an editor for www.PracticeThis.com is crazy about Performance for SQL Server. he is a fan of Incremental Results and he preaches Improvement Engineering Practices over mere Perception.

WritingForward.com

Melissa at www.WritingForwaard.com does lots of Exercises in Fiction Writing focusing on Character.

Melissa, what do you say?

DreamBuilders.com.au

Liara at blog.dreambuilders.com.au is here for Spiritual Presence, her Experiences open the Door to People Awareness and Beyond.

Liara, was I right?

ImperfectAction.com

Giovanna at www.imperfectaction.com seems to be a huge fan of Warren Buffet. Giovanna likes taking Action, sometimes Imperfect, to make Better Connections with People.

Giovanna, how’s the analysis?

MarkSalinas.com

Mark at blog.marksalinas.com likes Juice and he does Exercises like Jumping for Strengthening his Back and his Knees.

Enduringwanderlust.com

Gennaro at http://www.enduringwanderlust.com/ is in love with Paris, he is about Travel, and he relates to Buddhist[sm]

Gennaro, I usually refrain from discussing politics and religion .

Summary

I guess you got the idea.

I apologize if I have not included your blog – nothing personal, I love reading your blog.

I am curious about your techniques for online research?

My Related Posts

• Check Point For Aspiring Blogger
• From Part Time Aspiring Blogger To Marketing Top Gun
• From Flash Fiction To Flash Blogging

Editor in chief – Jimmy May

and credibility when I was teaching Web Development classes during the early 2000′s.

Hello Students!

If you teach classes of any kind you must know how hard it is – much harder than it might look. Beside remembering the material and keeping the pace and flow, one needs to control the class and its attention level. As a student I know the best teachers are those who establish authority first – either through power or credibility.

When I was hired to teach Web Development I had zero power and even less credibility. I needed to control a class of 30 students with high energy and even higher expectations. Technically I was OK, but how could I control them?

The answer came from a world record holder for remembering stuff (how ironic, I cannot remember his name…). He was in town and I attended the session. As an appetizer the guy demonstrated how he can remember tens of words written on white board after staring at it for only a few seconds. The audience was completely amazed. Then he said that by the end of the session everyone in the room would do just the same. The audience was flipping on the floor laughing at the joke.

…By the end of the session about a hundred folks were doing the very same trick the guy showed in the beginning. He delivered on his initial promise.

How?

The trick is simple, similar to the one described in the book. And it can be found online here. Free. Look at Remember Ten Things To Bring and Visit The Hotel Dominic.

From Zero To Hero Using Mind Hacks

I like putting things into practice. I decided to impress my students by remembering their names immediately upon meeting them. I was hoping that would create wow! effect and add credibility.

I arrived at the new class and as usual it was very loud. It took me awhile to get the students’ attention. Then I asked each student to present himself, all 30 of them. While they were introducing themselves I was creating mental images. When the last of them finished I had a series of episodes in my head. I simply replayed them, pointing to each student and calling his name. The class was astonished…

I was never interrupted when teaching my materials. The rest of the class went almost too smoothly.

I earned my credibility using a simple mind hacks. You can do the same thing.

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”

Practice This – Get Results

• Train your mind to remember more – avoid embarrassments when with customers. Remember important information like names, goals, critical past and future events.
• Do not memorize mechanical stuff, like checklists – remember to write it down and have it handy.

My Related Posts

• Basic Skills For Effective Public Speaking
• Dale Carnegie’s Recipe For Effective Public Speaking
• 3 Most Precious Things In The World Are Free

Editor in chief – Jimmy May

I do not remember it, but my kids constantly remind me of it. It is well known winning stratagem – “Kill with a borrowed knife“:

Attack using the strength of another (in a situation where using one’s own strength is not favourable) – Wikipedia

I use the stratagem very effectively in consulting.

Customer Wins Self

I am using this technique with each and every customer I work with. It works better than any technique I have used.

There are usually two reps I work with -a decision maker and field guy at customer’s. The decision maker sets the goals and the field guy works with me to solve the problem at hand. During the problem resolution I actively engage with the field guy – it helps building trust relationships (both personal and professional). When wrapping up the gig I consult with the field guy about how to better present the findings and recommendations. Then I wrap it up and hand out the report. During the final meeting I get the spotlights and everyone in the room looks at me.

Silence…

“Ehm… Danny [the field guy] and I were working together. We tried to identify the most significant issues under a tight schedule… ehm… Danny, won’t your elaborate what we have found?”… “Sure, no probs”.

I sit quietly and let the guy explain his managers the results of the gig. His is fluent with the report as I was engaging him throughout the whole cycle. No black magic.

Results

• Danny’s managers are more trusting of him than me, so my report is more credible when presented by Danny.
• Management is happy as they see that not only that the issue was resolved but also the knowledge was transferred – next time they can do it themselves, saving on [not] calling me.
• Trust has been established unconsciously. They WILL call me next time. They usually do. They trust their hunches…

“Trust your hunches…. Hunches are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

Practice This – Get Results

• When with customers, seek allies – build your network to support you when you need it. 
• Build your network. Period.

My Related Posts

• Consultant Besieges Wèi To Rescue Zhào
• Consultant Deceive The Heavens To Cross The Ocean. And Wins.
• Consulting – What’s The Deal?

Editor in chief – Jimmy May

• Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean
• Besiege Wèi to rescue Zhào
• Kill with a borrowed knife
• Substitute leisure for labour
• Loot a burning house
• Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west

All these can be successfully applied in consultancy too.

Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean

This stratagem means that you mask your real goals, thus deceiving even the emperor / heavens itself with a fake goal, until they are confronted with finished facts. – Wikipedia

I found this technique useful only for the case of broken trust. I found that revealing completely my real goals with customers and managers works best. Usually it is something that can be described as win win situation. I understand perfectly that when I am trying to achieve a goal that might potentially pose a risk to either customer or a manager I won’t achieve it easily. What’s even worse is that I won’t have fun and I won’t enjoy achieving it if I will be forced  to use this stratagem.

On other hand, consulting is much about politics. It is extremely rare that all parties have the same goals or at least goals that overlap. Consultant is always involved in some sort of conflict:

• The budget is low but the expectations are high.
• Two customers has urgent issues simultaneously.
• Management makes business decision that is less favorable to the customer the consultant facing.
• The service is paid by one guy (procurement) but it is delivered to other one (actual end user), and there is a disconnect between the two.
• The competition shows better results but the consultant just cannot admit it as it would terminate the gig (which is about another stratagem, defeat stratagem).

How do you win in such situations?

You Deceive the Heavens To Cross The Ocean. You mask your real goals, achieve it and present finished fact. Then, you lead a horse to water.

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease – Sun Tzu.

The easiest way to win hearts of customers and managers is revealing your real goals up-front. This is possible when your customers or managers are purposeful. If this is not the case – Deceive The Heavens To Cross The Ocean.

Practice This – Get Results

• Is your customer purposeful? – reveal your real goals up-front. 
• Is your manager purposeful? – reveal your real goals up-front. 
• In all other cases – mask your goals.
• Practice Emotional intelligence.
• Deliver value silently, then make them confront with finished fact. No one can argue with facts.

My Related Posts

• Do Not Join Them. Beat Them.
• Consultants, Beware Of Procrastinators, Disengaged, And Distracters!
• Emotional Intelligence – Core Skills

My take is – Flash Blogging.

In Flash Your Fiction: Writing Exercises, Melissa at Writing Forward shares an interesting writing technique – Flash Fiction. She writes:

…go through the story one last time removing as much as you can without making the piece unintelligible. A traditional example is:

Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy wins girl back.

Of course, this is an oversimplified example, but it certainly gives you an idea of just how much a story can be broken down into its basic movements

That is exactly what I need – adapt Flash Writing to Flash Blogging.

I am using templates when I write my blog posts. It helps me keep my post idea clear and reduce distractions to the minimum.

Boy Meets Girl

When a boy meets a girl it is about excitement. This is how I start my posts – it must be an excitement, a hook. Usually it is a question or a strong statement. My post is the boy and you, the reader, are the girl. What makes you feel the excitement?

• Asking a question. “Have you ever though to quit blogging?” or “Feel exhausted? Drained?” or “Would you like to be an A-List blogger?”.
• Taking a strong position. “Quit blogging now!” or “All bloggers are hard workers, no wonder they are exhausted and drained” or “To become an A-List blogger you must follow these three steps:…”

Boy Gets Girl

Dear reader (the girl), I (the boy) want to win your heart!

After the first line I assume you are hooked. Now I need to connect with you. To do so I answer my question or elaborate a bit on the stand I have taken in the beginning. This should translate the excitement into a connection, preferably an emotional connection. Can you feel the connection between us? Have I got you?

Boy Loses Girl

Now you are mine, I’ve got you. You are excited, connected. You are reading my stuff.

Having fun? NO?!?!??! Am I loosing you? Am I boring you?

To reduce the chance of losing you (the girl) I (the boy) try writing punchy and with less elaboration – straight to the point of the idea I want to convey. I also format my posts with subtitles and bullets to allow you scan my post without even reading it line by line.

In the end of the post when I am sure you are bored and the chance of losing you is the highest, I add some credibility by adding a relevant quote from someone famous. All in the name of love. Our love. But…

There’s more to love than boy meets girl – Jimmy Somerville

Boy Wins Girl Back

Oh… you are back! Happy me !

You came again, you want to read more posts from me? That is huge! You even recommended me to your friends? – Awesome! Seems like the technique works, doesn’t it?

Practice This – Get Results

• Ask question up front or take a stand – hook me up.
• Give me the whole idea of the post in the first two lines – do not make me work hard to fall in love with you. This way you get me quick.
• Elaborate, offer some new techniques that work – do not bore me with just prose.
• Format your posts with subtitles, bullets, and bold type – do not make me work hard to keep loving you.

My Related Posts

• Blog Post Template Plugin For Windows Live Writer
• Boost Your Blogging Productivity With Post Templates

image by { pranav }

How do you get your kids ready in the morning without influence by authority?

I seem to solve this one – I apply the same technique that gets me results, Kaizen’s “Straighten” rule. Buy yourself a white board, hang it on the door and write checklists for your kids. It’s a game they will love a lot. You will love it too.

Checklists For Grade 4 Kids

What does your kid need to do in the morning? Write it on the white board and let her put checkmarks next to it. You will be amazed how everything gets done in minutes. Here is the checklist for my Grade 4 daughter:

• Cover my bed.
• Brush my teeth.
• Get dressed.
• Finish my breakfast.
• Prepare my backpack.
• Calm my hair.
• Kiss my daddy.

She is eager to put V next to each action item. It’s a game for her so she enjoys it. What do you think what it does to me?

Checklists For Toddlers

My other daughter does not know how to read yet, she is four years old. No checklists? Of course she has it too:

Can you walk through this one? She can. And she does it with pleasure.

“Discipline doesn’t break a child’s spirit half as often as the lack of it breaks a parent’s heart“

Practice This – Get Results

• Write on white board – share your wants with your kids visually.
• Let your kid put a checkmark herself – it is a game. Kids love games, did you know that?
• Reward your kid for tasks being completed – grow her self esteem.

My Related Posts

• John Wooden’s 12 Lessons In Leadership [For Kids]
• Conclude The Day With Positive Reflection

I am subscribed to Clayton Makepeace blog. I seriously like it. It’s writing style resonates with me a lot so I learn a lot. I also get answers to my questions. Three weird and wonderful little quirks of human nature that can make you richer than Midas in 2009 … , this post discusses human nature that can help me with persuasion.

Just what I need!

It is about “Substance over abstraction”, “Monkey see, monkey do”, and “No absolutes”.

Substance Over Abstraction

Daniel Lewis, the author of the post, writes:

If you want to convince somebody of something, make them experience the reality of that something in their imagination first. Backing it up with raw facts and figures is important, but secondary.

This is so true. When I work with my customers I first picture a scenario in their minds. “Imagine Sarah navigates to this page and clicks a button. Imagine if Sarah could…”. I tell my story. I am trying hard to make it sticky. When I am successful with my story I can go off to the technical stuff which is accepted almost blindly.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Daniel writes:

Human beings are natural born imitators. Our ability to emulate others is one of our greatest strengths.

In his book Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully, Gerald M. Weinberg shares that best marketing is satisfied customers. When I finish a consulting gig I usually ask for permission to share the success with other customers. I usually get such a permission. When I am discussing a new gig with another customer I usually mention “We did it at Customer X and they were super happy. I encourage you to call them and make it clear”. It usually sells well. Everyone wants to be happy (at least like Customer X).

No Absolutes

Daniel writes:

The human mind operates in relative terms. Without comparison and contrast, there is no meaning.

I agree with it a lot. But let me get some more external help. Here is an excellent example of good marketing of “no absolutes”:

Condoms should be marketed in 3 sizes, jumbo, colossal, and super colossal, so that men do not have to go in and ask for the small – Barbara Seaman

Self Test

• What convinces you most – data sheets or imaginary mental pictures?
• If I show you how to be successful would you follow me, would you plagiarize?
• What’s the heaviest – 1 kilogram of feather or 1 kilogram of iron? …..LOL!

My Related Posts

• Make Your Message Sticky And You Might Tip
• Basic Skills For Effective Public Speaking 
• Who Wants To Be A Consultant?
• Three Laws Of Consulting By Gerald M. Weinberg

Why not adopting this approach when we are grown up? Why stop growing? Why stop trying to become better?

That is it! Asking questions is the most important skill for personal growth! But how do I master such skill?

I found few answers on www.SourcesOfInsight.com 

Asking Better Questions

In this post JD reviews Anthony Robbins’ book Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement where he offers the following guidelines for asking better questions:

• Ask specifically.
• Ask someone who can help you.
• Create value for the person you’re asking.
• Ask with focused, congruent belief.
• Ask until you get what you want.

My favorite here is “Ask until you get what you want”. Even when you do not get the answer to your question it actually means a lot. For example, it means you are asking the wrong guy, or you are asking the wrong questions, or…. there is no answer and you need to find out it yourself (my favorite situation).

Choose “How” Questions Over “Why” Questions

In this post, Choose “How” Questions Over “Why” Questions,  JD keeps researching Robbins’ book Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement and he explains in Tony’s words:

Good communicators aren’t interested in rationalizations of why something is going wrong.  They want to find out how to do it right.  The right questions will lead you in that direction.

Love it. Who cares “why”? More important is “how” to accomplish it.

One thought though. I actually do like “why” questions since it helps me better identify the objectives so that I could then focus on “how” questions.

Outcome Questions

In this post JD still sticks to Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement but this time the focus on questions that help identify the outcome, the results vs. the solution. I like it. I actually love it a lot. I witness too often folks are focused on the solution without identifying clearly the outcome. That is sad. It is very sad seeing them investing tons of energy in solution to the problem they do not have.

Precision Questions and Precision Answers

This one is epic. No kidding. JD distills the Precision Questioning and Precision Answering training he took. According to the post there are 7 Categories of Precise Questions:

• Go / NoGo.  Do we need to talk about this?
• Clarification.  What do you mean?
• Assumptions.  What are we assuming?
• Basic Critical Question.  How do we know this is true?
• Causes.  What’s causing this?
• Effects.  What will be the effects?
• Action.  What should be done?

To tell you the truth as a consultant I used these very effectively to save my time (I effectively save time that I could invest in billable work and then go home at 4:00). My favorite are:

• Go / NoGo.  Do we need to talk about this?
• Effects.  What will be the effects?

Usually after such questions the conversation stops and I am free to do other significant work. But there is more to it – read it.

“Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” – Anthony Robbins

Self Test

• Got questions?
• Think about better question, got some?

My Related Posts

• Do You Have The Dream Job?
• Find Your Strengths, Know Your Life Purpose
• Get Criticized – The More The Better

Are there best practices to make conflict improve my personal performance?
by VanessaO

I adopted software performance engineering to improve my personal performance. I started to treat conflicts like computers do.

Conflict Management Rules

• Do not use conflict to control relationships. I learned it from my kids. John Wooden put it precisely – The Carrot Is Mightier Than A Stick. Same with colleagues, customers, and managers. It is simple technique of influence without authority. Conflict is very expensive technique to get results (ask any software performance engineer and she will tell you a lot about how exceptions kill computers performance). If you use a conflict to manage your relationships you will drain yourself. You cannot perform well when you are drained. You cannot perform well when you are out of good positive energy.
• Set conflict boundaries. You must know when it is time for conflict. It is just fine to start a conflict. It does not have to be a street fight. Setting clear boundaries for a conflict is the best way to avoid it. If you manage to avoid conflict effectively you can invest your energy on productive work – like blogging, reading, loving.
• Is it your conflict? Is it? If the solution of the conflict is not under your control it is not your conflict – escalate it to your manager, ignore it. Just do not be part of it. If it is not your conflict your do not have to spend your energy in resolving it.

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man – Charlie Chaplin

Self Test

• What do you feel when in conflict? Can you perform optimally?
• What is less draining – avoiding the conflict or resolving it?
• Tried to set conflict boundaries? Did it help to avoid a conflict?

My Related Posts

• Emotional Intelligence – Core Skills
• Multitasking Kills Your Productivity? You Must Master State Management.
• Time Management: Boost Personal Performance With Caching Techniques
• Personal Improvement – Kaizen Focus On Process

Applying the principles you make sure your message is clearly delivered to the masses.

by Victor Bezrukov

Core Principles For Effective Public Speaking

I have chosen the following principles as they are the bedrock of the effective public speaking according to my observations. Each principle is followed by the example form my personal experience. It might not be always in synch with what the author meant but it surely helps me delivering a better talk.

• Take Heart from the Experience of Others. I attended tons of sessions but I can clearly remember two of them. One session was about programming and the other about personal development. Both presenters used the same technique beyond many others – they used a metaphor throughout the whole session. One was Thailand’s Tuk-Tuk and the other was 6 Donuts. Use metaphors throughout the talk. People won’t remember your core materials but they will do remember the metaphors connecting you/your stuff with it unconsciously.
• Keep Your Goal Before You. You can have a great materials to present but if you are not focused on the objectives of your talk you will waste your time and the time of your audience. First slide must be simple list of the objectives. Once set – stick with this. Example for session objectives – "Build better time table", "Write more fast code", "Lose weight", "Read books faster", "Blog efficiently".
• Predetermine Your Mind to Success. This simple principle helps me motivating myself during the talk. When I am motivated I speak with passion. When I speak with passion the audience gets engaged. When the audience engaged the session is enjoyable and get remembered.
• Seize Every Opportunity to Practice. Practice the flow of the session – speak out loud in front of the mirror. Practice jokes you plan to use. Practice the demos. Practice. The more you practice the more you talk will look spontaneous and easy going.
• Speak About Something You Have Earned the Right to Talk About Through Experience or Study. This one is hard to overestimate. Speak about something you personally did/accomplished. Otherwise you will hurt your brand. I did this once. One of the evaluation forms I received was saying "I attended the session because of the speaker, but the session was disappointing".
• Be Sure You Are Excited About Your Subject. Who wants to listen to bored speaker? No one. If you want to carry out your message you mast be super excited. Avoid telling the audience "I am so excited". Show them you are excited – here is quick example. Here is another.
• Be Eager to Share Your Talk with Your Listeners. Share with the audience your precious how-to’s and insights. This will both build your brand and trust. Do not tell them you were successful – share with them the path to success.
• Limit Your Subject. Sometime being Eager to Share may hurt. It defiantly hurt me when I was trying to share everything I knew during the one hour talk. The only thing the audience took from the session was confusion. Focus on something limited but make it shine.
• Develop Reserve Power. Do not limit your subject too much though. The audience might want to go deeper or wider. Prepare backup slides and the topic. Show the audience your were preparing(respect). When asked demonstrate the deep dive (expertise). Do not go too deep/wide though. Leave the audience wanting more. Expect to be invited next time to give the talk…

Self Test

• Do you keep your objectives before you when you give the talk?
• Do you share your deepest insights with the audience or just tease them?
• Do you prepare a small surprise for the audience that is beyond the plan?

Saying “No” to unimportant things, doing the right thing vs. doing things right, going against the main stream won’t make you many friends. But it surely can give you a chance of creating something new, achieving something no one did before. Prepare to be unrecognized, prepare to fail, but live the dream. Leave your mark.

Video: The Legend of 1900 (2 minutes with the punch line in the end)

Say “No” To Your Manager

Say what?! Yes, say "No"  to your manager. The deal is not about being a yes-man or a no-man. The deal is about delivering high quality results on time. If you think your manager will be pleased by hearing "Yes" every time then you are wrong, unless you work week is elastic and you plan to live at workplace or taking work home. If this is not the case then you should be saying "No" to your manager or letting her decide what other task you are on should be deferred. On other hand going beyond the normal working habits is a good opportunity to shine and show your loyalty and value to the business and the customers. Make sure it does not become a normal working habit. If it is, say "No" to your manager.

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”” – Stephen R. Covey from “The Seven Habits of Highly Effctive People”

Say “No” To Your Customer

This might sound odd too, but since Customers want brands that are narrow there are times when you should be saying "No" to your customers. If you want to become a superhero you should be listening to Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles as they describe it in their book, “Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service”:

• Decide what you want.
• Discover what the customer wants and…
• … deliver plus one.

If the customer wants you to do things you decided to not do then say "No" to your customer.

“Smile and say NO until your tongue bleeds.

NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. ….

May be tomorrow. You will be amazed how the terms of your deals will improve when you learn to say NO. There were one hundred bank failures in the United States in 1986. How many do you think were caused because the banker said NO to too many terrific loans?” – Harvey Mackay

Say “No” To Your Family and Yourself

This one is tough for me since it hurts one of the 4 Dimensions Of Personal Power – Spiritual one, it hurts my values. But here is the the flip side of the story. If I won’t set boundaries with my family, if I won’t set boundaries to myself chances are I will be out of time for self improvement and growth, chances are I will be feeling frustration which will surely have negative impact on beloved ones. And this is exactly what I want to avoid. Say "Yes" to your family by default, always, but when the time comes to invest in yourself – say "No" to your family. Plan your time wisely to spend more time with your beloved ones but do not forget to allocate time budget for yourself otherwise how would your grow or innovate?

"Wait wait – put your hands down. Listen: I know you have a thousand ideas for all the cool features iTunes *could* have. So do we. But we don’t want a thousand features. That would be ugly. Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features." – Steve Jobs

Self Test

• Are you overwhelmed with work but your performance is actually average?
• Do you possess expertise in some area but bound to do unrelated work?
• Do you have a recreation habit to fill your emotional, physical, and intellectual reservoirs?