Use Positivity and Mental Leaf Guards to Improve Productivity

The context for this entry is a blog post by Stephen Pierce at DTAlpha.
http://www.dtalpha.com/talkback/924/success/how-to-increase-productivity/

You can watch it here, but I recommend Pierce’s site for anyone interested in improving his or her game. He has some very interesting takes on things, and I always learn something when I visit.

After you watch the video, come back here.

The video covers three basic areas of productivity:
- who are you and what do you want?
- what is the breakdown of what you want to accomplish?
- what practical method can you use to perform your tasks?

I find the creation of identity statements difficult. I can create them, but I really have to struggle to create and sustain them. I acknowledge this because I want you to understand that just because something is difficult, that doesn’t mean we get to let ourselves off the hook and do something easier.

To counter this difficulty, I created the following identity statement, and I recommend you use it or something similar if you have a similar problem.

I pursue my dreams, even when they are difficult to envision and/or achieve. I affirm my ability to achieve what I want, and have positive "mental leaf guards" that keep out the debris of negative influences.

These “leaf guards of the soul” can – and should – shield you from negative impacts of bad-news stories, from the ridicule (imagined or real) of others, and most of all, from your own self-doubts.

The rest of Pierce’s video comprises project and time management; worthwhile, yes, but the important thing is knowing who you are, standing for something highly positive, and  – and having an intentional say in what is true about you that, IMO, forms the heart of what PIerce communicates, and it is what motivated me to tell you about it.

Your comments are welcome.

Tagged As: Productivity, project management

Productivity & Trouble in “Cloud Camelot”

You can find stories all over the net about how we’re approaching a kind of nirvana with the onslaught of “cloud computing,” as if we are reaching toward a kind of “Cloud Camelot.”

Here is one such story that I came upon a in the Los Angeles Times;  a look at Google’s new operating system and the advantages of operating “in the cloud,” meaning the use of internet servers instead of your local drive to store, access and use your data.

But perhaps things aren’t really so sunny and rosy in Cloud Camelot. Consider…

A friend of mine recently had his Gmail account canceled – without notice, without redress and no explanation, other than a cryptic message: “You violated our terms of service.” (TOS)

He has asked for and continues to await for an explanation. In the meantime, an email account he had for 5 years is gone.

While I believe there could be great promise with cloud computing – especially if you own the hardware and the plumbing, there are some potential problems worth taking into account as you make your choices.

#1 – You have a new master of what can be stored – the “cloud-keeper.” If you do something the cloud-keeper doesn’t like, and it acts as haughtily as did Google with my friend, you not only can lose access, but you can lose your data too.  My friend asked, “Who’s data is it?” Before this happened to him, I would have answered that it was his data, and that I was sure that Google wouldn’t act otherwise. Looks like I was naive. So question: do you really want to be giving an organization that much power over you?

#2 – What it you store your data in the cloud and the cloud-keeper goes belly up, pushes up daisies and goes to the big erasing magnet in the sky? Again – your ability to access your data gets hosed.

I think that before I or any of my business efforts entrust my data “to the cloud,” the cloud-keeper had better make it very clear that (a) I will be warned if there is a problem relative to the TOS, (b) will give me an opportunity to get clarification and/or to defend myself if necessary, and (c) if the decision to terminate is final, that I have enough time and the ability to download my data from the cloud in a format that I can use.

Given the situation with my friend and his Gmail account, I think legitimate questions – business questions – need to be addressed before I will entrust my data into the cloud – not just Google, but any cloud. Because it appears that the cloud-keeper holds all the aces, and all I’ve got is 5 unrelated cards, with a 5 of spades as my high card. Not good.

Tagged As: business continuity, Cloud Computing, Google, Productivity, security

Large Lists, Responsibility & Respect

We dislike spammers largely because they don’t respect our time. But consider: how well do we respect our own audience’s time?

When we send messages we believe worthwhile (note: even casual messages can have reasonable, even great worth on multiple levels), do we truly pay attention to and thus value our audience’s time?

Example – My first cut at this message included 640 words, and it communicated the thesis of this post rather poorly. My second draft communicated better, and came in at 292 words. This final version has but 258 words, including these. My message comes through clearer, and I have thus respected your time by refining my content instead of making you work for it.

The larger your audience, the greater your responsibility to respect their time. Here’s why:

The number of people on your list multiplied by the percentage who read/watch your message multiplied by the number of estimated minutes needed to do so gives us the total estimated minutes your audience spends on your message.

Example:
Suppose 15% of those on your list read or watch it.
You have a list of 10,000 people (not uncommon).
Suppose it takes 2 minutes to read your message.

Here’s the math:
15% * 10,000 people * 2 minutes = 1,500 readers/watchers * 2 minutes = 3,000 minutes (60 audience-hours)

Thus longer messages read by more folks cost your audiences even more.

Thus as you learn to persuade a greater percentage of your audience to read/watch, and as your list continues to grow, the responsibility to respect your list’s time by making every word count also grows.

Thus, be mindful of your success.

Tagged As: respect, responsibilty, success