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

Productivity R.I.P. – The Dark Side Of Zero

Philosophy time… What follows is not about hitting milestones on a project. It is rather a discussion about one’s philosophical orientation with respect to goals, projects and tasks.

I want to suggest that the worst number relative to project management, productivity and success itself is ZERO. Zero, as in zero movement; zero progress. You can make progress – even if very slow progress – by doing more than zero every day. On the other hand, zero movement after a billion years is still zero.

Consider a river that flows a few inches a year. These rivers, better known as glaciers, display the incredible power of slow but steady progress. Many of the valleys you see in the world were carved by glaciers; smoothed by glaciers; and made more fertile by glaciers.  Water that just sits there – like a pond or a lake – doesn’t do much of anything to the lay of the land.

Movement toward a goal takes place when there is – well – movement.

If you have a project that needs to be moving along, even an extremely small advance represents advancement; progress.  Maybe not enough progress to avoid missing deadlines, but you will be closer to hitting your targets, even if the movement is very, very small.

One-man (one-person) bands often get involved in internal projects that have no external, hard, fast, let alone penalty driven deadlines. Many have no concept of managing tasks in even a semi-formal way. But for tomorrow to not be a mere repeat of today; and for today to not be a mere repeat of yesterday, there must be advancement – away from zero progress.

For example, I am creating a slide-show video for ICT audience members. I have to construct this video one step at a time. Sometimes the step will consist of smaller “baby steps.” But even these oh-so-tiny steps represent progress.

Sidebar: IntenseComfort.com deals more with the philosophy and the “epistemics” of business, rather than the nuts and bolts or “how-to” of things. That doesn’t mean that the nuts and bolts aren’t important. Certainly they are. And I deal with that focus in another blog – The Business Opportunities Report. Today, I posted a review about a software app that can help you manage your time and your projects better. I encourage you to read it.

Zero goes on forever. As long as zero guides you or your business, progress cannot emerge.

What little tiny step can you take to move you project forward today?

Tagged As: Productivity, project management