There is a woman who I would guess to be in her 80s that walks by my house every day. Every. Day. She is more durable than the Post Office who delivers in snow, rain and heat because she walks on Sundays, too. No matter the weather or conditions, this woman trudges up the hill and makes her trek.
I think about her persistence – as I watch from my heated or air-conditioned office – and doubt that she questions her activity. I would guess that her walking is a habit – just as much a part of the day as eating meals or brushing teeth.
Gretchen Rubin advocates the cultivation of habits because they reduce (remove) the mental capacity necessary to make a decision. You don’t have to think about it -- and thus lose emotional energy in the process – you just do.
I admire those who engrain habits into their lives for the tough stuff. I have written 2090 dots and the process of sitting down to do them still doesn’t come easily. Often I spend as much time thinking about what to write as I do on the actual writing. I also think about whether I should take the dogs for a walk – is the weather ok, are the sidewalks free of salt or puddles, etc. I wish it would come naturally to just do it every day like this woman and not think about it.
I have quoted Susan Power before who writes that “motivation is in the doing.” Energy is generated in the doing too and depleted in the thinking-about-doing. Strive to minimize your energy loss by creating habits instead of daily decision points.
In one of the Red Carpet interviews before the Academy Awards, director Gretta Gerwig was credited with bringing Lady Bird to life through the attention to detail and realistic elements that were infused in her story. “The more specific something is, the more universal it ends up being,” actress Beanie Feldstein reported Gerwig as saying.
This statement is true for the movie, and I think it has broader applicability. I have been a proponent of specificity for decades, and it is that concreteness that often makes an example come to life as a teaching tool for others. I know that in my workshops participants want a detailed script of how to address accountability, or an actual evaluation or attributes list so they can adapt it to their own use. If I provide something that is just a general outline it seems to have less relevance and transferability.
If a story is specific, it becomes believable and thus we connect with one aspect of it and relate it to our lives. I just finished reading Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Goldfinch and her descriptive genius made me feel as if I was in the museum with the main character. Its richness helped to make it a universal story about friendship and self-reliance.
The next time you are tempted to convey your message with broad strokes, think about Gretta Gerwig’s quote. Provide the specifics to picture ourselves in your story so we can extrapolate meaning from there.
“How many books have you read?” That was the question one of my students asked me as I quoted a theory by memory in class last week.
The answer is “a lot – a very lot,” but what could make it seem like even more is that I read with the aim of applying the information that I read. My goal when I read a book (or article) is to distill one key nugget from it that I can remember and use. The information may be applicable for a blog, a class lesson, a workshop, a conversation starter or a tidbit to share with my sister in a letter, but my aim is to take away one tiny piece that I can add as a tool in my repertoire.
I think we often are exposed to so much information that we fail to absorb it in meaningful ways. By training myself to take a moment to capture one piece, I think it helps me to remember even more of the material.
I have used this technique with my students – I require them to read a book for class and then do a final presentation that teaches their classmates one point from the book. It’s far more engaging and beneficial than having them attempt to cram 200 pages of content into a ten-minute monologue where no one remembers anything that was said.
Think about using the “one point” method when you are processing input. Whether you attend a class/workshop/lecture, read a book/an article/a blog, or partake in any learning opportunity, I believe you’ll get more out of it in the short term if you position yourself to use one piece of information in the long term.
[See dot #108 on how to apply your learning nuggets to meetings.]
When the Hynes Convention Center was built in 1988, none of the architects could have anticipated that there would be a great demand by delegates for power outlets. The same is true for airports and most public spaces. Even with the relatively low cost and ease of attaining supplemental batteries, everyone seems to want to plug in their device and access wi-fi on demand.
Hynes has retrofitted its public spaces to incorporate charging stations in each of the planters in the lobby. During the convention I attended, these gathering points were in frequent use as people sat around watching the battery on their phone turn green. They are so popular that directions to “charging stations” even have been added to the master signage in the building.
Think about your product and what you might need to modernize to meet consumer demand. Cars have added USB ports as a standard feature. New shopping carts come with cup holders. Buildings come with Family restrooms. Businesses have added scanners for Apple Pay and Google Pay to accommodate electronic funds. What can you retrofit in your organization to retrofit your services for modern times?
What is the number one thing you hope to get out of a professional conference that you attend? I think for many people the answer is either making a connection – expanding their network to meet someone who can help them in the future – or gaining a new idea that will move them forward either personally or professionally.
The American Society for Association Executives (ASAE) accomplishes both at their Great Ideas conference through a Braindates component. Braindates are pre-scheduled, one-on-one meetings with fellow participants. Through an app, attendees can pre-schedule conference time to meet with others on key topics either to offer insights or to gain them.
I think Braindates should be a standard feature at all professional conferences. It avoids having participants rely on a happenstance meeting and spares people the awkward process of trying to find someone who may be a good connection. It also makes it easier for those willing to share expertise to have an informal forum to do so.
Think about how you could add a Braindate to your next event, or even provide a process for them to occur in your organization. Everyone wins when you foster connections and cultivate ideas.
There was a meme on social media suggesting that the NRA becomes the National Reading Association and all the money currently spent on lobbying be redirected to libraries. Whether you agree with that idea or not, I think everyone can agree that fostering a love of reading among children is a good thing.
Today would be Dr. Seuss’s (Theodor Geisel) 114th birthday. It has become a day to celebrate reading – a present he would have been sure to enjoy. In our town, dozens of local leaders are participating in Read Across America Day by reading a Dr. Seuss book to elementary students across the tri-states. I will spend the afternoon making silly noises with kindergartners as I read Mr. Brown Can Moo – Can You? to them. I can hear the giggles now!
In addition to their on-going reading efforts, the school districts have highlighted reading by allowing the guest readers to come into the classrooms today. But it’s not only young people who need to read. Adults can benefit from the input non-fiction works provide them and they can be transported to another place and reduce their stress through the literary world of fiction.
Think of how your organization can incentivize reading by your staff. Maybe you can make it a norm to put a “reading hour” on the calendar – starting with the boss modeling this behavior. You can provide milk and cookies one morning a month and encourage staff to clear their calendar to delve into a new book in their field. You can ask for reading reports or recommendations at meetings. Start a voluntary book club with your staff. Put in a lending library. Offer each staff member one book a quarter on Amazon.
Whether through guest readers or organizational incentives, cultivating reading habits is a benefit to all. Break your routine of flipping on the television or grabbing an electronic device, and discover the magic that lurks in between the paper pages.
If you remember the Academy Awards last year, it ended with the wrong film being announced as the Best Picture winner. It was a major faux pas that overshadowed the honor as well as the rest of the show.
The accounting firm responsible for the error (PwC) and the Academy have gone to great lengths to ensure that it doesn’t happen again on Sunday night. They have been meeting since last year’s show to develop new processes to prevent a repeat of the error. Among the new procedures: The presenters will confirm their envelope has the right category before they step up to the podium and this process will be overseen by a third person; PwC staff will be attending rehearsals plus another partner will be in the control room monitoring the show, and there is a new protocol for what to do if something does go wrong.
All of this is seems to be an overcorrection for a mistake that already occurred. Why wasn’t any of this in place to prevent the error in the first place?
It’s easy to jump in and develop a host of recommendations in retrospect. The goal should be to have double checks in place to prevent an issue from happening at all. Instead of going overboard and creating a multitude of procedures to correct one problem that occurred, how can your organization take a balanced approach to anticipating points of possible error and mitigating them from the start?
Keep the spotlight of your diligence diffused across the stage instead of only shining on one small spot.
