you will die one day

the world has given you experience

you are the same person you were when you were a child

the dreams never died

the future is what you will make of it

your life is the sum of what you will do every day

routines are the only way to do the things that are important

it is hard to find the energy

the only way is to know that you will die one day

and then the only things that will matter will be very clear

not how big your house was

not how many cars

not how big the tv

not your job title

not your business cards

not your cv

not your mba

not your list of high placed and important friends

only your memories, your proud accompliments that help the world, the people you have helped, the turning your passion and talent into something that really helped others

nothing else

help someone today

you will die one day and it will be too late

5 little things put a Leader in the top 10% of performance

I come more and more to the conclusion that excellent performance is not about complex innovations, but about small habits.

Excellent performance is about small habits

I am reading Leading with Emotional Intelligence by Redlan Nadler.  He quotes from book The Extraordinary Leader by Zenger and Folkman.  They found that doing 5 specific things really well put a leader in the top 10% of performance.

Small efforts in these 5 areas make a major difference.

1. Giving Feedback
2. Building Human Relationships
3. Dealing with Poor Performance
4. Self Management
5. Managing Upwards

The table below gives specific examples of the difference between average leader behavior and top 10% leader behavior. If it doesn't display properly via rss, view it on the blog here.

Good Leader	Great leader
Giving Feedback
"Mary, thanks for getting the report to me."	"Mary, great job on the report because it was well-written. I appreciate you checked-in with me on the process.  I like how you collaborated with others."
Building Human Relationships
Works in office on a project and then takes a break.  On the way to get coffee, nods at a few people and walks past some without even looking.  Heads right back to the computer.	Takes a break and stops at several people's desks to check on how they are doing.  Asks about projects and inquires about issues or challenges.  Asks about family or hobbies.
Dealing with Poor Performance
John is not performing as I would like him to. "John, let's make sure you do everything to get this right."	"John, let's spend time going over the next assignment together. You haven't been performing like I know you can and I want to help. When can we meet?"
Self Management
"I'd better work through lunch because I am behind and can catch up if I eat at my computer."	"I am feeling tired and need to recharge. Going to lunch will help keep things in perspective and I will come back refreshed and better able to deal with these next challenges."
Managing Upwards
"I don't know what my boss thinks of me and how I am doing. I know she is busy and probably doesn't need another interruption. "	"I am not sure what my boss thinks of me or how I am doing.  I will schedule some time with her and clarify expectations and make sure I am doing what she wants. It will also give her visibility on my projects."

It does not take that much longer.  How do you approach these 5 areas?  Do you manage upwards well?  Are you clear on what is high performance in your role?  Do you deal directly with poor performance... or do you cross your fingers and hope?

Have a great day.

Great speaking: How much should I practice?

Continuing on my series of short videos lessons on becoming a great speaker, I address the question "How much should you practice your speech?"



Do you set aside time to practice the delivery of your speech?  It can make a big difference.  Please, use your webcam.  (How to record yourself speaking on a Mac)

My Video post Series Speaking as A Leader:

• The 4 Steps to Great Speaking
• The 5 Aspects of a Powerful Voice
• The 3 Pillars of Persuasion
• How to Be More Confident
• The 4 Types of Audience
• The 4 Ways to Handle Anxiety

Are there any questions you would like to see addressed in a future video post?  It is your questions that give me ideas for posts - thanks to all who have sent emails, tweets and comments on the blog.

Success is Not about Willpower

Peter Shallard says that the currency of Human Potential is willpower.  Willpower is a finite asset.  It is like a budget that you can choose to spend as you like - but (unlike EU nations) this budget must balance.

I disagree.

No amount of willpower is strong enough to overcome our unconscious impulses.  No amount of willpower alone can create strong, healthy, disciplined habits in my life.

It is not about willpower.

It is about gaming your environment so that the decisions in the margins lead to the positive choices.

A diet succeeds or fails in the supermarket.  Once the chocolate is in my house, I will eventually eat it.

Design your Environment

If I put my running shoes on first thing in the morning, I am more likely to take the decision to run.

If I leave a pen and open notebook on my desk, I am more likely to note down ideas, tasks, people to thank, quotes.

If I leave my email program open, I am more likely to check it regularly.

If I leave my mobile next to my bed, I am more likely to check email first thing before I get out of bed.  (I saw somewhere that 65% of people with blackberries check email before getting out of bed).

If I leave the remote control next to where I sit on the sofa, I am more likely to switch on the TV "just to have a quick look at what is on..." why not put it further away and put a book where your remote lives now?

If I program my mum's phone into my speed-dial, I am more likely to call my mum.

How do you game your environment?  Do you feel that you have no willpower?  Maybe you have an environment that encourages the wrong actions?

Passion and Compassion

"The two most important emotions are Passion and Compassion.

Without Passion, nothing happens.

Without Compassion, the wrong things happen."

Jan Eliasson Ex-President of the UN General Assembly, speaking at a past edition of SIME.

Why I didn't listen during the presentations

I sat through 12 business presentations today.  I used my laptop during most of them.

Why?

Show me you know me, know my reason for listening
Top reason - not a single presenter made me feel like they had something to say that was relevant to me.  Not a single presenter took a moment to show that they understood why I might be sitting there, what challenges I might have in my day.

To be interesting, show me you are relevant.

Show me benefits, not features
2nd reason - Big detail on features, no translation into benefits for me.

Explain benefits not features.

If I have to think, I don't (unless point 1 is nailed, and I mean NAILED)

3rd reason - pointlessly complex.

Go for simple.  Even if it loses 20% of the specifics you believe are important.

"We provide leather based solutions for reduction of foot damage during manual transport mode" or "We make shoes"

"We provide high quality usable information that allows optimisation of route choice in cities" or "We get you home quicker", "Minimise commuting time"

Make it relevant, Show benefit, K.I.S.S.

How to video yourself speaking on a Mac

How to make a video of yourself speaking on a Mac

1) Open Photobooth.  The simplest way to find it on any mac is to go to the spotlight search bar in the top right of your screen and type "photo booth" and click on the Photo Booth listed under Applications.

2) Smile (optional, but helpful step)

3) Select video and record - Video is the third option, just below the bottom left of the video screen; Record is the red button in the middle that I am indicating here:

4) Start speaking (please not "testing, testing, 1, 2, 3..." please)
5) Hit stop

Well done.  You have created a video.  I am sure that you can figure out with a few clicks how to replay your video.  You might even have the desire to change some things and make another video...

I need some help
Does anyone have a Windows machine and would be willing to write a how to for windows?  and for Linux?

Chronic Partial Attention

In a recent article Tom Friedman of the New York Times ponders whether we have evolved from the Iron Age to the Industrial Age to the Information Age to the Age of Interruption, in which the “malady of modernity” is that we are now all afflicted with chronic multi-tasking and chronic partial attention induced by cell phones, email, the internet, handhelds, and our other many devices.

He wonders whether the Age of Interruption will lead to a decline of civilization as our ideas and attention spans shrink like slugs sprinkled with salt, and civilization at large gets collectively diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Friedman then asks “Who can think or write or innovate under such conditions?”

In contrast, Friedman describes his local rain forest guide who:

“carried no devices and did not suffer from continuous partial attention. Just the opposite. He heard every chirp, whistle, howl or crackle in the rain forest and would stop us in our tracks immediately and identify what bird, insect or animal it was. He also had incredible vision and never missed a spider’s web, or a butterfly, or a toucan, or a column of marching termites. He was totally disconnected from the Web, but totally in touch with the incredible web of life around him.”

Do we collectively suffer from Chronic Partial Attention?

I found an interesting academic paper on designing user interfaces in the age of Interruption here.

Student, Use University Well.

I just came across a talk from Derek Sivers to the class at Berklee school of Music.  He shares "6 things I wish I knew before starting".  Powerful stuff.  It applies to anyone currently at or going to a college or university:

1. Focus, Disconnect and Do Not be Distracted - don't let the casual ones tell you to relax. They will live casual lives, have casual skills and will not amount to much.  Practice matters.
2. Do not accept their speed limit - The classes are set at a pace that the average student can keep.  If you are average, that's your pace.  If you don't want to be average, don't accept the mediocrity speed.  "The standard pace is for chumps."
3. Nobody will teach you anything, you have to teach yourself - Its like a library.  The teachers will present information to you.  It is up to you to use it in your life.  University is the best environment for learning, but you have to teach yourself.
4. Learn from your heros, not just theirs - Teachers will give you rules to follow, heros to be inspired by...  but they are their rules, their heros.  Take the time to look at your own heroes and understand their lives, and draw your own lessons.  "Never think that their heros are better than yours."
5. Do not get stuck in the past - "Innovation is needed more than imitation." High performance people much prefer doing the wrong thing well than the wrong thing poorly.  It is scary to innovate. 
6. When done, be valuable - Use university, but use your life.  "Making money is nothing more than neutral proof that you are adding value to people's lives."  It is easy to do it doing things that others' don't want to do, a fulfilling life is making money doing things that others' have not worked hard to be great at.

Derek finishes with a wish for his audience:

Be one of the few clever enough to make money making music instead of pretending it doesn't matter;

Be one of the few that has the guts to do something shocking;

Be one of the few who takes lessons as starting point and pushes yourself to do more with what you learn;

Be one of the few that knows how to help yourself instead of expecting others to do it for you;

Be one of the few that does much more than is required;

Be one of the few that stays in the shed to practice while everyone else is surfing the net, flirting on myspace and watching TV.

Watch Derek Sivers' video here:

Some silly Inane things that make me happy

• Peeling a whole orange in one go (skin remains in one single piece); just did that now ;-)
• Buying something in a shop and it costs exactly the coins I have in my pocket and I rid my pocket of little 2c, 5c, 10c coins
• The smell of petrol when I fill my car; the smell of pine trees in the late afternoon on a hot sunny day
• The string reverb sound that comes at exactly 1:02 on the song Lover's Lane by Orjan Nilsen (on spotify)

Missing anything?

Performance = Potential - Self-Sabotage

We would achieve much more if we got out of our own way.  The difference between the top athletes and the rest is not better physical ability, but an ability to avoid talking themselves into failure at the key moments.

Performance = Potential - Self-Sabotage

I remember Peter Allis commenting on golf years ago.  A South African golfer was on the tee.  Peter whispers into the microphone "This is the perfect specimen of a golfer...  (pause)...  big hands...  and dumb".

Thinking too much is not good for performance in the big moments.  It might help you learn faster from practice, but you have to find a way to switch it off once the real deal begins.

What do you think?  Are we our own worst enemies?