by Caroline Leach | Apr 2, 2016 | Change, Learning, Social Media, Work/Life
A new day, month and season always feel like a fresh start. Brand new beginnings. Endless possibilities ahead.
As I reflected on the daily dozen habits I set last year, I’d done well on some and not on others.
So why not commit the month of April to doing my full daily dozen every day? How much can I accomplish? How will I feel? How much more will I enjoy life?
It will be an April Adventure. It’s the perfect time because spring is my favorite season. The days are longer. Time stretches out. Nature beckons. Summer is on the way.
April is also a transitional time. It’s my birthday at the end of the month, which always prompts reflection. My daughter will choose her college this month. And then it’s on to the whirl of AP exams, the prom and high school graduation for the coda of the season.
Listening to Adam Grant‘s TED talk about original thinkers this morning during a car trip for a college visit with my son gave me 4 things to think about.
- Improvers do better than first movers. Grant’s talk referenced a classic study of 50 product categories. It showed a 47% failure rate among first movers. Those who improved on the ideas of others had only an 8% failure rate.
- There’s a sweet spot for creativity halfway between pre-crastination (doing things too early to maximize creativity and efficiency) and procrastination (this one needs no explanation).
- Doubt the default. Or, question the status quo. According to Grant’s research, people who do this and ask if there’s a better way perform better in their jobs, and they stay in them 15% longer.
- What distinguishes classical composers is that they produced more work. They generated more music and more ideas. That meant there was more to choose from in identifying their best work.
That inspired my idea to post to this blog daily in April. It can be of any length. And by writing daily, I may come up with at least one post to share for feedback in Penelope Trunk‘s upcoming Quistic course about writing great blog posts.
To round it out, I’m making it a baker’s dozen with habit #13: using my Rosetta Stone app to learn Spanish for 10 minutes every day. Here I’m inspired by something I read recently about someone who learned a language by devoting just a few minutes every day.
So what am I doing differently to set up my environment for success?
First, I made a daily dozen list in my Any.Do app. While I’ve had it for a while, I haven’t used it much yet. This is my accountability app. And I’ll continue tracking my activity and sleep with my Fitbit.
Second, I’m thinking about how to use time in new ways. What’s the best way to make the most of commute time? Lunch time? Wait time?
Right now I’m writing this on my iPhone while my husband drives us home from our college visit. Turns out I don’t have to be at home settled in with my laptop to write every blog post.
It’s amazing what technology and connectivity can do for our lives and our ability to learn. It shouldn’t be too hard how to figure out how to insert hyperlinks and images on my phone.
Game on for an April Adventure!
by Caroline Leach | Mar 25, 2016 | Change, Learning
Solving problems often involves coming up with new ideas. How can you use data to make better decisions? How can you better engage your team at work? How can you find more meaning in your life?
Yet coming up with new ideas can feel daunting at times. After all, is there anything new under the sun?
Here are a few ideas to get your creative thoughts flowing.
What problem are you trying to solve? Start with what you’re trying to accomplish. Make sure your problem statement is well defined. This question has become a perennial favorite ever since I took a McKinsey & Company course called Strategy 101 at DIRECTV.
What would success look like? This takes a page from Stephen Covey‘s principle to begin with the end in mind. What perfect or better world state could exist? What is lacking today that would make the world a better place? If you can imagine it, then you can create it.
How many ideas can you come up with? Start by making a list of 10 ideas. Save the judgments for later. Just jot down ideas as quickly as you can. Then explore them further to see how they could play out to solve the problem you’re tackling. What would you have to do to make them work?
What new connections can you make? Many groundbreaking ideas take two seemingly disparate areas and connect them. Think Steve Jobs with computers and calligraphy. Nate Silver with economics and baseball. Alli Webb with beauty and blowouts.
How can you expose yourself to new concepts? What are you reading? If you mainly read non-fiction, try fiction. If you read business magazines, try something in the sciences. Check out a new report from the Institute for the Future. Listen to a TED talk or playlist.
Who’s in your network? How diverse is your network? Get to know some new people, especially cross generationally. That’s one of the things I love about the TV show Younger – the friendships across generations, with different perspectives on life.
How can you vary your routine? Our brains crave novelty and variety. So drive a different way to work. Take up a new sport. Go on an artist’s date (with thanks to Julia Cameron for that fun and fabulous way to “restock the well” of creative thinking). Think about what you usually do, and consciously do something else.
This week, on a family vacation, we mixed up our routine. We watching our son’s team play baseball in beautiful San Diego. We met new parents and players on the team. We tried new restaurants.
My husband and I went to a new yoga class we’ve been wanting to attend. We went paddle boarding and tried to figure out how to navigate the waves beyond the marina where we’ve been learning.
I dipped into The Economist‘s newly revised magazine, 1843. I learned fascinating things about the resurgence of stoicism, corporate campus design and why we work so hard.
And a David Brooks column in the New York Times led me to a fascinating new book by Barbara Bradley Hagerty about Life Reimagined.
My Connecticut family is visiting for my daughter’s big event this weekend honoring her service through National Charity League.
Today will be a group artist date, with a trip to the endlessly inspiring Getty Center.
And I’m looking forward to a learning week ahead at work, with our annual leadership program.
What will you do differently today to see the world from a fresh perspective?
by Caroline Leach | Mar 12, 2016 | Change, Learning
When Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel who knew he was learning something new?
All I remember of seeing it in person for the first time was how awe-inspiring it was.
But Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor, first and foremost. So when Pope Julius requested his work as a painter, Michelangelo initially resisted.
This sets the stage perfectly in a new book by Erika Andersen called Be Bad First. It’s about “getting good at things fast to stay ready for the future.”
And who among us doesn’t need to do that?
If Michelangelo could overcome his hesitancy to learn something new, so can I. So can you.
But how?
Start by reading an overview of the book in this month’s issue of Harvard Business Review called Learning How to Learn. Then read the book to be truly inspired.
The most important thing I learned? How to change the way you talk to yourself.
Here are a few of Andersen’s examples, which align with her “ANEW” framework for learning.
While I’ve posted about these ideas before, the book came out this week, and I was able to delve deeper into specific tactics and actions.
Aspiration. Instead of “I don’t need to learn this,” say “What would my future look like if I did?”
Neutral self-awareness. Rather than “I’m already fine at this,” ask “Am I really? How do I compare with my peers?”
Endless curiosity. Move from “This is boring,” to “I wonder why others find it interesting?”
Willingness to be bad first. Shift from “I’m terrible at this” to “I’m making beginner mistakes but I’ll get better.”
As I read Andersen’s book in a single evening this week (it was hard to put down), I realized how the things I say to myself can either accelerate my learning or stop it in its tracks.
Her suggested questions are things we’d say to a beloved child, a best friend or a valued colleague. Why wouldn’t we encourage ourselves in the same way?
Because the stakes are high in our rapidly changing world. Learning how to learn throughout our lives is the most important thing each of us can do.
Michelangelo said it best in the quote Andersen selected to close her book:
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”
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