Time After Time

Bad habits can creep up on us, diminishing our success a small step at a time.

Like death by a thousand paper cuts.

Luckily, this dynamic also works in reverse.

One small step at a time, time after time, you can replace an ineffective habit with a better one.

Aristotle said it memorably:

"We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act,
but a habit."

To create that better habit:

Pick the change to focus on now.
Define a simple change. What would create a good ripple effect - or be the most fun to achieve?

Identify the before, the after and the why.
Write down the behavior you want to stop, the behavior you want to put in its place, and what will occur when you do. Create a clear picture of each.

Define the win.
What will you count to know when, or how well, you've ingrained the replacement behavior? How and when will you reward your success?

Put your supports in place.
These can include: physical reminders, a tool for tracking progress, someone who'll hold you accountable, something to say to yourself each time you succeed.

Take one step.
Chart your progress. Recognize what helped, what didn't, why it's worth continuing. Take one more step. Repeat.

Overlooked Excellence

If you're a sophisticated and seasoned professional

using world class tools,
with access to a large, diverse audience,
and ample time to demonstrate your capabilities ...

will your talents be appreciated?

Consider Joshua Bell's experience.

One of the world's greatest musicians, he's played before crowned heads of state and commands rates running around $1,000 a minute.

On one of the most valuable violins ever made,

he performed several difficult, elegant pieces
at a busy metro stop as 1,097 people walk by -
for 43 minutes.

The audience response was recorded by a hidden camera. Was there a problem with crowd control? Not exactly.

Six minutes passed before anyone stopped to listen.
Only seven people stopped and paid attention for a minute or more.
Twenty-seven gave donations, totaling almost $33.

98% of the people bypassed world class talent directly in their path.

This experiment reinforced several leadership lessons:

Strengths that are not marketed well will go unnoticed.

Capability isn't enough. You need to ensure that your strengths are recognized. One passerby had seen him in concert - she stopped to listen, thanked him, and left the largest donation.

Context matters.

If he'd been playing at a concert hall, his audience may have listened more appreciatively. Context determines relevance.

Time constraints limit our ability to recognize unexpected pockets of excellence.

If 1,000+ people were too intent on their destination to acknowledge the virtuoso before them, what else isn't registering? Allow yourself to stop and smell the roses, hear the music and make the most of what's right in front of you.

Anchor and Twist

The next time you have a something new to introduce, try using an "anchor and twist" approach.

Dan Heath discussed this approach in a Fast Company article on introducing innovations.

In a nutshell, you
• anchor your idea to something that is known and accepted
• and then provide the twist that makes it exciting and new.

So,
• TiVo works like a VCR (anchor) with TV shows (twist).
• Spyder is like Speedo (anchor) for skiers (twist).
• Sermo is a FaceBook (anchor) for doctors (twist)
• and Fluevog uses open-source (anchor) marketing (twist).

This strategy builds receptivity by meeting listeners where they are before taking them where you want to go; prompting an immediate positive association; and explaining the idea quickly enough to keep it exciting.

Be Brief, Be Bright, Be Gone

"Be brief, be bright, be gone" is an astute rule of thumb for business presentations - and for breathing new life into standing meetings.

Be Brief

• Start by checking that everyone understands what needs to occur for this meeting to be a success: the required meeting outcomes.
• Eliminate any non-essential agenda items. Each remaining item should be critical to achieving the meeting outcomes.

Be Bright

• Ask if everyone attending has a contribution to make that will have a clear impact on the meeting outcomes.
• During discussions, press for information that is new and relevant. Point out high impact contributions.
• Keep discussions focused on reaching the meeting outcomes.

Be Gone

• Summarize conclusions and outcomes at the end of the meeting.
• Define next steps clearly.
• End early or on time.

Fresh Ideas

We've been dealing with sobering realities. Time and budgets are tight, but there's more to do than ever. We're working harder and smarter, knowing that change presents opportunities.

Tough times call for creative minds, so I conducted an experiment.

The setting: I invited a cross section of business leaders, creative professionals and entrepreneurs to participate in a prototyping process.

The focus: creating a resource for keeping our thinking fresh and flexible, in the moment and over time. A way to add some creative zest to our work.

The response: smart, talented colleagues and clients from fields including innovation, organizational development, sales and marketing, communications, executive administration and entrepreneurship worked with me to shape the focus, content and presentation of a new resource.

The outcome: Fresh Ideas. Fresh Ideas is a creative catalyst that is

Sustained: Every two weeks, for either six or twelve months, you receive an e-mailed issue describing a specific creative thinking strategy, examples of how it's been used, and ways to apply it yourself.

Informative: The strategies and examples within Fresh Ideas are drawn from past and current literature on creativity, leadership and innovation. The topics are purposefully eclectic, providing a diverse range of starting points.

Actionable: Each issue runs about 500 words, making it easy to absorb and apply quickly. Receiving content in small bites helps you build a habit of thinking more creatively; week after week, application after application, insight after insight.

Engaging: You can learn from others' experiences, and reinforce your own success, by joining the conversation at the Fresh Ideas: What Works blog.

Come take a look. You can preview and work with a few free issues of Fresh Ideas by clicking here.