Problem maker or process improver

You can keep creating and fixing messy problems … or … focus on making better progress through improving processes. 

It’s costly when there’s no process, a process wasn’t followed or human error could have been easily picked up. 

The pursuit of improvement is a wise investment. 

But… *gulp* it can take a shift in your attitude and culture to be willing to learn and to receive feedback. 

No customer or client wants their experience to be flawed, delayed or full of problems. 

But if your business is a problem maker then you might be waiting for customers to alert you to problems. 

Not good PR. 

Better to be a process improver - making systems and processes work better. Then there’s less chance of things going wrong anyway. 😊

Try ‘Kaizen’, meaning ‘improvement’ in Japanese. It’s a truly brilliant philosophy and way of working for better progress … and customer experience. 

Read more in this Fast Company article by Molly Shea Shine. 

“Put simply, it’s the practice of thinking about what you’re doing, looking for ways to improve it, making those changes, then continuing to act upon them.”

Improvement. It’s is a much more worthy pursuit than having to make apologies for messing up. 

Do this simple thing to make your brain work better

For all the hours we’re intensely focusing, working, pushing for deadlines and trying to be productive, there are times when we need something … softer. 

How about this : do you like the idea of ‘soft fascination’?

It sounds a little dreamy, a little curious, and as it turns out, highly recharging and refreshing. 

Overworking our attention wears it out. There isn’t a never ending supply. We have to recharge. Frequently. 

Some of the research suggests that we have about 4 hours of sustained effort in us before we need a recharge. 

So when you do recharge, try some ‘soft fascination’. It’s where we let our eyes relax, drift and go here and there. 

It’s different to sustained focus. And different to white wall boredom. 

Nature is the best place for us to enjoy in this activity of soft fascination. 

You don’t even have to go into nature for it to work. Looking out the window at nature will do. 

I love getting into nature whenever I can for this exact purpose. Walks. Beaches. Sunsets. Trees. Flowers. Weather. 

It’s all a vital part of helping make our brains work better.

Read more about it in this article in Inc. Magazine by Jessica Stillman.

The truth about feeling bored

I remember as a child I’d call out to my mum, Shirl, and say ‘I’m bored!’ She’d give me a sweet list of things I could do to occupy myself, entertain myself and stimulate my mind.

But here, author Pietro Minto, in his Italian book ‘How to get bored better’ reveals some interesting thoughts, claims and insights about our boredom. 

Apparently we have a warped notion of time and time management ... and the pandemic has exacerbated the warp. 

In this great interview with Minto, we get new perspectives on what we do when we’re bored and how we’re spending a lot of time on things that may not matter so much. 

Oooh that’s a big call isn’t it. 

Aren’t we all so busy? 

This quote: “It’s irrelevant how many stimuli we have – the core of the issue is about how little we are conscious of how we use our time, be it free time or otherwise.”

He says that boredom has carried negative connotations but instead, “it’s a plot of land no one has built on yet.” 

Bookmark this one to read maybe when you’re bored! 🤣

It’s a great prompter of thought about what we do, why we do it and how else we might spend our precious time. 

Why every leader should take an improv class

Have you? If that’s a no, put it on your development list, right near the top. 

And if you have, you know what I’m talking about. 

In this crazy world of change, no one teaches better, trains better or helps us deal like an improv class. 

The performers who make stuff up on TV and theatres the world over, moved things online during the pandemic, and they adapted nicely! 

Here are five reasons why taking improv has got to be on your list for either an in-person class or an online one. Or a bit of both! 

1. You’re constantly thinking on your feet 
2. Communication is essential 
3. Your nerves get tested
4. You fail a lot (I think this one, this one is what makes us more willing to experiment, try and have a go)
5. Growth becomes a mindset. 

Read more in this article in Inc. Magazine by Jason Hennessey 

And then sign up at your local improv troupe, group or club. 

In Melbourne, that’s the wonderful Impro Melbourne and a big shout out to the wonderful people, teachers, performers and players like
Jason Geary
Patti Stiles 
Lliam Amor
Rik Brown 
Katherine Weaver 
Jenny Lovell 

In Perth, check out Glenn Hall !

Improv is where the great lessons, techniques and mantras like ‘yes and’ come from! 

There’s plenty more to be had. As soon as you can, do it. Ready?

Weapons in the battle of distraction

Imagine wearing a huge motorcycle helmet that blocks the ‘out there’ and let’s you focus on the ‘in here’. 

It has a screen, noise cancelling everything and lets you get on with it, minus distractions. 

This seemingly crazy idea from 2017 was earlier considered by SciFi Pioneer Hugo Gernsback in the 1920s.

‘The Isolator’ as it was called earlier, was designed to block out the distractions that are all too familiar to us. 

But distraction isn’t new and even medieval monks complained that they were distracted and ‘rendered unproductive’. 

Expecting to be able to work or focus undistracted for hours on end is too high a standard to reach for. 

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, there is always distraction available. 

Our own minds (thinking) and our own interruptions (oh look, kitty wants to play) are contributors to what frustrates our expectation for endless focus. 

The most successful modern anti-distraction tool is ‘the timebox’ or Pomodoro. Set a timer and focus until it goes off. 

25, 30, 45, 50 minutes

Try it. I’ll wait here for you.

❓What tools or techniques do you use?