Friday Productivity Tip — Get Some Silence

Filed Under Business Life, Idea Bank, Outside the Box, Productivity, Successful Blog, ZZZ-FUN | 15 Comments

Quiet the Chatter

Today when you’re trying to get that last minute work done, and someone comes in to “shoot the breeze,” “talk your leg off,” “chatter like chimp,” or be a “bird in a box.” You might try this.

Look up from what you are working.
Slowly glance left and right, as if to be sure no one is watching you.
Quietly invite your visitor to come close to view your computer screen.
Then click this link and say, “Isn’t this the coolest thing you’ve ever seen?”

Then just stay silent and stare at the screen. As a bigger treat, you might offer your headphones so that your guest might listen even more silently.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Friday Productivity: The Monkey Rule
Perfect for Friday Productivity Checklist

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Friday Productivity: The Monkey Rule

Filed Under Branding, Business Life, Productivity, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 21 Comments

Not Just for Fridays

Problems don’t only happen on Fridays. It only seems like more of them do. That’s probably because what we’re looking for is a clean desk and a walk out to the weekend.

Instead what often happens is that folks stop by to hand us an issue that “just can’t wait,” and suddenly a Friday seems like it is piling higher and higher in front of that door that says ESCAPE.

Here ’s a rule I use to keep control of my Fridays, Thursdays, Wednesdays — actually every day — come to think of it. Read more

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Ideas in Your Refrigerator

Filed Under Branding, Customer Think, Idea Bank, Marketing, Motivation/Inspiration, Outside the Box, Productivity, Successful Blog, Writing | 10 Comments

You Know You’re Procrastinating When . . .

. . . cleaning the refrigerator takes on a new and miraculous sense of urgency with a heavenly glow.

Go ahead give in and do it, but don’t lose to procrastination. Turn that refrigerator chore into an exploration for ideas. Here are three things you might think about.

What is your customer experience of the products that you are tossing out? Can you use those experiences to seed an article for your blog?
Refrigerators are filled with products. How do the companies who make those products promote them? Can you twist any of their ideas into ways to promote your business or your blog?
Is there a brand in there you are attached to? What do you value about that brand? Can you put your feelings into words? How can you use that brand value you feel to strengthen your personal brand and the brand experience people have when they meet you?

Procrastination just became an idea session, and on top of that you’ve cleaned your refrigerator! That’s productivity where you could have been doing what I’ve done — standing in front of an open refrigerator door thinking about how the light goes on and off.

Bet you can think of more ideas to find inside of that Big Box. How about sharing some with us?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
Donâ€™t Fear the Blank Screen â€” Be a Miner
Exploring for Ideas at Technorati
Eye-Deas 1: Have You Started Seeing Things?
More ideas in the Idea Bank category and in Writing Power, Thinking Outside the Box, Customer Think, and Brand You Series on the SUCCESSFUL SERIES PAGE

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Don’t Let Burn Out Singe Your Brand

Filed Under Business Life, Motivation/Inspiration, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 1 Comment

Pulled Wire Thin

Recently I shared emails with SOB Dr. Deborah Serani about blogging, brands, and work stress in general. I asked her whether she had information regarding stress and burnout and within seconds I had an article in my gmail inbox. Now there’s a doctor who doesn’t make you wait!

I know it happened to me on my last major project. Timelines were tighter than humanly possible. Work piles were taller than the people working on them. Personalities were pulled wire thin. Everyone’s personal brand was summed up in “When will this be done?”

We Didn’t Know We Were Burned Out

Burn out was a serious problem–folks were working nights and weekends. They were coming in early and leaving late. Getting help wasn’t an option. This was intellectual property, by the time we caught someone up to speed the project would be done.

The worst part was we didn’t know that we were burned out.

Burn Out Is Serious

Burnout is a serious problem. It can tear down all you’ve done to build a reputation–your personal brand. It can cause folks to lose trust in who you are. It takes your confidence. It can steal your job.

Dr. Deborah Serani has a simple way for you to tell if you’re stressed and burning out and offers some things you can do about it if you are. Click the screenshot you’re worth it. We need you and your brand, thinking outside of the box.

Burnout Article Dr. Deborah Serani Screenshot

Thanks, Deb. It’s great to have a Dr. on our side.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Have Failure of the Imagination

Filed Under Branding, Outside the Box, Productivity, Strategy, Successful Blog, Writing | 4 Comments

Plan B No–Fail Fast and Move On

The meeting had just started. We were talking to the company’s major owner-partner. We had laid out the framework of how we would turn the company around. The partner turned to the company president and said, “And do you have a Plan B, in case this doesn’t work?”

I said, “If you don’t mind . . . ” and asked if I might edit his question. We knew each other well, and so he said, “Sure.”

My new version was, “Is the plan flexible enough that if you find one or more parts not working, you can adjust your plan and keep moving forward?”

. . .

After the meeting, the owner-partner queried what my thinking was in editing his question. I said that it was two-fold: that how he thought affected our thinking and that to talk of Plan Bs at that juncture was to give permission to fail at Plan A before we’d even tried to make it work.

I really don’t like assumptions that Plan A has a chance of failing. I really don’t like Plan Bs for that reason. I don’t mind failures. I like to see them coming, fail fast, and move on.

Failure of Imagination

I actually seek out failures of imagination. I have them on purpose often. This is not a literal “my imagination does not work” kind of thing. It is my imagination conjuring all kinds of failure situations.

I use imagined failures to get ideas for writing and for all kinds of problem solving. Here are a variety of situatons and ways you might use failures of imagination to bring you to a stronger outcome.

Getting Ideas for Writing

Ask questions such as these.

Personal Failures as Ideas

Questioning Other Folks’ Possible Failures
Why is this person not qualified to teach, say, or do this?
What would happen if I actually tried this?
Where’s the flaw in this argument?
What information is missing from this report?
What failures are in the famous person’s past?
How many failures preceeded this invention?
How long before this gadget breaks down?

Designing a Process

Ask questions such as these.

On an Interview or With a Client

Ask questions such as these.

On Your Brand Identity

Ask questions such as these.

On Promoting Your Blog

Ask questions such as these.

Positive Negatives

No need to jump to the negatives. Instead, use them to keep your life positive. The trick is not to focus on the unproductive, but to seek out unwanted outcomes to find fun, positive ways to avoid them. Think of imagining failures as building a safety net for the tight rope walk that is your brand and your business.

Having a failure of imagination can be a fantastic resource for protecting your business. It’s so much more fun than working out a Plan B that, if you think about it, could easily have the same failure opportunities as Plan A does.

Can you have a failure of imagination? Are you positive or negative?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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