Month: October 2014

I’m a hugger.
There’s nothing that relaxes me
more quickly
than hugging a loved one.

It turns out
hugging is an effective stress reliever.

In September’s
Men’s Health,
Amit Sood, M.D.
shares

“You’ll get the same relaxation
from five minutes
of greeting your family
as you would from two hours of TV.”

This relaxation flows
both ways.
You become more relaxed.
Your loved one becomes more relaxed.

Instead of grabbing that remote
at the end of a stressful day,
hug your spouse, your children, your pets.

Recently, I was brainstorming ideas
for new outlets for my writing.
I talked to fellow romance writers.
They told me to self-publish
or to submit to different publishers,
the same answers
I’d also give.

I then talked to creative folks
in different industries.
They suggested newsletter serials,
romance apps and games,
ideas for using my blog.
These ideas were fresh, exciting, different.

In April’s
Men’s Health,
Alaina G. Levine,
president of Quantum Success Solutions,
suggests asking someone outside your field.
“Think: ‘If I didn’t have X skill or Y experience,
how would this problem look?'”

If you want truly different ideas,
ask truly different people.
Talk to people outside
your industry.

I have multiple print calendars.
On these calendars,
I break down huge tasks
into smaller daily tasks.
If I have a book release in December,
I’ll write a guest blog post
every day
up to that date.

This does a number of things.
It makes big tasks doable.
It focuses me on the future.
It ensures
that even if my life falls apart,
something will be done.

In April’s
Men’s Health,
salesman
David Johnson
shares

“Break large, long-term goals
into small weekly tasks.
If your boss rewards creativity,
send in 15 ideas
every Wednesday.

If you’re always looking
to next week,
you’ll have constant forward momentum.”

Do something today
that will benefit your future.

Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg
shares

“Google[x] has a simple Venn diagram
that it uses to determine
if it will pursue an idea.

First, the idea has to be something
that addresses a big challenge
or opportunity,
something that affects
hundreds of millions or
billions of people.

Second, they have to have
an idea for a solution
that is radically different
from anything currently in the market.
We aren’t trying to improve on
an existing way of doing something,
rather we want to start over.

And third, the breakthrough technologies
that could bring that radical solution to life
have to be at least feasible,
and achievable
in the not-too-distant future.”

You’re not Google.
You might not need billions
of possible prospects.
You might be looking at
manufacturing capabilities
instead of breakthrough technologies.

But you would benefit
from having a Venn diagram
for your new ideas.

“And what is a possible solution?”
This is the question
one of my former V-Ps
would ask
every time a problem
was presented to him.

Of course, he knew
possible solutions.
That wasn’t the purpose
of the question.
The purpose was
to align problems with solutions,
to make us automatically
think of solutions
when we are presented
with problems.

One of the upsides of this policy was
it created a new idea friendly environment.
Yes, we would still see
the problems any new idea has
but, by proposing a solution
when pointing out the problem,
the originator of the new idea
felt supported,
not attacked.

Nilofer Merchant
shares

“Explaining why you have doubts
about an idea
lets everyone understand
if they have different working assumptions.
And proposing a solution
helps advance the idea.”

When pointing out a problem,
ALWAYS suggest a possible solution
(even if this solution isn’t ideal).

When I see something is wrong
and I find myself
not saying anything,
I know it is time
to leave an organization.

I’m being paid for leadership.
Speaking up is part of leadership.

Peter Bregman
shares

“Courage underlies all smart risk taking.
And no company can grow
without leaders who are willing
to take risks.
If we don’t speak the truth
about what we see
and what we think,
then it’s unlikely that
we’ll take the smart risks
necessary to lead.

So, yes, it’s a major issue
if direct reports to the CEO
aren’t willing to say
what they really think.
In fact, I’d say that there’s little value
to having senior leaders
in an organization
who don’t speak their minds.”

If you’re not speaking up,
you’re not leading.

When I write a story,
I usually have a target reader
in mind.

For example:
the average woman in the US
has dark hair.
My heroines usually have dark hair.

This may seem to be a small detail
but small details make a difference.
My readers feel like I’m writing about them,
that I know who they are.

Alexa von Tobel,
founder & CEO of
LearnVest
shares

“At the end of the day,
your customer is all that matters.
How does your product
make that person’s life easier?
Better?
More efficient?
Figure out what’s important
to your user
by understanding
whom you’re targeting—
be it kids, young women
or middle-aged men.
And keep that muse—
the individual who defines
your customer—
in mind at all times
when making critical decisions.”

Know your target customer
and keep her/him in mind
when designing products.