Quiddity Higher Purpose Business, help for entrepreneurs, women in business, David Solomon

What will you be doing over Easter?

It’s nearly Easter and time to unwind a bit after a busy first quarter.

Will you be taking time off or taking advantage of the quiet time to get some creative work done?

Me? I’m going to schedule time for both (as if you couldn’t guess that). 

Maybe you can watch some of those favorite TV shows or movies you’ve recorded but just never gotten to.

I’m quite happy to admit to being a Whovian - a Doctor Who fan. It may surprise you but the Doctor has been around for 47 years! No time to watch a marathon of Doctor Who over Easter, but if you have just 6 minutes you could go here:

http://youtu.be/szHO-wEmvio

Enjoy…

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’…into the future

Recently I sent out an email asking people what their top business issues are. I got quite a variety of responses but one issue kept coming up consistently – How can I get more time to do all the things I need to do?

I wish I had the answer to that one!

Well actually I do…sort of.

At first I was tempted to start a discourse about the nature of time, reality, consciousness and “the matrix” – but although fascinating and worthy of discussion – it is a bit beyond the scope of this quick newsletter.

Instead I decided to give you some “instant pudding” - something that you can use straight away. It is the best (ever) tool I have found to focus your thinking and actions, so that you are getting the best results in line with your vision and with the time you have available.

I have searched for years and never found more than 168 hours in a week.

Time can’t be accumulated. You can’t turn it on or off. It can’t be replaced. It has to be spent at the rate of sixty seconds every minute.

Furthermore, in business today we are expected to produce more with less - better services, quicker response times, more products to market, increased sales, and better value for money. Managers and leaders in particular, are expected not just to plan and prioritise their own work but to be responsible for what their team do.

And then there is the Catch 22 –

“The harder (or more) I work, the more money I make.

And the more money I make, the less time I have to enjoy it.”

This is the world that we live in today. The only way out of this loop is to stop being busy and start being productive. And there is a lot that can be done in regard to how we handle the challenges of our time challenged life.

In about 1986 I read a book by Alan Lakein called How to Manage Your Time and Your Life. Why can I remember this so clearly? Because it was from this book that I learned the best time management / time allocation tool I had ever seen – bar none.

Lakein suggested that you should always ask yourself 2 questions:

What is the best use of my time right now?

Is this contributing to my progress?

This literally became my mantra and allowed me to always be working on my highest priorities. In fact, I had them written in every day of my diary (I used paper back then!) so I saw them possibly a hundred times a day. As a result I became incredibly productive and achieved a great deal.

Over time, as my vision has become broader and more holistic, I have added some key additional questions:

What is the one key thing I will complete today that will move my world forward?

If this is the ONLY thing I get done today, will that make me happy?

Is this serving my highest values?

Is this contributing to my higher purpose?

Am I doing what I want to do, or am I just being busy?

Am I avoiding what I know is important by creating new stuff to do?

These questions have taken me about 20 years to learn (I know, I know - I’m a slow learner!). But, now I use them all day, every day. They are programmed into my phone to remind me (hourly). They are printed out on a sign right above my  computer screen.

As a result, I now focus on the things that are meaningful to me and uplift me, rather than responding to other people’s agendas. In other words, I am spending my time the way I want to.

I know this strategy sounds almost too simple, but why not try it for just one week and see how you go?

What would you rather be doing? Make a conscious choice now…

What Has My Biggest Lesson Been?

When I first pondered this question I thought “How can I possibly choose just one lesson from the thousands of major mistakes from which I’ve learned?” But then the answer became very clear very quickly – there is one which stands above all the others. And interestingly, it is the same lesson for both my personal and business life.

Life today is all about speed and fast action. The rate of change continues to accelerate, so we have to think, move and act faster and faster. But there are some things I have found it is much more appropriate to slow down.

The biggest mistakes I have made have been when I have not taken enough time to establish a trusting relationship before making a further “investment”. And the times I have taken the time, I have gotten it right.

Often when we meet a person for the first time we can be inspired (business) or infatuated (personal) and this can lead us to rush into an over-commitment. The ultimate result is very often a fizzle and/or no productivity.

From my experience, when I have taken the time to develop trust and loyalty before going for the “payoff” i.e. by building a substantive relationship, this has provided a very solid foundation for the future. And the productivity in the relationship follows.

Think of it like a courtship or an engagement. Sometimes it can happen in 5 minutes and sometimes it takes years. But the key lesson is that building the relationship first is the most important – whether it be with a life partner or a business partner.

People do business with each other when they like and trust each other.

The 2 Hour Work Week

Ask yourself if you had a heart attack and could only work 2 hours a day and needed to make at least the same amount of profit monthly, what would you do?

 If you had a second heart attack and could work only 2 hours per week what would you do then?

There are 3 principal ways you can “create” time:

1)    Get someone to do it for you.
2)    Still do it, but do it as efficiently as possible via technology, systems etc.
3)    Don’t do it at all.

As regards getting someone to do it for you – you shouldn’t be afraid to trade money for time. There are times when it makes more sense to spend money than to do it yourself. Here are three instances:

1)    When you can use your time more profitably. Does it make sense to turn down work paying $300 an hour so you can do something you could hire someone for $30 an hour to do?
2)    When your cost in actual dollars may be less by outsourcing e.g. buying the equipment to print your own manuals versus having it done by a print shop that already has the equipment.
3)    When hiring someone will get better results than if you do it yourself.

And as a bonus, you will probably also find that when you take away some of the tasks that make you less productive, you will enjoy your work even more.

Using technology, systems etc. to become more efficient is really a “no-brainer”. But don’t overlook the idea of not doing something at all. Remember that 80% of your results comes from 20% of the input. So some of that other 80% of input may not be worth doing at all!

The Six P’s

My first exposure to the Six P’s was when I undertook basic training in the Army. It was drilled into us that “Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Poor Performance”. (Actually I have sanitised that just a bit :).

Being a somewhat optimistic and positive thinking person, I later converted the Six P’s to be “Prior Preparation and Planning Promotes Positive Performance”.

So what’s the point of telling you about this?

Well, we just moved house, and with a family of 5 (all of whom who are hoarders), this was no small undertaking! I wouldn’t say that it was executed with the precision of a military manoeuvre, but without the Six P’s we would have been in big trouble.

And that got me thinking about how it relates to business…

I’m not sure how much of this was propaganda, but I remember being taught in my early business studies about the basic difference between post World War II Japanese and Western manufacturing.

The Japanese would start by planning extensively – for up to 80% of the time available for the project – and then execute - just once - to a very high standard, if not perfectly.

On the other hand, the Western managers would certainly plan – but for much less time (say 20%) – and then execute the plan. And then adjust and re-execute to fix up all the errors.

Cirque du Soleil shows are another interesting example of effectiveness of the Six P’s.

A Cirque show will start with experts (performers, production etc) and even then, still take anywhere from 2 to 4 years to prepare! The artists all undergo artistic and acrobatic training at the Creation Studio where they around twenty trainers from around the world to supervise performer-training programs.

Kà, which opened at the MGM Grand in late 2004 - an extravaganza complete with giant puppets, archers shooting flaming arrows, and the “Wheel of Death” - cost $165 million to stage and was 4 years in the making.

O, a theatre based show performed in the water, took more than 400,000 man-hours of preproduction and production work to prepare, not counting the time spent on the construction of the theatre (and another US$100 million).

My own experiences with performance are similar – years of scales and lessons to get my voice ready, followed by practicing each song literally hundreds of times, before I was ready to perform live on stage or to record.

The Six P’s make it all look effortless, but only if you’ve done the work beforehand.

The same applies to just about any discipline you can name.

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bing Crosby all made singing look effortless. So did Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly when it came to dance.

How easy did Johnny Wilkinson and Andrew Mehrtens make it look to kick a rugby ball accurately? Or these players when they hit a tennis ball? Court, Navratilova, Evert, Goolagong, King and Graf.

My friend Robyn is the fastest typist I have ever seen. She was last measured at over 150 WPM!

Whether you are an accountant who can look at the numbers and see things mere mortals cannot, or a business coach / mentor who can spot the real issue - not just the symptoms, or perhaps a counsellor who knows in the moment just the right question to ask, people look at you in awe and ask “How do you do that?”

How? I’d suggest it is the Six P’s at work.

It is conservatively estimated that it takes 10,000 hours to become “expert” in something. This equates to 250 x 40 hour weeks = 5 years full-time.

Becoming an expert in your field (no matter whether it is law, graphic design, dentistry, sales, importing, investment etc.) has become a prerequisite to firstly survive and then flourish.

So if it takes this long, how can we speed up the process of becoming an expert? 5 years is a long time, especially if you are in the early stages of your business.

The secret is the Six P’s – combined with doing work ON the business.

Yes, I know, we’ve all heard it before. But do we do it?

www.quidditybusiness.com.au  

Lessons for business from Hollywood

Making a feature film is an almighty endeavour. Here is a short (and incomplete!) list of the various components that have to be taken into account:

Accounts, Art, Camera, Casting, Catering, Continuity, Construction, Costume, Direction, Distribution, Editing, Exhibition, Financing, Hair & Makeup, Health & Safety, Lighting, Locations, Music, Performing, Post Production, Production, Props, Publicity, Stills, Script, Sound, Transport, etc.

Whew!

So with all this complexity, how does a film get made? Conceptually it’s actually pretty easy…

A production company uses the concept of outsourcing in a very efficient manner.

Specifically, they hire in experts and specialists in their respective fields who contribute their skills to the film - under the direction of a highly skilled project manager (the producer) and a highly creative architect of the vision for the end product (the Director).

Could 1 person make a film? Sure, but it would probably take forever.

In sport, a decathlete is a highly skilled, all-round athlete. But the individual champion in each of the events would beat the decathlete in a 1:1 competition every time.

Why? Because they are better overall athletes?

No – it’s because they are specialists and bring efficiencies to their sport.

It’s just the same with making a film.

And it’s just the same with running a business.

In your business you should be the Producer, and maybe the Director as well. But to also be the Director of Photography, Art Director, Stunt Co-ordinator, Casting
Agent, Sound Director, Make-up Artist and so on is clearly not logical.

It is important to focus on your core competency and your highest value-add to your business.

This is sensible time allocation.

www.quidditybusiness.com.au

How are you spending your time?

Here is the untold secret to time management…

Actually, that’s wrong.

You see, I think the discipline isn’t time “management”, but really time “allocation”.

 How many times have you heard that “time equals money”? A thousand? More?

So if it is true, what are you doing with yours? Are you spending it, or investing it? And how are your time investments working for you?

Are you frustrated because there are “not enough hours in the day”? I certainly am. Groucho Marx wanted a 36-hour day - that way he could work 24 hours, and still get a good night’s sleep. Great idea!

Spending time or investing time is a choice. For instance you could watch TV and read a newspaper about the local news (spending time), or you could read a book and talk to your kids (investing time).

Is this time management? It’s fair to argue that this is time allocation. It’s how you choose to use your time right now - how you are spending or investing your 16-18 hours a day.

Even worse than having only 24 hours in a day are the increasing pressures being placed on the immediacy of your time and for its consumption - time demands that have crept into the fabric of work and daily life such as iPhone / Blackberry / smartphone, email, texting, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube,  Wikipedia, blogs, e-zines etc.

This isn’t necessarily all spent time or wasted time, but it’s worth measuring its value.

Let’s be conservative and say that these things combined take up 2 hours a day. That is 700+ hours a year or 60 x 12 hour days.

So here is the big opportunity - in this allocation or re-allocation of time, it is critical to be sure you are addressing the really important goals, whatever they may be for you.

www.quidditybusiness.com.au

By setting your intentions in advance you get to make more conscious choices

I used to think of intention as just a “big picture” thing. After all, it is your purpose, your life’s direction. Right? For sure!

But I very recently finished a programme of learning with Christine Kane and she suggested that it is very empowering to use intention in everyday situations – not just the big picture stuff. Even for small instances that might seem trivial.

So I have been trying it. Here’s my process:

Before any event or item in my day, I get clear about these 3 things:

1. Who I want to be in the situation

2. How I want to feel

3. My desired internal outcome

Why these things? I mean, they are all internally focussed. Why not visualise the perfect outcome?

Well I do that too. But haven’t you heard before that it’s not your circumstances, but how you respond to them that makes all the difference? Well I’m doing this process to get better control over my responses. And by doing it in advance I can step out of being a “reactor” and become a “creator”.

So here is my new mantra: My intention for this is………..

It’s not a perfect system, but I am feeling much better for making conscious choices about how I want to be.

Maybe it might work for you too?

It might also be worth checking out the Business DNA In-Depth How-To Guide on time management here: http://quidditybusiness.com.au/business-dna-in-depth-guides.html

The BEST EVER focussing questions you will ever ask yourself

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’…into the future 

Recently I sent out an email asking people what their top business issues are. I got quite a variety of responses but one issue kept coming up consistently – How can I get more time to do all the things I need to do?

 I wish I had the answer to that one! 

Well actually I do…sort of.

 At first I was tempted to start a discourse about the nature of time, reality, consciousness and “the matrix” – but although fascinating and worthy of discussion – it is a bit beyond the scope of this quick newsletter.

 Instead I decided to give you some “instant pudding” - something that you can use straight away. It is the best (ever) tool I have found to focus your thinking and actions, so that you are getting the best results in line with your vision and with the time you have available.

 I have searched for years and never found more than 168 hours in a week.

 Time can’t be accumulated. You can’t turn it on or off. It can’t be replaced. It has to be spent at the rate of sixty seconds every minute.

 Furthermore, in business today we are expected to produce more with less - better services, quicker response times, more products to market, increased sales, and better value for money. Managers and leaders in particular, are expected not just to plan and prioritise their own work but to be responsible for what their team do.

 And then there is the Catch 22 –

“The harder (or more) I work, the more money I make.

 And the more money I make, the less time I have to enjoy it.”

This is the world that we live in today. The only way out of this loop is to stop being busy and start being productive. And there is a lot that can be done in regard to how we handle the challenges of our time challenged life.

In about 1986 I read a book by Alan Lakein called How to Manage Your Time and Your Life. Why can I remember this so clearly? Because it was from this book that I learned the best time management / time allocation tool I had ever seen – bar none.

Lakein suggested that you should always ask yourself 2 questions:

What is the best use of my time right now?

Is this contributing to my progress?

This literally became my mantra and allowed me to always be working on my highest priorities. In fact, I had them written in every day of my diary (I used paper back then!) so I saw them possibly a hundred times a day. As a result I became incredibly productive and achieved a great deal.

 Over time, as my vision has become broader and more holistic, I have added some key additional questions:

What is the one key thing I will complete today that will move my world forward?

If this is the ONLY thing I get done today, will that make me happy?

Is this serving my highest values?

Is this contributing to my higher purpose?

Am I doing what I want to do, or am I just being busy?

Am I avoiding what I know is important by creating new stuff to do?

These questions have taken me about 20 years to learn (I know, I know - I’m a slow learner!). But, now I use them all day, every day. They are programmed into my phone to remind me (hourly). They are printed out on a sign right above my computer screen.

As a result, I now focus on the things that are meaningful to me and uplift me, rather than responding to other people’s agendas. In other words, I am spending my time the way I want to.

 I know this strategy sounds almost too simple, but why not try it for just one week and see how you go?

 What would you rather be doing? Make a conscious choice now…

By the way, did you recognize the line at the top of this post? It’s from the song “Fly Like An Eagle” by Steve Miller and the Steve Miller Band (1976).  You can check it out here – be warned though – it’s hard to get the song out of your head!

If you like these questions it might also be worth checking out the Business DNA In-Depth How-To Guide on time management here: http://quidditybusiness.com.au/business-dna-in-depth-guides.html

I’m having a “love-hate” relationship with my mind

I love my capacity to think, to process complex concepts, to solve problems.

And I am building a business.

WHACK!      (That’s the sound of a 4 x 2 block of wood hitting me across the back of the head)

Yesterday I met a guy who has essentially the same business building tools as me but in 5 months has done a LOT more with them. Why? The main difference is that his total attitude is “GET IT DONE”.

Hey, it’s not that I am a procrastinator or have “paralysis by analysis”, but his sense of urgency puts me in the shade.

He hasn’t just taken action, he has taken massive action.

Yes, I have taken a lot of action, but I have also thought about it a heck of a lot.

It instantly reminded me of a book written by Michael Masterton called Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat.

Michael Masterson has built several dozen companies, all of which are very successful. His first company didn’t do that well, and from there he also learnt what not to do. He says that anybody and everybody in a new company should be spending 80% of their time on selling. However, most entrepreneurs do the opposite of spending 80% of their time on selling. If you’re not doing it, you’re wasting time, energy, effort and resources because that’s what it takes to create a successful company.

He says that it doesn’t matter what sort of expertise you bring into a new venture - whether you are a numbers person, a people person, or a systems person - to be truly effective in a startup you must become your business’ first and foremost expert at selling. And there is only one way to do this: invest more of your time, attention and energy into the selling process. The ratio of time, creativity, and money spent on selling as opposed to other aspects of business should be something like 80/20.

Michael Masterson says it very clearly: if you’re not even selling it yet – don’t think about making it better! Think about how to sell more of it.

As a perfectionist, I know how it feels to have 10 ideas to make something better even before it’s released to the market, but (DOH!) sometimes you have to realise that it’s the last thing you should be doing. It’s not about making something better, but about selling something, selling a lot more of it, making the sales process better, and then improving it based on what your customers say.

So what am I going to DO about it?

Ready. Fire. Aim.

Time management or time allocation? How to get in “the flow”.

An acquaintance of mine called me to account the other day for not blogging for a while. He’s right of course, but I have been writing, just not the blog. Which all begs the question, “How important is it to blog?”

Well I think it is vital and I’m a bit embarrassed not to have put my fingers on the keyboard in this format for a while. However, it really is a matter of focus and priority. And that is why I have been silent.

We all have too much to do and there are never enough hours in the day. As a result it is easy to stress yourself out and feel major guilt. But to what purpose?

In about 1986 I read a book by Alan Lakein called How to Manage Your Time and Your Life. Why can I remember this so clearly? Because it was from this book that I learned the best time management / time allocation tool I have ever seen – bar none.

Lakein suggested that you should always ask yourself 2 questions:

What is the best use of my time right now?

Is this contributing to my progress?

This literally became my mantra and allowed me to always be working on my highest priorities. In fact, I had them written in every day of my diary so I saw them possibly a hundred times a day. As a result I became incredibly productive and achieved a great deal.

Over time, as my vision has become broader and more holistic, I have added an additional 3 questions of my own:

What is the one key thing I will complete today that will move my world forward?

Is this serving my highest values?

Is this contributing to my higher purpose?

I know this “time management” strategy sounds almost too simple, but from my experience, it really works.

So over the Christmas break I sat down and wrote a very long To Do List. I then set some priorities and ranked everything on the list 1, 2, 3, etc.  Then I started working on the No.1 priorities and left all the other priorities alone. (OK, I cheated a bit because I looked at them occasionally, but I didn’t do any work on them!)

The result? I became very focused and very productive. Now I’m through the No.1’s and have started on the No.2’s.

And yes, blogging is now one of my priorities :)