- Leave your desk at lunch:
The same point I just made in #1 is doubly true for creativity. Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of having some of your greatest ideas while in the shower? Do you think you are alone in that? You’re not. When you “free yourself up” as you do in the shower or while taking a break from your work, your brain is suddenly “free” to consider new, fresh ideas that can potentially solve the problems that were plaguing you while you were so vigorously pondering the issue. Letting your mind wander a bit over lunch can lead to new ideas and new inspiration.
- Time Assets vs. Time Debts
Good post on managing your time and identifying things that drag us down from being productive.
http://jamesclear.com/time-assets - 6 questions to ask to learn about a company’s culture:
Maybe your interviewer will mention off-site brainstorming meetings, clubs meant to help develop employees’ skills or even the company softball team. “But if they skirt this question, that tells you a lot about their culture… or lack thereof,” Cochran says.
http://lifehacker.com/six-questions-you-should-ask-to-learn-about-a-companys-1658633604
- Don’t just invent something, fix a problem:
http://99u.com/workbook/34987/dont-just-invent-something-fix-something - As we try to develop better relationships with our customers, I like this pamphlet approach for the upper levels:
http://www.seanogle.com/entrepreneurship/pamphlet-principle - Allow people choices when creating change:
Allow People Decisions. Change cannot happen to people. It needs to happen with people. Change must be co-created. Everyone should have some say in how the change is implemented. It is their job and their life. Let them have an element of control. If you keep lines of communication open for suggestions, you will hear lots of good ideas from the people who need to make the change happen. Use those ideas because it will build more engagement in the process. Create the change together.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141030174822-11290604-3-ways-to-motivate-change
PS: On in the case with my son, provide the perception of choice… - Warren Buffet on Goals: (If it isn’t the most important, avoid at all costs)
But the story nevertheless resonates because it promotes a truth that I think is vital to remember in our current networked age: spending time on lower priority goals, even though they’re helpful and generate value, can leave you worse off than if you had avoided them all together.