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  • Getting Focused 02

    October 12, 2007

    A few days ago I was feeling grouchy about not being that productive, and wrote about two personal quirks that may have something to do with it:

    • I have a high activation threshold for starting tasks. That is, it takes quite a lot of energy to actually get my butt moving. I seem to have the expectation that anything I do must meet a minimum level of return approaching 2x. I think of this as the two-fer (as in “two fer one”); if I can think of two or more things that will happen as the result of my action, I’m more likely to do it. The other form of activation energy comes from people; if I’m working with a good partner or working to a deadline for someone else, that gives me the energy to continuously create.

    • I am very impatient when it comes to waiting for results. I like to see results right away. If I can’t see results, I want to at least see something happening that is immediately useful to me. For many drawn out technical projects, I need to ensure that I have the necessary incoming people energy to stay motivated. I need to see things happening, or I lose interest.

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    p>So here’s the theory: for me to get focused, I need to take those two traits—high activation threshold and impatience—into account. To deal with my high activation threshold, I need to have people to work with and choose interesting projects with multiple applications.

    Unfortunately, the work I have to do right now (which includes such exciting things like paying bills and cleaning my bedroom) have no such payoff implicit in them. There are ways around this, of course. I could make a game out of it. I could promise someone I’ll do them. Or I could actually figure out what focus is and do that.

    How does one focus, anyway?

    It occurs to me that while I understand the concept of focus, I have never really practiced it like I knew what I was doing. If I were a movie director, I’d know how I’d depict focus: steely eyes, intense yet detached, coolly fixated on the task at hand with dramatic tick-tock musical undertones. However, drama is no replacement for the real thing.

    I’ve been reflecting a lot on how my ability to do certain things has been shaped by subconscious observation and passive experience. For example, I never learned directly how to socialize in large groups when I was a kid, and was intensely shy. For a long time I thought this was because I was just introverted by nature, but as I’ve learned to put together my own socializing methodology a competing theory has come to mind: I just never saw anyone I know do it in a language I understood. In other words, I never had a clear mental picture of what great socializing was. Likewise, I don’t think I have a role model for focused action.

    So I really have no idea how people are focused, though I understand plenty of theory about what it is. There’s a big difference between the “being” and the “what” of something. Being, in my mind, is the integration of the principle into living action. The “what” is merely identification and categorization: essentially, it is labeling. Labeling by itself isn’t very useful. I remember seeing a CEO-type person lead a meeting once to figure out how to raise revenue targets. His solution was quite logical: revenue comes from sales. Therefore, we need more sales. Ergo, we need to hire more sales people. Problem solved…except it wasn’t. This act of executive leadership identified a “what” without the underlying methodology that would create the what in a meaningful way. If you don’t understand sales from the one-to-one perspective and integrate that with accounting practices, you are pretty much just leading your people bravely into nests of machine guns.

    There are plenty of people who will tell me what to do to be focused, and that’s all well and good. But I need to discover what it means to “be” focused in addition to having the mechanics. I shall reflect upon that today.

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    DSri Seah

  • Ground Hog Day Resolution Review Day 8

    October 10, 2007

    Goodness, it is already Groundhog Day Resolutions Review Day, October 10th! That’s 10/10. There’s just two more review days, on 11/11 and 12/12, before we close out the year and figure out whether all this Groundhog mojo will have been worth it.

    For those of you unfamiliar with the Groundhog Day Resolutions Concept, it goes something like this: forget January 1st (you’re hung over anyway) and set your resolutions on February 2nd. Then follow through and check every month and a day until December 12. You can read about the original ideas in the original post and various followups (there is an index of posts at the bottom of this article).

    (more…)

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    DSri Seah

  • The New New 9rules: Ali 2 Launches

    October 9, 2007

    One of the best days of my life, though I didn’t fully appreciate it until months later, was when this website was accepted into the 9rules Network. What was exciting to me then was that I had found an online oasis of people who believed in creating original quality content. What was even more remarkable was the member agreement, which basically said (paraphrasing wildly): You keep doing what you’re doing, we’ll do what we’re doing, and with luck something good will happen for everyone involved. If it doesn’t work out, no hard feelings. It was an agreement that was written by someone who knew how to negotiate the win-win scenario, by speaking plainly and putting intentions as simply as possible. And, it was the first time anything I had done personally was recognized for what it was: my attempt to create something original that spoke for me. Being accepted as part of the Network was an affirmation of my new creative direction.

    In the two years since that day, the 9rules mission has changed…or more accurately, it has been clarified. In the beginning, the network was based around the loose idea that if you collect quality content all in one place, you create something special. No one knew exactly what that special something would be, which was readily admitted by the 9rules founders. This didn’t prevent armchair analysts from trying to guess what the “end game” might be:

    • Was 9rules a portal designed to grow fat with advertising revenue without compensation to member sites?
    • Was 9rules a move to brand “quality content” on the Internet and shut out the independent, thus co-opting the blogosphere toward its own ends?
    • Was 9rules an exclusive, elitist club with unknown plans for Internet domination brewing behind the friendly logo?

    The answer? Not on purpose :-) It depends on your perspective:

    • If you’re a zero-sum game type of thinker, the type of person who understands success to be achieved only at the expense of someone else, then the answer is yes. That’s because ANYONE who is successful in your field of endeavor is perceived as a threat. The pie of success that you are sharing must be split into thinner slices for all participants. Or, it means you have to work harder to maintain your share.

    • If you’re a win-win strategy type of thinker, then you see the existence of a network like 9rules as expanding the pie of content goodness. There’s nothing stopping YOU from continuing to create the best content that you can. Everyone benefits, because more good content creates more opportunities for connections, and it raises everyone’s game.

    <

    p>Off the Internet, where grabbing eyeballs costs real dollars, the zero-sum thinking is much more applicable. There is a limited pool of “attention” available, and the real estate where the eyeballs are looking will command premium advertising dollars. It’s very expensive. However, on the Internet, content creators have the advantage of search engines. Good writing coupled with a bit of search engine optimization will allow people to find your content. I’m not quite sure to what extent the pie can keep growing, and your level of optimism is probably dependent on your content development end-game; if it’s defined in terms of revenue per click, then you’re probably not too keen on the existence of a site like 9rules. On the other hand, if you’re after reputation and personal satisfaction, there’s nothing stopping you from continuing to plug away at developing your site.

    The history of 9rules, in my mind, is comprised of three stages. The first stage focused on quality content, gathering websites that represented the best writing on the web, because that’s what a lot of us appreciate the most. However, 9rules came to be seen as a “label of quality” that drove traffic and reputation. The second stage, codenamed “Ali”, launched the community aspect of the site, introducing Notes where anyone could comment and discuss what people were interested in. Content served as the anchor that kept people coming, and Notes gave everyone a voice. The third stage, which is marked by yesterday’s launch of “Ali 2”, is about connections. It turns out that quality content and community really aren’t the point after all; what we are all after is making a quality connection with other people. The new member agreement stipulates that 9rules members participate in some way; in other words, you’ve got to want to talk to other members. You can’t have a community without participation. By emphasizing content and community, what 9rules has created is a vibrant space where you can meet conscientious, passionate people with something to say about topics you are interested in. And it’s the connections I’ve made, both incidental and personal, that have really helped me clarify my own vision and direction.

    Congratulations, 9rules, on the launch of Ali 2! I’m optimistic that the world will be made a better place, one person at a time, through the many new connections we will all make.

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    DSri Seah

  • Getting Focused 01

    October 8, 2007

    Like a lot of you out there, I’m about to enter a very busy period, and I’m finding that I have to make some tough choices between what I was doing a few months ago (working on personal projects and writing about them) with what is to come (doing a lot of cool research and development). I also have new ongoing commitments: being an active participant in the lives of my friends, maintaining the daily gym regimen (starting month 4 now), and continuing to develop products and sustainable company practice. And then there’s everything else: holidays, family visits, business networking, conferences, household chores, yadda yadda yadda.

    If you’re like me, you’re both excited and daunted by the prospect of tackling all these things. I had written about this last week from a different perspective, basically complaining in as productive a manner as I could :-) With an entire year of extended project commitments looking me square in the face, I’ve got to toughen up.

    On a related note, one of my main October goals is to start getting back into the daily blogging cycle. I can’t afford to spend hours writing posts anymore, so I’ve decided to implement a “5 minute planning, 25 minutes writing” blogging approach. So, whatever I can do in 30 minutes is it.

    THE NATURE OF THE CHALLENGE

    A lot of these projects are of the steady progress variety. I tend to be rather impatient with any activity that takes a while to develop; I like to see progress immediately. Intellectually, I know that “slow and steady wins the race”, but I get bored and need to find some other way to pass the time.

    Secondly, I have a fairly high activation threshold when it comes to doing a project: it takes quite a bit of energy or pressure for me to get going. For example, when I think of something that’s innovative, I’m excited and the energy is there to push me into starting a project. Or, there is someone else I’m working with, and that provides me with the pressure/energy to activate. Otherwise, the payoff needs to be high enough for me to actually get off my butt to do it. In the latter case, it’s a matter of getting back way more than what I put in; in other words, the return on investment is at least 2 or 3 times.

    THE APPROACH

    My ideal approach to getting through this morass of tasks will incorporate both immediate feedback and supply the necessary motivating energy.

    Then there’s also the challenge of recognizing that I can’t possibly do everything I want. And I might as well accept this. I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to doings things, so learning how to relax regarding this choice is going to be part of my methodology. This is a real growth step for me. I had worried before about losing the “spark” that keeps my mind fresh by challenging the status quo all the time, but I’ve decided that this is unlikely to happen.

    I recalled David Allen saying something similar about this in Getting Things Done, and while googling for the quote I found the following interview on Fast Company on values, which has been on my mind quite a bit lately. The emphasis below is mine:

    Interviewer: So a big part of setting priorities is being clear about your values? Allen: Be careful. That’s a very popular notion these days: If you focus on your values, then you’ll improve the “balance” between your business and personal lives. Give me a break. Focusing on your values may provide you with meaning, but it won’t simplify things. You’ll just discover even more stuff that’s important to you. […] We suffer the stress of infinite opportunity: There are so many things that we could do, and all we see are people who seem to be performing at star quality. It’s very hard not to try to be like them. The problem is, if you get wrapped up in that game, you’ll get eaten alive. You can do anything — but not everything. The universe is full of creative projects that are waiting to be done. So, if you really care about quality of life, if you want to relax, then don’t focus on values. Just control your aspirations. That will simplify things. Learning to set boundaries is incredibly difficult for most people.

    WRAPPING UP

    I’m out of time already, so tomorrow I’ll pick up on these thoughts. My plan for the rest of today is to start dumping out everything I need to do in some kind of giant document so I can break them up into…well, I’m not sure yet.

    (Ok, this post took 40 minutes to write and clean up, but it’s a start)

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    DSri Seah

  • Feeling Unproductive

    October 5, 2007

    I’ve been swamped with projects, both personal and work-related. I also have been having to rebuild my blog and personal email system, so if you have sent me a comment via the contact form I haven’t had a chance to respond to it. Things are very good right now, but I’m very backlogged and trying to figure out how to swim my way back on top.

    I don’t think there’s ever been a time in my life where so many possibilities have been open to me. Off the top of my head, there’s the printed ETP (they’re now shrinkwrapped individually, and I just have to write up a “how to” sheet to go with them and see if there’s a way to reduce the shipping cost for 2-3 pad orders), project 2010 (the goal to be completely mobile so I can work anywhere in the world and yet still feel “at home”), printable CEO updates and books, the freelance network, a year-long full-time museum interactive exhibit project that I just started this week, and various household improvements because Dad will be visiting for 6 weeks next week. And then on top of that are overall themes of building community, maintaining relationships, and perhaps even finding romance, all which take time and energy. And I also want to redo the website and transition to Expression Engine, which has been sitting on my plate forever and ever.

    Just Doing It

    Yeah yeah, I know:

    • Start small!
    • Great journeys begin with but a single step!
    • Do One Thing at a Time
    • Discipline!
    • Focus!

    My automatic response: MEH.

    My intellectual response: I know that if I work at something every day consistently, I will end up with something pretty awesome. However, I’m just not feeling it.

    The problem (and this is the general problem from which all the various Printable CEO and related tools address) is seeing the big picture against which the piddling amount of progress you make every day can be seen, in a way that is both meaningful and realistic. When you have so many things you want to do, the amount of progress made daily versus The Mountain of Tasks is pretty darn demoralizing. This is where a system like David Allen’s GTD comes into handy, because when followed properly it enforces daily review and provides feedback through inbox shrinkage, and this contributes mightily to that feeling of, er, getting things done.

    I think the reason that GTD doesn’t work for me is because I’m oriented not toward “getting things done”; instead, I want to “do things for the future”. I have dreams and schemes that I want to make happen; the last place my mind wants to be is on the tedium of what I want to get out of my way. The rational and responsible side knows that getting things done is a necessary chore, but I don’t like it. The system that would work for me is the one that focuses on making things and watching things grow, and this is perhaps the main philosophical distinction between the “Printable CEO” tools and GTD. GTD is not a vision clarification tool. It is a methodology that can be applied to a wide variety of different productivity challenges. I would rather learn to outsource the productivity challenge as much as possible.

    Qualitative Measurements

    In the meantime, I could use the blinders of productivity approach to focus on the stuff I want to do. I also feel like I should be creating a master map of my vision; if you can see it, it’s a lot easier to know what to do. This could be as simple as using a Mind Mapping tool, but I have never liked this format because it does not show progress in a directly-intuitive manner. Secondly, I think the metric that works for measuring this kind of productivity isn’t time spent or tasks accomplished, but energy invested into the system, and return on energy investment. This is a far more qualitative measure, but I think it might actually be doable if you track positive and negative feelings before and after you do a task. For example, I know I have to get off my ass and install the new multisite manager for Expression Engine to consolidate my websites. Feeling before: not looking forward to it, will be very tedious and irking. Feeling afterwards: I know it will be tremendous relief. I think that after tracking a whole bunch of these kinds of “I should but I haven’t” tasks, the pattern of seeing “dread” followed by “happy” will provide some reinforcement that “you know, I always feel better after getting those dumb things done”. I have no idea, but it might be a good alternate approach to creating a To Do list that lets you blow off some steam; it’s the power of whining harnessed for productive purposes.

    I reckon that’s what I’ll do. I’d like to take the time to put out a new form based on this, but I am feeling so pulled in multiple directions that I can’t even focus on it. I need to remember that I don’t need to do everything simultaneously if I ensure that my business model can operate on its own timetable. Slow down, it’s OK not to be as fast as everyone else if you can make the numbers work in your favor.

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    DSri Seah