How to Keep Your Resolutions for 2012

About five years ago I found myself in a situation where I organized my day-to-day professional activities with a clipboard-based form, coordinated meetings via Microsoft Outlook’s calendar function, kept personal appointments in a weekly paper calendar, and used a variety of scattered papers as task lists.

As long as I was at my desk, I could quickly identify my availability to meet with others or ensure that when I needed to attend to personal business there were no conflicts.  However, when I was out of the office, I had no way of knowing what was scheduled or even which activities were priorities for the next day or week.

Having four separate systems to keep track of my life was clearly not working!  When I had the opportunity to attend FranklinCovey’s Focus class I seized it.

In the Focus class, which I now teach occasionally, I learned about a strategy of planning that has worked successfully for me since then.  The content of the class is derived largely from First Things First, which is expanded from Habit 3 of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:  Put First Things First.

TIME MATRIX
The first part of the course reviews four quadrants of priority based on urgency and importance.  This is referred to as the “Time Matrix.”

Quadrant I contains activities that must be done because they are urgent and important (a flat tire must be repaired).

Quadrant III is where you will find activities that are not important but urgent.  These may be phone calls (a ringing phone must be answered) or other interruptions.

Quadrant IV is an area of activities that should be avoided because these are not important and not urgent.  Have you ever played Farmville until 1AM?  This would fit in Quadrant IV.  It is fine to play Farmville or any other diversion, provided that you are not neglecting real chores in order to complete virtual chores.

Quadrant II consists of activities that are important but not urgent.  Spending time on prevention, wellness, planning, and true recreation, which renews body, mind, and spirit, fits here.  Quality time with your family and personal time to exercise or pursue a hobby are important to maintain balance in your life.

PRODUCTIVITY PYRAMID
The second part of the course provides the practical structure to implement the concepts of the Time Matrix.  Based on the idea that you should only engage in activities that help you achieve your long-term plans.  The four elements of the planning process are presented in the form of a pyramid, with each element building on the foundational elements below it.

Identify Values.  The base of the pyramid is “Identify Values.”  What are the values that are important to you?  They may be different that mine, your co-workers, or even family.  Using Benjamin Franklin, as a model, it is suggested that you identify 8-10 values and define what each means for you.

Identify Goals.  Once life-long values have been identified, goals can be determined.  You will continue to set, modify, and evaluate goals continually.

Plan Weekly.  The next step of the pyramid is “Plan Weekly.”  By taking a few minutes at the beginning of each week to layout your integrated schedule of personal and professional commitments, identify the roles that you will have during the week (e.g., parent, teacher, child, supervisor, etc.), and prioritize tasks, you will be more effective.  Planning weekly is probably the most important step in terms of the execution of the Focus/First Things First productivity model.

Plan Daily.  At the top of the pyramid is “Plan Daily.”  At the start of your day, take a few minutes to review your schedule and tasks for the day.

I have found these strategies to be very effective.  Whether you use a paper-based planning system or are fully electronic (something that is now a valid option with smartphones), developing a system is vital to becoming more effective.

If you first identify life-long values, base your goals around those values, and plan your weeks and days accordingly, you will find that you don’t need New Year’s resolutions to propel you forward to success.  Happy New Year!  Don't forget to subscribe to the PersonalChange.info blog.

Screen Capture Links

Capturing all or part of the information displayed on your computer screen is essential for preparing presentations, handouts, and training materials.  It can also be useful as a future reference.  This list of links is taken from my site, www.LaunchIntoSpace.com. 

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/general/ht/winscreenshot.htm
http://www.pixelmetrics.com/screen-capture/free-screen-capture.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windowsvista/Take-a-screen-capture-print-screen
http://jingproject.com (video capture)

Liz Lynch Radio Show

I had the honor this week to be Liz Lynch's guest on her BlogTalkRadio.com show.  You can listen to previous episodes by clicking on the link above.  Liz's main website is http://smartnetworking.com/

Liz and I discussed how to "Storify Your Facts."  During our 30 minutes together I shared how important it is to use stories whenever possible to illustrate the point of your presentation or as a  narrative to keep facts interesting.  Liz is a great interviewer and I enjoyed talking with her.

Below is a list of books that I discussed during the show.

• The Story Factor (Annette Simmons)
• Made to Stick (Chip & Dan Heath)
• The Power of Personal Storytelling (Jack Maguire)
• My Story Can Beat Up Your Story (Jeffrey Alan Schechter)
• The Hero With A Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell) - On the show I referred to this as The Hero's Journey.  This book is a bit of a challenge to read because it draws heavily on the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud.  A easier-to-read alternative is The Writer's Journey (Christopher Vogler).

Please listen to the recorded show, check out the book listed above, and subscribe to www.PersonalChange.info.  I have also updated the Walmart video I discussed.

Links to Create Word Clouds

A tag cloud, also known as a word cloud, visually depicts the keywords found in a block of text.  Words are displayed by various sizes based on the frequency count of the word.  This visual format is convenient in identifying the most important or most used words in a document or website.

Below are links to six websites that generate tag clouds or word clouds.  Most of these sites provide a variety of options for font, color, and block shape.  To better compare the sites, I have used the Gettysburg Address, written and given by Abraham Lincoln in 1863.  This famous speech is short (10 sentences) and well-written. 

http://www.wordle.net/create

http://tagcrowd.com/

http://www.imagechef.com/ic/word_mosaic/

 

http://worditout.com/word-cloud/make-a-new-one

 

http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html

 

http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm

http://www.66clouds.com/index.html

This last link is not for a site where you can generate clouds, but instead contains word cloud art of each book of the Bible.

Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking

Not too long ago I found myself in a situation where I needed to succinctly present to a group in such a way that I needed to convince them to take action at the end of my talk. Unfortunately, I did not have a good structural model to follow and failed to make the case for why my listeners should take action. What I encourage you to do is explore some reading and speaking tips in order to be better prepared for a presentation. If you do, you will experience success where I did not.

What you've just read is a technique that Dale Carnegie shares in his book, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking.

If you were asked to give an impromptu five-minute presentation to a group, small or large, would you be able to do it? If you're like many people, you might try to pass up such an opportunity. However, if you read The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking you will gain more confidence. In this easy-to-read book, Dale Carnegie lays out everything you need to improve your public speaking.

At the outset, Carnegie dispels common fears and myths about public speaking. He also suggests a mindset for success. Following these two topics, he presents what is the foundational principle for the remainder of the book. This principle has been a staple of Dale Carnegie's training content since he first started teaching in 1912. The "three E's" are:

• Speak about something you have earned the right to speak about through experience or study.
• Be sure you are excited about your topic.
• Be eager to share your talk with your listeners.

Following this first section of fundamentals, Carnegie devotes the remainder of the book to various aspects of speaking. Chapters include:

• Earning the right to talk
• Vitalizing the talk
• Sharing the talk with the audience
• Making the short talk to get action
• Making the talk to inform
• Making the talk to convince
• Making impromptu talks
• Delivering the talk
• Organizing the longer talk

The short talk to get action is particularly effective and is centered on the "magic formula" which consists of:

• Give an example, an incident from your life.
• State your point, what you want the audience to do.
• Give the reason or benefit the audience may expect.

The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking is an essential read for anyone who speaks publicly, whether to a small group of coworkers or a large crowd of people.

Honking Dog Trains Man

On Sunday, my wife and I were awakened because of a car horn sounding in the driveway next to our house.  Initially, in my groggy state, I thought it might be a car alarm. Then I considered that it might be the friends of one of the teenagers who are our neighbors.  Just as I thought about getting up to see "what was the matter," as the classical Christmas story says, the honking stopped.

A few seconds later the honking began again and stopped with a man's voice yelling, "Cut that out!"  However, the honking started again.  At this point I decided that I needed to look out the window and offer some neighborly advice to the horn honker.  I was surprised to see a small dog with his hind legs on the driver's seat and his front paws on the middle of the steering wheel.

I observed as the older gentleman walked away from the car.  I realized that my neighbors were out of town and that this man was mostly likely feeding their black lab, Sophie, who did not travel with the family.  As the man walked away, the small dog inside the car began honking the horn!  Immediately the man yelled out to the dog and walked back to the car.

In the classic book, Science and Human Behavior, B. F. Skinner describes the behavioral principles that govern much of human (and animal) behavior. The premise of the book is that behavior is influenced by the consequence of the behavior.

If a behavior receives a positive reinforcement (for example, you give your dog a treat when he obeys a command) that behavior is more likely to be repeated.  However, if you are punished when engaging in a certain behavior, theoretically, you may be less likely to repeat it.  Research and history have both shown that punishment is largely ineffective in the long-term.  Short-term, it may be some immediate effects, but usually those effects are brief.  The table below depicts the conditions under which behavior is influenced.

Karen Pryor is an animal trainer and has worked with large marine mammals such as dolphins and orcas.  In her book, Don't Shoot the Dog, she discusses the fact that whales do not accept punishment.  If the mammal misses a trick and is given a punishment, the whale will no longer respond to the trainer. 

In the case of the dog and man I described earlier, the dog was positively reinforced because when he honked the horn, the man gave attention to the dog.  The man was negatively reinforced because he increased his behavior of providing attention to the dog in order to have the negative event (honking horn) stopped.

It is possible to have our behavior influenced, without our knowledge, by the animals and people around us.  By becoming more aware of what influences our behavior, we can take an active role in what occurs in our lives.  Additionally, a knowledge of behavioral principles will help influence others.  I encourage you to read either Science and Human Behavior (challenging read) or Don't Shoot the Dog (fast and easy read).

Play With Enthusiasm

My daughter, Erika, has been taking piano lessons at a nearby university's pre-college piano program for about three years.  "Pre-college" is a generous descriptor of all of the students who range in age from preschool to high school.  Each year the pre-college teachers accept some new students.

Towards the end of each semester students participate in a recital.  To prepare for the recital, the teacher hosts a practice session in the recital hall.  Tonight, we attended the practice session for this semester.  There were some students and families that I had not seen before.  This was the first time I had the opportunity to see and meet them.

With all of the busyness, frustration, and often cynical, jaded views of life, it is easy to forget the excitement and passion that young children experience as they interact with the world.  In his book, You Already Know How to Be Great, Alan Fine reminds us that all of us were once one-year old and fascinated by exploring the new world around us.  Some of the young piano students required extensions to be added to the bench and for their feet in order to have the correct posture and hand position for the piano.

Tonight I was reminded of that excitement.  One little girl arrived in her pink ballet leotard and her piano book in-hand.  As soon as the teacher asked for a volunteer, she jumped up and walked briskly toward the stage.  The teacher helped the girl get situated at the piano and her 15-second song began.  Our little ballerina was smiling from ear to ear as she played, and even when she made mistakes she just kept playing, repeating as needed to correct certain passages.

Ballerina girl was followed by another young pianist who appear to be just as enthusiastic.  When the teacher ask for the next student to play, the first girl quickly raised her hand!  I love to see this kind of enthusiasm and passion.  There were much more accomplished, slightly older piano students in the audience but this did not affect the performance of these two new students.

I believe that the lessons from these observations that we can apply to our lives are these:

1.  Have fun no matter what.

2.  Don't let mistakes keep you from having fun or impeding your progress.

3.  Be a risk-taker and volunteer to go first.

4.  Others may be more talented, intelligent, or attractive, but persevere anyway.