Here is an interesting phenomenon:
'Those activities (in business) that bring us the most pleasure and which we do with ease are also the activities that bring the most value to your business.'
The last couple of days I have been working from 9 AM to 12 PM everyday, non stop... and guess what: the time has flown by.
Once you are engrossed in a task and you love doing it everything else seems to stop mattering. You stop thinking about your surroundings, where you are, what time it is... kind of like a mad scientist.
It is great blessing to be able to work on that which is your calling. I advise that you go out and do just that.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The 5% Solution
Throughout the last two years of weight lifting I have noticed a unique phenomenon.
What I have noticed is how much of a difference working out with another individual has on muscle growth.
But wait a minute.. isn't that obvious? Doesn't EVERYONE know that working out with an accountability partner helps?
The answer is that Yes, most sane educated people understand this. HOWEVER, there is something that most people do not know. In fact, even most weight lifters don't understand a very important distinction (that I'll get to later).
Outside of making it easier to GET to the gym, working out with someone else doesn't have that much of an observable difference. In fact, to the outsider, the difference is so subtle that it is not noticable.
The difference is there however. What is the difference, is it 5, 10, 15% more effort? I would venture to say that conservatively it is somewhere around 5%.
But here's the phenomenon: the 5% extra immersion that weight lifters exhibit when they are held accountable by their partners makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
It is hard to quantify but simple pictures of the muscle (not of the effort) would reveal just how dramatic of a difference that extra 5% makes.
Now, here's the question that I invariably relate back to: is this knowledge transferrable to business.
After all, while weight lifting can conform to a 5%-increased-effort-significant-return, certainly there is no way that this phenomenon exists in business?
Well, my friend, it doesn't exist in all of buisness, it only exists in the startup phases of entrepreneurship.
Why? Because often times, it is the 5% push that makes all the difference between success and failure. This is not "inspirational talk" but rather based on the logic that wealth creation is the result of capturing an opportunity that everyone else stopped short of (after all, it was easy to capture the opportunity the marketplace would be overflooded as it is in certain low barrier to entry markets).
Having a partner is also an unobservable difference in business. It gives you that extra motivation when things are going bad. It gives you an extra reason for accomplishing your goal and perservering, it gives you that feeling of "It's us against the world" that just gives you that extra push that means EVERYTHING. (of course, if you operated under the metaprogram in which you are motivated by this).
What I have noticed is how much of a difference working out with another individual has on muscle growth.
But wait a minute.. isn't that obvious? Doesn't EVERYONE know that working out with an accountability partner helps?
The answer is that Yes, most sane educated people understand this. HOWEVER, there is something that most people do not know. In fact, even most weight lifters don't understand a very important distinction (that I'll get to later).
Outside of making it easier to GET to the gym, working out with someone else doesn't have that much of an observable difference. In fact, to the outsider, the difference is so subtle that it is not noticable.
The difference is there however. What is the difference, is it 5, 10, 15% more effort? I would venture to say that conservatively it is somewhere around 5%.
But here's the phenomenon: the 5% extra immersion that weight lifters exhibit when they are held accountable by their partners makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
It is hard to quantify but simple pictures of the muscle (not of the effort) would reveal just how dramatic of a difference that extra 5% makes.
Now, here's the question that I invariably relate back to: is this knowledge transferrable to business.
After all, while weight lifting can conform to a 5%-increased-effort-significant-return, certainly there is no way that this phenomenon exists in business?
Well, my friend, it doesn't exist in all of buisness, it only exists in the startup phases of entrepreneurship.
Why? Because often times, it is the 5% push that makes all the difference between success and failure. This is not "inspirational talk" but rather based on the logic that wealth creation is the result of capturing an opportunity that everyone else stopped short of (after all, it was easy to capture the opportunity the marketplace would be overflooded as it is in certain low barrier to entry markets).
Having a partner is also an unobservable difference in business. It gives you that extra motivation when things are going bad. It gives you an extra reason for accomplishing your goal and perservering, it gives you that feeling of "It's us against the world" that just gives you that extra push that means EVERYTHING. (of course, if you operated under the metaprogram in which you are motivated by this).
How INCREDIBLY consistent people are
Perhaps the biggest paradigm shift I have had in business in the past year has been around the area of people/management/and hiring..
And what is the biggest thing that I have learned? People are incredibly consistent and incredibly predictable.
By the way, when I say people are predictable, I don't mean that they are predictable as a general group but rather that they are predictable against themselves.
What is interesting is that most of the population is not aware of this. Rather, most people make generalities about people based on their "optimistic" or "pessimistic" views. Some say, "People are great, caring, giving, etc." while others say it is in people's nature to "take, steal, cheat, etc." Both groups have an incredibly simplistic view on the matter.
The truth is that people are DIFFERENT but yet, as I now say for the 100'th time, they are incredibly predictable based on their past actions.
What is interesting is a very similar optimistic/pessimistic view is shared in management.
The "optimists" focus on: how do I incentivize my employees to be great, how do I manage effectively to be great, etc.
While pessimists hit people over with a stick into submission (of course this is futile since once the individual leaves people stop working).
Here's the point: no matter what your incentive structure is you just can't put lipstick on a pig. A fat kid can't run a 10 mile race even if you offer him $50,000. Not only is he probably not motivated enough, but chances are he doesn't know how to train for it and he certaintly doesn't have a runner's heart and the good habits needed to stick it out.
On the other hand... a seasoned marathon runner might do this 10 mile race for you with no problem, and he'll do it for free.
You may believe that this is not relevant to the business world. Before we go into the relevancy of this example, let's take a step back and consider the motives of the marathon runner. Is the marathon runner running the 10 miles just because he is a marathon runner? No, he is a marathon runner because of certain convictions that he holds. For example, running 10 miles may prove to himself his determination, health reasons, etc. He may do it for self development or just to see whether he could do it (It is interesting to see research that shows that the top motivation of A players is skill improvement so that they can perform better in the future, while B & C players are more driven by fear and incentives).
The same situation exists with employees as it does in endurance running: excellence takes time, effort, and good habits... incentives just aren't strong enough to overcome our natural instincts (in theory, you could probably get sustained effort from weak players through continual training hyper incentives and years of reforming).
What can we make of this?
Once we understand this truism (YES, my opinions are now truism), we can make significantly better judgments on who we want to be involved in professionally and personally.
If someone is not self motivated in the first month, I GARAUNTEE YOU he will not suddenly become self motivated by incentivize or by "super management." If anything his performance will deteriorate quickly as his dis-motivation is during the honeymoon period.
Become perceptive and stop lying to yourself, people do not change. Make sure you pay attention to people's habits in the areas that it matters because these are the same habits they will display for the next month, year, and decade.
-David Weisburd
And what is the biggest thing that I have learned? People are incredibly consistent and incredibly predictable.
By the way, when I say people are predictable, I don't mean that they are predictable as a general group but rather that they are predictable against themselves.
What is interesting is that most of the population is not aware of this. Rather, most people make generalities about people based on their "optimistic" or "pessimistic" views. Some say, "People are great, caring, giving, etc." while others say it is in people's nature to "take, steal, cheat, etc." Both groups have an incredibly simplistic view on the matter.
The truth is that people are DIFFERENT but yet, as I now say for the 100'th time, they are incredibly predictable based on their past actions.
What is interesting is a very similar optimistic/pessimistic view is shared in management.
The "optimists" focus on: how do I incentivize my employees to be great, how do I manage effectively to be great, etc.
While pessimists hit people over with a stick into submission (of course this is futile since once the individual leaves people stop working).
Here's the point: no matter what your incentive structure is you just can't put lipstick on a pig. A fat kid can't run a 10 mile race even if you offer him $50,000. Not only is he probably not motivated enough, but chances are he doesn't know how to train for it and he certaintly doesn't have a runner's heart and the good habits needed to stick it out.
On the other hand... a seasoned marathon runner might do this 10 mile race for you with no problem, and he'll do it for free.
You may believe that this is not relevant to the business world. Before we go into the relevancy of this example, let's take a step back and consider the motives of the marathon runner. Is the marathon runner running the 10 miles just because he is a marathon runner? No, he is a marathon runner because of certain convictions that he holds. For example, running 10 miles may prove to himself his determination, health reasons, etc. He may do it for self development or just to see whether he could do it (It is interesting to see research that shows that the top motivation of A players is skill improvement so that they can perform better in the future, while B & C players are more driven by fear and incentives).
The same situation exists with employees as it does in endurance running: excellence takes time, effort, and good habits... incentives just aren't strong enough to overcome our natural instincts (in theory, you could probably get sustained effort from weak players through continual training hyper incentives and years of reforming).
What can we make of this?
Once we understand this truism (YES, my opinions are now truism), we can make significantly better judgments on who we want to be involved in professionally and personally.
If someone is not self motivated in the first month, I GARAUNTEE YOU he will not suddenly become self motivated by incentivize or by "super management." If anything his performance will deteriorate quickly as his dis-motivation is during the honeymoon period.
Become perceptive and stop lying to yourself, people do not change. Make sure you pay attention to people's habits in the areas that it matters because these are the same habits they will display for the next month, year, and decade.
-David Weisburd
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Consulting Law: one problem is replaced with another problem
The same phenomenon is observed in our lives. In order to achieve true happiness we must insert things that make us happy rather then constantly trying to take away problems.
There are always problems behind our problems, even realizing this makes us less anxious about it and can make us happier.
If we insert activities and people that make us happy throughout the day, those things that we viewed as "problems" seem to take care of themselves.
There are always problems behind our problems, even realizing this makes us less anxious about it and can make us happier.
If we insert activities and people that make us happy throughout the day, those things that we viewed as "problems" seem to take care of themselves.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Could we really do more with less?
Could it be that we could achieve significantly more while working significantly less? Is this possible or just wishful thinking?
The answer is YES, but it takes work.
You see, most people do not consciously plan their life, they just kind of fall into it. They either fall into an established career path like banking or consulting (if they are ambitious) or fall into a good enough job that comes along.
But entrepreneurs are different.
Have you ever wondered why most entrepreneurs don't achieve success until 5-10 years after they start their first business, often times not until they are in their 30's.
Well for one, it's not luck, because in theory you should be as lucky at 22 as you are at 32.
The reason is the distinctions that they make. Distinctions about business, success, and themselves.
While I spend the majority of time focusing on the former two distinctions let's talk a little about distinctions entrepreneurs make about themselves.
[Before we go on, I want to make a certain crucial aside. Successful people understand one very important point: that success is an iterative process. Success is like a missile that is being guided towards its target. It often goes of course, first to the right and then to the left but eventually it hits its target. The measure of whether someone is "successful" at the moment is whether or not they are narrowing it on their target.]
Ok, back to the issue at hand: Can we achieve more by doing less by making crucial distinctions about ourselves?
The answer is yes. But before we make these crucial distinctions, we must paradoxically look outside of ourselves.
Let me give you an important distinction that I recently learned between creatives and organizers.
Definition:
Creatives - those that can come up with and design great executable strategies.
Organizers - those that can organize and execute strategies effectively.
For a team to succeed it needs at least one creative and one organizer. Both of these individuals naturally are good and enjoy distinct activities: the creative love to think and strategize, the organizer likes to organize and execute. Neither of these groups can imagine the remote possibility that anyone else enjoys the opposite activity. That is, they can not imagine this unless they educate themselves with this theory.
So, back to question: Can we really do more with less?
The answer is Yes. The way we do this to align all our daily activities by focusing on the 20% of activities (what Richard Koch calls spikes) constantly. This means of course, you partner or hire people that have 20% of spikes that are different from you. By the way, you start to identify people further by reading the book and filling out this worksheet.
More importantly, in order to achieve this seemingly unachievable goal of doing more with less we must overcome societal conditioning that places an emphasis on hard work and a 9-5 work schedule that does not take into account people's strengths and productivity but rather is "input biased - a word I made up to mean biased on how much effort someone is putting in rather then the result of the effort." This force is incredibly strong but yet once we are aware of it we can break free from it.
Don't believe me? Can you think of even one counter example, a job that is designed around people's strengths?
Even the most "intellectual" jobs like management consulting still requires that the individual (especially down the line) engage in significant low-value added work like research, emails, etc. that would contradict the natural talents of the individuals that would make the greatest consultants.
***
Another distinction that may be useful for you is the distinction that Eban Pagan alludes to in the successful businesses he has seen: they have three distinct people or roles: 1) A strategy person 2) A dealmaker 3) A business administration people responsible for day to day activity
The answer is YES, but it takes work.
You see, most people do not consciously plan their life, they just kind of fall into it. They either fall into an established career path like banking or consulting (if they are ambitious) or fall into a good enough job that comes along.
But entrepreneurs are different.
Have you ever wondered why most entrepreneurs don't achieve success until 5-10 years after they start their first business, often times not until they are in their 30's.
Well for one, it's not luck, because in theory you should be as lucky at 22 as you are at 32.
The reason is the distinctions that they make. Distinctions about business, success, and themselves.
While I spend the majority of time focusing on the former two distinctions let's talk a little about distinctions entrepreneurs make about themselves.
[Before we go on, I want to make a certain crucial aside. Successful people understand one very important point: that success is an iterative process. Success is like a missile that is being guided towards its target. It often goes of course, first to the right and then to the left but eventually it hits its target. The measure of whether someone is "successful" at the moment is whether or not they are narrowing it on their target.]
Ok, back to the issue at hand: Can we achieve more by doing less by making crucial distinctions about ourselves?
The answer is yes. But before we make these crucial distinctions, we must paradoxically look outside of ourselves.
Let me give you an important distinction that I recently learned between creatives and organizers.
Definition:
Creatives - those that can come up with and design great executable strategies.
Organizers - those that can organize and execute strategies effectively.
For a team to succeed it needs at least one creative and one organizer. Both of these individuals naturally are good and enjoy distinct activities: the creative love to think and strategize, the organizer likes to organize and execute. Neither of these groups can imagine the remote possibility that anyone else enjoys the opposite activity. That is, they can not imagine this unless they educate themselves with this theory.
So, back to question: Can we really do more with less?
The answer is Yes. The way we do this to align all our daily activities by focusing on the 20% of activities (what Richard Koch calls spikes) constantly. This means of course, you partner or hire people that have 20% of spikes that are different from you. By the way, you start to identify people further by reading the book and filling out this worksheet.
More importantly, in order to achieve this seemingly unachievable goal of doing more with less we must overcome societal conditioning that places an emphasis on hard work and a 9-5 work schedule that does not take into account people's strengths and productivity but rather is "input biased - a word I made up to mean biased on how much effort someone is putting in rather then the result of the effort." This force is incredibly strong but yet once we are aware of it we can break free from it.
Don't believe me? Can you think of even one counter example, a job that is designed around people's strengths?
Even the most "intellectual" jobs like management consulting still requires that the individual (especially down the line) engage in significant low-value added work like research, emails, etc. that would contradict the natural talents of the individuals that would make the greatest consultants.
***
Another distinction that may be useful for you is the distinction that Eban Pagan alludes to in the successful businesses he has seen: they have three distinct people or roles: 1) A strategy person 2) A dealmaker 3) A business administration people responsible for day to day activity
Living the 80/20 Way by Richard Koch
-The modern principle for individuals is more with more.
-The Calvinist notion that toil and trouble are essential for personal advancement is so deeply rooted in the culture and working assumptions of modern life that it will take a generation to uproot it.
-The trap in making more effort to improve things is that we continue making the same kind of effort.
-Even when high achievers work more, their work is always economical - they get a huge retun on their effort.
-The problem with more with more is that its not sustainable.
-We can get more happiness with less effort if we carefully select a few excellent habits we'd like to have and master these, not bothering about all the other good habits we could in theory cultivate.
-Because most of us don't have to labor with our hands, we can use our minds to create great wealth, science, and culture.
-Here is the paradox: we have never been so free, yet failed to realize the extent of our freedom. We have never had so much time, yet felt we had so little.
-Surveys of people watching TV, showed that very few say they are happy after watching hours of TV. Typically, they feel mildly depressed.
-Achivement islands are the small time periods when you are your most productive and creative and when you are able to accomplish a great bit of productive work.
-Don't try to "manage" your time. You try to manage something if you are short of it. But we are not short of time. Time revolution says the opposite. We have too much time, not too little. IT is because we have so much time that we squander it. Slow down, stop worrying, dew fewer things that are concentrated to bring you success.
-Focus is the secret of all personal power, happiness, and success.
-We become individuals through subtraction. Less is more.
-Happiness is inside. A positive and accurate self image is based on individuality: an authentic sense of who we are why we live our way. Lasting happiness cannot be gained through consumption. Happiness requires active participation in what we value.
-If you refuse to accept anything but the best you often get it.
-The 80/20 route is easier, more pleasant, yet quicker too. More with less.
-What about my 20 percent spikes? Was I playing properly to these? Alas, no. I'm good at ideas, sudden insight, spotting talent, and telling clients what to do to make more money. I'm bad at sustained work. Was Bain the right place for me? Not really. I was not straitlaced or loyal enough.
-The ideal 80/20 route for me was to co-found a firm, with two other partners whose 20 percent spikes complemented mine.
-If we hone our super-strengths, our 20 percent spikes insist on behavior that is authentic and true to our inner selves, and unreasonably demand more with less, the sky is the limit.
-I firmly believe that the most ambitious destination and route can also be the easiest - if and only if they precisely match our strengths.
-But you must know your destiny.
-The most successful people change the world not through sweat and tears but through ideas and passion. Success comes from thinking, then acting on those thoughts.
-Concentrate on the really important thing that get amazing results. Do only the few things with greatest benefit.
-There's a limit to how much time we can spend on the magic activities without diluting quality. Force ourselves to do less. Win time to find more vital areas to work on and more effective things to do.
-Researcher Srully Blotnick investigated self-made millionaires. He discovered that they loved their work. Their passion took them to the top. Enjoyment, not effort or education, is the key to success. Hurrah!
-Seek jobs where your lopsided strength comes to the fore. Balance is mediocrity. The stars know a lot about a little. Know 99 percent about 1 percent of something. Meet all the experts. See how they work, what kind of lives they live. Mimic them.
-The stars think and communicate clearly. Learn to self yourself an essential life skill.
-Americans derive much more flow from work than from leisure time. Flow derives from a sense of personal mastery and active achivement.
-Today millions of people revel in their work. And the more they love it, the more successful they are. Almost nothing you do, will affect your happiness for your whole life more than finding a job you like. It's worth using all your effort and imagination on this.
-Whether you really want the job or not shows through more than people imagine.
-Compound interest really matters. Because of compound interest, money becomes concentrated in few hands (in every country).
-There's only one happiness in life, wrote George Sand, "to love and be loved."
-Without realizing it most people opt for a higher quantity of lower quality relationships then lower quantity of high quality relationships, although this is where satisfaction lives.
-We can only care deeply about a few people. Unless we limit the number of people who are central to our lives, nobody will be.
-Happiness is closely related to being in a relationship.
-Don't do for others what you would like yourself. Do what your partner wants.
-In happy families parents demonstrate their love.
-"To live one's entire life is happiness. The greatest by far is the possession of friendship.. a handful of true friends." He took a house outside Athens and moved in with seven friends. His values for happiness was food, shelter, clothes, friends, freedom, and thought.
-See only the few friends that you really want to see.
-The 80/20 rule has a close companion - the 50/5 Way. 50 percent of what we do usually leads to a trivial amount (5 percent) of happiness and results.
-Emotions should not be ignored rather talked to and understood.
-The 80/20 rule doesn't require us to change how we feel. That will come later, naturally, without strain, as our actions produce the desired results.
-It is harder to start. Because all the assumptions of the modern world push us toward more and more with more, we need self confidence and resolve to leave the crowd.
-Albert Einstein said that every problem should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
-To multiply happiness start those few actions right away that will create momentum.
-The Calvinist notion that toil and trouble are essential for personal advancement is so deeply rooted in the culture and working assumptions of modern life that it will take a generation to uproot it.
-The trap in making more effort to improve things is that we continue making the same kind of effort.
-Even when high achievers work more, their work is always economical - they get a huge retun on their effort.
-The problem with more with more is that its not sustainable.
-We can get more happiness with less effort if we carefully select a few excellent habits we'd like to have and master these, not bothering about all the other good habits we could in theory cultivate.
-Because most of us don't have to labor with our hands, we can use our minds to create great wealth, science, and culture.
-Here is the paradox: we have never been so free, yet failed to realize the extent of our freedom. We have never had so much time, yet felt we had so little.
-Surveys of people watching TV, showed that very few say they are happy after watching hours of TV. Typically, they feel mildly depressed.
-Achivement islands are the small time periods when you are your most productive and creative and when you are able to accomplish a great bit of productive work.
-Don't try to "manage" your time. You try to manage something if you are short of it. But we are not short of time. Time revolution says the opposite. We have too much time, not too little. IT is because we have so much time that we squander it. Slow down, stop worrying, dew fewer things that are concentrated to bring you success.
-Focus is the secret of all personal power, happiness, and success.
-We become individuals through subtraction. Less is more.
-Happiness is inside. A positive and accurate self image is based on individuality: an authentic sense of who we are why we live our way. Lasting happiness cannot be gained through consumption. Happiness requires active participation in what we value.
-If you refuse to accept anything but the best you often get it.
-The 80/20 route is easier, more pleasant, yet quicker too. More with less.
-What about my 20 percent spikes? Was I playing properly to these? Alas, no. I'm good at ideas, sudden insight, spotting talent, and telling clients what to do to make more money. I'm bad at sustained work. Was Bain the right place for me? Not really. I was not straitlaced or loyal enough.
-The ideal 80/20 route for me was to co-found a firm, with two other partners whose 20 percent spikes complemented mine.
-If we hone our super-strengths, our 20 percent spikes insist on behavior that is authentic and true to our inner selves, and unreasonably demand more with less, the sky is the limit.
-I firmly believe that the most ambitious destination and route can also be the easiest - if and only if they precisely match our strengths.
-But you must know your destiny.
-The most successful people change the world not through sweat and tears but through ideas and passion. Success comes from thinking, then acting on those thoughts.
-Concentrate on the really important thing that get amazing results. Do only the few things with greatest benefit.
-There's a limit to how much time we can spend on the magic activities without diluting quality. Force ourselves to do less. Win time to find more vital areas to work on and more effective things to do.
-Researcher Srully Blotnick investigated self-made millionaires. He discovered that they loved their work. Their passion took them to the top. Enjoyment, not effort or education, is the key to success. Hurrah!
-Seek jobs where your lopsided strength comes to the fore. Balance is mediocrity. The stars know a lot about a little. Know 99 percent about 1 percent of something. Meet all the experts. See how they work, what kind of lives they live. Mimic them.
-The stars think and communicate clearly. Learn to self yourself an essential life skill.
-Americans derive much more flow from work than from leisure time. Flow derives from a sense of personal mastery and active achivement.
-Today millions of people revel in their work. And the more they love it, the more successful they are. Almost nothing you do, will affect your happiness for your whole life more than finding a job you like. It's worth using all your effort and imagination on this.
-Whether you really want the job or not shows through more than people imagine.
-Compound interest really matters. Because of compound interest, money becomes concentrated in few hands (in every country).
-There's only one happiness in life, wrote George Sand, "to love and be loved."
-Without realizing it most people opt for a higher quantity of lower quality relationships then lower quantity of high quality relationships, although this is where satisfaction lives.
-We can only care deeply about a few people. Unless we limit the number of people who are central to our lives, nobody will be.
-Happiness is closely related to being in a relationship.
-Don't do for others what you would like yourself. Do what your partner wants.
-In happy families parents demonstrate their love.
-"To live one's entire life is happiness. The greatest by far is the possession of friendship.. a handful of true friends." He took a house outside Athens and moved in with seven friends. His values for happiness was food, shelter, clothes, friends, freedom, and thought.
-See only the few friends that you really want to see.
-The 80/20 rule has a close companion - the 50/5 Way. 50 percent of what we do usually leads to a trivial amount (5 percent) of happiness and results.
-Emotions should not be ignored rather talked to and understood.
-The 80/20 rule doesn't require us to change how we feel. That will come later, naturally, without strain, as our actions produce the desired results.
-It is harder to start. Because all the assumptions of the modern world push us toward more and more with more, we need self confidence and resolve to leave the crowd.
-Albert Einstein said that every problem should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
-To multiply happiness start those few actions right away that will create momentum.
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