The QLog

What's Your Excuse?

As a manager and coach, I've heard a lot of excuses of why people couldn't, shouldn't, or wouldn't do something important for their company, family, or self. Most of them are untrue when examined objectively.

What is your excuse? Too old? Too young? Not enough money? Not attractive enough?

It is time to leave excuses behind. 

Next time you generate some excuses, I challenge you to consider Joseph Merrick or James O'Neal. They probably could have fell back on excuses, but they both chose to strive forward. Life is not always easy and these men each struggled with physical, emotional, psychological, and sociological difficulties that few can imagine.

Who are they? You might know Mr. Merrick as 'The Elephant Man' and perhaps you have seen the 1980 biopic loosely based on his life experience. James O'Neal has a very similar genetic disease: neurofibromatosis. Although he is deformed, he has decided to go beyond excuses and work extremely hard in a very public job for the past seven years. I think his persistence at being an excellent human being is paying dividends finally.

His customers say that he is amazing and I agree. Watch the full story here: http://www.komonews.com/news/19339104.html?video=pop&t=a

As of 2008, James O'Neal lives near Redmond, WA and his efforts at being a constructive member of society even with his deformity has resulted in an effort by others to change his life. I would like to give Safeway a big kudos for pledging the first $10,000 for his reconstructive surgery project (perhaps someone should call Microsoft as I'm sure many of their local employees have met James).

Also, I'd like to recognize Katie Knopf who setup the initial website for the cause in March. I also understand that an updated site with donation information will be up very shortly, if not already.

My last question is this: what's your excuse to not donate and help James O'Neal?

What Have You Forgotten?

On March 19th, the world lost writer and visionary Sir Arthur C. Clarke. You can see the farewell video that he recorded for his 90th birthday where he outlines his world-changing "three wishes" for humanity I hope they all are granted in the near future.   

Although Clarke is best well known for his science fiction novels such as Childhood’s End (which has been in print for 50-plus years and has generated over $25 million in revenue) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (plus the 1969 movie of the same name that he co-created with director Stanley Kubrick), he also wrote a technical paper that outlined the feasibility of a true global communication system in 1945 via satellites in geosynchronous orbit, a brilliant insight, some years before Sputnik. Twenty years later, Clarke wrote an interesting essay entitled "How I Lost a Billion Dollars in My Spare Time" about this idea as he did not patent the the concept (yet, he points out, the patent itself would have expired by the time it would become economically viable anyhow).

I decided to re-read his classic novel Rendezvous with Rama and while I was immersed within his fictional universe, I discovered a great question, a motto of one of the characters, Karl Mercer: What Have You Forgotten?

Consider your current goals, projects, and tasks. What is missing? What is hiding? What have you overlooked? Is there an assumption you need to re-think, a variable you need to re-calculate? In other words, what have you forgotten?

Earth Hour is Tonight!

Learn more about Earth Hour here.

The main goal: turn off all lights and non-essential electrical appliances for an hour tonight at 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

Why: 1. Save Electricity. 2. Increase Awareness (including self-awareness) about the resources that are consumed during day-to-day living in the 21st century.

Practice Makes Perfect, Part Two

Practice is Important; however, good feedback is the key!

After more research, Thorndike revised his original model some years later to include feedback as an essential ingredient. Without some metrics, it is virtually impossible to measure progress. Both negative and positive feedback loops are necessary to improve any skill over time. This is why students receive grades and professional athletes review their own performance after the game.

Practice Makes Perfect, Part One

Psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949) offered the "Law of Exercise" which stated that "the more times a response is made in a given situation, the stronger it becomes. As a behaviorist, he suggested that stimulus-response associations are strengthened through repetition. This was an early idea about learning, based on animal studies.

In other words, he claimed that Practice Makes Perfect.

Question: is it really that simple?

Two Extremes and the Mean

When considering any major problem, it is useful to consider these three potential end-games.

1) What is the worst possible thing that could happen? Consider the bleakest consequence. What steps can be taken to decrease the possibility of this occurring?

2) What is the best case scenario? Stay objective when answering this; however, consider the optimum solution and the methods that would produce this successful result.

3) What is the most likely outcome? Why do you think this is the case? Analyze your assumptions.

THE Answer or Answers?

As we grow up, schools often instill the idea that problems have a single answer. Exams and questions are often worded to provide the 'correct' solution.

Few problems are this black and white. To become a successful problem solver, it is vital you break away from this sociological conditioning. Instead of seeking THE answer, seek a minimum of three potential solutions. Then evaluate the costs and benefits of each possibility and select the best choice. 

Mythbusters, Part 1: Your Body is 90% Water

Recently, I've heard three urban myths about the human body and I'm going to take the next few days to debunk them rather quickly.

Question: Your Body is 90% Water. True or False?
Answer: False!

Although I do have a background in biology, this is not needed to quickly think through this idea, especially if you ever have seen a human skeleton. Consider your bones. The human body contains many bones, some of them fairly large. The entire volume and weight of the human skeleton is much higher than 10% of the body. Additionally, every cell is has thousands of different carbon-based molecules such as proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, each performing a different function in parallel. Animals eat food for both energy and raw organic materials. If our bodies were only 10% carbon-based, then we would consume much less solid food at dinner and instead would be drinking more fluids to maintain that 9:1 ratio.

Yet, the human body does contain a very significant amount of H2O as it is about 60% water. What is true is that one should drink, on average, 2 liters (approximately 8 glasses) of water each day to re-hydrate due to a variety of biological functions. You can read the more detailed health recommendations on this topic from the Mayo Clinic here.   

Create a Legacy List

This is new exercise I developed for someone who was having a hard time thinking of long term goals. I am releasing it on the Log as a raw exercise as it is has not been field tested; yet, I think it is worthwhile. Take a few minutes and consider these questions:

1) You are 100 years old and on your deathbed. You have lived a full life and are satisfied with your personal and professional accomplishment. What legacy would you be leaving behind to your family, friends, community, and the world on the day you died? Be specific.

2) Now imagine it is 100 years after the day you died. What specific impact would you like to have on the world of your grand children's grandchildren?

Reflect on the Nobel Prize, one of the world's best Legacy project. It was inspired by the erroneous publication of Alfred Nobel's obituary (his brother had died, but French newspaper had the facts mixed-up) and the contents horrified him. Why? It began Le marchand de la mort est mort which means "The Merchant of Death is dead" and then condemned him for becoming a rich man by finding ways to kill more people efficiently than anyone before in history. He did not want the remembered by historians as the "Merchant of Death" so a few years later, he donated the vast majority of his estate when he died to establish the Nobel Prize fund. Today, most remember his name for rewarding the great minds of the world instead of as the inventor of dynamite.

Also, let me know your thoughts on the creation of a legacy list.

Three Magic Words are...

...Write It Down!

1) Do you want increase your productivity? Write It Down. Think on paper and consider your top concerns, assumptions, questions, goals, projects, and tasks.

2) Do you want to increase your creativity? Write It Down. Record your observations, conversations, ideas, insights, answers, solutions, crazy thoughts, and wild memes.

Simple advise? Yes. Easy? No! Think of all the times you had a million dollar idea for a great book, movie, business, or project but could not recall the details later.

I do suggest keeping a daily journal as a life enhancing habit. Why? It is an excellent way to insure that you capture your thoughts on a regular and semi-systematic basis.