Photograph by David Mao. unsplash.com

Day 513. When have you criticized something lately? May be it was your coffee this morning that was too hot, or the traffic that was too dense, or your boss who has been pushing too much work to you… whatever it was, what did it do? Probably nothing on the outside, but it fueled your negativity on the inside. Some will argue that it’s good to criticize, it helps to make things better and it feels good. It helps to make things better if, and only if, you can contribute to make them better. In the case of your hot coffee, you can definitely put it in the fridge, add cold water or just wait. On the traffic, if you are not working for your city, you cannot act upon the traffic but on the time you go to work for instance to avoid the peak time. On the feel good side, you succumbed to your archaic system, the path of least resistance, criticizing without proposing a solution.

Your coffee’s too hot? Great, you can cool it down by applying one of the solution I shared. The traffic is horrendous? Great, you’ll have more time to listen to this fantastic audio book and you will seek alternative route or different time to go to the office. Your boss is pushing too much work? Great, here’s a way to shine and to look for ways to get more productive, or to have a discussion to share your concerns. In all the cases, you archaic system makes you rant, and your prefrontal cortex makes you find a solution. The first is in charge of your Cro-Magnon side, the second of your personality and social behavior. Why do I write about your brain? Because each of your decision happens here and YOU are in charge. There’s no magic, it’s all yours to change, or not.

By criticizing without offering solution, we lose our precious time and are undermining our credibility. By criticizing AND proposing a solution, we move to a more advanced and respected behavior. The ultimate step is to not criticize and propose a solution to what is perceived as a challenge or a problem. Tomorrow, I will wake up five minutes earlier to have time for my coffee to cool down. Next week, I will leave home thirty minutes later to avoid the peak traffic. Today, I will have a discussion with my boss on my workload that is increasing. Less talking, more acting, and probably, more connecting. Switch criticism time to creation time, not easy, but essential to get a better and more fulfilling life!

Photograph by Craig Garner – unsplash.com

Day 512. With all the media around us trying to grab our attention, a scarce resource, it may be difficult to stay focused. Beyond this, we are all equal in terms of hours: each day has 24 hours. How do you get to 100% productivity, unleashing your best work, day in, day out? Here’s what is working in my daily life:

• Early morning work. 5AM is a wonderful time. Dawn in summer, darkness in winter, it’s always a very quiet time. I generally grab a good cup of coffee and use this fine hour to produce my best work, in the quietness of the early morning.
• 50-minute chunk. With some training and discipline, you’ll be able to stay focus for almost a full hour. What I experimented as the best is a 50-minute chunk followed by a 10-minute walk, stretch or nap.
• Switch off distraction. Switch your Wi-Fi off while you work on a specific activity, switch off all push notification. The best invention? Airplane mode. Activate the airplane mode on your laptop, tablet and phone, and start working.
• Switch on for a limited time. Dedicate a special 50-minute chunk for email, social networks and any other online activities.
• Appreciate the sound of silence. Get a noise-cancelling headset, switch it on if you happen to live or work in a noisy environment. Use it to isolate yourself from the surrounding noise. If you’ve never tried, I can guarantee this is a unique experience that you will never regret. One caveat: invest in the best possible technology here. Cheap does not last. Look for high end.
• Use inspiring music. My soundtrack is probably not yours, but chose one that inspires and moves you. I love Mozart and Bach, relaxation and lounge music, Brahms lieder and some light operas, but the choice is yours.
• Every day sweat. If you have not read Spark!, do it! There is scientific evidence between physical exercise and brain activity. invest at least 30 minutes of every day to do some physical activities. As the authors of the book say: « Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance ».

Once you get started, produce, produce, produce until you ship. Production without shipping is a waste.

Picture by Luke Chesser – unsplash.com

Day 511. It has been proven scientifically that multitasking is less productive than monotasking. This means that if you have multiple activities to undertake, it’s preferable to do them in series, each one after the other, than in parallel, all at the same time switching back and forth. There’s another thing I’ve discovered in terms of the ultimate productivity is to stop any form of noise.

What do I call noise? Loud music, switched on TV, social networks… noise can be heard, seen or felt. You CANNOT produce quality work if you are distracted by noise. The only way is to be razor-sharp focused on what you are producing. Quality comes at the price of 100% focus. Switch off the noise and get back to work, one step at a time.

Image from Joshua Earle – https://unsplash.com/joshuaearle

Day 510. I was listening, while driving, to Seth Godin. The talk titled « Leap First » touched many topics close to my heart and the one that clicked particularly well over the week-end was the notion of « best of the world ». Of course becoming best of the all world is scary, is crazy and is probably not reachable for most of us, but who knows? However, look at the difference between the title and the scary piece above.

In the title I wrote « best of the world », in the scary I wrote « best of the all world ». The difference lies into this single word all. Being the best of the world is becoming the best of your world. You define your world. If you bake bread, do you want to bake the best bread of your neighborhood? Do you want to offer the best value to your customers when it comes to bread? This is a crucial question. Because this is what defines to be the best of the world and potentially be allowed on the path of becoming one of the bests of the all world.

Of course, it will require talent and efforts, but in the end do you want to become the best of the world and be recognized as such? It’s not only a powerful concept, it’s the only way to make work that matters to you and to others.

Day 509. We often hear about the number of useless meetings, of emails, of information, etc. Like entropy, some things then to increase with, what seems, no limit. However, it’s in our decision space to accept and to change those things. In my professional environment, I’ve experienced over the last years, shorter meetings and the decrease of small talk. This has not happened because something is in the air. It has been a conscious decision. Even leadership meetings of business reviews have gone through a serious diet.

This is a clear signal to our various stakeholders that we need to act more and to talk less. Being on a diet is not just about changing the way we eat, it’s also about exercising more or, at least, differently. It’s the same with talking. Talking less means not only taking faster decision, it’s also about acting more, being more in the field, creating more connections. Look at your days, do you spend too much time talking? Reject meeting requests, reduce meeting time, and deliberately connect with one more people every day. Not only your productivity will increase, your happiness and your bottom line will too!

Ready, get set, go!

Day 508. Success is not about succeeding all the time, it’s about failing more. What if we were succeeding every time we start something? We would probably lying. I do not know somebody who did not fail at one point. May be if you are not doing anything you might not fail, true, but you will not succeed either. Success and failure are brother and sister. They cannot live without each other. People who are complaining all the time are generally the one who never failed because they have never done something significant. Is there something wrong with this? Yes, they tend to undermine the actions of others who might try.

Our own pursuit of happiness should tell us to do, to at least try. Yes this might fail, so what? As Edison said, he has not really failed 10,000 times while trying to create the incandescent bulb, he has found 10,000 ways that did not work. But those 10,000 failures, let’s call them like that, were necessary for the one success. I personally always remind myself of Edison’s story because it shows that delivering, failing and persisting are the best ways to learn. But once you fail, try again. As I was saying yesterday, what matters is not the end it’s the journey. You do not learn anything by reaching your goal, you learn by working towards your goal. Subtle but profound difference. Because if failure occurs and you do not reach your goal, you still have learned a lot on this journey that lead to failure.

The issue is we are taught to succeed and we are discouraged when we fail. We remember the one that gets the gold medal and forget all the others. We all know the world is not fair. Well if you don’t, you’d better learn this fast. As Abba was singing it, the winner takes it all. But the losers get the same learning and experience. Failure to deliver, failure to show up, failure to try are real failures, because they tell a negative story, a story of somebody who has not even try. Do it, ship it, deliver it, show up, it might fail, and it’s great!