Tag Realhmt

So how about realizing after 13 years of being a consultant, that some of the amazing solutions developed within the projects were not what the client really needed? Maybe what he expected, even what he asked, but not what he needed.

I’ve been a consultant since 2003. More than 13 years sitting with people concerned with the performance of their business, overall or a particular process or department. Every time my goal has been to develop real solutions with real value. Every solution developed has been based on the understanding of the client, the client’s problem and the client’s client problems.

Extensive research and expertise has been applied to each one of the projects. The solutions has been flawless, both in the eyes of the team and the eyes of our clients. We both have been proud of the outcome of the consultancy process and yet, a few of those projects have become binders in the drawers, collecting dust, being forgotten.

Thinking back, some of the projects were developed using analogy reasoning. A huge trap, I’ve come to realize, that leaves everyone convinced that the solution is great, even those who devised it.

When you face a complex problem, always should apply first principle thinking. Even if after a few iterations you draw upon some analogies. It will result in a cleaner, stronger, more creative solution.

If you care you prepare.

I heard a podcast a few days ago. There was this girl asking the host how could she maintain the diet and exercise routine she needed in order to have the body and fitness level she wanted. She kept deviating from the rules and actions set in a plan she herself had accepted.

The answer was short but sharp: “My guess is you don’t want it bad enough.” He said she should turn her wants and goals into a burning desire so there would be no other option than adhering to the rules and plan.

So if you think you want something bad enough, you should be behaving accordingly. If you find yourself delaying work, lacking discipline or procrastinating…maybe you should change your dreams or goals into something you really, really care.

Imagine you witnessed a lion attack from the distance a couple years ago. Fortunately, you and your family were a few meters away when the beast jumped from the bushes and the poor trio that were ambushed didn’t make it.

It is 56,000 A.D. and is that time of the year when the drought forces your tribe to move almost 300 kilometers to be able to survive.

You were 16 back then and the scene was forever carved in your psyche. Now you are walking again that same path to survive the droughts and suddenly you see a four legged silhouette on top of the rocks to the left. You are not sure if it is the same beast: it is not the same size, not the same posture, hell , it doesn’t even have the same way of walking, but nevertheless, you sound the alarm to the rest of the tribe so everyone is aware of the menace.

Analogy served us perfect a few million to thousand years: what was a threat would always have the same basic characteristics. So it made perfect sense to react to alike events in alike manners. Fight or flight.

However, today, is a completely different story. The complexity of the system we’re in has multiplied manifold. And almost not one of the decisions we encounter in our lives represents a matter of life and death.

So our brains have grown obsolete.

Or are least, the software of heuristics and quick conclusions based on previous experience and culture that we try to apply to, for example, our business, politics and economic decisions.

In those kind of cases, where no one has previous experience, like the covid19 crisis, or the private special tourism race, or the psychedelic industry, or just about anything we try to start up nowadays, for these situations or systems, analogy reasoning will equal disaster.

To minimize the risk and maximize the odds at success, let me introduce you: first principles thinking.

And then it all crashes, because sometimes you have no control on anything whatsoever.

So you lose your job. Or you lose your company. And you lose meaning, purpose and even your identity. How you start again? How you start again from an unknown point, since you have no idea who or where you are anymore?

Seems morbid? It sure is.

Now think of the millions of people in this position. How can we help? How can we contribute?

So, to be able to perform better, you have to know what to change.

If you want to be clear what to change you need the future vision and the current status. Compare them. Now you have a list of things to change.

Then you need a plan to make those changes.

Prioritize and voilá, you have your strategic plan.

According to several surveys almost 75% of employees are in a job they hate.

So why do they choose to stay? And furthermore, people losing their jobs because of the pandemic are not only stressed but are feeling they are losing their very lives.

The attachment to a job you hate may sound stupid, but the mind is tricky. It finds ways to settle and finds confort zones.

If you are working for someone ales, ando you are not completely and utterly responsible for the permanence, growth and performance of a company (and all the people and their families income) it is very easy to say “not my fucking job”. Even if you are super committed, there is always the option to say it, or blame someone else, or I had a bad day, or my life is not wonderful because my boss, or the company or the owner or whoever you want to blame anything. If you don’t have the owner mentality then it is not your problem, right?

Besides, if you are not the owner, you don’t have on your shoulders the uncertainty and pressure to figure out today what you should do tomorrow to bring your business to better performance, all day, every day. Uncertainty is scarce when you are an employee, your tasks and functions are almost entirely defined.

The downside of having a job is very sad. Statistically, you belong to that 75% that day after day live an empty life.

I think for the majority, they could be happier doing something they love, even if it is very hard to do it, maybe more because it is hard. The thing is, they are very afraid to try it. This damn evolution made us so resistant to change.

So, you see, maybe all these events that Covid19 has fatally brought upon us, for many, being forced to change, the pandemic could be the best that happened to them.

Some habits are proven more effective than others in the quest for productivity and personal fulfillment.

Please note that I didn’t mention success. That is a whole different post in itself.

So I found this video from Impact Theory. It is a curation of 8 extracts from interviews his host Tom Bilyeu has performed in the show.

Even if you are not that inclined to believe some habit could transform the way you live your life, I think you will find these very interesting.

Let me know if anyone of these practices did have an impact in you.

Ease the pain.

And desperation also.

It have always worked. That is why marketers have always looked for pain points in their target. It is effective and efficient. It also gives companies and people a sense of purpose.

Today, however, pain and desperation has never been so tangible. People is, unfortunately, thinking about it in a daily basis. And that is not good for anyone, not even those who aren’t feeling ill.

And the amount of people feeling down, sad or anxious has never been so huge. We all are in this together. All of the 7 billion on the planet are facing the same predicament, even if a few are entertaining conspiracy theories.

So you see, the market is all of us. The business opportunities are endless. And humanity is desperate need of new and better ways of existence.

The world we go back in a few weeks will be transformed. The seed of change has been planted and it came in the shape of a sphere with antennas.

I wish I was talking about an alien spaceship. Unfortunately it is not as majestic as a flying saucer descending from the skies. It came in a much smaller vessel: the Corona Virus.

Much has been said about the pandemic. Where it came from, how it spreads and how fatal it can be. Here i’m interested in imagining the world when this is all “over”. It won’t ever be over, but at least, when the storm has passed and the virus becomes part of our daily lives.

Social, labor, economics, learning, and hopefully government will all be changed forever.

Are you, as individual, in position to become part of the forces that will drive this change? How would you imagine your participation? Is it active or passive? Is it designing new ways of social interaction or deciding where not to take your money? Have you ever thought about it? Do you even care?

Just think that in our day to day, small, trivial decisions, we decide the world we create for ourselves for those around us. So tiny as a drop of water digging a hole in the rock, yet so powerful to shape our future.

“I think we should reschedule all of our home tasks and errands.” I confidently said to my wife. Her distrustful look and the smirk told me I was, maybe, walking on thin ice. I decided to leave the subject.

Just a few days later she sent me the link to an article about organizing home office, home school and everything else at home.

She had read it . She said I should read it.

So I did. It suggested we should relax some standards we abide ourselves to. We should move some priorities, etc. We did, things has been working out better.

So you see, people could hear some fact or advise and their minds might discard it. It depends on how biased you think the other party is. Also depends on the moment you are going through. But the funny thing is that our brains will give so much more authority to a written text than to spoken word.

Just by reading something that before you understood intuitively, it suddenly seems so obvious, so revealing. Like it always should have been this clear.

So use it in your own favor. Set your goals. Write them. Make a plan. Write it. Have a schedule. Write it.

And also if you have someone to persuade, find some texts written by someone else or even write them yourself. It might just be the tipping point of their view of the world.