Trim the Grass or Pull the Weeds?

Sometimes we just need to fine tune our habits and other times remove them completely. Take 2 minutes to find out what I mean.



Lovin' your work!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

Are you an Active Participant?

I was fortunate enough to MC the TEDx Melbourne even on Saturday. If you are not aware of TED I insist you go to http://www.ted.com/ and find our more before reading any further!

Anyway, it occurred to me that most participants at events like this are Passive, a fair few are Semi-Active and a rare few are truly Active. Here is how I define each category:

Passive
These people are happy to be at the session. They enjoy themselves but may little, if any, contribution to the discussion at the time. They are not willing to "stand out" and state an opinion. They will enjoy the session but life will continue on as normal.

Semi-Active
These people love this kind of session. They make sure their opinion is made (and heard!) and they may even continue the discussion after the session has concluded. But at the end of the day, life goes on as per normal with minimal changes made.

Active
These people are sometimes considered "The Quiet Achievers". While they do express their opinion, they are also inclusive of others. They will encourage others to be part of the discussion and contribute their thoughts and ideas. Most importantly, they will actively implement some of their new ideas in their day to day life. They hear a new idea, decide what they can do about it and then put action in place.

I am not saying we should all be Active at this kind of session as it takes all types. What I am saying is that it is the Active Participants that get the most value out of a session.

What about you? What recent learning do you need to be Active about?

Photo: Peter Yandell

Do You Have Piles?

Are you one of these people with piles?

What I mean is piles of paper on your desk, the window sill, the floor, your secretary's desk? Maybe you even have them on the bench at home or in your home office? You know the piles I am talking about. They are the, "I'll do that later" piles.

These piles drain your energy. Just looking at them exhausts you. Have you ever turned up to work, looked at your desk and then left it in search of the coffee you need to get you started? You HAVE to get rid of your piles.

Here are some easy ways:

• Do it - so often we spend more energy putting something off that actually doing it.
• Dump it - you may be delaying it because you are not going to do it, just throw it away. My theory is "When in doubt, chuck it out".
• Delegate it - maybe someone else is better off doing one this for you.
• Deposit it - you pile may just need filing or archiving
• Diarise it - Now may not be the best time to deal with a pile, so diarise an appointment with yourself when you will do it, and file the pile in your pending area until you need it.

Once you have dealt with your physical piles, what about your virtual piles? We call it email!!

Lovin' your work!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

Photo Credit: Placid Casual

What's in Your Head?

It seems to me that one of the worst voices we listen to is that one that is in our head. What do you hear when someone gives you feedback?

If someone is giving constructive criticism do you jump to, "Typical I've stuffed up again".
If someone gives you a compliment do you hear, "They're just saying that".
When you achieve fantastic results do you hear, "But I could have done better".

The voice does not serve you well. It can often sound like a parent, an old teacher, a sibling or a jealous rival. You are best often to ignore or silence the voice. When the voice kicks in, tell yourself; "That is NOT what they are saying" and listen to what the feedback actually is.

When someone is giving you feedback the best thing to do is accept it. You may not agree with it, but there will be value in it. To know someone thinks you have done well or to find ways you can improve what you are doing or to accept that you are not perfect but you are improving is a far more valuable way to deal with this situation.

So what is that voice saying now?


Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

What is Your Perspective?

Perspective can have such a significant impact on how we see a situation.

I live in Melbourne where we have Trams as a form of public transport. When I am in a tram, I want all the cars and pedestrians to get out of my way because they slow me down and I just want to keep moving. When I am in a car, I want the tram to go away because I have to stop more, the traffic is slower and pedestrians just step out on to the road - they slow me down and I just want to keep moving. When I am a pedestrian, I want all traffic (be they car, bus, tram, motorbike or pushbike) to get out of my way because they don't consider me and get in my way - they slow me down and I just want to keep moving.

When I shift my perspective, my journey becomes more pleasant. When I'm in my car, if I recall how I feel when I'm on the tram or a pedestrian, I become more considerate. The same thing happens when I'm a pedestrian or on the tram considering how I feel when I am on the other modes of transport. My situation is still the same, but a shift in perspective makes the situation more pleasant and somehow it seems quicker and less draining.

What about you? What situation do you need to change your perspective on? Is it dealing with your kids, your partner, your boss, your colleagues, your pets, that guy at the train station, the person selling Big Issue magazines, or maybe it is how you relate to yourself? What is your perspective?

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

Photo: Joe Armao

Who Brought Your Success?

Following on from last weeks post, I want to let you know how successful my vocal groups CD launch was.
- We packed the venue and had over 200 people there.
- We got rapturous applause showing they liked our stuff.
- Most people wanted to take us home so we sold over 100 CD's

It was a great event and a huge success!

I am not telling you this to make you jealous that you missed out (although that may happen!), I am telling you this to let you know that a huge success like this does not happen by itself. So many people contributed. Naturally, the Musical Director, Choreographer, Graphic Designer and Marketing Manager had a significant input but that is no more important that the individuals singing the right notes at the right time with the right words. We couldn't have done it without the venue staff looking after our guests while we sang and the cleaning staff cleaning up after we left.

Also, if our loved ones didn't support us and understand that we had to go to rehearsals every Wednesday and practice singing around the house (which is not always pleasant!), the performance would not have been as good.

So many people have contributed to making us and our event a success.

What about your success? Even if you have done it all on your own, who has given you the space to make it happen? Who has put you on that path? Who has made sure you have the resources to do or achieve what you need to? Who keeps the tea and coffee stocked, the dishes cleaned, the motivation fired up, the ideas generating, the projects on track, the clothes clean, the technology running, the employee's happy? The list goes on.

Once you know who they are, why not thank them? It is the little things that all go together to enable the big things to happen. Make sure you acknowledge the people who make the little things happen - because they make the big things happen.

Enjoy!

Mum on a Motorbike

I gave my mum a lift home from the city yesterday.

There is nothing unusual about that. People do it all the time. But my mum lives in a sleepy town with a population of about 2,000 and traffic is not usually that busy. She was visiting me in Melbourne, population about 4 million and peak hour is.... well.... messy at times!! Not only that, but I ride a motorbike. Granted, it is a big one, but it means you are much closer to the large semi-trailers than you are when in the car.

So there we were zooming home on the bike, me on the front hoping everyone would know I had my mum on the back so they should give way, and my 67 year old mum on the back grinning like a cheshire cat. She had a ball! In fact, she liked it so much that after we got home, we got back on the bike and went for another ride to the pub for dinner.

As much as I like bragging about my mum, the point of this is don't let invisibile boundaries stop you from doing things. When I mentioned to people I was giving mum a lift home many people on my clients site said things like: "ooo... is that a good idea?", "your mum? Really?" even other motorbike riders were saying "I am not sure I would do that." At what age do you get "too old" to do things? Too mature, too tall, too many responsibilities, too serious, too risky, too (insert relevant word here)??

Life is to be lived. Don't let what other think hold you back.

Enjoy

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy