Mindful Innovation

Five Simple Time-Making Strategies

When you’re feeling the proverbial stress of time (e.g. not enough!) and the negative consequences to your mental, emotional and physical well being, consider these strategies to build time adaptability and resiliency:

1. Question if it is truly the RIGHT TIME…recognizing it may not be!  One saying “There’s your plan and the universe’s plan suggests that sometimes we are part of a much bigger story that is in the process of unfolding and if so, our challenge/opportunity is to let go for the moment and trust the higher powers that be.
2. BE IN THE MOMENT.  Being in the moment means letting go of the past and the future…even if for just a moment…to experience the peace, freedom and timelessness that is available to you at any time.  Try it now, but before you do, take off your watch and hide your cell phone.
3. Question your ASSUMPTIONS about how much time your task at hand will actually take.  Once you decide how much time you need, challenge yourself to do it in half or a quarter of the time.  Challenging your assumptions will probably get your creative juices flowing to find a more efficient (and possibly more effective!) path to your goal.
4. RIGHT TIMING is another perspective to explore (which is different than right time).  Sometimes there is the perfect confluence of people and events that allows for the maximum potential of all the separate elements.  Perhaps in your situation this is true, so postponing your task and delaying gratification may be the way to go.
5. PRIORITIZING, especially when your to do list seems daunting is one more way to buy more time.  After you delegate tasks to others and push out deadlines that can wait (see number 1 and 4) focus only on the top two or three priorities at a time.  Over time, this practice will expand your sense of time.

I just watch David Kelley’s TED talk on “How to build your creative confidence.”  I think we are all working on building a system of guided mastery and to our own self-efficacy.

Born to Learn is the first animation in a fascinating series aimed to provide easy-access to the exciting new discoveries constantly being made about how humans learn!

Born to Learn from Born to Learn on Vimeo.

“I’m having a hard time getting support, buy-in and commitment because people don’t understand what I’m trying to do!”

If this is a familiar story line, you may be one of the many who have not yet realized that your communications have not been effective and that providing data is not really communicating.  Perhaps now is the time to abandon your familiar “story” and start telling a real story!

We know that telling your story is an effective and fun way to inform others and get the support, buy-in and commitment you truly desire.  Because story telling is PERSONAL, it is easy to ENGAGE and to be ENGAGED.  Chip and Dan Heath in Made to Stick speak to the power of stories in providing simulation (knowledge about how to act) and inspiration (motivation to act) and how the “right stories” make people act.

Stories are important because they:

• Help people grasp the bigger picture – the “Whys and Hows”
• Make it easier to expand the breadth and depth of discussion
• Simplify complex ideas and information
• Help shift perspectives
• Connect people from diverse backgrounds around shared purpose and meaning
• Create community

What is the story you can tell that will really WORK for you?

Think of a time you said “NO” and did not take action to try something new because you were afraid.  “Afraid I’ll fail.  Afraid I’ll look silly.  or Afraid of the unknown” may have been some of the reasons that allowed you to talk yourself out of it.  Knowing you’re not alone (everyone has a “fright-flight“ experience!), think about what might have been different if you stepped over your fear into the YES!  As author Paulo Coelho said “The magic moment is when a “YES” or “NO” can change the whole of our existence.”

If we consider FEAR as “False Expectations Appearing Real” it may be easier to let go of what we THINK may be high risk and/or inevitable in terms of failure, embarrassment et al to experience the magic moment where innovation IS possible.

So for the sake of “keeping innovation alive,” know that the REAL FEAR is NOT meeting a challenge, taking a risk, or taking action and that NOW may be the perfect time to say YES!

by Natasha Tong