Genuine Curiosity

Typecasting isn’t always bad

I’ve been talking with my teenage son about career options after high school, which can be a bit daunting (for both of us).  As fate would have it, I found out about a good resource at just the right time – and I think it is a useful resource for anyone looking for a new career path, as well as those who are on a path but want to see if they are really a good fit for what they’re doing.

The resource begins with a quiz to help you figure out what careers are the best fit with your natural thinking style.  The quiz is easy and at the end you get a list of several career areas that are a good match for your personality type, along with suggested study areas.

The classification scheme is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment and, though this quiz is a lightweight assessment, I think it is pretty accurate.  How do I know?  I also took the quiz and found that it was right on target – and I’ve taken the MBTI assessment several times in the past – with fairly consistent results each time (in case your wondering, I fluctuate between INTJ and INTP – I’m pretty much on the line between J & P).

The initial assessment provides you with a high-level summary and a few career suggestions, and you can get a more detailed report for $14.95.  I got the full report for INTP (the one that seemed closest in this particular quiz) and it was not only spot-on, it was full of information to help me better understand how to play to my strengths at work.

My son is an INTJ, and we have that full report, as well.  He’s still not sure what he wants to do, but this report has been helpful so far.

More good info

The Personality Type site is the brainchild of Paul D. Tieger, who is apparently an expert in personality type.  He has a good reading list in the site’s Articles & Resources section, and he’s also one of the authors of “Do What Your Are,” which seems like a good read.

Curious?  You can check out the high level assessment for free at Personality Type.

del.icio.us Tags: personality type,career planning,myers-briggs,mbti,Paul Tieger,Dwayne Melancon

[Updated] Quick clicks for Monday

Last night I was getting caught up on my online reading and finally got a chance to spend time on some of the sites on my “to read” list.  Here are a couple you should click on:

• My friend Derek Newman’s new blog, “Just Thirty Minutes A Day” [updated with new link to Derek’s newly redesigned site]. He just jumped back into the blogging fray on a new topic and is focused on personal productivity tips.
• A good article on “12 Essentials for the Digital Nomad,” which came to me via Phil Gerbyshak.
• Good resources at John Richardson’s “Success Begins Today” 5 Minute Resources page.  I am trying out the 5 minute outliner.
• On the lighter side (via YouTube), there is a funny new episode of “Ask A Ninja” available, as well as a new installment from season 2 of Chad Vader (this episode: The Basement Strikes Back).

Have a great and productive week!

Taking things for granted

On a lighter note, I just got a link from my friend Gene Kim (who sorta has a blog about Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints, if one post qualifies).

The link is to a Conan O’Brien segment with the truly hilarious comedian Louis CK, who’s describing how everything in the world is awesome but nobody is satisfied.

You can watch the video below, or click this link to go to YouTube to watch.

This is must-see PC, believe me.  Enjoy!

Laugh to death by PowerPoint

I’m always on the lookout for ways to make PowerPoint more interesting.  In the past, that’s been things like using “Beyond Bullet Points” and whatnot.  Here’s another idea:  be funny.

I stumbled across the YouTube channel of a comedian named Tim Lee, who uses PowerPoint in his act – and he is very good! Check out the video below (or use this link).  If you like it, be sure and subscribe to Tim Lee’s YouTube channel.  Enjoy!

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Related items:

• Beyond Bullet Points review
• Presentation pet peeves

Learning styles – awesome interview

In my last post, I talked about David Allen’s latest book, “Making It All Work.”  One thing I didn’t mention is that I’m a charter member of David’s “GTD Connect” program, which provides access to a lot more information, resources, and other “stuff” to help GTD users.

One of the deliverables in the GTD Connect program is an ongoing series of interviews with various people.  The latest was an interview with a guy named Frank Sopper who specializes in learning styles. Normally, these interviews are inside GTD Connect’s gated community but I was so intrigued with this latest interview I went looking for a way to share it with you.

I’m happy to report that Frank Sopper has a public link to the interview on his company’s web site.

If you’ve ever been accused of being OCD or ADD,  this is a must-listen.  For everyone else, it’s just a good idea.

Get out of your own way at work

I just finished reading one of the best “coach in a book” type of books I’ve read in a very long time.  The book is Mark Goulston’s, “Get Out of Your Own Way at Work...And Help Others Do the Same: Conquer Self-Defeating Behavior on the Job.”

This book provides very clear guidance on 40 different problem areas that can limit your success at work, each covered in a separate chapter.  The topics covered include

• Being Competent but Out of Touch
• Procrastinating
• Being Afraid to Fire People
• Quitting Too Soon
• Not Forgiving
• Expecting Your Boss To Appreciate You

and many more (you can see the entire table of contents which includes all the topics in Amazon’s preview of the book).

Chock full of goodness

Each section provides a clear description of how each of the self-defeating behaviors might manifest itself, some specifics about the “damage” the behavior can cause, great quotes, and many of the sections include stories from Goulston’s research to further illustrate the point.

The things I liked best were:

• “Usable Insight” observations sprinkled into the text (example: “You have more control over trying or quitting than you do over succeeding or failing”).
• The specific, usable “Action Steps” at the end of each of the 40 chapters that provide real (not idealistic or unrealistic) steps you can take to try to improve.

It’s like self-service coaching

I think anyone can benefit from this book.  When I read through all of the sections, I definitely recognized quite a few areas where I could improve and the advice in the book felt just like it was coming from a wise business coach.  Not bad for a book that costs around 10 bucks.

Go check out the topics in the table of contents.  If any of them sound familiar (and you want to improve in any of those areas), then pick up a copy of this book.

You can also find some good information and inspiration at Dr. Mark Goulston’s excellent blog.

The Encore Effect

“The Encore Effect” is subtitled, “How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do.”   A pretty tall order, eh?  Well, I must say that author Mark Sanborn has put together a very solid set of techniques that really can help you achieve noteworthy results in what you do.

The name comes from the notion that, if you deliver remarkable performance it’ll be like at the end of a great concert; others will applaud and call you back for more.

To achieve this effect, Sanborn offers a “formula” that centers around Passion, Discipline, and Action.  According to Sanborn, these three elements combine to drive the excellence that leave the crowd wanting more.  Each of these critical elements is covered in a separate section of the book.

Create the magic

“I simply set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.” – John Wesley

It’s one thing to have passion, but quite another to be able to direct that passion toward a goal.  In the section on Passion, Sanborn talk about a number of techniques you can use to amplify your passion but, more importantly, he follows that up with a lot of coaching on how you can increase your chances of success through Preparation, Practice, Performance (engaging your audience), Polish (paying attention to the details), and how to anticipate and respond to Pitfalls.

Each aspect is dealt with in a concise chapter with advice that feels “right on the mark” to me, based on my experience.

Share your magic

Once you’ve mastered the art of producing encore-worthy performances, Sanborn encourages you to inspire, coach, and encourage others to achieve their own remarkable performances.  He offers some useful advice on how to cultivate the pursuit of excellence in others and I enjoyed reading his counsel.

If you’re feeling like you’re stuck in a humdrum, lackluster world and want to add some “wow” to your performance, I suggest you check out “The Encore Effect.”  It’s short and easy to read, but beneath its simplicity there is a lot of advice you can really use to be more awesome.

What's your type?

The other day, I was having a discussion with some friends about personality tendencies and how they affect team dynamics. Many of us are "wired" a certain way, which determines how we engage with the world - some think through things out loud, while others need quiet time to process new information; some of us make intuitive leaps, while others need to see it to believe it... and so on.

One of the most interesting tools I've been exposed to for determining your personality "type" is the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This is a tool that helps you identify your preferences for processing information, interacting with others, and making decisions.

A bit about the model

There are 4 pairs of traits that define the spectrum of personality in this model :

• Extraversion vs. Introversion: Broadly speaking, these deal with how you process information and where you gain energy.
• Extraverts tend to gain energy from action and interaction. They talk through ideas to develop them, and feel energized in social situations involving lots of people and mingling, for example.
• Introverts tend to gain energy during their quieter, thinking times. They tend to be deep thinkers, and often prefer intimate groups over large groups.
• Sensing vs. iNtuition. This pair deals with how you perceive the world - how you gather information and process it.
• Sensors are the "show me" types. They trust facts they can see, feel, touch, taste, and hear and tend to be very grounded in their thinking and are very pragmatic and data-driven. Sensors are skeptical of "gut feel" and hunches.
• Intuitives are more comfortable dealing with abstract data, patterns, and theories. They often have "epiphanies" based on combinations of things they've been exposed to, and trust those flashes of insight.
• Thinking vs. Feeling. These deal with how you make and rationalize your decisions.
• Thinkers are more logical and detached in how they come to a decision. They are comfortable interpreting and using rules, frameworks, and other structured models for processing data.
• Feelers are more apt to consider the human aspects of decisions - they are driven toward consensus, balance, and harmony in the decisions they make and tend to be influenced by compassion.
• Judging vs. Perceiving. The final pair of traits define how you relate and present yourself to the outside world.
• Judgers like to "have things settled" and push toward definitive decisions. They are most comfortable with clear answers and declarations.
• Perceivers like flexibility. While they will make decisions, they prefer the option to change their mind later and tend to keep their options open.

You'll notice that each pair has one capitalized letter. The capitalized letter is used in a kind of shorthand to describe your "whole type." For example, my MBTI type is "INTJ" for Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging. There are 16 different combinations of MBTI types, and you're one of them.

You can read one description of the INTJ type on Wikipedia - it's not 100% accurate for me, but it's pretty darned close. Why isn't it 100% accurate? Two reasons:

Executive Stamina

In another example of a book that comes into my life at an opportune time, I have been reading a book designed to help you systematically achieve higher productivity and better "balance" in life. The book is "Executive Stamina: How to Optimize Time, Energy, and Productivity to Achieve Peak Performance," by Marty Seldman, PhD and Joshua Seldman and I am hooked.

This book is similar to another book I've read and liked (but never reviewed) called "Find Your Focus Zone." However, I find Executive Stamina to be more "prescriptive" -- and its focus and style resonated better with me.

One of the authors of Executive Stamina is a clinical psychologist who's done corporate coaching, and the other is a respected cycling and fitness coach. They combine their respective disciplines in an interesting way, producing a guide that is designed to help people manage the natural peaks and valleys of mental and physical energy.

Stop the Thrash

This book is more than just an energy management guide - it also presents some very powerful exercises to help you improve the results you get in life.

Essentially, Executive Stamina seeks to keep you from "topping out" in your career - reaching that point where you hit a performance / interest plateau from which you cannot recover. As shown in the diagram at right, from the book's introduction, the key is to avoid reaching the point of diminishing returns in your work - avoiding what I like to refer to as "thrash."

The book is divided into 5 major sections, each focusing on models and assignments to deal with a specific aspect of your life - resulting in a combined set of skills to keep you out of the Danger Zone shown on the chart. Here is a brief rundown of what you can expect in each section:

• Work / Life Alignment
  • This section focuses on introspection and answering hard questions about your priorities, values, etc. with the goal of helping you reach your career sweet spot.
  • This was by far the most difficult section for me, since it prompted me to revisit past situations in which my choices probably weren't well-aligned with my values. For the same reason, this was also one of the more impactful sections of the book.
  • My favorite tool in this section was the "Minimums and Shifts/Drifts" model, which is a tremendous focusing tool to drive specific action towards goals, and identify shortfalls quickly while you can still do something about them.
• Building Your Stamina
  • This is a very prescriptive section, primarily dealing with stress management, exercise, nutrition, and other aspects of physical health & stamina.
  • I had a lot of favorite tools in this section:
    • the Lifelong Fitness Plan
    • the instructions on Meditation and Breathing Exercises
    • the comprehensive guide for "Workday Yoga" which includes yoga exercises designed to be performed at work.
• Optimizing Job Performance and Results
  • This section focuses on getting better at finding and focusing on high-payoff activities - increasing your win rate, and raising the value of your output.
  • The tools in this section are very simple, and very much aligned with many of the productivity/time management frameworks I know and love. I particularly liked the portions on "Dealing with Toxic People" and the tips and techniques for overcoming procrastination.
• Career Management
  • In this section, the authors focus on the fact that there is a big difference between high productivity and reaching your peak potential. With that in mind, they arm you to tell the difference between the two.
  • This section is still about personal elements of your performance, and provides a lot of guidance on preventing career mis-steps. However, it goes further and pulls in tools to help you look outward to figure out when other people are discounting your achievements, so you can prevent them from hampering your progress.
  • My favorite tool in this section is the one on Organizational Savvy, which includes the "Org Savvy Chart" to assess your strengths and weaknesses in this area.
• Personal Relationships
  • The final section of the book emphasizes that personal relationships are a thread that winds through all of the previous chapters - personal relationships play a significant factor in reaching your peak potential.
  • Interestingly, this section describes how you can apply the tools from previous sections to systematically set goals and improve your relationships by focusing on high-payoff aspects of those relationships. Very cool.

Hopefully this gives you a taste for this book. It's smart, actionable, and well written, and I think it is a must-have for any executive (or anyone who aspires to be "master of their destiny").

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Related items

• Book Review: Mastery (5/5/2005)
• A Quest for Genius (12/11/2005)
• [Review] Flippen's sweet book (7/10/2007)
• [Review] Ignited! (6/12/2007)

Got attention?

I love it when things connect. Recently, a couple of connections materialized from a couple of good friends.

First: Ariane Benefit sent me an inspiring post on how she overcame the challenges of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and learned to thrive.

Second: My office-mate Gene shared a book review at Joyful Jubilant Learning (the book was The Head Trip) and began talking about how he was going to delve into neurofeedback as a way to become more focused and productive, and compensate for ADD-like tendencies.

Maybe the first step is to wonder whether you have a problem?

As someone who is peternaturally curious, I've often wondered if my tendency to flit from one interesting topic or another was normal or not. I still have a tough time drawing the line between "classic ADD" and "easily bored."

Ariane's story is very interesting. She shared her thoughts and doubts prior to being diagnosed with ADD in a very coherent, rational way - and I think her philosophy applies to just about anyone struggling to overcome a personal challenge.

So, what does ADD look like? General characteristics¹ include: (a) difficulty staying focused, easily distracted, not completing tasks (except in some cases "hyperfocusing" on something like a project due tomorrow or fast-moving video game); (b) restlessness/impulsivity/impatience, e.g., can't sit still, blurting/interrupting; (c) problems organizing, planning, prioritizing (often late and hurried); (d) starting projects and not finishing them.

These traits can impact your relationships, self-esteem, and career -- but they are not insurmountable.

Taking responsibility for your own well being

Ariane has taken the bull by the horns and is actively capitalizing on her strengths, rather than falling into the "glass half empty" trap and limiting her aspirations. She shares a bunch of cool stories that provide a glimpse into how she's playing to her strengths.

Gene identified with some of the symptoms he read about in The Head Trip and is exploring neurofeedback, one of the techniques described in the book, to maximize his focus and overcome distractions.

The cool thing I learned from Arian and Gene is that they both used their natural intellectual curiosity to fuel their actions, and weren't satisfied with the status quo. I also learned a lot about ADD, how chronic disorganization may be an indicator of ADD, and how you can cope (and thrive) with ADD.

Still wondering?

Not sure if you have ADD or not? Check out this great article shared by Ariane, "What's it like to have ADD?" to find out more.

Got ADD? Don't worry - you're not alone. Fantastic people like Ariane and Gene have helped me understand some of the differences in how people with ADD engage with the world, and have pointed me to resources to help people with ADD capitalize on their gifts.

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Related items

• Series of awesome posts on dealing with ADD

¹ "How Do I Know if I Have ADD? Is There a Self-Test?"

A less geeky walk with thee

After reading an article from the Nov. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, I wanted to get a pedometer that I could use every day. You see, the study says that people who use a pedometer to track their daily steps tend to increase their step count by about 2400 steps per day. I guess it's one of those "That which gets measured gets improved" situations.

Trouble is, I didn't want to hang some funky pedometer on my belt (most pedometers I've seen are either too bulky or gaudy for me to want to wear them every day). I still haven't found a "businesslike" pedometer, but I've found the next best thing: the ThinQ Pocket Pedometer from Sportline. This is designed to fit in your pocket (I find it works great in either your pants pocket or shirt pocket).

It seems about as accurate as my older, geekier pedometer and it is very unobtrusive. The ThinQ also has a clock, a stopwatch, and calculates the distance (be sure and set your stride length for more accuracy) and estimated calories burned through walking.

The ThinQ comes in blue, orange, and green and you can get it on Amazon, and it is on sale at the time of this posting through REI.

By the way - the AMA article also suggests 10,000 steps as a good goal for most people. Walk on, everyone.

Five Secrets for the New Year

I just finished John Izzo's book, "The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die" and I think it's a good choice to provide some perspective for New Year's resolutions.

This book contains a very interesting collections of anecdotes and insights from hundreds of interviews Izzo has conducted with "elders" in various cultures around the world (ages ranged from 59 to 105). He distilled what he learned from these interviews into the "Five Secrets" that these elders deemed essential to a happy life. For those of you who crave the list, the five secrets are:

1. Be true to yourself
2. Leave no regrets
3. Become love
4. Live the moment
5. Give more than you take

A simple list of the Five Secrets is useful, but the "why" really comes out in the stories Izzo shares in this book. I learned a lot of subtleties about the five secrets through the stories in each section.

Powerful perspective from others - and some questions of my own

Izzo went down the path toward this book because he wanted to learn how to have the most fulfiling life possible. His father died at age 36, and Izzo's sense of urgency about his own life increased as a result. This study process got him to spend a lot of time with old people and he found that different cultures place different amounts of value on the old in their societies. Izzo found many cultures where the elders are held in very high regard, and regularly consulted about weighty matters - for example, he cites a Romanian saying, "The house that does not have an old person in it must buy one."

He also observes that the US culture, for one, tends to focus more on the ideas of the young, and relegates elders to nursing homes and retirement communities. I think his observation is an interesting one and, while his statements about this may be exaggerated a bit, it's worth considering whether we are systematically dismissing the value of the old people in our society - and figuring out how each of us, individually, can embrace the value of our elders more often.

As cool as Izzo's ideas are, one thing bothered me after reading this book: Most of the "elder honoring" cultures Izzo mentions (Romania, Tanzania, etc.) are not exactly dominating the world's stage for political, economic, or social contributions. Why not? What else is needed? And is there a way to accelerate world contributions by better engaging elders in our activities and decisions?

Start the New Year with some new ideas

There is a lot to think about in this book, and I think it provides an excellent backdrop for reviewing your life's priorities and purpose. If you're thinking about New Year's resolutions this would be a good book to read before you put pen to paper - it's an easy read for such a deep message, and the stories will be good for you no matter what..

One-liners for life

I just discovered a very cool idea, courtesy of Gretchen and The Happiness Project.  For the last year, she's been keeping a One Sentence Journal for a year now - I am very intrigued, and thinking of doing the same.  Consider this, from her post:

"Each night, I write one sentence (well, actually, usually it's three or four sentences, but by calling it a "one sentence journal" I keep my expectations realistic) about what happened that day to me, the Big Man, and the girls. Right now, I can't imagine forgetting the time when the Little Girl said politely, "Can I have some more pajamas on my pasta?" when she meant "parmesan," but I will, I will."

Don't know about you, but I think that's pretty cool.  She also has plans to create bound books of the sentences for her girls and her husband.  Check out the details in her post.

Can tech move us from “sleepless” to “sleep less”?

According to an article just out from Discover Magazine, research is being done to figure out ways to use electromagnetic energy to somehow "tweak" your brain so you can get by with 4 hours of sleep per night.

While I like the concept, I don't want to be an early adopter of this technology. Consider this, from the article:

"The technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation, involves an electromagnetic coil that emits pulses of skull-penetrating, neuron-activating magnetic energy. Depending on where the wand is and how fast it pulses, TMS can play all kinds of tricks. It can make a thumb twitch, create the illusion of a flash of light, or even treat depression. Neuroscientist Giulio Tononi of the University of Wisconsin set out to see if TMS could switch on certain sleep phases."

I want to find out more about the long-term effects of this, and certainly don't want to get involved while it's still in the "tweaking and tuning" phase of development. The article mentions that the device is still quite large, so I don't think there's any danger of a forced sleep mode on your iPod any time soon.

The technology looks like it could have beneficial uses, once perfected (follow some of the links in the article for more). Of course, I can also envision not-so-beneficial uses of a technology that can make your body move uncontrollably - think "Taser without the wires" - I'm not ready for that!

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Related items:

• The polyphasic voyeur (2/3/2006)
• pzizz: State of the art power napping (7/15/2007)

pzizz field report #1

Recently, I wrote about pzizz, a great tool to help you with "power napping." During a very demanding business trip the other day, I tried a pzzizz experiment. I was taking a short, mid-day shuttle flight from San Francisco back to Portland, and I was dragging due to lack of sleep the couple of days before.

I was getting that "nodding off" feeling anyway, so I took out my iPod and loaded up a 20 minute pzizz "Energizer Nap" soundtrack. pzizz guided me through the relaxation process, I fell asleep, and it woke me up at the end of 20 minutes.

Afterward, I felt much better, and was good for the rest of the day. This is pretty cool. I'm still looking forward to testing out the jet lag angle of this on my next trip to Europe.

Some tips if you try this:

• Good headphones that block out ambient sound help a lot (see my review of my earbuds)
• Keep your knees out of the aisle when the cart comes through - I had to do a restart on my nap from that one!

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Related items:

• pzizz: State of the art power napping (7/15/2007)