Lifehack: An ounce of prevention

June 22, 2005

As a very frequent flyer, I wanted to share a best practice I picked up from a friend of mine, John Palazza. After noticing that John always had a bottle of hand sanitizer with him, I realized this small idea would be handy to get rid of traveler germs as I made my way through airports and other places where the unwashed masses may gather.

I have seen the following things on planes and in airports:

very grungy airline tray tables that haven't been wiped in who-knows-how-long
people leaving public restrooms without washing their hands (not me, I assure you)
people of all ages coughing and sneezing all over the place
other things I'd rather not mention

I then see people eat off those airline tray tables.

I believe this is why I have always had at least one good bout of flu or something more exotic every year. For example, I caught German measles (aka Rubella) after a flight full of coughers about 3 years ago - apparently my childhood vaccine didn't work the way it should've.

But that didn't happen this year! I've been using John's little trick since last summer, and I've now officially made it through a season of heavy winter travel without getting the flu, or even a cold. I attribute it to the wondrous anti-germ powers of my travel-size Purell hand sanitizer, complete with its own handy little rubber harness that allows me to attach it to my briefcase.

I then sanitize my hands before and after meal and beverage service on the flight, and when I get off the plane.

If you travel a lot, why not give it a try? John puts the "Pal" in Palazza.

Today I wil...

June 21, 2005

Ever have one of those days when it feels like the world is pushing you around? Where you feel like you did a whole bunch of stuff, but you really didn't do anything on your own list?

I almost had one of those today. What saved me was that I put a couple of things on my "must do" list this morning, and I made sure they got done before going to bed. Nothing earth-shattering, but they were things on my hot list for the week, which I decided I would get done today.

It's all mental - just pick something every day that you'll do for you. Every step forward is a step closer to your goals.

Recharging your batteries

June 18, 2005

Lisa's got a cool post on Management Craft (it even has a picture of a fancy drill). She asks the question "How Big Are Your Batteries?" - and it's gotten me thinking.

I'm a classic, hard-core "introvert" in Meyers-Briggs type indicator parlance (an INTJ, if it do ya). If you're familiar with their definition of Introverted, it has more to do with how you process information than with how outgoing your personality seems to others. For me, it means that I need time to process information, and when you couple my Introversion with the other aspects of my type (iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging) it means I like to get lots of data in, then I use my intuitive bias to see patterns, make connections, and form hard conclusions.

Lisa's post sparked one of those "connections" for me, as I realized that it's important for me as an introvert is to deliberately build time into my schedule to recharge my batteries. You see, Introverts find lots of social stimulation to be a bit draining at times, and need some down time to process the information they've accumulated - this process is where we become energized.

So, while I think it's important to know what size battery you have, I think it's even more important to know what to do to make sure you get a full charge now and then.

For me, it's typically activities that allow me to gather new information without feeling the pressure to process it immediately. That means things like reading, watching the Discovery channel (or the History channel or somthing like that), reading blogs, listening to talk radio and audio books, and that sort of thing. It often involves quiet time alone.

If you're an extrovert, your recharge might look different - it may involve some social interaction, talking with someone into the wee hours, having a good debate, or just going to a party and socializing.

In any case, build in some time to recharge your batteries - it's no fun having them run down when you really need them.

No your enemy

June 17, 2005

Ran across an article on To-Done today that provides some helpful tips on how to say "No" when you need to. At first glance, this seems kind of like the anti-matter version of the book "Getting To Yes," but it's actually very complementary.

The core of this is taking responsibility for your commitments - before you make them. I'm sometimes guilty of taking on too much, of saying "Yes" a bit too quickly, and of avoiding "No" just to keep the peace. I usually realize it soon after I've dug my hole a little deeper, and then recovery can be a pain.

The list of ideas provided is great - now, if I can just get them to be more of a habit...

[Updated] Breakthrough performance

June 15, 2005

For the past two weeks, I've been participating in Lisa Haneberg's "2 Weeks 2 A Breakthrough " (2w2aB) program. Lisa, who I discovered through her Management Craft blog, is also the author of "H.I.M.M. - High Impact Middle Management" which is a tremendous resource for managers at all levels.

Anyway, I was part of the 2w2aB program, which involved picking a specific goal and being willing to accept coaching and suggestions from Lisa every day for 14 days. It also involved a personal commitment to spend about an hour per day working on specific types of activities to advance toward your stated goal.

This was one of those "hurts so good" kinds of activities for me. My goal was to really kickstart a new project which resulted from me taking on some new responsibilities at work. This new project required me to do a lot of networking, discovery, and evangelism and really pushed me out of my comfort zone in a lot of ways (I don't yearn to do cold calls, I assure you).

Lisa's approach was very effective at forcing me to approach my work in a more reasoned, discipline-driven way. It also encouraged me to enlist others in my goal and established a daily discipline routine that I think will help me beyond Day 14 of the program.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lisa for giving me the chance to participate in the Pilot of this program, and I look forward to what she puts in place as a result of this (she is running 4 pilot teams through the process, in an effort to improve her methodology).

My main take-aways from this process:

I reaffirmed the importance of specific, written goals
I realized the power of small, persistent actions toward a goal
I discovered the effectiveness of asking / allowing someone else to poke me on a daily basis to keep me focused on my goal
I found I could make far more progress in two weeks than I'd ever have thought possible
I confirmed that discipline is not just a choice - it's a bunch of choices and opportunities - if you missed one opportunity, get right back on track by siezing the next

This process reminded me of something a friend of mine once told me: "If you figure out what you really want, and ask for it, you just might get it."

The breakthroughs are ours for the taking. Thanks, Lisa.

Update June 15, 2005:

Last night, I got to the end of Lisa's book, H.I.M.M. - High Impact Middle Management, and there is some great information toward the end of the book about how to achieve performance breakthroughs, including how to coach others to achieve their own breakthroughs. Good stuff.

Lifehack: An ounce of prevention

Today I wil...

Recharging your batteries

No your enemy

[Updated] Breakthrough performance

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