10 Characteristics of Effective Meetings

May 12th, 2010 by MartinD No comments »

Here are 10 concepts worth considering for effective meetings

1) Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort.

2) A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning, characterised by focus, governed by structure, and controlled by a budget.

3) Short meetings free people to work on the essential activities that represent the core of their jobs. In contrast, long meetings prevent people from working on critical tasks such as planning, communicating, and learning.

4) Three things guarantee an unproductive meeting: poor planning, lack of appropriate process, and hostile culture. Effective leaders attend to all of these to create an effective meeting.

5) Effective meetings require sharing control and making commitments.

6) The ultimate goals of every meeting are agreements, decisions, or solutions. Meetings held for other reasons seldom produce anything of value.

7) Unprepared participants will spend their time in the meeting preparing for the meeting.

8) It is better to spend a little time preparing for solutions than to spend a lot of time fixing problems.

9) Meetings are an investment of resources and time that should earn a profit.

10) A meeting can be led from any chair in the room. And if it’’s your meeting, you want it to be your chair.

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How Does Memory Work?

April 16th, 2010 by admin 19 comments »

The discipline that investigates the internal processes of thought such as learning, visualisations, memory, feeling, sounds, problem solving, language and thinking is known as Cognitive Psychology.

On a daily basis our senses are subjected to a flood of information and his information is constantly stored in memories. Many experts working in cognitive psychology suggest that there are three ways we store these memories, and this system acts as a sort of filter to protect ourselves from this information onslaught.

The three storage systems are: Sensory, Short Term, Long Term.

The sensory memory retains an exact copy of what is seen or heard (visual & auditory) at that moment. It’s your sensory memory that allows a perception such as a visual pattern, a sound, or a touch to linger for a brief moment after the stimulation is over. The memory is stored for a few seconds at most, many experts suggest only a fraction of a second. It has been claimed that Sensory Memory has unlimited capacity.

Short Term memory simply means that you are retaining the information for a short period of time. There isn’t the need to create the neural mechanisms for later recall.  For example, maybe you are looking for your car keys as you are about to head out of your building. A friend advises you that the keys are on a table next to the door. You only require storage of that memory until you walk over to pick up the keys. Short term memory is often stored as sounds, especially in recalling words, but may be stored as images as well. Similar to a Computers RAM (Random Access Memory) it provides space for short computations before either discarding the information or moving it to other storage facilities in the memory system. Similar to a computer where you can loose a document, for example, if you don’t save it – a short term memory is also susceptible to loss through interruptions or interference.

Long term memory is relatively permanent storage . Neural pathways are created for storing ideas and information which can be recalled weeks, months, or even years later. Information is stored on the basis of meaning and importance, and is gradually transferred from short-term memory into long-term memory. The more the information is repeated or used, the more likely it is to eventually end up in long-term memory, or to be “retained.”. To create the neural pathways requires deliberate effort. Interest in the topic obviously helps. Repetition and rehearsal of information, especially auditory, assists in recall. In studying mathematics, for example, learning the times table by rote is something many people will use for recall throughout their whole lives. The limits of the capacity of our long term memory are not known.

Some strategies to improve long term memory include:

Be attentive

Rehearse or repeat

Chunking

Mnemonic techniques

Visualisations

External aids

Being organised

These techniques can be reviewed in the article “Increase your brain power with 7 quick memory tips”.

Discover further ideas how to become a mental giant by downloading your free report entitled “Improve Your Memory” from www.paradigmshiftstoday.com/improveyourmemoryreport.html


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Posted in Personal Development

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Goal-Setting Rules

April 15th, 2010 by admin 7 comments »

Written by Brian Tracy

There are several important rules that accompany effective goal setting.

First
Your goals must be in harmony with one another, not contradictory. You cannot have a goal to be financially successful, or to build your own successful business, and simultaneously have a goal to spend half your day at the golf course or at the beach. Your goals have to be mutually supportive and mutually reinforcing.

Second
Your goals must be challenging. They must make you stretch out without being overwhelmed. When you initially set goals, they should have about a 50 percent or better probability of success. This level of probability is ideal for motivation, yet not so difficult that you can become easily discouraged.

Third
You should have both tangible and intangible goals, both quantitative and qualitative. You should have concrete goals that you can measure and evaluate objectively. At the same time, you should have qualitative goals, for your inner life and your relationships.

Fourth
You need both short-term goals and long-term goals. You need goals for today and goals for five, ten, and twenty years from today. The ideal short-term timeframe for business, career and personal planning is about ninety days. The ideal long-term period for these same goals is two to three years. These time horizons seem to be the ideal for continuous motivation.

Fifth
The ideal life is focused, purposeful, positive and organized so that you are moving toward goals that are important to you every hour of every day. You always know what you’re doing and why. You have a continuous sense of forward motion. You feel like a “winner” most of the time.

Sixth
The decision to become a goal-setting, goal achieving, future focused person gives you a tremendous sense of control. Your self-esteem increases as you progress toward your goals. You like and respect yourself more and more. Your personality improves and you become a more positive, confident person. You feel happy and exited about life. You open the floodgates of your potential and begin moving faster and faster toward becoming all that you were meant to be.

Action Exercise
Map out your short-term, long-term, qualitative, and quantitative goals for your future in both your personal and professional life.

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Posted in Business Skills, Personal Development

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Increase Your Brian Power with 7 Quick Memory Tips

April 15th, 2010 by MartinD 8 comments »

Remember back in the day when people would tie a string around their finger?  Well, that was a strategy they used to remember things that they needed to do.  It served as a reminder that there were things that had not been done yet.  It served as a visualization tool.  Whenever they saw the string, it let them know that they needed to finish the job.

With all of the electronic organisers available nowadays, it’s highly unlikely that anyone is using a piece of string anymore.  Nevertheless, developing our memory and the ability to recall information is an important skill both socially and intellectually and there are things that you can do that can help to improve your memory.  You can make them part of your routine every day.

1. Be Attentive

Attention is one of the major components of memory. The most basic memory exercise is to simply tell yourself to remember. The simple step of developing a habit of actively paying attention can save much frustration. If remembering the name of somebody you just meet is an issue – pay attention at the introduction. Listen to the name and repeat it in your memory a number of times. Tell yourself, “remember that”. This signals the unconscious mind to rank this input higher in importance.

2. Rehearse or Repeat.

Short term memory only lasts for about 20-30 seconds without rehearsal of the information. That’s why it is easy to forget a name after introduction. Rehearsal or repeating the information helps move it from short-term memory to long term memory. To aid this shift, consider the meaning of the information, why do you want to remember it, why is it important, and how will you remember it.

3. Chunking

Short term memory is limited to the number of items it can hold. In 1956, George Miller of Princeton University wrote an article “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”. Miller’s article discussed memory span which refers to the longest list of items that a person can repeat back in correct order immediately after being presented with the information. Miller observed that the memory span is approximately 7 chunks of information, where a chunk can be a collection of related items. For example, being asked to recall a 10 digit telephone number (0261467375) as separate digits would be 10 chunks, and exceeds Millers suggested recall capacity, but “chunking” the 10 digits into a groups such as  0261-467-375 now becomes 3 chunks and much easier to recall.

4. Use Mnemonic Techniques

Mnemonic techniques are often used as a method of recall, especially by students. A mnemonic is simply a way to remember information. They actually work, and yet many people don’t want to take the time and effort to set them up. The best mnemonics are those that utilize positive imagery, humor, or novelty. You might come up with a rhyme, song, or joke to help remember a specific segment of information. In making check-lists you can use the first letter of each checklist item to make a word (whether the word is real or not).

5. Use Visualisations

Some people are very strong at creating mental images. Why not create a mental snapshot to enhance a memory. For example, you are away from your home, and you remember that you must program the television recorder on your return. Create a strong visualisation where you see yourself in your mind entering your dwelling, walking immediately up to the television, picking up the handheld remote and pressing the keys. When you return home, and pass the television you are more likely to recall that you need to program the recorder.

6. Use External Aids

Often people make life harder by trying to recall an item from memory rather than recording  it on a note pad or electronic device. Always keep some recording device nearby, whether “old school” pen and notebook, or electronic organiser. Whatever you do, don’t write items on little bits of loose paper, I’ll wager you mislay the bit of paper more often than not

7. Being Organised

Maybe this is not a memory tip, but trying to remember where those car keys, or reading glasses are when they a randomly put down is frustrating and time consuming. Create an organised environment to live in where items that are often used are returned to fixed locations. Now you don’t have to waste time trying to recall where you put that item down. As the old expression says “A place for everything, and everything in its place”.

Discover further ideas how to become a mental giant by downloading your free report entitled “Improve Your Memory” from www.paradigmshiftstoday.com/improveyourmemoryreport.html


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The Power of Goals

April 8th, 2010 by MartinD 1 comment »

From a business context, I enjoy reading and listening to Brian Tracy, arguably one of the best business consultants and speakers in the world today. Brian advocates many personal habits to assist in success, and in particular the setting of goals.

I don’t know about you, but many people I meet never set goals, and yet we know that once the mind is focused on an outcome, and action is taken, “things” seem to occur that makes the outcome a reality.

If setting goals actually work, then why is it that so many people don’t set them. Brian suggests 4 reasons:

1. They think goals aren’t important -

Maybe you have never even thought about the power of goals.

2. They don’t know how to set goals –

You must be specific, but more about that below

3. They have a fear of failure –

You don’t always get what you ask for, but interestingly, you always seem to learn more.

4. They have a fear of rejection –

Guess what, there is always someone out there who will criticise or ridicule your goal – especially if you don’t achieve it. A GOOD TIP IS: pssst – keep it secret. If you need to tell anybody, tell only those you know will support you. Once you achieve your goal, then you can tell anyone!!

There will always be reasons why things don’t go the way we plan (if we plan at all), the choice we have is to either focus on grumbling and complaining on the unhappy outcome, or learn the lesson and try something different in order to achieve the outcome we desire.

This is a great quote:

“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”

– Carlos Castaneda, author

So how do we set Goals?

Brian Tracy talks a lot about “Clarity”. Clarity means being absolutely crystal clear about who you are and what you want, and then writing it down. Every successful mentor I have had the opportunity to work with created business plans, mind maps, lists, pictures, action diagrams etc. I’ve got a picture of my next motor-cycle on my office wall, and a plan on how and when I’m going to buy it. If you read Michael Phelps’ (one of the greatest swimmers of all time) book – No Limits – Michael explains how every swimming season he sets his goals with his coach, writes them down, and then trains to achieve them.

So decide what you really want:

1. What are your three most important goals in your business and career right now?

2. What are your three most important financial goals right now?

3. What are your three most important family or relationship goals right now?

4. What are your three most important health and fitness goals right now?

and write them down. Don’t just leave them in your head, you’ll forget them or be distracted. Once you put them on paper, your goals seem to be more real. Decide which goals are to be long-term, which are to be short-term, and which fall somewhere in between. Start with your short term goals, and decide what it is that you need to do to achieve your goal. Break down your longer-term goals into smaller goals so that you know that you are on track.

There is a simple five step process that you can go through to set any personal or professional goal. Make sure that all five steps are written into an action document:

1. Identify your goal by writing it down

2. Set a realistic deadline for achievement

3. List all the obstacles to overcome in accomplishing your goal (these may become mini-goals in their own right)

4. List the skills and knowledge required to reach your goal. What do you need to know? (again, this acquisition of knowledge may become further mini-goals)

5. Develop a plan of action to reach your goal.

Remember to stay on track and constantly evaluate your progress. We all get busy, so review your action plan daily. Modify it as your priorities change if you need to, but keep your plans visible and you will be surprised by your continual progress towards your goal(s).

Finally – take action – do something – move forward. The world is full of people who say “would-a, should-a, could-a”. Don’t procrastinate and step outside your comfort zone. You may become pleasantly surprised.

“In talking about time what we really mean is life. If you love life, do not squander time, because it is the stuff of which life is made”

– Benjamin Franklin

By the way, Brian Tracy has been giving away his e-book “Goals” for free – click here


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Posted in Business Skills

Time Management – a look at how we really spend our time.

March 1st, 2010 by MartinD 1 comment »

Time Management Image

I was given this image by a friend recently. Amongst all the theories and practices of Time Management, this is probably what really runs our lives.

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Posted in Time Management

Remain Flexible at all Times

September 28th, 2009 by MartinD 3 comments »

The Menninger Institute of Kansas City conducted a study not long ago to determine what qualities would be most important for success and happiness in the twenty-first century. They concluded after extensive research, that the most important single quality that you can develop, in a time of rapid change, is flexibility.

The Speed of Change

Today, perhaps the most important factor affecting your life is the speed of change. We are living in an age where change is taking place at a faster rate than ever before in human history. And if anything, the rate is increasing, year by year. Change today is not only faster, but it is also discontinuous, not following a straight line but starting, stopping, and moving in unpredictable directions. Change is coming at us from all sides and in so many different ways that it is often impossible to anticipate what might happen next.

A Major Cause of Stress

Change causes enormous stress for people who are fixed or rigid in their beliefs about how things “should be.” They fall in love with what they are doing, with their current methods and processes, and are unwilling to change, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Don’t let this happen to you.

Be Open to New Information

To remain flexible, you must constantly be open, alert to new ideas, information, and knowledge that can help you or hurt you in your business or in the achievement of your goals. One new idea can be enough to make or lose you a fortune. One idea can start you on the road to riches or knock you off of it.

The Tide of New Technology

The second factor driving change is the rapid growth and development of new technology. Every new piece of scientific or technical knowledge leads to an advance in technology aimed at helping people and companies get things done faster, better, cheaper, or easier. And the speed of technological change is increasing every day.

Playing Leapfrog

Being in business is like playing an endless game of leapfrog. You look for a way to leapfrog over your competitor and serve your customers, better, faster, and cheaper. Your competitor then leapfrogs over you with a new or better product or service. You quickly regroup and leap over your competitor with a new innovation or improvement. Your competitor then leaps over you, and the game goes on without end.

Action Exercise

Be willing to admit, in each area of your life where you experience stress or resistance, that you could be wrong or that you have made a mistake. Resolve today to cut your losses wherever possible.

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Posted in Time Management

Appoint and Support Effective Executives By Brian Tracy

September 19th, 2009 by MartinD 8 comments »

Leadership makes the critical difference in every organization. Dozens of chief executive officers are fired from top companies every year. In every case, the ultimate reason given for the firing was “failure to perform.” And the major reason these senior executives have failed to perform is because they appointed weak managers and executives under them and then they did not have the courage to replace them when they did a poor job and failed to get the results expected of them. There is nothing that brings about a more rapid change in the fortunes of business than to change the key people in charge of getting results.

Staff Well at All Levels

The best companies have the best people. The second-best companies have the second-best people. The third-best companies are on their way out of business. Your ability to select good people and then to manage them well is the critical determinant of the success of your business. People are everything. 95 percent of your success will be determined by the people you hire for key positions.

Teach, Train and Develop Your People

The rule is that you cannot expect people to perform at high levels unless you have thoroughly trained them to perform at those levels. The most profitable companies have the most advanced sales training programs. The worst companies do no sales training at all. A good sales marketing team is like a crack military organization. It has great officers and great leadership. Your ability to build a team of world-class sales professionals is the key to business and sales growth and to profitability, without which nothing else will work.

Develop a Caring Work Environment

You’ve heard it said, “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Not only are the people the most important asset of your business, but people are also completely emotional. People perform to the degree to which they feel that their superiors care about them as individuals. In today’s tight labor markets, your ability to attract and keep good people is vital to your success. And the better your people, the more they expect to be treated with kindness, courtesy, respect, and openness.

Develop and Maintain High Levels of Commitment

Hire and keep only people who are willing to put their whole hearts into the job and into making your business successful. Your very best people will always be those with the highest level of personal commitment to you and to getting results. Your biggest problems will always come from people who are uncommitted in some way, for some reason.

Action Exercise

Write a description of the perfect person you need to attract to fill a key position in your business. Why would this person want to work for you?


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Posted in Leadership