This same question was asked to the top 30 managers of a large company to determine who of them was to be promoted to an Executive position…only 1 of them got it right.

So here it is…

The Scenario

I thought about it long and hard.  And I finally chose the dying woman.  I rationalised that I wouldn’t be able to go on knowing that I could have prevented her death.  I did not give the correct response…

The Answer

Give the keys to your best friend, and tell him to drive the dying woman to a hospital.  This saves her life, and allows you to repay your best friend.  It also allows you to stay at the bus-stop with the love of your life!

It’s not hard to see why the individual who answered this correctly was promoted to be an executive.  The correct answer involved some outside-the-box thinking, which is a critical trait for an executive to have.

The question specifically asks “Who would you pick up” and not “What would you do” to test your ability to think outside the given parameters.

The ‘outside-the-box’ part of my brain must eat some humble pie and get back to the training grounds!

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Hooking you up…

Online Forums

Free Business Tips - This is one of my favourite Australian Business forums.  Lots of small and medium business owners to chat to…

Aussie Tycoon - A forum for Australian entrepreneurs…need I say more?

Joint Venture Notify Pro - If any of you are seeking JV partners for ANYTHING…look no further. This is an international site, but there are a large number of Aussie’s within this community.

Warrior Forum - My favourite Internet Marketing community.

Real World Gatherings

Meetup.com - This is a site that allows you to find groups that meet on any given topic.  Search your City and find people that congregate for Entrepreneurial adventures!

The Hive - A Melbourne based entrepreneurs group that meet on the 1st Tuesday of every month.  Come down for a drink and chat…I’m usually down there!

Agents of Change - A Melbourne University based Entrepreneurs club.

Add to my list!!!

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So on to the pertinent issue of how to get more out of your time and not make yourself busier.  “IMPOSSIBLE” I hear you say…and to that I reply…Impossible is NOTHING (Thank You Adidas!)

What do you want?

The reason most of us waste so much time is because we have not the vaguest clue what we want to do with it.  This comes from having very hazy, unsure desires in life that don’t properly co-relate to any measurable goals.

Whilst I’m not here to give you a workshop on goal-setting, I will tell you to FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WANT.  And I mean really…sit down and figure out what you want out of life.  This shouldn’t be a split second thought but a real ’sit your ass down and think through it properly’. 

For example…lets say you want money (hell, were still young right?).

Congratulations!

When you have figured out your desire(s)…you can pat yourself on the back.  Why?  Well you have achieved a little bit more clarity and direction in what you want to do.  Direction bring focus…and focus bring success.

Now that you know what you want…you have to think about the time spent in getting what you want (and the OTHER time spent on low value bullshit).

Goal Setting…but not really

Being a rather dis-organized person, I am not the biggest goal setter out there.  What I DO believe in is moving towards what you want on a daily basis.

Look at your desire…and try translate it into a more measurable goal/outcome.  For our example - It can be attaining $1000 dollars a week. 

Whilst attaining $1000 dollars a week may be easy for some, for others it involves some planning.  Take a little time to map out the processes of achieving your goal.

For our purpose - we can look at all the possible ways of attaining said $1000 dollars including….

-Working

-Investing

-Robbing A Bank

The point here is to FIGURE OUT HOW YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.  Once you are savvy of all the processes involved in achieving your goal, the hard part comes. 

Doing it…Daily Action Steps

What can I DO EVERY DAY to bring me closer to my goal?  Repeat that again and again.

And I mean really.  Figure out the quickest way to achieve what it is you want.  Analyse the things you currently spend your time doing on a daily basis…and ask yourself.

“Does this in anyway, shape or form positively affect my goal?”

You may find that a lot of your daily activity is spent on low-value activities that are not furthering your purpose.  Even though some of these activities may seem necessary at the time, you almost have to be selfish in thinking “Does this benefit my outcome?”

If not…ditch it…or at least minimise the time spent doing it. 

“There are only two words that will always lead you to success. Those words are yes and no. Undoubtedly, you’ve mastered saying yes. So start practicing saying no. Your goals depend on it!”
Jack Canfield

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Despite the overwhelming flow and exposure to time management - The average hours in an Australian working week keeps rising! 

Why I don’t like time management

Well…truthfully, its because I’m lazy. I do not like the idea of having every single half hour of my day accounted for.  I’m not saying its a completely useless FAD (as a lot of people do claim to squeeze an extra 20% out of their days) - but I believe it is missing the core of the problem.

And that core is that we DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH OUR TIME!  Conventional time management strategies ASSUME we know what to do with our time.  Often, we categorize our ‘to-do’ list into A,B.C and D priorities.  In practice, WE DONT KNOW what our priorities are - so we class everything as either A or B…

Leading us to the false conclusion that…we are short on time.  Well isn’t that the reason we were interested in time management in the 1st place?

A time obsessed culture

Its almost gotten to the point where we worship time.  Time lost can never be regained…scream the time worshippers of this world.  Working people cram every single minute of their day with activity - under the premise that they must use all the time they have.

Ask someone ‘How’s work?’ and hear them proudly reply… “Awww mate…I’m swamped”.  We perceive these busy people as successful, because they ‘use’ their time.  Whereas someone who doesn’t seem that busy is perceived as ‘lazy’ or ‘unmotivated’.

This comes from a deeply ingrained ‘work ethic’ that has been present throughout history.  It comes for our innate nature to see the virtue in hard work - and therefore enjoy it.  Whilst work ethic is fundamentally a good thing - it leads to a BAD MENTAL ASSUMPTION that effort = reward (Hint…IT DOESNT!).

How to make more time

Most of what we do is of low value to us.  The average way in which we spend our time does not further our greater goals or purpose.  Thus most of our effort is wasted on meaningless, or semi-meaningless tasks.

Have you ever noticed how most of your achievement is done in a minority of time?  Like that 2 hours of furious work before the deadline for an important project.  Whereas before that 2 hours, your time seemed to disappear into a black-hole… answering emails, the phone, unnecessary meetings etc.

So why micro-manage your low value activity into 30 min blocks - when you can overhaul  how you spend your time!

Based on an 80/20 principle of a time revolution - I will show you (In my next post :P) - how you can spend less time and achieve more!

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Digerati Marketing have made this list that categorises a whopping 160 blogs that disable the “nofollow” tag - thus allowing your comments to have a higher impact on Search Engine Rankings (as Google will recognize these comments as a ‘link’ to your website)!

They have also assembled a Search Engine for blogs that have “nofollow” disabled!

Find some high PR blogs in your category/niche and go contribute! 

PS…Do not bother spamming these resources as blog plugins such as Akismet are fantastic at catching spammy comment crap!

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While a massive generalization, there is an interesting theory to suggest that us Australians are not too comfortable with entrepreneurship - and the innovation and success that can come with it.

Why?

The ‘tall poppy syndrome’ my friends.  Well its the disdain and criticism that our culture naturally shows to those individuals of ‘higher’ perceived social status, wealth or political position then us.  The celebrities, actors, sportsmen etc.

“The tall-poppy syndrome has meant different things to different Australians. To golfer Greg Norman, the tall-poppy syndrome meant a jealousy of success.”

“To tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, the tall-poppy syndrome meant cultural ignorance. After seeing his home crowd support a fellow youngster over him, Hewitt said it was the stupidity of the Australian public to knock the better players.”

“…When receiving an award at the 2002 Australia Day Awards, a scientist named Donald Metcalf said,

“I could name 11 colleagues whose accomplishments would exceed those of our cricket 11. They haven’t been entertaining people. They have been saving lives.”

(Source - Convict Creations)

We came for the crime…we stayed for beer

Lets not forget that we are a convict colony.  Australian’s (apart from our indigenous and immigrants) were originally shipped over here on boats from the UK because we were naughty and stole some bread, pinched some butter or maybe went for a joy-ride on a colonial horse.

Well whatever - the point is we started off our proud countries history in chains.

So what did innovation mean to our convict founders?  Well innovation may have seen a convict with a ‘good-idea’ or initiative gain favour with the guards - whilst his fellow prisoners worked to build roads and houses.

Convicts who got promoted into positions of authority were not usually favoured by their fellow prisoners.

Furthermore all the ‘non-convicts’ did their best to disassociate themselves from anything ‘Australian’ (which meant being a convict), and focused only on their English heritage.

No wonder we may have a teensy weensy bit of disdain for authority…

The Australian Entrepreneur

Don’t worry…they do exist!  I think we just like them a little bit more humble and down-to-earth then other countries.  Take someone like Dick Smith, who is a down to earth guy (multi millionaire of course) but is highly celebrated for his achievements.

We also revere in individuality - we like our entrepreneurs with a little bit of personality!

Lesson for the young’uns?  Bahhh…screw the rules and do it your way (oh and then be humble!)

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Here are 4 random ways that you can get some attention for yourself or your business that you probably haven’t tried yet!

Break A World Record…

Get your name written in History for breaking an industry related world record.  Notify the public of your record attempt and turn it into a media circus!

Here are some examples I have thought of/found in my spare time…

• A bedding store owner sets world record for ‘time spent in a bed’.
• A venture capitalist sets record for ‘most business plans rejected in 24 hours’.
• A musician/cyclist sets a world record for cycling backwards whilst playing a violin

Off course there is some element of skill involved here - so feel free to hire someone else to do it on the behalf of you’re business if you don’t feel adventurous :).

Play a Joke

If done correctly - an injection of the funnies can do wonders for the customer appeal of you’re business. Marketing/advertising for the purpose of making people laugh is fantastic.  Humour has an extremely dis-arming quality that give someone experiencing it a happy stimulation (which will be linked back to your business!).

Some great example of practical jokes played by large companies are…

• The BBC’s Flying Penguins Ad
• Taco Bell claiming that they had purchased the ‘Liberty Bell’ in the US on Aprils Fools.  This ‘prank’ then reached 70million Americans from all the coverage it received!

It also shows a ‘human’ factor to any business that can very endearing to your customers.

Make a time-wasting website

You know those web-sites that have those games, or cool applications that you just end up spending hours on?  Well it turns out that brands that link themselves to these randomly fun and sometimes non-related websites get our attention!

My latest favourite example of this is a site produced by Burger King called Subservient Chicken. 

I think I spent a good 15 minutes on this site just seeing what this Chicken would do.

Random Acts of Charity/Kindness

Those who give have an uncanny way of receiving everything back.  You may choose to help with a community project, give to charity or just help those around you.

It’s totally unethical to give only with the intention of receiving in return.  But interestingly enough, studies have shown that people are more generous when their contributions are observable by others (publicity once again!).

A organization called “The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation” have even released a PDF to show you how to get media attention for you’re random act of kindness.

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Would you want a blind surgeon to operate on you?  Well - having a business plan without clearly defined goals and milestones is the equivalent of this.  How will you or your investors know if your thriving or dying if your goals are not defined and measurable?

What are your customer/client acquisition goals?  What kind of traffic do you want hitting your website after 6 months?  Do you want a llama as your company mascot?

Be as specific as possible with your goals.  Specificity brings clarity…and clarity will prevent you getting lost in a maelstrom of confusion.

Market Analysis ay? No worries-Got it on Google!

How big is the market potential for your business?  Do yourself a favour and pick reliable and credible data to measure this.  A random website telling you that “60% of the Australian Population Drink Toilet Water” is most likely not a good source for market predictions.

A market analysis is VERY IMPORTANT.  Your investors wont look twice at your business plan if they see generic, un-inspired statistics that show them that you whipped up this section after an hour on Google.

Explain the rationale behind the data you have used.  Highlight ALL assumptions you have made and define them separately to the facts.  Tie your assumptions to facts to leverage them!

Implementation Strategy…?

How are you going to do what you plan to do?  All to many people get caught up in the theory, colourful description and hoopla of their business model at the expense of some meaty implementation strategy. 

Your financial projections aren’t worth the paper they are printed on if you cannot show your investors HOW you will achieve them. 

The “I have no competition” statement

We have no competition.  Oh…yes.  If your intention is to get your business plan laughed at and then torched then please…include this.

Believe me…YOU HAVE COMPETITION!  Even if you have no-one that does what you do (direct competition) - you will no doubt be affecting trade in some industry.  Your product/service may eliminate a need for another product/service in another industry. 

Not recognizing Risks or Barriers to Entry

Your credibility will be demolished if an investor picks up on a potential risk to your business model that was not mentioned in the plan. 

Any sensible investor realises there is always some degree of risk - so not mentioning any potential threats in your plan can make it look unrealistic.

Mention the most pertinent risks/barriers and emphasize that you understand they are there - and your plans for combating them.

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Or when you have been arguing with someone passionately - only to have that ‘aha’ from something they have said to be proven wrong (how we alllll love that one!)

Well what is it that stimulates your brain into creative high-gear?  Why is it that one day you can be a powerhouse of ideas and the next you feel you have the creative ability of a calculator?  I’m not going to delve deeply into the scientific principles of brain function - but would like to share a couple of instances where I  get my ‘AHA’ moments.

From failing

Looking deep into your lessons can give you real world ‘aha’ moments where you realise where you went wrong.  Often, the harder it hurts…the the bigger the potential ‘AHA’!

New perspectives

People that make me think about things from a different angle or viewpoint.  I’m in the stage of my life where I prefer listening  to talking.  Listening allows me to learn from whoever I am talking to - and maybe achieve that realisation that my previous perspective had not allowed me to.

It is great to get a large variety of opinions from a bunch of different people .  Ronald S. Burt, a sociologist at the University of Chicago said that…”People who live in the intersection of social worlds…are at higher risk of having good ideas.”   

Things that you notice/piss you off in everyday life

Always looking at various everyday processes and noticing what can be improved or re-applied in a different context. 

It could be as simple as taking an existing product…AND PUTTING A CLOCK IN IT!

It also comes natural after a while to notice where people’s demand is not being met.  Sometimes, this is all the stimulus a young entrepreneur needs to develop a solution. 

Exercising

I can get some of my best ideas whilst running or hitting the gym.  I think its the extra brain stimulation from all the working muscles that does it. 

Generally, people will tend to have a more positive perspective after a good exercise session - allowing inspiration to creep in!

Coffee or Redbull

Yes…I am addicted to caffeine.  Having experience in the Nutrition Sector - I realise the adverse long-term health effects of coffee.

On the same note I think I can’t look past how alert and dynamic a cup makes me feel - especially when I need to solve a pressing problem.  The extra stimulation of brain activity is often priceless to lift you out of a rut when you need extra performance (I hope I don’t sound like a drug-dealer!).

That’s me though…as I have seen some funny instances of over-stimulation caused by caffeine overconsumption :).

Over to you

Where do you get your “AHA’s” from?

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