plan

Extroverts, plan your Introvert time. Introverts, plan your Extrovert time.

Seth Godin (and many other business authors) agree, growth comes from “stretching” your discomfort.  DO the uncomfortable and you will grow.  Don’t want to grow?  Stop reading blogs for goodness sakes!  Want to grow, here are some tips for HOW to Stretch and Exercise your “discomfort zone”.  (Extroverts and Introverts both)

Extroverts (like myself) prefer to think “outside their head”.  We like to draw on white-boards, engage in debate, and generally “talk & interact” with people.  The problem is this: if all you do is extroversion, you miss out on deep thinking, attention to detail, and most of all quiet focus.  For an extrovert, it is “uncomfortable” to have quiet, work alone, or focus on details.

Planning your introversion and “forcing yourself” to spend time alone, focusing on details, is the best way to stretch that uncomfortable muscle.  It will grow from there (or at least you will minimize the effects of lacking introversion).

  • Each day, plan out 2 x 1-hour blocks where you will DO something introverted.  
  • (fix bugs, add comments to code, handle accounting, submit expense reports, research competition, develop formalized strategy/documentation)… 
  • most important do it ALONE, and make sure you force yourself to do it for the whole 1-hour block.
  • Because you set an “end-time” for the discomfort to end, you will find it less dis-comfortable to do it (just for 1 hour).
  • I find the best time for me to do it is 1st thing in the morning, and then again right before I leave work.
Introverts (like my wife) prefer to think “inside their head”.  They prefer to work alone, to think deeply on problems, and to focus on details.  In many cases, they fear (and are VERY uncomfortable) engaging “with people”.
Planning your extroversion is even more important!  Unlike extroverts, you have to make plans that involve other people.  Here are the tips:
  • Each day, plan out 2 x 1-hour blocks where you will DO something extroverted (WITH others).  
  • (brainstorming session, lunch hour, happy hour, coffee, phone call)… 
  • most important do it WITH someone.. preferably NOT someone you know really well.
  • Because you set an “end-time” for the discomfort to end, you will find it less dis-comfortable to do it (just for 1 hour).
  • Lunch hour and happy hour are the best times.
  • THE ADAGE: NEVER EAT LUNCH ALONE comes to mind… that can be one of your hours!
    • just invite people you are connected with on LinkedIn or Facebook to lunch… be sure to say “dutch, just to catch up”.
  • GO to those events you hate (the happy hours, etc.)… but just spend 1-hour there… for the whole hour set yourself a goal:
    • talk to x people
    • pass out x business cards
    • whatever
  • Then…. next time, try to improve on the target #!
    • You may find it turns into quite a “game”.. or you may continue to hate it… but at least…
  • You are out there!

Self-Motivation: Short-term goals that lead to long-term success.

Engineers daily face the challenge of self motivation. Especially when working on a ‘big’ project. Engineers who master this self-motivation will do well in business because they understand short-term goals vs. long-term goals.

Imagine the Engineers day: “work on THIS bug” which helps me complete “this small task”…which leads to “this small feature” which leads to “this part of the product” which leads to “this product”. For that day, it was just that bug. Thats it. It will be months, years before that bug ‘doesn’t’ show up in that finished product.

In Business, this skill is absolutely necessary. Becoming overly fixated on “the long-term success” can lead one to do the wrong things at the wrong time. Like a good programmer, the businessman MUST fixate on the ‘current task’ while keeping in mind “the long-term goal”! For this, one needs a plan. ANY PLAN. It doesn’t have to be ‘the best plan’ it just has to make sense and be flexible. Like a good engineer, if ‘fixing this bug’ is taking too much time/effort and no end in sight, perhaps ignoring it and working around it is a better approach. The same goes for business. If ‘the current’ task/step is bogging you down, and forward progress seems blocked, we must be flexible enough to work on something else (a workaround) or a future step.

In essense, we must “Begin with the end in mind” as Covey would say. But we must also “Put first things first”! If you can’t imagine the long-term success… you are sunk. But you are equally sunk if you can’t put together a logical (if difficult) series of steps that get you there.

Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

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