Quote of the week

"Ain't got no distractions, can't hear no buzzers or bells. Don't see no lights a flashin', plays by sense of smell."
- The Who, Pinball Wizard

What a great description of focus, or the 'flow state'. There's a reason why that boy 'sure plays a mean pinball'.
What can you do to reach a similar state of focus this week?

Losing Flow...

from www.ebl.org/flow_original.gif

I'm auditing a sales course today and learning a lot.

Unfortunately, I'm not learning about sales.

Instead, I'm learning about flow... and how to lose it.

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi identified 'Flow' as the happy place where challenge and skill reach an equilibrium. As your skills grow, the challenge should be increased.

When your skills are lower than the challenge, you get anxious and demotivated.

When your skills are higher than the challenge, you get bored and demotivated.

In the mid-range, time flies, you are energized, you learn, and you are 'happy'.

You can guess where I am right now (with most of the attendees) - below the line.

Why? The challenge is not meeting the skill of the group.

We have a lot of sharp folks in the room right now, and they're being asked to listen to a lecture.

Have you ever had to sit for three hours, listening to somewhat talk about things you already understand? I bet you have...

Please don't do it to others.

Engage the audience early. Challenge them to an appropriate degree. Have them do things!

Or they'll lose flow... and you'll lose them

Will your job be offshored?

It depends on how much value you add.

I'll propose this simple litmus test:

Can your job be drawn on a flow chart?

If the answer is 'yes', then I can tell you now that your job is going to be:

1. outsourced, or
2. automated, or
3. outsourced and then automated

Don't believe me? Look at every job you've seen outsourced or offshored.
I'll bet you can draw the tasks of that job in a flowchart.
Now look at the jobs that are 'safe' - most of them can't be flow charted.... yet.

Can you flowchart phone support? Yep, most of it anyway.
Can you flowchart in-store support? Pretty hard to do.

My solution? Flowchart your job and - as the Red Hot Chili Peppers say - "give it away, give it away, give it away now".
Seriously. Then start doing stuff that isn't on the chart and can't be charted.
Then, as soon as you get it structured, give that away, too.

It's time to sail off the chart. We've got to be explorers now.

Dance on a Volcano (from Hawaii)

Wayyyy overdue, but here's a shot of me chillin (not quite, lava of this type is around 900 degrees in temperature!) on a volcano.

It was a 4.5 mile hike (one-way) to the flow, but completely worth it.

I highly recommend you taking a guided hike with Arnott's Lodge, if you ever get the chance.