Tag: Focus

DTDTD (Digest Think Do Think Digest) Framework

Post author By jrlsage
Post date November 7, 2015

[bctt tweet=”DTDTD feeds itself with each iteration and its a great way to control a closed loop. “]

Human beings have a model based infrastructure for our impulses, because we have to. Our senses are “attacked” upwards of a trillion times a second by stimuli, and instantly, we take what is in front of us and apply everything to a framework discarding the things that don’t fit. That’s how we see the world. If we neglected to do this, we enter a state of sensory overload, and everything becomes noise.

So, you don’t get the picture, and if you thought you did, sorry to jolt you out of it, but realize that we all see the world a little differently based on the models we have in our heads. Yes, models, with an ‘s’.

The great thing about understanding that we have multiple frameworks is knowing that we constantly add and manipulate them. We edit and upgrade it all the time with our memories and what we learn. Like computers, we update and install software.

I’d like to introduce a new one I have thought about for the last few weeks to the list of frameworks you use, and it is one that I found that has great implications to your work.

Introducing the DTDTD(Digest Think Do Think Digest) Framework, a tool to take on a new project that lets you get information, contextualize, execute, and then round-up feedback in a calendar, requirement driven way.

Note: It is critical that you outline and understand what your requirements are before beginning. This factors in because each round of DTDTD REQUIRES putting an end date down. If there is no requirements, DTDTD can trap the work in one of the steps because resistance has a wide berth, especially because there are no hard time limits based on the reading.

Digest – Once you have the outline, time to digest everything. Start with trusted sources (classes,trusted blogs, your network, great books) and start pounding away at those resources. The key takeaway here is that you want to gather a ton of voices in your head. Write down the most helpful. Don’t think too much here, just go.
Think – Now you sit down and consider the resources you pulled in the first step. If something didn’t help you much, remember feel free to toss it out. Write down the questions you have, and try to get specific answers. Remember, for specific answers, you need specific questions, so consider this a great primer on your question asking skills. It’s also a great time to call in accountability partners, mentors, and get a checklist going.
Do – Time to execute. Follow the plan, make your mistakes, find out you missed some important things, cry a little in the corner – all the fun stuff in life. The important part here is to get to the end. Finishing here is far more important than anything else. You digest later, the important part is getting to the end of that checklist.
Think – After finishing that checklist,dance. Mission complete. Now it is time to digest what you just did. Don’t go seeking feedback from others just yet, spend this time focusing on the questions you had by doing the work. Get a point of view on why you did the work.
Digest – Self reflection done? Time to go see what the world thinks. Go to your network, people you trust, and close advisers first. With those people, get the most critical feedback you can. Understand that great feedback works two ways, both sides have to trust each other. Just as much as it stings to hear negative things, trust that they want to help. Once you get the feedback, from them, consider the feedback from others and see if it matches. Sit with it for a while and try to understand it. This feeds into the next ‘cycle’ – if you want to digest for the next go around, the feedback along with the great resources help build a better something better.Remember, only constructive critical feedback matters here – discard anything hurtful.

DTDTD feeds itself with each iteration and its a great way to control a closed loop.

How this scales and how this affects your work is up to you. Big projects can go through 15 cycles of this before the outside world , and smaller ones have one, there is a lot of flexibility here.

Another important note: This is one framework. There are a ton more that the world have written about, remember you have plenty (even if you never studied frameworks). Do not force yourself to deal with one – recall that “to a hammer, all problems look like a nail”

Tags DTDTD, Focus, framework, ideas

Blog Post

Negative 3 – Multiple Accountability Partners

Post author By jrlsage
Post date November 5, 2015

[bctt tweet=”Setting a master group with the big picture satisfies the need to get out-of-the-way to see.”]

Small changes can change your life.

One small change I made this year is getting an accountability partner.

I love accountability partners.

Every week, I get the opportunity to sit in front of someone and have to deal with what I plan to do, and held accountable for the things I said I would do the week before.

It isn’t always a successful process, but it has improved my focus a great deal. More focus brings about more free time. More free time means guilt free video games. I love guilt free marathon gaming.

The question I have today is – why do I only have one?

Instantly, I think of diminishing returns, because my mind works better with habits when I do them everyday(i.e this blog). If I promise to do something once a week, it mean something to me.

The first thing that comes to my head was a negative thought, why is that?

I haven’t engaged in more than one solid accountability partner in a long time, and I don’t know where the diminishing returns exist until I get there( You don’t understand quick sand until you’re in it.) That doesn’t happen without trial and error.

The next fear that crossed my mind was redundancy – or the act of doing things over and over (it isn’t necessarily a bad thing for some things, like RAID storage).

It is possible to run over things or have things come back unnecessarily in different meetings.

But, there is a solution for that negative thought. It starts with the CEO of Twitter and Stripe.

Jack Dorsey is an amazing entrepreneur. He is the CEO of two huge tech companies. That isn’t an easy job. How does he do it? Themes. Each day has a theme, and he focuses on that. Its good compartmentalization, as opposed to the bad.

Third bad thought – followup. If I did it everyday, how do I catch up? Where do I take the time to work out the kinks?

That is fixable with an accountability day designed for followup. I need a “master” space, dedicated to putting these pieces together. It allows me to talk with a trusted advisor on the big-ticket items.

I cannot see the forest from the trees unless I get high enough to understand where I am.

So, lets wrap up this negative 3 analysis (this is what I am calling this from now on by the way) with a little TL;DR.

Diminishing returns aren’t noticed until you get close.
Avoid redundancy by setting boundaries
Setting a master group with the big picture satisfies the need to get out-of-the-way to see.

Note: I am serious about the Negative 3 analysis. This is an interesting framework to work with.

Tags accountability, Focus, growth, negative 3

Blog Post

3 Reflective Ideas I Got From Playing Starcraft 2

Post author By jrlsage
Post date November 2, 2015

[bctt tweet=” If we focus,our failures turn into pressure, not pain. “]

Took a break from gaming for a few months, no particular reason, other than time got in the way.

Recently, I changed that.

I got inspired to try to reconnect to playing video games as a reward, instead of an escape. The results have been great so far – I spent the weekend playing Starcraft 2, and entered into a flow state, something I haven’t had outside of coffee shop in a long time.

One of the great things about Starcraft 2 is that it tracks EVERYTHING.

Resources, army growth, even actions per minute are given to you, objectively, after every game. The game collects your averages. It rates your AI opponent against your skill. Even your replays become available immediately after playing.

There is a lot of insight in the data, and it goes beyond the game.

Playing Starcraft enough (I played about 20 games this weekend) laid some of my weaknesses bare.

I let things lapse – During games, I let my resource collection lapse when I thought I did enough. This made me a one punch player. Meaning – if I didn’t land my first assault, I ended up in serious trouble. Little things matter here.
I leap before I look – I know planning isn’t the end all be all, but I didn’t use bright rules when engaging. This left me swinging wildly sometimes.
Gathering to gather – Instead of seeing resources as means to an end, sometimes I found myself just gathering. Those resources mean nothing if they aren’t being used.

The great thing about having everything recorded is that I got to see this real-time. Then I got to investigate my replays.

[bctt tweet=”One of the great things about Starcraft 2 is that it tracks EVERYTHING. “]

Then I get the opportunity to fix. The fixes in my strategy go further, just like the flaws.

Life is like that, failure is feedback. We don’t have our complete lives recorded (yet) but if we focus,our failures turn into pressure, not pain. Pain clouds our judgement, pressure less so.

The stakes are low during a Starcraft game (just ego). Makes it a great training ground, especially since no one is chattering above you saying be better.

Tags failure, Focus, planning, Starcraft

Blog Post

Focus – I’ve Got To Get Present – Hello November 2015

Post author By jrlsage
Post date November 1, 2015

Nothing like grief to let you know where you pain points are. I have said that failure is feedback, and in a month where I focused on risk, I got hit with some serious feedback.

In short, I experienced some headaches last month.

Including:

I almost left employment
Gave up sugar / soda / carbs
Got hit with a financial bomb

I got rattled. I didn’t do anything crazy (points there – in the past, one of these things would make me Mr. Temper Tantrum) but, my focus on them took away a lot of joy in my life. I wasn’t able to enjoy the birth of my god-daughter (Hi Skyler!) but also my best friend getting engaged at a dinner to his wonderful fiancé (love you both). I wasn’t present, mentally. And instead of celebration (a coworker got married also – busy month), I turned in and didn’t get to enjoy it full force.

In pain, when you listen, there is an insight just waiting – it isn’t anyone else responsibility for my lack of presence. It is my own.

I’ve looked at this in the past, but not in crisis (like I find myself in). I’ve “tip and tricked” my way to getting full presence, but now, it will be this months focus, a real look at my presence at being present, and a focus on my focus.

It falls at a perfect time, the holidays are here and I will be in front of a lot of family, there are distractions, and its cold out.

Subthemes

Fear – I want to tackle this head on. How much does it play in my decision-making? Is there a way to practice fear management? Can I make a change in a short month?
Anger – Just like fear, how do I work on building uses for my anger? Where does it show up?
Vulnerability – I made some strides this year in dealing with it, but I never made this a focus, until now. How does this effect my curiosity? What habits can I install to force me to deal with my vulnerability?

Those are the big three topics that I want to hit, but with everything in life, things change with the minute. If you think you can help in any way, please reach out with suggestions through Twitter @TheHonorableAT.