I figured I’d share a lesson that my mom taught me. She taught me to respect others, to give more than you take, and to go through hell and back to let people know that you love and care about them. I can’t imagine the number of times she’s driven all day to be at an event to support me.

As you could expect, she taught me this through her actions, and how she consistently goes above and beyond for others in her life. She does it so often that it has become second nature to her, and it is contagious!

But let’s focus on one part that serves as the root for everything else, and that is love. She makes everyone feel supported and cared for, and is so good at creating moments for others to feel that love.

So, send love. It is so easy to do yet so under-delivered. Sending a text that you are thinking about someone, going out of your way to do something small for someone else, or leaving a note for someone to see are all small ways you can share love. And in each of those cases, the gesture makes the other person’s day, and is extremely appreciated.

So, be sure to send love to someone important today. Although I should send love every day to my mom, I want to send a little extra today.

Have you ever heard the expression, "there’s no such thing as a bad question"? Well, what do you think, does the same thing apply for ideas? I mean, there are some outright, bad ideas right? Although that may be true, bad ideas should be encouraged.

I was at a conference, and I had the pleasure to listen to a few amazing speakers. One of my favorite speakers at the conference was Travis Chambers, the founder of his own digital marketing agency Chambers Media, who shared a really interesting finding. Chambers stated that 70% of good ideas come directly after a bad idea.

Although I didn’t get the opportunity to learn more about his source on that statistic, he is an extremely credible thought leader and I believe him entirely. So, let’s think about what that stat means.

For one, it means that good ideas take time and iteration to be come upon. So, be patient and let the creative process work its course. Two, if following a linear thought pattern means that certain components of bad ideas are actually used in good ideas. So, they may be bad ideas as a whole, but they hold value fundamentally. Three, it means that when workshopping and exploring ideas, instead of limiting your imagination you should let it run wild!

A great way to practice coming up with creative, and inevitably “bad” ideas is to do some topic mixing. Take two random and completely unconnected words, and find a way to make the similar. For example, Water park toaster.

you’re right, it’s a bad idea. But good! Because that means a good one is coming next!

The graphic, which was shared by Simpluris Inc founder Troy Hoffman, is a pyramid divided into four layers, with the bottom layer being is the biggest and broadest, and the size decreasing as you near the top. These 4 levels correspond to the 4 stages of learning, which are unconcsious incompontent, conscious incompetent, conscious competent, and unconscious competent. Those might sound like complex thoughts, but think of each one individually.

So, the bottom of the pyramid is unconscious incompetent. This is an awareness issue where, “you don’t know what you don’t know”. The unconscious part means it doesn’t come to mind, and the incompetent part means you aren’t capable. And since most things in life fit into this category, it is the biggest on the pyramid.  

The next step up is conscious incompetent. This is where you know that it exists, and might even believe it is important to know or master, but you haven’t. It’s that you realize that you don’t know something, but could begin to learn it if you want.

Then, it’s conscious competent, where you have learned and are capable of doing something, but it requires effort and focus. Of our skills, this is most common because we have to be really deliberate about engaging with the skill.

And last, at the top of the pyramid, is unconscious competent, where you can perform without thinking of it. This isn’t necessarily flow state, but it’s the point where you can execute at a high level without even thinking about it.

The reason I ran through these different stages is because having self-awareness about your skill level is essential. Being honest with yourself, and performing the tasks that you are best at and best suited for, will help you be a better contributor for your team and make better use of your time.

Have no excuses. The reality is, there is nothing I could say that would be more impactful on the subject than what Former president Barack Obama says in the video.

‍

I want to share this thought by the always inspirational, sports marketing wizard David Meltzer.

Try to see things through, and like David said, 99% is still stopping short. Sure, the end is in sight, and the result at 99% is no different than the result at 100%.  You may be right, but just in case you’re not, wouldn’t you want to find out?

David believes that last one percent, the extra mile, is an area many people don’t enter, and therefore, it is rich with opportunity. He also believes in the mentality of pursuing 100% and going all-in in the things you do and seeing things through to their entirety, minimizes regret and teaches a valuable lesson.

The difference between ordinary, and extraordinary, is a little extra, that last 1%. Cheesy quote aside, small differences can actually be large differences if you give them the chance to be!

I learned today’s tip from the wonderful Irene Whalen. Although I have only used it a few times, it has been extremely effective. 

In 7th grade, Irene was told by one of her teachers that if she had a question and wasn’t immediately called on, she was to put her hand down and cross her fingers so that she could remember to ask it at a more appropriate time. So instead of having students keep their hands raised and distract the class, they could quietly remember their question and ask it when prompted later.

Irene has taken this concept and applied it in many different areas in her life, remembering to grab a specific item at the grocery store, as a reminder to tell a story after the current conversation has moved on, and to do that one chore first thing when she gets home.  

Crossing your fingers, of course, competes against the alternative of just remembering the question in your mind. In my experience, crossing my fingers has been much more effective, and here’s why.

The act of crossing your fingers creates a strong association with your thought, and the slight discomfort and inconvenience it provides makes you think about the reason why your fingers are crossed, more often.  Essentially, this helps move the thought from your short term memory into your long term memory, because you are frequently prompted to recall the thought and therefore more likely to remember it.  And you could also argue that performing this physical action activates more areas of the brain and dedicates more brain power to remembering the thought, and therefore will be recalled more easily and more often.

This works so well that I now remember, from over a month ago, that I was in the grocery store and needed to buy an oven pizza.  It’s pretty crazy, but it works.

So, give it a try. The next time you’re driving home, or preoccupied with something else, try crossing your fingers, and see if it helps you remember to follow through on whatever that is.

Will power. It’s something you’re either born with, or your not, right?  Wrong!  Studies show that will power is actually utilized like a muscle, and that it depletes in strength when you use it just like a muscle does. There’s a really cool study done at Case Western University that I want to quickly share. One group of participants were asked to eat a cookie, and another group was asked to eat a radish with a plate of cookies next to it that they couldn’t eat. Then, both groups did a difficult puzzle, and the study found that those who resisted the cookie gave up sooner because they had already expended their will power.

Here is how to train your will power, and there are two will power workouts to do that.  

The first workout is to set yourself up for success by writing down what you need to do and when it needs to be done by. This is like stretching your muscle and getting it ready to go. Workout 2 is to condition yourself and build discipline. Make a plan for how you can tackle the task gradually and follow through with it. I’m feeling stronger already! Give those two exercises a try next time you don’t feel like doing something.