J. Seinfeld’s POWER Strategy YOU can USE right AWAY

“He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under” This is a quote from a young comedian, Brad Isaac on the advice comedian Jerry Seinfeld gave him about ‘tips for a young comedian’. It’s contained in a post by James Clear, ‘How to stop procrastinating on your goals by using the “Seinfeld Strategy”.  Recently I’ve adapted the “Seinfeld Strategy” to the work with my clients.

The process is as follows:

#1 Identify an Action Area (an Action Area is a technique/habit that my client and I have identified as a key technique to Intentionally Daily Practice (IDP). #2 My client writes the technique on a System Card that they keep in their pocket or handbag. #3 Whenever they practice there Action Area, they immediately retrieve the system card and make a cross on the card to ‘reward’ themselves for that practice #4 After a pre-determined number of crosses are made, the client gets another ‘reward’. For example, 10 minutes of web time; a small sweet; 10 minutes of free time etc. As Clear writes about in his work, one of the keys to behaviour change is immediate reward for completing a desired action.

Own the Conversation

If the above process makes sense to you, in the next seven days, trial it with a habit you want to develop. I’d love to hear your results from using the process. +++++++++ p.s. Here is a post with an AFR article ‘Homework from Hayne’. It has lessons from witnesses appearing in front of a 2109 Hayne Royal Commission. The article contains my views on the lesson of Be open (but know when to stop).  The lessons will be valuable if you ever have to face a grilling in public, or in any other type of pressured environment. Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

CAN you HELP? My One, BIG Beautiful QUESTION

Warren Berger on page 217 of his landmark book, The Book of Beautiful Questions*, writes:

…’…I believe that you should try to identify one particular question to pursue over time – call it your ‘big beautiful question (BBQ). It should be bold, ambitions and actionable’.

Another suggestion Berger makes regarding the BBQ is…’ Once you’ve devised your question, write it down, tell your friends, put it out there on social media – share it any way you can.

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34 MISTAKES I see EXECUTIVES make

After chatting with a coach of mine, I came up with an in-depth list of mistakes I see executives make in their leadership communication.

In no particular order, here’s the list:

  1. Entering a room (Virtual or In-person) with no radiation of warmth and energy and calm enthusiasm.
  2. Rushing/lack of knowing how to own time, in either movement, gesturing and speaking. Doesn’t know how to own time.
  3. Lack of awareness in what is open and encouraging body language.
  4. Lack of awareness of how they’re perceived when under pressure.
  5. Not knowing how to pair gestures with a word or phrase.
  6. Not knowing how to determine their key message(s) for a presentation and frame it in a simple way.
  7. Not having key questions to understand what senior leaders want from them in presentations.
  8. Unsure of the real reason they’ve been invited to present to Leadership team and boardroom meetings.
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HOW to INTRODUCE Yourself – the RIGHT Way

I’m pleased to share again a guest article from a top performer – my friend, Duff Watkins. I urge you to read the article.

How to Introduce Yourself Anytime, Anywhere, to Anybody in the Right Way.

Duff has been mentoring people in their careers for 25+ years– from onboarding to outplacement, from public blue-chip companies to professional sport teams.  His Accelerate Performance program guides new leaders to achieve in 90 days instead of 9 months.

Please check out Duff’s work at ExecSearch International.

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The BEST Communication – Right MESSAGE, Right TONE…RFK

If ever there was a speech that was the right one, at the right time, by the right person, in the right manner, for the right reason, and with the right feeling tone – a speech that had a direct correlation to preventing violence – this speech HAS to be on the short list.

The above is text from a post I wrote back in 2017 about an impromptu speech delivered on 28 June 1968 by Robert F. Kennedy, in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA soon after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.

After King’s assassination, there were riots in all major American cities, but –

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KEYS to BRINGing out the BEST in YOURSELF and others

“Bottom line: Applying soon, certain and positive consequences is the most efficient way to improve behaviour and attitude at the same time.

Of course, every reader of this article knows this and also knows the term positive reinforcer should only be used if the positive consequence increases the frequency of the target behaviour.

But even when positive consequences do not result in an observable change in behaviour, they are still useful.

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The RIGHT way to SIT, stand, GESTURE & move your BODY

Here’s my 2018 on How to sit, stand, gesture and move your body.

In this hybrid meeting world we’re in, and will continue to be in for some time, ideas and techniques in the post can give you a competitive advantage when you communicate your ideas and vision – particularly when you speak in video meetings.

To complement the post here is my popular Video Communication Resources page which includes my 10 module, two minute video series The Art of Communication through video conferencing.

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FOUR minutes = a FULL Day

“Or, as Google’s David Peterson suggests, find just a few moments during your daily commute to think about questions – perhaps more immediate ones, involving the challenges of the day.

A few minutes may not seem like much, but it adds up. My fellow questionologist Hal Gregersen of the MIT Leadership Center has pointed out that if each of us devotes just four minutes a day to thinking of questions to ask ourselves, it add up to twenty-four hours – or a full day’s worth of questioning – over the course of a year.”

This is quote from the superb book, The Book of Beautiful Questions by Warren Berger.

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BIDEN – impassioned, GENUINE & statesmanlike in victory SPEECH

Joe Biden delivered an impassioned, genuine and statesmanlike performance in his election victory speech in winning the presidency of the United States.

Biden’s performance brings to mind the quote I mention often, from of the poet Horace:

‘If you want me to weep you already must be deeply grieved.’

Biden cares deeply about the thoughts he utters, so his audience (primarily the American people) cares deeply, too.

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