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Consultant Nir Bashan believes any problem in the world can be solved. All you need is a positive outlook, a creative and innovative approach and the right techniques. Here are some to consider:
- Take five: Sometimes you only need five minutes to encourage (and allow) for creative thinking and problem-solving. But we are so busy all day – theoretically solving those big problems – that there is never time to refresh and ponder. So give yourself five-minute breaks between tasks, until diving into the next one. If your workplace has continual back-to-back meetings, he urges you to “start on the five,” rather than beginning each one on the hour, so you can let serendipity happen.
- Make time for your big idea: Much of our day is spent trying to please our bosses and all the bosses above our bosses, including the shareholders. In doing so, we can feel powerless and our own ideas get placed on the back burner. “Investing in your own ideas at work should be one of your biggest priorities,” he writes in The Solution Mindset. Look for chances while delivering what those bosses need to also research and develop your own fresh, unique ideas that you can add in or insert at another occasion. In some cases it might involve some extra work but it is work invested in yourself – your own ideas.
- Don’t make friends at work: You need positive working relationships with colleagues to collaborate effectively as a team. At the same time, he argues it is a crucial mistake to view them – or try to turn them into – friends. That can complicate the workplace situation, creating cliques, and divert you from your main mission as you seek social comfort rather than mission-driven goals. Yes, you want true friends, but seek them elsewhere. While at work, build a strong network of people with different paths who can help each other as needed.
- Take a chance: Be more willing to run with an idea, rather than be deterred by inertia and worries about how things might turn out. Just be sure that the implementation effort is flexible, adjusting to the results you encounter rather than remaining insistent on the original idea.
- Untangle complexity: Edit everything for simplicity. To get in the right mindset, review the first five emails you send every day and see what patterns it indicates. “Is it a disposition to complicate something that you can make simpler with a bit of effort?” he asks. Another technique he recommends is to see how many emails you can write that are no longer than three sentences. That also works for voicemail.
- Look on the positive side: He says there are six times more negative words than positive words in the English language. That may reflect centuries of trying to survive as a species but, in today’s office, positivity contributes to creativity and connection. So watch your words, choosing more positive ones. Measure yourself to see how you fare: Each day for one week, look at the last 20 emails you sent and count the negative versus positive words.
- Apply Newton’s third law: The famed physicist and mathematician told us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Applied to work, Mr. Bashan says that means you can change your perspective on every action that you deem offensive and bothersome, channelling that into an opposite reaction. For example: Your boss may be a jerk, but what can you learn from him or her? Your customers may be demanding but isn’t it delightful that they actually want something from you?
Wary of some of that advice? One more tip: Live without regrets. “Regret is one of the biggest poisons we carry as human beings,” he says. So don’t be afraid to try some of those ideas – or others – and fail. In the end, positivity and a no-regret mindset will pay off.
Quick hits
- Author Mark Manson contends just like Doritos and Mountain Dew wreck your body, push notifications and memes wreck your mind: “People like to make excuses for why their attention is fractured, but the truth is, your attention isn’t being stolen – you’re just giving it away without a fight.”
- Which comes first: Stress or burnout? Most of us would reply stress but a new study suggests the belief that burnout is the end result of a stressful job is wrong. Employees who became burned out were more likely to report heavier workloads, more strained relationships with colleagues and greater organizational problems six months after becoming burned out. The researchers think that’s because burnout leaves people with fewer psychological resources to deal with the demands of their job.
- Entrepreneur Seth Godin says one of the nicest things you can do for someone you care about is point them to an idea, a book, a talk or a tool that will amplify their work and help them get to where they’re going.
Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.