Coaching and Gaming

[Jack7]

I've been receiving a lot of business coaching lately. One of the suggestions I've received is "work your butt off and without allowing any interruption for 4 days a week and 1 day a week spend away from the office and instead go out. Wander around, look at things, visit other businesses, and spend some time in solitude just thinking. Use that 1 day to think, generate new ideas, and make notes."​

This strikes me as a superb idea. So starting next week I implement it. (I had other commitments this weekend.)​

I'll work by butt off 4 days a week without interruption. One day a week will be devoted to wandering, observation, idea generation, and solitude. This should be an especially productive schedule for generating new business ideas, for benefiting my (fiction) writing career, and to improving the conditions favorable for my inventing.​

Oh, and on the one day devoted to Wandering, Observation, and Idea Generation there will be no computers, internet, television, cell phones (God knows I hate those already anyways) or other such distractions.

Just wandering, pen and paper, sketchbooks maybe, thinking, and some solitude. I'll listen to music some too, and read, but nothing "work-related" or that is noisy or frivolous.

The point is to overcome all distractions, avoid projects already underway, and instead develop new ideas.​

Another very interesting idea that was presented to me was this: turn my Business and my Career into Games. That this would not only make my Company and my Career more fun, but more productive, creative and flexible. I'm already working on ideas on how to implement this concept, but it seems another excellent suggestion.​

 

[Janx]

I think some people used a variant of that. Except they'd work 5 days. Then they'd take 2 days off. They called it the weekend.


Google uses a variant of your idea. basically 1 day a week, employees work on their own pet project. For programmers, having the freedom to use your work tools to build something YOU want to build is effectively the same thing.

The idea had merit, and resulted in interesting things, like GMail.

At the moment, I find it hard to have time to take a full day off from the 7 days of the week. Pressing schedules means you work until its done.

 

[Jack7]

Google uses a variant of your idea. basically 1 day a week, employees work on their own pet project. For programmers, having the freedom to use your work tools to build something YOU want to build is effectively the same thing.

Great idea Janx! It shouldn't just be the top leaders in a company that use this practice, but everyone. You'd just rotate the days particular employees use for their own projects.

Personally I'd also allow employees to develop "stakes" in their own projects, such as percentage compensation and stock plans, or company financing support for successful ventures. (The company would have it's own small in-house Venture Capital financing for what look like good ideas, and then the pet project developer could decide if he wanted to start his own venture through company financing, create a new division, or simply take a percentage share stake in the venture.

If you give the employees options on how to develop their own pet projects, and how the company might help so that both in-house developer and company mutually benefit you'd innovate much more rapidly I think and create new wealth much more rapidly.

I had some excellent ideas this weekend I think using the coaching I've been receiving and I got up early this morning to sketch out notes on my Business/Career/Life Game and how it's going to be run.

Well, I've got business and planning meetings most of the rest of the day. Thanks for the feedback and ideas.

 

[Umbran]

Google uses a variant of your idea. basically 1 day a week, employees work on their own pet project. For programmers, having the freedom to use your work tools to build something YOU want to build is effectively the same thing.

Technically, the idea is that Googlers are supposed to spend 20% of their time on something other than their assigned projects, which is equivalent to, but not the same as a strict 1 day a week. They may work for several weeks only on assigned work, then take a week to go refactor code they just personally feel is messy, for example.

The 4/1 idea works great if you are in a job that allows you to set your own schedule. Most of us don't. Our work is too dependent on the schedules of others, so we can't set aside a whole day when we want to.

 

[Croesus]

A four days of work, one day of thinking/creativity wouldn't work well for me. As Umbran points out, many of us don't have such control over our workloads. In addition, I find that I do better with smaller chunks of time.

For instance, I'll work a couple hours pulling data for another team, then take a 15 minute walk. Sometimes my mind will wander and I'll suddenly have an insight into something that's had me stumped. And even if not, hey, at least I got some exercise and reduced my stress level.

The most important thing you can do is clearly identify what you want, then find the ideas and suggestions that best fit your way of doing things. Don't try to shoehorn yourself into someone else's method - find what works for you.

 

[Jack7]

Tomorrow the wife and I are going out to a new industrial park/design center, the old mall, and to a new park on the river. I'm gonna talk to some people, take photographs, record sounds, get some ideas, and take notes.

It should be both interesting and productive.

 

[Jack7]

Had a superb day with our no work/explore/idea generation day.

Likely landed a new client (with the wife's help, and a contract to help rewrite/edit a training program for an international translation company), and there is a possibility we could land 2 more new clients.

I hope this will also lead to some new brokerage clients for all involved as I used to be an international business broker (many years ago) and it seems like a good synergy/fit (my client's translation company, my prior brokerage experience, and my business writing).

Next week I'm also gonna be talking to another possible client about writing some materials for his office, he's a psychologist, and psychology was one of my majors in college. So I'm looking forwards to that possibility, and my wife talks to someone at a radio station about furthering her public speaking/media career.

We visited a new industrial/business park and my daughters and I took several great photographic shots which we're going to be selling. (One thing I really like about this concept/method is that it gives my kids first hand experience with work, idea generation, and business, and they get to see how things develop outside of my home office, in the field.)


My wife got a new project out of the visit for her independent public speaking and publications venture, and I got an idea while taking shots about a new camera design which is going into my invention notebook. I'm sure the idea is pitchable. I've just got to work out one security design feature. Which I'll likely have to make programmable or transmittable, or both.

We spent quite a bit of time in the city touring about later that day, went to a restaurant to eat, and then to Barnes and Noble where I made a couple of contacts for local magazines (I've been wanting to write some articles on business expansion in our local area, and a couple on Vadding as well.)

I spent the whole day out with the family and although we avoided "typical work" (as in "being in the office") it was both extremely productive and a great deal of fun. My kids had a ball, learned a lot about business, and yet work was immensely fun. (Work to me is fun anyways, and often is the most fun I can have with my clothes on, but today it was exceptionally fun.)

One thing I also noticed, I only ate twice today. I ate breakfast, and then at the restaurant, but haven't been hungry since, and I think it was because we were all having so much fun, and got involved in so many interesting things and projects, that I just never thought about eating again.

Well, I have to say, this was excellent coaching and advice I've gotten. I'm gonna do this every week.

I'm also this weekend gonna turn my attention to translating my work and business into a Game. I've already done some preliminary work on that, but today gave me some really good ideas on how I could design the project for practical benefit.

Well, I gotta hit the hay. Still gotta make some notes before bed.

 

[Jack7]

Much, if not all, of the recent business coaching I've been getting has worked out superbly.

Over the past week my wife and I have secured a new contract for a Project for a company that does international interpretations and translations (I'm writing the training manual and materials, she's handling the training program itself).

My wife and I met a consultant who handles non-profits on Tuesday who is setting up a meeting with a famous public speaker (a woman) who is going to mentor my wife in developing her own Public Speaking Career. He also seemed interested in me doing some brokerage work for him on client contacts, which I haven't done in 15 years or so but that I wouldn't mind doing again.

Today she met at a Woman's Chamber Network meeting someone for the local school district that wants me to put a Writing Program together for the public schools as a pilot program, us to put together a presentation for Career Day at the High Schools, another woman who runs a Montessori Academy that wants me to write an educational program and my wife to do Voice Over Work for her, and a human resources consultant who wants my wife to work with her on some on-boarding programs for Fortune 500 companies.

On Wednesday I met a guy who has opened a local Psychological Counseling and Services firm who is also now a nationally licensed seminar speaker (he's a former hospital administrator). I am hoping that I will get to write out some of his seminar speeches and possibly work with him on a project of psychological and Christian Counseling programs. Psychology was one of my majors in college and I did 3 internships in the field, and in addition I have a real interest in Christian counseling as I am studying to be a Priest, and psychology will be one of my Priestly pursuits. And I think this whole field of exposure will be excellent practice for me, and I like the guy from our initial meeting. So I talk to him next week.

I think my wife is beginning to benefit immensely from the coaching I/we've been getting as well. She's flush with ideas lately and has been practically swimming in new contacts and projects. I had been hoping and praying for a long time that she would leave her employer, and I was encouraging her to do so, but I think she lacked the courage to make that step so losing her job was one of the best things that could have happened to her I think. It was a Godsend. And for me as well as I'm greatly enjoying being in business with her. Our skills and talents are complimentary and a lot of people seem to love the idea of us working together as a partnership team, me handling the writing, plan development, consulting, brokerage and so forth, and she handling the public speaking, training, coaching, and presentation work.

I'm still working on the "converting my business into a game" project but haven't had time to work that idea much because of other business and career matters. But I'm moving ahead and searching for an agent to represent my fiction writings and some of my non-fiction works.

Tomorrow I spend "not working," instead it will be my second Friday of going out with the wife and family, taking photographs, and idea-generation. I've had a great idea to stem from that and now I give 3 quotes on every project. A Simple quote covering only what is barely needed for the project to work, an Advantage Quote which includes added-value components (and is more expensive than the first quote) and an Exceptional Quote which includes the very best and most complex work I can produce on that particular project with promises to produce future or on-going/follow-up work. I'm finding most clients prefer to take the Exceptional Quote even though it is the most expensive as it solves the most number of problems for them.

I've also gotten some good advice about "Create your own Numbers" (which actually gave me the idea for the 3 Quote system), but the best advice I've gotten over this week is simply to "Do Only One Thing - Ever." That has been extremely good advice and has led to a lot of our new business. I'm really, really enjoying business again.

 

[Jack7]

I've been putting together a series of detailed Work Plans revolving around some of the coaching I've been getting. Altering operational methods accordingly.

It has really helped re-develop our business. Closed a good contract last week and am now averaging securing one new client per week. On average.

Had a good day of idea generation today. Developing aCLIENT BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS and PIIN DEVELOPMENT Program to add value for my clients to new consulting projects.

Made some good progress on my Work Game.

And spent most of the day writing new stories for Halloween I'm gonna be submitting to magazines for Halloween.

My wife made out well today too.


She called me before she went to bed tonight. She told me that her recording session went very well, that she got along very well (had both a good working and personal relationship) with the album producer. That her producer had very little work to do to mix her vocals and that she had made a lot of great industry contacts, and that she really liked the professionalism of her producer and his studio.

That the band was doing well and that the entire recording was going well.
She also wanted me to thank all of her friends and family who have supported this recording.