It's all about words in the West Wing

I don't know if it is a good or a bad thing that I have been loaned the entire box set of the West Wing. I am now hooked, good and proper.

BUT.....I am also very bemused and a tad irritated by a few things. Talking fast, very fast, in fact, so fast my ears cannot pick up all the words, seems to be taken as synonymous with showing intelligence. Scattering speech with acronyms and leaving things unsaid but accompanied by meaningful looks, all serve to make the case that if you don't understand, you don't belong.

It reminds me that corporate life is full of people enacting these sorts of behaviours and then we are surprised people misunderstand and that mistakes are made! So my plea this week is to KISS - Keep it so simple. De-mystify, de-clutter and 'de-clique-ify' your speech.

Una

Struggling with Focus

Ha ha. Thanks to +American Management today for the link to the Dilbert cartoon on working from home. Today being a Monday began with completing a task I had begun last Friday. A good way to start the week I thought. Tick one off the to do list and get the motivation to move to task 2. However, one look at my To Do list highlighted a problem, what should task 2 be. The scale of Urgent vs Important started to get drowned out by the interesting vs boring, which was also shouted down by the Must, Should and Could analysis.

So what won.... The 'dangle the pencil above the list with the eye's closed, circle it around a few times and then point' analysis has dictated a software amendment is needed. Thank goodness for scientific decision makeing eh!

That is Monday's for you!!

Have a good week.

Una

Learning through social media

Well I have to thank Lars Feldmann on Linked in for sharing this link to Jane Harts Blog. Having pondered earlier in the week what makes me click through on links I am sent, Jane's blog makes me add an additional thought - to learn more.

Jane shows a really catchy and inspirational way to help people learn through social media. I just love the thought. Thanks to Jane and thanks to Lars for helping me learn through social media!

Una

What makes you click?

My late Mum used to be a personal secretary, in the 'old days', as my children would say. She said she kept herself motivated by not focusing on her in tray, but looking at the growing content in her out tray. In those days her in and out tray were physical plastic trays and her technology was an electric typewriter. I am not sure what Mum would have made of today's business environment.

Today I reflected that I have 8 email accounts to monitor, three voice mail accounts two twitter accounts, two text message accounts and umpteen discussion forums I am part of. With all this 'noise', I pondered the question, "when someone sends me a link, what is it that makes me click on it?".

When time is so precious and information so overwhelming, why am I tempted to spend that extra few seconds on one link rather than another?

For me there are several 'grabs':

• Humour
• A (short) quirky comment.
• An eye grabbing picture.
• A puzzle.
• A topic of immediate interest.
• A person I know

What does it for you?

Una

Trust Your Gut

I have this game with my cat Milly. Each mealtime I hold up two different flavoured pouches of kitty food and let her decide which one she wants. She chooses (decisively if I might say so), by rubbing her whiskers across the selected pouch. If only all choices were so easy!!

From Government choices on increase spending vs imposed austerity to Milly and her food pouch, we are all faced with choices. So how do we know we have made the right choice?

Experience tells me that it is often not down to the facts, figures and feedback although they surely help. However, often these don't materialise till after the event, so how do you know in the moment? Sometimes it is just down to 'gut feel'.

So what is 'gut feel'? 
For me, a gut feel that something is wrong is summed up by uneasiness  a cold feeling coming over me, a lump in my throat, a niggle that won't stay quiet in my brain, a hesitation or a sleepless night.
A gut feel that something is right materialises as a lightness as though something has dropped off my shoulders, a surge of energy, a sense of achievement, a pride and a willingness or desire to tell someone.

Do you listen to your gut often enough?

Una

We all have them..........

.....Strengths that is. How much time do we waste worrying about the things we are not good at. The things you cannot do are what nature created all those other lovely people for!!

Caroline and I each have our own strengths which we bring to our partnership at #ConnectingDots. If we both focused on addressing our weaknesses all the time how mediocre and boring would that be. As each of us play to our strengths we not only amaze each other with what we can achieve but also (and this is important), we motivate each other to do even more. Be bold today and play to your strengths.

Una

Feed on the Fuel of Joy!!

As the clock passed midnight last night I sat huddled over my laptop, 4th cup of tea turning cold on the table and the murmurs of Meryl Streep on the TV in the background (how old is Silkwood?). Suddenly, I did a double take.Everything clicked into place. The problem I had been poring over in mind and on screen for over a week gave way to my 'eureka!!!' moment. I had found the answer.

I won't go into the boring and seedy depths of the problem but it involved variables, layered operands and multiple scenario's! When I realised I had 'cracked' it I jumped up and felt a surge of joy shoot right through me, which instantly energised me. So much so that it then took me another hour to get to sleep.

So when Milly cat became vocal at 6:30am demanding her breakfast, closely followed by her bro' Alfie, I could have been forgiven for chucking my pillow at the pair of them. But no, still energised on 'joy' I jumped out of bed and saw to their whims and furry demands. Then looking out the window I noticed the rain teeming down but did that put me off my jog? No, still riding on the crest of joy I donned my woolly hat,  jacket, mini ipod and jogged off.

The interesting thing is that each thing I did brought me more joy and energised me more. Is joy the fuel that keeps on giving? So my friend, what will bring you joy today? Can you start a tsunami of joy and feed off that energy to achieve even more fantastic things? Why not give it a go!

Una