Tag: Effectiveness

A Bruce Lee Quote To Get You Going

Carl Setzer
A Bruce Lee Motivational Quote
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.

As someone who tends to think far too long before acting, this speaks deeply to me. I like to have everything answered and understood up-front. That risk-adverse nature, I suppose. It does paralyze in it’s excess.

There’s deep value in visualizing a project, break it into a series of tasks and understanding what it takes to complete. However, perfection is a fantasy. We’ll never know every possible detail that could arise. NEVER.

That’s the value of the agile methodology. Conceptualize, plan, start, evaluate, review the plan, adjust, restart. I love that. It keeps that paralysis under control.

*image from Dumb Little Man. Check them out!

Reflections On Seth Godin

Carl Setzer

Seth Godin always makes me think. His writing brings me to the proverbial 30,000 foot level, where I can see clearly. His post today “Never smooth enough–a modern addiction” came with this great line:

“Accept the lack of perfect. Better to make something important instead.”

It’s so easy for me to get caught up in the lack of perfect, the gaps, the holes in the plans, and in all the things I don’t have to “pull this off”.

Just move, just start: it’s what matters. Everything else will come together.

Realizing my influence

Carl Setzer

I had a powerful realization today. While training some junior belts, I noticed one, a high-school aged young woman, was watching me closely. Everything I said and did was watched closely.  I saw how much potential I had to build her up, or tear her down.

It’s sobering and humbling. Knowing how nuch influence I have. I love the idea that a few well placed positives: words, smiles, can add so much to her life. And screwing this up can really mess things up.

Long ago, I pledged to be powerfully positive. Seeking, still, to master that. But I’m moving forward.

You ever had such an epiphany?

Focusing on your sphere

Carl Setzer

Thinking recently about Steven Covey’s notion of focusing in your sphere of influence. Work where you are, that’s how I internalize this. I’ve long thought of this simply in terms of effectiveness. Actually, this is far deeper. What’s critical always lies within this sphere. One must complete the critical, our all else fails. We must hold our attention within. By managing within ourselves, the inner elements of our lives, other pieces come into play. When the core gets neglected, there is either fear of impending collapse, or the consequences of such collapse. Breaking free requires focus on the deepest, richest inner, most critical elements. Only upon mastering these, can other pieces of life become richer, deeper.

Productivity Thought of the Day

Carl Setzer

I loved this piece from Fast Company, “Why Productive People Take Better Notes. As a student if effective living, these sorts of articles grab my attention.

Ah, notes…glorious notes! I’ve been an avid note taker most of my life. The hints here include a few I already use, and some clever ideas that need to incorporate.

My main note taking tool has long been pen & notebook. My favorite combo is moleskine and a good pen. Yet Evernote is another favorite tool. I’ve combined the two for quite sometime now. Sometimes I’ll take notes directly into Evernote. Often, for many reasons, I’ll opt to write out the notes and then enter them into Evernote. Evernote’s strength, to me, is the ability to search, quickly. Also, I have it installed on all my computing devices: iPhone, tablet, work & home computer, and I can access via the web.

Oddly, though, I prefer to read from my pen & paper notebooks. Searchability aside, reading is more pleasurable to me in paper. This keeps me using this tandem system.

There is an additional benefit to this. By taking a few minutes to review notes before, and them typing them, it refreshes and renews the information. Drives it deeper into my mind, transferring it into long-term memory.

I like the suggestion of taking multicolored pens during review. Sounds brilliant! It’s these little tricks I love. Do you have any?