Outside of the box thinking

A few years ago, I read a CNN Money/Fortune story on how Bill Gates engaged in creative thinking.  Twice a year, he’d set aside a week to get away to a secluded cabin to do nothing but read and think.  He called it, appropriately, “Think Week.”

He brought food, a few of his favorite snacks and beverages, a notebook, a computer, and little else except for a hundred or more reports from Microsoft employees on new opportunities to explore or big challenges to resolve.

He dedicated himself to take that entire week to read each report and think about each challenge or opportunity that was represented.

Let’s face it, from time to time we need to muster up every bit of creative thinking ability that we can find in order to solve a big problem, explore a new opportunity, or make a tough decision. For some, this process comes easy.  For others, it’s a real chore.

Now, neither you nor I are Bill Gates (unless you’re reading this, Bill) and we may or may not have the luxury of taking a week to get away from it all and do nothing but read and think.  But I think each of us, in our own way, can put this type of “Think Week” thinking into action.

Here are some take-aways for me: [Read more…]

Today, April 15, is tax day in the U.S.  It’s the day to pay the piper…er…the federal, state and local governments the taxes that are due.

I don’t want to depress you, any further than you already are, by talking about how much money you’ve paid in taxes to the government.

But I do want to talk about a concept that TV and radio personality Dave Ramsey calls “Stupid Tax.”

Stupid Tax is the money we’ve spent (wasted) on decisions that ended up being financial mistakes or errors in judgment that cost us more than we bargained for.

Have you ever made a rush decision to buy something that seemed like a great deal at the time, but later you regretted? Like… [Read more…]

Tournament Brackets: Not just for March Madness, but also for your life.

My posts over the last week or so have dealt with how stress and busyness can keep us from living a balanced life and achieving true success in our life and work.

For many, the major cause of stress and busyness is the choices (or lack of choices) that we make.

I’ve observed in my own life that it’s not the choice between a good activity and a bad activity that causes my life to get out of balance.  In fact, those choices are usually quite obvious, and quite simple to make.

Rather, it’s the choice between two seemingly good activities that can lead to stress if I have no basis for making a decision and no plan for prioritizing them.

The recent NCAA March Madness basketball tournament reminded me of an interesting – and fun – technique to help make decisions and clarify priorities between any number of seemingly good or equal choices. [Read more…]