The sun’s rays would hit us in full force. We’d be fried; no amount of sunblock would help. The sky would be space black, not the gorgeous blue we see today, and life on earth would be cold and dark.
But our atmosphere filters out some of the light, so we have a blue sky. It shelters us from radiation and traps heat so we can enjoy life.

We have an atmosphere that protects us from radiation, filters light so we have a beautiful blue sky, and traps heat so we can enjoy life. The atmosphere affects what comes to earth, what goes out from the earth, and how we see things.

At Atmosphere for Ourself
We have a personal atmosphere, too. It is a layer that surrounds our core self, and, in the same way, it affects what comes at us, what goes out from us, and how we see things.

This layer modulates how we present ourselves to the world and how we decide to interpret the world. In the Integrated Life Framework, I call this layer the Practices. We can influence the impact of this atmosphere-like layer by actively engaging in mindfulness, creativity, and faith.

Mindfulness is the practice of living in the present and being in the moment, not the past or future.

Creativity is the practice of thinking differently. Without creativity, there is nothing new. Nothing changes. Everything stays the same.

Faith is the practice of believing things can change even though you aren’t sure how. It is entirely forward-looking.

You Control Your Atmosphere
“Our perception of the world around us, and our ability to affect that world, is based on our beliefs about it.” ~Joe Dispenza

Practicing these three things impacts how you interpret the world and how you present yourself to the world.

Try and visualize this layer filled with liquid. A stimulus from the world comes in, passes through the liquid, and gets processed by us. We formulate a response and send it through the layer of liquid and out to the world.

Without practices like mindfulness or faith, the liquid is like water. Something comes at you, passes quickly through that layer, and you react to it. Not always bad, but not always good, either.

If you engage in the practices of mindfulness, faith, and creativity, then the layer becomes gelatinous, like a goo. As stimuli and reactions pass through the layer, they slow down and get processed by the goo.

Let’s say someone makes a comment you think is harsh. Your raw self wants to take it personally and lash out. Instead, you look at the situation and think, “oh, they’re in a rush right now” (mindfulness). Or, you say to yourself, “I know they will come back later and apologize” (faith). Or, maybe you contemplate other possibilities and think, “I wonder what could be going on with them? Maybe their kid is sick, or they’re stressed about work” (creativity).

All those things glob on to that comment before you process it and shape how you respond.

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” ~Albert Einstein

The Practice of Faith
Concerning the practice of faith, I’m not referring to a religious or spiritual practice here, though that can certainly be incorporated.

This faith is a belief that things can be and will be different. It is not a goal, hope, or desire. It is a sense that the world is just and right, even when you don’t understand everything.

It requires faith to take action when there are no guaranteed results or promised rewards.

It takes faith to live consistent with your values because you believe something good comes of it.

It takes faith to state something as you want it to be, not how it is.

Practicing faith can feel scary. If you’ve ever quit your job, left a relationship, moved to a new city, or taken on a new endeavor, you know what that feels like.

Practicing faith can feel awkward. If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and said, “I am beautiful just as I am!” or “I am confident and strong!” you know what I mean.

Practicing faith can feel irresponsible. If you’ve ever turned down a promotion or a job that paid more money but didn’t fit your values and vision, you know the second-guessing that happens.

It is easier to accept things as they are. It feels more secure, comfortable, and responsible.

But life can be more exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling with faith.

“The mind is everything; what you think, you become.” ~Buddha

Ready to Change?
Eventually, you will be in a position where you want something different in life. But no one will have the exact formula to give you, the path won’t be clear, and there will be no guaranteed payoff if you succeed.

It requires faith to take action. Your faith will grow when you take that action, even a small one. You will imagine more significant, expansive realities as you practice faith. Practicing faith shapes how we see the world and how we react to the world.

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” ~Anais Nin

Although we’re all inspired by the story of someone taking a giant leap of faith and seeing the payoffs, that’s likely the result of many little steps of faith. It takes continual practice.
Practice faith today. Start by thinking of a situation you’re dealing with now. It can be anything, small or big; it doesn’t matter.

Ask yourself, “How can I practice faith in this situation?”

Think about what it would be like if the situation turned out better than you or anyone else could imagine. Think about experiencing complete success today.

Now, identify one action you would take if you believed that imagined success was guaranteed. Then take it. That’s practicing faith.

Faith isn’t practiced only in the victories. You can also practice faith in the setbacks. When something goes wrong, or you make a mistake, ask yourself, “What if this happened for my benefit?”

Then, ask yourself, “What can I learn from this to help me grow?” These questions will help you see beyond the moment, take a broader perspective, and practice faith.

A Little Faith Goes a Long Way
Building an integrated life is done by making small changes consistently over time. Developing a practice of faith is no different. Start small and look for opportunities to practice throughout the day. Sometimes a small act done with faith will lead to big results.

I have numerous examples in my life where this is true. One is from when I was newly married, living in St. Paul, Minnesota, going to school, and barely making it.

I was working at a hotel, which was a fine job, and came with some career opportunities in the industry. But I got the idea that I wanted to do something with computers and graphics.

I decided to go through the yellow pages (there was no Internet back then) and find all the businesses that looked like they did something with computers and graphics. I sent them letters with my resume and expressed my interest in getting into the industry.

Although I didn’t know it then, that was practicing faith. There was no position I was applying to, I had no experience, and I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for. This was the only thing I could think of, so I did it. I took action based on believing it might yield something good, but there was no guarantee.

You probably have times when you’ve stepped out on faith and taken action. How did that turn out for you? What did you learn?

For me, it changed my life. The owner of a small graphic design firm took a chance and hired me. The people there taught me about building presentations, running graphic design programs, and production processes. I went on to take programming courses, get involved in web design, and build a career in software development.

A small act of faith changed the entire trajectory of my career. It can have a big impact on your life, too.

Practice faith. Live life integrated.

When did you last do something for yourself without caveats, qualifiers, or rationalizations, and it felt good and right?

We’re taught that being selfish isn’t good. It is drilled into us. That isn’t a bad thing. We see examples all around us of selfishness and greed, examples of people being self-centered and self-absorbed, and we know that isn’t the way to live.

However, when it comes to your career, you need to be self-directed, self-motivated, and self-led. And you need to be selfish.

Let me explain.

Burned Out and Hopeless

Most people define their career by a framework of external factors – education, job history, title, salary, revenue, number of direct reports, or something like that. This is how we’re taught to define a career.
It starts early. We are encouraged to do good at school, go to college, work hard and graduate, get hired by a good company, work hard and get raises and promotions, save up, retire, and then enjoy life.

Now, if that is such a great way to build a career, why are so many disengaged and unfulfilled with their career?

It isn’t just you; it’s everywhere. According to a 2020 Conference Board report, only 33% of workers are satisfied with their jobs in the U.S., and Gallup found that 85% of employees worldwide are not engaged.

If you’re not there yet, you probably will be. Lack of fulfillment plagues our work lives and degrades our mental, physical, and social health. Low engagement at work contributes to depression, anxiety, and stress. Our bodies suffer as we carry extra weight, exercise less, and experience higher rates of sickness and disease. We don’t have time or energy to build quality relationships with friends and family, so our social life suffers.

So, what’s the solution?

Do we need to redesign our jobs, develop new titles, and reconfigure the organization? Do we need different management practices? Should we implement more systems and track things like recognition and feedback? It could be more training, a new system for tracking recognition, or an employee wellness program. Do we need to bring people back into the office, have them all work from home, do a hybrid model, or something else? Do we need more autonomy, more collaboration, another off-site, more meals together, less time together, a 4-day workweek, unlimited PTO, strategic plans, and better communication… what will fix this???

This list goes on and on. There is never a shortage of ideas on how to fix things. People want things to be different but don’t know what to change. We’ve been trained and cultured to look externally. So, we find something to change and think, “that’ll fix it.”

But it doesn’t. I know.

The Value of Being Selfish

I didn’t start on the traditional path. I mean, I barely graduated from high school, and I meandered in college. I went to six colleges over ten years before finally graduating.

You don’t need to follow a traditional path. I wasn’t unhappy or unfulfilled; quite the opposite. But as life does, it got more conventional. I got an excellent job with a great company and moved up the ranks.

But my enthusiasm waned, and I stopped being excited. So, I looked around at what needed to change.

I sought out more challenges and promotions, rising to one of the most senior positions in the company. That helped for a bit, but lethargy and discontent came back.

I thought a side hustle would help. I started a business and worked it in the evenings. That didn’t do it.
More adventure, that’ll do it! Nope. Maybe instead of more, I needed to do less. I resigned from my position. It didn’t work.

All that change cost a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and dollars. It didn’t get me what I wanted. I wanted a rewarding career where I felt fulfilled and content.

As I considered what a rewarding career meant, I realized it had to be self-centered and self-focused. Defining a successful career by money or title is easy but not helpful. Only I could figure out how to define a rewarding career. I had to get selfish.

Now might be the time for you to be selfish, too. It’s time for you to start understanding yourself, investing in yourself, and making decisions based on what motivates you. That’s the path to greater fulfillment at work.

If you can build a rewarding career, you will have improved health outcomes. You will be healthier physically and mentally. You will experience better relationships at work and home. Others around you will be happier and more fulfilled. You’ll be more productive, you’ll be able to give more, and others will benefit from your contributions.

Funny, huh? Being selfish might be the best way to give to others.

Take a Chance

When trying to build a rewarding career, changing how we’ve been cultured to think isn’t easy. You’ll start by considering a job title, like “I want to be VP” and you’ll think about the things that come along with that title and role and you’ll think, “yeah, I could do that” or “I’d like that.”

But that’s not the way to go about this. You have to start from the inside and work out. Being selfish means that your direction and motivation comes from within. Being selfish isn’t an external motivation to satisfy yourself completely, but an internal motivation to express yourself fully.

Let’s try an analogy. You are like a boat in the ocean. Generally, you float along with the currents and the tides, following along with the way things generally go.

Now, you want to stop just going along with the tides. You want to anchor up for a bit, stay for a bit, and watch the scenery. So, you throw out an anchor.

Here in Alaska, we have large tidal swings, some of the biggest in the world. As you’re trying to find a more self-directed path, your first attempts will be like throwing out a river anchor to hold against an Alaska tide change. It isn’t going to hold. It might slow your drift for a bit, but eventually, the tide will pull the anchor up, and you’ll be adrift again.

It happened to me. I had put out an anchor and was holding my own, and then a big promotion opportunity came along. The tide swung. I couldn’t pass it up, and I was adrift again.

We all start somewhere, though. Even if all you have is a river anchor, throw it out. Take the chance and invest in yourself.

The first step may feel weird. You’re used to identifying a next step, like a promotion, and then figuring out what you need to get that promotion. There is some security in the defined path.

When you decide to invest in yourself, it takes faith because there isn’t a defined payback or guaranteed result. You’re investing with no promise of a promotion, raise, or a new job. I can’t even promise contentment or happiness.

You may feel like all you have is a tin can filled with concrete tied to a rope. You wonder what good it will do against the Alaska tides. But you’ll never know unless you try. You don’t know how deep the water is, how strong the current is, what the bottom is like, or how much force is needed to buck the tide until you try.

For me, it took a lot of attempts, many anchors. Eventually, my anchor was big enough and strong enough that it held against the tides. It was set, and I stayed put while the tides moved. And they kept going, continuing their patterns without me. Turns out, they didn’t need me floating around with them after all.

Where To Start?

We are complex individuals, and it isn’t easy to unravel, untangle, and navigate our internal world. It consists of our personality, how we view the world, and all our past experiences. It’s a lot to unpack.

I encourage you to start by seeking to understand your personality. It helps to use a model. Any of the popular ones will work, such as Myers-Briggs, DISC, Enneagram, Big 5, and others. If there is one you’re familiar with, use that.

To get value from understanding your personality, you must put it into practice. Reading about yourself is intriguing, but don’t get so caught up in reviewing and analyzing your personality type that you don’t put the information to use.

I’ll give you a simple way to throw an anchor out and feel what it is like to hold yourself steady, even when the tides are shifting around you.

Put Your Personality Into Practice

Here’s a straightforward way to put your personality into practice.

1. Pick a model
   If you’ve already used a personality model that you liked, go with that. Otherwise, choose either the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) or Enneagram.
   
   If you’re new to the Enneagram, there’s a lot to understand about your type, so don’t get fixated on it right now. Use this site for a quick indication of your type and go with that.
   
2. Read about your personality type
   The Enneagram assessment above will list a few good resources to read about your type. If you used a different model, do a web search and read a few perspectives on your personality type.
   
   Remember, the descriptions are written by a variety of people, for various audiences, and for various reasons. They don’t know you, the description doesn’t define you, and the descriptions shouldn’t be viewed as prescriptive.
   
3. Identify one insight
   As you read about your personality, you will recognize yourself in the description. Often it feels like they’ve articulated something you’ve known about yourself but haven’t seen clearly until reading it.
   
   That’s an insight. It is a personal understanding of a personality trait you’ve identified about yourself. Sometimes the insight can feel a little heavy as you recognize how you’ve beat yourself up over it or imposed it unnecessarily on others. Try and keep them simple and light to start with.
   
   Write down one that stands out to you. State it as succinctly and clearly as possible.
   
4. Create a countermeasure
   Every aspect of our personality has a positive and a negative, a gift and a thorn, something to appreciate and something to fear. To make use of the insight, you must understand both sides of it,
   
   The countermeasure is how you protect yourself and others from the negative impacts of your personality traits. It is a phrase or sentence you can easily remember and recite to yourself when you see your personality trait in action.
   
   For example, one insight I had is that I can have a narrow perspective on a situation and see an either/or decision when there are multiple solutions to the situation. My countermeasure is the phrase, “What is a both/and option?”
   
   Catching myself going down a narrow perspective, I can deploy that countermeasure, say the phrase to myself, and open up my thinking.
   
5. Identify a vector
   The last thing to do is identify the gift of my personality trait. What do you appreciate about yourself and this particular trait? How can you help yourself and others by using this trait? The vector is the specific strength of your personality type put into action.
   
   This is your potential for the world, the reason you’ve got this trait, characteristic, or quirk. Your vector isn’t a mandate, mission, or crusade. Rather, it is an opportunity, an invitation you extend to others.
   
   In my example, I can help bring clarity to options when there are a lot of different factors to consider, but a decision has to be made.

Put these three components together – insight, countermeasure, and vector – and you have what I call an Implementation Pod. You can create as many of these Implementation Pods as you need. I recommend starting with three and try deploying them throughout your week.

Start Small

Understanding yourself takes investment. You must invest your time, emotions, and energy to learn about yourself and explore the implications of what you learn. You must invest in yourself. You must be selfish.

Taking the small step today of defining an Implementation Pod and putting it into practice is you building an anchor and throwing it over. You’ll start to get a feel for what the tides are doing and how your anchor is holding.

Notice how it feels when you try it out. See how others react. If you’re in a group, notice how the group dynamic changes when you deploy your Implementation Pod. I hope you experience positive effects and realize that by focusing on yourself, others benefit.

This is just a start. As you experience positive results, you’ll want to invest in yourself more. Investing in yourself, leading yourself, and being selfish is the path to fulfillment in your own life. It is also how you can best help others. You will have the energy and conviction to support others from a place of confidence and strength, and they will follow your example and start their journey of self-fulfillment.

Isn’t it ironic? Being selfish may be the best way to change the world.

Take the body surfing beach. I watched my teenage daughter tentatively wade out into the water. The waves weren’t dangerous, but they were big enough to move you around and, if you weren’t careful, take your feet out from under you.

She made it right to the shore break. The waves were crashing down, smashing in to her and knocking her around. She started turning her back to the waves, hoping for some relief from the onslaught. That just made her less stable, threatening to knock her face first into the sand. As she stood there the undertow pulled at her feet, shifting the sand underneath her toes. Her confidence was eroding quickly.

I went out to check on her. Even though she wasn’t even fully wet, she said she was ready to go in. I knew that leaving in defeat would affect her entire day. More pressing, I wanted her to know the joy of diving into waves.

I love the ocean, feeling the force of a wall of water hit me and push me around, but knowing I am in control. Waves rush toward me and at just the right time I throw my hands forward and dive into the wave. Like a scene from Harry Potter, I slice through the wave, like a spirit through a body.

It’s a great feeling. As I dive straight through I feel the mass of water around me like I’m racing through a tunnel. The wave passes over my body and I feel my feet up in the air, right before the wave engulfs them and passes on. I pop my head up on the other side and watch the wave crash on to the beach. It is graceful and exhilarating.

I wanted her to experience that. To understand the ocean is powerful and scary, but fun at the same time. I showed her how to do it and encouraged her to face out toward the big ocean and not turn her back, to anticipate the wave and learn the timing, and then to dive in!

She got it. No longer were waves slapping against her, tossing her around. No longer was she just trying to keep her feet under her. She could go where she wanted, do what she wanted. She started playing and body surfing. When a wave came sooner than expected, she would grab a quick breath, dive, and be ready for the next one. She was timid no longer. 

Isn’t that life? Waves come and we don’t know how to deal with them. They slap us around and try to knock us down. Sometimes they do. Then the undertow turns us around and right when we’re catching our breath another wave crashes down on top of us.

Don’t succumb to the pressure, giving it your back, and just try and stand. Turn toward the waves and dive into them! When they come faster than expected, dive! Not quite ready, dive! You’ll get through it, come out on the other side, and realize you can have fun in the ocean of life.

Simplify

“Why does it have to be so complicated?!?” My wife is always asking me that. And she’s right! Before you jump into process improvement efforts, make things simple.

I’ve seen complex processes that made sense for the few folks that designed it, but was too confusing for anyone outside their department. The result? They couldn’t work with other departments or systems. Disparate and disconnected systems result in lost opportunities for data sharing, reporting, and other efficiencies. 

It is true in our lives, as well. Take a real-world example… your morning commute.

Before you get out the door in the morning, you have to get yourself ready, take care of the family, pack a lunch, and put the dog out. Let’s say you just haven’t been able to get a routine established and so every morning is a series of just-in-time events with mixed results. If your neighbor asks to carpool with you (integration), it isn’t going to go well. He’s not going to know when to show up to catch a ride! 

Until you simplify your morning routine and can execute it consistently and reliably, you can’t carpool. You must simplify before trying to integrate.

Three Words For Process Improvement: Integrate, Automate, Simplify

Integrate

When your processes are working simply and reliably you can easily work with other groups and other systems. You can integrate and combine processes to realize many benefits. 

For instance, if your morning routine gets more predictable so you’re getting out the door at the same time each day, you can carpool. When you carpool with your neighbor, you realize benefits like helping the environment, saving money, and building a new friendship. 

Business processes and systems work the same way. Take HR and accounting. These two departments need to be working together as smoothly as possible. If things are integrated, employees get better service, the business has less expenses, and people working in the departments have an easier, more pleasant job. Integration is great as long as the processes are simplified first. 

Automate

There are many benefits to automation including more reliable outcomes, less labor costs, faster response, and more. Now that you have your processes simplified and working together, you’re ready to automate them, right? 

Maybe. Don’t rush to automate.

Sometimes running through a manual process for a while can be beneficial. It allows you to see how things are working, where further improvements can be made, and what edge cases you might not have anticipated. A manual process can also promote building healthy working relationships between people that are now interacting because of the integrated process. Just don’t let it run indefinitely. Set a checkpoint, review progress, and make plans to automate it.

Always Start with Simplify

It isn’t always easy to figure out how to improve things at work, at home, or in relationships. But, you can never go wrong by starting with simplify. When you simplify, it is easier to see what’s important. In a time of so many distractions, understanding and acting on what is important in life is the most valuable thing you can do. 

*Originally published on LinkedIn January 27, 2020

Just like you can’t rely on past successes for future rewards, you can’t continue to rely on past methods to create the career you want. You must continue to learn and create new frameworks for discovering your passions, talents, and ways to experience success as you transition into the next phase of your career. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Own It! Commit to Developing Yourself

Without noticing it, we can let others define our goals and objectives. Outside perspective and influence are good, but the annual performance review isn’t going to sustain you in the long term. Take ownership of your desires and interests and how you will fulfill those at work. You’ll feel empowered and will increase your self-confidence.

Borrowing from the concepts in the book The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, I recommend making a contract with yourself. You don’t have to wait for your company to implement these practices, you can do it yourself.

What are some areas you want to develop in yourself? There are traditional work-related areas – technical skills, leadership, communication, etc. But, think of some of the personal areas you might want to grow in, too… compassion, patience, understanding. Those will likely never show up in any performance review, but you can still develop them in the workplace. Then, set a timeline for when you’ll reevaluate your progress. I believe this is the most important thing you can do to develop a rewarding career in the long term.

Be a Part of the Team

Just because you don’t have a team at work defined for you doesn’t mean you’re not part of a team. Take a few moments to distinctly define your team… who relies on you? Who do you rely on? What are the shared goals and objectives? Now, spend some time reflecting on your role within the team.

• What are the talents and skills you typically contribute? Are those areas of strength for you? Be honest in your assessment of yourself and your contributions. If you can line up your areas of strength with areas of contribution, you will experience greater success.
• What talents and skills do you want to contribute? Don’t deceive yourself about your strengths, but don’t diminish them, either. Are there contributions you could be making, that you aren’t? What are they?
• Who compliments you? You’ve likely worked with people that perfectly compliment you and your talents. What strengths did they have and why were you effective with them? If you can identify traits, you can seek them out in others and develop synergy.

Start Returning Now

You know the phases of a career… learning, earning, returning. You might think you’re still in the earning phase, but now is the time to think about how you can give back. Start preparing now.

Maybe you work for a non-profit and contributing to society is baked into your job. Or, your company has an incredible social mission that you identify with on a regular basis. Chances are, this is not the case, and so it is harder to regularly recognize your contributions to society through the work you do.

Spend some time considering your role, your employer, and how it contributes to a better society. If we can focus on some small, and positive, aspects, there is a greater likelihood you’ll start seeing bigger, positive things around you, too. On a regular basis, reflect on how your skills and talents contribute and ways you could do more.

Don’t trivialize your thoughts here… you may consider your contributions small, but small things matter!

Integrated Life Leads to Inspired Life

Mid-career can be a time where we feel stagnant or a time of personal growth and preparation for the next phase of our career. If you haven’t been feeling it lately, take some time to rediscover your personal aspirations and integrate them into your professional life. Doing so can lead to greater contributions to your work and with your team. Knowing yourself and seeing your role in a small team can lead to inspiration for greater contributions to the world, which will inspire yourself and others. 

*Originally published on LinkedIn October 2, 2018

For most people, self-awareness doesn’t come naturally. It takes some work. But where to start?

When talking about project success, you start with people. There are tons of resources on building teams, getting the right people in the right seats, empowering and motivating employees, and more. But, before diving into all of that, start with the most important person: You.

This isn’t a self-indulgent, you’re so important, only you can do it, cheerleading essay, though. This is a quick read about self-awareness.

External Self Awareness

How many times a day do you look in the mirror? 5-10 times, easy… getting ready in the morning, every time you wash your hands, after a meal to make sure no lunch leftover is stuck in your teeth (how long has that been there?).

All that looking in the mirror and yet it is easy to forget what we look like. It is the same with our personality. We have a hard time understanding and internalizing how others interpret our actions. Becoming cognizant of how others perceive you is what developing external self-awareness is all about.

Personality tests are an easy way to get a view of what we look like, kind of like that check in the mirror. You’ve probably taken one, read the description of your type, and thought, “Wow, that is so me!” We quickly forget, though, and so it never hurts to re-check ourselves in the psychology mirror. 

• Get a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) code (if you don’t know it already). Here’s a quick and free one: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test.
• Read about your personality type. There are tons of resources out there, such as: https://www.personalitypage.com/html/high-level.html. Just remember, this is a tool, a classification system to help understand personality. It doesn’t determine your behavior or outcomes.
• Now that you’ve looked in the mirror, consider how others see and interact with you based on that. Need help? https://www.psychologyjunkie.com/2018/10/16/how-others-see-you-based-on-your-personality-type/. 

The other type of self-awareness is internal self-awareness. How well do you understand yourself and how you respond or react in different situations?

Internal Self Awareness

We were taught as kids to control our impulses and “think before you act!” Good advice, but as you get older you realize that it takes work to think and understand a situation. You are making decisions in a dynamic environment with a lot of variables to process, one of which is you.

And that’s where mindfulness comes in. By practicing mindfulness on a regular basis you can become more aware of your thoughts and feelings as they happen. That’s developing internal self-awareness and it can help you make better decisions.

It is a trendy topic right now because it is easier than ever to get started. There are apps you can download on your phone that will get you started with short, guided meditations. A couple to look at are Calm (www.calm.com) and Headspace (www.headspace.com). There are also lots of resources on the Internet such as https://www.mindful.org/. 

Do What Works for You

I encourage you to invest in both internal and external self-awareness. Even if these ideas don’t do it for you, find something that does. Spending a little time on yourself will yield dividends in all your endeavors, including projects.

Until next time, cheers to your success!

Brian

Not necessarily. Sometimes results are just results. A project that’s on track, run perfectly, and achieves results may still disappoint. That’s especially true with technology projects.

Why? Technology can fundamentally change how business functions. Needs shift, expectations change, and that successful project is suddenly a flop. Your project plan needs to account for this reality.

My suggestion: Think about results as the outcome of the team’s activities, not what you get at the end of the project. When structuring your project, create Many Mini-Milestones (MMMs) so that you can see results along the way.

There are benefits of the MMM approach both to the team and the business.

Benefits of Many Mini Project Milestones For the team

• Delivering becomes a mindset. It becomes part of the project cadence, not a big event incurring stress and marathon coding sessions.
• Winning builds unity. When the team is hitting the milestones, they get positive feedback and experience success. They become more invested and go from “working on it” to owning it.
• Small mistakes cost less. If the team isn’t winning, you’ll get feedback early and have time to adjust.
• Prioritizing takes practice. There are always compromises needed to meet an objective. Setting MMMs gives everyone a chance to learn how to prioritize quality, features, and cost in their decision-making process. Better decisions lead to better outcomes.

Benefits of Many Mini Project Milestones For the business

• Progress is visible to all. If you publish the MMMs, share them with stakeholders, and report on them, everyone has a clear view of the progress being made and where the project is heading.
• The business learns how to flex and adjust. Business users can’t accurately predict how new software will impact operations, but they can adapt. Providing visible progress helps get stakeholders engaged and leads to more organic change management. Plus, you’ll get buy-in when you have to make design changes, revisit assumptions, or do a course correction.
• Ability to adapt to external changes. The world changes, whether we like it or not, and a project that can more readily adapt will stay relevant longer.

The idea of frequently delivering small packages is encapsulated in many software development and project management methodologies, and for good reason. Implementing some form of MMM in your projects will take a little bit of upfront work, but doesn’t need to be complex. Making it tangible, visible, and part of the project will help you and your team deliver meaningful results to the business.

Until next time, cheers to your success!

Brian

But, hope is a terrible co-pilot. You need good information to make good decisions.

Is It Confusion? Or A Cluster?

Technical complexity can be hard to communicate. How many times have you had an idea, totally clear in your head, and when you try to explain it to others, they act like you’re speaking in a foreign language? It happens to all of us. It takes work to explain things simply.

No matter how complex technology is, it is still possible to talk about it in a way everyone understands. You and your team are going to have to be able to communicate about the project effectively in order to determine if there is a problem and how to address it.

As Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Following is an outline to guide you and your team in talking through a technical project. Use this to break down three aspects of the project: Purpose, Process, and Tools.

Purpose: What is it the business is trying to accomplish?

Everyone on the project should be able to state the purpose of the project clearly so that everyone is aligned to the same objective. Consider the following two examples:

A) We want to improve the experience for employees submitting expenses

B) We want to streamline the expense approval process

There is a subtle but real difference between the two. Your project team may be making very different decisions depending on which one they are focusing on.

Often, the project purpose gets diluted to something like “improve employee expense entry.” While that may be true, it won’t help the team focus and make better decisions. In fact, a watered down purpose leaves it up to individual interpretation and increases the risk of scope creep. 

Clearly define the purpose of the project and help everyone on the team articulate it correctly and succinctly.

Process: How does the work get done?

Process helps a team measure progress, identify barriers, and keep things moving forward. A good process doesn’t guarantee success, but it’s hard to achieve project completion without one.

The entire team should know and be able to explain how work items progress through the process and when tasks are considered complete.

A developer may think the process is: I take a story from the backlog, do the development, and submit it to QA. However, if the story isn’t considered complete until QA approves it, the developer needs to know that.

Talking through the process helps everyone know how they can contribute to moving the project forward and give feedback on ways to improve it.

Tools: What are you using to do the work?

Everyone on the team should have a general understanding of the solution components and the technologies used on the project. The architect or lead on the project can provide this for the team. Work with them to get a good summary and have them present it to the team.

There may be specific tools and technologies used just for certain areas. For example, the UX team may be using specific JavaScript libraries the database team doesn’t know anything about. Once the team has a summary of the overall solution, team members from different areas can provide a summary of the specific technologies used in their domain area.

A shared understanding across the technical team will decrease accidental complexity, increase team cohesion, and provide opportunities for innovation.

Be a Guide, Not a Grader

Once you go through this exercise you’ll have a better idea if the project is in peril or just complex and complicated. You’ll also be ready to have more nuanced discussions about things like personnel, task assignments, and design choices.

While explaining things simply may come naturally for you, it doesn’t for most people. It takes work and may be an uncomfortable activity for some. If you can take the role of guide or coach, as opposed to a grader, it will help.

As for my work, feel free to grade it. I welcome your feedback. If you have other questions or topics you’d like me to write about, let me know.

Until next time,

Brian

• Self is the person you are born to become, as of today.
• Practices are things you actively do, but they’re never complete. The ones I include are mindfulness, faith, and creativity.
• Manifestations are the self showing itself to you and the world. It includes your hobbies, interests, likes and dislikes, and other tangible things that make you who you are.
• Roles are the multitude of parts we play in life.
• Environment is the physical and psychological space we interact in.

I learned the value of a framework when I was developing software. Having a framework provided more consistency during development, it allowed us to add features faster, and it was easier to bring other people into the team.

Here are some ways I think the Integrated Life Framework can be used.

• Process new information. When you read books, articles, watch videos, etc. you want to apply the information to your life. Use the framework and ask if you’re processing the information at the right level. Does it impact the roles you play? Is it something that can influence a practice? How does it shape your understanding of environment?
• Identify growth opportunities. If you analyze situations using the framework, you may see challenges differently and find ways to foster growth. For example, you may be unfulfilled in a role at work. Review the manifestations of your self and see if you can’t find a way to incorporate things you like into that role.
• Know what you want. This is hard for me. I second guess myself all the time! Did I really want to take on that new role at work? Am I investing my time in the right things? Maybe there’s something better out there… what should I do?!? Through practices and manifestations, you understand and trust yourself more. You become more confident because you know what you want and what you don’t want.
• Make intentional changes. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Maybe you need to make a change, but don’t know where to start. Using the framework, you can deconstruct things and identify changes to make. Do you need to change your role? Is it the environment? What aspects of yourself do you need to promote?

This weekly email is a way for me to share and test ideas. I’d love to hear what you think about the idea of using a framework for personal development. Email me anytime with your thoughts, feedback, or questions.

Simple Sundays are about making small changes that can have a big impact. One small change today can make Monday awesome. What will it be?

Do you believe that? It is easy to forget, even when you’re not seeing the results you want. Sometimes it is a subconscious assumption, “that’s the way things are.” If you don’t realize you’re making that assumption, you end up changing yourself to adapt to the environment, which may not be the best thing.

Changing our environment can be liberating and refreshing, if the environment was the thing that needed changing. Let’s say you hate your job, so you change employers only to find out it wasn’t your boss that was the issue, but the type of work you do. You’ve wasted time and capital changing the environment when you needed to change your role.

So, before making the investment to change your environment, evaluate. Here is a three-step outline for doing that.

Consider the Environment as Layered

Deconstructing the environment into layers may help you understand what aspects you can and want to change.

• Physical. This is the built environment – your home, workplace, neighborhood, stores and businesses, the streets, etc. How does that environment impact you and shape you? You might include the metaverse in this category.
• Relational. This is your friend group, colleagues and mentors, and all the other relationships you maintain. I also include organizational relationships here (e.g., boss, employees, etc.).
• Emotional. This is a little less concrete, but I describe it as the non-physical dynamics. Examples include the family dynamic, the overall atmosphere at work, or the dynamic with your partner.

Consider Your Role in the Environment

Now take some time to consider your role in the environment. For a given role, what layers can you make changes in? Would that result in positive outcomes for you? Are there other layers of the environment where you can make changes to achieve your goals?

Understand Your Motivation for Change

Your motivation for change should be focused on you and your desires, not others. Take some time to consider why you want the change and if that motivation is to help meet your needs, or for some other reason. For instance, spite and vengeance might fire you up, but probably aren’t healthy motivations.

To clarify, I’m talking about change to support your personal development and aspirations. You have ambitions to improve other people’s lives, your community, or society. Those are important, but different. The change I’m talking about here is what is going to give you energy so you can do good in the world.

Make Incremental Changes and Iterate

Now that you’ve spent some time thinking about your environment, maybe you have some ideas on how and what can change.

Is it something simple like changing the position of your desk or rearranging your living room? Maybe you plan to spend more time with people that are one step ahead of you in life stage. Is there a change you can make to create a more positive dynamic with your co-worker?

Whatever it is, change doesn’t have to be big to make an impact. Start small, see how it goes, and then do it again. Incremental change done over and over can lead to amazing results.

Start today and make Monday awesome! See you next week.