Be Different or be dead

March 25, 2019

9 easy ways to get out of the gigantic rut you’re in

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9 easy ways to get out of the gigantic rut you’re in.

“I’m in a rut and I just can’t seem to get out of it”. How many times have you heard someone say it? How many times have you said it?

I’m not a psychologist, and there are many who prescribe solutions to this problem.

I’m a business guy, writer and grandparent who, like all of you, has fallen victim to ‘the rut’ from time, and have had to figure out how to escape. I hope what worked for me will be useful to you.

In my experience, it’s not unusual to get stuck. Your work can sometimes fall into a mechanical routine and your personal life can fall victim to lacklustre days of same-old same-old.

And the rut isn’t so bad; it’s comfortable settling in to a routine. When you’re stuck, you’re not particularly challenged because repetition dictates your activities ; it’s low risk and you just float along.

But after a while, the comfortable turns into the frustrating and annoying; what was once a peaceful place to be suddenly becomes somewhere you anxiously want to exit.

When you find yourself trapped by momentum you no longer find gratifying, it’s time for a self-intervention.

These steps helped me manage my rut experience(s) and achieve productive outcomes.

Reflect: how bad is it really?

So you’re caught in a vortex and you can’t see anyway out. The problem is that your emotions take over and dictate the severity of the entrapment you feel, but emotions aren’t always the best judge of how really bad it is.

It might FEEL like you’re suffocating but in reality you may be catching your breath now and then.

So before you hit your OMG! button, take a time out and do a reality check on your situation. Make sure it’s really a rut you’re in before you start trying to climb out.

Maybe it’s time

The experience you’re having could be a blessing in disguise. It’s possible that up until now you’ve been unaware that you’ve been stuck. When the current has you, it’s difficult to think of anything but going with it.

So rejoice over the fact that at least you now you realize it’s time to shake off the dust from the past and move on. Discomfort is an amazing motivator and guide if you listen to it.

Examine what has changed

Something changed that made you dissatisfied with the direction you were on.
Before you can take any remedial action, you must understand the dynamics at play. There’s a reason you now feel you’re in a rut that you don’t like and you need to understand it.

You can’t fix or change it if you don’t know what likely caused it. Look at any recent life event — family, financial, career, health — because they can dramatically shift your thinking and cause you to rethink how you’ve been living your life.

Talk to friends

Get the views of your closest allies on what’s going on with you. They may have valuable insights on what’s causing your discontent, and they may be able to offer potential solutions.

Third party engagement is quite often extremely effective because we simply are unable to spot what’s wrong in us; we’re embedded in ourselves and often too close to be objective to see our problem.

Do some research

You’re not likely the only person who has been in your situation; the rut you’re in has probably been occupied by someone else at some point.
So do some research and find out what’s out there on your dilemma.

Social media is a good source to explore what others have gone through; Google your situation as well and you will get plenty of information to ponder.

Get enough sleep

You need your sleep to figure out what needs changing; you can’t solve any problem when your body is sleep deprived.

This may seem like a small issue but it’s not. Changing momentum requires intense emotional energy which cannot be produced from a tired body.
Take care of yourself and be able to do the tough work required.

Think!

Getting unstuck requires innovative thinking which means you need to do things that gets your creative juices flowing.

Sitting in your chair won’t create the kind of possibilities you need; perhaps taking early morning walks — in any weather — might.

The point is to find an activity you like and one that stimulates your thought process and start doing it regularly. See what new thinking you can create to check out of rutsville.

Check your bucket list

Everyone has an inventory of things they would like to do kif only they could’; so now its time to turn some of your dreams into reality.
Use your bucket lists as a source of ideas to get un-stuck, but choose wisely.

Resist the temptation to go for the big idea necessarily right away; perhaps a series of short term changes will produce the behaviour necessary for you to get un-stuck and STAY un-stuck.

Have a plan

Take the time to document the choices you feel you have to escape your rut. Write them down because they have more serious intent than idle thoughts about what you COULD do.
If they’re “on paper” they have more permanence.

The discipline of recording your thoughts and potential choices is very productive in terms of clarifying your options and the intent of each.
And quite often new ideas are borne as you go through the diarizing process.

Your plan should include pros and cons of each choice you’re facing so you have a good basis to compare them with one another before you decide on which one to take.

And once you’ve made your decision, develop an implementation plan to monitor your progress — include elements such as WHAT to do and WHEN to have it done.

And define what success looks like when you have done your work; it’s important to know when you’ve arrived at your out-of-rut destination.

Take baby steps

Don’t be too aggressive with your change goals; baby steps are needed. You didn’t get into your rut overnight and you can’t expect to get out of it overnight.

I always had success by “chunking” any change process into small discrete steps. I would achieve one; pat myself on the back then achieve another until complete change was made.

You might be stuck or you might not be. But if you are, these steps hopefully will start you with the tools necessary to get out until the next time.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 3.25.19 at 05:21 am by Roy Osing
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March 18, 2019

How small and independent retailers can survive in crazy times

How small and independent retailers can survive in crazy times.

We have seen a huge upheaval in retail in the last decade or so. The advent of the Internet means that consumers are the winner with so much choice from literally all over the world to spend their disposable income.

People don’t need to leave their homes to buy any product they desire so obviously this presents a huge challenge to all retailers, no matter their size.

Price too has become a battleground because Internet-only retailers don’t have the extra costs associated with having a physical store, store staff and other related overheads.

They can be leaner models and some then choose to pass those savings onto their customers. Offline and brick and mortar retailers are fighting back but we’ve seen many retailers fail as they simply cannot battle against the lower cost position of the online retail world.

So what about the independent or smaller retailer who doesn’t have the backing of a board, that doesn’t have systems in place to become leaner but do feel their brick and mortar offering has lots to give to consumers in terms of experience and choice?
Do they have a future or are they doomed to fail in the rising challenge of their online only counterparts?

The answer is no, they shouldn’t fail but they definitely need to be really strategic in fighting back. They need to understand those tools and skills available to them to grow and increase their retail business and make their store stand out to customers.

The guys from Storetraffic put this infographic below together that outlines everything you need to know about this niche.

The struggles, the opportunities, they’re all explained in this graphic to hopefully arm these smaller / independent retailers with the tools and knowledge they need to progress and grow.

Check out the full infographic below…

• Posted 3.18.19 at 04:26 am by Roy Osing
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March 15, 2019

Six easy ways to boost productivity in your team

Six easy ways to boost productivity in your team.

Is your team’s productivity lagging? Today, it seems like there’s always a new distraction rearing its ugly head. With so many things nagging on your team’s energy, it’s easy to feel like you’re in need of a productivity boost.
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Luckily, there are several unique ways you can recharge your employee’s batteries to get more done. In this day and age, businesses are more competitive than ever.
If you’re not producing more, faster, it’s impossible to get ahead. At the same time, you don’t want to risk overworking your employees and leading to employee burnout.

Boost your team productivity with these tips below.

Start with Team Building Exercise

Is your team really working together? Thanks to technology, teams today are sometimes disconnected. While it might seem silly, team building exercises are highly effective when done correctly.
These games and activities aren’t just for high school students, they’re for all types of teams that need to learn to work together at a higher level.

As an organization, team building is one of the most important things you can invest in for your workers. While team building gets a bad rap, it’s necessary for boosting the bottom line by increasing employee engagement. Before you focus on productivity, build your team.

Use Collaboration Tools

How many of your workers’ tasks actually are collaborative? When people have to go through unnecessary, extra steps to keep everyone up-to-date on progress, this slows everyone down.
Unfortunately, too many teams today haven’t jumped on the bandwagon with the latest collaborative tools.

From time management apps like Trello to time trackers like Clockspot, it’s time to join the 21st century of time management.
These tools are built around collaboration. That means less time will be spent checking in on progress and more time can be spent actually getting work done.

Create a Positive Environment

Nobody wants to work in a place that isn’t positive. If your work environment isn’t optimized for productivity, you might notice your employees’ paces slowing down. The physical environment of the office actually has a big impact on how your employees feel each day.

For example, light-filled, natural spaces that have both private and public collaborative settings are ideal for increasing productivity. When offices are too open, they’re full of distractions.
If they’re too closed off, they reduce the feeling of togetherness. It’s best to strike a balance, when possible, to create a positive environment that works for all team members. 

Allow Teams to Work

Poor management often gets in the way of productivity. While it might seem like leaders need to take a hands-on approach, realize that sometimes too much involvement is a bad thing.
Nobody wants to be micro-managed by the boss, so know when it’s time to stand back.

Allowing your team to take responsibility for their own projects will go a long way towards making your workers stronger. Not only will they be more likely to work at a higher level, but they’ll learn valuable skills that will push them further.

Reward Productivity

Rewards work. Top employees want to be rewarded for their hard work. Recognition shows that you care about employee’s success, and you see their productivity.
When accomplishments aren’t rewarded, employees begin to lose their own value. They feel like just another number in the company, not an actual human being.

Bring humanity into your workspace by showing appreciation for those who get things done. Try to keep these congratulations in the open and avoid virtual congratulations. Nothing can replace that face-to-face interaction of getting a job-well-done notice from your leaders.

Work Smarter Not Harder

In this day and age, it’s time to get serious about productivity. If your team is in need of a real boost, these tips above should do the trick. There are no magic tricks to producing a stronger team. It all starts with a strong foundation of collaboration and positivity.

From there, it’s up to you to keep the momentum going. Continue to allow teams some autonomy over their own decisions and reward top performers. Your employee productivity will take off in no time.

— Smith Willas is a freelance writer, blogger, and digital media journalist. He has a management degree in Supply Chain & Operations Management and Marketing and boasts a wide-ranging background in digital media.

• Posted 3.15.19 at 03:49 am by Roy Osing
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March 11, 2019

Why deleting old stuff is better than creating new stuff

Source: Unsplash

Why deleting old stuff is better than creating new stuff.

Innovation is always associated with coming up with new solutions to existing problems; the definition of the word confirms it: innovation is described as ‘the introduction of something new; a new idea, method, or device’.

If you are successful creating and introducing newness, you are a respected member of the creativity crowd, and the rewards follow your achievements.
Adding stuff and consuming additional resources gets the attention, and enhancing value is defined by introducing new products and services and adding new technical functionality.
And in fact many organizations reinforce this bias by having entire teams dedicated to new product and service development.

The flip side of the coin, however, ‘gets no respect’. This is the side of the coin that seeks to removes stuff — takes stuff away, cuts, and deletes. The flip side of the coin has DNA based on the need to subtract not add.

We should start to recognize the importance of deleting the no-longer-relevant by changing the old school definition of innovation.

New school innovation

New school innovation definition: ”The introduction of something new or the elimination of something deemed no longer relevant; a new or obsolete idea, method, or device.”

This new definition of innovation is based on the principle of creating additional value in whatever fashion is appropriate at the time.

And deleting the no-longer-relevant adds HUGE value and yet it’s not on a par with its add-the-new cousin.

Take a look at your own personal life. How much junk do you have in your closet? How much stuff do you have that you never use but can’t part with? And how good do you feel — and how much more effective are you at using the space you have available — when you have a purge day and open up all that room that you can use for today’s prized possessions?

Managers of irrelevance

In organizations, procedures, practices, systems, products and services all fall victim sooner or later to irrelevance. Markets change, customer needs change and priorities change, leaving irrelevance in their wake.

The problem is no one pays attention to this lack of usefulness because the people who perform the irrelevant tasks never pony up.

They are the LAST people who will admit that what they are doing should be axed.

And leadership doesn’t spot irrelevance easily because they have more lofty strategic goals to pursue. It’s no wonder that a small group of employees maintaining a system that has lost its usefulness is missed while leadership is paying attention to guiding the actions necessary to complete a strategic partnership transaction or enter a new market.

If only organizations could delete the stuff they no longer need and observe the added value they could produce.

In government, absolutely zero resources are assigned to mining out the no-longer-needed. When’s the last time you remember a social program of any sort being phased out? Talk about health care — budgets go up and feed a system that needs deletion and resurrection.

We no longer have the luxury to treat the new as an add-on. We can’t afford it. The new must ride on the back of the delete function.
Delete something and then add something new. We need the capability to create space for the new to enter; without deletion it can’t happen.

#CutTheCRAP

We need to start a Cut the CRAP movement — #CutTheCRAP — to seek out and cut things no longer relevant to our personal lives, organizations and governments.

The environment will benefit because the crap that no longer serves a useful purpose is identified and recycled; customers benefit because their service providers are more efficient and able to offer new services and potentially lower prices; and citizens benefit because governments are able to deliver new services more efficiently and hold taxes down as much as possible.

#DeleteIT

The point is, we need a relentless focus on hitting the delete button in our world of limited resources. Consumption must be linked with (and in many cases dependant on) deletion — delete something if you want to earn the right to consume something else.

But as long as sexy and success is associated with #AddIT it won’t happen.

In organizations we need to make hitting the delete button a top priority and assign a new role — Chief CRAP Officer (CCO) — to expunge the stuff throughout the organization that sucks resources and detracts from doing the new progressive initiatives dictated by their strategic game plan.

The CCO’s performance plan should be based on the value created from the savings realized by removing no-longer-relevant activities and hence the capability created to take on new initiatives without adding resources to do so.

In addition to a focus on new product development, the CCO should be held accountable for the old product deletion role.
How many sku’s do organizations offer with minimal sales? These are obvious candidates for #DeleteIT.

Innovation and creativity should no longer only be associated with #AddIT activities in a world that is relentlessly and inexorably moving towards a lack of resources.

‘Give up to get’ must find a way into our teachings if we are to avoid the consequences of too much output and too little capacity.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 3.11.19 at 04:02 am by Roy Osing
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