Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo credit: darrenhester from morguefile.com

Whenever I am creating something – whether writing a blog post, a song, an article or even shooting a photo – I always find myself searching for inspiration. I guess it’s natural for us to do so – the word inspiration literally means “breathed upon.” It’s one of the reason why we see a lot of inspiration from great achievers and leaders. However, inspiration does not come easily. Often times, I feel like it’s nowhere to be found when I need it the most. Right when I’m almost done with an article I’m writing, I feel like my mind goes blank. Or when I’m supposed to finish a task before deadline, I procrastinate.  I’m pretty sure you can relate.

The biggest challenge in finding inspiration is when your environment sucks the life out of you. You know the feeling of coming to work where smiles and friendly conversations are scarce. Or maybe the lack of encouragement for a job well done. If you’re a consultant, you know the feeling when the employees of one of your clients look at you with anger knowing that you are taking their job away. It’s never easy to find inspiration. That’s why it’s a good habit to find it in anyway possible. Here are several things I do on a regular basis

1. Revisit your goals. This is why I strongly recommend writing down your goals. If you have them written down, it’s easier to go back to them and review what it was that you wrote down when you felt like you can do anything. You’ll feel inspired just by reading them
2. Review your previous successes – big or small. We all have successes. It could be marrying the woman of your dreams, landing the job that jumpstarted your career, or even learning how to ride a bike for the first time. While I may have several successes in the past, one of the memories I keep playing in my head when it comes to learning new things is when I was a 5-year-old figuring out how multiplication works. Not many 5-year-olds think about mathematics, more so multiplying numbers. However, I was fascinated about learning new things that a bag of crackers for school lunch taught me the principles of multiplication (I’m not a smart kid but I do have a desire to constantly learn new things.) This experience inspires me to constantly learn new things especially in an industry where changes constantly change.
3. Reconnect with your purpose. It’s hard to complete a task when you feel like it doesn’t serve a purpose. It’s easier to just let go, give up and move on. It’s the same thing when we can’t find inspiration in what we’re doing. That’s why I try to reconnect with my purpose. To each task that I do, I ask the question, “Why am I doing this?” I write articles and blog posts because I want my readers to benefit from my experience and knowledge. I work on my current project with a client because I want them to maximize their technology investments. I do the dishes after dinner because I want my wife to feel that doing the small chores is one of my simple ways to express how much I love her. As Simon Sinek, author and marketing consultant, puts it in his book, start with why.
4. Regard others’ experiences.  You’ll find yourself inspired by reading a good book, watching a movie or just by paying attention to others. I anticipate listening to inspirational lines from movies like “with great power comes great responsibility (Spiderman)” or “you were meant for more than this (Captan America).”  In the current project I’m working on, I find inspiration from the people I work with knowing that they are committed to making the project a success. There are tons of stories about people who overcame their challenges and succeeded. And it’s one of the secrets of this best selling book.

While it is a challenge to inspire ourselves on a regular basis, there’s always a way to do so. These are just a few of the things I do and I am guessing you have your own ways. How do you actively find inspiration?

Blake Mycoskie – CEO, Tom’s Shoes

Last week, I was privileged to be surrounded by several of the smartest and brightest minds in the global SQL Server community – Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, certified trainers, consultants, community influencers, book authors. And when you’re with a group of highly intellectual individuals, one might think that the meaningful conversations will mostly revolve around their primary skillset, in this case, the SQL Server platform. Here are a few things that I have taken away from most of the conversations:

• Theater arts is a great opportunity to express yourself
• One can be in Canada for 20 years and still not be a Canadian citizen
• We all have issues dealing with our health insurance policies
• Growing an organization requires focusing on the important and saying “NO” to those that aren’t
• You can tell your daughter that it’s OK to be a forensics expert
• Filipinos genuinely care about others – not just in the Bay Area but everywhere they are
• New year’s resolutions can include 1024 X 768
• Smiling in a service oriented business really does generate profit
• Technology gadgets – iPad, iPhone, XBox, tablets, etc. – are therapeutic

If you look at the list above, there isn’t anything in there that’s specific to SQL Server (although we did discuss a lot about the technology.)  They are, however, stories that matter to the us. In corporate environments where “companyspeak” jargon float around quarterly meetings and PowerPoint slides, most leaders forget about one of the most important tool that they can use to connect with their staff and influence them into action: storytelling.  When we were kids, we valued the importance of “tell me a story” whether be it inside the classroom or before bedtime, something that we took for granted as we became adults.  However, stories form a connection between the communicator and the listener.  It also gives the communicator and opportunity to be authentic to the listener, showing the human side of the individual.

A compelling message is one that touches both the hearts and the minds of people. So, whether you’re delivering a message about a radical organizational change, a technical presentation or simply teaching a lesson, try storytelling. Let me know how it worked for you. Post your comments here.

In a previous blog post, I talked about keeping our New Year’s resolutions and how self-discipline plays a very important role in achieving our goals. As I previously mentioned, I’ll start fleshing out ideas regarding self-discipline that affects different aspects of our lives – emotionally, mentally, physically, financially, spiritually, etc. This blog post will focus on one of the most important aspect of our lives that we need to discipline: our thoughts.

In 2005, I have had a chance to read Dr. John Maxwell’s book Today Matters. He outlines several key disciplines that we need to do daily in order to create the life that we wanted. One of the things that really made an impact in my life is the discipline of practicing good thinking. You see, I was very pessimistic back then. What I didn’t realize was that it was affecting my life and my career. I remember a time when I couldn’t get a job because I thought nobody wanted to hire me. But when I started changing my thought process, things started to get better. But it didn’t happen overnight. I had to constantly discipline my thought process and still do so up to now. And this is one practical application of self-discipline that will definitely go a long way. I challenge you to follow these tips and document your progress within the next 8 weeks. Several of them I got from the book Today Matters while the rest were born out of experimenting and seeing what works for me.

1. Find a PPT (Place, Process and Time). When the weather permits, I usually take a walk or ride my bike to spend time thinking. Other times, it’s in my home office, our basement or walking in our living room. You may have a preferred place where you want to spend your thinking time but make sure that when you’re there, it’s all you do. You also need to find time to think. What’s ironic is that in the workplace, people who are staring out the window and doing nothing are being called out as unproductive. When I used to work in Singapore, I usually take  half-hour breaks and walk along the banks of the Singapore River. It became more frequent especially when I take on critical projects. I just enjoy watching the scenery and trying to clear my mind. What I found out was that these short breaks became what I call my “strategic, work-related thinking time.” I felt energized and filled with tons of ideas when I sit down on my desk and was able to accomplish more tasks. Create a process that works for you.
2. Purge unhealthy thoughts. Whether it’s because of our experiences or what we’ve been taught, we all have unhealthy thoughts. These range from petty things like “I won’t be able to resist junk food” to more serious matters like “I’m a total failure.” But just like unhealthy habits like lack of sleep and eating a lot of junk food can cause our bodies to be weak, unhealthy thoughts create the same effect.  Disciplining our thought process requires purging unhealthy thoughts. You can start by being aware of your thought process. If possible, write down what you are thinking. While this might seem unnatural for most of us, flagging down unhealthy thoughts is a step towards flushing them out. When I was dealing with my unhealthy thoughts, I didn’t write them down because I was very uncomfortable. However, I did try verbalizing it and identifying the thought as unhealthy. You may want to think of it as “talking to yourself.” But that’s how I started. I remember verbalizing the fact that I was becoming negative about how people think about me. When I became aware of the negative thought, I was able to change it. A word of caution, though, is that it is not easy to purge unhealthy thoughts. It’s like trying to unlearn things that became habits. But that’s where the discipline comes in.
3. Feed your mind good stuff. (I got this one from Tim Sanders’ book Today We Are Rich) One of the books that I started reading as part of my discipline was The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Because it was hard to purge unhealthy thoughts in my system, I needed something that would replace them. I recounted times when I was happy, energetic and lively. I started to list down all of my successes and envisioned myself growing and moving forward. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, I began to see what I was capable of and that created a lot of opportunities for me. While most people don’t buy the idea of positive thinking, it did work for me.

Try applying these tips and see how they work for you. I’ll continue with the series on self-discipline over the next couple of blog posts because I, too, need to constantly do these things (remember commitment, consistent and courage?) as part of my continuous self-improvement.

How are you taming your thoughts? I would like to hear from you by leaving a comment here.

1. Communicate appropriately. Kids, and employees, have different levels of maturity and understanding. We need to know where they are at and communicate according to their level, whether it’s sharing a vision, a plan or changes that may affect them. Use the appropriate words, analogies and stories.
2. Discipline like a father but nurture like a mother. We need both discipline and encouragement. Most managers practice the concept of “seagull management” (I blogged about this here) where they only drop in on their employees when something goes wrong but are nowhere to be found when things are OK or the employee has made an achievement. Mothers are very good at encouragement and nurturing. They notice the smallest things – from the nice color combination on their daughter’s drawing to the bike-riding skills of their son learning without training wheels. Employees need constant recognition, affirmation and nurturing like we all do.
3. Serve with love. Managers and leaders, especially men, feel that serving undermines their authority and shows a sign of wekness. Same is true when the husband helps the wife with doing the dishes or cleaning the house. They feel that since they are the bread winner in the family, household chores and taking care of the kids are the wife’s responsibility. Christ demonstrated servant leadership with his disciples when he washed their feet. Find an opportunity to serve your staff.
4. Delegate. One of my popular Twitter pots, “Only do what only you can do.Delegate the rest.” When kids, and employees, are capable enough to handle responsibilities, delegate.

If you’re a leader or a manager, you may have your own version of leadership lessons from home. I’d like to hear about yours by posting a comment here.

It all boils down to priorities and developing your daily disciplines. I blogged about investing in your personal growth and how it comes at a price. In organizations where you are expected to work on company time and learn on your own time, this is really a challenge (I am not in favor of such practices but you have to live with it). But this is the cost of growth. The question is not whether or not we want to grow but whether or not we are willing to pay the price.

Work-Life balance is a concept that the 20th century work environment has developed to create a separation between work and play. The reason why it is advocated by many is because they are stuck in a work environment – or even in a job – where they’d rather be someplace else. If we look at history, technology is “partly” to blame for this phenomenon. And, then, there’s the 8-hour work day and the 40-hour work week. In effect, there really is no such thing as balance since we spend most of our time at work. So, how do we deal with it? Try P.D.A.

1. Prioritize. List down the top 5 items that mean a lot to you. If you spend more than enough time at work than with your family, it simply means it is higher up your priority list.
2. Discipline. Once we’ve defined our priorities, we need to develop our daily disciplines to support our priorities. One example, in my case, is making sure that I walk my kids to the school bus stop every morning no matter what. It also means having lunch date with my wife every Friday. Because they are on my priority list. I also account for the time I spend meditating and praying in the morning, reading before going to bed and taking walks when the weather permits.
3. Accept. We need to learn more about ourselves – our strengths and weaknesses – and accept the facts. We need to accept the fact that we cannot do everything. This means being secured in who we are. It gives us the courage to say no to our boss when we know our priorities and daily disciplines will be affected. I’ve accepted the fact that I know nothing about BizTalk nor don’t have any clue at all what the Mercator’s map is all about. I can’t even read my own handwriting sometimes and will probably not be playwright ever. But I’m fine with that.
   

As technology professionals, we have succumbed to the pressure of what the industry requires of us that we let it define who we are. We need to take a step back, take charge and be different. Then, we can begin to really see what work-life balance truly means.

What about you, how do you define work-life balance? You can post your comments here.

One week into 2012 and we’re all still hyped up about our new year’s resolutions. On New Year’s day, I blogged about what new year’s resolutions are all about and since then have been reviewing keyword searches that have led to my blog post. The top keywords are leadership, new year’s resolution and tips. This means that my blog post resonated with a lot of people who are planning their year ahead. But while it’s easier to envision yourself and create an action plan as I’ve mentioned in my previous blog post, the most difficult thing to do among the three is commitment. And I’m not going to tell you that I’ve already made it as far as commitment is concerned. Yes, commitment is one of my key strengths because early on in my life, I’ve built the habit of keeping my commitments no matter what the cost. It’s also the reason why I try to really think about the commitments I make before I even make them. But every once in a while, I fall short on the commitments I have made to myself. That’s why I think the key ingredient in keeping your commitments – and your New  Year’s resolutions – is self-discipline. By definition, self-discipline means “training and control of oneself and one’s conduct, usually for personal improvement.” Now, notice the keywords used in the definition: control, self, improvement. When we engage ourselves in self-discipline to achieve a specific task, we need to control ourselves first. But what most of us do not realize is that the purpose is for improvement. Often times we think that we’re just making our lives more difficult by engaging in self-discipline. We all have a natural desire to improve and develop ourselves. But it does come at a price. Just like how an athlete trains to become better at what he does, we need to train ourselves to become better individuals.

Self-discipline requires three components – commitment, consistency and courage.

1. Commitment. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, this is something that only you can do. If you’ve built a habit of keeping your commitments, you’re on your way towards self-discipline.
2. Consistency. I blogged about consistency and how it needs to be a part of our daily habits. Once we’ve defined what goals we need to achieve and the tasks that we need to accomplish to achieve those goals, it’s time to get our hands dirty and start making things happen. This requires consistency. Even if it’s just 15 minutes a day of exercise or 20 minutes a day of reading, it has to be done consistently. This past week, I started on a new Bible reading plan for 2012 on my iPad from YouVersion and just like my previous reading plans, I already missed two days. But because I have already built a habit of having daily morning quiet times and Bible reading, it was easier to catch up this time as compared to the previous ones. It’s the same with my daily reading before going to bed. But it didn’t happen overnight. It started as a habit that I have built consistently.
3. Courage. You might ask,”What does courage have to do with self-discipline?” I say, a lot. The fact is, self-discipline is never easy (I’m also not going to pretend that it’s easy for me because it isn’t.) That’s why we need all the courage we can get to do the things we need to do – the courage to say “no” to your peers going to a bar for a men’s night out because you need to work on your personal project, the courage to say “no” to your bed when you need to be up early to exercise, the courage to say “no” to buy that gadget online because you wanted to save more this year and get out of debt quicker. Mark Twain once said that “Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it.“

Over the next couple of blog posts, I’ll write more about self-discipline and how we can apply it on different aspects of our lives – emotionally, mentally, physically, financially, spiritually, etc. Here’s to looking forward to a better ME for 2012.

Question: What areas in your life do you need to develop self-discipline? I would love to hear from you by posting your comments here.

The Christmas holidays are usually time for me to do more reading, studying and reflection. It’s also when things slow down a bit because a lot of people go on vacations (except when I have to do on-call duties). I take this time to take stock of what I have done in the previous year and plan ahead for the coming year. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been hearing about New Year’s resolutions that a lot of people advocate as they approach the new year. I still remember listing down my very own “New Year’s resolution” when I was in 4th grade and the frustration of not having to fulfill them. I think I’ve done it at least three time until I finally gave up. But ask yourself this question, “What are New Year’s resolutions all about in the first place?”

Before you come up with a list of your New year’s resolution, let me give you my personal definition of what they really are about: continuous personal development. I think the reason why I don’t even bother with New Year’s resolution was because I’ve already made a conscious choice to continuously grow as an individual. As Dr. John Maxwell stated in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “Leadership develops daily, not in a day.“

I’ve already made choices early in my career that I simply manage daily. Yes, I do make plans and goals for the coming year to make sure I have my calendar straightened out. But those plans are simply a by-product of my daily disciplines. I’ve used these guidelines to plan for the coming year.

1. Vision: How You See Yourself. I am a natural-born teacher and educator.  But I only found out about it during my last year in the university. I went back to all of the things that I have done and accomplished and I noticed a recurring theme: teaching and educating. While I didn’t consider teaching to be a full-time career, I knew that I can take advantage of this gift as I pursue a career in IT consulting. But what made all the difference was when I started seeing myself differently. I started envisioning myself speaking in large crowds, particularly in worldwide conferences. This is also when I started seeing myself traveling around the world to do presentations. And this is why my yearly plan includes items for both developing myself as a speaker/presenter as well as events that I intend to speak at. This is just one aspect of how I envision myself. A quote that I have used quite often when encouraging people to continuously improve is, “You can only go as far away as you can see.” Create a clear vision of how you see yourself. And, don’t settle for anything less than what’s best for you. The sky is the limit.
2. Action Plan: Vision Without Action Is Futile. Visions and dreams are great. But without a plan to execute them, they remain just that. A very famous Japanese proverb states, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” Now that you have created a clear vision of yourself and what you want to accomplish, prepare an action plan to achieve your goal. You can be as detailed as you want or just provide high-level items. The point is to make a plan to guide your actions. If you see yourself as a great painter, your action plan might include visiting art galleries and do practice painting on a regular basis. Whether you see yourself as a cake decorating expert, a great book author, an excellent CEO or a professional graphics artist, you need to have an action plan that will support your vision.
3. Commitment: What Only You Can Do. You can always ask somebody for help in defining a vision – a mentor, coach, your boss, spouse, etc. Same thing with creating an action plan. But commitment is something that only you can do. And this seems to be the hardest thing of all. Commitment spells the difference between success and failure. It also means executing your action plan even when you don’t feel like it. As Dr. John Maxwell stated in his book The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, “Commitment separates doers from dreamers.“
   
   Most New Year’s resolutions end up as list items simply because those who made them were not committed to see them through – from those who drop out of gym memberships to those who went back to smoking and drinking. I myself have fallen short on committing to take action when I need to. But that is part of the growth process. What matters is getting back on track and sticking to it. Now, that’s commitment.

As you write down your New Year’s resolutions, think of these guidelines. What are your resolutions for 2012? You can share them here. I will definitely look forward to how much you’ve accomplished by the end of 2012.

Christmas tree, by bassplayerdoc on Flickr

As I watch my kids unwrap their Christmas presents, I can’t help but be emotional about the experience. There’s really something special about a family gathered under the Christmas tree. This happens to be our very first Christmas here in Canada ever since we moved here back in 2008.  The Christmas tree, however, has now been gracing our living room on it’s second year. But I can still remember setting it up last year because my kids were asking why I was crying while setting it up. You see, it was our very first Christmas tree. While most people won’t be as emotional as I am setting up their very first Christmas tree, this one is different. It happens to be our very first Christmas tree after 9 years of being married.

I remember setting up our Christmas tree when I was a kid. I did not come from a well-off family but my mom made sure we had everything we needed growing up. When my wife and I got married back in 2001, we’ve made a conscious choice to stick it out no matter what. We didn’t have anything when we started but were very happy we had each other.  But it was really hard back then. I remember sleeping beside my wife in a bed that’s just a bit larger than a single bed, with a cushion that’s roughly 2 inches thick, while my eldest slept in the stroller.  I remember the sleepless nights caused by buzzing mosquitoes and a temperature of 37 C (98 F) coupled with very high humidity, the 20-cent meals that my wife and I shared, and the long walks we needed to take because we didn’t even have enough change to take the bus.  We didn’t even think about Christmas trees back then. But we definitely shared good laughs and dreams of having at least a comfortable life.  We talked about how we wanted to have a house we can call our home, a car to take the kids to and from school and the opportunity to share our blessings to others. They have been dreams seasoned with faith and hoping that, one day, will come to pass.

I think one of the most difficult thing to do for all of us is to wait. The advances in technology has given us the ability to get everything fast – NOW. From the instant coffee to the burger at the McDonald’s drive-thru, the single-click option at Amazon and everything else we can think of. The wait becomes a bit more challenging when we can’t see the horizon and the future looks a bit dark. That’s why it is important to keep the faith. Faith, as the Holy Book defines, is the evidence of things not seen. We humans are visual creations that’s why it’s easy to appreciate things that we see with our eyes. But faith requires us to close our eyes and see beyond what are visuals can perceive. It means looking beyond our current situation – whether good or bad – and see what lies ahead. When you don’t know where to get food for your next meal or the next job that you need to take after getting laid off, faith lights a small fire of hope. Fan the flame and don’t let anything blow it out. The wait may be a struggle, I know it has been for me. But don’t let faith and hope die out on you. It could spell the difference between life and death.

This Christmas, I encourage you to keep the faith and continue to hope. The wait could be just a few days, a few months, 9 years like mine, or even longer. The Prince of Egypt, Joseph, spent 13 years both in Potiphar’s house and in prison before becoming second-in-command next to Pharaoh. I bet it wasn’t a pleasant waiting experience. But he waited, nonetheless. Because he kept the faith and never lost hope. So, while you open the last box under your Christmas tree, take a few moments to pause and reflect. Give yourself the gift of faith and hope for the coming year. Now, open the box. It could have been what you’ve been waiting for all these time. And keep a box of Kleenex handy.

Merry Christmas.

Santa on a Christmas tree, by bassplayerdoc on Flickr

There’s a reason I use bassplayerdoc for my blog. Having been a regular in Microsoft and other technical forums and newsgroups since 1999, I used bass_player as my nickname. That’s because I was a bass player back then – playing for the church band every Sunday and getting invited to play in performances every once in a while. Had I not decided to focus on my career as an IT professional, I might have been either a session musician for recording artists or a performing artist myself. My family has a long history of being music lovers, most of which are simply indulged as hobbies and past time activities. I got bit by the music bug when I was 4 years old when my uncle gave me a Casio VL-1 for Christmas. He probably didn’t even know that I would love it. I’m glad he did. Playing the keyboard was my first love. However, growing up playing in various bands has it’s challenges. One of them is having to fill in for a member who went AWOL. That’s how I got into playing the bass guitar.

In 2005, my family moved from Manila, Philippines to Singapore because we felt God was calling us to go. That would mean leaving a lot of things behind, including the opportunity to play in a band. Being a bass player has it’s challenges as well. You need a very good drummer to get the groove spontaneously going (I like drum machines but nothing beats a real live human that you can wave your hand to if you need to change your beat.)  So, I went back to my original love – playing the keyboards. Before we moved here in Canada, I got myself a Korg X50 so I can still practice and enjoy music without the luxury of being able to play with a band. That left my two bass guitars laying in the basement waiting for an opportunity to be played again while my Korg X50 sat in the comforts of my home office, keeping my sanity intact when stress comes knocking in.

Most of us are stuck with doing things for the sake of doing them. When we were kids, we dream about what we wanted to become when we grow old. However, when reality starts to get the best of us, we end up settling for what’s available and totally forget our dreams and passions (like getting stuck with our day jobs because it pays the bills.) Leaders, however, know that passion is a key trait that they need to keep and maintain. Jonathan Byrnes, a Senior Lecturer at MIT and President of Jonathan Byrnes & Co., writes that “Leaders are people who leave their footprints in their areas of passion.“ Customers, business partners, followers, fans and people around you will sense what you’re passionate about because they can see it in you. The late Steve Jobs understood the value of passion where he described one of his major mistakes at Apple when he came back in 1997: Letting a desire for profitability outweigh passion. Great leaders are passionate about what they do, inspire others and ignite the passion within them to do the same. We need to do the same to take our potential to the next level. The problem is finding out what we’re passionate about. Mary DeMuth, an author, speaker and book mentor, writes about how you can find your passion and re-orient your life around it.  I’d like to hear about what your passions are and how you live them out.

By the way, I got my hands dirty with Garage Band, my MacBook Pro and my Korg X50 this morning while doing my worship devotional. Ever since I got my hands on a music synthesizer, I’ve always dreamed about having a simple music workstation to play around with. While looking at my external hard drive, I noticed that the USB cable fits the port on my Korg X50. I took my MacBook, plugged in my Korg X50 and opened up Garage Band. An hour later, this is what I got.

I think this will become a weekly habit. I hope you’ll like it.

 ”If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.“

The problem with personal growth is that we don’t intentionally measure it.  So, we end up guessing if there was indeed some improvement or not. And if we do see some improvement, we wonder how it came about.

A few years ago, while helping my brother-in-law look for a wedding photographer, my wife and I got in touch with the pastor-friend of ours who took up photography as a hobby. He actually was our “official” photographer during our wedding  but, back then, it was just simply that – a hobby.  Now, imagine that this has been about 3 years after he shot our wedding so he had almost forgotten about what he did. He specifically asked for our wedding photos to refresh his memory about what camera and, probably, the techniques he used. He was surprised when he saw our wedding photos. In fact, he started criticizing the lighting, the composition  and anything he could possibly bash at (he didn’t physically assaulted the photos). Strikingly, it led him to say, “Did I actually take these photos?” Obviously, he saw the difference between what he did back then and what he was doing now. But definitely not before seeing our now 3-year-old wedding photos.

I was in the same boat as our pastor-friend was these past few days as I was preparing for a presentation. I do a lot of research and preparation before I deliver a presentation and, surprisingly while searching for a sample PowerPoint slide online, I stumbled upon a slide deck that got uploaded for reference. It was mine and it was about 4 years old. And, I did ask the same question, “Did I actually create and deliver this presentation?” To prove my point, I took a slide from that deck and a similar one from a more recent deck. You be the judge.

versus

It’s pretty obvious that there is indeed a big difference. But that also comes as a result of a 4-year difference. A better way to measure growth is to do a before-and-after comparison even as you take small, simple steps. Here’s how you may want to do it.

1. Build a growth plan. This is a must. You can never measure your growth if you didn’t have anything in the first place. It’s like building a house without a blueprint. Your growth plan has to be specific because every goal is different. For example, I have a growth plan for developing my technical skills. That is relatively different from my growth plan to develop my leadership skills and my presentation skills. Software Engineer and author Sid Savara has outlined how you can come up with a personal development plan. The key word here is personal. It has to be your own and not someone else’s.
2. Create milestones on your plan. Once you have a growth plan going, you need to set up milestones on those plans. We use milestones on the road to tell us how far we’ve gone on our travel. Same thing with our growth plan. You can break down your growth plan into sections and define a milestone after completing a section. Those milestones will definitely tell you how far you’ve gone into your growth plan. Trust me when I tell you that they prove to be great motivators.
3. Do the measurement yourself. You’ve got a plan and you’ve created milestones on your plan. Now you work though it and measure your progress – even how small they seem to be. You’d see fitness professionals tell you to hop on to that weighing scale every day and record what you see.  Measurement is a great way to tell you that what you’re doing is indeed making sense because you’re getting results. I measure the amount of time it takes to deliver a presentation by rehearsing to make sure I don’t go beyond the allotted time. I measure how many leadership and business books I read to see if I’m hitting my goal. And since you defined the metrics, you know what to measure. However, be careful in choosing the right metrics. Most people just measure without understanding the right metrics. If I’m just counting the number of books I read, they’ll just be that – numbers. Aside from that metric, I measure the impact of the book in my life by applying key principles I’ve learned. And there is a separate metric for that. That’s why it is important to define the proper and relevant metric so that you don’t end up just recording numbers.
4. Let others measure. This is a scary one. Most people don’t even want others to know that they have a growth plan, let alone asking to be evaluated or criticized. That’s why you need to carefully choose the right people to enlist in your growth plan. This not only gives you the support you need to keep going but also the right perspective when measuring your growth. Being too close to your growth plan sometimes gives you too much familiarity that you tend to lose sight of other perspectives. When I started measuring how I was doing when it comes to preparing and delivering presentations, I thought I was going nowhere. I kept looking at previous presentations while working on a current one and end up getting frustrated because I don’t see any progress. That’s because I’m way too familiar with what I’m doing. Only when I started asking for feedback from others that I got the sense that I was indeed making progress. I wasn’t seeing what they saw and they did provide the right perspective. But it wasn’t easy doing it the first time.

As you’re on your way to growing on a regular basis, remember to take measurements along the way. You’ll be surprised at how far you’ve gone. I’d like to hear how you’re measuring your growth. You can leave a comment below.