Leveraging Technology Part 2

 

Last week we looked at what technology is and the different types of technology available out here. We also went further to discuss what impediments stand in the way of people being able to embrace technology. 

In this week's segment, we look at the upsides of embracing technology and what you are likely to lose if you don't either as an individual or a company. 

Read on to find out more. 

What are the benefits of embracing Technology?

Global analysis by Deloitte shows that companies using AI predictive data analytics and other technology tools are more successful than those who don’t. These companies enjoy 18% higher revenue and 30% greater profitability.

Tech augments human roles by taking up their menial, repetitive tasks while leaving workers to focus on the more creative, flexible and selective aspects of their jobs. We just need to learn how to collaborate with machines. While AI delivers speed, efficiency and mass data analysis, humans will add emotional depth, wisdom and nuance. (Jessica Marchant, People management, 2019.) This increased efficiency means more time is freed up and money is saved to be deployed in other endeavors. (Matthew Warner, Blockpass 2019)

AI can help in sourcing for candidates in HR departments through the use of AI driven CV formulation software in order to reduce the time demanded of recruiters and candidates. It also helps in mitigating against conscious or unconscious biases.

New technologies are essential to fostering economic growth, meeting human needs and protecting the environment. (Calestous Juma)

Embracing technology can help your company operate at its maximum capacity in many different ways. It can be a differentiating factor when it comes to beating your competition. It also makes it easier to store and organize vast amounts of data which if kept physically could take up acres of space. In this era of lockdowns and restricted movement, communications technology is allowing people to hold virtual meetings with ease and collaborate virtually from anywhere in the world. What this also means is that businesses can also serve clients from anywhere in the world and they will have a seamless or almost seamless experience.

Embracing technology will also keep you longer at your job as an employee. The more comfortable you are around new technology, the longer you are likely to stay on. A failure to adapt could mean the need to replace you with someone who is more comfortable around tech. Just like companies can collaborate on projects, individual employees too benefit from this kind of tech on projects they are working on. It is possible for people from different continents to work on an issue and resolve it from wherever they are because of the possibilities created by tech. (Jon Hauer, 2019)

For businesses, tech also gives you the benefit of a strong industry presence. Being present both on and offline goes a long way in helping you stay front and center in the minds of industry stakeholders. Apple is a dominant player because they have learnt to leverage on R&D in building their products. As a business do you have R&D ingrained into the way you do things?

New technology can be a game changer if you want to disrupt an existing industry. The proper application of new tech can position you in a place where you are able to challenge the big boys of your industry and win. Tesla’s story is testimony that this is doable. While there are many automobile manufacturers who would have had enough resources to do electric vehicles, Tesla saw the gap and ran away with the prize. What prize is there in your current industry that you can run away with if you innovate right?

Embracing new, relevant Technology guarantees business success in the long run. While the initial cost of setting up might be steep, if well thought out, new tech can more than pay for itself quickly.

Technology enables better customer service through improved processes and even security of data stored in your systems. There are a ton of technologies you can use to improve your customer’s overall experience.

Technology makes it possible to standardize products. While human hands can introduce a degree of error, products made by robots have an almost guaranteed consistency no matter how many times the robot does it. That automation has the advantage of uniformity and consistency.

Disadvantages of Resisting Technology.

Instead of protecting jobs, the reluctance in embracing new technology has resulted in curbing innovation, reducing job creation and restricting industry growth.

When a company fails to innovate and evolve, it suffers setbacks like loss of money and time as a result of inefficient processes. Those who thought the dotcom bubble was a passing wind have in some cases failed to ever catch up to this present day. That has meant a loss of dominance in the market they used to rule. We can also see it in the switch from feature phones to Smartphones. It is clear that the dominant players in the smartphone market were not the biggest in the season of the feature phones. Whatever happened to the likes of Nokia and Motorola? They are no longer the giants they were back in the days and that has meant a heavy loss of market share and thus revenue. Product obsolescence is a reality companies live with. (Petersen, 2019)

When customers don’t see an effort to make things better, you are likely to lose them in the long run.

It stifles your ability to expand and explore larger markets as a business. 

A failure to embrace technology also holds companies and individuals back from achieving their full potential. The same way embracing it creates new possibilities, resisting tech results in you not being able to take advantage of efficiency, convenience and so much more brought about by new technology. (Richter &Sinha, 2020)

There is also the issue of waning industry influence (Petersen, 2019.) This failure to embrace technology can lead to a decline in the influence a company once held in its industry. This has implications on its image and contributes to a difficulty in attracting the best talent and even funding. Worst of all is when competitors know about it because they can then use it against you for a long time.

Low morale among employees. A stagnant organization dampens the drive of employees which thing affects performance and brings about talent flight. This is because of the perceived lack of growth and opportunities to expand their skillsets. Simply put, an organization that doesn’t embrace technology punishes itself in the long run.  

Resistant employees can create a disruptive working environment due to conflicts with management and also spread their sentiments to other employees.

What other benefits of technology can you think of? Any regrets you have had for failing to embrace tech in the past? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. 

Leveraging Technology: Part 1

 

What is Technology?

When we talk technology, what are we referring to? The Merriam Webster dictionary defines technology as the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area. It also describes it as a capability given by the practical application of knowledge. It is also a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge.  The Collins dictionary introduces a scientific element by defining technology as referring to methods, systems and devices which are the result of scientific knowledge being used for practical purposes. It is also described as the application of practical sciences to industry or commerce. Another definition says it is the total knowledge and skills available to any human society for industry, art, science etc.

What this tells us is that technology has a lot to do with practical application of knowledge gained. When we apply the knowledge we have, we are able to come up with technologies which enable us do things better, faster or find whatever outcomes we are looking for.

Technology is what enables us develop machines whose brief is to make work easier for us. Whenever we use our scientific knowledge to achieve some specific purpose, we are using technology.

Types of Technology

There are different types of technology including

Mechanical technology which includes wheels, cams, levers, gears, belts and engines.  Things Involved with motion are considered mechanical.

Electronic technology-It uses electric circuits to achieve a goal. Anything that runs on electricity is electronic including computers, washing machines, phones etc.

Industrial and manufacturing technology-Its goal is to either produce a product on a large scale or performing another large scale function where customers are not directly present. Cars are created using mechanical robots for example which is highly advanced technology.

Medical technology-Serves the purpose of diagnosing, treating or preventing disease. Include MRI and CT Scanners, Ventilators among other machines.

Communications technology-involved in helping people get and keep in touch with each other.

Information technology-machines that process data and perform calculations at high speed known as computers, Networks-links that allow devices to share data,

Sensors-Devices that record data from their environment such as microphones.

Internet of things-The practice of embedding computers, sensors and networking capabilities into everyday objects such as infrastructure

Transport technology- e.g. high speed trains

Energy-Infrastructure such as solar panels

Agriculture-farm robots

Architecture-tech for buildings such as elevators or smart windows

Entertainment and Media-tools for consuming or producing entertainment and media.

Art and Music-devices such as music synthesizers for creating things of artistic value.

Appliances-technologies that are useful around the house

Clothing and accessories-technologies that go into clothing and fashion accessories such as watches.

Assistive technology-devices that improve the capabilities of people with disabilities such as a hearing aid.

Space technology-tech for exploring or commercializing space such as spacecraft or satellites.

Robotics-A class of machines with semi-autonomous capabilities that can handle certain tasks in real world conditions without direction

Artificial Intelligence-a technology that learns and self-improves.

What technology is relevant to your own situation?

With the extensive list above, what types of technologies are you using or do you need to use in your current station in life. Some tech is applicable across the board meaning that we all need to use it in running our daily lives. For a majority of us, Information and Communication technology is something we cannot afford to live without for long. However things like robotics are not applicable to everyone for one reason or another. The thing you need to be clear about is what type of technology you need in your life to make things easier for you and improve the quality of your life.

Why do people shy away from embracing  

technology/impediments? 

A lot of what I will share in this segment applies to senior citizens but can equally be a challenge to people in the third world or places where exposure to tech has been lower.

I begin with an interesting quote from Pauli Taylor-In the West, it seems more time is spent writing blogs worrying about the threat of AI than implementing AI to introduce better customer experiences. The big threat to our jobs isn’t actually AI, it’s our inability to move away from existing business models and to explore new ones.

Calestous Juma says in his article Why do people resist new technologies? History might provide the answer that society tends to reject new technologies when they substitute for rather than augment our humanity. We eagerly embrace them when they support our desire for inclusion, purpose, challenge, meaning and alignment with nature. We do so even when they are unwieldy, expensive, time consuming to use and constantly breakdown.

He goes on to say that resistance to new technologies is heightened when the public perceives that the benefits of new technologies will only accrue to a small section of society, while the risks are likely to be widespread. They are also resisted when the public perceives that the risks are likely to be felt in the short run and the benefits will only accrue in the long run.

Another impediment to embracing new tech identified by Calestous Juma is the existence of incumbent industries and vested interests who benefit from the status quo. Such will fight attempts to get things done better. Think from your perspective as an industry. Are you part of the incumbents reinforcing the status quo or are you the category that routes for a new way of doing things?

According to Eurostat in the EU, 87% of people aged 75 and above have never been online. For some in this age group because of a struggle with health conditions, they can’t use technologies which depend on their ability to see, hear and read.

The other challenge they face is the degree of knowledge about technology. A lack of sufficient knowledge makes people shy away from embracing new technologies especially seniors in the society. The problem has a lot to do with confidence which is lacking in this regard. You can buy new tools but if you don’t train your people on how to use them, it won’t amount to much.

Lack of perceived benefit or need. Teachers are not able to get certain devices, apps or tools to help in teaching sometimes because other educators don’t know or don’t want to understand the benefits or the possibilities of the tool. (Anne Glasel, 2018). Clarity also from the end of manufacturers o the benefits of the product would go a long way in helping embrace it.

Big gap in technology-too much and too complex technology cuts off those who cannot keep up.

Negative feelings about social Media alongside bad experiences either from them or others.

Fear of the unknown/fears about internet safety which are genuine fears people grapple with. Some people will not shop online because of the undue exposure of their private data. With many data breaches, people do not want to fall victim to the next one because of something they could have avoided.

The cost of acquiring new technologies could also cut some people off-Premium gadgets come with a premium price tag.

The genuine fear of breaking up devices you don’t know how to handle can keep you from engaging them.

The power of habit also inhibits people from embracing new technologies. Sometimes it feels like a massive disruption to their lives to introduce something new into their routine. A similar problem applies even in places of work. Once you are used to working a certain way, you are resistant to a new way of doing things. Do you find this being an impediment for you?

Lack of supporting infrastructure can also be an impediment. Who wants tablets when the internet connection is poor at best? What is the use of computers when there is no power to keep them running? We have to make it easy for people to use our tools by ensuring there are as few impediments as possible.

People don’t want to put in the time to learn how to use new tech. It takes some learning to familiarize yourself with new tech and many people will not want to invest that kind of time especially when they think their lives are just fine as is.

A perception of lack of social interaction and communication.  

From a company perspective, fears of job insecurity and redundancy has kept many HR departments from embracing new technology quickly.

In the second part of this two step series, I will explore the benefits of embracing technology, the disadvantages of resisting it and how you can make it work for you. Be sure to check in next week so you do not miss out on what we have to share. 

How has technology helped you in life? feel free to share with us in the comments below. 

Are you a technophobe(fear) or a technophile(love) or somewhere in between? 

Diversify Your Sources

Many hands make work light.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

The world we live in today is full of all manner of uncertainties. In the past, you would confidently choose a career path and stick to it until you retire. It was not uncommon to find someone who worked for a singular company or organization for their entire professional life. Nowadays it is the exception rather than the norm.

What this means is that you can never be too certain that where you earn your revenue from right now is going to remain the same forever. Retrenchments happen, companies close down or downsize, acquisitions and mergers happen all the time some of which have an impact on employee numbers. Because of these dynamics, you are better placed when you have a diversity of skills and diverse revenue streams.

Have you ever met a person and you are not sure what to talk to them about from a professional sense? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are in the presence of someone who clearly has no need for what you deal in? What did you end up talking about? For many people, that becomes the end of the conversation. However that is not the way it should be. I have been there as an individual selling insurance where I have met people who have no time of day to listen to what anyone has to say when it comes to insurance. At such times, you feel frustrated because the only tool in your tool box is a hammer. Despite seeing that you needed something else to talk about, you remain stuck because you hadn’t prepared yourself for anything different. From these experiences I learnt that it is important to have more than one revenue stream you are working on. With that, you will be able to switch your conversations around and remain relevant to the discussion at hand.

How many revenue streams do you have? How many are you aware of? Sometimes we don’t diversify because we simply don’t have the insight into the different revenue streams. I will highlight a few of them here just to give you an idea. A majority of us are familiar with employment income because we work at a job of some kind. Salaries and wages are a revenue stream many of us can relate with. Apart from that, we also have income generated from business in the form of profits. Those who invest in stocks and bonds and other financial instruments also earn in the form of interests, dividends and capital gains. When you produce works whether in form of books, music, inventions, patents and the like, you are entitled to royalties which make up another source of income. With real estate, you benefit from rental income. This also applies to any other assets that you can let or lease. I believe this opens your eyes to the many ways you can earn or diversify your income. Sometimes you don’t even need to do something different from your current occupation. People in the medical field do a lot of locum work which enables them to earn more than they would if they focused only on their main job.

Why diversify?

Putting all your eggs in one basket is a risky strategy. If something happens to that basket, you will regret your choices. There is nothing as sad as investing all your energy in a venture then it goes belly up overnight. This can have an adverse effect on your life for a long time to come. We live in a day and age of constant disruption. The local taxi business was rudely disrupted by the entry of Uber and other ride-sharing platforms. The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning means that the assurances people used to have about their jobs are no longer there. Your job can easily be taken over by machines which rarely need time off or fall sick. Think about what you do. Is it possible that your company can find a way of automating it? If your answer is yes, then you should know that you run the risk of being replaced anytime. Now is the time for you to do something about it. Think about where else you could earn your living from if the worst hits you. Is it your skills and expertise you need to upgrade or do you need to think about getting started on another side hustle that will get you to where you need to be?

Another reason to diversify is that you need to make your financial backbone as dynamic as possible. When you have income coming from multiple sources, it is easier to keep living your life even if one goes sideways. When everything is from one source, your financial health is hanging in the balance. One wrong move and you are thrown into disarray.

You do not have to be involved directly in each of your income generating activities. You should focus on what you are good at (I am not an advocate of multitasking), while you engage others in you other income generating activities. The super-wealthy have normalized the idea of buying other people’s time and expertise to help them carry out their projects. If you want to make big bucks, you must become comfortable with entrusting others to help you do your thing. You must learn the art of building systems and populating them with the right people to get the job done. Another approach is to be able to automate what you do so that it does not need you. This will free up your time so that you can go on to the next thing. A good example would be me hosting my courses on a platform like Teachable. This would free me from the need to sit down every single time and teach someone. It would be easier to send them on to the platform where they can learn at their own time and pace.

Whatever you choose to do, ensure that you are making progress in increasing and diversifying your income. It will serve you well in the long run to know that when one stream dries up, there are still 5 or 6 more bringing in revenue. Nothing is as liberating financially as to know that you have a strong, diverse backbone.

Image Credits: valueresearchonline.com

What’s your 20 %

 

I am sure you have come across the 80/20 principle otherwise known as the Pareto principle in relation to the Italian economist who first coined this principle. Pareto made some interesting observations right from his garden to all of life in general. He came to the conclusion that in life and all endeavors, 80% of the results come from 20% of the activity. This is such a real concept that it has been adopted into the thinking of many corporations and lives of prominent people in the society. A critical look at your own life will show you the truth and efficacy of this statement.

Are you clear what 20% of your activities generate your biggest return? Which 20% of your relationships are of the greatest value? Which 20% of projects should you be expending most of your resources on? A failure to identify your vital few will hurt your ability to do meaningful work and generate meaningful results from your activity. Isolating and focusing on your top 20% will propel you faster towards your desired end.

Understand that you cannot be good at everything as a person or a corporation. Outsourcing exists so that corporations can focus on their core business to the exclusion of everything else. Partnerships exist so that individuals can bring their strengths together and mitigate against identified weaknesses. If you try to do everything all by yourself, you are bound to lose out on your ability to be exceptional at what you do.

Before you proceed with your activity today irrespective of whether you are a corporation or an individual, pause right now and answer the question of what your 20% is. You will be glad that you did it. I like what Stephen R. Covey says. ‘It is sad to climb to the top of the ladder only to realize it was leaning against the wrong wall.’ Those few minutes you take to clarify what your priorities are will go a long way in ensuring you have not wasted your time doing things which don’t matter or add any significant value at the end of the day.

Clarity on your 20% will help you focus on it better. It will give you fewer things to work on which will allow you to go deep and attain mastery. If you want to avoid shallow work, then you need to be clear on what is worth forsaking everything else for so that you can go deep. When you spread yourself too thin, you are likely to struggle to keep up with the demand of everything calling for your attention. Another reason to clarify your 20% is that you do not have infinite resources and you therefore must allocate the resources available to you on the most important of tasks and projects.  

What do you do with the rest of the tasks?

Is it that all the other stuff is useless or of no consequence? Not necessarily. It can still be divided into other categories. As a corporation for example, your core business could be manufacturing. While you focus on manufacturing, you need support functions like Human Resource Management, Accounting, legal representation just to name a few. All these functions are critical to the sustenance of the manufacturing concern but can be delegated to professionals while you focus on your core business.

Some tasks are delegated. Individuals delegate while corporations outsource. Don’t lose a dollar’s worth of time counting pennies. If there is somebody who can take care of something for you which in turn frees you to focus your attention on your most significant tasks, don’t think twice about bringing them on board to do it. History has it that Anthony Robbins hired a Personal Assistant for the first time when he was a teenager. Why? Because he needed time to focus on the most important tasks for him at the time. Maybe it is time for you to bring in help even if it’s on a part time basis. 

Other tasks can be downgraded. You can choose to reduce the frequency of doing tasks which have minimal impact on the bottom line. There are things on your to do list which are just there to add to the number. Your failure to do them has no adverse effects on your overall output. Such are the things you can downgrade. Only do them after you he done your most important tasks and there’s still time available.

The final category is those things which are ripe for elimination. We must all make a habit of eliminating things of zero consequence from our lives. What is the point of holding on to any activity that adds zero value to us? Some thinkers advocate for the idea of deliberately choosing not to do such a task for an extended period of time to see what gets hurt in the process. If nothing gets hurt, then it is time to get rid.

I must say that at different times, different tasks will have an edge as 20% items depending on what your overall long term goals are. What this therefore means is that you must do periodic reviews of your activities so that at every turn you are focusing on the activities that will yield the highest return and be the best use of your time and other resources. It is also important to note that my most important tasks are not the same as yours. Every one of us has different priorities at different points in time. You must therefore be willing to own your list without apology for as long as you have the rationale behind it. 

Would you like help identifying your 20%? Talk to us in the comments or on asenasam@gmail.com simply indicating ‘What’s my 20%? You can also WhatsApp me on +254725832477. This will earn you a free 15 minute Consulting call.

Share with all those who you believe would benefit from this article’s lessons. 

What's in Your 24?

 What’s in Your 24?

Of all resources at our disposal, time is the most equitably distributed but also the most finite. I say this because it is evident that we all get dealt a stack of 24 hours every single day. The rich, the poor and everyone in between is given the same amount of time daily. Our utilization of the same, has a great impact on the overall quality of our lives. Whenever you waste your time, you waste your life. Plain and simple. Benjamin Franklyn says “lost time is never recovered.’ While Theophrastus adds that ‘Time is the most valuable thing you can spend.’

So what’s in your 24 hours? While we have learnt to track our expenditure of money (though we still have a long way to go) we are doing relatively poorly in tracking time. There’s a sense in which we don’t pay as much attention to our time as we do our money. The irony is that by using our time better we can generate more money.

Time is so significant that the ultra-wealthy buy other people’s time to generate massive value for their ventures. Some of you reading this are employed. You are basically exchanging time for money. Your employer has bought your time and skills and they are using it to generate value. I can guarantee you that you generate more value for them than what they pay you otherwise they would have gotten rid of you a long time ago. Those with harder to grasp, high value skills are paid significantly more than those who do what every Tom, Dick and Harry can do.

Whatever you choose to fill your time with determines how much you are able to generate. Benjamin Franklyn who has a lot to say on time says that time is money. Let me continue on the line of an employee. What do you fill your time with as an employee? Are you doing a lot of low value work that can be replicated by almost anyone? If so, you are likely to wait for a raise for a long time to come. Why? Because no one is going to pay you more if they can hire almost anyone out there to do what you do. If your job can be done by anyone out there or automated, then realize that as at now, you are still doing low value work. The bad news is that our machines are getting smarter and even those who think they are safe now are all set for a rude awakening. If you are doing what is considered high value work that machines cannot replicate easily and there are very few other people who can do it at your level, then chances are that you are highly remunerated, have the flexibility and leverage to ask for more and are secure in terms of having something to do in the long run. A very good question for you as an employee is what am I filling my 24 hours with? Am I focusing on high value tasks? Not all tasks on your to do list carry equal weight. Some mean more than others. Looking at your key performance indicators, what are the most significant outcomes you are supposed to pursue at your current job? What activities in your daily routine contribute the most to those outcomes? Your answer to these questions gives you an idea of what you need to focus on. The same applies to the self-employed, the entrepreneur, student or any other person.

Whatever dominates your 24 reflects your values and priorities. Many times what we think are our priorities and the reality are far removed from each other. On paper our priorities are grand and noble. In reality, you would be surprised. In this era of constant connectivity, we have a lot of threats to our time. It is possible to get caught up in endless browsing, Eric Edmeades calls it trying to reach the bottom of your Facebook Feed.  You can talk about what is important to you all you want but the question remains when you take a critical look at your expenditure of time, what do you see?

This lack of awareness can only hurt you as a person. Instead of adopting a don’t-care attitude when it comes to your time, purpose to be mindful about how you spend your time to have a better quality of life. The only way to start making better use of your time is by tracking your current usage of the same. Whatever you don’t measure you won’t manage effectively. Until you become clear about where you are losing your time, you will not be able to get a handle on it. The only way to answer what’s in your 24 is to track it. While planning how to use your time is critical, an evaluation of this usage will help you plan far much better as you go along.

If you have never clearly answered what is in your 24, I recommend journaling for you. A journal will go a long way in helping you track your time and how you are using it in a systematic manner. Before the journal however, it is important that you as a person are invested in the whole idea of tracking your time. Tools do not mean much when you are not ready to put in the work as a person.

If you are serious about managing your time better, then you have no option but to tell yourself the truth about how you are spending your time currently. This will get you on the path to optimizing your time which is a resource you cannot afford to waste.

At Optimize Institute we have a course tailored with you in mind that will help you get the most out of your time every single day for the rest of your life. Because you want to do this as a matter of urgency, type in the comments ‘Interested’ and we will get in touch with you. Alternatively you can write to me on asenasam@gmail.com or WhatsApp +254725832477.

I will end with a quote from Stephen R Covey-The key is in not in

 spending time, but in investing it.

Go Beyond

 

Beyond The Reception Lounge

What would you say to someone who lives all their life in the reception? Imagine booking a hotel stay for two weeks for example and on arriving at the reception, you fail to proceed to the other areas of the hotel. It would feel weird right? It is difficult to believe it but this happens more often than we think. Forget about a hotel stay for a moment and let’s think about a house you recently bought. What would we think of you if you only spent your time in the living room? Think about this being a 4 bedroom all en suite maisonette with a swimming pool and a host of other amenities. Why would you want to restrict yourself to the living room only?

As crazy as it may sound, many of us live our lives like this. We are stuck in gear one and have not thought of anything beyond. When it comes to exploiting our immense potential, it seems like a majority of us are still only scratching the surface. This is not the way it was meant to be. We are called upon to do more than just be content with what we have experienced so far. We must aspire to go beyond the reception and exploit the depths of the Hotel. We must look past the beauty of the living room and see the rest of the house. We must scratch beneath the surface and discover what else is out there.

I write this article with many people in my mind but to narrow it down, I will focus on musicians, authors and actors. The thoughts herein though are applicable to anyone who cares about being all they can be while we stay this side heaven.

What do I mean when I refer to living in the reception as an artiste, actor or author? It could mean not looking at your talent as bigger than the release of your best-selling album, movie or book. If the exploitation of your talent ends at the release of that chart topping album, then friend you are living in the reception. Life in the reception ain’t all that miserable. A lot goes on at the reception. There are all these people coming in and going out. You are able to meet and interact with all of them at the reception. Allow me to add however that a lot of this interaction is at a shallow superficial level. If you are to get to know these people intimately, it takes more than your interaction at the reception. There is a lot of beauty at the reception because the reception represents the front office of the hotel. This is where the hotel’s face so to speak is. Nobody wants a reception that looks beaten and all washed up. You can easily get lost in the beauty of the reception and fail to grasp all the other things in the hotel. At the reception there are these beautiful magazines and maybe the screens are on showing you a whole host of interesting things to keep you enjoying the moments as they pass-by. Suffice it to say that the reception is a place full of life and you would be forgiven for thinking that this is where all the action is.

Shock on you, there is more life in all the other areas and as a matter of fact, the best of experiences are away from the public’s view. Beyond the reception, lies the restaurants. I mean it’s all great being where the action is and all that, but when hunger strikes, all that action means nothing unless your stomach is taken care of. When nightfall comes and you are tired and worn out, you need the privacy and peace of your room to sleep and unwind. At such times, the reception is not the best place to be. If the hotel or resort you are staying at has other amenities like swimming pools and golf courses, you will find that there is more fun in those places than at the reception. If you have your kids with you, you will want to engage them in activities which will obviously be beyond the reception. If you are carrying valuables with you, I am 100 percent positive, you will not want to display them in the public area that is the reception. Supposing you want to hold a serious discussion, you will want the privacy of your room or a booth where you will be sure no one will hear a thing about what you are discussing. I share all of this to illustrate the point that the reception as beautiful and exciting as it is, is not everything we need when we are booking a hotel room. Your living room as exciting as it is, is not where your most serious business takes place. Your treasured possessions are most likely locked up in a safe within your bedroom or some other place not so obvious within your house. You do not talk about deep matters at the living room table in the presence of all the visitors and children. You will want to pull your spouse aside and share the things on your heart in private. I guess what I am trying to put across makes sense to you. 

When your exploitation of talent ends at the point of your best-selling album, movie or book, you have just settled for staying in the reception or the living room. Look at all those people in your field who have gone on to enjoy massive success. One thing you will note about them is that they didn’t remain at the reception. They looked beyond the joys of being in the limelight and went for something better out there.

I can tell you this for free, Jay-Z did not become a Dollar Billionaire off of his music alone. His music was a door opener to many other things which combined have brought him such a great fortune. He decided to look at how to ride on his fame to go into many other ventures which have made him who he is today. The same can be said of many other successful artistes, athletes, actors and authors.

Courtesy of the clarity of his thinking, Jay was able to go into endorsement deals, ambassadorial roles and many other entrepreneurial ventures as a result of the recognition of his name. You see the reception was important in his story but it was not all he was about. He used the beauty and appeal of his reception to take people with him into the depths of his hotel so to speak. What are you doing with the recognition of your name in the particular field you are in? Are you simply basking in the glory and forgetting to go beyond? As we speak Jay is into Talent Management through Roc-a-nation, fashion through Roca wear, music streaming through Tidal, he has partnerships with watchmaker Hublot just to name a few of the offshoots of his success as an artist.

The question is are you looking beyond the reception in your own field of operation? Do you see yourself as capable of accomplishing so much more as an artist, actor, or author? Do you realize that there are so many other avenues for you to increase your impact beyond what your music, film or book can do? My challenge to you is that you begin to look at all the different ways in which you can move beyond the reception and go to the places where life is happening. As a musician ask yourself how can I build an enterprise around my music? As an actor ask how can I use my recognition as a force for social good? As an author ask how do I leverage on my authority to impact many more lives for generations to come?  Nobody can answer this question better than you. People’s paths are as unique as they are. What worked for one person might not necessarily work for another. What I am certain of though is that as you deploy yourself in these matters, clarity will come your way concerning what you need to do.

I encourage you to appreciate the fact that there is more to your gift than what you have accomplished so far. I will end with a proverb from Solomon which says a man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men. Proverbs 18:16.  Purpose to release your gift and allow it to take you where you cannot go otherwise. Resolve to allow your gift to manifest beyond its basest form. Don’t get so caught up in the little successes that you forego the biggest rewards that await you.  Whatever you do, look beyond the reception and enjoy the fullness of the resort.

Do you want to go beyond with your talents, resources and so much more? Make a point of getting in touch with us via asenasam@gmail.com 

Tight Spot Mentality

 

                                    Tight Spot Mentality

Dr. Benjamin Hardy, a psychologist is the first person I heard using the phrase forcing functions which is the basis for what I would like to share here. He describes them as the pressures you apply to yourself intentionally to raise the level of your performance.

One of the quotes I love which aptly captures the philosophy behind the Tight Spot mentality says that ‘Work expands to fill the time allocated for it.’

As humans we are surprisingly adaptable to the situations we find ourselves in. Whenever your boss or someone else in authority over you gives you a task with a strict deadline, you find ways and means to make it happen. The truth is that you always have this capacity only that you have not been called to bring it out more often.

Embracing a tight spot mentality is critical to anyone who wants to set high standards of performance for themselves. What if a tight spot mentality is something you can turn on anytime you want rather than wait for it to be forced down your throat all the time? How much more would you accomplish if you learnt to apply pressure to yourself irrespective of who was watching over you and waiting for you to deliver?

The Swahili have a saying that goes ‘maji ukisha yavulia sharti uyaoge.’ This can be loosely translated to once you have stripped yourself of your clothes, you have no option but to take that shower. Sometimes the best way to learn how to swim is to throw yourself into the water. When your survival depends on your ability to swim, you learn what it takes very quickly as opposed to when there is no immediate danger. Human ingenuity will help you find ways and means of coming out of tight spots that you would never know you had until you found yourself there.

Think about what happened with many of us when the current pandemic first came our way. We had to adjust swiftly in order to survive and we did it. If you had told us that we would wear masks, sanitize and keep social distance in 2019, it would have sounded strange to us but when COVID 19 showed up, we have had no choice but to adapt. Your ability to adapt depends on what is at stake. The things you won’t do in your comfort zone become easy breezy when your life is at stake. How many creature comforts did we give up quickly to survive the pandemic? All of a sudden, our unnecessary social gatherings were a thing of the past, some of our culturally significant practices like spending much time planning for a funeral for example were thrown out the window. Give a man sufficient motivation and he will accomplish the seemingly impossible. For a moment a majority of the things which looked indispensable in our lives took a back seat. Who would have thought we would close down schools, entertainment joints, places of worship and so much more. I can guarantee that it was never going to happen under normal circumstances. These things were and are vital to our living but once it was apparent that cutting down on them was necessary for our survival, we did it without blinking an eye. Visits to the hospital were also significantly scaled down and a lot of us realized that we visit hospital for trivial matters just because we have a medical cover.

The million dollar question is, what are the other things you have elevated in your life to a degree of necessity that is not reflective of reality? How many things can you do without yet you have made them a critical part of who you are and your existence? What are these things you can cut out or scale down in your life without affecting you adversely?

The secret is to become at peace with creating tight spots for yourself in all areas of your life. You will accomplish so much more once you normalize a tight spot mentality. Cut down the time you use to complete a task by half to see what you can come up with. More often than not, you will realize that you have the capacity to do it once you put your mind to it.

Creating a tight spot mentality

It is important to ask yourself what positive pressure you can apply to yourself in order to get there faster. For some people making public commitments is a way of getting in the zone. This must be accompanied by a heart of integrity such that you can’t be at peace if you fail to fulfil your commitment. For others it is about taking the first step of a project after which it is fatal to drag your feet. With this you have no choice but to carry the project through. In some instances, you apply pressure to yourself by committing to certain consequences which are severe enough to make you do what you have set out to do. A good example is a client of mine who committed to pay a hefty fine for any deadline she misses. The thought of paying that fine is enough to drive her towards doing the right thing. You could think of buying the things you need for a task especially if they are expensive. The fact that you spend money to get those things will drive you to get up and do it whether you wanted to or not. Another tactic is to enter into an accountability partnership with someone who will keep you on toes with regard to keeping your commitments. You can design it in such a way that failure to do what you committed to means you lose out on money that you have already committed in a common pool to your partner.

Many goals are abandoned midstream because there isn’t sufficient motivation behind them. We all need meaningful safeguards around our goals if we will have a chance to actualize them. There is no tool as effective as developing a tight spot mentality. You must make the consequences of failure severe in your mind so that you have no option but to press on. Sometimes it requires that you burn bridges so that there is no chance of going back.  This is a tactic that has been used by many generals to ramp up the motivation of their troops on the war front.  Alexander the Great burned his ships upon arriving in Persia in 334 B.C and when he was asked by one of his commanders about how they will get home, he replied ‘we’ll use their ships.’ This despite the fact that his army was outnumbered probably ten to one. A chines general Xiang Yu ordered his troops across the river and burnt the bride behind them quietly leading them to be so motivated that they beat the mighty Qin in the battle of Julu in 207 BC. It is a risky business but it works magic in getting people motivated to bring out their best. 

What fire are you going to ignite in yourself and what means will you use to ignite it? From this article and any other thing you know about engineering conditions to drive performance, what are you willing to do to accomplish your goals in 2021? What public commitments are you willing to make to get yourself out there? I would like to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Do you need help developing a personalized tight spot mentality around your goals and key stone results? Are you ready to throw it all on the line and reach your goals in 2021? Reach out to me via my email asenasam@gmail.com or +254774776413 and let’s get you going down the road of no return.