What The Heck Is The 2Q System?

The 2Q System is a psychological blueprint for thinking clearly and letting go of toxic emotions, so you can make the changes that you want, or need, to make. Simple ideas that, if you are a business leader, you can also cascade down throughout your organization in order to build leadership traits across your team, embed yourself in a culture-of success and leave a lasting legacy.

2Q stands for Two QuestionsTM. There are two questions that you, and everyone in your organization, must be able to answer quickly-and-easily. Your answers to these questions will help you shatter your intellectual blind spots, manage overly emotional and self-defeating behaviors, and blaze a clear path to personal, professional and organizational growth.

On my motivational speaker demo video, I outline the simple fact-of-life that packs the punch behind the 2Q System and briefly discuss the questions themselves…

 

If You Must Try To Multitask…

Multitasking is a myth. It’s a lie of similar magnitude to: “Honey, you’re perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.” The thinking part of your brain is a limited, serial processor. Unlike your computer, you can’t just open a bunch of brain “windows” at the same time.

Underscoring this point, and in a clear attempt to get himself quoted, psych professor Harold Pashler observed: “Even the brain of a Harvard graduate can be turned into that of an eight-year-old simply by being made to do two things at once.”

Does this mean that you shouldn’t ask a Harvard graduate the time while he’s tying his shoelaces? No, that inference would be wrong…And not only because it assumes the Harvard grad is male. After we’ve performed a repetitive task (such as all activities involving shoelaces) a few times, neural control moves from the prefrontal cortex to the basal ganglia. This frees up the thinking part of our brain to tackle another task at the same time. It’s this process, called embedding, that both creates the illusion of multitasking and provides a clue as to how we might arrange our day more efficiently. [Read more...]

Are You Missing Out On The Easy Wins?

Easy WinsWhat quick and easy action could you take today to change your professional and/or personal life for the better? I’m not talking “master plan” changes like ‘I’ll go to the gym three times a week…even if I break my leg’ type stuff. I mean really, really, really quick and easy changes that you could make right here, right now that would have an immediate impact. Here are five examples drawn from my experiences as a leadership speaker

1. A conscious focus on the division between working on the system and working the system. Here’s what I mean: What software can I use to manage my task list? That’s a “working on the system” question. Attacking your task list with a vengeance, that’s a “working the system” activity. Skewing too to far in either direction can seriously mess with your productivity. [Read more...]

Presentation Skills Training Is A Waste!

The gentleman in the video below is David Levin, the “Be Heard Guy.” He has come to the conclusion that presentation skills training is a waste of time. Do you agree?

…So what do you think? Does David have a point? Is it all about the content?

New Year Resolutions|Don't Fall Off The Willpower Wagon

Dr. Roy Baumeister

Dr. Roy Baumeister

Here’s something to think about when you make your New Year resolutions: Self-control is a limited resource. This observation comes from Dr. Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist at Florida State and world authority on willpower.

In one of his experiments, Baumeister set chocolate in front of adult participants and asked them to resist the temptation to eat it. (What happened to the good old days, when psychologists just shocked their volunteers with electricity?) Baumeister then challenged the participants with a brain teaser.

Baumeister found that the experimental subjects who flexed their willpower and resisted the candy gave up on the puzzle much quicker than the volunteers who sullied their fingers with chocolate as soon as his back was turned. The “strong willed” participants had less mental energy—and therefore determination—left to solve the puzzle.

Here’s how this relates to you…

When you resist temptation (or any other kind of distraction) you’re drawing from a well—a shallow well—of willpower. To repeat: Self-control is a limited resource. The core of our impulse control mechanisms are located in the prefrontal cortex, the most energy hungry part of our brain. And so, every time we slam the breaks on an impulse, the supply of mental energy we have left to resist the next temptation decreases. This has implications for the way we approach making changes in our lives… [Read more...]

It’s As Easy As 1, 2…Eh?

memory Whether you get your news from CNN | Fox | The Daily Show (circle one), last week you’ll have seen Texas governor Rick Perry forget the Department of Energy as the third of three agencies he would seek to eliminate if he became President.

What can we learn from Mr. Perry’s all-too-human blunder? When I’m coaching presentation skills I warn attendees to be wary when using the phrase: “The three most important things are…” Under the harsh glare of the spotlight you may well forget the third item.

In fact, the best way to remember a list is by visual association because you’re acting in accordance with how your brain actually works.

Visual Association

Joshua Foer—author of Moonwalking with Einstein (a book about competitive memorization)—observed that governor Perry could have created a mental image incorporating the three cabinet level agencies he aimed to change. [Read more...]

Finding a Simple Way…

OverwhelmedHere – right at the top – is the bottom line: People crave simplicity, transformation and control. This week, let’s talk about simplicity…

When you over complicate your approach to what you do, you spend way too much time working on the system and not enough time working the system itself. This is the difference between reading a book about time management vs. actually implementing an idea from the book.

What’s more, part of being effective is acquiring consistency; developing good habits. Developing consistency is extremely difficult if the systems you’re using to manage your professional and personal lives are unwieldy.

We are drowning in functional reserve; all the things our processes and software can do, but that we don’t – or don’t know how to – use. There’s an opportunity cost to all that distracting functionality. You overlook the chance to make things super-simple so you can get going and take action.

And so here’s a simple way to look at how you tackle your professional and personal responsibilities… [Read more...]

Leadership Lessons At The YMCA

Psychologist Richard Wiseman and fitness expert Sam Murphy recently asked a group of women: Which sporting activities would make a man more attractive? The most frequent answers were climbing, extreme sports and soccer. (Unless you play for Manchester United.)

And the least flattering exercise? Here’s a clue…
steve_step

…Yeah, aerobics. (According to the scientists, only 9% of women found men doing aerobics attractive…go figure!)

This picture was taken at my local YMCA. (A special “shout out” to all my new friends at Duke University Hospital, thanks for the T-shirt. If it wasn’t for you guys, I’d only get to wear my orange shorts at Halloween.)

I’m a big fan of the “Y.” If your only exposure to the inside of a gym is Bally’s Total Fitness TV ads, pay a visit to your local YMCA. The experience will be far less of a dignity stripper than you might think.

In addition to “toning & firming” me into the incredible physical specimen I am today (see above), my instructors have reminded me of some important leadership lessons. First off… [Read more...]

When Emotions Make Us Dumb

Do you ever get so frustrated that you’re at risk of acting against your own best interests, or the best interests of those around you? Have you, for example, ever gotten so cross with your spouse that you say something corrosive to the relationship you value so much? In a moment of annoyance have you ever upset someone that would have, had they been so inclined, been able to help you?

If you’re anything like me and your honest answer to those questions is “yes,” here’s a thought experiment you can bring to mind next time you feel your blood begin to boil…

Let’s play a game…

moneyImagine you and I are alone in a room. I explain that there’s a man, called Stan, standing outside the room who you don’t know and will never meet. Then I hand you 100 bucks with the request that you share it with Stan. You can give him everything, nothing, or any amount in between…

Here’s the catch: Stan can accept or reject your offer. If he accepts it, you both keep your share. But, if Stan feels it’s unfair and rejects your offer, you both lose everything…And I get to keep it all!

So you’re the “Splitter,” and Stan is the “Decider.” How much are you going to offer Stan? How much do you think most people would offer Stan? [Read more...]

The One Thing That Stopped Me Getting Scammed

During a special on PBS (which doesn’t only stand for Poor British Sitcoms) author Jeffrey Kluger told a story about his daughter…

After watching him flip an alarm clock around, his four-year-old asked: “Why did you do that?” “I’m looking to see what time it is,” Kluger replied. To which his daughter observed “As well as the times it isn’t”. Cute, right? (And isn’t that what every parent wants? A child on the fast-track to a career in philosophy.)

My point is that it’s drop-dead easy to look at a situation from opposite points of view (even a child can do it) if—and it’s a big “if”—you decide to do it. Which brings me to the subject of this post. On Tuesday, I fell within one of my whiskers of being ripped off by a Jedi-level confidence trickster… [Read more...]