Here’s another excerpt from the book “Making Ideas Happen” by Scott Belsky. I try to discuss it with my team every week, so this blog will tackle the part of the topic we discussed this morning.

Excerpt on brainstorming:
“A surplus of ideas is as dangerous as a drought… In brainstorming, rampant idea exchange is exhilarating. But without some structure, you can become an addict of the brain-spinning indulgence of idea generation. Recognizing the tendency to bask in idea generation is the first step toward managing your energy to ensure a tangible outcome… Approach every occasion of creativity with a dose of skepticism and a bias toward action… Start with a question and the goal of capturing something specific, relevant, and actionable. You should depart such sessions with more conviction than when you started.”

My 2 cents:
After a strong storm, I always notice how clean the air is, and how beautiful the horizon and landscape can be without all the clutter and smog. Brainstorms should end the same way—with clarity, no clutter, noise, and smog, and instead very tangible, actionable steps that are properly communicated and delegated to individuals who will take personal ownership over their respective tasks.

I have had my share of brainstorm meetings that left me more confused after the meeting than before, or with no clear action steps communicated and delegated. The meeting gets adjourned but no one does anything about what gets discussed. The minutes just get sent out via email. No one reads it. The next meeting comes around, we talk about the same items discussed the last time because nothing has changed. Why not? No clearly defined action steps, no ownership, no accountability. The brainstorm left a rubble of ideas, and no clear actionable solutions.

Since I find myself leading my own meetings now, I’ve been worked on applying this concept and making every meeting end in a way where people in the meeting clarify their respective roles and responsibilities that were just discussed in the meeting. It’s a conscious effort on my part (I sometimes still forget to do it) but i’m finding it to be a very rewarding practice, both for myself as team leader and for my teammates.

Another 2 cents:
Though not technically a brainstorm, I feel that individual conceptualization moments (when you’re idea generating by yourself) should be approached with the same bias toward action. And I think some of the best practices that are done in the most effective of brainstorm sessions should be applied.

In particular, I’ve found that giving yourself a time limit to think, create, ponder, and plan will greatly increase your focus, energy, and will ultimately result in greater productivity. Too often we allow ourselves to get lost in our thoughts, only to find ourselves with no time left before the project submission deadline and with no significant output other than a few ideas and a ton of research. Our wheels were spinning, but we got no traction, no movement.

When we do what Belsky recommends in the book and “recognize the tendency to bask in idea generation,” we can start building external systems (like giving ourselves a time limit for research, idea generation, and planning) that can help us overcome these tendencies and enable us to be more productive with our time and with our ideas.

Let me know how you’ve learned to handle your discussions / brainstorms / idea generation.

(More on this topic to come soon.)

“You sit around watching all this stuff happen on TV. . . and the TV sits and watches us do nothing! The TV must think we’re all pretty lame.”
-Shannon Wheeler

Being a productivity-junkie, I enjoy reading about what other people are doing to be more effective and efficient in their tasks. One of my often-recommended books is David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” — in my opinion, a must-read for anyone serious about productivity. However, I found myself unable to totally implement David Allen’s system. Probably because it’s David Allen’s system. Not mine.

Which leads me to my latest find: the book “Making Ideas Happen” by Scott Belsky of Behance. It’s been a very good read so far. What I find particularly interesting is that the book was written for creatives, people who are often not associated to the idea of organization and productivity. And right off the bat, Belsky makes a strong case for creatives to develop structure and organization around their creative world if they have any desire to make any significant impact with their innovative ideas.

I’m only in Section 1: Organization and Execution, but am already getting so much out of it.

Here are two of my favorite excerpts from the parts I’ve read so far that I’ve discussed with my team:

On organization:
“Organization is all about applying order to the many elements of a creative project… These elements exist in any creative project, but we don’t always acknowledge them… Of course, doing so decreases the odds that our ideas will ever happen… Only through organization can we seize the benefits from bursts of creativity… Like it or not–Organization is a major force for making ideas happen.”

Creativity X Organization = Impact
“If the impact of our ideas is largely determined by our ability to stay organized, then we would observe that those with tons of creativity but little to no organization yield, on the average, nothing… Someone with average creativity but stellar organizational skills will make greater impact than the disorganized geniuses among us… The ‘organization’ side of the equation deserves as much focus as the ‘creativity’ side. Why? Because ultimately you want to make an impact with your ideas.”

Pretty interesting, isn’t it? I love the equation. Though it isn’t scientific, it gives me a visual reference and helps me evaluate myself in the area of creativity, organization, and, ultimately, my impact.

More excerpts to follow in the coming days.

“Information and communication are different.”
- Peter Drucker, Management

Breakthrough moment for my darling Hannah last Sunday night.

Normally, when I ask her, “What’s your name?”, she’d answer “name…” She would basically parrot the last word she heard.

I’ve been trying to get her to say “Hannah”. Of course. Ano pa ba?

Anyway, last Sunday, I asked her again, “What’s your name?”

This time, she looked at me, then said, “Hah-nah!”. She brought me to tears.

La lang. Just didn’t want to forget this milestone for us. (March 14, 2010, evening before bedtime)

And, yes, senti ako. Hehe.

You know what I’m talking about, right? Sometimes there are things that are just “easier said than done.”

The other day, I was speaking to a group about the importance of listening skills. And, true to form, I ended up getting into 3 different discussions where I found myself doing most of the talking and very little listening. FAIL.

I find this true as well with marriage advice. It’s easy to dish out, hard to swallow when you’re on the receiving end.

Scripture often distinguishes between intention and action, faith and deeds, hearing and doing. Since our behavior is often the proof of what we really believe, I often test my own heart with this question: “What’s keeping me from doing what I just said?” The answers tend to be very revealing, exposing my heart’s true desires.

Good thing Christ never asked us to just “keep trying harder”. His solution is simple, in fact.

“Apart from me, you can do nothing.”

Is it possible that in the areas where we find things easier said than done, at least as it affects our own actions and decisions, these are the very same areas where we are “apart from Him”? Something to definitely think about.

Do you have God in sight today?

I’m currently reading Less Clutter. Less Noise. by Kem Meyer. (Thanks, Varsha, for sending me this gem. I’m really enjoying it!)

Today, my team and I discussed several of the points she raised in the first part of her book. I really enjoy processing new ideas with my team. Their insights and perspectives are very helpful to my own learning.

Here’s one of the questions from the book Kim raised that we worked on:

“If I evaluated the last three communication pieces I created, how much was simple and succinct? How much was detail overkill?”

Chique (our resident copy editor) had an interesting insight about how Filipino culture plays a role in our tendency to clutter our communication that got me thinking. We do tend to beat around the bush a lot. Me, I think I’ve got comm overkill down to a science. Which is why I’ve got A LOT to learn.

What about you, any communications pieces you worked on recently? Was the piece cluttered or was the message communicated clearly?

Today, a good friend and someone who i thoroughly enjoy working with and really respect (that Joe) is getting married to the girl of his dreams (that’s Carla). Congratulations to you both! Belle and I are so excited for you.

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Silly story… I was talking with Joe one time discussing his engagement. I said, “wow, Joe! congratulations. and you’re still so young!” (Joe’s 26). He asked me, “how old were you when you got married?” Me: “26… O… wait… I got married at your age… you’re not young na pala!”

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Preparing for today’s activities, I can’t help but recall my own wedding day… December 13, 2004. Good times, loved every bit of it, many guests came to us afterwards talking about how they “felt God’s presence” in the ceremony, which was something Belle and I prayed for so we were very happy to hear their feedback.

—

A few relationships/engagement/marriage advice I’ve been given along the way:

- “It’s good to get married. Get married as soon as you can.” Jay Duque, you were a messenger from heaven the day you told me that. I was contemplating letting Belle know my feelings for her just the day before.

- “Let her (Belle’s) Dad know, during your wedding, that he’s giving his daughter to a man who he can trust will take care of her as well as he did.” Thanks, Pastor Joey. I never forgot your pre-wedding advice. I still apply this today.

- “Happy wife, happy life.” Thanks Robert Hern for this one. it has saved me from many “happy life”-threatening moments. and thanks for offering your extra room in case i forget to apply this.

- “We’re here for you two.” Thanks Edgar and Jeng Gorre, Paolo and Jenn Punzalan, for opening your homes and hearts to us so that Belle and I could see how marriage worked. We learned the immense value of having couples who could speak into our situations, and to help break any discussion deadlocks.

- “My DAD will take care of you.” This, I heard so distinctly in my heart. This came from Christ. Here’s the context…

A few days before having to pay our first wedding-related bill (the venue), I was in bed, my stomach in knots, stressed over where I’d get the money. I couldn’t sleep! Then in my heart, Jesus, in that still small voice that I’ve come to love and depend on, whispered these “encouraging” (to me, they were more like very, very, very scary) words: “My DAD will take care of you.”

You’d think that hearing that would comfort me, right? Far from it. I tried to negotiate, so that could get things done my way:

“Lord, I know that. But could I please have the money now so I wouldn’t have to be so stressed?” Yeah, right! Translation: “I don’t believe it until I see the money in the bank. Your word isn’t enough, money in my hand right now is better.”

Yes, I know I’m a pastor. That doesn’t exempt me from tests of faith.

His answer? “My DAD will take care of you.” And that was it. I had no alternative. Just as I had learned to trust His Word in the past, I clung to those words like a mountain climber hanging on for dear life to a rock crevice and with no lifeline. An hour later, I fell asleep. That was 2AM.

The next day, after work, Belle comes to me worried about the bill, asking me what we were going to do. With all the faith and confidence I could muster (which wasn’t much, I must admit), I held her hand, looked her in the eye, and told her, “My DAD will take care of us.” I don’t know if it helped Belle or not, but it was the best I could do at the time.

The day before the payment was due, my Lord’s DAD really did take care of us, and took care of the bill. An unexpected gift came in from an unexpected individual. The gift? A check with an amount big enough to cover the venue. And that was just the first time that happened. On our wedding, I wrote out checks to all our suppliers, paid them in full, and had enough to spare for a decent honeymoon. Belle and I started our new life together without getting into debt. Our DAD took care of us.

And He still does, not just financially, mind you. I can’t imagine how my marriage would be without God in the center of it. That’s probably the biggest and most critical lesson I’ve learned in my entire life.

Here’s an interesting news article from the Philippine Inquirer about the need for education to be moved from being a priority to THE priority…

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100127-249791/Group-launches-program-to-save-RP-education

What are your thoughts on this?

my darling hannah is three years old today wow how time flies. God is soooo good!