The one thing I'd do, if I were you...

Start your day, every day, by thinking a little bit bigger. Not life-altering "shoulds" - just little chunks of information that could slowly shift your perspective away from the (as Ben Zander says) "negative spiral."


I do this by watching a TED talk, most every morning. Yup, each day I intend to let some good information in. I like to see/hear what someone is doing with their energy, passion and interest.

Last year at the SXSW conference (see you there next March, yes???) I took this picture after June spoke on behalf of the TED mission. Quick, after you read this, find a 3-6 minute talk at www.TED.com and watch it now!

I recommend the one by Sunni Brown ... On the importance of doodling during meetings!

Email management ... a big deal? Maybe, maybe not

If you navigate on over to Entrepreneur.com, and do a little searching, you'll find a bunch of articles on productivity, time-and-information management, and even email organization ideas!



There were some great comments on this article, specifically around the great debate:





A) inbox 0
B) just keep everything there, and search it when you need it

Of course, I know enough to know that one can not "blanket-prescribe" a system; that is, what works for your boss may not, ultimately, work for you. What I do know, however, is that magic happens when small to medium sized teams get in a room for 30 minutes, once every few months, and ask this question:

"How, as a team, can we get the most from email?"

Then, follow it up with,

"How, as a team, can we make it easy for everyone to focus?" (That is, how do we minimize and mitigate distractions/disruptions/interruptions?)

Any ideas?

Where to go to get new ideas? Try #ignite

I was invited to submit a proposal to speak at #IgniteNYC (I was not selected this year). I got my ticket, called my friends and showed up at the Sheraton ready to engage.




If you're not familiar with Ignite, Google it. 5 minute presentations, where people get to resent from 20 slides that auto forward every 15 seconds. I loved it. I won't go one-by-one, there were more than fifteen to listen to and watch, but suffice it to say that they were awesome!

What are you doing to build your ideas?

Where do new ideas come from?

After another mentoring session (I am SO thankful for the time she gives me) with Frances Hesselbein, I took some time to think and read and write an write some more. I read a couple of articles from Leader to Leader, wrote a thank you card, and drafted some more ideas in my journal.



How do you find new ideas? And, are they truly "first-thought" items? This has me waking up all all hours of the day, for if we have a new idea that could change things, we could, well change things.

I'm here in Zurich, on Saturday, and there was an "Occupy" event happening in a main square of town. As I walked by the people there, I asked myself, "What's the new idea they are bringing to the public domain."

Over the next 96 hours, I will be re-editing (for the last time!) the book that is coming out in January. The purpose, I'm realizing, of this project is bigger than I originally thought. It's designed to help you get new ideas. I hope it works.