Think left handed today (or right handed if you are a lefty)

The Corpus Callosum fascinates me.
In case you’ve never heard of it, let me quickly catch you up: The corpus callosum is a bundle of fibers connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain. It’s like a hallway in our brain that allows information to flow between hemispheres. The left side of our body is controlled by the right side of our brain, and the left side of our brain controls the right side of our body.

Severed corpus callosum testing in the 1960s
by Michael Gazzaniga and Roger Wolcott Sperry confirmed that our left brain specializes in language and our right brain is all about facial recognition and attentional monitoring. Further testing suggested that right brains recognize others while left brains have a bias for recognizing self.

Creativity,
artistic ablities, musical skills, and photographic memories are part of the right cerebral cortex. If you have crazy math skills and and find it easy to work with numbers and words – that comes from the left hemisphere.  Think about what side of your brain you use most on a daily basis.  Think you’re naturally creative?  Think twice.

Your brain is not meant to be creative.
Through creating, recognizing, and using patterns, our brain makes sense of the world we live in. Life would be impossible without these patterns. However, it is imperative that at times we change these patterns or create new ones. This goes beyond creativity into a lateral thinking process where we are able to change perception of how we see the world and it’s patterns in order to make changes.

I think it’s time for you to break your patterns.
Break out of all your patterns today.  Eat dinner in the morning.  Eat desert first.  Take an alternate route home from work.  Go home and change your outfit right now.  Do as much as you can to break out of your patterns.

Today, I’m going to spend the day left handed.

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5 things you need to be doing right now

In my previous post, Ideas colliding in the ether need an idea coach, I ended telling you to stop dreaming and start doing.   I hope this inspired at least a few of you to jump start your ideas.  For the rest of you, who still haven’t acted on at least one thing last week, here’s my list of 5 things you should be doing right now.

1. Write the idea down
Don’t get hung up on the details yet.  Don’t worry about the medium.  Whether you choose to capture these thoughts via digital or analog – just make sure you keep it with you.  Keeping them close to bed is very important.  When you find yourself not being able to sleep or waking up thinking more about the idea, you’ll be able to write it all down, right away.

2. Tell the people you trust
Float the idea by your inner circle.  More often then not, this will spur on sub-ideas and details that you may have not thought of yet.  Most importantly, this is your first commitment on the road to making it happen.  Ask your trusted circle to hold you accountable and ask you next week how this idea is progressing.

3. Google it
Take a journey over to Google, and search for every variation of your idea possible.  Spend at least 3 straight hours doing this.   If you find that your idea has already been materialized, you’ll need to figure out if the materialized idea has failed, or succeeded.  If it’s failed: learn from the failure and decide to continue, or wait for a new idea.  If it’s a success: learn from the success and align it with your notes.  Learn as much as you can from this as well, because it will help with your next idea.  If after Google, you decide your idea is still worth pursuing…

4. Plan your first iteration
Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change is a book I read over a decade ago.  Back then, it inspired us to quickly develop software solutions in short bursts.  Today, I apply the core concepts of XP to develop business in short bursts.  So, for your first iteration, make sure you plan to put something in front of potential customers within one week.   Make sure you can accomplish this by yourself or with the right partners.

5. Find your partners
In older business models, this is where you would be finding the vendors you need.  In an agile business model you need to find partners – those people or companies who you will need to help this succeed.  Align yourself with people and solutions that can quickly accomplish your first week iteration.  Be creative with sharing potential revenue streams if you have to.

Run! Run! Run!
Every day make sure you accomplish at least one thing that gets you closer to finishing your iteration.  Cross it off your list.  Write more on your list for future iterations.  Keep committing to running with your idea.  If you trip, get back up.  If you fail, don’t be discouraged.  Failing happens – don’t be afraid to start the race again.

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Ideas colliding in the ether need an idea coach.

Every time we have a good idea, someone else is having that same idea.  Often I’m sure that 3 or more people are sharing the exact same idea at the exact same time. These ideas just normally collide out in the ether. Let’s face it, people are great at coming up with new ideas, and not so great at turning them into reality.

Maybe ideas need a reality coach.
Personal trainers help their clients improve their exercise techniques and provide motivation and support.  Life coaches help clients determine and achieve personal goals.   Why isn’t there a coach to nurture ideas?

Most people just need a little push.
Alexander Graham Bell’s father encouraged his son’s interest in speech.  A fellow telegrapher and inventor named Franklin Leonard Pope supported Thomas Edison and let him live in his home in New Jersey.  Later in life, Edison promised $50,000 to Nikola Tesla to push him to succeed in making improvements to his DC generation plants.   Even brilliant people need a supporting cast.

I urge you to build a support group.
Surround yourself with positive people who will push you.  In turn, push them back.  Start that self published book.  Finish that self published book.  Start speaking publicly.  Hold that event.  Invest in that ipod application.  Finish that blog post.   Help others finish everything that’s left undone.  As a group, collectively finish one thing a week.

Stop dreaming and start doing.

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Did people say “The refrigerator reminds me of work?”

During a long car ride filled with men over 60, I overheard someone say “I don’t use the computer to do anything any more.  I used a computer at work, and now that I’m retired, I don’t want to use the computer, because it reminds me of work”.

WHAT???

Isn’t the computer a common household appliance? My children look at our computers the same way they look at our refrigerator. You go to the refrigerator to get food, and you go to the computer to get answers.

Was there a time in U.S. history that I could have overheard a refrigerator repair man say “yeah, we don’t really use our refrigerator at home. That new technology just reminds me of work”.  I’m fairly certain no one ever heard Benjamin Franklin say anything of the sorts about electricity.

Maybe it’s because I”m sometimes an innovator and always an early adopter.
I like “technology”.  It fascinates me.  Hasn’t the computer crossed the chasm?  If you haven’t already read Crossing the Chasm, let me explain:   Geoffrey Moore’s chasm theory says that thanks to early adopters,  high-tech items initially sell well.   Then, however, they often hit a gap instead of moving on to the early majority.  This is what often kills high-tech products.  Moore also explains that he believes this is unique to the high-tech industry.

So I leave you with one question for the day:
Will the computer ever reach “refrigerator status” in all homes?


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Removing the constraint of the dip

[PREFACE]
So I really missed attending my weekly lab hours at Translator this morning, so I decided to do a first ever video post to contribute remotely.

Since I’m stuck in a car for the 6 hours, and finally got internet working from my android to my laptop (via USB), I decided to transcribe the main video thought here in a blog post (p.s., not exact wording, in fact it was heavily edited):[/END PREFACE]

so, here we go….

One of the biggest inspirations of my in my life
has been reading Seth Godin‘s The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) (affiliate link).  I picked this book up during a time of my life when I thought about quitting everything I had been doing.  I had recently sold a majority of my company to ownership that didn’t have the same vision as we had.  Slowly, the superteam of developers and creatives we had built jumped ship, got downsized, and eventually the remainder of us were folded into a print shop.  Then, the print shop started slowly crumbling to the ground.

Life sucked.  Things were hard.
I know I was sticking around because the software I had helped to architect was the only thing I had left.  So, on Seth’s recommendation, I started assessing.  Was this a cul-de-sac that I needed to quit?  Then I got wind that a local entrepreneur was looking to purchase the print shop.  This guy had a vision for the future, and I felt he could be the one to help blend my taste for digital media (online) with print media (offline).  I’ve always been a big advocate for figuring out how we bridge the 2 together.

When i try to explain the dip
to those who haven’t read the book, I love using the marathon illustration.  You know:  Don’t stop running the marathon at mile 25, even when it’s hard.  If you know it’s hard, and you want to do it, Just do it.  Lately I’ve been thinking.

What if you could avoid the dip?
I’ve got a breath of fresh air in my life recently by surrounding myself with people who are good at stuff.  When you combine great ideas with motivation from peers, and people who are good at stuff who all help each other out, you can shortcut success by either partially or completely removing the dip you’d encounter by taking on new projects alone.

This is why I’m a fan of Translator Lab Hours.
This is why I never want to miss a Tuesday or Thursday morning where i get to be with intelligent, energetic and fun peers, who do great stuff.

Let’s combine what we’re good at and remove our collective constraints.

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