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MAKINGIDEAS HAPPEN

10-05-02 WORKBOOKTO TAKE ACTION

Today is the day to take action. Knowledge is not enough.

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Making Ideas Happenby Scott BelskyBy Trenz Pruca

Making Ideas Happen is not the sexiest part of a creative endeavor. However, it’s the part that makes the difference between success and failure. Execute on an idea well and the world is your oyster. Have an idea and fail to make it happen, well, you might as well have never had the idea at all.

This is your chance to put the concepts from “Making Ideas Happen” into action. We’ve designed the workbook with you in mind: you are busy,

stressed and quite frankly don’t have the time to spend a lot of time incorporating new ideas into your business. That’s why this workbook is intended to give you tools to take action.

Our suggestion is to take 15 minutes every day this week to try these ideas on for size.

Take what really works for you and keep it. Throw the rest out. But most of all, keep an open mind and sometime this week you’ll discover a new habit that just might change the way you work forever.

The biggest obstacle in trying anything new is taking the first few steps. The rest is usually smooth sailing. That’s why these workbooks are designed to get you to take a few actions this week that will get the ball rolling. So, take a lunch hour or two, or skip your 10:30 water cooler chat this week and get started. q

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Here’s something that we’ve found works well for us: keep a pad of paper that allows you to capture action items that cover the 5 w’s: who, what, when, where and why.

Who is responsible for the action item. Pick one.What does that person need to do? Be specific and

use a verb.When does it need to be completed by? Again, be

specific. If you want to commit something to action, it needs a date attached to it.

Where does it need to be done? Sometimes the action item needs to be done at the office, some items can be done while you are waiting in line for your coffee.

Being able to organize yourself to take advantage of these times will help you get more done.

Why are they doing it? Most critically, you should be able to point to a pretty compelling reason why it should be done. If not, throw it out.

Print out a few of the following sheets today and carry them with you. Capture every single action item and fill out each section when you do. Pretty soon you’ll be doing this automatically and you’ll be a an idea finishing machine.

Capturing Action ItemsMonday

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Capturing Action Itemsthe 5 Ws.

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Who

What

When

Where

Why

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When you are working with a team there are usually things that need to be done on a weekly basis that don’t typically get captured officially. It may be things as simple as making sure there’s enough paper in the printer or making sure there’s coffee in the cupboard. If a project is going to work, we don’t need the little things getting in the way of bigger things.

So, create what Belsky calls a “responsibility grid” to make sure everybody knows what needs taking care of. Put your team members on the X-axis, and all the regular tasks down the Y-axis.

Start your responsibility grid by printing out the following sheet. When you’ve got everything captured,

put it up in an area where everybody on your team can see it and/or send them a copy. Never sweat the small stuff again.

The Responsibility GridTuesday

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The Responsibility GridFinish the small stuff.

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Set the projects you’ve created onto a grid that determines how much of your team’s energy each project should get at the moment. Notice that we didn’t say amount of time - we said amount of energy. Set them into the following categories - extreme, high, medium, low and idle.

Work on the projects for the week that deserve your highest amount of energy. Remember to make the distinction between important and urgent - sometimes projects will seem very urgent, but in the grand scheme of things are not very important.

Prioritizing projects.Wednesday

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Project Priorities.Manage your energy.

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Why is it that when there are a million things to do that you never seem to get anything done? I don’t have the answer for that one, but I do know a way to get things done. Pick a few items that absolutely must get done for the day, write them down, and get them done. Here’s a simple tool to use every day to get the important stuff done.

Daily Focus Items.Thursday

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Daily Focus ItemsToday, these things get done.

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Focus #1

Focus #2

Focus #3

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We are all hardwired to seek rewards in the short-term. This causes huge disconnects when our daily actions determine whether or not a long-term project is a success or not. Don’t worry, this isn’t your fault. You’ve been taught to think this way ever since you joined the school system. Avoid the trappings of the usual short-term rewards at all costs.

On the other hand, if you find it impossible to go without short-term rewards, make up some of your own. Maybe it’s doing a Google Search every day to see the increase in how much people are talking about your idea. Whatever it is, make sure it won’t take your day-to-day behaviour away from the long-term goal.

Incremental RewardsFriday

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Incremental Rewards.Go ahead, you deserve it.

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Reward #1

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Reward #3

Reward #4

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