New law of productivity

Deep Work is about the science of productivity, the best way to get more meaningful work done is by working deeply – working in a state of high concentration without distractions on a single task.

The new law of productivity is:

High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)

“Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”

“Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.”

Deep Work Is Rare, Yet Highly Valuable

“The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”

 For starters, shallow work is easier. In addition, shallow work seems to be encouraged by most businesses. Think: constant connectivity, expectations of fast response times, or open plan offices. Employees, choosing the path of least resistance, will simply adopt to this type of shallow-work-inducing environment by, well, working in a shallow manner.

According to Cal Newport author of the book “Deep Work”, most workers today succumb to something he calls increasingly visible busyness or busyness as proxy for productivity. In the absence of clear indicators of what it means to be valuable and productive at work, many knowledge workers turn toward an industrial indicator of productivity: doing lots of stuff in a visible manner.

Cal Newport sums it up: “Deep work is hard and shallow work is easier and in the absence of clear goals for your job, the visible busyness that surrounds shallow work becomes self-preserving.”

The Rules of Deep Work.....

Rule #1: Work Deeply

Rule #2: Embrace Boredom

Rule #3: Quit Social Media

Rule #4: Drain the Shallows

As the world advances, three kinds of people will survive and prosper:

I-Owners of capital or people with access to it

II-Those who can work with intelligent machines and technology

III-Superstars in their field of work

Deep Work focuses on the third type. To become one, you need to develop two skills: the ability to quickly master hard things and the ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed. Deep Work is the concept that interlinks these two skills.

Source:”Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World” by Cal Newport

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The Power of a Positive No

Saying no is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As the investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you".

You need to say no to whatever isn't leading you toward your goals. You need to say no to distractions.The great art is to learn to integrate the two – to marry Yes and No. That is the secret to standing up for yourself and what you need without destroying valuable agreements and precious relationships.

Saying No positively means first of all saying Yes to yourself and your own deepest needs and values. When one executive in a family business had to say No to his father and boss’s demand that he take care of the business over the Christmas holidays for the Nth year in a row, he drew on a deeper underlying Yes to his family and his self-respect. He told his father: “Dad, my family needs me and I intend to spend the Christmas holidays with them.”.The executive, in a respectful tone, set a clear limit: “I will not be working this Christmas.” He did not end with a No, however, but with a Yes, a positive proposal. “Here’s my proposal for how we can get the necessary work done in the office while I spend the time I need with my family.”

A Positive No in short is a Yes No Yes. The first Yes expresses your needs and values, the No asserts your power, and the second Yes furthers your relationship. The key is respect – for yourself and for the other person.

No is the key to defining your strategic focus and every important Yes therefore may require a thousand Nos.

Source:”The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes ” by William Ury

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WHAT IS YOUR IKIGAI?

An " Ikigai " is essentially ‘a reason to get up in the morning’. A reason to enjoy life. The Japanese  concept which translates as “ the happiness of always being busy” or “ A reason for being”

In Japanese, ikigai is written by combining the symbols that mean “life” with “to be worthwhile.”

Authors of the book “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles have summerised  after conducting hundred of interviews in Ogimi, Okinawa ( Okinawa holds the first place in world’s Blue zones) to try to understand the longevity secrets of centenarians and super centenarians.

“ Ikigai” is seen as the convergence of four primary elements:

-What you love (your passion)

-What the world needs (your mission)

-What you are good at (your vocation)

-What you can get paid for (your profession)

Your ikigai lies at the centre of  those interconnecting circles. If you are lacking in one area, you are missing out on your life’s potential. Not only that, but you are missing out on your chance to live a long and happy life.

The 10 rules of “Ikigai” stated by the authors are as below...

1. Stay active; don’t retire. Keep physically and mentally active – use your mind and body, so you don't lose them to ill health. 

“Metabolism slows down 90 percent after 30 minutes of sitting. The enzymes that move the bad fat from your arteries to your muscles, where it can get burned off, slow down. And after two hours, good cholesterol drops 20 percent. Just getting up for five minutes is going to get things going again. These things are so simple they’re almost stupid.”

 — Gavin Bradley

“Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, you’ll be here a long time.” — Walter Breuning (114 Yrs old)

2. Take it slow. Leave urgency behind and adopt a slower pace of life.

 “Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference.” 

― Tim Ferriss

3. Don’t fill your stomach.Follow the 80 % secrete “Hara hachi bu” of Japanese , which means “fill your belly 80%”.

4. Surround yourself with good friends.

“Do what makes you happy, be with who makes you smile, laugh as much as you breathe, and love as long as you live.” ― Rachel Ann Nunes

5. Get in shape for your next birthday. Present a better version of yourself to yourself.

6. Smile.It does not cost anything

“In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” ― Gordon B. Hinckley

7. Reconnect with nature.Nature helps us feel good and do good

Nature experiences lead to reduced stress, easier recovery from illness, better physical well-being in elderly people, and behavioral changes that improve mood and general well-being.

8. Give thanks.Spend a moment in giving thanks to the moments, events and things you have in life and find your happiness grow.

9. Live in the moment. Forget the past, make the most of the present moment worth remembering.

10. Follow your ikigai.  Find an “Ikigai”  if you don’t have one yet and as Victor Frankle says your mission is to discover it.

 Source: “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”

by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

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10x THINKING

One company stands out as most impressive in the world right now for its way of thinking. Not for its achievements today (although hugely influential), but for the impact its way of thinking will have on our collective futures.That company is Google.

“The story of innovation has not changed. It has always been a small team of people who have a new idea, typically not understood by people around them and their executives.”

—Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

Google doesn’t have a secret formula, but we have distilled our thinking into a set of basic principles—ideas we believe can be adapted and applied at pretty much any organization,  regardless of size or industry. One of the principles of innovation applied inside Google is 10X thinking.

-—Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

The notion of “10x thinking” is at the heart of innovation at Google. To put the idea simply: true innovation happens when you try to improve something by 10 times rather than by 10%.This is the guiding inspiration for engineers at Google[x]—the division of Google that focuses on producing major technological advances such as self-driving cars. Ever since Google  started the self-driving car project, they have been working toward the goal of vehicles that can shoulder the entire burden of driving .Building a prototype vehicle that's designed to take you where you want to go at the push of a button—no driving required.

 A 10x goal forces you to rethink an idea entirely. It pushes you beyond existing models and forces you to totally imagine how to approach it.

Source:https://gsuite.google.co.in/intl/en_in/learn-more/creating_a_culture_of_innovation.html

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Skunk Works Rules

"We are defined not by the technologies we create, 
but the process in which we create them."

- Kelly Johnson

Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, including the U-2, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which are used in the air forces of several countries.Lockheed's Skunk Works division is responsible for some of the most radical breakthroughs in aviation. Its success can be attributed to a very small set of ground rules religiously followed at Skunk Works .

During World War II as air battles raged and America felt the need to aid its European allies, aerospace giants Lockheed created an idea incubator to develop urgent solutions to critical war problems. For added security, they intentionally set up their innovation research and development centre in a tent next to a plastics factory that pumped out disgusting smells. Lockheed R&D staff named it after the vile-smelling “Skunk Works” factory in the popular comic strip of the time, ‘Li’l Abner’.

In 1943 when visionary Clarence “Kelly” Johnson got the green light to create an experimental engineering department to begin work on the secret XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter. Johnson and his team   in the tent  had designed and built the XP-80 America’s first jet fighter in only 143 days, seven less than was required. It was this project that marked the birth of what would become the Skunk Works with Kelly Johnson at its helm.

What allowed Johnson to operate the Skunk Works so effectively and efficiently was his unconventional organizational approach. He broke the rules, challenging the current bureaucratic system that stifled innovation and hindered progress. His philosophy is spelled out in his "14 rules and practices."

14 rules and practices are…

1. The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. He should report to a division president or higher.

2. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry.

3. The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to the so-called normal systems).

4. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided.

5. There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly.

6. There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program.

7. The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract on the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones.

8. The inspection system as currently used by the Skunk Works, which has been approved by both the Air Force and Navy, meets the intent of existing military requirements and should be used on new projects. Push more basic inspection responsibility back to subcontractors and vendors. Don't duplicate so much inspection.

9. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn't, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles.

10. The specifications applying to the hardware must be agreed to well in advance of contracting. The Skunk Works practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore is highly recommended.

11. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn't have to keep running to the bank to support government projects.

12. There must be mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor, the very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum.

13. Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures.

14. Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay not based on the number of personnel supervised.

Not only that, but a model for rapid innovation was developed, which companies still use today. Raytheon, DuPont, Walmart and Nordstrom use skunk works to innovate. In the early 1980s, Steve Jobs leased a building behind a restaurant in Silicon Valley, installed twenty brilliant designers, and created the first Macintosh computer.

 Wonder why these rules were required at all can be understood from the following statement ..

 "There is a tendency today, which I hate to see, toward design by committee--reviews and recommendations, conferences and consultations, by those not directly doing the job. Nothing very stupid will result, but nothing brilliant either."

- Kelly Johnson

Source: 

-https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks/kelly-14-rules.html

- ”Skunk Works" by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos

    

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The Apollo Principle

 “A big mission that unites people in purpose.”

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

– John F. Kennedy

On May 25, 1961, in his address to Congress, President John F. Kennedy proposed the national goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s. This goal was accomplished on the Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, later returning back to earth.

There is a great story of the janitor mopping the floor at the Space Station being asked what his job was in the organization. His answer was: ‘I’m helping to put a man on the moon”.

This highlights the Apollo Program’s 'secret sauce' - a big mission or goal to unite people in purpose.

Big crazy goals inspire and align people in ways that small goals can’t. They attract some of the best minds and open some of the toughest doors. Inside many human beings, there is something that loves the power of a big challenge. A big challenge aligns people under a common cause like nothing else can.

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