What can we learn from Mr. Perry’s all-too-human blunder? When I’m coaching presentation skills I warn attendees to be wary when using the phrase: “The three most important things are…” Under the harsh glare of the spotlight you may well forget the third item.

In fact, the best way to remember a list is by visual association because you’re acting in accordance with how your brain actually works.

Visual Association

Joshua Foer—author of Moonwalking with Einstein (a book about competitive memorization)—observed that governor Perry could have created a mental image incorporating the three cabinet level agencies he aimed to change.

To quote Foer: “Maybe his favorite elementary school teacher standing behind a lemonade stand handing out wads of cash, while shooting lightning bolts out of his underarms. That wacky image would have reminded him he wanted to cut education, commerce, and energy.”

Sure, it’s totally ridiculous. But, then again, this daft diagram might just have altered the entire course of Mr. Perry’s career.

FYI: Here’s a classic method for remembering a list of items. Give this method a try and you’ll be amazed how quickly and easily you can recall a series of (many more than three) unrelated items.

The Broader Point

Are you striving to create a richer, more meaningful life for yourself in a science-smart way? Or, are you making life more difficult than it needs to be by struggling against how your brain naturally functions? If, for example, you’re trying to lose weight, are you aware of what scientists have discovered about willpower? Or, if you’re trying to get organized, are you familiar with the research on time management?

Here’s the deal: You can plough through the scientific stuff yourself. Or, you can let me do the heavy lifting and present you with the simple action steps that make all the difference. That’s what this blog is all about. I hope to see you two weeks from now…

I’d love to hear what you think. You can speak your mind in the box below…

After watching him flip an alarm clock around, his four-year-old asked: “Why did you do that?” “I’m looking to see what time it is,” Kluger replied. To which his daughter observed “As well as the times it isn’t”. Cute, right? (And isn’t that what every parent wants? A child on the fast-track to a career in philosophy.)

My point is that it’s drop-dead easy to look at a situation from opposite points of view (even a child can do it) if—and it’s a big “if”—you decide to do it. Which brings me to the subject of this post. On Tuesday, I fell within one of my whiskers of being ripped off by a Jedi-level confidence trickster…

The Sting…

I’m currently looking for a part-time sales assistant. (Side note: If you happen to know anyone please let me know, thanks.) In this regard, I was contacted by a woman pitching her sales services. Let’s call the woman in question “Jane”. (With apologies to every wonderful, upstanding Jane who reads this message.)

After 50 minutes in the hot-seat with Krystal (and getting her seal of approval – no easy task) I spoke with Jane for an hour. She was extremely knowledgeable about the speaking industry, utterly charming and totally persuasive. Exactly what I’d be looking for in a sales assistant, right?

However – and luckily for me there is an “however” – I always run my decisions through a simple set of reality checks; whether I feel in my gut that I need to or not. In this case, honestly, I didn’t think I needed to do it.

Both Krystal and I knew that Jane would be a Godsend. She had a manner on the phone that would melt the heart of even the most jaded meeting planner…You know who you are. Krystal and I really wanted Jane in our team. The decision was all but made. Turns out, had I not rigidly insisted on applying my own safeguards, I would have been badly fleeced. So, despite the overwhelming conviction that I was simply going through the motions. I asked the following “watch my back” question…

The Question

What about this decision do I know for certain? What if I’m wrong? In other words, just like Kluger’s daughter, I asked about the opposite point of view. And then, despite the strong conviction that I was making busy work for myself, I contacted the Better Business Bureau. What I discovered unearthed a trail of deception that left me shell shocked.

First off, Jane’s business was rated “F,” the worst possible evaluation. Further digging and Jane’s house of cards fell apart. She is a known felon, convicted of extorting an astronomical sum of money from her former business partner. But, hey, I’m the last person to suggest that people can’t change. Unfortunately, since her conviction, Jane has continued to use her super-powers for evil; dragging speaker after speaker along rip off road…I felt shell shocked. Even now I can’t quite believe it.

Now, you think I’d know better. I’ve formally studied persuasion and influence, and met enough car salesmen to last me a lifetime. And quite frankly, at 48 years old, I’ve been dragged around the block a few times. There was no way this soft-spoken, witty, intelligent woman was anything other than legit. I would have laid money (and very nearly did) on Jane’s honesty. Unearthing the truth really shook me.

Action Step

Here’s the take home message: Always look at a decision from the opposite point of view. Right now, consider one of your upcoming decisions. What do you know for certain about this decision? What if the opposite were true?

I only asked these questions because it’s part of my decision making process. Do you have systematic safeguards in place to avoid getting caught out? Most of the time, the last things we think to question are those we know for “certain”. However, they’re often the elements we most need to question because this, and only this, will expose our presuppositions.

Enough said. I’ve got to dash. I need to email an Indian Prince who wants me to do him a favor.

I know nothing about American Football.

That said, his famous quote “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work,” while technically accurate, helps propagate a dangerous lie. Most people think (wrongly) that to be successful, you simply need to find something you’re good at and work hard. I call this the Success Myth and it’s a crock. Look around you, talented, hardworking people are everywhere…and most are not successful. Think for a moment, I bet you know someone who’s talented, hardworking and broke. It might even be you.

The consequences of buying into the Success Myth can be unbelievably devastating. You know you’re talented (and have degrees and awards to prove it). You’ve committed (and recommitted) to doing whatever it takes to be successful. And yet, you crash and burn—and have absolutely no idea why your dreams lie in tatters. What stone did you leave unturned? What opportunity did you overlook?

I know the drill: First, you attempted to reach your illusive goals by making even more of a Herculean effort; spending weekends at the office, pulling ‘all-nighters’ and skipping vacations. And, as you hunched over your office desk, life shriveled into depressing drudgery.

Then, when you still didn’t get the respect and recognition you deserved, you began to lose confidence and question your talent: “I guess I don’t have what it takes”. Or, in a flurry of psychological bait-and-switch, you blame your failure on bad luck. Either way, you’re exhausted, unfulfilled and bitter. You got sucker-punched and brought to your knees by a myth you didn’t even know existed. Let’s pin this myth to the dissection board…

Hard Work…

Lombardi was certainly a hard worker. Before coaching for the Packers, he frequently worked seventeen hours a day as defensive line manager for the Military Academy at West Point football team. And, let’s be clear, hard work is important for success. I’m not pitching some late night infomercial crap about making the big bucks while sitting on the beach, sipping margaritas and occasionally glancing at your laptop. Hard work is important, but is it sufficient? Let’s dig a little deeper…

When I chat with attendees after my speeches and workshops, I’m always struck by how hard people work. A practice manager comes to mind who frenetically puts out fires as he organizes fifty physicians at six different locations. An HR professional scrambling to get multiple training programs in place after an ‘eleventh hour’ shift in her corporation’s strategic direction. And I’ve lost count of the senior executives with dawn-to-dusk schedules full of exhausting back-to-back meetings, where they strategize with c-suite colleagues on ways to grow market share in the face of ever increasing, and stiffer competition…all the while trying to make time for family.

Hard work is vital, but it’s also commonplace. And you won’t ever distinguish yourself doing the same things as everyone else. No. Hard work is a key to success, not the key. Okay, so hard work isn’t the key, how about talent?

Talent…

If you want to do well, you’ve got to be good at what you do. That’s just common sense, right? As head coach, Lombardi displayed incredible talent for motivating the Green Bay Packers. Prior to his arrival (in 1958) the team were an embarrassment; having only won a single game the previous season. When he retired—nine years later—the Packers had won six division titles, five NFL championships and two Super Bowls.

So are talent and hard work, together, the all-important keys to unsnapping the combination lock of success? No, (just like hard work) talent is commonplace. Talented people are a dime-a-dozen. The TV show asserts that ‘America’s Got Talent,’ and it’s true. Once the judges have weeded out the no-hopers who’ve been rung in for our sadistic amusement, the rest are an incredibly gifted bunch.

And it’s equally true in the business world, ‘Corporate America’s Got Talent’. We’re all pretty good at what we do; otherwise we’d be doing something else. Make no mistake, if you’ve found something you’re good at and are working hard to be a success then you’re doing exactly the same thing as everybody and his brother (and sister). Talent and hard work alone won’t differentiate you in your organization and/or marketplace. They are nothing more than the expected price of admission into the business world. Talent and hard work are crucial, but not sufficient for extraordinary success.

There’s a vital third element that most people completely overlook. Talent and hard work put you in the game. This third element will separate you from the pack, so you trounce your competition and win the game…

The Third Element…

In addition to possessing talent and a strong work ethic, Lombardi was a visionary who saw his world from a completely different point of view. He looked at winning a game from multiple angles and, as a result, created a number of innovative plays and game strategies. Amusingly, in a game against the Chicago Bears, he went so far as to switch around the Packer’s jersey numbers to bamboozle the opposition; an unorthodox (and, I’m guessing, illegal these days) maneuver that reflects his ability to see his challenges from different viewpoints. Unfortunately, with his famous quote, he chose to highlight the need for hard work rather than a flexible perspective.

Here’s my advice: STOP working yourself into an early grave. STOP doubting your talent, which would be a tragic waste of your incredible potential. (Besides “talent” is such an ephemeral concept that, even during the best of times, we’re all prone to self doubt.) And START flexing your Perspective Power^TM.

Start evaluating your problems from multiple points of view. Start challenging the toxic stories you tell yourself. How? I’ve written a series of Perspective Power^TM articles, you can find them here. (In addition, this blog is chock-a-block with ideas for looking at any situation from different angles, feel free to look around.)

Learning how to flex your Perspective Power^TM will leverage your talent to the maximum and pump up your desire to work hard. You can enjoy the success and fulfillment that comes from achieving your true potential. The key lies in a fresh point of view.

Agree? Disagree? You can Speak Your Mind in the box below…

How does Benjamin do it?

Here’s his answer: If I were forced to summarize my method in three words, I would say, “left to right.” While still in his teens, this simple shift in Benjamin’s perspective became the springboard for his amazing speed math skills. He argues that, while most of us do basic math from right-to-left, it’s easier to think through a math problem from left-to-right because that’s the way we read and pronounce numbers.

He also points out that, if you calculate from left-to-right, you also work with the “big” numbers first. It’s more valuable to be aware that your answer is “a little over 1200″ than it “ends in 8″. Makes sense, right? Small shift in viewpoint, big shift in results.

To learn More…

Benjamin explains his methods in his book Secrets of Mental Math. If you have teenagers, they need this book. I didn’t suggest this to you earlier because, trust me, kids don’t want math books for Christmas!

Also, if you’re a bit shaky in the mental arithmetic department, consider stealing your kids’ copy while they’re cogitating on the big numbers. Here’s the link: Secrets of Mental Math (Just for the record, I don’t make any money if you should choose to purchase the book through this link; it’s just for your convenience.)

All that remains is to wish you, your family and friends all the best for the holidays and 2011,

Steve

PS: If you have comments or questions, speak your mind in the box below…I will answer you, promise.

According to traditional thinking optimists are peak performers. People – I suspect mostly optimists – quote classic studies on insurance salesmen (carried out by Dr. Martin Seligman) which suggest that a positive outlook is predictive of higher performance.

More recent studies suggest that happiness is also “catching”. Optimists (presumably the ones who don’t use a handkerchief) are more likely to be surrounded by happy people. (So make sure you’re smiling in the profile photo on your Facebook page.)

So what’s to be done to “fix” the pessimists? A better question to ask is…

Do Pessimists Need To Change?

After conducting a series of studies at the University of New South Wales, psychology professor Joseph Forgas found that positive thinkers don’t have it all their own way. It turns out pessimists pay more attention to the world around them. For example, in one experiment, negative thinkers were more accurate eye witnesses after observing a staged mugging. (I can’t help but wonder, were the pessimists surprised that they weren’t the ones being mugged?)

Pessimists are also less likely to rely on mental shortcuts and so less gullible and less prone to errors of judgment. (Perhaps a pessimist’s outlook isn’t so cluttered with kittens and smiley faces.)

Meeting In The Middle

Positive thinking is neither good nor bad. It’s vital to be able to switch back-and-forth between extreme positive and negative points of view; a cognitive skill that’s crucial for decision making and problem solving.

Negative people begin by imagining all the things that can go wrong. And, while this can definitely be a total downer for anyone feeling pumped and ready to rock and roll, it’s nonetheless an essential analytical skill.

And while optimists may be prone to seeing the positive in a negative event, are they as naturally skilled at seeing the negative in a seemingly positive event? Unlikely. (The optimists are so focused on seeing the gold at the end of the rainbow, they generally forget an umbrella to keep off the rain.)

Still, luckily for them – and, let’s face it, optimists always feel lucky – their pessimistic colleagues can spot the pitfalls in a master plan before the project is even underway. Yep, “stinking thinking” has its benefits.

Whatever your initial point of view, it’s vital to look for disconfirming evidence. And for an optimist, what better place to seek an opposing point of view than asking the cranky guy down the hall? He can help you map out tactical responses to a range of problematic “what  if” scenarios. And, after recruiting his (or her) points of view, you’ll be in a far better position to take action in a thought out, mindful direction.

Bottom line: Embrace the pessimists, it might pump up your chances of success.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? When evaluating a project, what thinking skills do you bring to the table? Speak your mind in the box below…

The ping-pong ball story is short and simple yet has a vital, and often overlooked, message. You can hear all about Tom and the ping-pong ball by clicking the video below…

The story illustrates the raw power of a simple idea. We have a love/hate relationship with ‘simple’. Don’t have time for ‘complex’ and are, at the same time, disappointed with ‘simple’. The message behind my simple story is that ideas don’t have to be complex to be effective, any more than medicine has to taste bad to be potent.

With this in mind, my objective is to share simple strategies that I’ve found personally effective “under fire”. Quick and easy tactics that really work, even when I’m frustrated, angry or fearful.

So, back at Heathrow airport…

During a trip to the men’s room, I notice a dead housefly in the urinal. When (despite my best targeting efforts) it refuses to move, I realize it’s embossed into the porcelain. So I check out every urinal; somewhat upsetting for the man standing next to me. Sure enough, every one has an embossed fly.

Upon my return to the US, further investigation reveals that this trend began at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. In the words of economist Aad Kieboom, the guy who came up with the idea:

“If a man sees a fly, he aims at it.”

Which, I guess, is why you don’t want flies around a picnic hamper!

Kieboom’s research revealed that the simple presence of the embossed flies reduces spillage by 80% percent. An 80:20 ratio, demonstrating the raw power of a simple idea; and Pareto’s principle to boot!

Transplanting Ideas

This amusing finding also illustrates another crucial point: Sometimes a simple idea from one area of your life can be transplanted into another. For example, an effective approach to a problem at home (such as a young boy with poor aim) might be useful in a business context (keeping busy international airports cleaner).

In conclusion…

• What simple ideas have made the most difference in your personal, professional and organizational life?
• Are there any simple ideas from one area of your life that could be transplanted into another?
• Do you have a simple idea in the back of your mind that, even though it might be a stellar solution to a challenging problem, you’ve dismissed because it seems too simple?

I would love to hear your ideas; simple or not…

Speak your mind in the box below…

This wonderful optical illusion – sent to me by Perspective Power subscriber Robin Cervantes – demonstrates an important point. If the picture hadn’t rotated, would you have been satisfied with your initial point of view? Would it have occurred to you to look at the image from another angle?

In a similar way, when we’re trying to solve a challenging problem (or spot a golden opportunity) most of us are far too satisfied with our initial perspective. As a result we miss the unexpected signposts towards a better path.

It takes awareness, strategy and tactics to actively shift your viewpoint. This rotating image shows us why it’s necessary.

Thanks Robin

FYI: This (and many more optical illusions) can be found here: Optical Illusions

That said, here’s my compromise: A 3 minute video that will blow your mind and, at the same time, demonstrate something about yourself you don’t know.

The bald, bespectacled British bloke in the video isn’t me. His name is Professor Richard Wiseman and he’s Head of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. Richard’s carried out a ton of fascinating research, most notably into the phenomenon of luck.

Why am I showing you this clip? I promise you, three minutes from now, you’ll be in absolutely no doubt that, whenever you face a challenge, you need to ask the Perspective Power question “What am I missing?”

Remember the Expectation Error? You see what you expect to see; the unexpected remains invisible. (And that includes all the unexpected insights, opportunities and solutions you need for extraordinary success.)

So, next time you’re pondering a tough challenge, remember the “color changing card trick” and always ask: What am I missing?

What did you think of the clip? Feel free to speak your mind in the box below…

Happy Holidays,

Steve

Here’s another puzzle I came across recently which demonstrates a specific error we make when trying to solve a problem. (It’s adapted from the work of a computer scientist at the University of Toronto called Hector Levesque):

• John is staring at Jill, but Jill is staring at Jack.
• John is married, but Jack is not.

Question: Is a married person staring at an unmarried person? Multiple Choice Answer:

• A. No
• B. Yes.
• C. Can’t be solved with the limited information given.

Hint: Don’t get distracted by the cute duck picture. I added that because it was, well…cute!

When we have ten answers (or suggestions of how to proceed) in the “speak your mind” box below, I’ll tell you the solution. I’ll also explain the thinking behind it and what it reveals about one of the errors we make when we try to solve a problem.

Good luck!

To put this story in context: Right off, here’s something you should know…I’m an expert with a piece of rope…I’ll rephrase that! As a kid, I loved doing magic tricks with rope. Over the years I became really expert at tricky knots. In fact, somewhere I have a video of me (from about 15 years ago) doing a rope trick. If I can track it down I’ll update the post. The jokes are a bit cheesy, but you’d get the idea.

So, back to my recent sailing adventure and a crucial lesson about problem solving. The instructor asks me to tie down the boat to the dock…

Oops!

I grab the bow line (the rope attached to the front of the boat) super-confident that I can tie a cleat hitch. I know exactly what I’m doing. Past experience has taught me how a rope can twist, flipping the end in the wrong direction and complicating the knot. Honestly, I suspect I know more about rope than any student this sailing school has ever taught, blah, blah…

My full attention is focused on the knot, until I hear my wife cough sharply in a “Hey Steve” kind of a way. I glance up to see the back of the boat drifting sideways and about to crash into the yacht adjacent to ours.

Luckily (as you can see from the photo) the boat survived my incompetence. I’ve described this incident because it illustrates a broader issue.

When A Problem Needs Solving

In my story, what was the problem I needed to solve? To tie the boat safely and securely to the dock, right? In my attempt to solve the problem, I focused on one aspect of the situation, tying a secure knot. In fact, I focused on the part of the problem at which I’m an expert…and ignored everything else (at which I’m definitely not an expert).

Restating this observation in broader terms: I tried to solve a multifactorial problem (managing the momentum of the boat, the direction of the wind, avoiding adjacent boats, etc) by focusing on my area of expertise (tying a secure knot) and ignoring everything else.

Here’s the thing: When we try to solve a real-world problem, we have a bad habit of viewing it through the lens of our own expertise. (And, as a result, miss clues to other possible solutions along the way.)

Next Time You Have A Problem

It’s vital that, next time you face a significant problem, before seeking answers you reframe the problem itself from different points of view. And one way of reformulating a problem (and ensuring your point of view isn’t overly skewed by your areas of expertise) is to identify other people affected by it (or the solutions you might implement) and ask: How do you see this situation?

Have you had any experiences that illustrate this crucial point. I would love to hear about them…