Maxwell: Utilize Strategic Thinking

This article is a continuation from THIS POST. It is advisable to read it before you read this article.

Once we have identified the mission or purpose of our lives, we should prepare a personal vision statement. Strategic thinking will allow us to:

1. Identify the short, medium and long term objectives that will help me achieve my vision
2. Help us develop detailed strategies and plan of action

Why  should we utilize the power of strategic thinking?

1. Strategic thinking simplifies the difficult.
• It takes complex issues and long term objectives and breaks them into manageable sizes.
2. Strategic thinking prompts you to ask the right questions. Some of the questions that it forces us to ask are:
• Direction: What should I do next? Why?
• Organization: Who is responsible for what? Who is responsible for whom? Do I have the right support?
• Cash: What is the projected income, expense, net? Can I afford it? How?
• Tracking: Am I on target/
• Overall evaluation: Am I achieving the quality that I expect and demand of myself?
• Refinement: How can I be more effective and efficient?
• Any other questions that I may have of myself
3. Strategic thinking prompts customization
• Make plans to fit circumstances
• It forces you to go beyond vague ideas and engage in specific ways to tackle a task / problem.
4. Strategic thinking prepares us today for an uncertain tomorrow.
5. Strategic thinking reduces the margin of error
• It lines up action with the objective
6. It gives you an influence over others.

How to release the power of strategic thinking

1. Breakdown the issue to smaller, meaningful parts
2. Ask why before how
3. Identify the real issues and objectives.
• A problem must be clearly defined before it can be resolved
• Challenge any assumptions
• Collect as much information as required
• Remove any personal agenda
4. Review our resources
5. Develop plan
• Start with the obvious. They build momentum and initiate creativity and intensity
6. Put right people in right place
• Wrong person: Problem instead of potential
• Wrong place: Frustration instead of fulfillment
• Wrong plan: Grief instead of growth
7. Keep repeating the process
• The will to win is worthless if I do not have the will to prepare
• A good strategic thinker is a continuous strategic thinker

Thinking questions:

1. What is my long term objective?
2. What is my strategy to achieve the same?
3. Am I following the correct strategic plan today to achieve my long term potential?

Maxwell: Harness Creative Thinking.

This article is a continuation from THIS POST. It is advisable to read it before you read this article.

The most valuable resources that we bring to our work and to our firm is creativity. It is the ideas that matter more than anything.

Creative thinking can be divided into two groups.

1. Inventions: This is the creation of something entirely new using new ideas.
2. Innovation: This is the process of improving something existing, either by using new ideas or by utilizing and combining existing ideas

Creative thinking embodies the art of asking the right, correct and relevant questions and using the responses either to invent (create new) or innovate (improve existing).

Characteristics of creative thinkers

1. Value ideas. They have lots of them
2. Explore options
3. Embrace ambiguity
• Creative thinkers identify ways to remove uncertainty
4. Connect the dots
• They are able to link seemingly unrelated ideas
• They connect and associate ideas in different ways to create new unrelated ideas.
• Creative thinking works as follows. Think --> Collect --> Create --> Correct --> Connect
• When we think we start collecting ideas. The question to be asked is 'What material relates to this thought?
• Next step is to create a better idea. 'What ideas can make the thought better?'
• Refine the new idea. 'What changes can make the new idea better?'
• Finally connect the ideas by positioning them in the right context. This makes the idea complete and powerful.
5. Do not fear failure

Benefits of creative thinking

1. It adds value to everything
• Creativity increases our potential
2. It compounds
• It builds on itself and increases the creativity of the thinker
3. Help us learn more
4. Challenges the status quo

How to be creative?

1. Remove creativity killers. These are thoughts that stifle creativity. They may consist of
• Doing statements: Examples are 'Follow the rules', 'Don't be different', 'It will be difficult to do' etc
• Feeling statements: Examples are 'Don't be stupid', 'I am not a creative person', 'It can't be done', 'We can't afford to make mistakes' etc.
• Thinking statements: 'It is not practical', 'This is the only way', 'It has never been done' etc
2. Ask the right questions. Wrong questions can shut down creative thinking. Some examples of right questions are:
• What is the root cause?
• Why is it done this way?
• Why is it not done this way?
• What are the underlying issues?
• What does it remind me of?
• Why is it important?
• Who has different perspective on it?
3. Develop a creative environment
• Encourage creativity
• Focus on innovation
• Value trust
• Appreciate the power of dreams
4. Spend time with other creative people.
5. Think out of the box

Maxwell: Engage in Focused Thinking

This article is a continuation from THIS POST. It is advisable to read it before you read this article.

Focused thinking is synonymous with developing concentration. Focused thinking removes distraction and helps us concentrate on an idea and think with clarity.Some of the benefits of focused thinking are:

• It harnesses energy towards a desired goal
• The greater the complexity of a problem, the more focused thinking time is required to solve it
• It gives ideas time to develop.
• A good idea can become a great idea if you give focused thinking time
• It gives clarity to the target
• It helps one know the goal, and focus on achieving the goal
• It  will take you to the next level
• Thee immature mind hops from one thing to another. The mature mind seeks to follow through.
• The only way to get to the next level is focus

Where to focus one's thinking?

Identify the area in our lives that needs focused thinking. The following steps will help us identify the area that we should focus on.

• Identify our priorities
• What are my priorities regarding myself, my family, my team, my life?
• What are my strengths, what is it that I do exceptionally well?
• What brings the highest return on my time?
• Discover our gifts
• What are my skills, gifts and talents? Talk to people, take personality tests and use reflective thinking.
• If I am going to focus on my thinking in the areas of my strengths, I need to know what they are
• Develop our dream
• What is my dream?
• If my thinking has returned to a particular area very frequently, I may be able to identfy my dream in that area.
• As I get older my need to focus becomes critical.

How can we stay focused?

• Remove disorders. Have a 'Thinking Schedule'
• Focus on first things first. Prioritize
• Insulate ourselves from distraction. Balance my need to be with people and to be alone.
• Make time for focused thinking
• Keep items of focus in front of us.
• Have a regular reminder of our priority
• Set goals.
• Goals should be
• Clear enough to be in focus
• Close enough to be achieved
• Helpful enough to change lives
• Incrementally moves us to the achievement of our life's mission and purpose.
• Write down the goals
• Question my progress
• Measure my progress regularly
• Am I progressing towards achieving my dreams?

What am I giving up to achieve my dreams? What is my opportunity costs? Is it worth it?

Thinking questions

• What are my dreams?
• What is the purpose of my life?
• What is my single line mission statement?

Maxwell: Rely on bottomline thinking

This article is a continuation from THIS POST. It is advisable to read it before you read this article.

What is bottom line thinking?

1. It is all about our mission in life. It deals with the enduring legacy that we want to create. It asks questions like 'What is the objective of my life?', 'What is the key reason for my doing what I am doing?' etc
2. Bottom line thinking is doing a root cause analysis of our lives.

Why should we rely on bottom line thinking?

1. It provides greater clarity. It can be used as a guide to ensure that our activities are aligned to a larger goal.
2. It helps as a benchmark to assess every situation we find ourselves in.
3. It helps us make the best decisions.
4. It generates high morale. By pointing out the big picture of our work, bottom line thinking generates high morale.
5. Think bottom line today for future success
• Identify our bottom line
• Identify resources, plan of action and plan of execution

How to rely on bottom line thinking?

1. Identify the bottom line: Be as specific as possible. Go to the essence of what we are trying to achieve.
2. Make the bottom line our key decision point in ANY decision that we take.
3. Create a strategic plan to achieve our bottom line
• Once the bottom line is identified, a strategy should be devised to achieve it.
• When the bottom line of each activity is achieved, the BOTTOM LINE is achieved
• We should have ONLY ONE bottom line
4. Align team members with the bottom line
5. Stick with one system and monitor results

Thinking questions:

1. What is my bottom line?
2. Am I always focused on it?

Maxwell: Learn from Reflective Thinking.

This article is a continuation from THIS POST. It is advisable to read it before you read this article.

Reflective thinking

• Gives one perspective within a context
• Allows one to continuously connect with the journey
• Provides a direction to the future

Benefits of Reflective thinking

• Gives you perspective. You gain new appreciation relating to things that went unnoticed
• Gives an emotional integrity to your thought life. By separating emotion from experiences, it can help one get over a lot of negative images carried over from past.
• Increases the confidence in decision making. Learning from reflective thinking can help one make better decisions.
• Clarifies the big picture. By putting things in context, reflective thinking clarifies the big picture. 
• Converts a good experience to a valuable experience. It converts experiences into insights.

How to embrace the lessons of reflective thinking?

• Set aside time for reflection. 'The unexamined life is not worth living'. Schedule specific time for reflective thinking.
• Remove yourself from distraction
• Regularly review the calendar / journal. They tell you what you had done with your time and whether what you are doing now fits in with what you have been doing in the past and whether you are spending your time with a clear future objective.
• Ask the right questions. The value you get from reflective thinking will depend on the quality of the question that you ask. The question you ask should reflect your priorities in terms of: 
• Personal growth: What have I learned today? How can I apply it?
• Adding value: To whom did I add value to day? How can I add compounded value? How can I add value to the society?
• Leadership: Did I lead by example today? What did I do and how did I do it?
• Personal Faith: did I represent god well today? What good did I do today that will make me happy?
• Marriage and family:Did I communicate love to my family today? How did I show love? Did they feel it? How did they return it?
• Inner circle: Have I spent enough time today with my key players? How can I help them to be more successful? In what areas can I mentor them?
• New experiences: Did I have any new experiences today which has a potential to add value to me?
• Cement your learning thorough action
• Note down your thought
• Make them actionable
• Put them into action

Book Review: How Successful People Think: Author: John C Maxwell

John Maxwell is a leading author of series of books on leadership. He has written the books including 'The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership', 'Developing the leader within you' and '21 indispensable qualities of a leader'.

In the book 'How successful people think', Mr.Maxwell points out a set of specific though patterns that successful people follow. Author argues that their success is an outcome of these thought patterns. The important patterns identified by Mr.Maxwell are.

• Cultivating the big picture thinking
• Engage in focused thinking
• Harness creative thinking
• Employ realistic thinking
• Utilize strategic thinking
• Explore possibility thinking
• Learn from reflective thinking
• Question popular thinking
• Benefit from shared thinking
• Practice unselfish thinking
•  Rely on bottom line thinking.

In the introduction to the book, Maxwell provide three reasons why we should change the way we think.

1. Changed thinking is not automatic. One has to put sufficient and consistent effort to ensure that one gets into the habit of thinking like a successful person
2. Changing the thinking is difficult. One has to put specific and focused effort at thinking effectively
3. Changed chinking is worth the effort. While other sources of wealth dry out, the ability to successful thinking is like an 'Akshayapatra' that never dry out.

Regarding the practical aspects of success thinking, Maxwell provide the following practical guidelines.

1. Expose oneself to good inputs. Reading good books & book reviews and talking to good thinkers are sources of good inputs. It is important to keep a good idea in focus. One way to do this is to keep the idea in writing and keep it somewhere where it can continuously stimulate the thinking.
2. Expose oneself to good thinkers. Try to find people who can challenge and stimulate our thinking process. Sharp people sharpen one another.
3. Choose to think good thoughts. To cultivate good thinking one should have the right place to think, shape, stretch and land our thoughts. It may be a good idea to have a 'Thinking Schedule', a specific time during the week when one leaves everything and focus on good thinking. 
4. Act on our good thoughts. Ideas have a short life span (especially good ideas). So it is very important to get into the 'Action Habit' and act on the good ideas that can make one successful.
5. Act our way to good thoughts. Do not wait for feelings / emotion to initiate good thoughts. Start by specifically starting the thinking process. Once we start the process, it will generate feelings and emotions that will create further additional thoughts and ideas.
6. Repeat the process. The thinking process have to be continuously repeated for it to be successful.

To become a good thinker, one has to do the following.

1. Find a place to think our thoughts: 
• Identify a good solitary place where we can go and generate good ideas. Keep notepad and pen ready so that one can capture the thoughts.
2. Find a place to shape our thoughts
• Good ideas need to be polished before they become actionable
• The thoughts have to stand the test of clarity and questioning
• Put our thoughts in writing. 'Learning to write is learning to think'. We don't know anything clearly unless we can state it in writing.
• The shaping time embodies humour, humility, excitement, creativity, fulfillment, honesty, passion and change.
• In the place that we shape the ideas, we must be able to:
• Write things down
• Focus without interruption
• Ask question of our ideas.
3. Find a place to stretch our thoughts
• Discuss the ideas with friends to cover the missing points.
4. Find a place to land our thoughts.
• The ideas has to have an application.
• Lead our ideas first with:
• Oneself: Believe in the idea. If we don't believe it, no one will.
• Key players: Identify the influencers who can take an idea to implementation. 
• Those most affected: Those closest to changes that occur as a result of our idea can give us a 'Reality Read'.
5. Find a place to fly our ideas
• A person should 'Think like a man of action and act like a person of thought'
• Once we have created, shaped, stretched and landed our thoughts flying can be easy.

The remaining chapters of the book focus on each of the thinking patterns that were discussed previously. Each chapter is divided essentially into three parts, one a brief about the specific thinking pattern, two, the benefits of following the pattern and three, how one can follow the pattern, the what, why and how of each pattern.