Episode 35 Taking the Long Game View – Making the impossible, possible

When setting objectives for our careers whether entrepreneurial or corporate we often default to monetary objectives. That’s why business degrees are so popular, they appear to offer a more direct route to well-paid employment. But one of the best aspects of being an entrepreneur is that you can focus your activities on what interests you. Dorie Clark calls it optimize for interesting.

Do not be constrained by what is possible now. Think about where you want to be in the future.

Twenty percent time – find the time to experiment.

3M allowed its employees 15% of their time for experimentation, which famously led to the Post-it note. Google went one step further “We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google” Of course this became known as 120% time, as that 20% became additional to normal working hours.

You will have read the research that the human brain is not suited to multitasking. If you are on a Zoom call and writing e-mails at the same time you are not giving full attention to either. But there are some tasks that are complementary where multitasking can save you time. Such as eating lunch and listening to audio books. If you take public transport to work you can read a book that motivates you. If you drive another opportunity to listen to new ideas. Dorie Clark states that he has found an additional 29% of time this way.

Do not be afraid to think in decades. There is a well-known saying that we overestimate what we can achieve in day, but underestimate what can be achieved in a year. Think about where you could be ten years from now.

No one is going to hand you development opportunities on a plate. You need to seek them out proactively.

Consider devoting 20% of your time to explore new areas. That’s enough time to get a good sense of whether you will enjoy something and whether it has the potential to get you where you want to be. But not so much of an investment that it would ruin you if it did not work out.

The best time to start something new is when you are in a strong position. Do not wait until you are in trouble to look for the next thing – begin planning now. ​ Tags: How to grow a business, achieve business success, employee individualism, self-assessment, motivation, the successful entrepreneur, business common mistakes small business start-up; avoid these common mistakes; IBGR.network, Jeremy Gray, Practical Solutions to Difficult Problems