Breakthrough #1

I am now in month 1 of the PebbleStorm program and I’ve fully embraced the “Reflect” stage.  This past Friday night, I had what Aaron refers to as a “breakthrough”.  I wasn’t planning on having a breakthrough by any means; I was simply thinking about what I liked and didn’t like to do as I was reflecting.  As I was writing in my journal and reading, I had a sudden burst of ideas, one after another.

Perhaps a breakthrough can be described as a significant or sudden advance that removes a barrier to progress.  All this time, I thought the hardest part of what I needed to do was to come up with an idea for my dream business.  I knew that coming up with an idea was “my barrier to progress”.  Aaron said to us in the beginning that the ideas would come and that we might even have too many ideas.  I had a hard time believing that I would have too many ideas since I had trouble with coming up with just one idea.  I now believe that one can have too many ideas.  During our weekly team calls, when it was my turn to share what I was working on, I’ve simply said that I was still reflecting and that I didn’t have an idea materialized yet.  I am happy to report that I have something to share this week.

So, how did I all of a sudden get my ideas for my dream business?

I took a survey of my life and mapped out what I enjoyed to do and started as far back as I could remember.  I realized that I was more authentic with my likes and dislikes when I was younger.  What I liked to do and what I did was a simple choice back then. I wasn’t worried about much and I was certainly not worried about the money that I needed to make in order to support myself (thanks to my lovely parents!).

Little did I know that stepping through past time and remembering what I liked and the choices that I made in middle school, high school and college would lead to 10+ ideas!

Here is one of my favorites along with the memories that were jogged which eventually sprouted into an idea:

(1) In 7th grade, there was a class project that involved us creating a collage of things we liked and found interesting.  We also then wrote a paragraph or two describing each picture in our collage. What was most memorable about this exercise was that these collages were life size and that at the end of the assignment, our class had a collective life-size magazine full of everyone’s pages.

One of my ideas is to create an online and print magazine. I think I would have a lot of fun doing that.  As for what the online and print magazine would be about, read on.

(2) I majored in Environmental Toxicology in undergrad and spent 2 years after college doing environmental consulting.  I’ve had a lot of programming since then and especially during the dot.com bubble.  I left the environmental field for greener pastures — no pun intended and isn’t that ironic?  I remembered that I selected this major because it was interesting to study how toxic agents in our environment can adversely affect us.  I remembered that it was important for me to do something green and to contribute positively/give back to the environment.

Adding on to the online and print magazine idea — create one that is an intersection of green business, technology and philanthropy.

I also wrote for my college newspaper during my junior and senior years.  I did not end up applying to journalism school after college because I was worried about making a living on a reporter’s salary.  I loved getting out there, interviewing different people and then writing the story.  My dream back then was to write a column about something.  I don’t think it’s too late.

There are a ton of other ideas that I came up with that evening and this post would be so long if I were to share everything.    My ideas range from an online “improv-like” game where you can finish a story from where the previous author left off (the inspiration was from books that I read when I was in grade school that would have different endings based on the reader’s decision at the end of a chapter) to ideas for iPhone apps (e.g., create a fun math game that teaches geometry or trig).

During our last webinar, Aaron suggested that we create an “ideas bowl” for us to keep our ideas.  The goal was to revisit every few weeks and toss out ideas that were “junk” and save the “gold nuggets”.  The intent is for us savor the time created by not chasing every idea.  I have a feeling that my ideas bowl will be my saving grace.

Here is my ideas bowl that I created tonight:

In the business world, I’ve learned to summarize everything that I write into a few concise points or into an executive summary.  Old habits die hard:

Breakthrough #1: 4/17/09 @ 10PM – 2AM

Result: 0 ideas prior to breakthrough, 10+ ideas after breakthrough

Action: Registered for 8 URLs

Next Steps: I still need to figure out what my unique genius is.  I want to figure out my core values, map out my vision blueprint/ vision tree / visual business plan.  Most importantly, I plan to continue to have fun!

I am optimistic that this is one of many breakthroughs to come.

I’ll also leave you with this from a fellow PebbleStormer; Paul passed along this song because he thought the following after I sent a quick email to the team about my breakthrough:

“As we get older we are far more programmed. This in effect can set the trap and confine our ability to live a life that is truly free.

The innocence one has when one is younger gets extinguished as we age and we lose sight of the simple joys of life.

Creativity becomes an effort due to our fears and our fears are born out of our programming.

Since I really enjoy music and lyrics it was funny but I was listening to this song this morning as I saw your e-mail and it really hit the nail on the head.”

Winning Enjoyment Points

I started PebbleStorm’s “Come Play with Me” program 2 weeks ago.  I knew it would be fun and enlightening — I’m happy to say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the experience.

What’s interesting is that I’m definitely finding out new things about myself — I tend to think that I know myself decently well and that I’ve always been in touch with what makes me happy, what I like to do, etc.  I knew that I would discover a lot about myself during this process.  However, I thought the bulk of what I would discover (at least initially) would not be too surprising.  It would just be a  “flushing out” of what I knew about myself already.  Instead, in less than 2 weeks, I’ve discovered things that are completely new to me. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next 6 months!

The best part of this self-discovery is that I find myself saying “What’s great is that it was not a lot of effort, it was simple, and I had fun.”

Here is what got me started with discovering something new about myself:

One of the “to-do’s” in this process is to figure out what I like to do — either at my day job, for PebbleStorm or anything else. The “game” was to win as many “enjoyment points” as we can everyday.

• We get 1 point whenever you enjoy yourself at work (during our day job or doing something for PebbleStorm).  It’s actually 10 points that we get. What’s fun is that we post everything on a Wiki and someone had some fun and changed our points to 10x!
• We get 20 points if you can take something that wasn’t going to be fun or enjoyable and change it to make it enjoyable.
• We get 30 points if you can create something fun at work for someone else! This only works if you enjoy it too.

I noticed that as I was paying attention to my day-to-day activities at work, I was enjoying what I was doing more. This was because I started challenging myself to make it more interesting and fun for myself so that I could win enjoyment points!

Here is a list of things I’ve done to earn my enjoyment points:

1. Putting my profile up on the PebbleStorm Wiki and having fun with that = 10 points
2. Created 3 blog entries as a part of documenting my PebbleStorm experience = 10 points each (30 points total)
3. During a cross-functional meeting at work, provided some feedback to professional services and made recommendations for how to get application stickiness, how to do some positioning for specific functionality in the app, and provided presentation feedback such as using color to highlight ideas.  The feedback was positive from the other team and they said it was good to hear what I had to say = 30 points because this could have easily turned into a boring meeting for them and myself!
4. Had a career conversation with my CEO (drummed up enough nerve to do this because I was focused on making money through enjoyment and at least felt that I should begin to socialize enjoyment at the workplace)   = 20 points because these types of conversations are never that fun for me but I made it enjoyable because I focused on the bigger picture — socializing enjoying one’s job is a bigger priority than my momentary fear.
5. Maybe this is cheating but surfing for 4 hours on Saturday = 10 points for just having fun
   ———————————————————————————————————–
   Total Enjoyment Points (2-week) = 100!!!

So, how did I figure out how to enjoy more? I broke down tasks into smaller parts so that it is less overwhelming. I was more focused this way and quicker.  I realized that the sooner I got done with my day job tasks, I could start brainstorming for PebbleStorm. I also focused on the positives.  I think I was able to do this better because I had something else to look forward to. The negatives were not the end all be all.  I ignored what I didn’t like as much (such as typical corporate politics or drama) and realized that it really is just “noise”. I spent the last few days ignoring the noise and to my surprise, I was a lot happier and ignoring the noise didn’t negatively affect my work product in the slightest bit.

Here are a few realizations:

(1) There is a lot that I like to do at my current day job. I discovered that it’s not the tasks that I dislike. I’m starting to see the “clues” that Aaron refers to when figuring out our “Unique Genius”. One clue is figuring out what you don’t like. Surprise number 1: What I am not enjoying at work may not have anything to do with my day-to-day tasks.

(2) Staying focused on the end game helps me achieve enjoyment. I discovered that no matter how unpleasant the task may be, if I focused on the end game such as getting the job done quicker so that I can do what I really enjoy doing for PebbleStorm, the task becomes more bearable.  This is probably a coping technique at best but it is one of many “clues” to come.  I look forward to figuring out what my “Unique Genius” is.  Surprise number 2: I get enjoyment from looking forward to enjoyment and taking baby steps to get there.

(3) Breaking down tasks is a good way to take out stress and bring out enjoyment. I discovered that looking at a task as a whole can be overwhelming.  I experimented with ways to bring enjoyment to day-to-day tasks that needed “work” in the enjoyment arena.  Breaking down a task was less overwhelming and did bring the enjoyment meter up. Surprise number 3: I don’t necessarily not enjoy my tasks but varying the approach can do wonders.

(4) Ignoring “noise” (anything not positive at work) can bring enjoyment back to what you are doing. Not only am I not distracted by what is not working or a particular start-up dynamic, by categorizing it as “noise”, I’m a step ahead.  I’m 2 steps ahead when I ignore the “noise” and feel better.  It’s similar to me still being able to concentrate and enjoy writing this post with the noisy dishwasher in the background running.   Surprise number 4: I discovered that ignoring the noise does not negatively affect my work product a single bit.  In fact, it had the inverse effect; my work product was better.

(5) Helping others brings enjoyment. Not only did I enjoy providing feedback during the cross-functional team meeting, I realize that I enjoyed how rewarding it was when they said it was helpful to them.  I routinely help our sales team understand our product more and help them articulate the value of our product better.  Yes, I enjoy helping them do that but what I enjoy the most is helping them do their job better.  Surprise number 5: Helping others do their job better or helping them enjoy what they are doing more is critical to my enjoyment at work.

I came across this and thought that it was a great example of someone creating enjoyment for a work task that would normally be boring (which he clearly stated that he needed to make it fun for himself and others).  Enjoy!

Week 1 Reflections

The goal for the very first step of the program, “Reflect”, is simply to reflect on what we enjoy to do and what makes us unique. The hope is to unlock our “unique genius” in this process so that we can create a dream business later.

On our first team call, Aaron suggested that we take “baby steps” and explained how the first game worked. We were to give ourselves enjoyment points for everything we did at work that we enjoyed. This game was not limited to just work but can even include what we do for PebbleStorm. Later, I will dedicate a separate post on the enjoyment points that I have earned.

One of our first “homework” exercises is to complete a worksheet that asks a series of very thought provoking questions — questions about ourselves that require us to think about our core — what we like to do, why, what are we passionate about, etc.

In particular, this one question was very telling:

What did you want to do when you were 8 years old, and what does that tell you about what you want out of work? (Example, if you wanted to be a pilot, you might value for freedom in work.)

Here are my answers:

At age 6, I wanted to be a flight attendant because I wanted to travel. I interpret this as valuing my freedom and variety in my work.
At age 8, I wanted to be a doctor. I interpret this as wanting to help others.
At age 10, I wanted to be a computer programmer – this is not a joke. ☺ I’ve always loved technology and problem solving. It’s no surprise that technology is my current “domain”. My dream business will probably involve technology.

This was very interesting for me to think through and I noted a few observations: (1) it was easy to answer the questions and (2) I enjoyed remembering.

As I was crafting my answers I discovered that by the time I finished, I had figured out what I wanted out of work!

I think I just figured out what I want out of work:
(1) I want freedom in my work
(2) I want variety in my work
(3) I want to do problem-solving in my work and play with technology
(4) I want to help others

Hello World!

I know that when I look back to today — 6 months from now or years from now — today will mark the beginning of a great journey.  Last Tuesday, I dialed into a webinar for Aaron’s PebbleStorm launch.  I was not alone in my views — as Aaron so nicely states “making money through enjoyment” is possible.

I signed up for his “Come Play with Me” program a few days later with the goal of coming up with merely just an idea for my dream business.  The program takes a 15-person group through the following exercise (steps) over a 6-month period:

5 Stages of PebbleStorm (”1. Reflect”, “2. Play”, “3. Attract”, “4. Package”, “5. Receive”)

I created this blog to track my journey and to later see how far I’ve come from Day 1.  I met Aaron and another “PebbleStormer” today.  I sat at Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto off of University pondering how I will change and grow from this process.

So far, I have no idea (or at least not one with real legs), some initial thoughts on what I think I’m good at, and plenty of enthusiasm for what is to come.