How to deliberately and systematically improve nearly anything dramatically
Reality is not as intractable as it seems. The misconception that it is constrains our entire civilisation. I think that we can correct this misconception: individually and collectively.
Every situation can be improved dramatically.
By that I mean every single situation can be improved significantly, quickly and easily.
Get these three often-neglected things right and dramatic improvement is guaranteed. Skip on them and it’s nearly impossible.
There are three essential prerequisites for dramatic improvement:
Continue reading “2. The Prerequisites for Dramatic Improvement”
Flow is key to nearly every situation. Improving flow dramatically improves the situation dramatically. It’s quicker and easier than you think.
There are two dimensions to optimising flow:
They’re closely related – and affect each other – but are not the same thing. Continue reading “4. Flow-Optimise Anything!”
Simple steps to take to accelerate flow in any situation
Here’s a little more detail on the Flow-Rate Acceleration Method (minor refinements on the Goldratt/TOC method). Continue reading “4a. Flow-Rate Acceleration”
Simple steps to take to reduce flow-time in any situation
Here’s a little more detail on the Flow-Time Reduction Method mentioned in the Flow-Optimise Anything! post. It combines elements of Lean Thinking with the TOC Production and Critical Chain solutions. Continue reading “4b. Flow-Time Reduction”
Avoidable task-switching and interruptions could be costing you fifty percent of your time and energy.
If you’re busy, unnecessary multitasking is costing you around 50% of your time, energy and long-term capability development. This short series exposes how big the impact is and how to escape a lot of it. Continue reading “5. Free up day a week you don’t even know you’re wasting”
Multitasking – though essential – is a productivity and long-term mastery killer. Here’s why.
Multitasking is essential in a multi-dimensional world with many competing priorities and demands.
However, the costs it places on our productivity, lifestyle and mastery are huge (bordering on catastrophic) and largely invisible to us.
This post outlines some of those not-so-obvious costs. The next post will offer some ways to contain and minimise them. Continue reading “5a. The Costs of Multitasking”
Need more time, capacity, energy or intelligence? Defragmenting your time and brain is the best place to start.
The antidote to multitasking is defragmenting time and focus. In most situations, freeing up 50% extra capacity is not that hard, if we apply a few simple techniques rigorously.
There are many ways to defragment our time – and brains. Here is a starting set of them, that we use intuitively when we’re really under pressure, but make a massive difference if used every day – even when we’re not under that much pressure: Continue reading “5b. Defrag Techniques”
My path to working out how to deliberately and systematically improve anything dramatically
It wasn’t until my early thirties that I realised that I wasn’t anywhere near as smart as my mum had told me I was. But by then it was too late to back any other horse: my whole life had been geared towards changing the world by coming up with something revolutionary.
So I was effectively screwed – and I can’t say that it sat that well with me!
Continue reading “6a. My Drim Journey: Part 1 (A Critical Chain of Events)”
The second chapter in my path to working out how to deliberately and systematically improve anything dramatically
How we made out first – and fundamental – discovery: The Fractal Phenomenon. Continue reading “6b. My Drim Journey: Part 2 (The Fractal Phenomenon)”
GPS is a simple, universal strategy pattern for improving nearly any thing or situation dramatically.
In my last post, I shared with you our discovery of the Fractal (Repeating Patterns) Phenomenon.
Challenging situations are made of repeating patterns.
It turns out that, although these patterns are easy to see once you’ve found them, they’re not so easy to find in the first place.
This post shares the first two tricks to finding those repeating patterns in your – or any – challenging situation. Continue reading “6c. My Drim Journey: Part 3 (The GPS Pattern)”
A simple step-by-step method for gaining genius-level insights into any challenging situation
My last post shared the first two tricks to finding the repeating patterns that underlie challenging situations. I shared these tricks first, to provide the context for today’s post, which is about the most powerful and significant thing we’d developed until that point: Systemic Thinking. Continue reading “6d. My Drim Journey: Part 4 (Systemic Thinking)”
Dramatic improvement in decision-making performance: insights from the insurance claims goal|problem|solution pattern
In my previous few posts, I shared the discovery of the Fractal (Repeating Pattern) Phenomenon and the development of Systemic (Pattern) Thinking in my Drim (Dramatic Improvement) Journey.
In the next few posts, I’ll show you some Goal|Problem|Solution (GPS) Patterns and an example Systemic GPS Exercise, before resuming my Drim Journey story.
This post presents the GPS pattern for complex decision-making within an insurance claims context – but key elements of it apply to any complex decision-making process. Continue reading “6e. GPS 1: Complex Decision-Making”
Dramatic improvement in innovation speed and quality using the AGI technique
This post is the second of a three-part mini-series presenting common Goal|Problem|Solution (GPS) patterns, to help you get a feel for the power of the GPS tool.
My previous post was on the Complex Decision-Making GPS. This one is on one of the Deliberate Genius GPS’s: Alternative Generation and Integration (AGI). Continue reading “6f. GPS 2: Deliberate Outside-The-Box Thinking”
