Category: Self-Improvement

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The Power of Small Goals: Achieving Big Results Through Consistency

One of the lessons I keep discovering throughout my various habit formation is that small goals done consistently over time can lead to pretty startling results.  

I want to accomplish a goal in one herculean effort, and I often fail when I attempt such a thing. Last year, I ran over 1,000 miles. If I had set out to run 1,000 miles all at once or even in a single month, I’m confident I would have immediately failed; however, by splitting the 1000 miles into more manageable albeit still challenging parts, I could achieve this more significant number. 

I also recently committed to maintaining our front yard better, and the first objective was to weed our planted areas. When I first decided, weeding the entire area would be nearly impossible, but I decided to find a mere 20 minutes to work on it every day. 

I expect it to be finished sometime this week, and I’ll have to maintain it. Again, had I tried to strip the areas of weeds all in one day, it would have been miserable and potentially unwise as it’s pretty hot outside.

If you need help to complete your goals or even get started at them, try to make them smaller. Don’t try to run 1000 miles all at once. Intellectually, I know it’s better to set goals this way, but I still feel an urge to try and do it all at once. 

In my goal formation, I remember to make the habits smaller and plan to practice over a more extended period. Starting earlier and going longer is a safer way to approach many activities.

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Goal-Setting 101: How to Use Rules and Triggers for Habit Building

t helps to determine rules and triggers to develop and maintain your habits. As with my running goal last year, I knew that sometimes events would conspire against me being able to meet my 35k per week goal. As such, I needed to determine some rules to play by. I had to ensure that my rules supported my plan rather than excuses I could fall back on. The first step I took in crafting my rules was to investigate what my goal was.

 

My goal was to run 35k per week, but I wanted to regain mobility endurance and support my health. Recognizing these as my real goals helped me create appropriate rules. For example, one of my rules is that I will not run if there is snow/ice on the ground. This rule would conflict if my true goal were the 35k per week. However, since my true goal is mobility, doing something that has a substantial risk of decreasing my mobility via a broken ankle from slipping/falling is counterproductive.

I tested all of my potential rules against my goals in this manner. Setting up rules like this is crucial because otherwise, I would be relying on Ad Hoc decisions, which are too easily influenced by current emotions.

As much as I wanted to achieve my actual goals and that I became focused on reaching 35k each week, there were plenty of days when I dreaded running, and it took great effort to force myself to go out. If I had not established a strict running schedule on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, I probably would have made excuses and failed to achieve my goal by missing too many days.

The other half of this equation is setting up triggers. Triggers are events or times that prompt a response or when to apply a rule. Every run day, my trigger for getting ready for running is after I use the bathroom. Every morning, after breakfast and coffee, I’ll eventually have to use the toilet; I use this as my trigger for running. After I use the bathroom, I change into my running clothes instead of returning to my computer. My no running on snow ice rule is triggered by looking out the front door when I get my second cup of coffee. If there’s snow/ice visible on my ground now, I cancel my run.

So when trying to develop your habits, First figure out your actual goals and test your habit ideas against your real goals. Second, build your ruleset so you’re not relying on feelings or motivation, and be strict with your rules. Don’t give yourself any excuses for ignoring your rules. You might need to create a new rule if you can’t do the desired behavior. Just ensure you test this new rule against your goals. Finally, make your triggers. Use alarms on your phone if you can’t find commonly occurring events.

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From One Step to 10K: How Small Choices Built a Resilient New Me After a Stroke

People can be characterized by the sum of their habits.

Everybody has habits, but not everybody chooses their habits. Every choice you make is a step toward forming a life-long habit. As such, making choices that lead you toward your desired destination is critical. So, the first step toward developing good habits is deciding where to end up.

 

After my stroke, I wanted to regain my lost mobility and lessen the burden on my wife I had become. The first step along this journey was to be able to take more than one step between resting. My wife helped immensely with this, and we went on daily walks around our Portland neighborhood.

At first, it was challenging as I had to concentrate on moving my legs. One of the things I lost from the stroke was unconscious control of movements. Walking required concentrating on activating the right leg muscles in the proper order, and doing this for more than a couple of steps resulted in neuro-fatigue, a term I learned during physical therapy.

Neuro-fatigue might be something you’ve experienced if you’ve ever spent a long late night studying for an exam the next day and felt exhausted despite being largely sedentary. This used to happen to me just from walking due to the concentration and mental effort this once simple act demanded. Counting my steps helped me maintain my focus on walking, and it also gave me a way to track improvement.

Initially, I would need to sit down and rest every 50 steps. Still, eventually, I was able to last the hour-long walk until we got home again. Now, I can run 10 kilometers without having to sit down midway. In my next posting, I’ll provide a more detailed description of how I built up to a 10k run.

 

If you want to achieve something, you’ve already taken the first step toward accomplishing it, but you need to take the next step. As I see it, the next step is to subdivide your path into small portions. In my walking, this was easy to determine; I just needed to try and put one more effort than I did on the previous walk. If I failed, I had to try that number repeatedly if necessary. Eventually, I would succeed, and I could increase my goal again.

Eventually, I discovered that what was once all I could manage was now merely halfway to my current goal. If you’re stumbling and trying to take your next step, try making your step smaller.

 

Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare: slow and steady will win many races.

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Unbroken Spirit: Conquering Life Post-Stroke

Welcome, dear reader, to the birth of my blog. I am Brian Lempke, a 44-year-old American who, after discussing with my wife, has decided to share some of the techniques I’ve had to develop to improve myself. 2015, I suffered a right cerebral hemorrhagic brain stroke, nearly killing me. Luckily for my survival, my wife found me and called for an ambulance before I expired. Also, luckily, we happened to be living in Portland, Oregon, at the time, home to a very fine neurological hospital department at OHSU.

After my initial recovery, whereby I regained consciousness and formed some foggy memories of existence, I was transferred to the first of two stints in a rehabilitation unit where I was constantly assessed and underwent physical, occupational, and speech rehabilitation. Eventually, I recovered enough that I was transferred to another rehabilitation institute. This one had a more beneficial patient ratio, and I have much fonder memories of it. My days I was blurred through my daily life being coordinated by medical professionals who constantly assessed my cognitive and physical capabilities. At this time, I could barely stand, let alone walk. I was taught how to use a walker and given strength-rebuilding training.

Eventually, I was released to the care of my wife at home and began my true recovery process, which will be the focus of my blog. I used what I learned from the rehabilitation facilities, other doctors, nurses, and my errors. While there will likely always be after-effects of my stroke and some things that I cannot completely heal, in some ways, with my wife’s support, I’ve surpassed my pre-stroke self.

In this blog, I will detail the goals I set, the obstacles I encountered, and how I have worked to overcome them. If I could achieve the recovery I’ve enjoyed, others can do it and perhaps even better than I managed in my stumbling. Immediately after my stroke, my wife searched online for hints about what she could expect and how to help me. She couldn’t find much, so this blog may help others search as my wife did. I hope that some of my techniques can be used by those who haven’t suffered a stroke and won’t have as far to climb. I hope that my blog can provide you with some tricks and tips to help you along your self-improvement journey and provide some entertainment.

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From Packed Shelves to Digital Reads: My Ever-Evolving Book Journey

Every year, right after my birthday, I go through a little ritual: sorting out my books. Why right after my birthday? Well, because my loved ones know how much I adore books, I often get many of them as birthday presents.

When I think back to my younger days, especially my 20s, my love for reading was undeniable. There was this particular interest I had in books from North America. I was curious! I wanted to understand more about the people here, their way of life, and their traditions. So, each time I was getting ready for a business trip, I packed 3 to 5 books in my suitcase. It was my way of taking a piece of this newfound love with me wherever I went.

During my childhood, books were a common sight in my surroundings. Our house resembled a mini-library, with bookshelves occupying almost every nook and cranny. This love for books was not just limited to my home; even my paternal relatives had an abundance of books in their house, ranging from storage rooms stacked with books to proper libraries. It appeared as if my family had an insatiable appetite for books.

However, during a big move from Ontario to British Columbia, I finally realized the enormity of my book collection. The number of books I owned was mind-blowing. I even got a unique bookshelf for an 8×5 room to accommodate them. But seeing them all, I knew it was time for a change. I needed to declutter. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I gave away 45 boxes of books. I only kept those that I really loved and revisited often. And even though it felt good to free up space, giving away my books was bittersweet. There’s something magical about the touch and smell of an actual book.

To make reading more convenient, I transitioned to digital books. My first e-reader was a Sony, but I later switched to a Kindle Fire. With this device, I could have hundreds of books with me all the time, all in one place. A bonus was that my Kindle connected to my Goodreads account. Sometimes, I’d even get free books from there! Plus, whenever I stumbled upon a word I didn’t know, I could quickly check its meaning with the built-in dictionary.

When I later moved from Oregon to Tennessee, I was secretly glad I’d reduced my physical book collection. Trust me, relocating is way easier without heavy boxes of books. Now, a fun fact about my husband: while he didn’t own as many books as his parents, he valued and loved them just as much. I remember the shock on his face when he saw me giving away so many books. But over time, he understood my reasons. Both of us love books; even today, we buy them or get them as gifts. But we’ve made it a point to check our collection regularly. We give away the ones we believe might find a better home elsewhere. It is sharing the joy of reading.

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Busy Schedule, Exciting Plans for 2023 2nd Half 

Every year, I have the most free time from June to December. 

One problem is that We’ve been working a lot since our team is small – just five of us in our office, and I’m the only one handling the money matters. Considering we make more than $4M in monthly sales, you can guess how hectic it is. I’ve made a schedule to manage my time better based on what’s most important to me.

 My daytime job is like being the captain of a ship in unpredictable weather. As we operate our company with so few members, anything can impact all of us. If you’ve ever worked as an accountant, you might know what I mean – sometimes there’s too much work, and other times, not enough.

To smooth out my workload, I update our templates, do projects to automate some of the tasks, or create queries every month. I also ensure we follow the right rules to stay in line with SOX (a kind of business law). I mostly prepare for our yearly SOX audit, which takes place in July, April, and mid-May, until we start with a quarterly audit, budget, and consolidation report. This keeps me busy all year round, but I get a break from July to December. I will be tied up with Year End and preparing corporate tax returns between January to April. 

During this time, I’m always excited about planning how to spend my time till December, when I get swamped again. Here’s what I want to do this year:

    1. Travel: We decided to visit the Grand Canyon in October for about 4-5 days.
    2. Learn about Greek and Roman Literature: I want to do this from July to October.
    3. Earn more credits for my accounting designation by continuing my education from July to December.
    4. Keep November to December open: I might study Greek and Roman Literature or learn about King Arthur.

Here’s what my priority list looks like:

    1. Work: I mostly work from home except for Mondays. During my break, I won’t be working extra unless it’s really, really important.
    2. House chores: I spend about 0.5 to 1 hour on this. We usually clean the house on Saturday mornings unless we’re having a family get-together.
    3. Family gatherings: We don’t have them every day, but when we do, they’re usually on Saturday afternoons till early evenings.
    4. Exercise: I work out for about 0.75 hours each day.
    5. Piano: I practice for about 0.75 hours each day.
    6. Professional education: I dedicate an hour to this every day except Saturdays and Sundays.
    7. Greek & Roman Literature: I spend an hour reading up on this.

Time Schedule for 2023 2nd Half 

Last modified on Jun 25, 2023

I’ve blocked out my time for all these activities. 

    • Red blocks are for sleep – I will only change these if it’s a real emergency.
    • Green blocks are for other tasks. I’ll shuffle these around if something urgent arises based on my priorities.
    • Yellow blocks are for free time, which I usually spend reading or writing.

I’ve left some time open for writing because I’ve noticed that I struggle when I set aside time for it – it’s just a mental block. Instead, I’ll spend most of my free time writing or reading. I’ll probably use this time to write blog posts or read.

Every Sunday, I’ve blocked out an hour to review my schedule. If it seems too packed, I’ll tweak it. The hardest part for me is to stick to when I sleep and find enough time to read. I’m such a big fan of reading that I feel weird when I don’t get to do it. Whenever I feel stressed, reading is my go-to way to chill out.

I’ve left some wiggle room in my schedule, so I’ll manage just fine.

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A Gap Analysis to Start a New Year

I do several things around this time of the year; one is to think about my ideal self and my current self. One of the actions I do every year is a gap analysis, and I do this to see how well I am doing to attain my longer, yearly, mid-term goals (generally a few years) and 5-year goals. From the gap analysis, I update my product logs. Then, I try to do sprint projects for a specific product log. It is easy for me to lose the direction of leading myself if I do not compare them with my visions or longer-term goals. Therefore, gap analysis is a great tool.

A gap analysis reveals the size and types of issues we have by identifying the gaps between “as is” and “to be.” This analysis is commonly used in the business world. And I like to use these tools to analyze myself to build my strategies to narrow the gaps.

I like to do this analysis in the early morning because I generate more ideas early in the day. Take a letter-size (A4) page, and write them down. My process is as follows:

(1) Write down the list of ideal states.

You can write down anything you wish to be. Don’t worry about whether you can attain the ideal states or not. Yes, it is generally a good idea to avoid setting unattainable goals, and you want to be as open as possible. If it is not attainable, you should compromise by breaking them down into smaller goals before generating strategies to complete them. Never limit yourself from the start!

(2) Write down the list of current states.

Write down the list of current states relevant to your ideal states listed in the first process. It is crucial to be as honest as possible, and this process can be painful if you have not done gap analysis before. If you cannot see yourself objectively, you can ask your family members, loved ones, or friends.

(3) Identify Actions to attain the ideal states.

Now identify actions to attain the ideal states. If you want to lose weight, you must develop strategies to lose. The easiest way to achieve this goal is to create calories deficiencies by exercising or eating less. The more challenging the goal is, the more milestones you want to make to attain the goal. For example, if you’re going to lose 100lb, you should break down bigger goals into smaller goals such as six lb. per month.

Finally, I list the goals identified in processes one to three above. There are multiple ways to present your GAPs analysis; I prefer the format shown below:

 

Gap Analysis

Benefits of GAPs Analysis

The primary goal of GAPs analysis is to identify your ideal states and how far you are from these ideal states. Many people wish to reach certain conditions; however, they do not know precisely how to achieve their wishes. Therefore, A GAPs analysis is an excellent tool to create your action plans to achieve the goals.

Attainable Goals

People cannot achieve goals if they are unattainable. So, you will want to break down your goals into attainable pieces. Once you complete a GAPs analysis, go back to your ideal states. Some ideal states may take multiple years. For example, if you want to become an accountant but are still a freshman in a university, you have several years to accomplish the goals. You will need at least 150 credits in most states before completing CPA exams and one or two years of experience. Then, you may want to focus on achieving your university courses earning as good grades as possible. If you are an international student taking courses in a second language, you want to take classes in a specific order to sustain good grades. You can interview some CPAs from a nearby firm if you want to know anything more. If you need to lose many pounds, you must consider breaking it down into multiple milestones.

This year, I did this analysis on December 30th to plan my next year.

Ideal States

Family: Spend more time with my family

Health: Lose 15 lb.

Professional Skills: Learn more about Digital Transformation

Soft Skills: Better Listening skill & Negotiation (I recently did a DISC styles assessment, and I identified some of my problems)

Piano: Add Partita 2, Beethoven Sonata Ops 13. as my repertories

Painting: Improve my skills in drawing and watercolor painting

Blogs: Improve blogs, Fix bugs in my website

 

Current States

Family: Not able to spend as much time with my family members due to my busy schedule.

Health: I need to lose 15 lb. more to reach my ideal state

Professional Skills: gain more knowledge of digital transformation by taking courses, reading books, journals, and blogs. Learn application programming as I want to learn more about mobile technologies.

Soft Skills: I can read books, take courses, and reach out to executive consultants. I need to find specific strategies to improve my listening skills as I am unsure.

 

Actions

Family: Summer camp with my family members. Schedule my vacation dates ahead of time—better time management and delegating my tasks to take a vacation.

Health: Create calories deficit by exercising and calorie restrictions (approximately four months to achieve)

Professional Goals:

– Periodically read Open AI blogs

– Learn more about RPA courses offered online

– Take Coursera and Udemy courses on mobile programming

Soft Skills (listening skills): I can read books and courses and reach out to executive consultants. I need to find out the specific strategies to improve my listening skills as I am unsure.

Piano: Learn to play Partita 2, Beethoven Sonata Ops 13.

Painting: Improve my skills in drawing and watercolor painting by continuing 30 minutes per day drawing sessions and making at least one full-color painting per month

Blogs: Fix some blog websites (Contact form, Theme updates)

 

Once you have some idea of your action plans for the year, you need to make more specific goals. You want to make your particular goals are measurable so that you can monitor the results.

Gap analysis helps me identify my ideal states and how far I am from the ideal. I like to do gap analyses because then I know what I want to do the following year. With my action plan identified from this analysis, I will update my product logs and create sprint lists (projects) in my Notion software. This is how I spend my time around my new year, and this process helps me navigate my actions plan so that I am not all over the place.

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How to Prepare Yourself for Rapid Changes

I genuinely believe that we live in an exciting era of rapid change. I still remember when the internet first became available to ordinary people. In the 90’s I heard of internet technology used for military communication. By the 90 late ’90s, we could play first shooter games such as Team Fortress. It took us hours to download a simple picture. Now, we can send a High-quality photos through our mobile devices. When I was a child, it took me a long to research anything. By the time I was at the university, I could pull academic papers online. It was common to collaborate on our school projects during my university era over the internet. Who would believe that virtual meetings will become standard at our work?

 

The rapid environmental change excited me greatly, and my personality contributed to my reaction to some degree. I was not as resilient toward rapid changes when I was young. For the most part, I gained resilience toward rapid changes from training in handling differences and experience. To prepare yourself for rapid changes, you must recognize any threats or opportunities you can gain from the change.

 

Before going further, I want you to understand that it is common for people to feel stress from the rapid changes. Also, not everyone gets excited about changes, and some may feel great anxiety over the changes. Any changes are stressful to many people, and the change-related stress is due to our survival. According to Taylor (2012, June 12), our “fight or flight” reaction is activated via our sympathetic nervous system when we encounter a change. The rapid emotional, psychological, and physical change caused by our sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline, making us aware of our environment and reacting to the environmental changes by quick decision-making.  Thus, this is an essential survival function for increasing our survivability. Unfortunately, the perceived “severity” of change can have too many negative impacts for some, resulting in anxiety. Thus, you may need to consult your physicians if you experience great anxiety from change.

 

Don’t spend your energy on changes that you cannot control. If you want to be resilient and prepared to change, you need to focus on things you can control by prioritizing the changes or mitigating and reducing the threats. That is how I deal with stress resulting from changes.

 

SWOT analysis is an excellent strategic planning tool to evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT analysis is a situational assessment used to reveal your strategic position. Business organizations often use this analysis to make strategic decision-making processes. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal attributes, while opportunities and threats are external attributes. Strengths and Opportunities are helpful attributes to achieving the objectives, while weaknesses and threats are harmful attributes to attaining the goals.

Figure 1SWOT Analysis

We will never have time to analyze all changes. Therefore, you need to focus on changes that will turn into a trend, general changes in situations or behaviors, potentially impacting you.

I learned about robotic process automation (RPA) technology in the early 2000s. I spent many hours preparing analyses or reports for management or auditors, and I was pretty annoyed that we had too many manual processes. I thought any automation could eliminate human errors and preparation time. At the same time, this technology can eliminate some of our work as accountants. I should understand the technology to capitalize on the benefits from the technologies, and I could avoid any threats resulting from the technologies. When I learned about robotic process automation technology, I decided to learn about it.

 

Quick & Dirty Analysis

Strengths

–       I know a few programming languages (SQL, Visual Basic)

–       I have financial modeling & Accounting Skills

 

Opportunities

–       RPA is a potential trend to solve some of the existing problems I have

 

Weakness

–       Lack of knowledge

–       I do not have other programming languages such as Java or Python.

 

Threats

–       RPA can eliminate my work

Considering any change that can solve existing problems, we must turn to a trend to find excellent opportunities. To identify a trend with potential prospects, we must be aware of our existing problems, and you can find such issues by contemplating them.

 

I CONDUCT A QUICK PROBLEM-SOLVING ANALYSIS when I see an issue bothering me. For example, I do not have enough time to analyze the reports. I take a piece of letter-size paper to organize my thought on the issue. I think about the root cause of the problems. Then, I need to find potential solutions to the problem, and I spend only 1-2 minutes on them. This process helps to develop solutions to many existing problems. Sometimes, I may not have an exact answer to the issues; however, I am prepared for any opportunities to solve the problem. In some cases, you may find a potential technology, but you may not have an exact use for the technology.  I create mind maps for the new information for their possible usages.

You can find the issues that need to be solved online. I often like to read people’s reviews or questions online. For example, you can find technical questions by asking how to do things. Extreme users often complain about the missing functions from existing products. These reviews help us to identify unrecognized market needs. I keep some of those reviews because I may find solutions for the issues in the future.

 

In this era of rapid changes, we should prepare ourselves by analyzing and controlling everything we can control. Despite the stress from these changes, they can turn into great opportunities by identifying your strategic position through SWOT analyses. Finally, we must keep our antennae up to sense the existing issues to capitalize on opportunities from changes.

 

Reference

 

Taylor, J. June 12, 2012. Is Our Survival Instinct Failing Us? | Psychology Today. Retrieved December 20, 2021, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201206/is-our-survival-instinct-failing-us

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How to Spend Time Between Busy Seasons

I had a hectic autumn phase since I was simultaneously involved in too many projects. We completed the 3rd quarter and interim audits, which ended my last busy phase. I managed to win the best award for Kaizen (continuous Improvement) for the group in 2021. We completed and sent out our Management representative letters a week before our due date. It was challenging; however, I felt accomplished having met all the requirements. My next busy season starts once the fiscal year-end is over. Since there are only two weeks left until our year-end, I intend to rest as much as possible. At the same time, I want to prepare for the upcoming year-end. I want to write about how I spend my time between my busy seasons.

 

Take Time to Reflect on My Last project.

 

Whenever I complete a project, I reflect on the project, and I am most interested in the parts where I can improve the process. I try not to forget the details I did well because I want to continue good operations.

 

When I find something I need to improve, I list them separately. I use an app called Notion to track the things required to improve to contemplate them in the future. I incubated these ideas for a while, and I thought about any possible solutions, which would end up on my quick notes for the day. Once I have more thoughts on improving the process, they become a sprint backlog for future projects. Some items are easy to complete as I need to document the change of the process. Some sprint logs can take a few weeks to complete, so I may have to make a schedule to tackle them.

 

It is essential to be careful of a few things when reviewing your work. To avoid biases, I try to create some quantifiable—measurement tools—for example, the percentage of the tasks completed on time.

 

Unfortunately, I also need to look at qualitative measurements. Sometimes, they can be obvious such as getting an award. Not all qualitative measures are apparent, and If I am not careful, I will end up in a trap of self-review biases. To acquire better qualitative feedback, I seek feedback from other people. Since self-review, it will be a good idea to seek input from various people. There is 360-degree feedback, a performance review tool where you obtain feedback from your superiors and colleagues, customers, or vendors. Internal and external auditors are good reviewers for past projects, and they often provide feedback on something I did not notice.

 

I recommend you write down feedback or things that bother you as soon as you think about them at any moment. Otherwise, you will forget most of them. When you spontaneously have many projects as I did for the past three months, you do not have time to contemplate those items right after completing a task. However, you have items to work on later. The most important thing is to reflect on what is good and bad about the last project to organize my thoughts about them.

 

The Best Time to Fill GAPS

 

A designated professional must complete some continuous education. Between projects is a good time for meeting continuing education requirements. I work on achieving them throughout all seasons, but I found it ineffective to try to learn while under great stress. Whenever I know something new, I think about how to apply it. For example, I took an Inventory audit class recently. I improved our accounting process and documentation process from what I learned. Whenever I am under tremendous stress, I cannot do the application process very well. So, I try to get more learning done between the busy seasons.

 

 

An excellent time for writing Business Cases or Seeding

 

I wrote a proposal or a business case for the next Kaizen (Continuous Project). If the project has a cost associated with it, the best time to submit a proposal for our organization is in July or August since we do the budget for the following year in October. Some projects require approvals from head office or the board, and I may need to spend some time to obtain the authorizations. In some cases, I will need to spend several months or a few years to convince them. Next time, I will talk about initiating these projects or business cases. I call the initiation of any projects “seeding.” If you want to implement a change in an organization, you will need to seed as much as possible.

 

Preparation of The Next Busy Season

 

The best time to prepare for the next busy season is between the busy seasons. I had only three weeks to spare this time, and I spent time planning for our upcoming year-end and the year-end audit. For example, I updated the contact information for audit confirmation letters since I knew we would send out audit confirmation letters to the group companies. I also arranged who would be responsible for checking and signing these confirmation letters internally.

 

I communicate with my external auditors and key personnel to ensure the due dates for each task for our upcoming year-end and financial audit. Working in finance management for years, I realized my priorities are not necessarily the same. The Japanese may call this “nemawashi,” which helps others be aware of their responsibilities to eliminate unnecessary confusion.

 

I also updated audit working paper files and internal to-do list for financial audit and year-end for the upcoming audit. We need to submit some analyses, and we can complete some before the actual fiscal year-end. I also updated our internal to-do list for the Financial Audit, and I decided when each task on the to-do list could be completed. I will need to send out reminders to people in some cases.

 

Take Vacation Time 

 

I take a vacation during my slow phase, and I plan to take a week’s break this Christmas to refresh and spend with my family. I could not spend the last couple of years with family, so this will be an excellent opportunity to do so.

 

 

Each item I wrote maybe a trivial thing; however, I consider it critical to prepare for busy seasons. When I was young, I did not consider reflecting on my last project, and I bet I lost many opportunities to improve my process. The slow phase is an excellent time to complete an impressive sprint list or complete the backlog before initiating a new project. Finally, do not forget to take a vacation because a block of time from work helps you replenish your energy. So, these are things I do in my slow phase, and I hope this blog helps some of you.

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How to Prepare Yourself to Find Opportunities

When I was in my early 20’s, I saw something amazing. I was assigned to calculate whether we met a covenant with a bank. A banker showed me an impressive excel worksheet. When the banker clicked a button icon, multiple tasks were automatically performed by the excel sheet. I was fascinated because I realized we could do many things with an excel sheet. On the day, I determined to learn not only using excel but also learn to program macros within excel. Few people could operate excel back then, so it allowed me to seek future possibilities. This event pushed me to research technology. I started studying programming, which led me to specialize in digital transformation within the finance field. Fortunately, I had many friends in the IT field to help me get into this field. I saw many potential opportunities in the area, and identifying the opportunities made me who I am now.

There are so many opportunities around us. I think a successful entrepreneur, company, and inventor actively seek potential opportunities from available information. For example, Mark Zuckerberg saw the opportunity to create social ties over the internet. Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel in 1999 (text board), saw the options to create a media platform to interact with anonymous users online.

Finding opportunities improves our lives in many ways. Entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg created an online social network platform. Finding a job is essential, but finding an opportunity helps you get into a specific position as I did. You may be able to solve potential problems. So, I see finding opportunities as a necessary factor to succeed.

 

Reading and Researching About a Potential Opportunity

To utilize potential opportunities, you must obtain information or knowledge about the possibilities. Without understanding the opportunities, you will not be able to use them properly. Thus, you must be willing to read and research the new information you obtained. I created a note on A4 (letter size) printing paper whenever I saw an interesting piece of new information. Then, I start digging into the details of the information.

There are many ways to gather information. I generally seek more information from books, technical magazines, online journals, blogs, or other online sources. I may take online courses from Coursera, Udemy, etc. There are so many online sources you can collect information and knowledge of new information.

When I create a note about new information, I write down what I want to know. Now you have a purpose for seeking the info. Then, I read and researched the further information I wanted to know.

 

See the Big Picture from an Opportunity

When I find new information, I list the potential opportunities from the new information. I create a mind map to identify possible options from the technology. If you find out the technology about the internet back in the ’90s, you list the items that come from the internet. The internet made many changes to our life. I imagined that Mark Zuckerberg saw social networks on the internet, and Jeff Bezos created an online store over the internet. Write down any possible future outcome from the new information you obtained. Then, you start to see some big picture from the new opportunities. Some further information can lead to multiple possibilities.

 

If you do not Act, you do not benefit from an Opportunity.

Many complain about losing opportunities because they did not grab them. I am no exemption for this case. I recognized I had let go of some opportunities because I acted too slow or disregarded potential opportunities. Many of us notice opportunities; however, we lose them by failing to act upon them. You have to be active to capitalize on the opportunities.

 

Make Yourself Ready for An Opportunity

My definition of opportunity is something that will solve my problems. Instead of looking for an opportunity to make me successful, I look to solve my potential issues or desires. Over 15 years ago, I saw my colleagues in the finance department working 60-70 hours per week to complete their reports. So, I developed an integrated excel template to solve that problem. Later, we introduced a Business Intelligence (BI) tool to replace the excel templates.

Every day, I create ten pages of notes. I write about issues I want to solve, new information, etc. Sometimes I sit with the problems for a while. The critical part of these notes is to organize your thoughts. So, I will be prepared when I see an opportunity to solve existing problems. It does not necessarily have to be new technology. Sometimes, I found a sudden contact to solve the current issue – I still call this finding my great opportunity. Please see the Zero thinking Memo Skill blog to learn about the notes I create.

I also think people perceived as successful often have a common trait. These successful people seek opportunities themselves, while many seek a job opportunity to get them somewhere.

 

I think an opportunity does not necessarily have to be an event that brings you a lot of money or things like that. Like I found 20 years ago, a little opportunity was an opportunity that I developed into something useful. If we actively look for opportunities, they can be found anywhere around us. The important thing is that you must prepare yourself to grab those opportunities and capitalize on the benefits from the opportunities.

To prepare yourself for potential opportunities, I highly recommend you make notes to organize your thoughts every day. This little exercise helps you see your existing issues that need to be solved and identify the new information you may use to solve your problems. Finally, you have to prepare to understand the new opportunities if you will grab and use them.