the way your time should be spent is largely like a pyramid, with a wide base of learning, with a smaller level of acting on top of it, which is directed by the learning, and then on top of that, an even smaller level of writing about it. If you begin to live your life differently than the pyramid should be built, it becomes unbalanced and topples over.

This made a lot of sense to me, and after sharing the thoughts with a colleague, was prompted to put it into a visual.

I’ve interpreted the words “acting” and “writing” as “doing” and “sharing” in an attempt at clarity in case it is taken out of context with Julien’s original explanation

Thanks Julien!

This unstable economy and society has shown us that comfort and stability are dead. We need to make our lives worth living. We need to be who we always dreamt of being.

Credit: http://almostbohemian.com/you-are-not-your-junk/

I have been finding an odd moment here and there to delve deeper into what my My Top 5 Strengths mean and what lies behind them.

Each of the 34 StrengthsFinder strength “themes” has a shared description, however the “Strengths Insight and Action-Planning Guide” provides a personalised take on your talents, and some questions to help your awareness.

So here’s a little more detail and some of my early reflections on my Top5. It was tough, but I’ve tried hard to keep to single answers to the questions!

Ideation

People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?

Maybe you are frustrated by people who conclude that your inventive  suggestions are forms of criticism insubordination — that is, refusal to  submit to authority.

Many aspects of the insight stood out, but this one specifically is something I have felt this often over the years. I’ve had to live with it, concluding it was either a rebellious streak in me, a failing in my ability to put my points across, or a combination of both!

Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?

You  allow people to broaden your understanding with their original ideas.  You have discovered that “the life of the mind” is a joint effort. You  receive from other thinkers as many — and sometimes even more — insights  as you provide them. Thinking with individuals or groups stimulates  your creativity.

Given the above, this seems somewhat mitigating! But there is no doubt this does give me a buzz.

Maximizer

People who are especially talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.

As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?

Perhaps you refuse to waste time, energy, or money correcting or fixing some of your limitations.

I think I’ve not been too conscious of this, and “refuse” sounds strong! I like “reluctant” better! Being honest with myself though, it’s not something I can really deny either!

Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?

Driven by your talents, you are likely to do your best work when someone truly recognizes your strengths.

Given the shared description, this is a bit of a no-brainer! What I found interesting here, is that I’ve always felt I thrive on what I consider constructive criticism. It has left me reflecting on where feedback that I didn’t find so constructive was focused.

Futuristic

People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?

To some extent, you might agree with the notion “If you can think it, you can make it happen.”

A lot stood out in this one. there is much here I can identify with. It is also the strength where I felt most clearly I perhaps don’t do enough to be working to it. We’ll see what we can do there when it comes to the actions!

Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?

Perhaps the chances for your outstanding performance increase in proportion to how intrigued you are with an activity.

 In terms of others understanding me, I think this says a lot!

Strategic

People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?

Maybe you derive exceptional pleasure from actively participating in conversations as long as group members propose ideas, seek solutions, or debate issues.

There is a flip side to this one……!

Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?

Because of your strengths, you are innovative, inventive, original, and resourceful. Your mind allows you to venture beyond the commonplace, the familiar, or the obvious.

I found myself referring back to the other strengths in my top 5 here, seeing similarities and contributing factors in situations where I’ve felt frustrated through feeling stifled in these areas.

Activator

People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.

As you read your personalized strengths insights, what words, phrases, or lines stand out to you?

Instinctively, you sometimes rely on your expertise or knowledge to help you make specific choices.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this one. I can see a positive and negative aspect to it….

Out of all the talents in this insight, what would you like for others to see most in you?

By nature, you occasionally galvanize — that is, spark or excite — people’s enthusiasm by pointing out things they have done well.

This is something that I could probably do more of, perhaps more openly. I’ll be interested to see the actions suggested for this.

So, there we go, lots to chew over for me! I’d be interested in any reaction, particularly from those of you that know me a little in person!

Photo Credit: Tapping a Pencil by Rennett Stowe

First of all, a belated “Happy New Year” to you all!

I’m not a big maker of New Year’s resolutions, never have been. Not that I haven’t made resolutions, or attempted to make a personal commitment or an effort to change something, just that I tend not to see the New Year as an excuse for doing it.

That said, there are however a couple of things at the front of my mind which I guess could be considered New Year’s resolutions:

Procrastination – OUT

“Work out loud” – IN

So what do I mean with these?

Following the Christmas break, and a chance to relax, take stock and reflect on the year gone by, one thing I felt personally was that my online “energy levels” had dropped, or were rather being consumed by other things. To be honest, this was leading to a level of frustration. I seemed to be finding myself slipping into a rut of procrastination around things which previously had simply flowed.

So resolution #1, out with procrastination, it’s a horrid word anyway!

I then asked myself whether this frustration was coming from what I was perceiving to be a lack of “presence” or participation?

Which brings us nicely to resolution #2. “Working out loud” is a phrase I’ve heard often and even used on occasion in conversation around Enterprise 2.0 and social collaboration. For me it amounts to one heavy-hitting use case for C3, and sums up nicely my thoughts when discussing the evils of email for example. It is more of an attitude or behavioural approach to our work, rather than a specific action or technique, and revolves around a proactive commitment to doing as much of our work as possible out in the open. I should probably also state for the record that I’m not going to pretend we can all “work out loud” to the same extent. Neither is it realistic to expect everything we do be out in the open, there are times when things need to be kept private or be done offline. In fact, I believe an important aspect of “working out loud” involves an awareness and understanding of the intended and appropriate audience for our work.

I hope to go into more detail on this in future posts. Today’s is meant to simply serve as a reminder to myself to do more where I can in this area, and hopefully help me keep resolution #1!

What do you think, worthy New Year’s resolutions? What about yours?

This post comes from the comforts of the Radisson Lake Buena Vista, Orlando, where I have spent a weekend relaxing, catching up on sleep and, yes doing a little tourism!

I flew out on Friday, arriving shattered after what was nearly 24 hours on the road. I’m now rested up and ready for the next two weeks this side of the pond, starting with CSC’s Technology and Business Solutions Conference kicking off tomorrow.

I have to admit, I’m really enjoying the American hospitality, though I wasn’t really prepared for the heat and humidity!

I haven’t been up to hitting the parks by myself though to be honest, makes being without the girls even harder. Talking to the eldest Tania on the phone, she’s asking me if I’ve found Mickey Mouse and Snow White yet!

Will have to get them over here when they’re a bit older!

So, three months have flown by already since I took  a role internally as the Business Analyst for C3, CSC’s social collaboration platform. Time flies when you’re having fun, and I guess (hope) it means I’ve managed to get through the probation period!

I wrote a similar post internally a month in, but never managed to get something posted here, shame on me!

Things have been a little crazy, so much is going on, that’s my excuse and I’ll stick with it!

I hope to be able to come up for air rather more often, there is so much I’d like to be sharing. One thing is certain, 2010 is going to be a huge year for C3!

We stayed in a lovely modern hotel next to the spa in Panticosa. The spa was lovely! The mornings were rather cold, the hotel is at an altitude of about 1400 meters, and here’s proof, the car marked -17ºC and took a little while to start!

We enjoyed two perfect sunny days skiing, allowing us to really appreciate Formigal’s spectacular views.

And just to prove I was really there, a silly pose!

So what am I doing exactly?

Well, basically I am working as part of a small team, on initiatives to drive better collaboration within my internal organisation. This involves making best use of our current tools, and looking at some new opportunities along the way.

There is a lot on the go, and it’s keeping me both busy and engaged. I’m finding it a great opportunity to channel much of the enthusiasm I have built up over the last few years around collaboration, social software, and the continuous innovation in this space.

Wikis, wikis, and more wikis…!

At the top of my list is driving adoption of our enterprise wiki. Confluence is a powerful platform, and it is easy to demonstrate simple examples where teams and users can work more effectively. By getting my hands dirty working with some of the more advanced macros, I am discovering more about the potential of the platform, and am able to put new ideas in the hands of the users.

Qwaq, Qwaq! No I haven’t turned into a duck!

I have been interested in “Virtual Worlds” for the last few years, though not particularly from a personal perspective. I find my first life offers me much richer entertainment options than Second Life! However in an enterprise context, I have long thought they provide an exciting opportunity to change the way we interact. Over the last few months a group of us have been using Qwaq Forums internally to explore some of these opportunities. We are building out some scenarios demonstrating how the technology can be of benefit for large, global organisations.

So what’s it to do with Changing Habits?

In many of my recent conversations, I have found myself discussing corporate culture, working habits, ways of driving adoption, as part of a broader theme of participation. One of my favourite lines is that “we have to get into the habit of participating”.

So there are two sides to the title of this post.

Firstly, I have a worry that my own efforts here on the blog don’t do a great job of backing up some of my arguments! Therefore this post is something of a renewed commitment to my active participation here. Daily links and tweet summary posts don’t count as blogging!

Secondly, I wanted to leave you with a question. What habits do you find you follow, relating to your participation in blogs, twitter, wikis and the like? Good or bad!

That is not to say that there hasn’t been much going on, rather the opposite, “real” life standing between blog and blogger!

So here’s what I’ve been up to of late:

• Brothers came over for a visit
• Sorting boat paperwork so that she can actually be sailed!
• Working on the boat so that she can actually be sailed!
• Sister in-law came for a visit
• Sailing (not our boat)
• Weekend in Salamanca
• A week at home alone without the girls
• Sailing (finally!)
• A week in Extremadura
• A week in Menorca
• Sailing, including a Sunday racing
• Daughter starting “big” school
• Gardening
• In-laws visiting
• Trying to catch up with my photos on Flickr
• Building a wardrobe
• debating names for the daughter in waiting….

Boring huh!

So while there has been progress in some areas, in others, the todo list keeps growing!

Not much more to say about it really, just a normal day at work, but maybe a good excuse for a beer this evening!

The weekend could be a different story though!

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