A pencil is 67% times smoother than any ordinary ball pen. Obviously, you are comparing graphite tip with metal tip.

Smoothness 

The pencil has a eraser attached which saves space & time. The pencil could also be broken down from into 2 & can be easily shared.

Multipurpose 

We need to escalate our organic approach that's why a pencil made up of wood is always better than a plastic pen.

Eco-friendly 

Every 11 out of 100 pens either are defective or get dried up whereas in pencils this ratio is less than 2.

Defect Ratio

Unlike the bitter words from our mouth, the writings from a pencil could be erased or re-written based on requirement. But, in case of a pen, scribbling is the only option.

Optaions

Pencil have light lead marks, whereas pens leave behind heavy ink smudges which are undesirable visible.

Appearance 

Pencils with light or dark leads and colors will still give a low cost.Pens could be metallic or plastic based on which the base cost is still high.

Cost

Are pencils just for kids? Though we at National Pen may appear overly-supportive of the pen, we'd like to say a few words in favor of the pencil.

productivity

Productivity

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

education

Learning & Education

Why Pencils Are Better Than Pens

<ul><li>(Controllable) Input Metrics - These are metrics related to the work you put in.</li><li>Output Metrics - The results of the work. </li></ul>The input metrics are considered leading indicators. Output is lagging, meaning time needs to pass before you see results. The magic is identifying what sort of work gets produces the best results, and focusing on that. Managing just based on output it is very inefficient. Managing on inputs alone can ineffective.

Amazon's 2 Leading or Lagging Metrics

How to use metrics in management. Amazon makes the distinction very clear. 

Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time Amazon executives—with lessons and techniques you can apply to your own company, and career, right now. In Working Backwards, two long-serving Amazon executives reveal the principles and practices that have driven the success of one of the most extraordinary companies the world has ever known. With twenty-seven years of Amazon experience between them—much of it during the period of unmatched innovation that created products and services including Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Studios, and Amazon Web Services—Bryar and Carr offer unprecedented access to the Amazon way as it was developed and proven to be repeatable, scalable, and adaptable. With keen analysis and practical steps for applying it at your own company—no matter the size—the authors illuminate how Amazon’s fourteen leadership principles inform decision-making at all levels of the company. With a focus on customer obsession, long-term thinking, eagerness to invent, and operational excellence, Amazon’s ground-level practices ensure these characteristics are translated into action and flow through all aspects of the business. Working Backwards is both a practical guidebook and the story of how the company grew to become so successful. It is filled with the authors’ in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how their time at the company affected their personal and professional lives. They demonstrate that success on Amazon’s scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader, but rather through commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined, rigorously-executed principles and practices—shared here for the very first time. Whatever your talent, career or organization might be, find out how you can put Working Backwards to work for you.

business

Business

books

Books

product

Product & Design

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time Amazon executives—with lessons and techniques you can apply to your own company, and career, right now. In Working Backwards, two long-serving Amazon executives reveal the principles and practices that have driven the success of one of the most extraordinary companies the world has ever known. With twenty-seven years of Amazon experience between them—much of it during the period of unmatched innovation that created products and services including Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Studios, and Amazon Web Services—Bryar and Carr offer unprecedented access to the Amazon way as it was developed and proven to be repeatable, scalable, and adaptable. With keen analysis and practical steps for applying it at your own company—no matter the size—the authors illuminate how Amazon’s fourteen leadership principles inform decision-making at all levels of the company. With a focus on customer obsession, long-term thinking, eagerness to invent, and operational excellence, Amazon’s ground-level practices ensure these characteristics are translated into action and flow through all aspects of the business. Working Backwards is both a practical guidebook and the story of how the company grew to become so successful. It is filled with the authors’ in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how their time at the company affected their personal and professional lives. They demonstrate that success on Amazon’s scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader, but rather through commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined, rigorously-executed principles and practices—shared here for the very first time. Whatever your talent, career or organization might be, find out how you can put Working Backwards to work for you.

Colin Bryar joined Amazon in 1998 - four years after its founding - and spent the next twelve years as part of Amazon's senior leadership team as Amazon grew from a domestic (US-only) seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. For two of his years at Amazon, Colin was Chief of Staff to Jeff Bezos, AKA 'Jeff's shadow', during which he spent each day attending meetings, travelling with, and discussing business and life with Jeff. After Amazon, he and his family relocated to Singapore for two years where Colin served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce company RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba. Colin is co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon.

Colin Bryar

Bill Carr is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Bill Carr has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Bill Carr's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Bill Carr

Working Backwards

The development of the self is strictly correlated to our time: how we use it, how much of it we use for growth, and, more generally our relationship with it.

Personal Development Requires Time

You’re not a failure if you fail once, you become one when you believe you are.<ul><li>If you practice a sport: you are an athlete.</li><li>If you play an instrument: you are a musician.</li><li>If you’re always unproductive: you are not making progress.</li></ul>

You Are What You Do

Try to imagine your life as it is now: same good habits, same bad ones, same routine. Now, (be completely honest with yourself): are you happy with what you see 1, 10, or 20 years apart from now? Is it closer to your dream life than now?Now, do the same experiment, this time replacing the bad habits with good ones like meditating, reading, learning, exercising… What do you see?

The Power Of Habits

Nowadays it is easy to get lost in the trap of scrolling on social media, youtube, etc...These companies do not tell you that they were specifically made to keep you glued to the screen for as much time as possible so that they can profit more from your attention.Try to overcome your FOMO by deleting social media from your phone for a week. I promise that, if you'll try this, you won’t install them ever again.

You Have More Time Than You Think

Everything in life comes down to finding the right balance.Balance is the ultimate form of peacefulness, progress, and consistency.

Find Your Balance

It doesn’t matter how old you may be, who you are now, or who you were in the past; what you should really count on is your future, which is shaped by your actions in the present moment.

Conclusion

If you liked these ideas, feel free to follow me on:<ul><li><a href="https://giovannispezia.com/">GiovanniSpezia.com</a></li><li><a href="https://giovannispezia.com/newsletter/">Subscribe to the Read Smart Newsletter!</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/GiovaSpezia">Twitter</a></li><li><a href="https://www.pinterest.it/Giovanni_Spezia/">Pinterest</a></li></ul>All the support is very much appreciated 🫶

Thank You For Reading This Far

Motivation is the consequence of action, not the other way around.

How we spend our time shapes the person we are. In this article I will give an explanation of the concept of personal development, and how you can give space for it in your day.

habits

Habits

timemanagement

Time Management

What You Do Shapes Who You Are

So till now we have discussed everything about success and now I am stressed for my readers who are still waiting for motivation. So here's a complete guide for those people who are still lazy and are doing nothing to achieve their goals.  This article is specifically meant for those people who are stressed about their life but not taking proper steps so read till the end and find out how you can destroy your life.

How To Destroy Your Life?

The first and one of the most important components to making yourself unsuccessful is continuing <a href="https://inspirationalblogs45.blogspot.com/2022/05/how-to-break-bad-habits.html">bad habits. </a> The more you will stick to your bad habits the more they will benefit you, so stick with these habits and don't try to avoid them because if you will avoid them then you can achieve success in your life. So if you want to make your life hell then continue with your bad habits and try to make friends with bad and toxic friends. The more you stay with them the more you will feel destroyed.

1. Continuing bad habits

Laziness is the key to lack of productivity and inefficiency so if you want to reduce your productivity and want to increase your workload then <a href="https://inspirationalblogs45.blogspot.com/2021/07/laziness-will-be-elusive-in-just-5-steps.html">laziness </a> is best for you. With laziness you can reduce your IQ, you can become an inefficient person in your life and at the end you will have to bear a lot of stress. So stay lazy in life, sit in your comfort zone because if you will come out of your comfort zone then it will be a disturbance in your enjoyment. So stay in it otherwise you will become a better person in life.

2. Being lazy in life

Keeping your less productive work on the top and keeping your more prior work is at the bottom is the main trait of unsuccessful people. These people think that they have infinite time but they forget that time is limited. They feel pleasure full in <a href="https://inspirationalblogs45.blogspot.com/2022/01/how-to-optimise-your-time.html">wasting their time. </a> That's what makes them unsuccessful people in life, so in order to fail in your life, you waste your time now.

3. Unusual time management

Why to think positive if you can think negative, we all know how thinking affects our day to day life. We all know that our thoughts decide our present as well as our future. So think negative in order to make your life more toxic and to fill up with negativity you must do that. Find different ways to consume negativity, stay with toxic people and avoid motivational podcasts. <a href="https://inspirationalblogs45.blogspot.com/2021/08/Top-5-ways%20to-improve-your-positive-thinking%20.html">Think negative </a>& overthink.

4. Think negative

Jokes apart, the aim of writing this article is to make you aware that doing these things will have long term disadvantages. So understand those disadvantages and try to opt for a positive side in your life.  Good day

So here's the biggest problem of youth and if you are one of those who feels lazy doing your work then this article is for you

Being inspired is a very tough task . But not the impossible one , introducing you the best and evergreen blog that will make you inspired everyday .we will provide you the quality of content just for free

How to destroy your life

The formula consists of seven simple steps. Any of these steps can double and triple your productivity.

Powerful Formula For Setting And Achieving Goals. 

Stephen Covey says that, "Before you begin scrambling up the ladder of success, make sure that it is leaning against the right building."Sit down and discuss by yourself your goals and objectives until you are absolutely, crystal clear about what is expected of you and in what order of priority.

STEP ONE: Decide exactly what you want.

Think on paper. When you write your goal down, you crystallize it and give it tangible form. You create something that you can touch and see. Unwritten goals lead to confusion, vagueness, misdirection and numerous mistakes.

STEP TWO: Write it down

A goal or decision without a deadline has no urgencyWithout a definite deadline accompanied by the assignment or acceptance of specific responsibilities for completion, you will naturally procrastinate and get very little done.

STEP THREE: Set deadlines/ sub-deadlines. 

As you think of new activities, add them to your list. Keep building your list until it is complete. A list gives you a visual picture of the larger task or objective. It gives you a track to run on. It dramatically increases the likelihood that you will achieve your goal as you have defined it and on schedule.

STEP FOUR: Make  a list. 

With a written goal and an organized plan of action, you will be far more productive and efficient than someone who is carrying his goals around in his mind.

STEP FIVE: Organize the list into a plan

Do something. Do anything. An average plan vigorously executed is far better than a brilliant plan on which nothing is done. For you to achieve any kind of success, execution is everything.

STEP SIX: Take action on your plan immediately. 

Keep pushing forward. Once you start moving, keep moving. Don't stop.This decision, this discipline alone, can dramatically increase your speed of goal accomplishment and boost your personal productivity.

STEP SEVEN: Do Something Every Single Day. 

Every idea in this book is focused on increasing your overall levels of productivity, performance, and output and on making you more valuable in whatever you do. You can apply many of these ideas to your personal life as well. Each of these twenty-one methods and techniques is complete in itself. All are necessary. One strategy might be effective in one situation and another might apply to another task. All together, these twenty-one ideas represent a smorgasbord of personal effectiveness techniques that you can use at any time, in any order or sequence that makes sense to you at the moment. The key to success is action. These principles work to bring about fast, predictable improvements in performance and results. The faster you learn and apply them, the faster you will move ahead in your career - guaranteed! There will be no limit to what you can accomplish when you learn how to Eat That Frog!

The motivational classic with more than 1.5 million copies sold will help you stop procrastinating and get more of the important things done—today!   There just isn’t enough time for everything on our to-do list—and there never will be. Successful people don’t try to do everything. They learn to focus on the most important tasks and make sure those get done. They eat their frogs.   There’s an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’re done with the worst thing you’ll have to do all day. For Tracy, eating a frog is a metaphor for tackling your most challenging task—but also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life. Eat That Frog—Snapshots shows you how to organize each day so you can zero in on these critical tasks and accomplish them efficiently and effectively.   In this fully redesigned and illustrative edition, Tracy explains how you can use technology to remind yourself of what is most important and protect yourself from what is least important. But one thing remains unchanged: Brian Tracy cuts to the core of what is vital to effective time management: decision, discipline, and determination. This life-changing book will ensure that you get more of your important tasks done—today!

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.He has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.Brian has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Brian Tracy

Eat That Frog

Eat That Frog!

The fact is that we all have the same number of hours in the day, and it’s up to us to decide how we spend them.We each have our own personal values, concerns, and preferences.

"I've prioritized other things in my day"

There are 24 hours in a day, or 1,440 minutes. The average person sleeps around eight hours, that leaves 16 waking hours left to spend however we want. We need to subtract the seven to eight hours a day during which most people work; so, we’re down to nine remaining hours. Much of those nine hours are taken up by life administration: shopping, housework, unpaid labor (e.g. care work), and eating and drinking.

The anatomy of a day

In short, this is the rule where we spend one hour a day learning, reflecting, and thinking.We do this five times a week.The idea is that devoting an hour of your day to education exercises the mind, improves your skills, and rehearses great discipline.

The 5-hour rule

Here are three “first steps” to the 5-hour rule:<ol><li>Learn…however you can- Reading print on a book is one way, but podcasts, audiobooks, and spoken radio are all great ways to spend your hour.</li><li>Experiment- The most successful people in life were not those who stumbled on magic , but who tried and failed, tried, and failed again. Try something new, try something differently. When we experiment, we both have fun and learn a great deal.</li><li>Reflect-  This might mean a diary, journal, or time spent simply ruminating. When we reflect on our days and our mistakes, we turn failures into learning experiences.</li></ol>

How to spend your hour

A good rule of thumb to improving ourselves.

From Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk, the most successful people in the world share one thing: they allocate time in the day to learning.

The 5-hour rule: How to turn a wasted day into a successful one

A perfect organizational system would have to be:<ul><li>universal</li><li>flexible</li><li>simple</li><li>actionable</li><li>cross-platform</li><li>outcome-oriented</li><li>modular</li><li>opportunistic</li></ul>

THE P.A.R.A METHOD

<ul><li>Projects</li><li>Areas</li><li>Resources</li><li>Archives</li></ul>

P.A.R.A. STANDS FOR

Project is “a series of tasks linked to a goal, with a deadline.”Area of responsibility is “a sphere of activity with a standard to be maintained over time.”Resource is “a topic or theme of ongoing interest.”Archives include “inactive items from the other three categories.”

DEFINITION

A project has a goal to be achieved , this goal has a specific moment in time and a deadline or timeframeAn area of responsibility has a standard to be maintained, there is no end date or final outcome. Your performance in this area may wax and wane over time, but the standard continues indefinitely and requires a certain level of attention at all times. Projects always fall into Areas. A few examples:<ul><li>Running a marathon is a project, whereas Health is an area</li><li>Publishing a book is a project, whereas Writing is an area</li></ul>

PROJECTS VS. AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Do you see the problem? Not a single item on this list is a project. Do “vacations” ever end? Is there ever a time when you can cross off “productivity” from your list once and for all? No — these are ongoing areas of responsibility, not projects.

MAKING LIST (1)

You can’t truly know the extent of your commitmentsYou cannot know what to change until you know what you’re committed to. And what you’re committed to is not a collection of vague responsibilities, but a short list of tangible outcomes. In other words, projects.

MAKING LIST (2)

You can’t connect your current efforts to your long-term goalsBy breaking these responsibilities into bite-sized projects (as in the list on the right), you ensure that your Project List will change nearly every week. This creates a rhythm and a momentum of project completion to maintain your motivation. It generates the constant novelty that the latest <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Satisfaction-Science-Finding-True-Fulfillment/dp/080507600X">research</a> suggests is essential for satisfaction.

MAKING LIST (3)

Now imagine if you broke down this “events” area into each individual event that you planned and executed. Not only would this show the clear progression and growth you’ve experienced, each event building on the one before, it would also conveniently provide you with a catalog of outcomes you’ve reached to include in your performance review at year’s end. And you’d have much more than a list — you’d have separate folders for each completed project, with tangible notes, assets, and learnings you’ve produced for each.

MAKING LIST (4)

These are the two tools I recommend for using this method, but you can use any tool you want.<ul><li>Notion</li><li>Obsidian</li></ul>

PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION

This method has helped me to improve the way I organize my life, you should give it a try

Imagine for a moment the perfect organizational system. One that supported and enhanced the work you do, telling you exactly where to put a piece of information, and exactly where to find it when you needed it.  This system would have to be:  universal, encompassing any conceivable kind of information from any source flexible, able to work with any project or activity you take on, now and in the future

problemsolving

Problem Solving

The PARA Method: A System for Organization 

"Ideas are easy. Execution is everything."

OKRs is short for Objectives and Key Results. It is a collaborative goal-setting protocol for companies, teams, and individuals.In the author's words: "A management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization."Objective is simply WHAT is to be achieved. These are significant, concrete, action oriented and (ideally) inspirational.Key Results benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. These are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic, but most of all, measurable and verifiable.

What are OKRs?

"It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

The father of OKRs is Andy Grove, who implemented them in Intel, taking the company to the top of their sector.OKRs consists of four superpowers, which will be discussed in more detail in the following sections:<ol><li>Focus and Commit to Priorities</li><li>Align and Connect for Teamwork</li><li>Track for Accountability</li><li>Stretch for Amazing</li></ol>

OKRs Superpowers

"If we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing."

What is most important for the next three (or six, or twelve) months? That's what focus is all about.The best OKR cadence is the one that fits the context and culture of your business.Objectives are the stuff of inspiration and far horizons. Key results are more earth-bound and metric-driven.Pair Key Results to Quantity & Quality to measure both effect and counter-effect.Each Objective requires 3 to 5 Key Results to perform correctly.As S. Sandberg says: "Done is better than perfect."Summing up, priorization is key for management.

Focus and Commit to Priorites

"We don't hire smart people to tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do."

OKRs give transparency and transparency seeds collaboration. They are the vehicle of choice for vertical alignment.Fulfilling KRs = Achieving Objective.Adverse effects of top-down OKRs:<ol><li>Loss of agility</li><li>Lack of flexibility</li><li>Marginalized contributors</li><li>One-dimensional linkages</li></ol>Solution: bottom-up OKRs!"People who choose their destination will own a deeper awareness of what it takes to get there."When leaders are attuned to the fluctuating needs of both the company and its employees, a mix of top-down and bottom-up OKRs is often optimal: "Connected companies are quicker companies."

Align and Connect for Teamwork

"Transparency creates very clear signals for everyone."

"In God we trust; all others must bring data."

OKRs can be tracked and then be revised and adapted.Its life cycle consists of three phases: <ol><li>Setup: process of OKRs creation.</li><li>Tracking: "The single greatest motivator is making progress in one's work." While tracking OKRs you can either continue, update, start or stop.</li><li>Wrap-up: consists of objective scoring, subjective self-assessment and reflection.</li></ol>Our goals are servants to our purpose, not the other way around.

Track for Accountability

"Without an action plan, the executive becomes a prisoner of events. And without check-ins to reexamine the plan as events unfold, the executive has no way of knowing which events really matter and which are only noise."

"The biggest risk of all is not taking one."

OKRs push us far beyond our comfort zones. They lead us to achievements on the border between abilities and dreams.Distinguish between:<ul><li>Committed OKRs: goals that must be attained 100 percent.</li><li>Aspirational OKRs: and those that are stretching for a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.</li></ul>Create an environment where individuals are free to fail without judgment. Replace incremental OKRs with exponential ones to reach 10x growth.Design stretch OKRs to fit the organization's culture. A company's optimal "stretch" may vary over time, depending on the operating needs of the coming cycle.

Stretch for Amazing

CFRs stands for Conversation, Feedback & Recognition. They give OKRs their human voice.By having regular conversations with your employees, you gain context for goal-analysis. Conversation consists of:<ul><li>Goal setting and reflection</li><li>Two-way coaching</li><li>Career growth</li><li>Lightweight performance reviews</li></ul>Feedback is key nowadays, by giving positive feedback you directly fulfill the need of empowerment of your employees and help them aim higher.

Continuous Performance Management: OKRs and CFRs

Closely related to Feedback, we find Recognition, which can be implemented through:<ul><li>Peer-to-peer recognition, by this culture of gratitude is born.</li><li>Establishing clear criteria, recognize people for actions and results.</li><li>Sharing recognition stories, like newsletters or company blogs.</li><li>Frequent and attainable recognition, hailing smaller accomplishments too.</li><li>Tying recognition to company goals and strategies, any organizational priority can be supported by a timely shout-out.</li></ul>

"You need a culture that high-fives small and innovative ideas."

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast [...], it's what makes meaning of work." Any organization peak performance is the product of collaboration and accountability."Culture is a set of value and beliefs, as well as familiarity with the way things are done and should be done in a company. The point is that a strong and positive corporate culture is absolutely essential."High-motivation cultures rely on a mix of two elements:<ul><li>Catalysts, actions that support work.</li><li>Nourishers, acts of interpersonal support.</li></ul>Companies that "out-behave" their competition will also outperform them.

Culture

"What keeps me going is goals."

Explore John Doerr's brilliant work on OKRs, defined by himself as: "A management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization”. 

#1 New York Times Bestseller Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked. In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

#1 New York Times Bestseller Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked. In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

John Doerr

Measure What Matters

Concentrating on things you keep under control helps transform your attitude towards uncontrolled situations and cope with things you can’t change.

Focus on things you can control

To listen with empathy, rephrase what the other person has said and ask them to confirm whether you have represented their intention correctly.

Practice empathic listening

Question your habits, hobbies, addictions, and beliefs to ensure that they move you toward your goal in life.

Rethink your lifestyle

Paying more attention to developing qualities like humility, integrity, courage, and empathy will affect how you relatewith others and how they perceive you.

Develop your character

Ask yourself: “What do I want in life? Where do I see myself in 5-15 years?”Your answers will help you in making life decisions.

Craft a personal mission statement

Do not give unsolicited advice. Wait for the conversation to lead to the point where the other party asks for your advice.

Never give advice unless asked

You bring more power into your life when you learn to take responsibility and work to achieve better outcomes.

Take responsibility

Make sure your dream is big enough to inspire you to take action. Remove self-doubt from your life.

Eliminate doubts

Be proactive: respond to external circumstancesFocus on result: visualize your outcome before taking actionPut first things first: schedule your priorities

Habits to develop character ethic

Think Win-Win: pursue profitable outcomes for you and your partnersListen first, then speak: pay attention to emotions, verbal and nonverbal communicationSynergize: build teams where the whole is more than the sum of separate parts

Habits to improve the quality of relationships

<ol><li>Determine your wishes, goals and tools to achieve them</li><li>Create a mind map of where you see yourself at a set time in the future</li><li>In your relationships, seek outcomes that allow you and others to win</li></ol>

Techniques to achieve your goals

A leading management consultant outlines seven organizational rules for improving effectiveness and increasing productivity at work and at home.

communication

Communication

The 7 habits of highly effective people is recognised as one of the most influential books ever written. In this seminal work, Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. The 7 Habits have become so famous because they work. From Habit 1: Be Proactive and Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind, millions of People have worked their way through the 7 and found in them a key to transforming their lives. This book has been the key to the success of legions of business leaders and individuals the world over.

Stephen R. Covey is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Stephen R. Covey has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Stephen R. Covey's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Stephen R. Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

A mindset that can take you far in life:What I want doesn’t exist, so I’ll create it.

You don’t always get to choose the load, but you can choose how to carry it.

Look for situations where the energy is already flowing downhill. Invest in relationships where there is already mutual respect. Create products that tap into a desire people already have. Work on projects that play to your strengths.And then, once the potential of the situation is already working for you, add fuel to the fire. Pour yourself into the craft. Act as if you have to outwork everyone else—even though the wind is at your back.The idea is to sprint downhill, not grind uphill.

The goal of life is to die young — as late as possible!

I have noticed that when all the lights are on, people tend to talk about what they are doing — their outer lives. Sitting round in candlelight or firelight, people start to talk about how they are feeling – their inner lives.To sit alone without any electric light is curiously creative. I have my best ideas at dawn or at nightfall, but not if I switch on the lights — then I start thinking about projects, deadlines, demands, and the shadows and shapes of the house become objects, not suggestions, things that need to done, not a background to thought.

3-2-1 Thursday: A Mindset That Can Take You Far In Life, Aging Well, and The Value Of Darkness

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