No 1. Say Only What You Mean

"Others' behaviors and words are the result of their inheritance, not yours"

No 2. Don't Take Things Personally

"Try to understand by asking questions."

No 3. Don't Make Assumptions

"It will lead you to show up and will bring new opportunities in the end."

No 4. Always Do Your Best

In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. • A New York Times bestseller for over a decade • Translated into 46 languages worldwide “This book by don Miguel Ruiz, simple yet so powerful, has made a tremendous difference in how I think and act in every encounter.” — Oprah Winfrey “Don Miguel Ruiz’s book is a roadmap to enlightenment and freedom.” — Deepak Chopra, Author, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success “An inspiring book with many great lessons.” — Wayne Dyer, Author, Real Magic “In the tradition of Castaneda, Ruiz distills essential Toltec wisdom, expressing with clarity and impeccability what it means for men and women to live as peaceful warriors in the modern world.” — Dan Millman, Author, Way of the Peaceful Warrior

The Four Agreements

“If those whom we begin to love could know us as we were before meeting them … they could perceive what they have made of us.”

Those who prefer their principles over their happiness, they refuse to be happy outside the conditions they seem to have attached to their happiness.

Physical suffering is sometimes humiliating, but the suffering of being cannot be, it is life.

French laureate, philosopher and author Albert Camus's provoking thoughts on love, happiness, unhappiness and self-imposed prisons.

Insight into the evolution of some of the Nobel Prize winner's famous works is provided through the compilation of quotations and commentaries that reveal the nature of the author's spiritual, intellectual, and moral conflicts.

Notebooks 1942-1951

To have boundaries and have more time fir yourself, divide to-do lists into: 1) things I have to do, 2) things I want to do,3) things other people want me to do. Life changing!

Productivity Hack - Dividing To Do Lists

I've got amazed how effective it is to categorize my to-dos with this division. Really helpful to manage your time and have more space for yourself! 

Twitter

Sometimes, considering new options can be challenging when we have already developed some ideas while solving problems.Some ways are helpful to improve flexibility & uncover what's missing<ol><li>Point of view analysis</li><li>Assumption reversal</li><li>Constraint release</li></ol>

Shifting Perspective In Problem Solving

An effective approach to shift your current frame of mind to promote creativity.<ol><li>Form empathy</li><li>Put yourself in another person's shoes</li></ol><ul><li>Think your business from the eyes of your competitor</li><li>Think about how they might experience a particular situation</li><li>Ask how they might behave if you change your strategy</li><li>Guess what they might think to compete against you in the current market</li><li>Consider which actions they might be taking to own your current customers</li></ul>

Point of View Analysis

Another way to boost creativity in problem solving.Challenge long-held thoughts to have fresh perspective.<ol><li>List all explicit & implicit assumptions</li><li>Walk through each assumption one by one</li><li>Pressure test on them</li><li>Think what new possibilities would be if the assumption is reversed</li></ol>

Assumption Reversal

Similar to assumption reversal, fresh ideas may be uncovered by releasing thoughts constraining our solution space.Acknowledging you donot have specific restrictions up front in the process allows you to go deeper in solution development.<ol><li>Write down all constraints </li><li>Consider each as if they are not true</li><li>Think new possibilities</li></ol>

Constraint Release

How to take the ‘outside view’

Splitting a problem into its constituent parts should be the first step before diving into solving it.Logic trees, with brainstorming & level-branching, help us to do so.2 logic trees are widely used for this purpose:<ol><li>Issue tree</li><li>Hypothesis tree</li></ol>

Problem Structuring

• Used when the problem is not familiar • In each branch, ask "What?" & "How?" • Based on convergent thinking & iterative refinement process

Issue Tree

• Useful when problem has little unknowns • Begin with the assumption / statement • In each branch, ask "Why?"

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

İpek Gezer
@ipekgezer

The Four Agreements

Notebooks 1942-1951

Twitter

How to take the ‘outside view’

Problem solving is for everyday life, too!

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

İpek Gezer@ipekgezer

The Four Agreements

Notebooks 1942-1951

Twitter

How to take the ‘outside view’

Problem solving is for everyday life, too!

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

İpek Gezer
@ipekgezer