Overcoming Procrastination

 Personal Development  2 Responses »
Feb 152012
 

“I am going to stop putting things off starting tomorrow.” - Sam Levenson

Procrastination is defined as the act of replacing high priority and important tasks with tasks of a lower importance, or delaying the actioning of important tasks to a later time. Procrastination may occur for a number of reasons, including the fear of failure, anxiety in starting or completing tasks, the need for an adrenalin hit as a result of self-imposed working under pressure, ineffective decision-making, perfectionism and ‘planning fallacy’, which means underestimating the amount of time required to complete a set of tasks.

Procrastination is very common amongst the population with many people procrastinating to some extent. Humans generally have a tendency to replace important tasks with tasks that are more familiar or fun to perform. Chronic procrastination is a more severe form that can be very damaging to a person’s life or career.

A number of steps can be implemented to manage or deal with procrastination:

  1. Recognising that you are procrastinating – You need to be honest with yourself in order to recognise that you are procrastinating. Characteristics of procrastination include: focusing on low value tasks and actions, being engulfed by your emails throughout the day, getting ready to begin an important task and becoming immediately distracted, waiting for the perfect conditions to begin a project, and keeping tasks on your To Do list for some time even though they were marked as ‘important’.
  2. Understanding the reason why you procrastinate – The mind has a tendency to convince yourself that a valid reason exists to procrastinate, often involving subconsciously lying to yourself. The reasons why you procrastinate could be due to either the type of work involved or your behaviour. Reasons why people procrastinate could be due to the work not being interesting or a feeling of being overwhelmed by the tasks. Other reasons can include being disorganised which can result in anxiety in starting or completing tasks, or having a fear of failure stopping you from engaging the work. Being a perfectionist will also result in procrastination because perfectionists wait for the right conditions before they begin a task. The final reason for procrastination relates to ‘planning fallacy’, which means underestimating the amount of time required to complete a set of tasks resulting in a delayed or slow start to actioning tasks thereby escalating the required effort towards the end of the deadline. This is common with many university student assignments and examination preparation and is often labelled as ‘Student Syndrome”.
  3. Implementing strategies to deal with procrastination – A number of strategies can be employed to deal with procrastination:
    • Keep a To Do list and ensure that you complete the required tasks quickly and efficiently
    • Break down the activities into manageable tasks in the form of an action plan that can be tackled quickly and easily
    • Utilise an Urgent/Important Matrix to identify high value tasks
    • Implement a reward system that is linked to the completion of important tasks
    • Start some easy tasks every day to fuel your momentum , which then allows you to tackle the larger more important tasks
    • Focus on goal setting, scheduling and planning to streamline your project management skills
    • Employ a mentor or coach to encourage and help you overcome procrastination
    • Tackle the worst task in the whole To Do list first thing in the morning (e.g. Brian Tracy says ‘Eat the Frog’)
    • Repeat the cycle for 20 days so that it becomes a new habit

The longer you spend time without procrastination the better chance of breaking the habit.

Dr John Kapeleris

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Strategies for Successful Commercialization of Biotechnology

 Collaboration, Innovation  No Responses »
Jan 312012
 

The rapidly changing biotechnology environment, influenced by globalization, competition, financial pressures and the advancement of new technologies has impacted on the small to medium biotechnology firm. Entrepreneurship and innovation, in addition to collaboration, are the key factors that are needed to ensure emerging and small to medium biotechnology firms survive the discontinuous change.

Commercialization is broadly defined as the process of taking an idea to a successful outcome in the market, whether it is a product, service, process or organisational system. Commercialization should also include knowledge diffusion, consulting services and contract research rather than just the linear transfer of technology or intellectual property (IP).

The following five strategies for successful commercialization are founded on the three key factors of success: entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration.

Create an Entrepreneurial Culture

The small biotechnology firm is exposed to a number of challenges impacting on its survival and sustainability. Therefore, an entrepreneurial culture must be implemented to ensure the effective leadership and management of the limited expertise, resources and funding that may be available to successfully commercialize opportunities. Many small biotechnology firms are dominated by a research or academic culture that must quickly evolve to become entrepreneurial and commercially focused. Establishing an advisory board with the required business expertise will ensure access to a balanced resource pool. Furthermore, the small to medium biotechnology companies, at an early stage, need to start defining the products and services that will address a market need, rather than focusing on the technology itself. Companies that quickly develop the products and services that customers need or want will have a greater chance of success.

Undertake Early Stage Market Research

Biotechnology companies need to carry out market research early to identify the specific market needs in order to drive their product and service development strategy. Firms need to identify a differentiated market niche to ensure that a demand exists for the specific type of product or service. Market research therefore informs a market driven strategy that allows biotechnology firms to commercialize more effectively and rapidly. Speed to market of a first generation product for a defined market allows the biotechnology firm to leverage success in an initial market to further fund and develop core technology to migrate into secondary markets with similar customer needs.

Embed Innovation across the Organization

In today’s environment, to achieve success, embedding innovation across the whole organisation is required, not just within the R&D functions. Innovation should include process innovation, organizational innovation, business model innovation and marketing innovation, in addition to product and service innovation. Biotechnology entrepreneurs need to better understand the business aspects of biotechnology and what is required to ensure successful commercialization. They also need to think creatively in order to solve complex problems and to differentiate their business model from their competitors. The ability to leverage the intellectual capital of employees through idea capture and encouraging team participation will impact on the firm’s future success.

Establish Strong Alliances and Networks

Biotechnology firms also need to establish strong alliances, research collaborations and commercial relationships, if they are to be a significant player in the biotechnology industry. One of the impediments to converting biotechnology opportunities into tangible outcomes is the “commercialization chasm” that divides the early stage “proof of concept” from the latter stage translation of the technology to a product or service.  To overcome this chasm small biotechnology firms need to adopt an open innovation mindset that facilitates networking and collaboration in order to access expertise, channels to market and novel funding options; not just continue to rely on government support and funding.

Identify Novel Funding and Resources

A novel approach to accessing expertise, resources and funding that has successfully been used in biotechnology is the “stepping stone” approach to commercialization. The approach involves the small biotechnology firm establishing a collaborative strategic alliance with another larger, established organisation or institution to co-develop the technology. The technology is essentially “incubated” in the other organization where expertise, resources and funding can be applied to fast-track the development of the product or service. The small biotechnology firm will need to offer the other organization either an equity contribution or a percentage share (royalty) of the revenue generated by the product or service.  The terms of the arrangement will need to be established during the preparation of the collaborative agreement prior to forming the strategic alliance.

In conclusion, in order for a commercialization strategy to be successful it must be effective, efficient and focus on outcomes as soon as possible. A biotechnology commercialization strategy, specifically, should focus on creating an entrepreneurial culture in the firm, founded on early stage market research, leverage innovation and creativity across the firm, integrate strong alliances and networks, and incorporate novel funding and resources where possible.

Dr John Kapeleris

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 Posted by John Kapeleris at 6:35 pm  Tagged with:

Biomimicry – Design and Innovation Inspired by Nature

 Innovation  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

Biomimicry simply means imitating nature. By observing and studying nature, its elements, processes, models and systems, through biomimicry, we can design, develop, engineer or emulate new innovations and technologies to solve a range of simple and complex human problems. An everyday example is solar energy which is essentially related to the process of photosynthesis - the solar cell is modelled on the function of a leaf.

The study of biomimicry can provide insights into nature and how natural elements and systems can provide inspiration and solutions for the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly innovations. One of the well-known serendipitous discoveries that is now used worldwide was the development of Velcro®. In 1941 Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral, after returning from a hunting trip with his dog in the Alps, noticed that burrs had stuck onto his clothes and also on the fur of his dog. Being curious he decided to view the burrs under the microscope to determine why these burrs were sticking to fur. He noticed a large number of little hooks on the ends of the burrs. De Mestral was inspired by these observations to emulate the function of the burrs using synthetic material. He settled on using nylon which was an emerging material at that time and invented Velcro® which is now used widely in a range of different applications.

Incorporating biomimicry concepts into design and innovation processes can provide a number of  advantages when developing new products or solving problems:

  1. Sustainable – Nature inspires products and processes that are natural and adapted to the environment.
  2. Efficient - The natural environment seems to be more efficient than the environments created by humans.
  3. Cost effective - Nature has a tendency to design structures and shapes that utilise materials efficiently thereby cutting down on materials and associated costs.
  4. Energy saving - Nature maximises the use of natural resources by using processes and systems that optimise energy usage.
  5. Minimal waste - In nature, materials and waste are minimised or recycled into value-added products.  Both waste and new materials are integrated in natural systems.
  6. Differentiated brand – Nature has a tendency to create its own unique shapes that define its brand which becomes enduring.

Leonardo da Vinci was an exemplar for utilising the concept of biomimicry through his observations of nature to bring to life his paintings and drawings. Many of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions were inspired by observations of natural phenomena. For example, Leonardo’s design for a flying machine was inspired by closely studying the wings and flights of birds, while his designs for a parachute and a helicopter resulted from his observations of seed pods and flowers falling from trees.

The Biomimicry Institute’s Student Design Challenge shows some amazing design’s inspired by biomimicry http://www.biomimicrydesignchallenge.com/gallery.

I encourage you to take some time and connect with nature as a means to providing inspiration in your work and personal life. Who knows; your next idea for a new product or design may come from your observations of nature!

Dr John Kapeleris

 

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Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year in 2012

 Future  1 Response »
Dec 252011
 

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 Posted by John Kapeleris at 3:23 pm

Only Three Percent of the Population Set Goals and Objectives

 Goals and Objectives  No Responses »
Dec 142011
 

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” — Gandhi

We are fast approaching Christmas and this is always a sign that we have once again reached the end of another calendar year. I always find the end of the year to be a time of reflection and review. It is also a time to evaluate the progress of your life purpose, goals and objectives that were set at the start of the year or the longer term goals set in previous years. Your life purpose, goals and objectives should be part of your Personal Development Plan.

The end of the year also offers a fresh start for activities that we had intended to do but never got around to doing them. Although I had previously stated that any day can be the start of the rest of your life, the end of the year can be a special time because it can provide closure to outstanding action items that may no longer be relevant, but also removing limiting beliefs by leaving them behind in the current year. The dawning of a new year provides the incentive to start a fresh action list and the motivation to get things done.

Many people make New Year’s resolutions, however, they quickly discover that the resolutions fade even before the first quarter of the calendar year is reached. It is not just about making New Year’s resolutions at the dawn of the New Year, it is about making a committed effort to set written goals and objectives for the coming year and for the medium to longer term timeframe. Numerous studies have shown only three percent of the population set goals and only about one percent actually write them down.

I challenge you to make a committed effort, that is, take ACTION, to review your previous goals and objectives, and/or to set new goals and objectives for 2012. Begin by identifying the major achievements and highlights for 2011. These could include work achievements, financial objectives, family highlights, personal development, educational achievements or personal success outcomes. Achievements should also be acknowledged and celebrated to ensure mental reinforcement and capitalizing on the motivation that this can provide to your subconscious mind. I try to reward myself when I achieve a particular goal or objective. For example, I will buy a gift for myself that reminds me of the success that I have achieved, or I will organise a special holiday trip for myself and my family. In early December of 2011 I took the family to Hawaii for 17 days to celebrate a very successful 2011. In previous years I bought myself a Tag Heuer watch to remind me of a successful multi-million dollar deal I had closed in the year.

I use a visual journal with white pages to document my goals and objectives for the new calendar year. Once I complete this activity I then develop Action Plans for the major goals and objectives. Throughout the year I periodically review my goals and revise any action plans that are not progressing as expected. You should also prepare a vision board which consists of a portfolio of visual material or a collage of images that portray your vision, goals and objectives. The vision board helps to stimulate your reticular activating system in your mind to reaffirm your subconscious.

Like most people I also identify a few missed opportunities or disappointments for the year. This allows me to learn from the experience so that I can strengthen my future plans moving forward. Go ahead and document the missed opportunities and disappointments. Ask yourself, “What could I have done differently to capitalise on the missed opportunities or overcame the disappointments?”, and document potential changes and actions for the future. Don’t spend too much time regretting the missed opportunities. The rest of your life starts now, therefore focus on your future goals and plans for 2012. Some of these goals could also be carried over from 2011. Particularly goals that were over ambitious, which is common amongst high achievers.

I had also previously posted a number of blog entries that can provide further detailed information on developing your goals and objectives (see below). Furthermore, I have included a Personal Development Plan Template that may also be used as a guide.

What are your key goals, objectives and action plans for 2012?

Have a merry Christmas and I wish you every success for the New Year in 2012!

Dr John Kapeleris

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Applying the Pareto Principle – 80/20 Rule

 Success  No Responses »
Nov 302011
 

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that for many events or situations approximately 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The principle was first postulated by Vilfredo Pareto in 1906 when he noticed that a small number of the population owned a large percentage of the wealth.

The 80/20 Rule can be applied to almost anything, from science and management to the physical world around us. For example, 80% of your sales may come from 20% of your customers or 20% of your employees may take up 80% of your time.

By adopting the Pareto rule the important few tasks can be separated from the trivial many to focus attention on the key value activities.  80% of your time and energy should be focussed on the 20% of your work that is really important.

To begin using the Pareto principle the following suggestions will help:

  1. Identify your key metrics for your products, processes and customers
  2. Convert the measures into Pareto charts
  3. A Pareto chart consists of individual values in descending order in the form of a bar chart
  4. Determine what percentage of the products, processes and customers are contributing to the value of the organisation
  5. Reduce, remove or isolate the low value elements of your products, processes and customers

The Pareto Principle is an easy tool to apply in your organisation, however, it involves some arbitrary decision-making to determine the 20% cut-off, which is more of an art than a science. The Pareto Principle has the potential to identify the more important activities within the organisation thereby providing clarity and focus.

Are you currently focusing on the high value-added activities in your organisation?

Dr John Kapeleris

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 Posted by John Kapeleris at 9:47 am

Finding Your Flow

 Success  4 Responses »
Nov 152011
 

Have you ever experienced a situation in your personal or work life when everything progressed according to plan and was working optimally? Were you also at the same time completely focused, motivated and immersed in the activities of the work you were undertaking? This state of being has been described by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi as FLOW.

Flow is the mental state in which a person is fully immersed in an activity, where they feel focused, motivated, in self-control and have a sense of fulfillment. Csíkszentmihályi describes flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

Many people engaged in sporting activity who ultimately rise above the challenge of  competitors to win an event or game usually state that they were in their flow or in the zone. Flow provides an ongoing state of satisfaction, exhilaration and fulfillment where success is achieved in the process of the activity.

According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow delivers personal satisfaction, happiness and satisfies our creative desires. To experience flow you need to gain a level of competency in the tasks you are performing (e.g. playing a musical instrument, engaged in a sporting activity etc) and be able to transition into a relaxed state of achievement. Getting into the right mental state of flow is a skill that can allow you to think creatively, solve problems and perform at optimum levels. The key to entering the mental state of flow requires the ability to transition your mind into the Alpha State which is the bridge between the conscious and subconscious.

Csíkszentmihályi identifies a number of  factors that are associated with experiencing flow:

  1. Clear goals – goals align with one’s skills and abilities, however, the challenge level should be high, albeit achievable.
  2. Concentration and focus - a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (that is, deep immersion in an activity of interest).
  3. Loss of  self-consciousness - the merging of action and awareness.
  4. Distorted sense of time - experience of time is subjected and altered, where time seems to pass by quickly.
  5. Immediate feedback – response is direct and immediate, therefore successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, and actions can be adjusted as needed.
  6. Balance between ability level and challenge – the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult for one’s abilities.
  7. Personal control – a sense of personal control of the situation or activity, therefore can influence the outcome.
  8. Intrinsically rewarding - the activity undertaken is rewarding therefore the actions seem effortless.

When in a state of flow the person is fully absorbed in the activity and their awareness is reduced to the actions of the activity, sometimes resulting in a lack of awareness for personal needs when undertaking the activity – not eating or taking a break.

What are some examples when you have experienced flow or have been in the zone?

Dr John Kapeleris

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 Posted by John Kapeleris at 8:25 am

A New Profile for Future Leaders

 Future  3 Responses »
Nov 042011
 

Leadership is a topic that continues to be of interest in the business world but also in government, particularly related to recent events around the world. Leadership should also be a relevant agenda item in your personal life. When thinking about leadership a number of questions come to mind:

  • What exactly is leadership as opposed to management?
  • Are leaders born or are they created? and
  • What does the profile of a future leader look like for the 21st Century?

Leadership is defined as the process involving social engagement that influences people to work together towards the achievement of a common objective or task. Leadership involves creating an environment that inspires and motivates people to achieve extraordinary outcomes. Conversely, management is defined as the process of planning, organising, resourcing, directing and controlling a set of activities in an organisation. Management activities could also be applied to managing yourself or your business.

The misconception that leaders are born not made continues to influence modern-day thinking. Many studies have shown that leaders are created through learning, mentoring and personal experience. Experience being a significant factor to creating a successful leader. A leader must also be able to gain the confidence, support and trust of their team or organisation.

The business environment is constantly changing with new pressures, challenges and opportunities. The current leaders in today’s business environment will need to evolve into the leaders of tomorrow. To adapt to the changing business environment a future leader will need to develop a new profile with the following characteristics:

Do you possess these characteristics to become a successful leader of the future?

Dr John Kapeleris

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The Red Queen Effect and Innovation Speed

 Innovation  5 Responses »
Oct 122011
 

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” Albert Einstein

The “Red Queen Effect” refers to the Lewis Carroll (1872) story “Alice Through the Looking Glass” where we read that the Red Queen runs hard but never gets anywhere because the surrounding landscape is also moving. The Red Queen tells Alice, “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place”. The Red Queen Effect metaphor is very relevant to business – you need to run hard to stay up with the competition, otherwise if you do nothing you will fall behind.

Innovation speed (which is implied by the Red Queen Effect) refers to the length of time it takes for a product or service to move from idea to commercialisation. Many entrepreneurs and organisations struggle to quickly translate an idea to a successful product or service, and therefore are left behind. Some of the reasons may include lack of available early stage risk capital, lack of skills and experience, difficulty in aligning the product or service to the market need, fear of failure, difficulty in accessing resources or inability to manage risk. Improving innovation speed provides a number of advantages for the innovator, including:

  • First to market advantage
  • Reduced R&D expenditure and other costs
  • Improved profitability
  • Maximising value before patent expiry

The “Red Queen Effect” is occurring all around us; in new technology developments, increased competition through globalisation, climate change and the rapidly evolving business environment. We also find the ”Red Queen Effect” impacting on our personal lives. Rapid and discontinuous change is the main cause of the “Red Queen Effect”.

To stay ahead of the competition organisations must take the advice of the Red Queen, “If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” The metaphor implies that for businesses to be able to run at least twice as fast, they will require innovation to allow them to think differently and outperform their competition.

Does the Red Queen Effect apply to your organisation or personal life?

Dr John Kapeleris

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Developing Your Personal Belief System

 Personal Development  No Responses »
Sep 272011
 

Your personal belief system is made up of all the previous knowledge, experience and precepts that govern your thoughts, words, behaviours and actions. The current beliefs you possess have developed from an early age, many of which have been acquired through the teachings and learnings obtained from parents, teachers, other authority figures and our personal experiences. Having strong beliefs gives us a sense of why we exist and where we are going in life. Our belief system underpins our life purpose and influences our thoughts, values and behaviours. Many examples have been documented where people have risen above extreme adversity and suffering on the strength of their beliefs. Survivors of concentration camps indicated that they survived harrowing experiences and extreme hardship because they believed in the hope for a better life in the future. Some also visualised and believed they were living in a better life which removed the focus away from the suffering.

For many people their personal beliefs have been barriers to personal development and creating the life they desire. These beliefs are called limiting or damaging beliefs and have been acquired through life predominantly at a young age. For example, we may have been told by our teachers or parents that we will not amount to anything in the future or that we are not good enough to succeed. Limiting beliefs threaten the goals and objectives that we set. We may never be able to achieve some of our goals that we set because they are in contradiction with our limiting beliefs.

If your goals, objectives and life purpose are in conflict with your beliefs then you should change your beliefs to match your goals. This is not a simple task, however we must begin the process of reprogramming our thoughts and beliefs. Following is a process that can be used to modify our beliefs, however we must be disciplined to achieve the change we desire:

  1. What are the biggest problems or issues in achieving your goals and desires?
  2. Identify all the deep-rooted beliefs that may be limiting and write them down
    • “I’m not good enough”
    • “I don’t have what it takes”
    • “I’m too tired to exercise”
    • “I don’t have enough education to seek the new role”
    • “I’m not lucky in life”
  3. Choose the 2 to 3 beliefs that contribute most to the problems or issues
  4. Substitute these limiting beliefs with positive supportive beliefs (generally the opposite to your original belief)
  5. Focus on the new beliefs daily by repeating and affirming the new beliefs
  6. It will take some time and repetition to reprogram your subconscious to accept the new belief (at least a month)
  7. Remove any contradictory thoughts and focus on the new belief
  8. Start to action your goals and objectives that were not previously achieved

The problem and the solution lies within you!

 Dr John Kapeleris

 

 

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