Category Archives: Experiments

Experiments conducted

Write 10 Ideas Per Day on Any Topic

Experiments
Girl Sitting On The Floor And Wondering What To Do
Pick any topic and generate 10 ideas on it. Do this every day and teach your brain to be creative!

Here is a great idea for a 30 day experiment.  Do this every day for the next 30 days and see how you get on. Simply pick a topic each day, any topic, and write 10 ideas on that topic.  Make it so that it’s difficult by idea #6 or idea #7.  They don’t have to be brilliant ideas or even good ideas – just ideas.  Don’t start analysing or judging the ideas.  Just write 10.

I adapted this practice from James Altucher.  This is how it appears in my e-diary:

Topic:
Brainstorm 10 ideas:

  1. ..
  2. ..
  3. ..
  4. …
  5. ..
  6. …
  7. ..
  8. ..
  9. ..
  10. ..

I use an electronic diary on my computer which is brilliant.  I have used this diary software for the past 6 years.  I have created a template for the 10 ideas exercise and simply click ‘Insert template’ and in it pops into the entry for that particular day.  You can find out more about my diary software from the links below:

Order Link
Demo Download Link
Product Information Link

I have adopted the 10 ideas exercise into my morning routine.  I have a routine which I follow every morning for 6 days a week.  The routine begins when my alarm goes off at 5am.  On Sunday my alarm does not go off and I don’t follow any routine.  Sunday is a day for me to do whatever I want such as write an article like this one or do nothing at all.

Anyway the purpose of the 10 ideas per day exercise is to train your brain to think and be creative.  Creativity is like a muscle – the more you exercise that muscle then the more it will grow.  You will get used to generating ideas.   If you generate 10 ideas per day you will generate 3,650 ideas per year!  Among these ideas might be one or two of which might just make you a fortune – who knows?

My experience of doing this exercise for the past 2 months is that I generally find more ideas popping into my head throughout the day and I am also more attuned to pay attention to them.  I think the exercise is helping me to become more creative.  If I was asked now to come up with 10 ideas on anything I would have no problem doing it.  I am becoming what James Altucher calls an  ‘Idea Machine‘.

Try this exercise each day for the next 30 days and see how you get on.  Please share feedback in the comments section below.

Personal Strategic Plan – Reflections Post Planning

Experiments, Goal Achievement
Keep your Personal Strategic Plan alive through frequent reflection and review.
Keep your Personal Strategic Plan alive through frequent reflection and review.

It is now nearly three months now since I conducted my personal strategic planning process using Gary Ryan Blair’s Personal Strategic Planning Programme.  In this article I share my reflections on the process/product.

Overall this is a good product if you want one programme which will comprehensively deal with planning in your life.   You sit down and study the resources provided and work through the questions and exercises and you end up with a written plan for your life.

The program shows you how to develop:

  • Your Vision Statement
  • Your Legacy Statement
  • Your Mission Statement
  • Your Personal Philosophy
  • Your Personal Code of Ethics
  • Your Lifetime Objectives
  • Your Goals
  • Your Action Plans
  • Your Organizing Themes
  • Your Personal Board of Directors.

The Personal Strategic Life Plan is a digital download consisting of both high-quality mp3 lessons and study guides that are instantly delivered on ANY Device.

Reflections

I completed all sections of my plan in May 2016 and it is now August.  How time flies! Having completed your plan it needs to be implemented, reviewed, and revised on an ongoing basis.  This is where the rubber meets the road as they say.

This is where I have realised that I need to improve!  Your plan is dead unless you include it in regular reflection and review.  The ideal time to do this is on a weekly basis at your AAR (After Action Review).   The key to success is not the plan but regular action and reflection and to imprint the plan in your mind. Otherwise when you finish planning it will just languish there on your computer and not be acted upon.  We also need daily habits which support the actions which lead to the plan being implemented……we need consistent action to achieve goals.

My overall verdict is that this is a good product for planning but to make it truly successful then you need to keep your plan alive through regular reflection and review as you work towards your goals.

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50% discount and a Free Kindle Book worth $4.95

If you would like to purchase a copy of the Personal Strategic Planning Programme please use the promo code success for a 50% discount.  In addition email me at tcarroll@lifeisalaboratory.com  and I will send a free copy of my book ‘Experiments in Personal Change‘ to all who subscribe to Gary Ryan Blair’s Personal Strategic Planning Programme using the link below: