If you could be 0.1% better than you were yesterday do you think people would notice? Would your boss congratulate you on a job well done? Would you get a raise? Would your company offer you new perks for being such a great performer?

You’re probably thinking that 0.1% is such an infinitesimal number that it is too small to make a difference. But, think about this: Do you remember the gold medal winner in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games? You probably do; a lot of people do. It was Justin Gatlin of the Untied States that finished in a time of 9.85 seconds. Do you remember who won the silver medal? Probably not. Not many people remember the second place finisher. The first place finisher is the real winner and people remember winners. But think about this, the silver medal winner was Francis Obikwelu of Portugal that finished in a time of 9.86 seconds. Guess what? That’s a difference of 0.01 seconds between first place and second place. Justin Gatlin was 0.1% better than Francis Obikwelu. 0.1% made all the difference in the world to Justin and he is a winner.

What does this mean for you in business? Top business professionals have the same personality characteristics as top sports performers. Justin Gatlin won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics because he trained every day to perform when it counted. It took years of work. Every day he became better and stronger than he was the day before and it all climaxed on the day he won the gold medal. That 9.85 seconds of glory took years to lead up to. Top business performers learn new skills every day. They learn their business, they learn their competitors business, they learn how to develop their skills, they learn new business skills, they learn how to apply their strengths, they learn new ways to sell themselves, they develop new relationships with customers, clients, colleagues.

Every day is a new opportunity for a top business performer. If a top business performer is 0.1% better than they were the day before this gets compounded until one day they become the best in their field. Look around your office and you will recognize these top performers. You know who they are. The entire office knows who they are. They don’t become top performers by luck.

You can do it to. It’s never too late to start changing your habits. Be like Justin Gatlin and you will be a superstar business performer. You just need to be 01% better than you were yesterday and people will notice. You too can be a winner!

Tino Buntic’s business networking website, TradePals, provides business leads to professionals, entrepreneurs, trades people, and freelancers across Canada and The U.S.

Gail Lindenfield is a well-known British author who has
written several self-help books. In Self Motivation, she
does a good job of going over many aspects of self
development and she provides solutions to a variety of
everyday problems.

Challenges - make sure that are truly enjoyable and that
the outcome is worth the risk. Success is built on an
astute ability to synchronize challenge and chance.

Risk - before taking a risk, imagine and face the worst
possible outcome.

Principles - before starting a project- list your
principles and ideals. Keep a clear distinction between
core (unbending) values and more flexible ones.

Fear - learn to take control to your response to fear so
that you can reclaim your full quota of natural courage.
Don’t take on any more fear than what you have judged is
controllable by your current store of courage.

Energy - value and use it economically. Use the rhythm of
your own energy cycles to your best advantage.

Calm concentration - work on putting yourself into a
focused and relaxed state where the body is free of
tension and the mind is clear and energized.
Concentration exercise - count backwards from 50, as
soon as the mind wanders, go back to 50 and start again
until you get it all.

Organization - you must be able to draw upon order when
you need it and loosen its restraints when you do not.

Decision making - accept that decision making is
stressful. Focus on taking care of yourself while under
pressure rather than making a premature decision.

Self presentation - never sell out on your individuality.
Don’t penny pinch on presentation - a high class look
will give you a high class feel.

Problem solving - accept responsibility for solving your
own problems.

Intuition - make a habit of listening for, and noting
down your intuitive response whenever you need to make
a decision. Individuality - ask yourself regularly if
you are being yourself. Remind yourself that many of
those who have contributed most were individualistic
characters.

Action signals - these are symptoms that you feel that
require immediate action. Here are several action signals
along with a brief summary of her recommended solutions:

1. Guilt
2. Frustration
3. Disappointment
4. Inadequacy
5. Anger
6. Loneliness 

Self criticism - make a short self-criticism session
part of your daily habit: What could you have done
better today? What didn’t you do that you should have
done today? Reframe self put-downs into a neutral
format.

Self forgiveness - it’s important to regularly forgive
yourself because you are constantly changing and
developing, and it is impossible to do this without
getting it wrong many times.

Assertiveness - Practice using your directness in
low-charged emotional situations first. Deal with
your unassertiveness before tension mounts up and
you over react to the situation.

Self protection - don’t waste time and energy arguing
with people if their opinion is of no value to you.
Reveling in success without fear of failure - Double
your rate of failure. Failure is a teacher - a harsh
one, perhaps, but the best you can be discouraged
by failure or learn from it, said Thomas Watson of
IBM. .

States to strive for:

1. Visionary thinking without idle dreaming.
2. Unashamed neediness without selfish greediness.
3. Eternal optimism without denying common sense.
4. Guru worshipping without blind following.
5. Sound self-esteem without ignorant arrogance.
6. Thirst for challenge without imprudent impatience.
7. Steadfast principles without narrow prejudice.
8. Consistent courage without thoughtless gambling.
9. Endless energy without debilitating burnout.
10.Prepared proactively without disregard for
opportunity.
11.Solid responsibility without rigid perfectionism.
12.Calm concentration without repressed creativity.
13.Systematic organization without obtuse obsessing.
14.Meticulous planning without stubborn inflexibility.
15.Sharp decisiveness without blindness to
consequences.
16.Slick self-presentation without enslavement to
fashion.
17.Positive problem solving without immunity to
despair.
18.Reliable intuition without acting on every hunch.
19.Searching self-reflection without frustrating
self-absorption.
20.Pride in individuality without disregard for human
commonality.
21.Deep emotionality without enslavement to feelings.
22.Stringent self-criticism without suffocating
self-abuse.
23.Intolerance of excuses without deafness to their
message.
24.Sincere self-forgiveness without self-inflicted
punishment.
25.Personal power without disempowering others.
26.Assertive directness without thoughtless
insensitivity.
27.Skilled self-protection without harmful
aggression.
28.Perpetually learning without devaluing my
own wisdom.
29.Seriously focused without humorless solemnity.
30.Sensibly self-nurturing without spurning
support.
31.Seeker of solitude without reclusive aloofness.
32.Reveling in success without fear of failure.
33.Scrupulously self-healing without dismissing
comfort.
34.Amply self-rewarding without rejecting
recognition.
35.Inwardly driven without scorning incentives

Key thoughts:

“Be more concerned with your character than your
reputation, because characte is what you really
are, while your reputation is merely what others
think you are.”
-John Wooden, college basketball coach

“Although they only give gold medals in the field
of athletics, I encourage everyone to look into
themselves and find their own personal dream,
whatever that may be - sports, medicine, law,
business, music, writing, whatever. The same
principles apply. Turn your dream into a goal and
learn how to attack that goal systematically.
Break it into bite-size chunks that seem possible,
and then don’t give up. Just keep plugging away.”
- John Naber, swimmer, four-time Olympic Gold
Medalist

By: Regine Azurin
Regine Azurin is the President of BestSummaries.com,
a company that provides book summaries of the latest
motivational, inspirational, self-help and personality
development bestsellers.

http://www.bestsum.com
Free Book Summaries of Top Self-help, Motivational
and Inspirational books

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Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

Don’t write, rewrite

The old axiom “throw away the first draft” is one hundred percent spot on. What the axiom is really saying is split creative from critical thinking.

a) Creative thinking and critical thinking are two separate and distinct processes. The idea is to first produce, then edit.

b) Creative thinking is daring, uninhibited, free-spirited, imaginative, unpredictable and revolutionary. The use of creative thinking fills out the pages of the first novel or screenplay. It creates an idea pool full of a variety of ideas, diverse ideas and novel ideas.

c) Critical thinking is reductive, logical, focused, conservative, practical and feasible. That first draft screenplay is now refined by cutting, pasting and rewriting. That idea pool is looked over by a number of people with the required competencies to select the most valuable ideas.

One the most valuable ideas are selected, they go into development, where the BEST ideas are chosen. The Economist (2003b) states that 3000 bright ideas are needed for 100 worthwhile projects, which in turn will be winnowed down to four development programmes for new products. And four such development programmes are the minimum needed to stand any chance of getting one winner.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/