1-Minute Wednesday No. 135: The most essential minute of your week online

Unlock Your Thinking

I recently wrote on LinkedIn about meetings and the hidden wisdom of quiet voices. That post has created over 3 million impressions, been shared over 4,500 times, and garnered over 1,400 comments.

Clearly, this topic has hit a nerve.?

When it comes to meetings, so many people feel like they can not be the first person to speak. Maybe they feel they need to have higher status to speak first. Perhaps they are new to the team. Or maybe they are natural reflectors and need time to think and formulate ideas.

Today, I want to share one piece of practical advice you can implement to help more voices be heard at your next meeting. It’s a form of exploratory writing that Alison Jones, author of the new book?Exploratory Writing: Everyday magic for life and work , shared with me on?this episode of The Greg McKeown Podcast. ?

Here’s how it works:

• Start your next meeting with a six-minute writing sprint.?
• Provide a question or a prompt. Prompts might include:?
• “How can we accomplish X?”?
• “What are some ways we can overcome (obstacle)?”?
• “What are your thoughts on (problem)?”
• Everyone writes any thought that comes to mind for the next six minutes.?
• Take 3-5 minutes to allow people to review their writing and formulate ideas.?

According to Alison, this approach has several advantages:?

• It reduces groupthink because the first contribution isn’t anchoring everything.?
• It allows people who are visual thinkers to see their ideas.?
• If someone’s first language isn’t English, it gives them time to write in their own language.
• It gives people who usually participate time to get their ideas?organized.

Taking time to write and think about your ideas will help you and your team turn chaos into clarity.??

Listen

The Greg McKeown Podcast

“This idea of honest writing is that you start to see things, and there's gold dust mixed between all of the faffing that's there. And...it gives us [the opportunity] to discover for ourselves these infinitesimally small but infinitely important insights that hide below the surface.”?

Have you ever felt like there were just too many tabs open in your mind? Join me for my conversation with Alison Jones, the author of?Exploratory Writing: Everyday Magic for Life and Work?and discover the?simplest of tools that can produce extraordinary results.?Listen here .?

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Learn

What the Science of Hitting can Teach you about Better Decisions

What can you learn about decision making from the greatest pure hitter who ever played the game of baseball? Discover how understanding your own circle of competency and recognizing the "right pitch" can tilt the odds of success in your favor.??Read the full article?here .?

Weekly Wisdom

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” - Ernest Hemingway