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metspacesolutions · 8 years ago

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Why Co-Working

There’s a new trend in the workplace: co-working. Co-working is an innovative alternative to traditional office spaces. The novel concept allows independent workers and entrepreneurs to share an open workspace instead of the traditional cubicle or makeshift set up in a coffee shop. Co-working has proven to be beneficial in both running a successful business and maintaining a professional career. So, why should you invest in co-working?

Co-working quickly and efficiently helps network, professionally and personally. While co-working you will encounter people from every business sector and walk of life who will likely be a useful connection in your future. Your business will grow exponentially with the addition of these new connections.

Not to mention the new clients you are likely to discover while co-working. You are constantly surrounded by accomplished individuals who will be assets to your team. Assess the talent around you and recruit clients from your co-working space to help expand your business.

Unlike the distractions of a home office or a public space, co-working allows for maximum productivity. There is no appeal to watch a few minutes (that turn into hours) of television or walk the dog to kill time. Co-working takes away the ability to easily shy away from your responsibilities. Being surrounded by committed, enthusiastic workers is highly motivating, increasing your personal output.

Creativity flows in co-working spaces, unlike most other conventional offices. Want to share new ideas and get feedback on your thoughts? Co-working allows for constant collaboration with individuals who bring new perspectives to projects you may have never considered. These collaborations often lead to project or business expansions only made possible through co-working.

Co-working is also a more affordable way to attain a high-class work space. These spaces are typically in stellar locations that may otherwise be unattainable. They are designed with quality and functionality in mind, allowing you to be comfortable while you work. There is no pressure with long leases, increasing the flexibility of co-working even further. Because there is no need to purchase entities necessary for an operating office, like desks, printers, or lighting, overhead costs are greatly reduced. Dealing with seemingly constant repairs, service fees and office maintenance are a thing of the past when co-working.

Additionally, co-working creates a sense of community instead of the isolation that often comes with growing a business, or freelancing. It is easy to feel lonely when working behind a computer all day, especially in a home office or a crowded office. Co-working gets rid of the notion that you are alone in your work and heightens the social aspects of your work life. The increase in interaction with others throughout the day is healthier for the mind and body and results in a happier you.

Co-working is an ingenious way to increase the positive effects of a workplace, while diminishing the negative effects of working in an office space, home office or public place. There is a constant feeling of community in a shared working space, with the possibility of expansion of business, clients, and networking. Co-working maximizes productivity and creativity. The non-binding, affordable shared space is a no brainer when looking to cut costs while maintaining quality.

Shared from: Deskhub.com

DISCOVER MET SPACE COWORKING SPACE IN MONTREAL

At Metspace Coworking Boutique in Montreal, our mission is to build the premier Collaborative Coworking Community in Montreal for Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs and Professionals in Development. We believe in providing our Members with the tools necessary to grow, give, and achieve. Coworking Montreal

Metspacers know that they can find:

A friendly workspace with a state-of-the-art modern office design A collaborative professional environment A lounge to socialize and build sustainable relationships Dynamic coaches to grow you and your business Conferences on leadership Metworking events

Curious to see what Met Space Coworking is all about simply book at tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal.

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metspacesolutions · 8 years ago

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Some Overlooked Benefits Of Coworking Spaces

After the era of entrepreneurs and startups, here comes the era of ‘solopreneurs’. If you are not already aware of the trending term, solopreneurs are independent workers who manage their own career/company. Today, employees consider flexible work location as a better perk than getting a customized office. And, due to that, more and more number of employees, entrepreneurs, and freelancers have started reaping the benefits of coworking spaces.

Coworking spaces provide a common work environment to people who are not part of any single organization. In other words, it is a membership-based workspace that can be used by anyone. It can be seen as an alternative to working from home for freelancers and would-be entrepreneurs so as to minimize the distractions and enhancing their professional network.

You might think “Why should I go to a coworking space when I can work from home or from my nearby coffee house?” While staying at home might come with a lot of distractions, coffee houses should be visited to get your dose of caffeine and not for work. You don’t want to be known as ‘The Guy who works in the coffee shop’, do you?

Here are some benefits of coworking spaces that are often overlooked by people who are stuck alone at their home office or are fighting for space at the nearby coffee shops:

Networking

The opportunity to grow your professional network is one of the most fundamental benefits of coworking spaces. You can find the right people at the right time and place when you are coworking. Everyone you’ll find at a coworking space would be as passionate about their career or business as you are, all traveling in the same boat. This will not only motivate you to do better, it will also provide you some support that you may require in your journey.

Faster business or career growth

People who work at coworking spaces tend to have a faster career growth as compared to those who work from their home office or from the local coffee shops. Even entrepreneurs who are willing to expand their business can have a rapid growth as they can constantly be in touch with people who can help them in advancing their business.

No need to invest in a office space

For startup founders, coworking spaces can prove to be a boon. They can enroll themselves and their team to be a part of a nearby coworking space instead of renting an office space and save a lot of precious funds. Not only they can get required resources from the coworking spaces, they can also get a discounted membership as their team grows in size.

Meet potential clients or investors

If you are a startup founder, coworking can help you meet new people who might be interested in either funding your startup or partnering with you for some specific project. If you are a freelancer, you can get some projects from people who may want to outsource some of their tasks.

Thus, coworking spaces for startups and freelancers provide a great work environment to create, improve, and foster their business and career.

Shared from: thehrdigest.com

MEET MET SPACE COWORKING BOUTIQUE IN MONTREAL GIVE. GROW. ACHIEVE.

Met Space is committed to building a premier collaborative co-working community for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and professionals.

We provide the tools needed to

GIVE – your time, your knowledge GROW – your business, your network, your skills ACHIEVE – your goals

Curious to see what Met Space Coworking is all about simply book at tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal.

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metspacesolutions · 8 years ago

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But that’s Not What I Mean

By: Anthony Vella

This week, I want to continue on the etiquette theme and discuss a topic that most people struggle with, writing an email. Seems like an easy task…you write so many each day, but there is always one that leads to confusion, misunderstandings or just didn’t make it to the person you wanted it to go to.

Here are some basic points on how to put an email together. It’s not foolproof, but I’m sure it can help you in your daily work life:

Formality

When dealing with new or potential clients, an email should be treated as formal business correspondence. This means black text, standard fonts, and full sentences. Don’t use emoji’s in your formal correspondence (I’ve seen it and it’s terrible). Address the person using the highest level of courtesy until the person tells you otherwise. Once you have built a relationship with this person, then you can be informal.

Always review who the email is being addressed to and if that person needs to be included. There is nothing more annoying than being included in emails chains that are not relevant to your work.

Respond Promptly

You should always do your best to respond to your emails promptly. I’ve seen the stories where successful people only answer emails twice a day…blah, blah, blah. I’ll tell you what my friend would always tell me when we started up his firm…”you can do that when you’re at that level.” Until then, you risk being outperformed by a competitor who understands the importance of being there for the client.

A Clear Purpose

When writing an email always ask your “Why am I sending this?”, “What do I need from the recipient?”, and “Is this email necessary?” If you can’t answer all three questions, don’t write that email.

Write About One Topic

Less is more. Secondary topics get buried and lost.

Reader’s Point of View

This has always been a problem for me. When writing an email, think about your words from the reader’s point of view. I was taught to ask myself, “how would I interpret this sentence as someone reading it” and “how would this make me feel if I received it.”

Use short words and sentences

As George Orwell said, “Never use a long word where a short one will do.” Donald Trump has made a career doing this and it endears him to his base. This makes your message easy and simple to understand.

Rule of Thumb – Five Sentences

This includes:

1. The greeting – “Hi Bob,” or “Dear Ms. Plamondon:” 2. A compliment or pleasantry – “I enjoyed your presentation about…” or “I hope you are well” 3. The reason for your email – “I’m emailing you about…” Sometimes this may be two sentences. 4. A call to action – After explaining the reason for your email, the recipient needs to know what to do. Structure the call to action in a question so that you’ll get a reply from the recipient “Could you send me those file by…?” 5. Closing – Keep this simple “Let me know if you have any questions” 6. Sign-off – Always follow this up with your name

Signature

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to contact someone that doesn’t have their information in their signature. I dealt with a person that doesn’t carry business cards and her email sign off is always the first letter of her name. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve seen signatures that are longer than the message sent to me. When in doubt, keep it simple:

• Name • Title • Company name • Contact information • Company website

Don’t forget to proofread the email before sending the message and make sure it is addressed to the correct person.

I want to leave you with a quote that I found from an American writer, Dale Carnegie that sums up the last two blogs:

“There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it.”

About Met Space Solutions

Our mission is to build the premier Collaborative Coworking Community for Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs and Professionals in Development. We believe in providing our Members with the tools necessary to grow, give, and achieve.

Curious to see what Met Space Solutions is all about. Visit our website at http://ift.tt/2k3ME79 or simply book at tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal. Come Find Your Fit!

Met Space Solutions Grow. Give. Achieve.

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metspacesolutions · 8 years ago

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How To Boost Your Productivity In a Coworking Space

The coworking industry is seeing an unprecedented growth. We live in a shared economy, and I’d define coworking as the sharing of three critical resources one needs to be productive:

Physical (office space)

Logistical (other physical resources)

Intellectual (the whole community with which you can engage and share knowledge to create value for yourself and the community at large)

Coworking is much more than a physical configuration of an office or a workplace definition. While traditional office spaces make it difficult for you to get yourself out of things like office maintenance and huge costs, the most you would need at a coworking space would be your laptop, giving you the time and space to be more efficient and productive.

Be Disciplined

While discipline can be perceived as covering shifts, it certainly means quite the opposite. Discipline is coming to office regularly and spending a good number of productive hours – after all, your office should give you a sense of productivity the minute you step inside.

Know Your Space

Coworking spaces, due to their scale, offer their members access to a lot of facilities that they would not have otherwise – like a Huddle Area, Meeting Rooms, Video Conferencing and secretarial services. These things go a long way in saving you the trouble of spending innumerable resources, and most importantly, your time. At coworking, you can avail yourself of these services, anytime.

Know Your Co-Workers

The core idea of a coworking space is to build a community where people connect, collaborate and create. Build strong relationships with people you’re working with (your coworkers, not just your team). The person sitting right next to you might be your future investor, employee or co-founder!

Know Your Community – Beyond Your Co-Workers

This cannot be stressed enough. Coworking spaces invest a lot of time and resources in organizing high-value events for their community and enabling a community for their members to thrive in.

Attending those events is a great way to gain better access to the community your Coworking Space has to offer.

Personalize Your Space

Many people consider coworking as an interim solution for their office needs, although this perception is slowly losing its credence. Interim or not, it should definitely not stop you from personalizing your space. Being in an extremely social environment, it is at times very crucial to disconnect from what surrounds you, and focus.

Met Space Coworking Space Montreal offers its members quality amenities and services to create a positive environment to conduct their business. This includes:

Receptionist

Audio / Video

Mail service, with mailing address

Maintenance and cleaning

Café MetSpace “Hub”

A copy of “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell

Private offices

Dedicated desk

Conference rooms

Cold calling rooms

Event space rental

Parking

Private phone booth

Curious to see what Met Space Coworking is all about simply book at tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal.

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How to Become the Best in the World at What You Do

It can feel impossible to move toward your dreams. You know exactly what you want to do, but there are endless obstacles in your way. There is so much competition — thousands or millions of people competing to do exactly what you want to do.

How do you get out of the rat race?

How do you advance quick enough to not have your dreams smashed into submission by society and imploded by “reality”? How do you make the needed leaps to move beyond the masses vying for a similar position?

After all, you have bills to pay and tons of other responsibilities. You only have a limited amount of time each day. After work and everything else you’ve got going on, it’s easy to justify waiting until tomorrow. Even if you have the raw energy to do your work, you may feel guilty breaking from your relational obligations.

It truly can feel hopeless and overwhelming. There’s so much to learn. It can be easy to doubt our own abilities. Maybe we should just give up and accept reality for what it is? The Truth Is…

Most of the competition are not hard to surpass. They’re dealing with the same existential and practical challenges you are. Their life isn’t structured for optimal creative expression. They are the primary obstacle in the path. Most will quit long before they ever really begin — always remaining mediocre at what they do.

With a few tweaks, you’ll quickly drop through a wormhole placing you in the top 5–10 percent in your field. The challenge then becomes to move from there to the top — which movement is the real contest. Getting to the top 5–10 percent merely requires a change in lifestyle. Getting to the top 1 percent requires a fundamental change in your being.

How To Boost Your Productivity In a Coworking Space

Be Disciplined

Know Your Space

Know Your Co-Workers

Know Your Community – Beyond Your Co-Workers

This cannot be stressed enough. Coworking spaces invest a lot of time and resources in organizing high-value events for their community and enabling a community for their members to thrive in.

Attending those events is a great way to gain better access to the community your Coworking Space has to offer.

Personalize Your Space

At Metspace, Coworking Boutique in Montreal, our mission is to build the premier Collaborative Coworking Community in Montreal for Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs and Professionals in Development. We believe in providing our Members with the tools necessary to grow, give, and achieve. Coworking Montreal

Curious to see what Met Space Solutions is all about simply book at tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal.

Met Space Coworking Space Mongreal offers its members quality amenities and services to create a positive environment to conduct their business. This includes:

Receptionist

Audio / Video

Mail service, with mailing address

Maintenance and cleaning

Café MetSpace “Hub”

A copy of “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell

Private offices

Dedicated desk

Conference rooms

Cold calling rooms

Event space rental

Parking

Private phone booth

SO YOU CAN… • Grow your business • Develop your leadership skills • Attend various events designed to propel you and your business • Thrive in a supportive community • Connect with peers • Give back to the community through Breakfast Club of Canada

This post is a framework to quickly get you into the top 5–10 percent of your field so you can begin the real quest of becoming the best at what you do.

Phase One will get you to the top 5–10 percent of your field. Once you’re at this level, you are getting paid enough for your art to live on. This is key, as Paul Graham has said, “Once you cross the threshold of profitability, however low, your runway becomes infinite.” He calls the lowest tier of profitability, “Ramen Profitable,” which means a startup (or business of any sort) makes just enough to pay the founders’ living expenses.

Infinite runway means you can now dedicate all your “work” time to your work. You are no longer moonlighting or squeezing time in the margins of your life. You can pay your bills and eat Ramen. This is where Phase Two begins, and is really the beginning of your artistic journey — becoming the best in the world at what you do.

Let’s begin:

Phase One: Getting To Ramen Profitable (Or Sustainable)

1. Start As An Amateur

Kenzie and Harris were recently married. They had both dropped out of Brigham Young University and were working at the Apple store in downtown Salt Lake City. On the side, they were recording music covers and posting them on YouTube and Vine.

They had enough money in savings to live on a year, so they quit at Apple to make a run at becoming professional musicians. Every day, they would post Vines. For several months, their work went mostly unnoticed. They had a few thousand followers tops.

Then, everything changed. They posted a Vine that immediately went viral. The next day, they were contacted by some of the top Viners as well as agents who gave them contracts. They were now Ramen Profitable, had amazing connections, and on their way to making an amazing career as musicians.

Kenzie and Harris wouldn’t have had their breakthrough if they didn’t start as amateurs. They had some raw talent. But more than anything, they were willing to put themselves out there over and over and over. Quantity became quality. And then they put something out that people loved.

Very few people have the humility to start as amateurs. They procrastinate doing the work they want in the name of perfectionism. You know these people. The one’s who have been saying for years that they’re going to do something but never do. Yet inwardly, they’re terrified of what other people will think of them. They’re caught in a state of paralysis by analysis — too busy calculating and never reaching a state of flow. Rather than doing work their own way, they do what they think will be well-received — being merely imitators of what is already popular.

2. Get Coaching/Education

Take your dreams seriously. Most people don’t. Take them serious enough to become amazing and move beyond mediocre. Get education and coaching.

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” — Buddha

Ever since returning from a two-year mission trip, I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer. However, my dream remained a figment of my imagination until I became serious enough to get a mentor.

I’ve had two mentors that have changed how I write. One of my mentors was a young professor who taught me more in three months than I had learned in the previous four years.

Actually, he taught me more about academic writing and research in three months than most people learn through an entire PhD. With his help, I was easily able to get into the graduate school of my choice.

I started blogging about 21 months ago. Knowing this is something I’m serious about, I decided to get coaching. However, this time, I did it in the form of a virtual online course. Within a month of taking the course, I wrote a blog post that was read over five million times across multiple outlets and in several languages. This online course was not the reason for my success; but it was an important part of the progression I would inevitably get one way or another.

You’ll know when you’re ready for the next level when you attract the right teacher to help you get there.

3. Stop Living The Broken Rules Everyone Else Is Living

If it’s popular it’s wrong. Most people are mediocre at what they do for a reason. They’re playing by rules that halt optimal performance. They are climbing traditional ladders intended to slow them down and keep them average.

When everyone else is zigging, that’s when you zag. Darren Hardy says you should run “toward the thing everyone else is running from” in order to stand out from the crowd. As Peter Diamandis says, “The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.” If what you’re doing doesn’t seem slightly crazy to you, and very crazy to other people, you’re probably following the safe path.

Instead of following the rules set by society, create your own rules. Restructure the game to automate your success. Dismiss the haters, convention, and conformity. Follow your heart and the voice inside you encouraging faith and forward movement. In order to be happy, you must build a lifestyle around being true to yourself. If you’re true to yourself, good things will follow.

4. Be Consistent Until You Have A Break Through Patience.

If you haven’t had your big break yet, keep going. Consistency is the most fundamental virtue to becoming the person you want to be. Almost everyone can sprint for a while. But most burn-out and quit. Everything meaningful in life is a marathon — meant to test your commitment and will.

If this is what you love doing, you’ll do it regardless of the outcome. In fact, obsession with a particular outcome will keep you from attaining your desired results. Your work will be forced rather than organically lived.

There is a natural law known as the compound effect. If you invest a small amount of money consistently, eventually compound interest takes over and growth becomes exponential. The same holds true for any habit, whether good or bad. If you do something long enough, compounding will take effect, momentum will surge, and you’ll begin to experience exponential results.

If you want it bad enough, you will do whatever it takes to make it happen. If you don’t, you won’t. You’ll be willing to reduce time with friends and hobbies, forego sleep, make big asks, take risks, find a mentor, get educated, and look foolish. You’ll be surprised how quickly you become Ramen Profitable when you take your work seriously.

Phase Two: Becoming The Best In The World At What You Do

The person who succumbs to temptation knows far less about its power than the person who resists it. Experience is key. Knowledge only becomes wisdom when it’s properly and consistently applied. Thus, the importance of learning from people who have actually been there, as opposed to sideline spectators. Never take advice from someone you wouldn’t want to switch places with.

Getting to the top 5–10 percent in your field can be done by following principles taught by other people. However, in order to become the best at what you do, at some point you leave it all behind. You become an innovator. A pioneer. An artist.

In order to get to the top 1 percent of performers, you must come up to the razor’s edge — the brink of disaster — where probability of failure is high. At this point, everything you’ve been taught is opposed by what you feel you should do. But your intuition is operating at a higher level.

5. Structure Your Entire Life To Optimize Your Performance

Entering the realm of the best in the world requires becoming holistic about your art. Everything you do matters. Every moment of your life either contributes to or takes away from what you’re trying to accomplish — the food you eat — activities you do — people you spend time with — and how you spend your mornings and evenings.

Most people’s lives are structured in a reactive way. The first thing they do in the morning is check their email or social media. They may even read a good book. But all of these things are highly addictive inputs.

In order to become a creative master, you must focus your efforts on outputsby leveraging your subconscious mind. While you’re away from your work, like sleeping, spending time with friends, or other activities, your subconscious is working through and mulling over the problems you’re trying to solve.

The first thing to do when you wake up is output. This may be in the form of writing in a journal to capture all the work your subconscious has been doing while you were sleeping. Or immediately getting to the project you’re working on. When you get out of a meeting or finish any form of activity, rather than going directly to your email or other input, maximize your subconscious by going directly to output — your work. Creative and insightful eruptions of intellectual inspiration will flow.

Being healthy and free from physical pain is also crucial for enhanced performance. In his book, The Great Pain Deception, Stephen Ozanich wrote:

“Pain and other chronic symptoms are physical manifestations of unresolved internal conflict. Symptoms surface as the instinctual mechanism for self-survival. They are messages from the inner self wanting to be heard, but ego takes center-stage, and hides the truth within the shadows of the unconscious mind: which is the body.”

In the 1990’s neuroscientist Candice Pert, Ph.D., shared her discovery that the body, not the brain, is the subconscious mind which communicates via neuropeptides. Indeed, human beings are holistic. Our body and mind work in unison.

When we have unresolved tension in our lives, this tension is generally manifest in physical illness. When we clear ourselves of this tension, we allow our body to naturally and organically heal. When our bodies are healthy, we’re far more prone to inspiration.

6. Allow Time For Recovery

Less is more. When you focus on results, rather than being busy, you’re 100 percent ON when you’re working and 100 percent OFF when you’re not. This not only allows you to be present in the moment, but allows you the needed time to rest and recover.

The science if very compelling. Psychological-detachment from work is essential for being engaged while you’re working! Here are other benefits of psychological detachment from work: If you don’t detach from work, you’re more likely to procrastinate and get fatigued on the job.

Although this is obvious, if you don’t detach from work, you’re less likely to have marital satisfaction. Your ability to work at a high level is like fitness. If you never took a break between sets, you wouldn’t be able to build strength, stamina, and endurance. However, not all “rest” produces recovery. Certain things are more soothing than others.

Recovering from my work generally consists of writing in my journal, listening to music, spending time with my wife and kids, preparing and eating delicious food, or serving other people.

These things rejuvenate me. They make my work possible, but also meaningful.

7. Have A Pre-Performance Routine That Gets You In Flow

Josh Waitzkin is a genius when it comes to learning and optimal human performance. He was a Chess prodigy as a child — he won five National Championship titles in Tai Chi Chuan — and is now focusing on becoming world-class at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He takes the fundamental principles of learning from the ground up and applies them laterally to different disciplines. In order to “get in the zone,” Josh recommends a Pre-Performance routine. The goal is to reduce stress and anxiety so you can be present. These routines often take 20–60 minutes to put you in the zone. However, Josh recommends incrementally reducing the routine time to the point where simply thinking about it clicks you into the zone.

The purpose of the pre-performance routine is to alter your emotional state. Most people experience emotional resistance before engaging in a task, like say, writing. That resistance could be a number of negative and suppressed emotions such as fear, uncertainty, and feelings of inadequacy. You don’t want these emotions to influence you while you work. They will negatively influence how you perform.

The pre-performance routine is intended to alter your emotional state to one of courage, peace, acceptance, and love. From these emotional states, your work will be far superior. Without question, how you feel in the moment you do you work determines how well you do.

8. Embrace Fear And Suffering

“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.” — Cus D’Amato

The idea of fearlessness is a false concept that is imposed by spectators. True performers feel fear and experience suffering. However, they learned to settle-into it like a yoga stretch. Cycling is a sport notorious for the amount of suffering required. As Tyler Hamilton has said, “I discovered when I went all out, when I put 100 percent of my energy into some intense, impossible task — when my heart was jack-hammering, when lactic acid was sizzling through my muscles — that’s when I felt good, normal, balanced.”

Cyclists often refer to “the pain cave,” which is a mental place they go deeper and deeper into as they’re competing. “I went deeper than I thought I would.” “I was at the limit.” “I was totally pinned.” You often hear phrases like these in interviews after a cycling race.

��Mental resilience is arguably the most critical trait of a world-class performer, and it should be nurtured continuously. Left to my own devices, I am always looking for ways to become more and more psychologically impregnable. When uncomfortable, my instinct is not to avoid the discomfort but to become at peace with it. My instinct is always to seek out challenges asopposed to avoiding them.” — Josh Waitzkin

When you begin feeling uncomfortable, that’s when you start feeling good. That’s when you’re growing. No pain no gain. That’s your happy place. That’s where most people stop. But not you.

9. Do It Because Of Love

In the end, there’s nothing more important than deep connection with humanity. The love you feel for other people is an experience that eclipses all others in life. So much of training and personal progress is introspective — focused on the self. However, moving outward and focusing on the needs of others provides new meaning for your work. Become the best at what you do, not because of the legacy you’ll leave, but because of the lives you’ll bless.

There is a four stage hierarchy of motivations in psychology.

At stage one, you are motivated by fear. Everything you do is to avoid punishment or negative outcomes. According to decision theory, this form of motivation is prevention focused. At stage two, you are motivated by reward. Everything you do is to get what you want. If you are religious, you follow the commandments solely for the blessings it provides. If you are in business, you do only that which you believe will get you ahead. Thus, you are promotion focused.

Both stage one and stage two demonstrate extrinsic motivation, which is far less powerful than intrinsic motivation.

At stage three, you are motivated by duty. You’re going to do what you believe you should whether you receive a reward or not. You have no fear of punishment. You are intrinsically motivated. But there’s a lack of passion. There’s a lack of life that will take you beyond human ability and reasoning.

At stage four, you are motivated by love. You have moved beyond worry for your own needs. Your aim is to bring as much joy to each individual as you possibly can. Your love transcends human reasoning. It drives you to do things most would consider crazy. You no longer live by conventional rules or wisdom. You are directed by the highest and purest power in existence.

By Benjamin P. Hardy, Shared from: Medium.com

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metspacesolutions · 8 years ago

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How To Schedule Your Day For Peak Creative Performance

About four years ago I started working for myself. I wanted the freedom and flexibility to own my schedule and the space to bring my ideas to life.

One of the biggest challenges was structuring my time so I was fully experiencing the benefits of working for myself while also being as creative and productive as possible. At first, the idea of systems and planning made me cringe. I felt like they would hold back my creative potential. Eventually, organization and effectiveness challenges pilled up and I decided to give structure a try.

I wondered:

How do I balance client service with working on my own ideas?

How do I avoid interruptions that mess with my creative flow?

How do I stop putting off the stuff I hate but still have to do?

In my first attempt, I mapped out my day hour by hour, squeezing in all the elements of what I defined as an “ideal day.” After a few weeks, I ended up feeling like a robot and the predictability was anything but inspiring.

That’s when I decided to zoom out and think more about the categories of an ideal day and how I can batch my time to be most effective.

My problem became more clear: How do I make sure I’m getting stuff done, taking care of myself, making time from for play, and actively pushing myself outside my comfort zone?

Here’s how it works:

1. Set priorities on Sunday.

Every Sunday, I sit down and map out my week. Instead of defining the hour-by-hour of each day, I outline my weekly priorities and what I want to have accomplished by the following Sunday.

2. Map out work, play, fit, and push.

Work: For each day, I outline my “Top 3,” meaning the three most important things I will have accomplished by the end of the day. Sometimes I’ll map out the entire week on Sunday because my priorities are super clear. Other times, I’ll decide on my Top 3 on a day-by-day basis.

Play: I’ve found that play enables me to self-express, reflect, and give my ideas space, which shows up positively in my work. Making time to create art, get into nature, go on photo walks, read poetry, skip down sidewalks and the like puts me in a constant state of curiosity and flow.

Fit: Movement keeps ideas moving forward so I aim to move my body for at least 30 minutes each day.

Push: Since learning and growth is important to me, I do something that scares me (almost) every day. This may be asking someone whom I deeply respect for an interview or writing about a topic that makes me feel vulnerable.

3. Batch your days.

Batching actions into specific days and creating time for creativity has been a huge gamechanger for me. Here’s how I break down my schedule.

CREATE on Monday/Wednesday/Friday: I create holes in my schedule for thinking and creating. On these days, instead of thinking about how to spend my time in advance, I pay attention to my body and take breaks as needed.

CALLS and MEETINGS on Tuesday/Thursday: When possible, I avoid phone calls and meetings because I find them typically unproductive and often easy to solve via email. I set aside three hours on Tuesday and Thursday for meetings, and once these spots are filled, I say no. There are, of course, occasional exceptions.

“Hate you but have to do you” is saved for Wednesday morning: Things like paying bills, clearing out my email inbox, and the like, take up just one morning.

SPONTANEOUS Saturday: With so much structure, I make room for spontaneity. On Saturday, I let go and go where the day takes me. Balancing structure with a day of free-spiritedness makes me feel whole.

INTENTIONAL Sunday: Plan for the week ahead.

Above all, when it comes to reaching peak creative performance, it’s all about experimenting to figure out what works best for you.

Shared from: Fast Company.

About Met Space Solutions

Coworking and shared office space Montreal at Met Space. Met Space Coworking Boutique in Montreal, Quebec. Met Space provides a welcoming workspace for passionate individuals seeking a platform for growth. Met Space is committed to building a premier collaborative co-working community for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and professionals.

We provide the tools needed to GIVE – your time, your knowledge GROW – your business, your network, your skills ACHIEVE – your goals

Our mission is to build the premier Collaborative Coworking Community for Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs, and Professionals in Development. We believe in providing our Members with the tools necessary to grow, give, and achieve.

Curious to see what Met Space Solutions is all about simply book tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal.

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To be successful, accept the possibility of failure

By Jessica Lui

As the CEO of Global Professionals Practicum, I’ve observed that the number one characteristic that holds someone back from building a successful network (and career) is a fear of failure.

Over the past year, I’ve worked with some incredibly brilliant, talented individuals who are afraid. Afraid to reach out to a stranger to ask for advice because they might experience rejection or take risks in their careers because they might fail.

To be perfectly honest, there are times when I feel afraid too; I think no matter how successful you are, there are times when you’ll feel like you’re back at square one, days when you feel disappointed by the outcome, frustrated by the situation or afraid that you might fail.

It’s okay to be afraid to fail. What matters is that you don’t allow it to stop you from moving forward.

Whenever I’m feeling afraid of failure, I remind myself that I’m more afraid of the opportunities I’ll miss because I didn’t try than the possibility of failure. In the very worst case scenario, you’ll build resilience. The other person may not always help/respond or the opportunity may not work out, but it won’t have any adverse effects either. You’re no worse off for trying, and you now have more experience that will help you build perseverance.

As a society, we don’t like to talk about our failures. We have an inherent social bias to only share positive aspects of our lives. I’m willing to bet that your Facebook feed has plenty of vacation photos or announcements about a new job, but very few posts about someone failing to get a job interview or breaking up with their partner.

However, anything that is worth pursuing in life has some risk of failure. We all experience failure at some point in our lives unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all.

You should never, ever be embarrassed that you have failed. You’ll never know how much you can achieve without taking some risks, moving outside of your comfort zone, learning from new experiences or challenging yourself to grow. There will be failure along the way. But failure is an essential part of the journey to success.

While failure is essential to success, facing failure isn’t easy. So here are the three things that I have found helpful when facing failure:

Remember that failure does not define your ability to succeed: I often hear people who fail say I am a failure. It is important to distinguish between being a failure and having experienced failure. If you believe that you are a failure, that failure is now a part of your identity, then it will become a self- fulfilling prophecy. But if you believe that you are a person who experiencing failure (a temporary setback that you can overcome), then you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep pursuing your goals.

Focus on the work: When you face failure, it’s easy to focus on how you feel – disappointed, rejected, or upset. Instead, I urge you to focus on your work. There is always something that can be learned from your experience, and there are always other options to pursue. In other words, there is nearly always something that you can do.

Build a network to support you: Find people who believe in you and are willing to support you in your journey. Never be afraid to ask for help; you never know who your next mentor, investor or partner might be. Don’t be shy, because you never know when you’ll meet the person who could change your life. If there is one thing I want you to take away from this, it is that experiencing failure does not mean you are any less capable of being successful. In fact, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing failure is actually the key to your success.

When you learn to embrace failure, it can be a fantastic teacher. Those of you who have experienced failure have already developed the perseverance and resistance to adversity that you need to keep moving forward.

So I want you all to go out there. Make mistakes. Take risks. Get messy. Talk about your failures. And please, know that you aren’t alone in experiencing failure and that it should never stop you from achieving your dreams.

By Jessica Lui. Jessica is CEO of Global Professionals Practicum (GPP), a professional coaching firm.

Shared from: theglobeandmail.com

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Daily Routines of Nikola Tesla, Mozart, Hemingway, Woody Allen, Maya Angelo, van Gogh, Stephen King, and Nabokov

There is no single path to insane greatness. Picasso and Gogh are both artistic geniuses, but they pursued very different routines to stay prolific. Success is more a deliberate practice of what works than a serendipitous streak of luck or privilege. The path to greatness is paved with tiny consistent rituals. Here are the self-described daily routines of some of the world’s most prolific minds in history — past and present. These routines and habits might inspire you to create your own. After all, we all aspire to be remarkable at what we do.

Nikola Tesla

“It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.” Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before emigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City.

In his autobiography, Tesla describes how he works:

My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is no difference whatever, the results are the same. In this way I am able to rapidly develop and perfect a conception without touching anything.

When I have gone so far as to embody in the invention every possible improvement I can think of and see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form this final product of my brain. Invariably my device works as I conceived that it should, and the experiment comes out exactly as I planned it. In twenty years there has not been a single exception. Why should it be otherwise? Engineering, electrical and mechanical, is positive in results. There is scarcely a subject that cannot be mathematically treated and the effects calculated or the results determined beforehand from the available theoretical and practical data. The carrying out into practice of a crude idea as is being generally done is, I hold, nothing but a waste of energy, money and time.

He further talks about his brain training exercises as a child:

“Although I must trace to my mother’s influence whatever inventiveness I possess, the training he gave me must have been helpful. It comprised all sorts of exercises — as, guessing one another’s thoughts, discovering the defects of some form or expression, repeating long sentences or performing mental calculations. These daily lessons were intended to strengthen memory and reason and especially to develop the critical sense, and were undoubtedly very beneficial.”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“When I am … completely myself, entirely alone… or during the night when I cannot sleep, it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.” A prolific artist, Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart created a string of operas, concertos, symphonies and sonatas that profoundly shaped classical music. He composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, and his influence is profound on subsequent Western art music.

In a letter to his sister penned in 1782, Mozart outlines a routine so intense that it left him a mere five hours of night’s sleep:

“At six o’clock in the morning I have my hair dressed, and have finished my toilet by seven o’clock. I write till nine. From nine to one I give lessons. I then dine, unless I am invited out, when dinner is usually at two o’clock, sometimes at three, as it was to-day, and will be to-morrow at Countess Zichi’s and Countess Thun’s. I cannot begin to work before five or six o’clock in the evening, and I am often prevented doing so by some concert; otherwise I write till nine o’clock. I then go to my dear Constanze, though our pleasure in meeting is frequently embittered by the unkind speeches of her mother, which I will explain to my father in my next letter.

Thence comes my wish to liberate and rescue her as soon as possible. At half-past ten or eleven I go home, but this depends on the mother’s humor, or on my patience in bearing it. Owing to the number of concerts, and also the uncertainty whether I may not be summoned to one place or another, I cannot rely on my evening writing, so it is my custom (especially when I come home early) to write for a time before going to bed. I often sit up writing till one, and rise again at six.”

Ernest Hemingway

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

Hemingway was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations.

“In a 1958 interview with The Paris Review, Hemingway explains his daily routine and work habits.

When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there. You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next and you stop and try to live through until the next day when you hit it again.

You have started at six in the morning, say, and may go on until noon or be through before that. When you stop you are as empty, and at the same time never empty but filling, as when you have made love to someone you love. Nothing can hurt you, nothing can happen, nothing means anything until the next day when you do it again. It is the wait until that next day that is hard to get through.

Woody Allen

“Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.”

Allen is an American actor, author, filmmaker, comedian, playwright, and musician, whose career spans more than six decades. Here is how Woody thinks about ideas:

“I’ve found over the years that any momentary change stimulates a fresh burst of mental energy. So if I’m in this room and then I go into the other room, it helps me. If I go outside to the street, it’s a huge help. If I go up and take a shower it’s a big help. So I sometimes take extra showers. I’ll be down here [in the living room] and at an impasse and what will help me is to go upstairs and take a shower. It breaks up everything and relaxes me.

The shower is particularly good in cold weather. This sounds so silly, but I’ll be working dressed as I am and I’ll want to get into the shower for a creative stint. So I’ll take off some of my clothes and make myself an English muffin or something and try to give myself a little chill so I want to get in the shower. I’ll stand there with steaming hot water coming down for thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, just thinking out ideas and working on plot. Then I get out and dry myself and dress and then flop down on the bed and think there.

Maya Angelo

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”

Maya Angelou published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist.

Maya described her routine in a 1983 interview:

“I usually get up at about 5:30, and I’m ready to have coffee by 6, usually with my husband. He goes off to his work around 6:30, and I go off to mine. I keep a hotel room in which I do my work — a tiny, mean room with just a bed, and sometimes, if I can find it, a face basin. I keep a dictionary, a Bible, a deck of cards and a bottle of sherry in the room. I try to get there around 7, and I work until 2 in the afternoon. If the work is going badly, I stay until 12:30. If it’s going well, I’ll stay as long as it’s going well. It’s lonely, and it’s marvelous.

I edit while I’m working. When I come home at 2, I read over what I’ve written that day, and then try to put it out of my mind. I shower, prepare dinner, so that when my husband comes home, I’m not totally absorbed in my work. We have a semblance of a normal life. We have a drink together and have dinner. Maybe after dinner I’ll read to him what I’ve written that day. He doesn’t comment. I don’t invite comments from anyone but my editor, but hearing it aloud is good. Sometimes I hear the dissonance; then I try to straighten it out in the morning.”

Vincent van Gogh

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” Gogh is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life.

In an 1888 letter to his brother, Theo, Gogh wrote:

“Today again from seven o’clock in the morning till six in the evening I worked without stirring except to take some food a step or two away. I have no thought of fatigue, I shall do another picture this very night, and I shall bring it off. Our days pass in working, working all the time, in the evening we are dead beat and go off to the café, and after that, early to bed! Such is our life.”

Stephen King

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

Stephen’s books have sold more than 350 million copies, many of which have been adapted into feature films, miniseries, television shows, and comic books. He is an author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy.

In his memoir On Writing, King reveals his creative writing process:

“Like your bedroom, your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream. Your schedule — in at about the same time every day, out when your thousand words are on paper or disk — exists in order to habituate yourself, to make yourself ready to dream just as you make yourself ready to sleep by going to bed at roughly the same time each night and following the same ritual as you go.

In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives. And as your mind and body grow accustomed to a certain amount of sleep each night — six hours, seven, maybe the recommended eight — so can you train your waking mind to sleep creatively and work out the vividly imagined waking dreams which are successful works of fiction.”

Vladimir Nabokov

“Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.”

Vladimir was a Russian-American novelist and entomologist. Nabokov was an expert lepidopterist and composer of chess problems. In a 1964 interview he shared his daily schedule:

“I awake around seven in winter: my alarm clock is an Alpine chough — big, glossy, black thing with big yellow beak — which visits the balcony and emits a most melodious chuckle. For a while I lie in bed mentally revising and planning things. Around eight: shave, breakfast, enthroned meditation, and bath — in that order. Then I work till lunch in my study, taking time out for a short stroll with my wife along the lake.… We lunch around one P.M., and I am back at my desk by half-past one and work steadily till half-past six. Then a stroll to a newsstand for the English papers, and dinner at seven. No work after dinner. And bed around nine. I read till half-past eleven, and then tussle with insomnia till one A.M.”

Turns out great minds don’t think alike.

Whatever you do, it’s important to find your ideal creative time and stick to it. Do your creative and meaningful work at your peak times when your energy is high and distractions are minimal.

By Thomas Oppong. Shared from Medium.

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Leadership Is Learned From Experience, Mentoring and Failure

Committees don’t create successful startups. A single visionary entrepreneur almost always is the initial implementer of an innovative new venture, but that lone entrepreneur doesn’t have the bandwidth to grow the business alone. He or she needs the multiplier of growing from the “doer” to a team-builder and leader. That’s a big transition, and many entrepreneurs never make it.

Leadership & Collaboration

When you work for a corporation, you often find yourself collaborating with others as part of your job — when you’re assigned to a new project team, for instance. But when you’re self-employed, collaboration becomes a choice. Working closely with others can open up new opportunities for success and personal fulfillment.

Here are five questions to ask yourself in order to determine when collaboration is worthwhile.

1. Is there demand?

The first rule of a successful collaboration is determining whether demand exists for the product or service you’re offering.

2. Does your collaborator add unique skills?

Another good reason to collaborate is when your colleague brings something to the table that you don’t

3. Does it help you cement a relationship?

Collaborating with someone — whether on a longer-term consulting project or a short-term activity like writing an article — is a way to get to know someone better, spend more time with them, and (depending on the activity) do them a favor by allowing them access to a new opportunity.

4. Does it provide a chance to spend time with friends?

Another benefit of collaboration can be personal: a chance to spend additional time with people you enjoy

5. Do you trust your collaborator implicitly?

Of course, you can’t know everything about your potential collaborators in advance. But you have to know enough to feel confident associating your name and reputation with them.

Co-Working Spaces the new Collaborative Spaces

Unlike traditional offices, a coworking space consists of people who work for a varied range of companies, ventures, and projects. And because there is no direct competition, they don’t feel the need to put on a work persona to fit in. Working among people doing different kinds of work can also make one’s own work identity stronger.

At Metspace, Coworking Boutique in Montreal, our mission is to build the premier Collaborative Coworking Community for Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs and Professionals in Development. We believe in providing our Members with the tools necessary to grow, give, and achieve.

Curious to see what Met Space Solutions is all about simply book at tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal.

Coworking is the new global megatrend. By 2020 more than 65 million small businesses are expected to join a coworking space. //US Bureau of Labor

Leadership Is Learned From Experience

Entrepreneurs know instinctively what needs to be done, but they may have no idea how to get it done through others. Some will argue that people leadership is a skill you have to be born with, but I’m convinced that it can be learned from experience, mentoring and failures. The ones who learn quickest are the ones who move from good entrepreneurs to good business leaders.

In my experience working with entrepreneurs and business leaders, I have found no magic formula or recipe to get you there, but there are some key leadership principles that anyone can aspire too and learn from, including the following:

1. Become an ardent student of leadership.

Entrepreneurs who become business leaders study the successes of peers and seek to emulate them. They reach to find mentors who have been there, read books on the subject, and participate in leadership development programs. Leadership requires focus and effort and doesn’t happen by title.

2. Set personal leadership goals and solicit feedback.

Business leadership requires spending more time working on the business, and less time working in the business. You can measure these activities yourself and get validation from your team. How much of your time is spent on futures, strategizing and coaching versus fixing daily crises?

3. Tackle new challenges outside your comfort zone.

If you never push your limits and never fail, you never learn new capabilities. As a new entrepreneur, perhaps you have no experience with hiring and delegating, yet these skills are not rocket science. Don’t be afraid to ask for support from more experienced peers and human resources experts.

4. Celebrate small successes and learn from failures.

People who demand perfection from themselves are rarely good leaders. Learn to celebrate small steps in the right direction and failures that are a source of real insight. Be humble and transparent in involving your team and even your customers in your successes and your mistakes.

5. Recognize and reward leadership successes around you.

Working to recognize and celebrate leadership in others will supplement and solidify your own capabilities. The more often you walk in the shoes of leaders around you, the easier and more natural it will be for you to define and capitalize on your own leadership elements.

6. Demand strong performance and deal quickly with mediocrity.

Recognized business leaders are known for their expectation of excellence from their team — and from themselves. They do not tolerate mediocrity around them, which keeps their teams highly motivated and proud to be associated with the leader as a role model.

7. Work on improving your communication skills.

Effective leadership requires effective communication, including verbal, written and body-language. Your team, customers and partners need to understand your vision, goals and what is expected of them before they decide to follow you. Great leaders also practice active listening and full attention.

8. Go forward with passion and a positive attitude.

No one wants to follow a habitually grumpy or negative entrepreneur. Business people are naturally attracted to passionate, motivated and enthusiastic peers. A side benefit is that you will feel happier and more fulfilled when surrounded by similar positive people. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

To grow from being an entrepreneur to a business leader is a personal challenge and not one that everyone can deal with. The core principles are the same for both — develop and articulate a vision, act decisively and build personal relationships. The leadership multiplier is required to effectively incent others around you to do the same. How well is that multiplier working for you?

Shared from: www.entrepreneur.com & Harvard Business Review.

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Clip Your Nails at Home

By: Anthony Vella

It’s been a little while since I wrote my last blog. Everyday life and the holiday season got in the way. Tito Kang and I will attempt to write a blog a week for the Met Space site. We want to write on topics that we hope you’ll find entertaining, interesting and most important, helpful to your career or growing your business.

This week’s topic is something that has shocked and astounded me over the years. I’ve worked in many professional offices in my career and I’ve seen more than I bargained for at times. From how people eat and dress, to their general behaviour in an office, people simply lack an understanding of business etiquette in a professional social setting.

Trust me, I’ve done some stupid things over the years and got called out on them. I took them as learning tools and didn’t make those mistakes again. Here are seven basic business etiquette points that I think will help you in your day to day with clients, potential clients or working in a shared space:

1. Stay at home when you’re sick – This is simple and should go without saying. You’re not doing anyone any favours by “gutting through” and going into work. No one wants to be exposed to the plague. Take a day or two and get better. Everyone around you will appreciate the sacrifice you made.

2. Dress appropriately – “Clothing is an important form of nonverbal communication. It enhances your reputation and can detract from your credibility.” I worked with women who have worn yoga pants that are well past their prime and seen more than I needed to see. I’ve worked with men that looked like they put on clothes that looked and smelled like they were at the bottom of their hamper. I’m not saying you should spend a ridiculous amount of money, but you want to send a professional message through your clothing choices.

3. The handshake – If I had a dollar for ever wet noodle I shook….in North America, a handshake is the business greeting. You need to do this right if you want to be taken seriously. Approach the person’s line of slight, look the person in the eye, smile, and your hand webs should touch. Most important, please use a firm grip. Men, if you’re wondering how to shake a woman’s hand…shake it like you would a man’s hand, she’s not different!

4. Business meals – I once worked with someone that may have been raised by wolves. I honestly would rather sit next to this person during dinner and take my chances with his food shrapnel than sit across from him and watch him eat. Some basics to practice: don’t speak when your mouth is full, use utensils, napkin is folded on your lap and you use the inside of the fold to wipe your mouth, don’t push away or stack your dishes…let the wait staff do their job and if you are the guest, follow the lead of your host when ordering. Always remember the 4/5 rule. Food dish, fork and left have 4 letters, so these are to the left of your plate. Drink glass, knife, spoon and right have 5 letters, so these are all on the right hand side of your plate.

5. Express gratitude – After meeting with potential clients, a thank you note goes a long way in recognizing their business and their effort. This should be done within 24 hours of the meeting and it should be individually focused. If you are sending an email, make it concise, thoughtful and free of spelling mistakes.

6. Meetings – Working on Bay Street, I learned one very valuable lesson about business meetings…show up on time, come prepared and pay attention. Enough said.

7. Be respectful of the space you are sharing – I worked at one place where on a weekly basis the entire office would hear that distinct sound of nails being clipped…clip, clip, clip, echoing from a nearby office. There is a time and a place for everything and treating your office like a corner nail salon isn’t one of them. Be considerate to those around you. Little things like being aware of how loud you are speaking in the office; don’t play your country music on an endless loop so everyone can hear; and enjoy your fragrant meal in the kitchen and not in the cube. Having respect for those around you helps create a harmonious work place.

About Met Space Solutions

Our mission is to build the premier Collaborative Co-working Community for Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs and Professionals in Development. We believe in providing our Members with the tools necessary to grow, give, and achieve.

Curious to see what Met Space Solutions is all about simply book at tour at 514-667-6891 or 1-855-814-2402 to see our see our beautiful co-working offices in Montreal.

Come Find Your Fit!

Met Space Solutions Grow. Give. Achieve.

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Aloha Friends

This past week the movie The Founder was released. If you are not familiar with it, it is the story of Ray Kroc and how he came across the Mc Donalds brothers restaurant in San Bernadino and grew it to the giant Fast Food chain we now know as Mc Ds. John Maxwell in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership used this story to illustrate the first law, the Law of The Lid.

While Dick and Maurice were very excellent operators and very prudent business men. They were held by the the way they thought. In the movie ( no spoilers here ), they were very limited in their ability to grow their franchise operations due to their inability to maintain their standards of operations. As well, they were held by their beliefs that the success of the chain would solely rely on their central store. They believed if they improved and maintained that one store, the rest would take care of itself.

The Law of The Lid can also be found in another fast growth chain. Starbucks Coffee was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. When Howard Schultz discovered this coffee retailer in 1981, he decided to join the team in 1982. Following a trip to Italy, he convinces the founders to open their first coffee house emulating the espresso shops he fell in love with in Italy in 1984. Even after a successful introduction of the coffee house concept, the founders were not bought into creating a restaurant, they wanted to maintain their retail focus. Howard left in 1985 to create his own coffee house ( Il Giornali ) and then came back in 1987 to acquire all the Starbucks assets for $3.8M. The number of stores then: 17.

Today, Starbucks operates more than 24 000 stores in over 50 countries. Think about it, from 17 stores to 24 000 in just over 30 years! Mc Donald’s has 36 615 restaurants in 118 countries built over 54 years. Wow, right?

Are you seeing the similarities between these 2 stories? The original founders were successful in their own right, in fact it was this success that had attracted Kroc and Schultz. They most certainly wanted to grow, the Mc Donald brothers had ventured in franchising; the Starbucks founders had opened a couple of stores as well. So one could not conclude lack of vision, right? Or was it? As I see it, it was not lack of Vision; it was the extent of the vision. The original founders were held by their lid or limiting beliefs. I would even add they were held by their inefficiency to grow exponentially.

Certainly one could also argue they all worked hard, their dedication to their success was undeniable. So what was that ingredient that was missing. I believe it was their leadership ability. See the following figure:

In the end, the success or failure of an organization, a team, a division, a family or a friendship must be put on the shoulders of the leader at the helm. I have maintained that the leader has either created or allowed the situation she finds herself in. Success or Failure, the adage coined by President Harry S. Truman: “The buck stops here!”

What then does it take to continue raising the Lid? I would provide this insight, deprogramming how we learned in school for over 11 years. In school, we were given the material then asked the questions. If we observe our own personal timeline of growth, we would notice that we grew efficiently during the ages of 3 – 6 years old. Think about it, we learned to walk, talk and read. During those formative years, we were bombarding the adults with all sorts of questions. If you have young kids around you, you know what I mean. In order to raise the lid the leader must continue be the Eternal Apprentice. When you put yourself in the position of wanting to know more or not knowing much, you open your horizon; you make it possible to lift your lid.

Imagine if Dick and Maurice would have said: ‘ How could we develop more stores and maintain our standards?’ If the Starbucks founders would have asked: ‘ How could we integrate the retail and restaurant business under one roof?”

The type of questions abound when you keep the mind of an Eternal Apprentice.

Apply

List your yearly goals. What do you want to accomplish the next 12 months

Rate your leadership Ability

On a scale of 1 – 8 ( 1 = never – 8 = always )

When I encounter a challenge/opportunity. I ask: Who can help? What do I need to know more? What don’t I know at all? How can I learn more?

When my team, department fails at a task or to reach a goal. I ask: Who was leading that project/initiative? What was responsibility in it? How am I accountable?

I believe that my leadership skills will significantly increase my effectiveness. I ask: How many books can I read on leadership? What workshops on leadership should I attend? What masterminds should I participate in? What coach should I hire to help me grow? Which mentor should I reach out to for help in this area?

Complete an express 360

Ask your boss, 2 colleagues, your business partner, your spouse and 3 people you lead and get to rate you on the scale of 1 – 8 ( 1 = Needs a lot of improvement – 8 = Outstanding ) in the following areas

People Skills

Planning and Strategic Thinking

Vision

Results

Communications Skills

At Met Space, we have a community of leaders driving to get their services, products and messages into the world. With our inherent value to support our members the best we can on their success journey, we include the best selling book by world renown leadership expert John C. Maxwell: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and offer a mastermind. Find out more about what Met Space does to support its members by contacting [email protected].

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