Are you KIDding me: Designing a Kids Sensory Project

Last summer, one of our favorite clients commissioned us for a project where they needed reactions from both kids AND parents!

The problem we’ve found in the past is that kid’s reactions are somewhat biased by their parents (and sometimes, although not always), some parents want to influence their child’s reactions.  However, we needed to have parents’ perspective to get a holistic view.

Our goal is to design research as “efficiently” as possible so we worked side by side with our client partner to create research that would allow reactions from BOTH parents & children separately in the same group.

So we designed a process that will ensure the project will be a success: 

• The Problem: How do you design a kid’s research where you are able to get uninfluenced responses from both the kids AND their parents? Did I forget to mention that apart from talking to kids, we also wanted to get their parents’ reactions and inputs?
• The Solution: Create an environment where both the kids and parents would feel comfortable being separated in some parts of the research. Trust me, it’s not a logistical nightmare!
  • Set-up a movie room for kids
  • Explain logistics and timing to parents
  • Coordinate amongst ourselves when kids would be in and out of the focus group discussion

As soon as we figured out the rhythm to the process after the first group, everything was smooth sailing and we were able to implement our research design:

• Get kids’ taste preference while parents watched in the back room.
• Get parents’ interpretation of their kids’ food ratings.
• Understand how both the parent and kid come to an agreement and decide what to order.
• How to effectively get learnings/reactions/inputs with just 8 focus groups.

In the end, we were able to successfully conduct the research. And the bonus was we all had fun with the kids!

What do Teenagers and the QRCA Conference have in Common?

 I recently had the opportunity to attend my first Qualitative Researcher Consultants Association (QRCA) annual conference. I don’t typically consider myself the conference type but I thought this would be a great opportunity to meet people in our industry and learn about the hottest trends. In these situations I usually find myself being overly skeptical thinking I won’t learn as much as I hope to or make connections that will be beneficial to our business. The fact that my boss (April) was also attending made me feel slightly better about sitting in a room full of strangers that I would soon need to be friends with. 

The primary purpose of me attending the conference was to assist April as she gave a presentation to her peers; however, I ended up walking away feeling like I got much more value out of the experience than I expected. April’s presentation (A Framework That Works: Design Thinking + Montessori Principles to Elevate Your Practice) went off without a hitch – which immediately made months of hard work seem like one of the most rewarding tasks we completed last year. You never know how people will react to new material and the moment you see the excitement and passion in the faces, it makes it worth every revision we made.

What surprised me most about April’s presentation was how engaged the participants were. When you’ve been reviewing the content for 5+ months leading up to the conference, it’s easy to forget that this content is new for most viewers. During the presentation, she conducted a Design Thinking exercise that required participants to partner up and “build” a prototype of their idea. I was amazed at how serious some took this exercise but loved their willingness to engage with a stranger as they learned about the Design Thinking process. I think it made the awkward “eh, I have to work with someone I don’t know” situation fun and entertaining for most.  

Another highlight of the conference was the Keynote Presentation – Teen Press: A Wild and Precious Perspective – given by John Boettner & Friends. This was an unforgettable experience that brought a unique perspective to the work we do and the world we live in. John, the Chief Enchantment Officer of Teen Press, discussed how he turned a middle school communications class into a group of teenagers interviewing some of the hottest celebrities on red carpets. Not only did they engage with celebrities (Jennifer Lawrence, Oprah, Clint Eastwood to name a few) but they also interviewed some of the most interesting living Americans (for example, the commander of the Osama Bin Laden mission, a woman who held President Obama’s hand across the bridge in Selma, and a young Rwandan who lost his hands to genocide). 

Teen Press teaches kids how to listen to peoples’ stories and ask honest questions – although they’re sometimes difficult to ask and answer. By pushing the kids to conduct pre-interview research, they entered their interviews with a sense of confidence that many times shocked the respondent and made them more likely to engage. This program inspires kids to think: “if I can talk to the CEO of Patagonia, I can do anything”. John’s presentation was such a welcomed breath of fresh air in the world we’re currently living in. These kids don’t care who voted red or blue, they just want to know about people and what makes them different. The kids weren’t there to judge the interviewee, and the interviewee wasn’t there to judge the kids. They were both there to learn. These kids are so admirable for their dedication and openness to learning about others. Something I strive to do myself – in and out of research. Who knew you could learn so much from kids?

Here is a short clip on Teen Press, but if you have some extra time I highly recommend watching the full Teen Press video (~30 minutes) to get the full experience of how great these kids and this program is. 

So while I still don’t consider myself the conference type, I’m so glad I attended. I walked away with a perspective I wasn’t expecting – if you go into these “uncomfortable” situations with an open mind, you are much more likely to learn more than you initially thought and meet some really interesting people. I guess sitting with strangers isn’t so bad after all. 

Road Stories on how Married Couples go into Business Together Lesson #2

When I was in my corporate job, April and I had always joked about how dangerous working together would be. We enjoyed talking about the similarities between our jobs, particularly in how we were both helping people understand what makes their customers and business tick, but also felt good about being able to go back to our own worlds the next day. Partners, but masters of our own spheres.

Then working together finally started to make too much sense to ignore. I had already made the transition out of a corporate role and to the consultant side, and why have two competing consulting careers when you can join forces and make it even greater?

I read the blogs out there and listened to other couples that worked together. It was good to know I was not alone – here are a couple of articles that talk about this condition, which could be listed in the DSM-5.

I’m going with this advice, though:  “Get used to the fact that whoever is joining the other person’s company is initially lower on the totem pole. However, once you get to the other side it’s better than what you were doing before and you would never go back. Once you find your stride and each has their own role and authority, it’s great!”

What they don’t tell you as much is what it’s like for a man to go to work for his wife. I now believe this is God’s sense of humor as payback to men for not having to bear children.  

I responded to a question from my wife-boss the other night. Right after I joined the company, her logistics expert was scheduled to go on a three-week absence to the Philippines. So guess who needed to learn her role pronto, to patch us through an upcoming project, which fell during that timeframe. After another long day of absorbing a massive amount of details and then getting bombarded with ten more items on my to-do list (that I really don’t know when will get done, but they are captured, by golly), I was less than passionate and a bit numb.

She asked, “are you feeling resentful about something?” I said, “no, I just feel a little emasculated, is all.”

All those ideas of grandeur about my involvement in the business had been reduced to a reality of me being her administrative support. Can I get you some coffee? Yes, all your research materials will be printed out and put in piles and be ready for you. Yes, I will ensure that there is a bag of markers and post-its with at least four different colors of each in your car tomorrow morning. These are all important tasks, don’t get me wrong. April’s clients are spoiled by the level of detail that she brings to projects. It’s just that they weren’t what I had in mind when I signed on…

There are great things in store for us, and I know it will evolve into separate management roles to do these new and exciting things. The transition period, though, is a bitch.

April’s perspective: Trust me - there’s nothing I want more than for Lloyd to start leading the business! But… we have competing priorities: he has to learn how we do the business, AND yes, we have to strategically craft the right role for him, but most importantly, we have stuff to get done! What better way to learn than by doing? Get on it, stop complaining, we have a business to run!

Lesson #2: Bring an apron, guys, if you want to join your wife’s business. Hide your man card in a safe spot in the garage.

Road Stories on how Married People go into Business Together

After telling some of our close friends over the holidays about our plan for Lloyd to join the business, and seeing their wide-eyed worried expressions, we decided we should probably talk about how we might work together…and stay married! 

April’s perspective: I approached our “vision of how we will work together” in the same way I plan any other work project. Thinking about: “What do we want to accomplish?”  “What are the tools we could use to help the discussion flow?”  “What does success look like?”  “What is the agenda?”

We packed ourselves up and headed to a location away from home with all of our materials – flip charts, post-its, magazines and markers.  Our objective was to create a shared vision for the company and what our roles would be. 

Over the years, I’ve discovered several sources to help with vision/strategy planning; all of them are great in different ways. The first exercise was to review each and come back together to align on the best approach. Some of the sources we had available were:

1. 90 Day Year by Todd Herman

2. Lara Casey’s Powersheets

3. Self-Authoring  

4. Marie Forleo

5. Lululemon’s Vision Worksheet

I was excited and optimistic when we got back together. Books and materials were all over the table, and I could tell this was going to be a good conversation. Lloyd started first.  He said “so what I’ve discovered is that our word for the year should be ‘intentionality’ and I’ve identified two main areas that we need to focus on to be more productive.” All the air went out of my sails, and I sat there for several long seconds trying to grasp at how I would respond, because he clearly did not stick to the plan of aligning on the best approach but instead, jumped to a conclusion!

We had to stray from the agenda for about 10 minutes to work through this style difference, but we made it to the other side.

After getting past my initial reaction, I knew what he said was exactly what was needed for the business - he’s very proficient at coming to solid conclusions quickly, and doesn’t feel the need to review every angle before deciding. This is exactly the skill we need … although it wasn’t what I expected from an exploratory vision exercise.

Lloyd’s perspective: It didn't take long to see that there were similar patterns in these different methodologies, so let’s just cut to the chase here and identify the big levers that are going to move the needle for us most. Boom, done!

Married Couple working together lesson #1: we need to be open-minded toward the other person’s way of thinking. We have different strengths, and our approaches are not the same but can be complimentary when we have patience.

Stay Tuned….more lessons to come…

4 Montessori Principles to Help Guide Client Work

Until a couple of years ago, I knew very little about Montessori schools – something about kids having freedom of choice in the work they do.  But I was a bit skeptical about whether that would be a good environment for my child. I felt if given too much “free reign”, my daughter would be the type to run with it.  (I think she gets that from her Dad! :) But an event in her first preschool left me feeling different.  I walked in one day to pick her up, and the teacher pulled me into the classroom.  With every 4-year old eye on me (including my daughter’s), the teacher pointed up to a wall of kid’s work – all of the letter “u’s”.  My daughter’s work was hanging up – completely blank.  Then, the teacher proceeded to tell me about how my daughter wouldn’t listen in class, showing me the blank piece of paper she had posted up for everyone to see.  My face reddened, and so did my daughter’s.  When we left the class, I began questioning her to understand what was going on, and she broke into tears and said “mommy, I don’t know how to draw a ‘U’ – I don’t know how to do it right.”  And that experience is what led me to rethink putting her in a Montessori classroom - how that environment would be interesting to learn more about…

Fast forward 2+ years, and I am thrilled that we found White Rock Montessori. Not only has our daughter thrived in this environment but we have as well, as parents.  

After seeing the impact Montessori had on her love of learning, I was curious to understand more about “why” this was effective for her, as well as “how” the classroom works.  What I discovered was that some Montessori principles were applicable to the work we conduct with our clients. 

When conducting marketing research, my teams are very involved in “learning” – learning what people think about products, how consumers react to new ideas, etc.  And my job is not only to learn new insights through my interviews but also keep my clients engaged in the learning.

Here are the Montessori principles that directly link to the work I do -

1.     Pull, Don’t Push - Montessori teachers refer to this as “The Art of Drawing Out.” Instead of pushing information in, they use acknowledgement and questioning to get children to think about what they are doing.  This helps children learn to be accountable for their learning.  Similarly, when in research, questioning the listening team to help “draw out” learnings creates ownership in the learning process. 

2. Concrete Before Abstract - The Montessori belief is that students learn best from something they already know, so teachers use physical objects to begin each lesson, and present new concepts through storytelling. This builds connection with students’ emotions and gives them greater interest in the concept. In my practice, especially when conducting ideation sessions, I find this principle helpful to ignite creativity with clients. When brainstorming, it is actually easier to create new ideas by starting with “constrained” stimulus because participants start with something they can visualize, making it easier to alter/change/adapt to new ideas. Learn more about this topic from Chip & Dan Heath’s Myth of the Garage eBook (see “Get Back in the Box” page 31). This helps spark their imagination and allows them to think about “abstract” concepts.

3.     Structure That’s Flexible - The beauty of this principle is that children believe they have freedom of choice but their choices are orchestrated around what the teacher plans for them to learn.  Providing a flexible structure for learning with client teams is just as important because clients appreciate getting to make choices – and it allows them to “own” the process.

4.     Observe Before Acting - Teachers in a Montessori classroom don’t take on the traditional role – you won’t see them in front of the room, chalk in hand, writing out a math problem step-by-step. They see themselves as guides, not teachers. They ask questions, then sit back and let students take their own path to figure out a solution - make their own decisions.  As a facilitator of client’s learning, my role of guide is similar. Sometimes this means facilitating a highly involved team debating a controversial learning.  Other times, creating activities to encourage a distracted team to actively work together is necessary.

Check out this video to see all 4 of these principles in action in a Montessori classroom environment. 

3 min. 13. sec. A Montessori story of exploration. For more, go to www.montessoriguide.org.

I will be speaking more on this subject, specifically how I use these principles alongside a Design Thinking at the 2017 QRCA Annual conference in LA on January 19. Click here for the schedule conference and other presentations. 

Why Mashups are Culinary Genius

We all know (and many love) Taco Bell’s Doritos Loco Tacos. I mean, they combined the awesomeness of Doritos with the goodness of a Taco Bell taco – what’s not to love? As a marketing research firm, this is exactly the kind of new product development project we loved working on.  

Equally exciting is getting to test the newer, limited-time offer “mash up” at Burger King - Mac n’ Cheetos.

These mash ups also create conversation. Although I’m not personally a huge mac n’ cheese fan, when I heard about this product, I immediately wanted to try it just so I could tell others about it. A newly discovered “mash up” makes you want to share your experience with others. There are well over  7,000+ #macncheetos instagram posts. 

Since we worked on Doritos Locos Tacos  in 2012, it seems like everywhere we turn there are new delicious mash-ups calling my name. The Cronut, A Sushi Burrito, Pizza Hut’s Hot Dog Bites Pizza, Cinnamon Bun Oreos, Taco Bell’s Quesarito, 7-Eleven’s Slurpee Donut – the list goes on and on. So why does this trend still have so much popularity, close to 4 years later?  

I’m curious to know how long the trend of food “mash ups” will continue in the food industry. I love the way it adds a new element to a relatively familiar items. So what’s next? Burger King just announced the launch of a Whopperito. Culinary Genius.   

2016 Reflections - Firewalking with Tony Robbins: More than Just a Physiological Impact

As 2016 ends and we take some time to think about some of the year’s highlights, Tony Robbins' Unleash the Power Within was one of them. 

How do you describe Tony Robbins?  Almost more than human.  The conference is something between a hardcore rock concert and a very dynamic church service (a long church service).  And while on the surface, those events may seem very different –Tony Robbins brings and maintains both elevated emotions, senses, and inspiration to the table all at once.

Twenty years ago, a co-worker of mine REALLY got into Tony Robbins.  In fact, at the time, I felt she was akin to a groupie, and I didn’t really understand it.  I remember thinking the whole thing seemed kind of “cultish” and therefore, didn’t engage to really understand why she was so into it.   Fast forward many years later - I’ve learned (the hard way several times) that judging something without understanding it is, frankly, my own ignorance. 

More recently, I was reacquainted with Tony Robbins through a blog I religiously follow called Asian Efficiency.  AE’s productivity content has been extremely helpful in both work and personal life due to their “holistic” approach - energy management, help with Omnifocus, a productivity "cheat sheet", a productivity "blueprint", including morning rituals, etc.

They profess in their content how much Tony Robbins has influenced them, and that his UPW conference was “transformational” for their work.  So, when Tony scheduled one of his shindigs in Dallas this year, I decided to go.  I wanted to see what it was all about.

While some of his tactics are a little hard core (i.e. fire walking on the 1st night), he is one of the most powerful speakers I’ve ever encountered. The days were incredibly long - 2 of them were 15 hours.  When I showed up the 1st day, I was so glad I had a car so I could make a quick get away when I became tired of sitting in a hard chair amongst 8,000 of my new friends!  However, believe it or not, his energy was so captivating that it was easier than I expected to stay engaged.

But what did I learn.  Here are just a few things…

1.     There is an Art to Fulfillment – One of his many provocative statements he made was “The brain is not designed to make you happy.  It’s a great strategy tool – but it’s not good at enjoying.” Deciding to live in a beautiful state of mind is 100% my responsibility.  To do this, I must become aware of my own thoughts and basically, STOP believing them! 

2.     Changing my Feelings starts with Changing my Focus, Language and Physiological State. This hit home because so many times when I get knotted up about something I want to change, I believe I need to stop feeling bad BEFORE I can make a change but according to Robbins, that belief is what holds me back. 

·      Focus = feeling.  What I focus on creates the feelings I have.  My pain and suffering is not necessarily dependent on what happens to me - it’s more dependent on the “story” I create about it.  I don’t HAVE TO suffer no matter what happens.  “As you think, so you feel”, he says.

·      Use Language that Lifts, Not Limits You – so often, my thoughts are a repeat of the thoughts from yesterday or the day before.  I can interrupt those patterns by creating “incantations” – sounds a little over the top but the idea is to create statement that addresses an Empowering Belief (instead of a Limiting Belief).  An example of one of my own Limiting Beliefs is:  “I can’t lose weight because I have thyroid issues” vs. this Empowering Belief I replaced while in the session: “I am strong and healthy overall, and I have the ability to make almost anything happen that I want to make happen.”

·      If I Can’t Change My State of Mind, I can change my “State” - The shortcut to changing my emotions is to change my “state”  (i.e. if I “feel” sad, I can change that feeling more quickly if I change something physiologically first - my posture, my breathing, my face expression, etc.). To close the gap between how you currently “feel” and how you want to feel, you need to visualize experiencing it.  In fact, the best advice he gave on visualizing is to not only visualize it but also, to imagine having it taken away – once you get a “taste” of something, you’ll fight to keep it!

3.  Stress is the Achiever’s Word for Fear.  This, too, hit home for me. Not only had I never related my “stress” to fear, I also did not realize how “universal” fear is.  He spoke of 2 primary fears that we all share:  “not being enough” and that “we won’t be loved.”  What he suggested was to dance with fear – instead of fighting it. And of course, Tony showed us this by dancing on stage with imaginary fear so that we could understand his point – it’s there and moving with it (instead of running or fighting it) releases its hold on us.

If you want to learn more about Tony Robbins and his style, you now can without attending one of his events.  A documentary was released in 2016 and Marie Forleo interviewed him about it. Good interview…

Oh, and I walked over hot coals - I, too, am a fire walker!  …although yes my feet hurt a bit afterwards. =)

A Facility’s Art of “Hosting” Marketing Research

Yikes! Me welcoming people at a place I’m visiting for the first time too? “Oh, my. Please, no.”   Those were my exact thoughts when I first learned we would not only conduct research but also “host” the groups at our clients’ test kitchen some months ago.  

Fast forward to today, five months after my first panic attack - things aren’t only more comfortable – they can also be fun. 

One time, I had a respondent arrive 2 hours before the group and went to the bathroom at least 3 times???? Another time, a respondent literally asked me 1,000 questions about the “early bird drawing”. And the most interesting of all, I had a respondent who, after not being chosen for a group, stayed in the waiting room to catch some “ZZZzzzsss.”  I was thankful she left before the group discussion finished! Whew!!!

So many other respondent-related things can go wrong when you’re in charge of managing groups of respondents starting on time.  My pet peeves are: respondents not showing up on time and worse, not showing up at all. 

I noticed that in a 6 focus group study, you’ll have at least 1-2 groups that gives anxiety attacks because respondents aren’t picking up their phones when you try to reach them to check if they’re on their way while some just don’t show. And then you can only hope you have enough respondents who can clearly articulate their thinking in every group. 

And then, when you have to choose who will be selected and who will be paid and sent home - I always ask: “How can I turn these people away without them thinking something’s wrong with them?  I realized that being extra polite yet unruffled, and explaining each specific situation clearly helps when it’s time to send them off. 

We are so lucky to have long-term relationships with some of the best research facilities.  More than anything, this new experience of “hosting” respondents allowed our team to have a better appreciation for the facilities we hire!  It is definitely an “art” to recruit and host consistently great research projects, and to create a comfortable environment for our clients and respondents!

Telling Better Stories Means Happier CEOs

I recently had the opportunity to attend my first Southwest chapter MRA Educational Forum. I was lucky that the conference was held close to home - in Fort Worth, TX - and loved how they tied in the Texas theme by calling the conference “Research Roundup”.

The keynote speaker at the event was Brett Townsend, Director of Insights at Pepsico. He started his presentation with a humorous, yet scrambled and confusing story in order to provide a basis for his argument - more and more CEO’s don’t see the value that marketing and/or research provide their organizations. The main challenge he sees today is that both suppliers and clients present too many findings vs. summarizing the finding in a useful story, causing decision makers to miss true insights. Considering my role of writing reports here at April Bell Research Group, I definitely wanted to understand why this seems to be a recurring theme and how we, as a supplier, can help our clients by presenting clearer findings.

From Brett’s perspective, in order to cull through insights and report the clearest story back to our clients we need to understand: What is the goal of insights? Yes, we hope to increase sales or improve a product’s performance, but the real goal is to CHANGE BEHAVIOR. And, according to Brett, in order to change behavior, we need to do the following:

1. Understand who and what drives demand.
2. Tell consumers why they should be buying your product.

Understanding what and who drives demand seems simple, but even as researchers we don’t always get this right. Brett explains that consumers will do 1 of 3 things when questioned (no matter the subject): 1) they answer correctly, 2) they can’t answer correctly so they answer incorrectly, or 3) they won’t answer. So by having a clearer understanding of demand we can increase the quality of respondents and learnings we gather. An example Brett shared with the group was a Jimmy Kimmel skit. A week before the Super Bowl, Jimmy went to Hollywood Blvd and asked people what they thought about the outcome. You’ll see in the skit, even if people are unsure of their answers, they want to come across as knowledgeable and will tell you what they think you want to hear (even if that means lying about their answer).

The second step to changing behaviors involves telling consumers why they should buy the product. Brett showed us a great example of how Gatorade does this by showing the compelling story of how Gatorade improved Kevin Durant’s basketball performance.

Kevin Durant And Dwyane Wade Commercial

I really enjoyed Brett’s presentation and will keep these 2 factors top of mind - 1.) understanding who and what drives demand and 2.) ensuring consumers know why they should be buying your product - the next time we present learning to our clients. By doing so, I hope to clear the clutter and provide our clients with insights that will help change behaviors (and ultimately make happy CEOs!).

How a 1-Day Conference Helped Me Come to Grips with what Truly Matters

When you get an invitation to an event that promises to help you “live the life you love”, you would immediately say yes and pack your bags. And that’s what April Bell Research Group did last January to attend the "Think Better, Live Better” event in Austin.

We were invited to the event by one of our favorite online “productivity experts”, Asian Efficiency. The event was hosted by Marc and Angel Chernoff, professional coaches who “hack life”. They both have spent the past decade writing about and teaching proven strategies for finding lasting happiness, success, love, and peace.

The full day session was packed with topics and tools that reduce stress and increase positive results in 4 core areas:

- Personal/Professional Happiness
- Motivation/Focus
- Successful Results
- Life Balance and Relationships

Throughout the event, there were several key learnings that the team felt was relevant in our daily work-life.

The Beliefs that Hold You Back & The Questions that Will Set You Free (Marc & Angel Chernoff) We keep hearing people say that "questions become thoughts, thoughts become words, words become actions, and actions become character". And when we encounter challenges, it’s the strength of our character that sees us through. Now, who doesn’t experience obstacles in life? Marc and Angel shared Self-Inquiry Process tips to do a raw brain dump or questions to ask yourself when we feel we are in a bad space:

- Is it true? Can it be scientifically proven?

- When I think this thought, how:

        - Does it make me feel?
        - Do I treat others?
        - Does it make me deal with the situation?

- If I completely erase/remove this thought, how:
        - Do I feel?
        - Do I treat others?
        - Do I deal with the situation?

This session helped us become aware of our inner dialogue and attitudes - to stay positive and focused in challenging situations. It taught us a new way to think about our project work but also with our spouses!

Overcoming Procrastination & Roadblocks to Do What Matters (Joshua Becker) All too often, I find myself running out of time; I find myself saying that 24 hours isn’t enough and if I could just have 1 more hour to do this or that. This session talked about uncovering the secrets to "making time" vs. "finding time". Joshua shared tips on how to simplify life, eliminate excess, and rediscover lost time to focus on things that truly matter to you. Here are some of my biggest takeaways:

- Your Possessions - yes, having too many can complicate our lives. They drain our bank accounts, energy, and attention. Investing time to remove nonessential possession will considerably make us feel lighter.

- Your Time Commitments - if your calendar looks like a never-ending Gantt chart, it’s time to release yourself from time commitments that are not in line with your greatest values.

- Your Goals - yes, I thought that having a long list would make them more achievable. Reducing it to 1 or 2 will give you more focus and better success rates so list down things you want to accomplish and choose the 2 most important. When you finish 1, add another from your list.

- Your Connections to the World - yes, relationships with others are good but constant streams of distraction are bad. Learn to focus on the important, not the urgent.

Conquering Mental Fatigue (Courtney Carver) Growing up in an era of open innovation, I always found it very interesting how creative minds work but over the years, I realized that the market is complicated with so many new products and takes a toll on my decision making process. Not that innovation is bad but there are times when we just want one less decision to make in a day. Courtney shares some tips on how to minimize decision fatigue and help people make the right decisions.

- Simpler meals

- Perimeter grocery shopping (if you can!)

- Pretend the internet is broken (ha!)

- Her Project 333 helps create a decision free closet (33 items inclusive of clothes, shoes, jewelry to wear in 3 months). 

- Habit stack your morning routine

- Simplify! Just get rid of things that do not matter in your life.

The same holds true for work –to avoid that early morning stress of trying to figure out what task to complete first, create time blocks for when you want to focus on your task list and eat your frog too!

Indeed, choices can be debilitating rather than liberating so eliminate distractions to minimize decisions. It’s easier to make the right choices and decisions too if you only have a handful to choose from.

Living The Perfect Day (Karl Staib ) Who doesn’t want to do that? But with all the distractions, this seems unattainable. I used to think that perfect days don’t exist especially because so many things are just out of our control. Karl’s session made me realize that this mindset is causing my imperfect day. He says that to live a fulfilling life, we need to define what the ideal version of our life is, one day at a time. How? By:

- Designing our day

- Getting feedback

- Building on feedback

This session motivated our team at April Bell Research Group to improve each day and work like a well oiled machine by designing our days individually, respecting boundaries, and staying resilient when there are unexpected surprises.

At the end of the full day session, I realized that when you redefine what’s already in front of you (or what's possible), living the life you love isn’t farfetched at all. These topics have already paved the way to a more realistic plan to keep improving. They are indeed inspiring lessons to live a more positive and productive life!