Trig Ghosh, PMP Functional Manager

CGI Federal

August 27, 2012

PMI Columbia Chapter 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia MD

21046

Symptoms: State of mental impasse Unable to respond to a situation or need Unable to find the drive to complete a task

Impacts Loss of individual productivity Loss of team productivity

What do I do next?

I am just not good at Math

Get a life !!!!

Get a beer !

Get some practice !!

Gee ! I know the stuff, but I don’t know about the test

Intimidation

Lack of Knowledge

Confusion

Boredom/Distaste

Complexity or appearance thereof

Lack of Self-Confidence

The techniques for overcoming mental

blocks fall into these categories:

Physical

Intellectual

Emotional

Causes of Mental Blocks

Case Studies

Your Experiences – Do you relate?

Techniques to overcome

50 : 50

Will all of your mental blocks disappear?

NO !!

But they will be more fun !!!!

AWARENESS

The pilot of a plane has a heart attack and is unable to fly the plane. A stewardess gets into the pilots seat in an attempt to land the plane.

How would you feel?

Level: Physical ? Intellectual? Emotional?

A project manager is face-to-face with ten members of senior management including the CEO and the CFO, and has to explain why a multi-million dollar project failed.

How would you feel?

Level: Physical ? Intellectual? Emotional?

A project lead completed writing performance reviews for eight of his reports. The next review is about an extremely poor performer. Though the PM has all the facts he needs to write the review, he finds it extremely difficult to work on the task.

Is this an example of a mental block?

How would you feel?

Level: Physical ? Intellectual? Emotional?

Think of a situation where you had a mental block.

Which of the above reasons can you attribute

it to? How did you overcome it?

Create changes in your physical and mental environment, by simple actions, in order to improve the clarity of thinking.

Take the first step !

Relax

Brainstorm

Organize your thoughts

Set Goals

If you practice things that are new and difficult, the capacity of the brain to do those new things increases. In technical terms, neural networks re-organize themselves, and newer networks develop to support the newer ways in which the brain is used.

Transform information into knowledge

Lateral and vertical thinking

Welcome change

Edward de Bono popularized lateral thinking – an unorthodox way of arriving at solutions to seemingly intractable problems in ways you would not logically think about. Lateral thinking encourages looking at problems from different perspectives you would typically not think of pursuing.

While lateral thinking focuses on generating a wide variety of ideas, vertical thinking focuses on the depth of thinking and analysis on a selective set of ideas. The selected set of ideas is analyzed, accurate conclusions are made and further analyzed to arrive at the solution.

“You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction” – Edward de Bono “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” – Charles Darwin

1. If you have two coins totaling 11p, and one of the coins is not a penny, what are the two coins?

2. If you were alone in a deserted house at night, and there was an oil lamp, a candle and firewood and you only have one match, which would you light first?

3. What can you put in a wooden box that would make it lighter? The more of them you put in the lighter it becomes, yet the box stays empty.

Symptoms: State of mental impasse Unable to respond to a situation or need Unable to find the drive to complete a task Unable to perform at your full potential

Impacts Loss of individual productivity Loss of team productivity Accomplish less than you can

By far, the subtlest and most powerful impacts to performance come from psychological attributes that are typically intangible and subjective. Developing these attributes will go a long way in helping you overcome intimidating situations.

Attitude

Emotional Intelligence

Self-confidence and self-worth

Ownership

Incentives

Attitude is defined by how you would naturally react to a situation. An example would be, when faced with a daunting task, would you react as “There is no way I can do this” or by “let me give it my best shot and see what I can achieve”.

“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same” – Carlos Castaneda

EI dictates the way in which you choose to respond to a situation that challenges your emotions. If you are interrupted repeatedly by a client when you are trying to make an important point, would you become irritated and shut down, or would you take a step back, try to understand his point of view and re-phrase what you are saying?

“You’re most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” – Bill Gates

“The higher you go, the more your problems are behavioral” - “What got you here won’t get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith

People who have a high self-esteem and know their self-worth can face challenges head on, make big strides in their careers and command higher salaries. Both of these attributes can be developed by willingly taking up bigger challenges and overcoming them. Typically, when faced with a sink or swim situation, people are able to call on their inherent abilities they did not know existed and find that they are able to swim.

A feeling of ownership magnifies the commitment people have toward a task manifold. Ownership dissipates mental blocks by creating an urgency to complete tasks and brings out the ingenuity required to accomplish those tasks.

Incentives give you the drive to overcome any negative emotions or physical hurdles associated with a task.

What incentives drive you to put your best foot forward? Think of a daunting task you completed successfully. What was your driving force?

What would you like to do if you did not have any constraints? Is anything holding you back from achieving your dreams? Are you limiting yourself?

“In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential. It’s no different in the financial realm” – Suze Orman

THANK YOU

Please keep in touch Linked In: Search Triguna Ghosh Email: trig.ghosh@gmail.com