Exercises To Develop Information Worker Skills

[Tancrede Pouyat]

An assignment at school has opened up a gate and now my brain is just flooded with ideas for exercises. You could say that those are like deliberate practice for information workers.

If you've got any ideas for exercises, go ahead and post them here. If you've got any stories or experiences to report on the subject, I'm sure we'd be incredibly grateful.

------------------------------------------

I call them the KnowYourStuff exercises. Because if you don't know your stuff, you can't do them.

The truth is, if you're really passionate about what you do, and if you're good enough, you'll accomplish them with ease. And, in fact, you'll be able to treat them like play. Some of these exercises are really fun and you can take the crazy to really high degrees.

------------------------------------------

Anyways, without further ado, here they are:

The 4-Minute Conversion

Quote

Create a 4-minute slides presentation that you'll be using to "convert" people into your passion.

But, here's the twist: they've never even heard of your passion (and will probably think you're a little crazy).

note: if you have trouble thinking about such an audience, just make one up, and think about what makes them think you're crazy.

 

The 4-Hour Essay

Quote

Sit down in a quiet environment. Set a timer for 4 hours. Write about your passion - for 4 hours straight.

 

The 3-Circle Vision

Quote

 

Take 3 fields, preferably fields you like and know stuff about. At least one of them being your passion. Do this:

Create a vision around the triple intersection.

note: find the intersections of  A and B, then A and C, then B and C. Then find the intersection of the intersections.

 

 

The 2-Step 3-Circle Vision

Quote

 

Same except look at what's different.

Note: this exercise is a work in progress - but I feel there's something there.

 

 

The Top 3 of the Field Package

Quote

 

Pick the top 3 people of your field. Design a package that you would send them and that they would consider the best package they've ever had.

This is purely imaginary, no limitations apply. Let yourself go crazy.

 

 

The Crazy Scenarios

Quote

Imagine 3 absolutely crazy and highly unlikely to happen in which your expertise is the only lifeline left for humanity.

 

The Paradox

Quote

 

There's a paradox in your field. Even if you think it's something super logical like math. Find it.

If you've got plenty, find the best. Find the one that changes people's behavior the most significantly.

 

 

The MOST Inspiring Quote

Quote

 

This one is harder than you think. I'm not here asking you to give me a bunch of inspiring quotes. I'm asking you to come up with THE MOST INSPIRING QUOTE.

note: you can imagine a scenario that forces you to come up with the best one.

 

 

The One Terrible Aspect

Quote

 

Find one aspect of the way you present your information, make it terrible. Then, think about how you can make everything else so awesome that, in the end, we forget about that one bad aspect.

e.g. : a blog post that's really long and that only has one paragraph - a huge block of text. But everything else about that blog post is just awesome.

 

 

Procrastination Transformation
 

Quote

 

Think about what you do when you're not working. Think about how much of a waste of time that is.

Now find a way that you could engage in that activity that would make it productive, and a not a waste of time.

note: good luck with that. Most of what you do is not only unproductive, it's counter-productive.

 

 

Create your own exercises.

Quote

This is by far the best one.

Create some exercises that are specifically designed to get better at your specific field.

The ones I just gave you are nice, but they're very generic. If you can come up with your specific exercises, that's gonna be incredibly helpful for you.

 

[Lorcan]

I dont understand what this thread is really about. Could you explain more thoroughly? What was the school assignment you got? I dont understand.

[Evilwave Heddy]

Yeah...this thread is just confusing.  The exercises seem helpful, but I'm just not grasping the message being conveyed here other than "Here's a few exercises".  

Even the title (for me) doesn't make sense.  Wth is information worker skills. lol

Quote

I call them the KnowYourStuff exercises. Because if you don't know your stuff, you can't do them.

This doesn't make sense either. Forgive me

Edited January 29, 2017 by Evilwave Heddy

[Tancrede Pouyat]

The assignment at school was the first exercise (the 4-minute conversion). I was lucky here because nobody in my class knows shit about the true nature of their own being, and they think I'm crazy.

The exercises themselves are similar to Leo's list of Enlightenment exercises, designed to help a beginner mind on the process of enlightenment.

The truth is that they're more of a Litmus test: If you want to develop an information product based business online, you have to be able to do these exercises.

Also they can help you with thinking more creatively.