Thursday, December 30, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Prioritization
In order to prioritize intelligently, we need a method that tells us how to evaluate projects in terms of their overall importance. Which projects will help us achieve our objectives most efficiently?
CARVER
A key component of military strategy is selecting the most important targets to attack. But how do you know which targets are the most important? Centuries of warfare have provided us with a reasonably intelligent answer.
CARVER is an acronym for a military method of target selection. CARVER stands for Criticality, Accessibility, Return (or Recuperability), Vulnerability, Effect, and Recognizability. I’ll explain what these are in a moment.
For every potential target, we assign a value of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) for each CARVER factor, thereby creating a CARVER matrix. Then by summing the six CARVER values, we can calculate a total score for each target, and those scores represent the targets’ relative prioritization. The higher the CARVER score, the more “important” a target becomes.
Now lets explore the six CARVER factors, and consider how we can apply them to personal projects.
Criticality. How critical is the target with respect to the main objective? Will it move you significantly closer to your goal, or is it a relatively puny and insignificant item? A low criticality project might be cleaning out your garage. It would be nice to do, but it’s probably not going to make that much difference in your life.
Accessibility. Can you actually reach the target, or is it so well defended that attacking it directly is impossible? Do you have the means to tackle this project immediately, or does it have prerequisites? Starting a new business might not be very accessible if you work long hours and are living paycheck to paycheck, but asking for a promotion may be very accessible.
Return. In military operations the term Recuperability is used here, referring to how quickly the enemy can recover from the destruction of the target. There’s little point in attacking a target that can be rebuilt or replaced with minimal effort. For personal effectiveness we’ll use Return instead. How great is the expected return on your commitment of resources? Developing a new passive income stream may yield a significant return, while watching the news may yield virtually none.
Vulnerability. How vulnerable is the target? What amount of resources will be required to take it out? How vulnerable are the projects you’re considering? A one-day project will score a high vulnerability rating, while a six-month project will score much lower. Similarly, an inexpensive project is more vulnerable than an expensive one.
Effect. If you successfully destroy the target, how widespread will the impact be? If you successfully complete your project, what effect will it have on your life as well as the lives of others? Writing a best-selling book may have a significant effect, while completing your tax return will have very little effect.
Recognizability. Can we see the target well enough to attack it, or is it highly camouflaged or mobile? Is your project crystal clear or totally fuzzy? How easy is it to recognize the steps necessary to complete the project? Have you completed this type of project before, or will you have to figure out the steps as you go along? Clear goals with clear steps will score higher on recognizability than foggy goals with unclear steps.
In order to prioritize intelligently, we need a method that tells us how to evaluate projects in terms of their overall importance. Which projects will help us achieve our objectives most efficiently?
CARVER
A key component of military strategy is selecting the most important targets to attack. But how do you know which targets are the most important? Centuries of warfare have provided us with a reasonably intelligent answer.
CARVER is an acronym for a military method of target selection. CARVER stands for Criticality, Accessibility, Return (or Recuperability), Vulnerability, Effect, and Recognizability. I’ll explain what these are in a moment.
For every potential target, we assign a value of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) for each CARVER factor, thereby creating a CARVER matrix. Then by summing the six CARVER values, we can calculate a total score for each target, and those scores represent the targets’ relative prioritization. The higher the CARVER score, the more “important” a target becomes.
Now lets explore the six CARVER factors, and consider how we can apply them to personal projects.
Criticality. How critical is the target with respect to the main objective? Will it move you significantly closer to your goal, or is it a relatively puny and insignificant item? A low criticality project might be cleaning out your garage. It would be nice to do, but it’s probably not going to make that much difference in your life.
Accessibility. Can you actually reach the target, or is it so well defended that attacking it directly is impossible? Do you have the means to tackle this project immediately, or does it have prerequisites? Starting a new business might not be very accessible if you work long hours and are living paycheck to paycheck, but asking for a promotion may be very accessible.
Return. In military operations the term Recuperability is used here, referring to how quickly the enemy can recover from the destruction of the target. There’s little point in attacking a target that can be rebuilt or replaced with minimal effort. For personal effectiveness we’ll use Return instead. How great is the expected return on your commitment of resources? Developing a new passive income stream may yield a significant return, while watching the news may yield virtually none.
Vulnerability. How vulnerable is the target? What amount of resources will be required to take it out? How vulnerable are the projects you’re considering? A one-day project will score a high vulnerability rating, while a six-month project will score much lower. Similarly, an inexpensive project is more vulnerable than an expensive one.
Effect. If you successfully destroy the target, how widespread will the impact be? If you successfully complete your project, what effect will it have on your life as well as the lives of others? Writing a best-selling book may have a significant effect, while completing your tax return will have very little effect.
Recognizability. Can we see the target well enough to attack it, or is it highly camouflaged or mobile? Is your project crystal clear or totally fuzzy? How easy is it to recognize the steps necessary to complete the project? Have you completed this type of project before, or will you have to figure out the steps as you go along? Clear goals with clear steps will score higher on recognizability than foggy goals with unclear steps.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
NEW SONGGGGG
My bro just uploaded a version of The New Regime's "Remission of Guilt" for their remix contest. Go check it here, and please vote for him! Thanks, and let me know what you think of the track.
http://remix.thenewregime.com/4
http://remix.thenewregime.com/4
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
THE SEARCH FOR POWER
Have you ever thought about your muscles? Looking down at each arm and forearm and hearing your innervoice say: wow, I look powerful, I look strong!? Bodybuilding is a form of excercise that can make you feel and look better and be stronger. Since physical size is often placed with people of great power and athletic prowess, we can safely say that the want of big muscles is something anyone who wishes to wield power must also have. Train hard, and train long, for in the end, only once you carry 70 pounds of raw muscles on your frame will you truely feel the power coarsing through your body and feuling your will to accomplish and succeed.
Now take many women who genetically cannot hold as much muscle on their frames without the assistance of powerful steroids or supplements. These women will not wield as much power as men unless they play twofold with their personalities. Here we have a woman who stands beofre us with a small frame but a large booming voice and a threatening tone. With control of ones emotions: one can also weild the great simitar of power. The woman of power has dark and deep eyes, with a coldness that sends chills down the spine of anyone set on staring into those devil eggs. She must tend to her ego daily- and grow its roots deep into her lymbic system. She must not stand down and often must put herself in danger's way.
The man of power can been calm and gracious- but if lacking in physical size, must breed a very rigid personality/emotional state. The emotions must be in full control and all thoughts must remain rational.
In order to negate the effects of a small voice or small frame, the small man must be like the small woman seeking power.
Finally, if one possess the giant stature of a greek god- the muscular display of apollo holding up the earth, or the brooding shoulders of the increadible hulk, then personality can be left unmolded by the shackles of suppressive emotion... We are at liberty to rule with humor rather then pain.
In conclusion, developing a solid and strong body is essential for those who wish more than anything to preserve their emotional liberty, else they must place chains upon all fearful emotions, and become like machines in order to step in to the circle of power and play games with the great fish of success.
Thanks and we wish you a merry year of power.
Love
John the Iron Plow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
