A break out is something you do when you need to get out of a situation you’re in that is not desirable. In sports, it’s generally attributed to taking possession and regrouping your team into an attack. In business, it might be about taking a larger group and breaking it into smaller groups that would be more effective at delivering a task. Whichever definition you want to use, the application is changing your status quo…

The contractor is someone you bring in to do a job you have little or no knowledge in how to accomplish in a timely fashion that you have deemed acceptable. Read that again – you haven’t asked them how long it’s going to take (because you don’t know) but you will give them the timeline they have to work against. Its not the most ideal of circumstances for any person and a new opportunity usually…

But do they really want that? (This is usually the first response to when someone hears what the client wants). Maybe we could sell them on this? (This is the second response that involves trying to sell the client something they don’t want.) What if we give them this instead because we don’t have a lot of time? (This is what the client fears will happen even though the project started six months ago). Here…

They help me stay organized. I am constantly writing ideas down on sticky notes and during meetings of random thoughts I need to remember for later. The brighter the note, the bigger the list. Sometimes I get it all done, sometimes I don’t, but what it does help me with is clear my mind to focus on the important tasks and not worry, yes worry, about all the other ideas rummaging around in my head.…