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70/30 Principle | How To Take Control of Your Schedule

Imagine this: Your team is wrapping up a Monday morning meeting and your manager asks for a volunteer to present the team’s project at Friday’s company-wide meeting. Do you raise your hand? 

Scenario 1:

You love public speaking so you immediately raise your hand.

Public speaking falls into your 70%.

Scenario 2:

You feel a knot in your stomach at just the thought of speaking in front of the entire company so you avoid eye contact with your manager.

Public speaking falls into your 30%.

Whether you want to apply GiANT’s 70/30 principle to your personal or your professional life, this tool will help you be more intentional in how you schedule your days.

Braindom is powered by GiANT, a leadership apprenticeship company that offers free leadership-related resources and tools (sign up for free, no hidden fees).

What’s the 70/30 Principle? 

Deciding how to live with a healthy balance between tasks that energize (70%) and drain (30%) you is the core of GiANT’s 70/30 Principle.

GiANT Worldwide’s 70/30 Principle

You’ll know you’re acting in your area of “unconscious competence” (your 70%) when you’re in what is commonly known as the “flow state” or “being in the zone”. In this sweet spot, you feel the most confident and your actions come naturally to you. 

But this doesn’t mean that tasks of “conscious competence” (your 30%) are things that you are bad at. These tasks in your 30% are learned skills that take more energy for you to complete than that of a task in your 70%. For instance, you can be great at public speaking but since it falls in your 30%, you need a few hours to decompress afterwards.

As tempting as it sounds to fill your days with tasks that come naturally to you, living a life that’s 90/10 or even 80/20 lacks the challenge you need for growth.

The ideal balance between the 2 categories are, you guessed it – 70/30!

What’s the Purpose?

If you know which tasks will take up more of your energy, you can schedule it earlier or later in your week. Being self-aware of your energy levels will change how you approach your to-do lists.

WARNING – Knowing what falls under your 30% doesn’t give you an excuse to avoid those tasks completely. Knowledge is key but how you act with that knowledge is where you make positive changes.

Have you ever had days where you were exhausted even though you didn’t have a heavy workload? It’s likely that day was filled with more tasks in your 30%. 

Scenario: Public speaking is in my 30% and I’m scheduled to speak at a conference every Saturday for an entire month. It’s an unavoidable and necessary part of my career.

Solution 1:

Since I know myself, I mentally prepare for how I will feel post-conference and I let my family know that I’ll be low-energy those Saturday evenings.

Solution 2:

I know I’ll be low energy after the conference so I plan to walk around the area and practice my street photography (my 70%) before heading home.

Focus on what you can control in your schedule and don’t let your schedule control how you live your life.

Get Started Today

CHALLENGE: Grab a piece of paper or open up a digital notepad. Start reflecting on what tasks would fall under the 70% category and which would fall under the 30%. Which tasks are draining? Which tasks are energizing?

Here are some suggestions on how you can apply this to your life:

  • Weekly assessments
  • Monthly assessments
  • Indicator of your work-life balance
  • See where your passions lie
  • 70/30 + Peace Index (another tool) work well together to get a good understanding of your current state of mind
  • Think about trajectory of your day/week and mentally prepare if it’ll be more 30% work

There are many ways to apply the 70/30 principle, figure out which works best for you! 

WATCH: 70/30 Principle – 2 minute video explanation of the tool.

focus photography of car shift gear

How to Prevent Quiet Quitting in 2023

Quiet Quitting: the practice of doing no more work than one is contractually obliged to do, especially in order to spend more time on personal activities

collins dictionary

In 2022, the viral TikTok trend of “Quiet Quitting” circulated online and was a controversial take on preventing burnout and preserving your work-life balance. 

In this article, we’ll introduce GiANT Worldwide’s 5 Gears system and how implementing this can change your professional and personal life. This free tool provides the self-awareness that individuals and companies can adopt to sustain a healthy work-life environment.

Braindom is powered by GiANT, a leadership apprenticeship company that offers free leadership-related resources and tools (sign up for free, no hidden fees).

Defining Your Work-Life Balance

What does work-life balance mean to you?

Setting boundaries is the best way to establish healthy levels of work and personal life. The tricky part is figuring out what your boundaries are. Everyone’s relationship with work differs, so going 100% everyday may feel balanced for one person, but it may push someone else to burnout.

Because of this variability, self-reflection is vital in understanding your limitations and setting the appropriate boundaries in your life.

The 5 Gears

The 5 Gears system (pictured below) is a visual analogy you can use in your personal and professional space.

If you’ve followed Quiet Quitting anecdotes, you’ll notice the majority of those people were spending too much time in 4th or 5th gear without shifting down towards the other gears. Staying in one gear longer than your body can handle will lead to burnout. 

Once you learn to connect the gears to your behaviors, you can use the 5 Gears to optimize your schedule, your relationships, and the dynamics of those relationships.

GiANT WorldWide's 5 Gears explained
GiANT Worldwide’s 5 Gears

For more clarity, below are: scenarios, a warning sign that you’re spending too much time in that gear, and a tip for each gear (full list of warnings and tips are provided in the free 5 Gears Masterclass video series).

5th Gear – Focus Mode

  • Writing a book 
  • Designing a presentation
  • Brainstorming the strategies for the next quarter

Warning sign: Overwork affects your life physically and relationally.

Tip: Schedule a start and end time.

4th Gear – Task Mode

  • Checking emails right when you wake up
  • Constantly working on emails and messages
  • Fixated on crossing tasks off your to-do lists

Warning sign: You’re physically present but intellectually and emotionally absent.

Tip: Find time to turn your phone off or leave it behind.

3rd Gear – Social Mode

  • Having lunch with a group of colleagues
  • Golf outings with clients
  • Snowboarding trip with friends

Warning sign: People feel like you have a mask and that they can’t get close to you.

Tip: Practice 2nd Gear conversations and learn to go deep.

2nd Gear – Connect Mode 

  • A deep conversation with an old friend 

Warning sign: You put too much pressure on people to connect deeply with you.

Tip: Learn to have 3rd Gear conversations and be okay with it. 

1st Gear – Recharge Mode

  • Introverts: sleep, reading, exercise, meditation, or time by yourself
  • Extroverts: time with people, reading, enlivened experiences, or exercise

Warning sign: Escapism to reality is the norm.

Tip: Put healthy boundaries on your recharge time.

Reverse – Responsive Mode

  • Accepting responsibility and apologizing when you’ve made a mistake 

Warning sign: Using apologies to get what you want.

Tip: Be sincere in your apologies.

You may have an order you naturally gravitate towards from these gears. Take a moment and reflect on your past week. Which gear did you tend to stay in the longest? Which was second? Which gear do you need to spend more time in?

Again, being in the right gear at the right time is important. You don’t want to be staring at your phone sending emails (4th Gear: Task Mode) while you’re at dinner with your family (3rd Gear: Social Mode). This is an indicator of poor work-life balance negatively affecting your familial relationships.

To be present and productive, we need to be in the right gear at the right time as those we interact and engage with.

Right Gear, Right Time

When you are in the right gear, at the right time, that means you are in the optimal mindset for the situation at hand. 

The first step is knowing what gears you need to be in at certain times. The next step is being able to communicate this with your team to promote healthy communication as well as establish your boundaries.

(Bonus) Good Practices

Braindom LLC is a consulting firm, and introducing the 5 Gears is one way we help companies build sustainable and productive lives for their employees. 

Here are a collection of other good practices that Braindom has seen firsthand in companies that commit to enhancing their people-centric workplace environment. 

We have seen these companies:

  • Schedule emails to arrive during the employees’ region business hours. 
  • Encourage exploration of new and innovative ways to deliver the organization’s mission and vision.
  • See mistakes as learning and mentoring opportunities. 
  • Welcome differences in ideas and solutions. 
  • Multiple perspectives are considered before a final decision is made. 
  • Respect employee boundaries.

CHALLENGE: Adopt the 5 Gears system into your life for 30-days and see if you notice any positive changes. If you want to go one level further, share the tool with your family or your team and see if this mitigates any work-life balance issues in your interactions.

WATCH: The 5 Gears Masterclass – for the videos explaining the gears in detail and tips on how to switch gears.

person holding light bulb

Leadership Traits Essential for an Inclusive, Diverse Workplace Environment

Inclusion and diversity are two essential pillars for creating a thriving work environment.

Adopting this theory and acknowledging what it takes to create this environment requires a lot from those in leadership. 

As Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic said in Business Insider, “Culture is primarily the results of the leader’s values.” If you are thinking about building an inclusive environment that nurtures diversity, you have to adopt certain traits as a leader. 

In this article, we have listed some traits of inclusive leaders that are key to promoting diversity in the workspace. 

Humility

First comes humility; when leaders promote and accept different opinions, perspectives, and ideas, a business becomes ideal for achieving the desired objectives.

It is important to set aside the ego and remain humble, being a leader does not mean you have all the answers. Having a leader that welcomes difference is more likely to give their team a comfortable and expressive environment. 

Curiosity

Curiosity drives you to meet new people and learn about their perspectives. An organization having such a leader can prosper in leaps and bounds. 

Curious leaders are less likely to hire people with similar thinking and ideology and are open to working with someone who can bring diverse ideas to the table. According to a 2015 PwC survey published in the Harvard Business Review, over a thousand CEOs cited curiosity as a favorable leadership trait that becomes key in especially difficult times.

Collaboration

Similar to humility, collaboration involves setting the ego aside. Leaders who make decisions without considering other input may be more likely to miss important details. If you choose to work in collaboration with your team, you open the door for those who would not have spoken up otherwise.

Leaders who choose to have diverse voices in their team are more likely to have more mature and well-analyzed decisions. Regardless of the seniority level and position, if you want to have an inclusive and diverse environment, start working in collaboration with your team. 

Courage

A leader can be curious, humble, and collaborative, but it also takes guts to change deep-rooted traditions and cultures in the business world. Implementing change may not be easily accepted across the organization and that’s when leaders can shine. 

To create a diverse yet inclusive culture, we need courageous leaders who are willing to fight for positive change within the organization. 

Cultural and Emotional Intelligence

To foster an inclusive environment, empathy is a significant trait. A leader who wants to be truly inclusive must listen and understand the difference of perspectives. Empathy demands you move beyond your own self and experiences to actively listen and consider others’ experiences as well. 

Every person maintains their individuality in life, even with shared experiences, so it is important to navigate your team with the acknowledgment of different perspectives and opinions.

Insightful

A self-aware leader fosters inclusivity when they can recognize their own privilege or bias. Seek insight into the type of person you are now and what gaps you may have to become the person you want to be.

As GiANT Worldwide promotes, knowing yourself is a tool that will set you up for success in life and aid you in becoming a leader that people want to follow.


Braindom’s Solution

Are you interested in creating an inclusive workplace environment but not sure where to start? At Braindom, we are a team of highly professional and experienced experts who can equip you with all the necessary tools that could take your organization to the top:

  1. Educate yourself and explore the tools and videos provided by GiANT WorldWide or
  2. Schedule a call and we will create a customized and personalized roadmap for your business!
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4 Ways Hiring Trends Have Changed

Gone are the days of flipping through a newspaper to find your next dream job. Instead, technology has forced companies to look for top talent online on job boards and social media. 

The rapid rise in technology has played an influential role in shaping how we work and how employees are hired. From an increasing shift to remote work (in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic) to a greater push for prospective employees seeking workplace balance, these changes have inevitably impacted hiring trends today.

In this article, you’ll learn about 4 ways hiring trends have changed over time so you can be more aware of how to effectively hire top talent in today’s world.

Increase In Temporary, Part-Time, And Gig Economy Work

The traditional 9 to 5 full-time work model has long been around for decades. However, the increase in employees seeking more work-life balance and flexibility has increased the number of temporary, part-time, and gig economy roles in the workplace.

Companies, rather than hiring a full-time employee with the hopes of that individual staying and growing within the company are slowly disappearing. This is again due to more and more people wanting a balanced career that fits into their lifestyle.

Rise In Remote Interviewing

Just a few decades ago, it was nearly expected that job interviews be conducted in person.  However, due to the rapid shift in remote work, remote interviewing has skyrocketed. 

Remote interviewing has its pros and cons in terms of making an effective hiring decision. There’s no denying remote interviewing is easier for candidates to simply log in rather than dressing up and traveling to the in-person interview. Likewise, remote interviewing makes it more efficient for the company to interview more candidates for the same position.

However, remote interviewing is not foolproof. Rather than having one (maybe two) in-person interviews for a position, companies often schedule at least 2 to 3 remote interviews for a prospective candidate (i.e. a short call with the hiring representative, an interview with the supervisor or manager, potential calls with coworkers/ current employees). 

Data-Driven Hiring Decisions

Companies are constantly seeking the right candidates to not just be qualified for a specific job, but also likely stick around and grow within the company.

High employee turnover rates not only send a bad message to prospective employees applying to the company but constantly hiring new talent is time-consuming and costly.

Therefore, to help make better hiring decisions, companies have shifted to using data analytics to make better hiring decisions. 

For instance, a company can track how long it took an individual to complete an application. If it took an individual a long time to complete their application in one session, this likely means the person is passionate about the role and would likely stay longer with the company if they got the job.

However, if a person quickly copies and pastes generic prompts into an application and completed it in only a few minutes, data analytics will be able to pick up on this person who didn’t spend quality time filling out the application.

Use Of Artificial Intelligence 

If you have a highly desirable position with hundreds of thousands of candidates applying for the same role, it can be time-consuming for someone to go through each and every application. Not to mention, if multiple people went through the submitted applications, this leaves room for bias among individuals (i.e. one person may have liked an application vs. another discarded the same application).

Therefore, the use of artificial intelligence not only helps narrow out thousands of applications to find the right potential candidates for the role. But, artificial intelligence is uniform. This means that as long as you set the same criteria for all submitted applications, there is no human bias in terms of narrowing down the initial applications submitted. 


With these 4 trends we’ve highlighted, you’ve gained some insight into how you can effectively attract top talent for your organization today.

Another tool to attract and retain employees are workplace benefits. If you are seeking guidance in this realm, feel free to schedule a call with us and discuss your options.

photo of outer space

1 Way Tech Stimulates an Inclusive and Diverse Workplace

Inclusion and diversity are not the same things. 

Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.

– American activist Verna Myers.

The workplace of the (near) future will be more diverse, inclusive, and representative of society. Not because it is trending, but because the world is changing and affecting the workplace. 

With the use of remote work devices and software, companies can now adjust their remote work policies. As a result, companies are accepting a wider pool of candidates to attract the best talent and industry specialists no matter where they live. 

Diversity fuels innovation and creativity leads to better financial performance and is an opportunity to unite people with all their differences. Diversity of candidates is one step in the right direction, the next is to ensure the company has inclusive practices to support their employees.

Diversity and inclusion are still barriers to progress in many workplaces however, in the coming years, it is predicted to become one of the top priorities for companies. In fact, within a year (September 2019-September 2020) Indeed’s job postings related to diversity and inclusion rose by about 56%.

If you’re interested in training tailored to your situation, schedule a call with us! If you want to learn more about bringing a positive change to the workplace, view our “Self-Learning” page for resources provided by GiANT Worldwide.

people sitting down near table with assorted laptop computers

The Workplace of the Future is Here

Technology has become essential for business success, even more now that the COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered remote work possibilities.

Innovative technology has helped workers become more efficient, redefining our work settings, communication styles, and processes. 

Technology allows employees in an organization to focus on creativity, innovation, lateral thinking, intuition, judgment, and collaboration.

With the constant evolution of workplace trends and business best practices, technology has fully integrated into nearly every aspect of consumers’ lives and business operations. 

Top 5 Benefits of Technology in the Workplace 

  1. Technology simplifies redundancies and accelerates processes
  2. Work anywhere – Tap into the non-local talent
  3. Overhead cost savings on a physical location and equipment
  4. Better serve customers
  5. High employee productivity and satisfaction

Unfortunately, the many benefits can lead organizations to focus on technology implementation obsessively. For technology to sustainably create a competitive advantage, it must be paired with a strong people culture.

To ensure technology adds to people-centric company culture, it requires a foundation of solid communication, feedback collection, removing biases, and closing process gaps. 

photo of woman using her laptop

3 Timeframes Of New Change

Currently, the whole world is going through one of the toughest economic crises. Covid-19 has not only disrupted the health of people but their businesses as well.

In times like these, businesses demand innovation from the organizational leaders. Success awaits those leaders who assess the situation, adapt, and pivot their businesses.

As Charles Darwin says, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change”.

Regardless of the scale of change, the right person always respond to change by adapting well.

Here, we’ll discuss why leaders need to introduce innovation, lead with the heart, and act with the mind.

Leaders should bring innovation

In times like these, when every business is required to adapt and pivot, innovation is the only way forward. Organizational leadership is the one responsible for bringing innovation to their businesses.

A company’s response to the current crisis should be handle by innovating and adopting a fresh solution that can enable the resumption of services. Let’s assume a food chain is running out of business due to Covid-19. To provide stability to the business, leadership should design a process that would enable the consumers to order online.

To learn how to adapt and innovate, leaders can ask for professional guidiance about innovation and leading an organization in a crisis.

Leaders need to lead with the heart

Inarguably, compassion is the need of the hour. With businesses going down, a huge number of employees are laid off from their jobs or furloughed. They are the ones who need confidence and support from the leadership.

To manage such a crisis effectively, leaders need to lead with the heart. If a company seek high-performance from its employees, leaders should be more understanding of individual personal challenges and how to create a safe place for them to feel liberated. It’s undeniable that heart-led leadership builds trust and becomes the leader worth following. Such companies that thrive on heart-led leadership receive optimal performance from their employees.

Now is the time that leaders should learn the art of leading with the heart first and use their head for reasoning. Today, businesses need new perspectives to sustain in the current global economy.

Act with the mind

Today, new normals are replacing traditional working models. The perfect blend of leading with the heart & acting with the mind is the need of the hour. Leaders shouldn’t only be sincerely empathetic and compassionate; they also need to reason and act on organizational culture and values. This combination would help them support their employees and simultaneously protect the organization’s financial performance.

Being compassionate and rational enables the leadership to liberate its employees and thrive in a crisis.

Understandably, the crisis like the one we’re going through now is new to the majority of organizational leaders around the world. Hence, they need training from experts to learn the art of innovating in a crisis, leading with the heart and simultaneously acting ethically to achieve the organization vision and meaningful impact to the community.

3 Ways Organizations can be in Thrive Mode

How does an organization maintain their enthusiasm during a storm of endless uncertainties?

The attitude and enthusiasm to grow the organization to serve more people will inspire and excite individual to contribute for the greater good.

Once we accept our challenges and tackle it with enthusiasm and gratitude for the opportunity, the mindset shifts from survivor mode to thrive mode. The vision and community impact becomes clearer and more defined when the leadership team is in a thriving mode. Below are 3 examples of how the leadership can help the organization be in thrive mode during this storm.

1. Employers should adjust their communication and leadership style to help the team be aware of their natural tendencies under stress. With the overall awareness of the teams pattern, the leadership team will know how to navigate through and know when the provide support and challenge. As we become more aware of our surroundings, we also become more intentional with our actions, and reactions.

2. By showing empathy and compassion for individuals within the organization, employees will feel valued as a person and will be more productive. During this current environment, employees want to know that there are procedures in place and resources available to maintain the safety of their health and their family’s health.

3. Everyone faces different challenges when working from home, and we want to liberate our team to be there for their family and the community the organization serves. Leadership team can help alleviate the anxiety by clarifying the responsibilities and role of each team member.

The difference between a thriving and surviving team is influenced by the leadership team overseeing the team or organization.

Effective Leadership Training

Every year, organizations spend millions in budget to conduct leadership development sessions & training classes. Even after such huge spendings, they fail to achieve effective results. Have you ever wondered what the possible solution could be to achieve maximum effectiveness out of leadership development programs? Leadership development is more effective when it’s internal development.

According to Harvard Business Review, leadership development is not developing leaders because:

  • Leadership development programs are not practical and don’t activate the emotional circuits inside participants’ minds
  • Leadership development programs don’t create self-awareness in participants
  • The organizations send their employees to training programs, but don’t place development into its wider & systematic context
  • Let’s find out what makes leadership development programs more effective.

Leadership Development Is More Effective When It’s The Internal Development

Various comprehensive research studies have identified the reasons behind the ineffectiveness of leadership development programs. The key missing component in leadership development programs is the internal development of participants. Employees translate themselves into great leaders when they’ve self-awareness, and they understand their natural behaviors & responses.

Instead of delivering lectures from set curricula, trainers should adopt a practical approach. Leadership training programs prove more effective when focused on building emotional intelligence in employees.

Creating Self-Awareness In Employees Must Be A Part Of Leadership Development Programs

Organizations have seen huge impacts of building & developing emotional intelligence in their employees. Rather than using conventional leadership development programs to introduce leadership qualities in employees, you should use a different approach.

Your leadership development program should train employees to understand themselves. When they have self-awareness of their natural responses & behaviors, they perform efficiently & effectively. So make sure you spend your leadership development budget in the right direction.

Leadership Development Programs Should Promote Individual Skill Development

Individual skill development & building self-awareness should be at the forefront of any leadership development program. The program should teach how to understand yourself in the first place and how to be mindful of yourself. Introducing a feedback system can play an important role, as well. It would help participants identify their skills & potentialities. To get the highest possible efficacy from a leadership development program, create self-awareness in your employees.

Liberated Leadership Development Programs

Various studies prove that liberated leadership development programs evolve employees into a great workforce and leaders as well. When you free them from confinement, they strive to take the best actions. As a result, the organization attains huge heights of success, and employees evolve quickly and become effective leaders.

Ensure that managers or trainers share a vision and let the participants decide what is best for the company. Communicate respect with them and make sure they have complete self-awareness.

Employee Benefits as a Recruiting Tool

Are you looking to hire the best talent pool for your organization? If yes, then you should leverage the power of employee benefits to recruit and retain quality employees.

Often, small businesses or startups don’t have a huge budget, so they can’t offer high salaries. A high salary alone cannot help you to recruit and retain quality employees. Because even if you offer an impressive salary, you won’t be able to hook the employee for too long. Whenever an employee finds a position that offers him/her employee benefits to create a balance between work & life, he/she immediately grabs the opportunity.

Why should you offer employee benefits?

Smart employees always seek job opportunities that enable them to create a healthy work-life balance. If you want to attract smart & efficient employees for your organization, then offering employee benefits should be at the forefront of your recruiting process.

When you offer employee benefits like paid leaves, health insurance, retirement plans, and maternity leaves, then you actually target the smartest pool of job seekers. Smart working people know that work-life balance is critical to their productivity, and they always go after jobs with employee benefits. It assures them that they won’t be paying anything to insurance companies and they have a healthy retirement plan as well. It adds to their loyalty for the organization, and their productivity improves.

How to leverage employee benefits to recruit and retain quality employees?

Follow the below principles to attract the smartest talent pool for vacant positions in your organization:

  • Mention employee benefits in your job posting

Don’t be too late to start the employee benefits conversation with the job seekers. The best way is to mention the employee benefits offering in your job posting/advertisement.

Tell them why your business’ employee benefits are better than others. Mention all kinds of employee benefits and try to offer both traditional & non-traditional benefits.

  • Offer a variety of employee benefits

If you want to use employee benefits as a recruiting tool, then include a wide variety of employee benefits to your business’ offerings. Try to create a mix of traditional & non-traditional employee benefits. Apart from traditional employee benefits like health insurance & annual paid leaves, introduce some non-traditional employee benefits too.

Flexible working hours, permission to work remotely, wellness support, learning & development sessions, and paid time off for volunteer work. 

Non-traditional employee benefits provide a better work-life balance and help you attract, recruit and retain quality employees.

Quality employees mean higher productivity & low overturn rate

By offering employee benefits, you can recruit and retain quality employees. This impacts your employees’ work-life balance, and they feel happier coming to the work. Consequently, your organization gets higher productivity and a lower overturn rate.

The bottom line Offering a variety & quality of employee benefits can make a difference between attracting & retaining a highly talented pool of employees. However, make sure that you’re offering a market competitive salary package as well.