A Google employees take on perks and productivity

A Google employees take on perks and productivityA Google employees take on perks and productivityAre Google employees mora productive because of company perks?AbsolumentThe average new-grad that Google tends to hire finds themselves thrust into a bunch of newfound adult responsibilities for the first time find a place to live, figure out 401ks, do your taxes, manage finances, pay your bills, share chores with roommates, find friends, get health insurance, impress your new teammates. Lots to think aboutA big part of productivity is simplifying the unnecessary parts of your life or delegating/automating/removing time-consuming decision making. My favorite Google perks are the ones that simplify my life and free up a lot more time to spend hanging out with friends, learning stuff, and building cool sh-t.Food is a big one. Its true that the dollar value of 3 free meals a day is not as valuable as, say, making $100k more in comp from a competitor (cost to Google about $7 per meal accordi ng to a previous answer on Quora), but its time saved that is truly valuable. I dont have to think about what to do for dinner every night or spend time with meal prep because theres always a Google Cafe available a few hundred feet away and I can eat there if Im busy thinking.I dont need to think about where the nearest laundromat is, because Google campus has machines and I can get my laundry done before morning breakfast is over.There are a hr of internal company docs and group forums (shared by fellow Googlers) on anything from financial advice (e.g. if you can afford it, contribute to an after-tax 401k and use the backdoor Roth IRA conversion) to listing and buying furniture from each other. It also helps that Googles insurance policies, payroll, vesting schedules and other logistical HR stuff are all run on autopilot for me.Free life perks are almost as good as being rich. Part of the reason why wealth enables people to be so quick efficient is that the financial cost of deci sion making (where to eat, which mode of transport to take) is directly tied to the mental cost of decision making. Wealthy people simply choose the options that take the least time because their decision making time is that much more valuable.Want to head up to San Francisco? Dont need to think about Caltrain schedules because theres a Google shuttle. In Paris for a day and need to grab a bottle of water while taking a stroll? Google Offices are always in prime real estate locations and loaded with snacks. Much less planning needed when you can always count on a local spot for free lunch. Not as awesome as being so loaded more like having free vouchers for everything.One more thing to consider is that productivity has network effects - an employees is higher when their colleagues productivity goes up, so Google likely benefits tremendously when all their employees are freed from the task of deciding what to have for lunch. Sometimes on especially busy days Ill have meeting convers ations with colleagues, continue the conversation while standing in line for food, all the way through lunch, and then 30 minutes later we are walking back up the stairs to the office without missing a beat.Finally, it goes without saying that free coffee is an essential perk no, a constitutional right.This post first appeared on Quora.

Why optimism can prevent you from seeing the total picture

Why optimism can prevent you from landseeing the total pictureWhy optimism can prevent you from seeing the total pictureThe entrepreneur can be defined as someone with a vision someone who is willing to attempt the marshaling of resources that will transform that vision into a viable business reality. At the top of the list of characteristics for such a person are a total belief in that vision, an unfailing commitment to the myriad efforts involved, and a good deal of optimism to cope with the setbacks and unforeseen hurdles that will inevitably appear on their road to success.Most entrepreneurs develop their vision based on their own knowledge and experience. They can see - perhaps clearer than others - the need for this specific offering that they wish to bring to the market. They can see its many benefits and the value that it will deliver to prospective customers. And they are often right.However, in far too many cases, the fire doesnt light. Their target market stalls or refus es to buy. Yet the entrepreneurs vision is still burning bright and secure in the viewpoint that the market can truly benefit from the offering. Too often though, and still with unfailing commitment and optimism, energy and resources are repeatedly expended in trying to convince their market to buy.You will note several references to vision and seeing, and herein lies the entrepreneurs curse entrepreneurial myopia. Now, entrepreneurs would not be who they are without their unfailing belief in their vision and a fiercely focused optimism to strive towards their chosen goals. Yet unterstellung are also the characteristics that can prevent them from seeing the total picture, missing, in fact, the most important part of the picture - their prospective customers buying journey and the incumbent elements, its DNA if you will, within. They too often only see why their prospective customers should buy, without looking to understand why their customers dont buy.Because research with thousa nds of customers has shown that time and time again, most prospective buyers get it, they totally understand the offering and indeed the value it would deliver to them or their organization. They truly believe in the ROI equation and need no persuasion that their investment of $12 today could very well yield $20 in the near future. Yet despite their belief in the offering, they hesitate and/or fail to buy. So, whats going on here?In contrast to the seller, the prospective buyer does not share that same focus on just that one offering. They are looking at multiple, often overwhelming numbers of things that they could invest in. It comes as a surprise to many entrepreneurs that they arent simply competing against competitive offerings, but are competing for mindshare and resources against a vast spectrum of alternatives including the easiest choice of all - status quo, doing nothing. And finally, they are also having to overcome the many implications that a eignung customer must cons ider before purchasing their offering, indeed any offering. Implications such as change, risk, user-training tangible and intangible factors that are perceived to be associated with the actual adoption of a new offering.It is at this point that the entrepreneurial focus would be well advised to shift from what they buy to how they buy. To look past their own internal issues of positioning and selling their offerings and look instead to the external reality of how their customers actually buy.Developing a market in todays world demands an intricate knowledge of exactly what the prospective customer needs to commit to the full course of the customer buying journey. And theres some good news here because that same research uncovered some illuminating revelations. It showed that when buying a particular offering within a particular market, buyers will exhibit very similar buying behavior and will encounter very similar buying concerns. This then unlocks and opens the door for the decodi ng and mapping of that particular buying journey DNA. And armed with this knowledge, a market engagement strategy can be developed that will help foresee, mitigate and manage all the hurdles that are sure to be encountered along the way. To realize investment in the offering, especially a potentially new offering, the customer must be supported throughout their buying journey. And any decisions they have to make or anxieties they may have cannot be ignored or trivialized.The successful entrepreneur must switch viewpoint and see revenue generation from the outside-in. They have to broaden their focus, put themselves in the shoes of their prospective customers and see the world as they do. They may even have to temporarily put aside their unfailing faith in their offering in reservierung to understand these internal factors, the friction points and roadblocks in each customers buying journey. However, once understood and a strategy developed, they can and should go back to that fierce belief, that natural state of commitment and optimism. Its what makes things happen.Martyn R. Lewis is an acclaimed business professional with a vast background in all aspects of revenue generation. He consults globally with Fortune 500 companies across 44 countries, in 17 languages, and his work has impacted over 85,000 sales professionals. His signature theory, the decoding of the Buying Journey DNA forms the underlying basis of his new book How Customers Buy Why They Dont.

Want to start making better decisions Do this

Want to start making better decisions Do thisWant to start making better decisions Do thisDo you ever look back on your decisions and think, Why I on earth did I do that?We all make bad decisions.Buying an SUV that sucks up all your cashStarting a relationship without being in loveSaying yes to a job that youre not passionate aboutCreating products that no one needsSh-t happens. We make bad decisions (the above examples are all about me). But the funny thing is that bad decisions never seem like bad decisions in the moment.Ive been reading about the decision-making process of Warren Buffet and charlottenburger Munger, two of the most successful investors of all time.In Alice Schroeders biography of Warren Buffett, I read that Buffet and Munger have a learning strategy thats based on what you should avoid doing. They identify mistakes and do their best to avoid those mistakes.Ladders is now on SmartNewsDownload the SmartNews app and add the Ladders channel to read the latest career ne ws and advice wherever you go.But as Charlie Munger saysSmart people do dumb things.You can never avoid making a mistake. However, you can avoid making the saatkorn mistake more than once.Plus, by learning from other peoples mistakes, you can make their mistakes your own. Youll learn faster that way.Dont overthinkSmart people are way too preoccupied with doing the right things. They want to have the perfect life, career, house, business, car, holiday, etc.When you put too much pressure on yourself to make the right decisions, you get analysis paralysis.I recently spoke to a friend who wanted to make a career move. I asked him to walk me through his thinking processI like the company I work for, but my job isnt engaging anymore. Ive been doing this work for four years. And sure, Ive been promoted twice, but its still the same work. So Ive been looking at other companies. But what if I go somewhere else and that doesnt work out? Ill have to move on quick. And that wont look good on my resume.I remained silent.Just hearing myself talk leads me to another thing Overthinking it.We both laughed our assess off. I can do the same with overthinking. And I bet youve been there too.When you overanalyze every single decision, you become paralyzed. Result? Nothing. Now, thats a bad outcomeThats how people end up welchesting their lives.The only way you can stop overthinking is making yourself aware of your thinking process. When I asked my friend about his thinking, he became aware of how irrational his process was.You cant control the future. So stop thinking about it.Do this instead Make small decisions. Decide oftenI recently read Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin. Its about the way Charlie Munger thinks. One of his decision-making strategies is to avoid mistakes. But that can be interpreted in different ways.You can fear decisions altogether because you might make mistakes. What happens is that you dont make decisions at all. As Munger saysThe difference between a good b usiness and a bad business is that good businesses throw up one easy decision after another. The bad businesses throw up painful decisions time after time.You can interpret that Munger quote in different ways. I interpret it as followsWhen you make small decisions early, before they become big - its easy. When you put off decisions, they become big - and painful.For example, Im not happy with the email provider I use to send out my newsletter. Their support is slow, theres no good integration with my online courses platform, and readers have complained about not getting my newsletter.This is something thats on my radar for more than 1.5 years. At the time my list was less than half of the size its today. I also had only one online course. Now, I have three.The hassle of moving to another provider gets bigger every day. Had I moved early, it was easy. By now, its a painful process.In life, its exactly the same. The longer you stay in a bad relationship, the harder it gets to leave. Its also true for your job.Earlier decisions lead to better decisionsThe earlier you make your decisions, the more chance that you make better decisions.I often say that there are no right or wrong decisions - only decisions. Thats not entirely accurate. Of course, theres a difference in the quality of our decisions. Thats the topic of another article.But heres the thing NOT making a decision is also a decision. Its a choice to put things off until another time.So in effect, youre making decisions all the time. Instead of making fewer decisions, we need to make them earlier.Because all you need are a few good decisions in your lifetime anyway. What will be your best? You only find out after, you guessed it, youve made a decision.This column first appeared on Dariusforoux.com.