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“One morning, one of us ran out of the black, it was the birth of Impressionism.” - Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Perhaps a poetic, revisionist take on the start of a new style of art, but Renoir speaks to unexpected blessings of constraint.

When something you’ve relied on is taken away, a vacuum is created.

A creative vacuum.

The modern day challenge, for many of us, is not absence but abundance.

Abundance is confusing because it requires discernment. Decisions are...

Three issues people are grappling with as we try to make decisions:

• Velocity - the speed at which information comes at us.
• Volume - the amount we are confronted by.
• Veracity - the truthfulness and accuracy of what is shared.

These three factors increase reliance on cognitive biases (ingrained mental short-cuts) and heuristics (rules of thumb), which means a couple of things for you and your business.

First, designing for ease and immediacy is crucial. Not just for your customers -...

If a messy desk symbolises a messy mind, what does an empty desk symbolise?

It’s a quip attributed to Einstein, though there’s no proof he said it.

It’s a favourite of mine because my father was (is!) notorious for having a messy desk.

Regardless, I believe the state of my physical deskspace has an impact on my psychology.

So, as simple as the tips that follow may seem, they might just help you like they do me.

Feeling overwhelmed? Clear your physical desk space....

You know what I’m sick and tired of being told to do? Challenge the status quo!

It’s seen as a power move. Leaders do it. Heroes do it.

Enshrined in vision statements and implored from the keynote stage, challenging the status quo is what we need to do to succeed, right?

Easy to say, hard to do.

Pointing to what needs to change or setting a vision for what a changed state looks like is the easy part – it’s hypothetical.

Actually embedding change is a behavioural...

When an indoor plant is struggling, our instinct is to give it more water.

But that can drown the plant, making it worse.

Some managers are like this, and far too many sales people.

They can tell the person they are engaging with is struggling, but they keep talking anyway.

They share more advice or more information, which only adds to overwhelm.

Overwhelm is one of three core issues when you are trying to influence behaviour, along with Apathy (I can’t be bothered) and Anxiety...

Seems to me that many people think the job is done once information has been shared.

Government ‘awareness’ campaigns, corporate policy documents, consulting recommendation decks, training days…

Once you’ve informed your audience, you’ve met the brief. It’s over to them. 

No. Not good enough.

But what do you want me to do?

We keep hearing about information overload. That people are confronted by thousands of messages and make hundreds of...

Are you providing too much detail or not enough?

People say they want information, right? But what's the right level of information to share?

Behavioural expert Bri Williams shares how to approach the issue of information, including why people think they need it and why they actually do.

More about Just Do This: www.briwilliams.com/about-just-do-this