What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?

Mmm. 🤔 Good question. For me my daily habit that improves my quality of life is my reading habit. I need to read every day – and not on screens but I mean, physical books. The time I sit or lie down is a time for me to immerse myself into a world that is not distracting me.

Anyway, enough about that.

This prompt made me think of something else entirely. 🤣

I’m using the Jetpack App on my mobile phone to write posts onto my blog. I noticed that in the main page there’s a Prompt every day that asks you a question to encourage you to start reflecting and writing your post. It’s not intrusive either. It just sits there or you can opt out in your settings.

So What’s the Idea?

I’m thinking that I can incorporate something like this in my day to day role as a Community Manager for Rapid Circle which is a Microsoft partner. Thing is, I’m trying to enable people to start working out loud at work. Many people are simply invisible. We have talented smart people but I have no idea what they do, or what they’re working on!

I’ve asked them to share what they can but I think it’s a new concept. So maybe I can think of ways to help them do this? After all, many people aren’t like me who WANT to write all the time. 🤣 Maybe they need some help?

I can ask my colleague extraordinaire Loryan Strant (who has an excellent blog about all things Microsoft 365), to help me create a bot using Power Automate that can post to say, a Yammer (Viva Engage) Community on a rotating basis some weekly scheduled prompts that encourage people to share and show their work to the organisation. That is, to work out loud.

However the bot is NOT something I want to go into everyone’s inbox. Preferably I want it just working there silently and in the background. Unobtrusive. Even better if someone can click on an online button of sorts to reveal the prompt.

Why?

Simply because people ignore these bots if they go directly to them. I’d like people to simply use it WHEN they’re ready to not pushed out to them regularly.

Surely there has to be a Microsoft solution that helps prompt people to post something about their work? It can’t be that hard! 🤔

Personally I don’t like prompts because for me, I like to write when the mood overcomes me and also I like to control the theme or topic of what to write. After all, there are days when I want to post a question. There are other days I want to post a longer work blog. A bot just annoys me because it’s “too automated” and not variable enough to suit my many different and fickle moods.

I write when I’m in the following situations or moods at work:

• I’m curious and have questions that need answered
• Find a great resource that I need to share because I know people will find it if value
• I’m stuck on a problem with my work and all my colleagues are unavailable or not answering their DMs
• I’m inspired by something I read or saw or people I met at work
• I’m doing something different to my day to day work
• I just feel like writing.

To me, it’s second nature to share. I’ve noticed this about myself. I learn something, I read something, I make my own sense from it and I share it. It comes automatic. However I’ve since realised that others don’t work this way. What I find easy to do because it gets me into FLOW straight away is annoying to others because they see it as an additional task in their work day. Or, don’t see any value in sharing what they do to others. They’re quite happy just to do what they’re there to do and that’s it. Pity. I think it’s an incredible waste especially when most people are fascinating and can share amazing things that others wouldn’t know. Oh well.