Grow Business Newsletter #223: Stay in touch, Free time, Dog fish
GREG’S BUSINESS GROWTH NEWSLETTER #223
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Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week.
In this issue:
– Techniques for FIT
– Being Human
– Random Stuff
Techniques for FIT
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- Dismissing employees is never fun, but if you have to do it be true to your beliefs. There’s usually a “culture gap” between beliefs and behaviors, but don’t let extraordinary events turn it into a culture chasm.
- Usual and customary routines may be changing, but stay in touch with your people and customers. I talked to one who said, “When this started, it was nice not to get so many calls. Now I kind of miss it.” Call that guy.
- Not knowing is stressful, but don’t stop making plans. Yes, you’ll have to change them more often than ever, but keep moving. As the great Christine McVie sayeth, “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow, Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here.”
- Discover something new about your people this week. My son’s company had everyone submit a baby picture and each day they guess who it is. My washed out Polaroid may give me away though.
Being Human – Free time
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“He who know most grieves most for wasted time”
– Dante Alighieri
Scientists are studying the interplay between free time and happiness. What they’re finding is having no free time is bad. . .but so is having too much free time.
Kind of like the FIT curve.
What you want is something in the middle, the sweet spot. What your people need is the ability to self-direct the amount and duration of free time. Having lots of free time when it’s not your choice (such as being between jobs) is less than optimal. Contrast it with choosing to have lots of free time (such as being on vacation), much closer to optimal.
The key is self-directed free time. The perception of control.
It’s what we should work on. Giving our people the perception of control of their free time.
Random stuff
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“I love fishing.You put that line in the water and you don’t know what’s on the other end. Your imagination is under there.”
– Robert Altman
Pets you get from the humane society come with a mysterious background. You’re never quite sure what imprinted on their little brains before you got them. Occasionally something happens and you think, “Aha!” and build a backstory.
We had a big Maine Coon cat named Snickers. He was the most relaxed cat in the pound, and we picked him because he barely reacted to our two little boys bouncing around. When we brought him home he continued his easygoing ways, even laying down to eat. One night we ordered pizza and fat, lazy Snickers went berserk. He was up on the table, in everyone’s face, and even tried to steal a slice. We figured his previous life involved college kids, pizza, and having to forage for oneself.
These days, one of my shelter-in-place activities is working on my fly-fishing roll-cast. The backyard has tight quarters, tree branches overhead, and is about the right size for the backwaters around here. I am out working on my casting when the neighbor dog is let out. Her name is Luna, and she’s a pound dog. A five or six year old, Husky-like dog with one piercing blue eye. She’s quiet too. Barely makes a noise or acknowledges my existence most days.
That all changed with a fly rod in my hand. She’s whining, she’s jumping, she’s running up and down the fence line. It’s really sweet. Wilson sometimes wants to chase the fly line, but she seems really interested in my actual casting.
I walk over to the fence to give her a scratch behind the ears.
“Tell me girl,” I say, “did your old human fly fish?”
She looks at me, panting, brain working furiously behind those eyes. At this moment, I find myself wishing we could bridge this dog-human communication divide. Delve into the depths of our experiences. Share secrets.
“I mean, like, did he have any keys to his roll cast? I need help.”
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To download the book, go to: Successfully Navigating the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic
(yep, I put some advice in there too)
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