Momentum #339 – This week: Health, Stoppers, Eggs
GREG’S BUSINESS GROWTH NEWSLETTER #339
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Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week.
In this issue:
– Thinking about Momentum
– Being Human
– Random Stuff
Thinking about Momentum
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- Take a mental health day. Leave the to-do lists and holiday hustle behind. Turn off social media and turn up some music. Pet the dog, take a walk, show up at the movie theater and pick a movie you might not otherwise see. Give yourself permission to wander around for a bit.
- The middle of the year is here. Have you visited your dentist, physician, and gotten an annual eye exam? Everything starts with health, make the appointments.
- You’ve heard the quote, “you are what you eat.” If you are back in the office get the fresh fruit vendor to show up once or twice a week. A mandarin orange and a handful of nuts are always a good idea.
- Another office health suggestion. Plants. It’s anecdotal but they boost productivity and decrease absences. Plus they give Charlie in accounting a willing audience to whisper his complaints to.
Being Human – What stops Momentum?
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“To understand why consistency is so powerful a motive, it is important to recognize that most circumstances, consistency is valued and adaptive. Inconsistency is commonly thought to be an undesirable personality trait.” – Dr. Robert Cialdini
When I think about the best way to get something done it’s best to approach it by thinking about its opposite. I’m working on a book about momentum in salespeople. To build momentum I started with this question: what takes momentum away? Many of them are personal.
- Areas of discipline like health and wealth.
- Our human bits like emotions and intellect.
- Big picture things like support systems and higher powers.
- Navigation help like mentors or knowing the rules.
Some of them are institutional.
- Leadership issues like vision or direct managers.
- Incentive alignment and communication.
- Culture issues posted and observed.
- Change both internal and external.
With a short list of momentum stoppers on hand I have a sense of how to build momentum.
One interesting thing about this list. Many leaders are more interested in hearing what their people need to change versus what needs to change in their institution.
Change at the top is tough.
Random stuff
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“Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.” – Emerson
I am listening to an interview with author Amor Towles. In the interview he mentions thinking our worldviews are set between 12 and 18 years old. He mentions this in reference to a question about his inspiration for writing the book “The Lincoln Highway.” I think about this for a minute. Since maybe the fifth grade I try to balance an egg on its end. I’ve done it at least once a year for decades now on the vernal equinox. At the time I was told one can stand an egg on its end only on this day because day and night are equal in length. Something about equal gravity between the Earth and the sun yadda yadda.
To stand an egg on its end takes patience. Extreme patience. And a steady hand. But mostly patience. The egg needs to settle its insides, and then you can gently move your hand away. Voilà! Egg standing on end.
Before I found out this was an old wives tale (the “it’s only possible on the equinox” part of the story) I used to fancy myself a special person. Who else had such a steady hand? Who else exhibited such dexterous control of their fine motor skills? Who else was so careful, so precise, as to be able to pull off such a feat of wonder?
I know I can do it any time of year, but I usually only remember on June 21st. Including this year. I can report, yes, I still gots it.
In other news, it took me less than three weeks to break a dish in my new dishwasher.
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