GREG’S BUSINESS GROWTH NEWSLETTER #334
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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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- Ancient memory trick: stories. The “memory palace” technique used by contestants in memory competitions is a structured story. I do this, and then this, and then this. Create a story to remember more.
- Take notes. Even if it’s a quick drawing of arrows and circles with short labels. It will save you hours of work over the month. The research backs me up. Article, “The act of drawing something has a ‘massive’ benefit for memory compared with writing it down.”
- Undoing memories is hard. We believe the stories we tell ourselves. Check your stories about who you are and what you believe is truth. Especially the negative stories.
- This is Memorial Day weekend in the USA. A time to reflect on Horace’s phrase, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”
Being Human – Sharpening the saw
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“We must never become too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw.” – Stephen Covey
You may have heard the phrase take time to sharpen the saw. As we enter a holiday weekend in the USA it’s a good time to make sure we’re sharp. However, before checking sharpness, make sure you’re using the tool correctly. A guy I worked with, Dave Franz, told me this joke many years ago:
A good-ol-boy (Dave was from Arkansas) comes to town and goes to the hardware store. He sees a chainsaw. “What’s that,” he asks. The store owner sees a fresh mark and proceeds to sell him the top-of-the-line model, saying that it will cut through over 100 trees in one day.
“100 in one day?”
“100.”
The good-ol-boy takes the chainsaw back to the styx and begins working on a tree. After working for over three hours he only cuts down two trees.
“100 a day. Sheesh. I cut for hours and hours and only finish two trees” he says, shaking his head in disgust.
Not one to give up, the next morning he gets up early in the morning and works until nighttime, but still only manages to cut down five trees.
The next day the good-ol-boy loads up the chainsaw and heads back to town. He puts the chainsaw on the counter with a thud and demands his money back. “No way I can cut 100 trees in a day.”
The owner shrugs his shoulders. “Well maybe 100 is an exaggeration. Let me see what I can do for you.”
The owner inspects the machine, pulling the cord, starting the chainsaw.
The good-ol-boy jumps back in shock.
“What’s that noise?”
Random stuff
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“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
The deed is done. Our youngest is officially graduated from university. He has a job lined up in NYC (if you have any leads on housing let me know!) and is taking a month to travel Europe with friends. Sounds like a fine start to adulting.
In other news we have a couple of new trees. One is an espaliered apple tree. That sounds fun and has a distinctive look about it. The other is a hydrangea tree/bush, and came to us in twig form, bare roots and all. Planting that one feels more like an act of faith than the other.
I put up a cage around the little twig. From experience, I know the local bunny population likes to chew new growing things, so this is a preventative action. I don’t want to lose this tree to some selfish bunny who doesn’t adhere to the conventions of polite gardening society, so l make it harder for him to get to the tree. Makes sense.
Preventative actions work.
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