Monthly Archives: April 2014

Few people in the world

They:

  • Know when you leave.
  • Know when you return.
  • Know when something’s wrong.
  • Know how to fix your problems.
  • Know your dog.
  • Know your work.
  • Know more than you know.

They are your neighbors.

Get to know ’em.

Few people in the world are more willing and able to be your friend.

 

Where we rowing?

Everyone has advice:

  • How to get more subscribers.
  • How to get more dates.
  • How to get more Facebook likes.
  • How to avoid gluten.
  • How to upsell.
  • How to manage people.
  • How to scale a business.
  • How to launch a product.

That’s all fine and good. But that’s all just tactics.

Figure out where you’re taking the boat. Then, and only then, take advice on how to get there.

One-in-one-out

Bouncers at the club use it. Lifeguards at the pool use it. Administrators at schools use it.

It’s one-in-one-out. And it also works with stuff in your home.

Before you bring in a bag of stuff, make sure you take one out.

Nobody likes an overcrowded club or pool or lecture hall.

Same goes for your home.

Fill it up

Fill your apartment. Fill your plate. Fill your cup. Fill your gas tank. Fill the page. Fill your schedule.

Do they all really need to be filled?

No.

But why wouldn’t you? There’s available space. Use it. Fill it up.

So for:

  • Less clutter.
  • Less on your plate.
  • Less overindulgence.
  • Less reliance on foreign oil.
  • Less verbosity.
  • Fewer meetings.

Just downsize.

Twitter dabble

Tweeting requirements:

  • Tweet early and often. All day, every day. As it happens.
  • Don’t mind spelling, grammar, punctuation.
  • Add all relevant hashtags, links, mentions and pictures.
  • Accept a low batting average and low home run total.
  • Accept little to no pay.
  • Accept no residual benefit for you or the rest of the world.
  • Accept little to no valuable searchability.

So, to those who tweet and tweet well: Thank you.

To those who just dabble in tweeting: Is it worth it?

Activity, priority, regret

Things I’ve never regret doing:

  • Getting up before work to exercise.
  • Getting to work late because I was exercising.
  • Getting out of bed hungover on a Saturday morning to go play basketball.
  • Playing football on the beach.
  • Playing horse (or pig) in the pool.
  • Getting up to stretch or walk around the office.
  • Breaking at noon to take a long walk with Lucy.

You get the point.

No regrets.

Mr. Fix-it, Mr. Break-it

Consultants fix things. They’ll fix broken models, slow traffic and inventory shrinkage. Find your consultant, and they’ll fix it.

Entrepreneurs break things. They bust models, cut off marketing and steal inventory. Find your entrepreneur, and they’ll break it.

Counterintuitively, fixing is so much easier than breaking.

Breaking shit takes guts.

Cable, productivity, a slope

I got rid of cable. No, it wasn’t so I could get DirecTV. I got rid of cable so I could get productive.

When I got productive, I started to think. When I started to think, I was able to take control. When I was able to take control, I began to actually live my life.

Get rid of cable. Get productive.

Live your life.

The best people in the office

Some great organizations:

What do these great organizations have in common? They all welcome dogs to the office.

Yes, these great organizations are great on their own. But would they have become as great without dogs in the office?

Maybe.

But according to a study that confirms the obvious, there are many benefits to having dogs in the office.

So who’s the next great organization? There are plenty of eager employees and wagging dogs ready to join the team.

P.S. Links above to listed organizations are very dog friendly.

TSA, IRS, CVS

Understand people who have crappy jobs.

  • The TSA officer does not want to pat you down.
  • The IRS agent does not want to audit you.
  • The CVS employee does not want to ask you to pick up your dog.

People who have crappy jobs are not trying to piss you off. They just want to keep their job.

Expressly noting you’re helping them keep their job (not get in trouble) helps everyone in the game.