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Have You Exercised Your Slack Muscle?

Damage
Have You Exercised Your Slack Muscle?

Wifey and I are into investment properties. We like them and they work for us.

Late last year a tenant advised us that someone had broken in and done some damage. It turned out the damage was smashed walls, windows and a massive mess. The neighbours advised us that within weeks of moving in there was a huge party and the cops had to be called. In fact, the party made the local paper. Personally, I suspect the damage was more “party” related than “break-in” related.

Anyway, the landlord insurance covered the replastering of the third of the house and we took the opportunity to repaint the entire inside of the house and re-carpet it. That is not us hiring painters, that is wifey and I spending three 14 hour days washing ceilings and walls and then giving the ceilings, walls, door frames and doors two coats of paint.

To be honest, I was physically shattered!

I am used to speaking on stage, strutting around trade shows, talking on the phone or working at my computer. I have all these muscles that had gone slack in my body. An intense painting work out reminded me they were still there.

It got me thinking about some of the muscles I used to exercise in the workplace but haven’t for a while. I haven’t done cold calling for quite a while, I haven’t done random networking for a while and I haven’t called my old clients to see how they are for a while. Like my slack painting muscles, when I do this it may feel strange, hurt a bit, make me feel exhausted or even turn me off doing it ever again. It is so important to exercise the slack muscle in your business. To do the tasks that pay off, even if you don’t want to do them.

Have you exercised your slack muscle recently?




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What About the Little Guys?


In the last couple of weeks I have been on three different airline; Qantas, REX and Jetstar. The service I got varied with each one. More importantly, it varied against my expectation.

The first flight was Qantas. To make things easier for them they now have autobaggage book in. In fact, it is ok for the traveller too, unless you have unusual luggage. I had a guitar with me. The auto check in wanted to charge me an extra $30 as I had an extra bag. I spoke to the assistant (when I could find her) and had a conversation about luggage andwhat was allowed in the cabin etc.  This was from the premium airline. I had 25kg allocation and still I was hassled.

Compare that to REX airlines. When I booked I noticed that the luggage allowance was 15kg. I knew I would be over with the guitar, amp and other things I had so I rang them to try and buy more luggage allowance as it is usually cheaper to buy beforehand than at the airport. I was advised that I could only get it at the airport. I steeled myself for the $5.50 per kilo extra I would have to pay (I guessed about $40) and then checked in when I was in Sydney. At check-in the bag and guitar weighed a total of 22.5 kg. As I waited to be told “That’s $40 please” he actually said, “Let’s say that’s 20kg and there is no extra charge. By the way, would you like an exit row? It would be more comfortable for a guy your height.” I was stunned.

In an age where the focus is cost cutting and bottom line focussed (particularly in the airline industry), it was a delight to get great service. This service continued on the flight – but that’s another story.

As a small to medium business, how can you beat the big guys at their game? As a big business, what can you learn from the little guys?

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Are You Ready?

Get Ready

Based on last week’s Get More Goer, it seems like most of you are back at work this week. This email is probably just one of the many in your inbox – hopefully it is not buried! Some of you have been back on the job for a week or more so this is a quick reminder.


But are you ready?


Is your desk all clean, your in tray empty, your mindset clear, your enthusiasm fired up and all ready for a cracker of a 2012?
If you are not quite ready, don’t forget to use the Regular Results Review to get your focused. You can get a copy here 
If you need some music to focus your self, here is a song I recently discovered that inspired this post. Are You Ready? by Fatty Gets A Stylist 


Now you are ready, LET’S GO!

 Image: Flikr Dru Bloomfield

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What’s the Theme?

Guitar

Happy New Year! 


I hope that this year is full of success, fun and happiness.


Did you make a New Year’s resolution? I think New Year’s resolutions are too hard. Too many things to remember, too easy to get side tracked, too easy to go back to old habits, too similar to last year’s resolutions (or is that revolutions), and too easy to simply lose interest.


So for this year, I am having a theme.  It is something in addition to the goals of my business and my personal goals but it is the essence of my focus for the year. It is something to keep me on track and progressing.  It is one simple statement; in fact it is three simple words. It’s easy to remember, easy to focus on and easy to adjust my course when I stray.


My theme for this year is

MAKE AN IMPACT



What’s yours?

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What’s the Theme?

Guitar

Happy New Year! 


I hope that this year is full of success, fun and happiness.


Did you make a New Year’s resolution? I think New Year’s resolutions are too hard. Too many things to remember, too easy to get side tracked, too easy to go back to old habits, too similar to last year’s resolutions (or is that revolutions), and too easy to simply lose interest.


So for this year, I am having a theme.  It is something in addition to the goals of my business and my personal goals but it is the essence of my focus for the year. It is something to keep me on track and progressing.  It is one simple statement; in fact it is three simple words. It’s easy to remember, easy to focus on and easy to adjust my course when I stray.


My theme for this year is

MAKE AN IMPACT



What’s yours?

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What About This Weather?

Whew! It was a SCORCHER here in Melbourne yesterday 40 C. Overnight it got down to a low of 24 C and we are up for another hot day today. I could whinge and whine about how hot it is. I could complain that I don’t deal with the heat well. Just so you know, I am a son of a farmer so I know how to complain about the weather with the professionals!

The weather is something I can do nothing about.

The saying “it’s not what happens to you but how you deal with it that counts” is best represented by the weather.
In business it may be you main customer no longer buys from you, your key employee resigns, someone else owns a trade mark you were after or some other unfortunate event.

So today, I am not going to say anything about the weather. I will simply do what it takes to make sure my needs are met. It could be going to the cinema, it maybe working out of an airconditioned cafe, I may even need to go and hangout in the freezer section of a supermarket. 


It is the action I take that will determine how well I deal with my situation.

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Humans Can’t See

Humans MUST be admired for their commitment to selective blindness and ignorance. They KNOW what is in their best interest yet they continue to ignore it and pretend that their situation is different.
It started with dog poo.
Dog owners are typically responsible and pick up after their animals as required by law, but there are a minority (or is it a silent majority) that CANNOT notice their dog bearing down to squeeze out a nugget.
Surely the human must notice the tension on the lead or strange circling behaviour of their pet, but it always seems to be at that time that the human gets in touch with their Ornithology gene and starts bird watching.  This leaves the nugget on the footpath or nature strip of some unsuspecting home owner to be flung around when next the lawn is mowed.
Even worse, it could be at the park where “everyone does it – so it must be ok”. It is not ok. Ask any amateur sports person who has slid through it, stomped on it, hit it, fell in it or kicked it and see what they think of it.  Ask any pram pushing parent how they felt when they got the pram in the car only to discover their new aromatherapy was Eau du Puppy.
You would have thought we would have learnt.
By now you may be thinking either “oops… I’ve done that” or “it’s a disgrace, damn dog owners.” If you are of the latter, when was the last time you chucked something out the window of a moving car, put a non-recyclable in the recycling bin, put a recyclable in the non-recycling bin or threw some foreign object in a water way?
In Ye Olde Englande, humans just lobbed the bath water and chamber pot out the window. Over the years this slowly moved to open sewers (pumped straight into the river) to closed sewers (still pumped into the river) and now finally we have some decent sewage processing that can turn our waste into pure water and by product.
You would have thought we would have learnt.
We now have expeditions that are hiking up Mount Everest purely to collect the rubbish. From empty oxygen cylinders to dead bodies, we continue to leave our waste in some of the most pristine areas. There is so much space junk orbiting the earth that it is starting to damage satellites and there are high level discussions to do a rubbish collection space run.
You would have thought we would have learnt.
The younger generations seem to be more accustomed to considering the full impact of their actions but there are exception. The more mature generations, who run most of our corporations, are less likely to consider the impact of their actions and those of their companies than the impact on their bottom line.
What is needed is RESPONSIBILITY. That equates to the Ability to Respond. It is not fun to pick up dog poo, especially if you have a big dog. But if you choose to own a dog, part of the deal is looking after it. It is not fun to correct the environmental and social impact of your business but that is part of the responsibility of running a business.
Humans MUST be admired for their commitment to selective blindness and ignorance. They KNOW what is in their best interest yet they continue to ignore it and pretend that their situation is different.
Where can you take responsibility?


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12 Days of Christmas

12 Days of Christmas
Welcome to the twelve days for Christmas for 2011.  Maybe you don’t celebrate Christmas, maybe you are more a Haj, Chanuka or Bodi day kind of person. It doesn’t matter, this applies to everyone.

Inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas carol, wifey and I came up with some ideas that spread the spirit of the season. So rather than thinking about what your true love can give to you, my challenge for you is to think what you can give not only to your true love, but others in your life as well.

Here is your challenge for the next twelve days.  Don’t forget, that they are cumulative, just like the song.  That is, on the first day, you give the first thing. One the second day, you give the second thing and then the first thing.  On the third day you give the third thing, the second thing and then the first and so on.

Your Twelve Days and their challenges:
On the first day of Christmas I gave to my partner or best friend, an extra long and extra firm hug.
On the second day of Christmas I gave to a person on the road, 2 moments to cut in ahead of me.

On the third day of Christmas I gave to the person on the street $3 for a coffee treat.
On the fourth day of Christmas I gave to a member of my team, 4 minutes to tell me what they thought of me.
On the fifth day of Christmas I gave to myself 5 minutes of mediation.
On the sixth day of Christmas I gave to my family, six minutes of singing silly songs.
On the seventh day of Christmas I gave to my kids, seven minutes of undivided attention.
On the eighth day of Christmas I searched my memory for eight things I learned from this year.
On the ninth day of Christmas I wrote in my diary, nine goals for the coming year.
On the tenth day of Christmas I gave to my friends, ten minutes of non-stop praise.
On the eleventh day of Christmas for my sanity, I gave myself an eleven minute bath (Frankincense and Myrrh is optional).
On the twelfth day of Christmas I committed to the community twelve hours of my time as a volunteer.

It is ALMOST singable to the original tune!!  Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it perfect but do act on as many as you can.  Carry the spirit of Christmas and giving with you as you do.

I’d love to hear how you went!


PS I know that the 12 Days of Christmas don’t officially start until the 29th of December but I thought I would get in early!

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Is Your Reward Relevant?

Santa Trophy
Regular readers will know that I believe we need to let people in our team (including suppliers, customers and family) know how much we value them and their contribution.  Too often we just assume they know we appreciate what they do. As you get in the habit of rewarding people, make sure it is relevant.

A financial bonus typically has a minimal impact because how much is enough. No matter how much a person receives, they always have that small thought in the back of their head “Is that it?”  One of my clients has stopped issuing movie tickets as they have given away so many, they no longer mean anything. You have to make the reward relevant and it doesn’t have to cost too much!

Recently I did two lots of Santa work for a friend of mine. I was happy to do it and it was a lot of fun. To say thanks he unexpectedly gave me the trophy in the picture. It was incredibly relevant and a load of fun. Will I do it again if he asks me, you bet I will. I probably would have anyway, but a cool gift like this means it would be nearly impossible to say no.

Now that we are in the festive spirit, what rewards or gifts are you giving those in your team? 
Is Your Reward Relevant?

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Do You Live?

Kung Fu
Whew!! What a weekend!


I don’t know about you but this is what I got up to:

  • Friday night I looked after my brothers 3 kids (I even embarrassed them when we went to the supermarket!!), 
  • Saturday morning we made Chocolate Brownies, played basket ball and cruised on the scooters 
  • Saturday night Wifey and I went to Foo Fighters concert (3 hours of rock fabulosity), 
  • Sunday morning washing and domestic duties (a man’s work is never done!), 
  • Sunday afternoon I was Santa for a friends Kung Fu school. A bit of Kung Fu Santa with 50 kids telling Santa what they wanted. Look at what one girl did!! Kicked me right in the Jingle Bells! 
  • Sunday night, Wifey and I went to a birthday dinner for a friend at a lovely Thai restaurant. 

When someone asked on Farcebook “What did you do on the weekend” that is what I told them. They said, “Wow you were really busy”. I have to admit it didn’t feel it at the time but I suppose that is a fair bit. Personally, I like Bon Jovi’s approach when he sings “I’ll live while I’m alive and sleep when I’m dead”.

Comic legend Mel Brooks is quoted as saying “If you’re alive, you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death. And therefore, as I see it, if you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy, colourful and lively.”

In essence, life is for doing things and enjoying all that is on offer. 


So what about you Do You Live?

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What’s The Risk?

On Sunday, the choir that I sing with, Mood Swing, performed at a memorial service for people who had died in the workplace. It is always a privilege to be part of this service and always disturbing to realise how fragile life is.


It made me think of the risks that people take in the work place. I have seen trades people working on a roof without safety barriers or safety harness. As a kid I recall jumping on and off moving tractors while feeding out hay. Plenty of people in offices have stood on swivel chairs with no support as they reach for something on top of the cabinet. Some of the risks we take can have severe consequences but take the risk anyway without thinking about it.


When it comes to financial risk, we are usually vigilant about minimising it. When it comes to our health and state of being, we seem to be willing to take significant risks.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying “NEVER take a risk”, I am saying “minimise and manage your risks”. A life without risks is restrictive and detrimental, but suffering from unnecessary risks is foolish.


So in what you are doing, what’s the risk? More importantly, how will you manage it and minimise it.

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There Is No Luck

Mt Buller


You may have noticed that today’s Get More Goer is a day and a half late. I have a good reason for it. I was away with five of my friends and a couple of their kids for a four day weekend at Mt Buller. 


Some of you may be thinking, “how lucky.”  


There is no luck.


Rather than spend a lot of money on a holiday house and then have to spend each visit there doing maintenance, the 6 of us have formed a B&B consortium. We all put $50 a month into the B&B fund and then every couple of months we go away for an extended weekend.  Not bad having a magic little break away all for less than a cup of coffee a day. No maintenance, no bills, no hassle just pure holiday bliss.


I have always believed that holidays (or a new car or a new piece of equipment or a new whatever you want) are not dependant on luck. They only take 2 things: Planning and Cash.  If your planning is good enough, you don’t really need to worry about the cash.


So what do you want? What will you do to make sure that Luck plays no part in whether you get it or not? It just takes two things: Planning and Cash.

Image: www.luxurymtbulleraccommodation.com.au 

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What Do Little Old Ladies Know?

Too often we dismiss the little old lady. They look frail, mind their own business and get on with life. But I believe we can learn a lot from them.


Today as I was leaving the NSAA Presidential Breakfast with my Vice President, we saw a large semi trailer seeming stuck in a car park at a shopping centre. It had hit the “too high” bar and the driver was busy on the phone trying to work out what to do. The little old lady knew what to do.


Several drivers impatiently drove their car on the wrong side of the road to get around the truck. Other pedestrians, shuffled around avoiding everyone, but the little old lady knew what to do!


She gracefully and with purpose went about her business walking toward the shops. As she crossed the road in front of the truck (whose driver was still

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on the phone) she gave him a big wave to say “thanks for stopping for me.”


The Vice President and I cracked up laughing as it looked so comical. But that was when I realised that the little old lady was right. Regardless of whether the truck had stopped for her or not, she waved a thank you as if it did. She was courteous, graceful and focussed on what she needed to achieve for the day while realising that sometimes you will get support from unexpected places. Even if it merely a truck that has stopped where you need it to.


Too often the youth of today (and those who still wish they were the youth of today!) dismiss out of hand the lessons from those who have had more life experience. Today I got one from a little old lady just living her life.


One of my favourite little old ladies, Betty White, recently gave her 10 Tips for Living a Long and Happy Life on the Letterman show. If you want to see the video, click on her picture above. Here are some of my favourites from Betty:

  • Get at least 8 hours of beauty sleep, 9 if you are ugly
  • Avoid tweeting any photos of your private parts
  • Schedule a nightly appointment with Johnny Walker
  • Don’t waste your time watching TV
  • Never dwell on past mistakes
  • Try not to die

What can you learn from the little old ladies in your life?





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