Greg's Right FIT #361

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Momentum
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Momentum

• When project funds are scarce, focus on building and sustaining momentum. It is more effective than focusing on early results. If success requires quick results we're tempted to take shortcuts and misinterpret data.
• Having a goal is great, but pursuing it with intense focus can lead to abandoning values to get it. Momentum carries us beyond our goals when we work within our value system. 
• Momentum takes a hit during challenging times, like reductions in force/layoffs. Recognize it. Give your team time to process their new future, then focus on momentum. It will be slow to catch at first, but soon you'll be back on track. 
• If you're the victim of a layoff, take a minute to regroup, then build momentum searching for a new gig. Having two new job conversations a week doesn't sound like much, but in a month you'll be busy. In two months you'll be swamped.

Being Human - The importance of game tape

"You're not recording this, are you?" – Fletch

I'm listening to an interview with a musician, and he's asked about what it's like to play in front of sold out arenas. He catches my attention when he says the adrenaline surge from the crowd makes everything speed up. He said their band watches tapes of their live shows and early on noticed how fast they played, even though when they were playing they thought they were on time. They practice playing slower to combat the adrenaline rush. 

I take this as another example of the importance of reviewing game tape. In sales, we use this tactic a lot because it's a great teaching tool. The "Tell-Show-Do-Review" adult learning sequence in action. With the number of sales conversations taking place on phone and in Teams/Zoom it's never been easier to get feedback on actual conversations in near real time. Game tape lets you experience your work from a perspective you're not used to seeing. It's a shortcut to rapid improvement.

Game tape isn't common with managers interacting with their direct reports. Even rarer is game tape of managers interacting with leadership. No "game tape" means no new perspectives, no review, and improvement slows down. 

Get some game tape of yourself. Review it. If you're brave, share it with a coach and get their feedback. Once you get over the cringe factor of hearing yourself you'll start to see areas for improvement. Stick with it. It's like magic. Trust me.

Good stuff. 

Random Stuff

"The nap is a sort of easy version of meditation."
– Tom Hodgkinson (and me, this afternoon)

I don't have trouble falling asleep. Some of this is due to keeping a regular sleep schedule, some due to keeping seasonal allergies at bay with antihistamines, and some of it is just habit. My head hits the pillow and I'm asleep. 

This doesn't mean I stay asleep. I get distracted by things. A hall light, the kids banging around the house, or say, a late night dance party in the living room. For years one of these distractions has been the alarm clock. I think I paid $9.99 for it in 1993. It has bright red numbers and as my night rolls on I look at it. A lot. I carry on little conversations with it like getting excited when I feel like I've been asleep for hours but see its only been 30 minutes. I say, ooh bonus! 7 and half hours to go, and things like that. 

I am reading an article about sleep and feeling good about my sleep routine. I check most of the boxes but one. The bright red LED alarm clock. It may be that a bright red light 12 inches from my face at night could be robbing me of some important brain plaque clearing. That won't due. I must fix this. 

I spend a lot of time researching new alarm clocks. (no phones! bright screens, potential interruptions and such are bad they say) I settle on an old school alarm clock I remember having in college. A classic battery operated Braun model with tiny glow in the dark spots on its hands and a gentle alarm that starts low and gets louder. 

It's been a month and I can report it is less distracting than the old red LED clock. The glow in the dark dots on the hands are a little hard to make out though. The hands are nearly the same size and can confuse me.

Take this morning for instance. I woke up ready to take on the world. I peek at the clock, it's dark and it's a little before I plan on getting up (I mean, the sun doesn't even come up until after 7:30am these days) but I'm game. Early to bed, early to rise says Ben Franklin! 6:05am it is. Time to clean the kitchen, make the coffee, feed the pooch, and get some reading done. 

Except it isn't 6am. It's 1:30am.

In the dark, the hands on the clock really look like it is just after 6.

Not a problem. I have things to do. Quietly. Of course.