Greg's Right FIT #426

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

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Procrastination
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Procrastination

• For some of us, what we call procrastination is hooked to the word "should." As in, I should do this, I should be doing that. Separating our "should" thoughts from real procrastination is the first step in taking action. Don't fret about what you should be doing, concentrate on what you're getting done. 
• To exercise your "getting things done" muscle, practice breaking tasks down into their smallest parts on paper. Like, "to get X done, I need to have W. But before that I need T and U. . ." all the way back to your immediate next step.
• Part of not feeling like a procrastinator is letting things go. If a task I don't get to (like arguing with American Airlines about a credit) sticks on my list for too long, I will feel like a procrastinator. Let it go. It's a way of taking action.
• Between work and family, don't prioritize action items for work over loved ones. Most family demands don't require a lot of time, but they require immediate action. Work, on the other hand, is okay with being put off for a minute.

Being Human - Whiteboard grids

“Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer, and clearer still. The image is passing through you in a physiological way, into your brain, into your memory - where it stays - it's transmitted by your hands." – David Hockney

I get asked for hot takes here and there. Especially when I was actively trying to help reporters on a deadline. They would ask for help on a topic but what they really wanted was a strong opinion, a hot take, that could spice up their article. Especially if the hot take was contrarian.

My problem with hot takes is I'm not good at them. My default response to most questions is "it depends." This week a friend asked me what's the best lead generation strategy and tool you've ever used or seen? I said, it depends. He said, just tell me whatever comes to mind. He wanted a hot take. 

What I wanted to give him is a framework for determining which lead gen strategy is going to be best for whatever project he is working on. He wants to know the time, I want to tell him how a watch works. It reminded me of a favorite whiteboard tool, a grid you can draw to help people make strategic decisions about which direction to go. It's a "more like this, less like that" grid. 

The way it works is you put the two competing focuses against each other on the top. For instance, with lead generation it may be a question between online versus offline lead generation. The bottom part is where the fun is. We list the issues/priorities we're considering. For lead gen it may be things like budget (high or low), timeline (weeks or years), personnel (in house or outsourced), and target customer (new or existing). As you can see, we state the issue and then identify extremes. We'll orient the extremes under each focus, then spend time talking about each one, saying "are we more like this, or more like that?" a lot. 

The discussion creates the magic of consensus. It gets us on the same page for answering the question like "what's the best lead generation strategy and tool for us?"

Try it. The first few times it may be rough, but once you use it with your team, everyone will start using it and action follows. 

As for my friend's question? My hot take is the best lead gen strategy I've ever seen is an offsite event combining prospects and customers rubbing elbows with one another.

It works for cults, it'll work for you. 

Random Stuff

“It would be a fearful prospect, he said, to envisage a life without ale, either on sea or ashore;” ― Bengtsson, The Long Ships

I am at the end of a book that I don't want to finish reading. This rarely happens. I am more likely to bail on a book than I am to avoid reading the conclusion. I picked the book up on a recommendation many years ago. For some reason, I thought it was a non-fiction work about the early Middle Ages. The books I bought at the same time were all of that ilk. A memoir about an eccentric family, another memoir about an anthropologist, a punk rock history, etc. This one sat on the shelf, on my desk, and on my nightstand. 

Until a week ago. In a fit of insomnia, I learned that what I thought was an academic look at the tenth century AD is, well, let me give you what it says on the book cover, "Frans G. Bengtsson's The Long Ships resurrects the fantastic world of the tenth century AD, when the Vikings roamed and rampaged from the northern fastnesses of Scandanavia down to the Mediterranean."

Yep. It's fiction. And I don't know if it's the translation or what, but the writing is delightful. I've not read anything like it in a long time. It reminds me of the great Victorian novels in their pacing and insights into humanity. Just looking at the cover makes me smile.

Anyway, it has me wondering what other delights I've been missing through procrastination. What else has been recommended that I need to pick up on? 

Another reminder I have little to no right to be sure of anything.