Greg's Right FIT #465

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

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on FIT
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on FIT

• Today I was reminded accurate quoting requires research. I should know by now that as soon as I think, "did Einstein really say that?" there's a good chance he didn't. Look for primary sources.
• It's the day after Thanksgiving here in the USA. Too late to remind myself it's not the best idea to finish the day with a bowl full of mashed potatoes and stuffing. 
• Once a year, retake the VIA Survey of Character Strengths. Your results will be similar, but not exactly the same as last year. You're not the same person you were. 
• Thanksgiving week is great for check-ins. However, if you haven't heard from me, don't fret. You're on my mind. 

Being Human - Define it

"Some years ago the head of the Industrial Engineering Department of Yale University said, 'If I had only one hour to solve a problem, I would spend up to two-thirds of that hour in attempting to define what the problem is.'"

Make your team smarter with one trick

Smarter organizations get more done in shorter amounts of time.

How do they do it? They make communication more effective by taking the time to define terms. Like someone said, if I have an hour to solve a problem, I want to spend 55 minutes defining it.

Random Stuff

“But when the sun drops closer to the earth, the cold of the earth runs to it from the water and causes all green things to dry up. And because the sun has dropped closer to the earth, the days are short, and it is winter.” ― Hildegard of Bingen

We live about a mile a half from a movie theater. On days when we can't decide what to eat, we've been known to call for a "popcorn dinner." We walk to the theater, get separate small buttered popcorn, (because my lovely bride doesn't like my big paw digging through her popcorn) and watch whatever happens to be showing. 

Last week we saw the Jesse Eisenberg movie, "A Real Pain." It's with Eisenberg and Kieren Kulkin. Good show. It's a meditation on how people want to be more like pieces of each other, but deal with life's pain. The story follows two cousins dealing with their grandmother's death, on a memorial trip to her hometown in Poland. It's slow, it's heavy, and it has a beautiful soundtrack of Chopin piano pieces. This combination proved lethal to the old lady sitting behind me, forcing her into a deep slumber.

How do I know this? She started snoring. At first it was quiet enough that my bride turned to me like, "are you asleep?" but soon she went full motorbike. Everyone knew she was out cold.

I can only remember falling asleep once in a theater. A movie called "Vision" about a mystic German nun from the 12th century. I don't think I made it more than 30 minutes in before drifting off. Though I missed most of the movie, I think about Hildegard of Bingen often. My bride was gifted a retablo with Hildegard's image, and it sits in the kitchen, next to the cutting board. She's the patron saint of musicians, poets, the environment, and I am not sure why she's in the kitchen. But she's there, every day, holding her tablet and getting lightning bolt things pushed into her eyeballs, reminding me of that peaceful, sleepy afternoon.

I wonder if I snored?