Greg's Right FIT #527 – This week: Focus, Perspective, Murder

Quick notes to help you find new business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

• Thoughts on Focus
• Being Human
• Random Stuff

Thoughts on Focus

• When we're setting our goals for next week, remember, our to-do list is not a wish list. Be realistic, focus on two or three actions, and do them.
• Focusing on one thing works in teaching too. It's easy to overwhelm the trainee. Golf coach Harvey Penick said, "Golf tips are like aspirin. One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you will be lucky to survive."
• Want to focus while writing? In Microsoft Word, under View, check out the Focus mode. There's a variety of background choices. Blueprint is nice.
• When we're unsure which way to go, or what to focus on first, pick a direction and get busy. Movement not only builds momentum, it brings focus.

Being Human – Advice from future you

It's not unusual to talk to clients dealing with what I'll call a crossroads. A time in their life where they feel like a critical decision needs to be made that will set the course for the rest of their lives.

Heavy stuff.

Whenever this happens, I think back to a Marshall Goldsmith presentation. If you're not familiar with Mr. Goldsmith, he coaches senior executives and has been doing it long before there was a formal executive coaching industry. Quite a character.

He was responding to a question and tossed out one of his thousands of little pieces of advice, perfect for this situation. Goldsmith suggests that when we have such decisions, we should close our eyes and imagine ourselves at 95. Still healthy, very happy, and filled with the wisdom of our life well lived. Can you get a picture like that in mind?

Now, ask 95-year-old-you to travel back to sit with the you-of-today for a few minutes. Future you will act like golf coach Harvey Penick and impart one piece of advice. What is it? What is the one thing 95-year-old-you tells the person you are today? How can future-you's-perspective help with the crossroads you're at today? What does the old you tell the current you to focus on?

Great exercise.

Random Stuff

“When someone is mean to me, I just make them a victim in my next book.”
– Mary Higgins Clark

I may have mentioned this before, but this year I'm writing a fiction book. A murder mystery. The goal is to have a finished manuscript by the fall, which means I need to have a first draft done by the end of spring. That gives me a few months to edit and move bits around, then another few months to assemble and proof it. I'll have something to sell to a publisher by the end of the year.

If I haven't mentioned writing a murder mystery before, it's because I've thought about writing one for years and never seem to get started. I needed to get some momentum going before announcing it to the world. (Momentum!)

When I've told people about this, American friends ask about how the dollars part works. In contrast, foreign friends ask about the time commitment. I don't know if this says anything about our different world views, but when watching the first episode of a spy TV series, the first episode cliff hanger is based on this same observation. The new spy is asked her name, so she gives her spy name and occupation. The other spy says, "American. I only asked your name. You told me what you do."

Do we really do that? We must. When meeting someone I usually start with asking about them and their family, but occupation is right up there. Most of the time I don't even need to ask. "I'm a surgeon," they'll say. Just kidding, they usually say, "I went to Harvard. I'm a surgeon."

When my kids went to college in St. Louis they told me about how the locals asked where they went to high school. It's a shortcut for getting to know who you're talking to. I think it happens everywhere. In the British detective shows I'm fond of, the actor's accent tells the viewer a lot about who they are. (btw, watch "The Gold" on PBS. It's full of classism and as a bonus, the robbers hide out in Tenerife, Spain. I know a guy from Tenerife!)

If all goes as planned, this book will be out into the world for Christmas 2027. If as goes as hoped, it will be the first in a series of murder mysteries. I find them very comforting.

The bad guys always get caught and punished in the end.