Greg's Right FIT Newsletter #154

Quick notes to help you get more done in less time. . . next week. 

In this issue: 

- Techniques for FIT
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Techniques for FIT

• Coaches coach, players play. Great coaches understand the power of individual strengths. Like Krsychewski said when asked why the triangle offense is so great: "Triangle offense? How about Jordan and Kobe? They're more important than the triangle offense!"
• Over the long weekend, take a few minutes and rank your individual strengths: VIA Character Strengths
• Now that you know your strengths, be ready to explain why the top 4 or 5 are useful to you. Fill in the blank, "and this strength is important because _______. . ."
• The studies show that when you put your strengths to work, you get more done in less time. It makes sense because when we use our strengths to accomplish goals, the victory is sweeter. As Sinatra put it, “much more than this, I did it my way.”

Being Human - Where to focus

How much do you invest in memories?

I am listening to an interview with two people I find interesting, Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist, and Tyler Cowen, an economist. In it, Prof. Kahneman explains why he stopped studying happiness and talks about the nature of memories, in the sense that experiences are fleeting and memories are permanent. 

This struck me because next week we are expected to spend time with family and friends and there is an inherent pressure to create memories that will last the test of time. Some of us spend a lot of time with the stories we tell ourselves, a.k.a. memories. On the other hand, some of us spend very little time with memories. For example, on our trip to China, my wife kept a journal to help her remember the trip and has revisited it at least twice since the time. I, on the other hand, took 1000 pictures and to date have looked at them once, when someone asked me to find a photo. 

There's nothing wrong with either approach, but try this next week: put yourself somewhere on a memory importance scale of 1 to 10: 1 is having little regard for soaking in your memories and 10 is having high regard for soaking in memories. If you are above a 5, make time to make notes on what's happening for an enhanced holiday experience. If you're below 5, enjoy the moment with a little more vigor than usual, because once it's gone, it's gone, which shouldn't bother you at all. 

Either way, enjoy yourself! (it's later than you think)

Random Stuff

Who's there?

(Snickers circa 2004)

I am listening to a client run through her activity for the week when I notice the call has gone quiet. I look up from my notes to the computer screen and she's looking at me with a half-smile. "You didn't hear me, did you?" she says. "You look tired." Mind you, she's hundreds of miles away looking at me through a PC camera, so I must look a mess.

After we get off the call, I check my look in the mirror and nothing seems out of sorts. Maybe a little dark under the eyes, but nothing unusual. However, now that she mentions it, I have been sleepy for no obvious reason. A week after her commentary, I'm ready to diagnose my lethargic state: it's the cat. 

Snickers is somewhere around 18 years old. He's a Maine Coon cat, so he's big, he's furry, and he's friendly. In the last few years I can add noisy, old, and cranky to his endearing qualities. At 18, he's well beyond the average lifespan of this big breed and things are starting to fail. In the last month, one of his issues are the hind legs, they just don't work as well as they used to. This has led to a sort of peg-leg-hopping thing as he goes up and down the stairs. 

It's this hop-hop-hop on the stairs I blame for my fitful sleeps. Cats are quiet but in the middle of the night Snickers sounds like a slightly inebriated teenager trying to sneak up to bed with slow, deliberate steps. He must do this 6 or 7 times a night, rousting me from my slumber each time. The thing is, it's so ridiculous it makes me chuckle each time I hear him clopping. In the end, it's impossible to get too irritated because deep down, I know my sleep won't be interrupted much longer.

Good kitty.

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