Greg's Right FIT Newsletter #250

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

In this issue: 

- Techniques for FIT
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Techniques for FIT

• Putting your best foot forward seems like it would be obvious, but it's not. When you run into a sub-par effort from a stranger, especially a young person, ask if they're open to feedback. Sometimes people just don't know. Sometimes.
• Looking out for your fellow man is easy inside your peer group. It's hard with people you don't know or may never meet. I've found the best way to step into another's shoes is through a good work of fiction. It entertains and instructs. 
• Archeologists look for evidence of arrangement when investigating ancient civilizations. Signs some human moved boulders or built mounds on purpose. Someday, an expert is going to dig in my backyard and bump into a tiny putting green. Definitely arranged on purpose. Hard to know why.  
• Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. This is why it's called the present. An old priest said that to me. We were up on the altar, in an open confession at a children's mass. It was touching. This was right after he said, quite loud, "Wait? You did what? And you've been receiving communion?" Ahh, religion. 

Being Human - Momentum

“When you look at people who are successful, you will find that they aren’t the people who are motivated, but have consistency in their motivation.” —Arsene Wenger

If you or your people are lacking motivation, don't dwell on it. Motivation comes in two flavors. One is the spark to get us going, the second comes from experiencing success along the way. Think of it like priming the pump. 

By Manco Capac - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

You need motivation to get to the well, but pulling water from the pump is all about momentum. Building momentum and maintaining it. Once the water starts flowing, a new motivation kicks in to sustain results. 

Don't focus on motivating your people right now. Think about building their momentum. If you yourself are lacking motivation, focus on building your momentum. 

There are two ways to do build momentum. One is focusing on motivation, pushing and pulling your people to the goal. The other is to ignore motivation and focus on removing obstacles between your people and your goal.  

I support the latter. 

Random Stuff

“People exaggerate their confidence in their plans - something we call the planning fallacy... The existence of the plan tends to induce overconfidence." – Daniel Kahneman

I got news about a family friend who has passed away and it makes me sad. He was a good man, lived an interesting life, but cancer cut short his time on this big blue marble. It's estimated there have been 100 billion humans on earth over the last 50,000 or so years. Right now I think there are six or seven billion of us stomping around, looking for something to eat, and making plans for what we're going to do tomorrow.

One feature of our kind is we learn from one another. With language, written communication, and now electronic media, we are sharing more than ever. Like this animation of the of Prague's Charles Bridge pillar and vault field being built in the 14th century.  

Knowledge passed from generation to generation has brought us humans out of the caves, across the rivers, and into cities. The challenge with all this information, all of this experience, all of this wisdom at our fingertips is it gives us the illusion we know more than we do. Dunning-Kruger effect is what the smart researchers who came before me call it. I know this because I pulled out my pocket tracking device and looked it up. 

This is good for me to keep in mind because if they're looking for a bridge builder in a post-apocalyptic world, that video may boost my confidence about being part of the building team, but you don't want me out there. Half the doors in my house don't close all the way. Maybe I should look it up.

RIP, Jim. 

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