Moving The Needle

I like the lull of Christmas week.  Less email.  Good family time.  And time for me to start reading again.  So I am way behind in posting book reviews.  So here goes the first one:

I read Moving the Needle by Joe Sweeney.  It is a particularly appropriate book to read at this time of year because much of it is about goal setting.

Sweeney makes the point that moving the needle happens when you "get clear, get free and get going".  "When it comes to getting clear - first get quiet".  So true - perhaps that is why I like this time of year.  Less email, meetings and interruptions so it is easier to slow down a bit.

And the "get going" is also my favourite - Just do it. (Still waiting for Nike to sue me or send me a free pair of running shoes (note to Nike - that is size 9 1/2))

One of my easiest tricks to get going is to "get started".  I tend to make headway if I just start.

I always believe in being grateful.  One of the chapters is "your perspective determines your freedom".  And there he lists some world facts:

33% of the population will die from lack of food
33% of the population will die from some obesity related illness
68% of the people cannot read
30% live on less than $2.50/day
15% lack clean drinking water
We are the fortunate few!

As with all goal setting - he reminded to "start with the end in mind" and "break big goals down into smaller pieces".

I loved Chapter 10 on Habits (I have often blogged about Success Habits).   Of course the author believes that habits are hugely important to success.  One interesting angle he took was how to change bad habits into good ones.  And it is much easier to change a bad one into a good one that just break a bad habit.  Unfortunately, Sweeney does point out that good habits can be tough to form and bad ones can be easy to pick up.

Being a health guy, I liked his 7 health habits (most easy to follow - some tough)

1 - Drink lots of water
2 - get 7 hours sleep
3 - Limit alcohol
4 - no diet soda
5 - exercise or work out daily (and today of all days my beloved Fitbit decided not to work)
6 - spend time in nature
7 - Turn off the TV and pick up a good book (and I would add turn off the computer to that)

Anyways - good and inspirational book.  Especially good if you take the time to do all the exercises at the end of each chapter (which I admit, I did not do all of)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My Texas grandson - Xavier.  About 5 weeks old:

More Xavier Austen Pictures

Xavier and I did Google hangouts yesterday.  He is a person of few words.  It means anything he does say has a lot of weight.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I like the long time (like 20+year) bike law in Idaho that allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs.  Lets get that through in Guelph/Ontario.  Good video on it here.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On Procrastination:

“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”  Jerome K. Jerome

Xavier Charles Estill Austen

I am once again a proud grandfather.  

Mother Laura and baby are both doing well and healthy.

Xavier Austen. 5 lbs 15 oz, 19.5 inches, born 19 November 2014 at 1:46 pm.  He arrived about a month early.  He already is trying to be punctual - a skill that will serve him well in life.

I am not sure what is with the toque - he lives in Texas and they have no snow.  Perhaps he is just trying to make a fashion statement.

Statistical Success Yes - But Long Term Measurements are Tougher

The advent of the internet and internet advertising seemed to push a move towards measuring direct results.  Spend $1000 on ads and see if it yields $1000 in results.    Statistically experiment with small tests to see if it pays more to advertise with this catch phrase or that, with green or blue, in the morning or night etc.

I am a big believer in split run testing.  Try multiple experiments to see what works best.  Test on small samples before spending money on larger ones.

Measure everything to figure out the repeatable system that yields success.

This same measurement and documentation is what Michael Gerber pushes in his classic book series E-Myth.  He proposes that all businesses should McDonaldcize themselves.  Have detailed process manuals so anyone can do the job.  And work continually on figuring out how to make the process better.  He advocates that the entrepreneur should work ON the business - not IN the business.

I have been doing some Growth Coaching with some medium sized companies.  I have been promoting that for those who are about to hire a sales force.  Figure out a model and repeat it.  Most of them already use that for their internet marketing so it is surprising that they would find it new to do this in growing a sales team.

Formulas work.

And that could be the end of the story but it is not.  The problem with many long-term challenges are the outcomes do not happen fast enough to know exactly what works and what does not.  This is where entrepreneurial intuition comes in.  We never really know what will work but we have to choose intuitively to do them.



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I read there may be a chocolate shortage.  Apparently we may be hitting peak chocolate - the point where demand outstrips supply.  For some, I am sure that crisis is more important than peak oil even.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

People have a very narrow "comfort range".  We artificially extend that with heat, air conditioners and various clothing.   We also seem to "complain" about it which solves nothing.

I actually think the current touch of snow is gorgeous.

Efficiency vs Health

I have to admit to being a bit of a Fitbit addict.  Fitbit tracks steps and it has a social media component that allows people I am "connected" to see how many steps I do and I can see what they do.  And my kids and brothers all have them.  Not that I am competitive at all but Lyle particularly pushes me a bit since I do not want him to have more steps than I do.

So how does this relate to efficiency which is really the theme of this blog?  For perfect efficiency, I should set my life up to take less steps.  I should have all my files at my desk and everything I need should be in reach.  But to get more steps, it is best to have to go to the basement to file things and get up to get things.  I find the steps I get for just doing "normal" stuff as opposed to "working out" are fairly easy.  So building a life with "fairly easy" built in seems logical.

Or a more blatant example.  I could drive my car to a meeting or walk.  Walking might take 15 minutes longer so is less efficient.  And the same is true of automation and hiring things done (EG - mowing the grass or manually emptying the dehumidifier rather than piping it direct to the drain)

So I am conflicted since I am an efficiency and a health person.  Which do I choose.

So... moving the file cabinet to the basement...furthest from my desk I can get it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Speaking of health, I always thought it was more fiscally prudent to own a car rather than lease it.  But recent research links car ownership with poor health.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

By the way, in case you have not seen this yet, have a look at the blog post put out by Hootsuite when they launched the controlled BETA trials.

 http://blog.hootsuite.com/new-hootsuite-feature-content-suggestion/

Content curation and moderation is one of the next waves that will automate.  It has been going on for years (we let the editors choose what they think is important).  Soon, machines will be assisting in this task.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One of my friends owns a multihundred million dollar company that sells hardwood.  I needed some hardwood flooring so bought it from him.

He was teasing that his margins were down this month because of the order he sold to me to which I replied "if you think your margins are bad this month, next month it will be your bad debts you have to worry about."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Spam takes time but not as much as it seems.  I can log in and see 100 emails waiting but if they are all spam, that is about a minute to deal with them.  Now if I have to act on them, it can be a couple of hours.

That said, I do think the new Canadian Spam law might help reduce the number of unwanted emails.  Of course half my business interests are in the US and it will not help those.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And my son who works selling wind turbines at Siemens thought it was only fair if I put pictures of my other kids children on my blog I should include his.

Article Clipping at its Best

My mother is an article clipper.  When I stop by, she often has articles she clipped from a newspaper or magazine for me.  And she does this for everyone else in her life.

I realize I have become the same way.  The difference is most of what I read is online so I clip URLs and email them to people that I think might be interested in an article.  And many of the articles I email were emailed to me - so I am just passing them on.

She clipped an article/book report that combined a review on 2 books - The Organized Mind - Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload by Daniel Levin and The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in the World of Constant Connections by Michael Harris.

"In 2011, Americans (and I assume Canadians) took in 5 times as much information as they did in 1986."

As the titles suggest, information and connectivity are a problem and we need strategies to cope.  I know this first hand.  When I was in "CEO mode", I was fast and responsive.  Lately I have noticed I am less so.  Thinking I can use some of the strategies suggested in these books.  More for my reading list.

Silence can be empowering.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Some interesting tidbits:

CEO's who run marathons are better CEO's.  This seems intuitive in the discipline needed to run a marathon.  Good CEO's are goal driven and a marathon is often a goal.  I also know it requires a high level of fitness to lead an executive life.  Where it is counter intuitive is real marathon training takes a lot of time.  It would be tough to properly train in even 6-7 hours per week.  Marathons are beyond fitness (I say this - yet I have run 6 of them).

I like the Goldman Sachs article on the internet of things.  I am taken back to my early days in business when we sold a lot of analogue to digital boards (well a lot relative to being a small company).  Those are the basis of most of the internet of things - they allow sensors to be read (temperature, pressure, etc.)

Growing Ice Cream

From an email exchange with a friend on what makes successful entrepreneurs:

listen - filter - learn - lead

Not blind obedience.

Work ethic - time management - energy - passion.

And the appropriate mix of dreams and reality, focus and trying different things.

Statistical experimentation.

Learning is the big one.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I thought this simple article on 5 things to do before bed to jump start your day was good.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And for those who thought they were too old to start a venture.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And always thinking of Venture Returns.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I was speaking with my grandson, Josh while we were eating dinner:

Josh:  Grandpa - do you like zucchini?

Me: Of course - it is great.

Josh while squeezing the zucchini from his plate in his hand: you can have mine

And later we were talking about my garden, planting seeds, harvesting etc:

Me:  I grow zucchini, lettuce, beets, beans and lots of herbs in my garden.  Are you going to have a garden when you grow up?

Josh:  Yes

Me: What are you going to grow?

Josh:  Ice Cream