Thursday, February 23, 2017

You Priorities or Other People's Priorities

Someone said "Your in box is a convenient way for others to put things on your priority list".  I am finding this.  My email volume is incredible.  So my natural inclination is to figure out how to process it all efficiently.  Questions I have and some thoughts:

1 - Should I politely reply to every enquiry?  I try to do this now.  Or just delete?

2 - I like to triage.  Scan for things that need dealing with and leave other things.  I am wondering if leaving those other things for a few days might make them go away.

3 - Something in me causes stress when my in box is not at zero by the end of the day.  But I know that is "self stress" - stress that I cause myself.  Should I meditate or do email?

4 -Spam really does not bother me much.  I can delete 100 emails in a few minutes.  What takes time are the long emails I need to really read and the ones that require my action.

Net conclusion.  I am going to be a bit ruder to be a bit saner.

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“According to the National Floral Marketing Institute, men under the age of 35 spend $30 on flowers for Valentine’s Day while, simultaneously, men between the ages of 45 and 60 spend 350% more. The kicker… There’s no difference in the flowers. A 350% increase in revenue simply by targeting the right segment of the market.”

I am always fascinated by marketing and this is genius market segmentation.

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I don't recall my older brother playing this nice with me - or for that matter me playing that nice with my younger brothers.  How is he going to grow up tough?


 And why is Xavier not smiling?  Because smiling is not allowed on passport photos.  I guess they figure if you are enduring the hassles of travel you sure won's be smiling.


Thursday, February 02, 2017

Delayed Gratification

I am pleased Danby has the herb grower out.  It is called Danby Fresh.  I love it because:

1 - it is good the the environment.  We re-use the shell of a wine cooler.  Much better than recycling it.

2 - I am a health guy and love fresh herbs.  When you buy at the grocery store, they are often old.  And the quantity is not right so there is waste.

3 - I know what I grow is organic.



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We tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and under estimate what we can do in a decade.  I plan by the decade but break it down to the day.

I study success and know those who get furthest in life are long term.

From my friend Nick Collier:

Google “Don’t Eat the Marshmallow”! Among other things (books, articles) you will find hilarious videos of kids trying to resist temptation! Basically, it means “Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now!” Or put another way, do you have the ability to Delay Gratification” for sufficient future reward? Most don’t! Most whenever they get an extra buck or pay raise instantly spend it, always allowing their standard of living (borrowing?) to rise to or above their income with nary a dime saved for a rainy day. The marshmallow test is to leave a 4 or 5 year old kid in a room alone with a marshmallow for 5 minutes after telling them that they can have TWO marshmallows if they can resist the temptation to eat the one in front of them for 5 minutes. Some can, some can’t. Studies show that the kids who have the ability to delay gratification go on to do much better in life.

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I do not do politics but I am disturbed more than ever by world events.  We need to stand firm in peace.  Let good thrive.  Do the right thing.

Story telling has always been a way to get things across.    HBR wrote and article on the dark side of it.

I thought this video was inspirational.   It is done in a storytelling way.