Lawrence Fine

I heard a comment a few weeks ago which really has stuck with me because it is such a great way to look at interruptions at work.

If you get woken up from a sleep, the interruption might only take a couple of minutes but you can’t go back to sleep and pick up where you left off. You might have been in stage 2 of sleep but when you try to go back to sleep will most likely have to start over into stage 1. If you are woken a few times, you might never get to stage 3.

Work is quite similar. If you are interrupted while in the middle of deep thought/concentration, when you try to get back to work after an interruption, you will rarely be able to revert back to where you started. Instead, you will go back towards the start (though not necessarily to the very beginning).

In the same way that regular interruptions to your sleep will result in a bad nights sleep, regular interruptions to your work will frequently result in a bad days work.

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Should you use technology to replace personal communication or to enhance it?

Just a quick question to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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A minor issue occurs and someone seems to overreact considering the minor issue.

The thing to remember is this might just be the tip of the iceberg. You might never know what really is causing the blowup.

It might be something that happened at home.

It might be something that happened in a different area of work.

It might be an accumulation of many small things.

When you see someone blow up over something that appears to be a relatively small thing, spend some time to figure out what really is causing the blow up, it might not be what you think.

On the other hand, always take into consideration that what you might consider to be a small thing MIGHT be a big issue to others so don’t always assume it’s something else. Just dig deeper to learn more

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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So many people are afraid to do something because of a concern of what others might think.

Who are these people you are so concerned with?

If they are people who really care about you, they will be supportive even if you make the wrong decision.

If they are people who don’t really care about you…who cares?

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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People spend a great deal of time worrying about giving off a good first impression. What about the second (and subsequent) impressions?

Realize people are constantly reforming their opinions of others.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Some people are afraid to try something new because of fear it might cannibalize their own business (new product stealing customers from an old product etc).

It’s important to understand if you don’t do it, someone else will.

Afraid that a new hotel might take visitors from your current hotel? Would that be better than another companies new hotel taking your business?

Afraid your new restaurant might take dinners from your other restaurant? Someone else might do the same and might take catering opportunities as well.

It’s ok to split your business between old and new but ideally, you will will grow the entire market rather than splitting it in half.

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If you accomplished your long term goals (assuming you have them) what would be your NEW long term goals?

This might seem like a good “problem” to have but I’m not so sure.

If you can come up with these new goals why not add them to your current ones now?

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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To be the best in ones field would be wonderful. To be the superstar athlete who dominates a sport is a feeling most of us will never feel but those that do have to be prepared to deal with an issue most of us never have to deal with.

The issue that inevitably the best have to deal with is at some point, inevitably, they wont be the best anymore. It could be a new superstar comes along. It could be a person slowing down because of age or injury. Whatever the cause, the person on top will at some point not be on top any longer.

The way people handle this frequently says a great deal about them as a person. There was an interesting article on ESPN.com recently about Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs (for those who don’t know, this would be a basketball team). Tim Duncan has been a superstar for many years and would have to be considered one of the best players of all time. He is now getting up there in age (for an athlete) and is no longer the superstar he once was however, rather than still acting like the superstar, he now does a great job of being the supporting player who can still occasionally take over a game when needed. His ego is either so big that he can handle being the second (or third or fourth) choice or it’s small enough that he doesn’t care.

Seeing how someone behaves as they make their way to the top is interesting. Seeing the way they behave on the way down speaks volumes about their true character.

Just something to think about for yourself or for others you might be mentoring

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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It’s common in business, and in life, to use acronyms with the assumption that others will know exactly what you mean.

It could be something as simple as “LOL” or “brb”. The problem is, not everyone knows what you are referring to.

As an example, recently I was reading a forum in which a person made a well thought out and educated post. The next post simply wrote “POTY”. The first poster thought this was a negative post but the respondent really meant “Post Of The Year”. What was meant as a compliment was taken as a criticism. A few posts later it was explained but this could have been avoided by using the words instead of the acronym.

This frequently happens in business when people within a certain industry are accustomed to everyone knowing their terms but when an “outsider” joins in, they forget that the new person has no clue what was meant. Sometimes they will ask while other times they will guess (sometimes correctly other times incorrectly)

Remember, sometimes it’s easier to take more time to spell things out initially than it does to have to explain again and again later on.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If you are thinking of a gift to give someone, consider giving them the gift of uninterrupted time.

This could mean a few hours at work with no meetings, no phone calls, no “pop ins”.

This could mean a few hours at home with no family, no animals, no visitors.

You might be surprised how appreciated uninterrupted time really is.

As an employer, it might even be worth finding ways to give uninterrupted work time on a regular basis. Your employees will appreciate it and productivity will go way up

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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