Moments — My life is fine...

“My life is fine… although I could use something interesting.”

I didn’t say this but heard it uttered as I was running stairs. Two people were walking up the stairs of the Wallace Street Bridge as I was resting at the bottom — it wasn’t my intension but I heard it just the same.

I didn’t hear the reply.

The word fine has become one of those words where the true meaning has been corrupted because of its over use (as a default) or by many a motivator who like to use the word as a sardonic benchmark for improvement. As an adjective, the word fine means “of high quality” and has synonyms such as exceptional, out standing and even “first class”. I think it’s time to take back the definition and know being fine* is a very good thing.

As I continued my said stair running, I couldn’t help wonder how “interesting” would be defined in this case, and then I started to ponder the binary challenge that came with what was said — was she going to bring something interesting into her life? Yes or No?

I was reminded that action is binary, as well as its measurement for that matter. Yes I did it; no I did not do it — there is no nuance. The action and the measurement are one in the same. In this particular case, if “interesting” is the goal, then it’s best to pick something new and different; from there just do and afterwards you can always go though some advanced analysis to determine how interesting it was. In the end, something gets done and that wonderful journey we like to call process improvement gets started.

If I was going to play this game, and after some reflection, I suppose I would say my life is restorative. (full stop)

iamgpe

PS: "If you are going to play the “My life is…” game remember that when you are looking in the mirror, you know who is looking back.

*if fine is not the best adjective for you please choose another because as I say, we need to return this word back to its rightful place.

Striving for commercial excellence

Recently I listened to a marketing professional who offered a perspective on striving for marketing excellence (and I suppose commercial excellence by extension). I found it inspirational enough that I had this overwhelming desire to offer up a blog (something I haven’t been doing much of lately but in my defence I’ve been busy… I digress).

The proposed formula for marketing (and commercial) excellence came in the form of not one C, or even two, but 3 Cs.

Customer, Competitor and Craft

Customer — know who your customers are, know how they think, know what’s important to them, how to find them, and the best way to connect with them.

Competitor — know who your competitors are, what their value proposition is (particularly how it competes with yours), watch what they are doing, and identify how you can engage with your customers better.

Craft — identify those skills that are unique to you, your strengths, and get really, really good at them; develop and practice always.

This resonated with me, and although I really liked these core drivers, I kept thinking there was something missing. After a while it finally struck me — my issue wasn’t with the drivers themselves but with what actually fuelled them. Turns out there’s a fourth “C” and it fuels everything:

Curiosity [ˌkyo͝orēˈäsədē] NOUN — a strong desire to know or learn something.

So humbly, I would like to refine the three drivers slightly:

A strong desire to know or learn about your Customer

A strong desire to know or learn about your Competitors

A strong desire to know or learn about your Craft

So there you have it, another list to make you successful, and not even one I came up with myself — just something I “tinkered with”. This of course doesn’t diminish the importance of the three “C”s (or maybe four) but maybe “striving for excellence” also includes searching out smart people, listening to what they have to say, thinking about what they’ve said, and taking action.

After all, I wouldn’t have written this blog and “tinkered a little bit” if it wasn’t for someone who knows quite a bit about marketing.

iamgpe

365 days...

It has been a little more than 365 days since the World Health Organization announced a novel coronavirus had been isolated from a person in hospital, and it will be a less than 365 days when everyone will have received a vaccination for the virus that causes COVID-19 (at least in Canada). It’s a pandemic that will be (and already is) measured in the millions, and has involved governments, communities, and individuals attempting to incorporate the simplest of public health measures to fight the virus. Social distancing, socially isolating when sick, hand washing, and good hygiene — all in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading, which evolutionarily speaking, is designed to do.

On a daily basis, the news cycle offers up a tally of cases, hospitalizations, deaths, unemployed, closures, and now, the number of people vaccinated (it was pointed out to me recently that newscasters have it easy now. All they have to do is cite the numbers of the day). It’s a relentless bombardment on our individual and collective psychology, all at a time when our personal distractions and coping mechanisms have been stripped away. We lament there is nothing to do but what we’re really saying is we can’t do what we used to do, and we’re not happy about it. If not literally, we figuratively wait, and so does SARS CoV-2.

There is a long game when it comes to a modern pandemic: simply get vaccinated before you get sick. We’re 365 days into this pandemic and we’ve another 365 days to go; with each day that passes, get closer to what we remember as normality (at least we thing we can remember).

With this in mind, this is what I plan to do over the next 365 days to help get me through this crisis.

1. Work really hard to stay healthy and keep others healthy

2. Be there for family and friends, and help keep them safe (refer to #1)

3. Continue to be of value to those I work with

4. Don’t let all that practical “life stuff” slide just because I think every day seems the same and I just don’t feel like doing it (you know like — taxes, doctor’s appointments, blogs, getting my car licence, better rigor around my investing… stuff like that)

5. Keep running stairs, keep riding my gravel bike, stay mobile and don’t sit too much, keep eating right, and get lots of fresh air

6. Stay imaginative and try new things (even if they are small and seemingly insignificant). Keep the brain working and “relatively sharp”

7. Plan that next trip. You’re definitely gonna need it after this is all over.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in 365 days — I’m optimistic.

iamgpe

PS: Why the picture of a bike in the snow? Well this is a manifestation of me exercising, getting fresh air and being imaginative. Riding a bike in the snow is so much fun!

PPS: If you have gotten this far you’ve probably recognized I’ve put my 365 day plan down on paper ( I wanted to keep them broad because, in the time of COVID, i want to stay “nimble”).

Come on people, it’s the beginning of a new year — get it down on “paper”.