Now, as I come up for air, I have a lot of pent up stuff to write about. Let’s start with some quick updates:
- A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was starting one of my periodic time audits (yes, I finally got it done after my epic fail). Here are my key takeaways:
- I was successful in carving out and sticking to one of my goals: engaging in regular physical exercise. For the past 5 consecutive weeks, I have kept to a 6-day per week exercise schedule (3 alternating days of weights, interspersed with 3 days of cardio, followed by 1 day of rest). I even managed to keep to this during 3 weeks of travel. This is a first for me, but something I intend
- I spent too much time working on things that were not directly related to my top priorities. What’s my diagnosis of the problem?
- I wasn’t consistent in writing down my top priorities and “must do” items at the beginning of the week.
- I said “yes” to too many “urgent but not important” tasks (i.e. someone else’s priorities)
- I read a great article by my friend Mike Kanazawa (author of “Big Ideas to Big Results”). The article is called “80% Of Companies Are Thinking More Strategically In The Downturn,” and it looks at some data on how companies are reacting to the economy’s chaos. One of the key observations is one I really agree with: you need to take care of your existing customers and keep them happy. I don’t know about you, but I find it much easier to stick by the suppliers that have done right by me no matter what, but during lean times I will not only support them – I’ll go out of my way to give them my business so they do OK. And I’ll readily drop the vendors that have been lame to me. There’s more to it in Mike’s article – go check it out.
- I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the positive power of “TripIt” (which I wrote about a while ago). As my travel has picked up, I’ve been reconnecting with quite a few people I haven’t seen in ages. I was skeptical about how much I’d like TripIt but was intrigued enough to sign up anyway. I’m glad I did.
I’ve got a few drafts going that I’ll be finishing up and posting soon – including a review of a forthcoming Keith Ferrazzi book that I have a pre-release copy of. I think you’ll like it.
Thanks for hanging in there during my time under water.