Fall is a time of transition. Daytime gets shorter, temperatures drop. This year seems more transitional with inflation, midterm elections, the war in Ukraine. SO much going on outside that we cannot control. It seems like a good time to focus on what we can control – focus on the fundamentals. What does that mean? Business fundamentals like your people, your processes and profitability. Personal fundamentals like eat right, exercise, sleep and hydrate.
Business Fundamentals
People – Here is the Gallup survey that condenses retention and engagement. Any place here your company needs to focus?
Processes – Here is a summary of 2 Second Lean – a great read on pushing lean into your culture. What is bugging you?
Profitability – Margins, margins, margins. Know them. By channel, by customer, by sales person.
Personal fundamentals
Eat right – More vegetables, fewer carbs. There are apps out there like MyFitnessPal and Noom to help. If intermittent fasting works for you, there is a lot of science behind it.
Exercise – Steve Jobs used to do walking meetings. If you wanted to talk with him, you had to join him on his really fast walks. If you are in zoom world, lift weights for 5 minutes between meetings or get down on the floor and stretch. Walk at lunch. Just move!
Sleep – Go to bed 1/2 hour earlier. If you are awake in the middle of the night, and you don’t have a crying baby, what kind of sugars did you have in the evening? Dessert, alcohol, lots of carbs. Try changing that up and see if you sleep better.
Hydrate – Vistage speaker Alyssa Spaw said have a 16 oz. glass of water in the first hour you wake up and don’t have coffee/tea until you do. You should probably have 5 more of those by the time you finish dinner.
You are probably saying, “Nora, I know all this”. Yes, you do. It is not about the knowing, it is about the doing. What is one thing you can do this week to get better at the fundamentals?
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