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Make It Real July 2009
News and Views from Clarity to Business, LLC
Discover what you love. Build your business. Prosper. | |
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Greetings!
If you're lucky, you're near an ocean, lake or at least a deep swimming pool. The Puppet and I are chin-deep in popsicles, trying to stay cool. But then this is Phoenix.
This month's newsletter is about ukuleles, practicing, and taking tiny steps that turn into massive improvements.
June's introductory teleclasses:You Hate to Market, and What to Do About It, were exceptionally well-attended. So well-attended that I'll be starting up these free introductory classes again in September, along with in-depth classes about using Facebook, email marketing, Twitter, YouTube and blogging for your business. Stay tuned for dates.
In the meantime if you have questions about how to use social media for your business, please contact me.
Happy summer,
Christy Strauch
Tel: (602) 561-8499
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Baby Steps and Grownup Goals
 I got a ukulele for Christmas last year. (Yes, I asked for one--it's the perfect musical instrument for someone who likes puppets). I studied guitar a long time ago so the uke isn't completely foreign; it has one less string and is easier to play. So already I can actually play songs and serenade myself.
However, I'm not very good (which is why you won't see any videos of me on YouTube). I need more practice.
Sound familiar?
One Minute at a Time
The problem is in my thinking. I think "practice" means sitting down and practicing thirty minutes a day, which is how my mother used to enforce me practicing the flute when I was in high school. If I can't practice thirty minutes, then it's not worth practicing at all. Less time doesn't count.
Not surprsingly, I'm not practicing much. It's the same all-or-nothing thinking behind my belief that a hike shorter than three miles wasn't a real hike. Don't bother to hike a shorter trail; you won't get the necessary exercise brownie points. If this sounds slightly insane to you, it because it is. But it's in the same category as the rule about practicing my uke.
Along comes this book: One Small Step Can Change Your Life, The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer, an Associate Clinical Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine. Maurer says you can change your life (learn how to play the ukulele, start an exercise program, start executing a marketing plan) more successfully if you start out with tiniest of baby steps.
He helped a client of his grow into exercising every day by having her march in front of the TV for one minute (yes, you read right). Over time, one minute blossomed into a thirty-minute workout. Anybody can do anything for sixty seconds, so you're bound to succeed when you start out this small.
The Brain Likes Baby Steps
So that's what I'm doing, practicing my uke for sixty seconds. Sometimes, miraculously, I go longer. This week I'm going to work up the courage to attend a Meetup group of ukulele players and possibly find a teacher who will probably want me to practice longer. For now, I am giving myself the low pressure enjoyment of practicing my uke for one minute five days a week, hitting my goal, and then going longer only if I feel like it (which I often do).
We all love giant, audacious goals. They're exciting. But if you set some big goals in January and you haven't done any of them, try taking a teeny step. Want to implement a whole new marketing plan in your business? Get out a piece of paper and write down one thing you could do to market today, and do it. Want to quit smoking? Smoke one less cigarette today. Need to implement a comprehensive customer satisfaction survey system? Call one customer and see if they've got time to go to lunch.
Maurer explains the brain research that demonstrates why small steps are better. You can read the book if you want to know why. If you need any more convincing that tiny steps add up to big results over time, Kaizen is the method Toyota Motors (and other successful manufacturers) uses to create continuous improvement in their manufacturing plants.
Tiny Goals, Profound Change
But you can prove it to yourself right now. Set aside the next minute and take a small action that you've been procrastinating. If you're like me, doing something for a minute won't scare you at all (which is the main reason having a tiny goal actually works); and you'll feel righteous after taking the action. Do another minute tomorrow and see how it blossoms into profound change.
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Teensy Steps
 Pick another something you've been procrastinating and spend one minute on it. You could spend one minute decluttering your desk each day for the next week. If you're putting off calling a prospective client--or a list of them--spend one minute today looking up their phone numbers, one minute tomorrow writing down what you plan to say, another minute the following day practicing what you want to say, and another minute the day after picking up the phone and calling one person.
Email me and tell me what it felt like to take these four teensy steps.
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Client Spotlight
 Frank Abdale is a great example of letting the passion you feel about issues in the world, inform your work. He has spent the last year working with non-profit agencies in his business, Abdale Consulting. He helps these agencies deal with the economic downturn and the subsequent drop in donations.
I'm highlighting Frank's work for two reasons:
1. The issues faced by non-profits are very similar to those faced by for-profit businesses. Frank helps non-profits nurture the relationships with their customers, known as donors. We are all doing the same thing in the for-profit world.
2. Working with Frank reminds me that I feel passionate about other causes outside my business, and that I need to keep supporting them. In this economy, it's easy to focus on the need to make money. Can you take some time away from that to help one or two non-profit causes you feel passionate about?
Frank is most committed to combatting hunger. He supports a variety of non-profits, both as a consultant and through pro bono work. If you want to know more about his strategic planning and relationship-building work (even if you are a for-profit business; he's also worked in the for-profit world) contact him.
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