Smarter Next Year

  

I love the idea of being smarter.  Not smarter than...just smarter.  To me, and probably to most of you it has nothing to do with standard benchmarks and test scores.  Smarter means more capacity.  And more capacity is just well, more.  And in my mind, increased capacity it where it's at.  The principal of doing more with less is only possible if you do what you've been doing, but do it smarter.  Do it better.

 

I have a pretty good understanding of who you are. I know that most of you have been in business for at least 10 years.  You're already pretty smart.  But you can get smarter.  Putting some effort into taxing your brain, working on getting smarter, will pay off big time.  I'll never forget a contractor who had been working on a project for me who really understood how important it was to keep getting smarter.  I was impressed and entertained one day when he was arguing with one of his subcontractors about how a wall should have been put up. He was insisting that the subcontractor take it down and start again.  The subcontractor was not in agreement with the contractor's opinion and to make his case he said, "Son, I've been doing this for 20 years I know what I'm doing.  You clearly aren't old enough to say the same."  To which the contractor retorted.  "I beg your pardon.  You may have been putting up walls for 20 years but you don't have 20 years experience. You have 2 to 3 years of experience that you've clearly been just repeating for 20 years". 

 

So how sad is that?  How sad that the same can be said for so many.  How sad is it that really smart people stop getting any smarter?  How sad is it that we tend to treat knowledge as something we "got",  rather than something we're always "getting"?

 

So let's say we wanted to always be getting smarter.  Can we?  Can we really keep getting smarter until the day we leave this earth?  Yep.  And it's not that hard.  It starts with mimicking the young.  It means being curious about everything and willing to try new things.  It means always looking into new ways to do something and of course it means staying on top of new technology.  In our business, technology has the ability to really help us increase capacity but too many times I hear people act like the subcontractor who brags about having 20 years of experience.  They brag that they've gotten this far or that far doing things the same old way. While it's true they're successful, they could be even more so.  They have so much more capacity.

 

Studies show that people simply buy into the hype around them that they can't really get much smarter after a certain age.  That's bull.  While it's true that the brain works differently than it did in our youth, it has plenty to give.  New information about the brain is being discovered every day. Things like meditation, brain exercises (solving things), restful sleep, physical activity and the thing you might be most surprised by, ingesting some "good bacteria" often found by just being outdoors gardening, walking and yes, just "working" all help your brain.   So just think if you focused on just a few like trying new things, being a bit more physical, tackling mental problems and you could start next year in better shape with more capacity to do and have more.  It sure sounds better than facing the year doing more of the same old thing, doesn't it?

 

Come join our discussion on our blog or I welcome your feedback through email.