Stop being so nice all the time. It makes people want to puke; enough already! Like eating too much candy at one time, it just doesn’t sit well on the stomach. There is a difference in being nice and being kind. Clear is kind. Accountability is kind. Consistency is kind. Discipline is kind. Too many people confuse niceness with kindness. There is a vast difference between being kind to someone and the fakeness of being nice all the time.
For many years, I have read statistics that most sales people are not effectively trained. Why? There is presumption of simplicity with sales. Selling is easy. Anyone can sell. She is friendly; I bet she is in sales…Blah, blah, blah! Here is the honest truth; selling is difficult. Taking orders, on the other hand, is much easier. There is a blurry line between trues sales professionals and order-takers.
I have committed to stop giving a crap about too many things at one time. I am not saying this is easy. I am predisposed to worry so giving a crap is definitely in my “wheelhouse” as they say. I have learned we only have a certain amount of bandwidth for what matters in life. It is easy to dilute our present with too many things that just don’t matter in the long-run.
Today, many people feel muzzled at work. Opinions about anything controversial are no longer accepted. Conversations are mitigated to the point that everyone assumes most people think and believe the same way or the opposite way. This is dangerous. We need sincere dialogue with each other to understand other points of view.
Work from home (WFH) and recent events will create a mass exodus from some large cities over the next two years. American cities are going to decline post pandemic. “The great American city” has lost the battle for the hearts and minds of residents. Once the place of opportunity, many have become too expensive and now too dangerous. WFH has become the superhighway for residents to make a move to locations that offer a better cost of living as well as safety for families.
Universities will be a casualty of Covid-19. Many will not survive the wake of this virus. Essential skills will dominate formal education post pandemic. Was a shift to skills over education already in place? Have universities priced themselves out of reach? Have some colleges become a political echo chamber for a contracting audience? Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) has been espousing the decline in education value for years.
Nosey Rhino loves talking sheep. He talks sheep about everyone and everything. For Nosey Rhino, analogies clarify roles to help understand how humans position themselves among others. Nosey Rhino loves to judge people because they are the most interesting animals. He maintains a curious perspective on people and the crazy things they do. Let’s take a look.
Metacognition is thinking about what we are thinking about. If we can be aware of what we are thinking about, we can choose what to actually think about. Or can we? Do we have a choice about what we spend brain time on? Can we make a literal choice on how we consume mental energy?
I am working diligently to inform my followers about the lessons we can gain from this once in a lifetime experience. No matter what we face, there is always opportunity to be earned for someone willing to learn. We can complain about reality or look for ways to adapt and thrive. Thriving, I have discovered, accompanies those who have a healthy network of people who know them.
We can still win this! Consider this your halftime pep talk. There is a significant polarization among attitudes toward 2020. This year sucks. We need a 2020 do-over. I am so over 2020. Blah, blah, blah. If you have mentally checked out over 2020, it is time to rethink opportunity. Winning takes talent, hard work, and luck. Luck somehow seems to find those that work hard. Winning repeatedly takes character. Giving up is easy. Quitting when times are tough can become a habit and a way of life.
Humans are highly social people, and we need interaction with others to perform optimally. Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success”. As we reopen the economy and the workplace, some leaders are considering WFH as the ideal strategy to reduce cost and offer employees more flexibility. For some people, in rare cases, this might work satisfactorily. However, for most workplaces, this portends disaster for employee engagement and productivity.
It is convenient for people to blame current events on the decay of humanity. It is tempting to see darkness and dwell on the lack of optimism. Reports of rioting and looting are like a horrible train wreck that we cannot stop watching. We can dwell on this negativity and allow it to stain our view of people, or we can look for the beauty in people. Gandhi said we must not lose faith in humanity.