- Hillel (30B.C.–10A.D.)
Babylonian scholar

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Give more time…

Today is 20% of your week.

Two workdays are 10% of your month.

To lose only two workdays each month to fatigue or a desire to wait for a better day to do something, would be to lose more than a full month of workdays each year.

Imagine if your income reflected your slow days… and know that in the long run, it probably does.

47 workdays remain in the quarter. Tic toc.

(Who should you remind? Get your printable work days for 2012.)
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What if you checked email only 3 times a day?

Since November 2010, we’ve been doing this as a team at GiveMore to see if it helps us.

Here’s what we’ve learned.
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Today is one month out from Christmas day.

In the GiveMore quote we published on the day after Christmas, I highlighted some history of the day and suggested that the date itself was arbitrary and that we should carry the holiday’s spirit every day. A few subscribers were a bit annoyed with some of what I said (the original "Merry Today" post is here).

I just came across another piece written about a 100 years ago by a preacher that says what I was trying to say, but so much better. It’s called "Keeping Christmas" – something I plan to remind myself with on a weekly basis (about a 3-minute read). I hope you enjoy it.

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- Chinese proverb

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Give more reminder…

For those who depend on customers, clients, or patients…

Remember… It took a lot to bring those people in. Make sure you keep them by continually radiating a service culture internally. When you see an opportunity, seize it (for the good of everyone).

Through your interactions with other departments, help and encourage each other to embrace the fact that it’s the customer/ client/ patient who keeps the lights on (metaphorically and literally). Don’t encourage, condone, or contribute to negative discussions about them. Focus instead on how your organization helps people solve their challenges and/ or improve their business or personal lives.

This is what keeps the lights burning bright (and you shining bright).

(smile & move)
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To help you kick off the day… A beautifully shot and scored video of New York (5 minutes). I’ve found it puts me in a great state of mind to make good things happen. (Thanks to Mark Hurst for tipping us off. Surround yourself with good people, you’ll learn about good things.)

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- Isabel Allende (1942 – )
Chilean-American novelist

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Give more investment…

Moving forward (now), make a conscious choice to flip that internal switch and focus on giving more for the dollars you earn (with your effort, with your product/ service) and you’ll find more will come your way. It may not always happen as quickly as you’d like, but it’s the better bet in the long run.

(pace your expectations… give more… enjoy more)
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When I think about today’s quote, it reminds me of Jon Stewart’s introduction of Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors program a couple years ago…

"Whenever I see Bruce Springsteen do anything, he empties the tank… every time. And the beautiful thing about this man is he empties that tank for his family, he empties that tank for his art, he empties that tank for his audience, and he empties it for his country. And we, on the receiving end of that beautiful gift are ourselves rejuvenated, if not redeemed."

That "every time" is what gets me.

Most of us don’t get the opportunity to empty the tank in such a cool way as Springsteen, but we can work to empty the tank and be rock stars in our own worlds.

As a subscriber to GiveMore, you’re obligated to empty the tank (No Gomos*).

Over the weekend or during a well-earned break, you can enjoy Jon Stewart’s hilarious and moving introduction to Springsteen here (9.5 minutes).

*Gomo: Someone who goes through the motions. The Gallup poll people tell us 54% of us are in this category (they corporate speak it using the term… disengaged). Get a No Gomo wristband here. Get a No Gomo or No D-grunt printable reminder here.

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- Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001)
American businesswoman

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Give more attention…

Beginning at the top of the next hour and through the next 48, challenge yourself (and your team)…

When you begin a discussion with a colleague or customer (or family member), give that individual your complete attention until the issue at hand has been fully addressed.

Every single discussion. Every single interaction. The entire 48-hour period.

Don’t let a phone call interrupt an in-person conversation. Don’t let your email distract you from a phone call. Don’t let a passerby, instant messenger, ithing, droid, or berry take your attention away from someone standing right in front of you (or on the phone).

Remember… Life is an interpersonal endeavor (and you’re a grown-up).

(Dig deeper and get 5 tips to giving better attention.)
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If you’ve not seen them or need a reminder (on the weekend or a well-earned break)…

A quick (2.5 min.) video made by Chick-fil-A to remind their employees that their customers are people and they may have things going on in their lives (a good thing to remember as you work with colleagues, customers, patients, students, etc.). It’s lightened me up more than once.

A great little 15-minute video on the value of a smile, being encouraging and resilient, and the impact we have on others (even when we don’t realize it). Save this for outside your money hours (and maybe watch it with your kids over the weekend).

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- Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
Swiss physicist

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Give less ego…

ego: noun: 1. the self 2. an inflated sense of self-significance

Imagine a world without ego. No…

• Toes to step on
• Feelings to hurt
• Fair shares to grab
• Territory to defend
• Fault to allocate
• Back to watch
• Last words to get
• Ideas to hold back
• Embarrassment to bear

• Battles to win
• Knowledge to prove
• Entitlement to have
• Encouragement to withhold
• Credit to seek
• Grudges to hold
• Jealousy to feel
• Revenge to take
• Hidden meanings to construe

Speak no ego. Be no ego.

(5 quick points to getting closer to less ego)
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So many of our GiveMore quotes are hidden within greater thoughts and passages. The quote above is pulled from the excerpt below from Einstein’s essay, The World as I See It (in his book Ideas and Opinions).

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people – first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving." (Got kids? Pass this one along.)

Einstein was a Smover.
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Sometimes we get feedback from people who feel Einstein was German or American.

Here’s what we know… He was born in Germany and moved to Switzerland at the age of 17. Five years later (1901), he acquired his Swiss citizenship. Apparently in 1914, he became a German citizen but "renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America." In 1940, he became a U.S. citizen. (according to the Nobel Foundation).

That combined with the following quotation in a letter he wrote to Alfred Kneser in 1918 had us believing he would much prefer being referred to as Swiss rather than German.

"I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever."

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- George Lucas (1944 – )
American film director, producer and screenwriter

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Give more evaluation…

Do your actions…

1. create a positive buzz about you and your work?
2. make others want you as a part of their team?
3. make your employer cringe at the thought of losing you?
4. make your colleagues (or customers, clients, patients) excited about referring you to others?

You want your actions to scream value without the need for you to say a word.

This is what creates true economic and job security – the value you and your team create for others.

This is care (what it’s all about).

When you have the opportunity over the next few days, set a reminder to review these four questions at the end of each month. Then, give yourself a little (objective) attention by reviewing them and creating an action plan to improve in each area where you feel you should.

Easier said than done… still needs to be done.

Forward this to a friend or colleague (it’s Smover approved).
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"Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life, rather than a Monday-to-Friday sort of dying."

Studs Terkel (1912 – 2008)
American writer, journalist, broadcaster
Pulitzer Prize winner (print it)

Outside the money hours, enjoy this clip from NPR – the story around Studs Terkel’s book "Working" – actual recordings from a few of his interviews for the book.

Particularly heartwarming (seriously… if you don’t get a little teary-eyed with Therese, check your pulse): Delores the waitress Loving Her People (at 1:50 to 3:00), Terry the newspaper boy on collections and his spending problem (at 3:30 to 4:45) and Therese on being "just a housewife" (at 6:45 to 8:10). I’m playing it for my kids.

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–Bill Gates (1955 – )
American businessman
Co-founder and chairman of Microsoft

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Give more thought…

You can draw value from a naysayer or cynic by remaining objective and positive in your thinking (yes, it can be tough).

Occasionally, they’ll point out valid hurdles or challenges you haven’t seen (even if they present it like an @ss). With their help, if you can remain objective (and keep your ego in check), you’ll have a better chance of getting something valuable from the interaction.

Stay objective. Be no ego. Get value.

(5 ways to get your ego out of the way)