The holiday season makes some time for this exercise, a mental one...

I have been encouraging our people to take some time during the holidays for an exercise in "the little things."

I am not referring to little bits of physical exercise. Not to say that I'd avoid the gym or getting outdoors for some heart-healthy activity. I hope everyone does that year-round. This exercise is one about mental and emotional training that we may miss.

It's simple... I task myself with focusing on doing "the little things" that may seem insignificant on their own but add up to so much.

Let's say a person has some big personal, emotional goal in life, such as learning to get less angry. That person could study the many books and research on "emotional intelligence," also known as EQ. One can learn how the amygdala in each of our brains can be triggered into a response that sets off our worst behavior.

Or we could study yoga, meditation, and several other techniques that can require teachers, classes, or hundreds of hours of training.

However, if we become too obsessed with these big initiatives, we might miss simpler, powerful tools for achieving our very large goals. For instance, handling anger can begin with just one little thing... Taking a few deep breaths whenever something triggers an angry feeling.

Founding father Thomas Jefferson's canons of conduct often spoke of how little things can add up to a lot. He said, verbatim,

When angry, count to 10 before you speak. If very angry, a hundred.

Whether you need to count to ten or one hundred, it's a very small yet effective task for accomplishing the much bigger goals.

If your goal is to be a kind and generous person, you can work long hours to launch a charity, volunteer for some major initiative, or plan out your philanthropy.

Let's not forget the power of being generous by just being gracious to someone who needs it even if they don't immediately deserve it. We do that by being genuinely kind to that rude person in the elevator. Or by going easy on that driver who cuts you off on the highway. Or providing kind words to a chef at the restaurant that no one thinks to thank.

The little things are as important to business...

Suppose you're a business owner who would love to generate $1 million or $10 million or $100 million in revenue from a big new client. We would all love to hand a contract to a new client with pen in hand at the first meeting, saying, "Please sign here."

Like personal examples, big sales always start with small gestures that prove value. Every $100,000 or $1 million project that I've ever sold always began with a smaller-dollar project or task that began the relationship and showed my business's worth.

Even within those small projects, we focused on the little things, showing attention to detail – care and accuracy in every number.

If our goal in our enterprise is to be more efficient or lean, it can begin with reexamining just one process that could save an employee an hour each week. Multiply that by 52 weeks, and then by 150 personnel... That little process improvement can lead to remarkable enterprise-wide efficiency and profitability changes.

At Altimetry, we have big goals and big dreams for the future. All the incremental small, little, detailed things that add up over a week or a year achieve that big picture.

OK, so what if physical exercise is the big goal?

Many of us are gearing up for our New Year's resolutions, which undoubtedly include some big physical health and vitality goals. Again, we need not overdo the challenge with major initiatives, gym membership, personal training regimen, or personal strength records.

Allow me to finish by quoting Jefferson again to advise how a little thing can have great benefits.

The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises, walking is best.

Much like all little things, just a little walk can do wonders.

Happy holidays to you all, and thanks for reading...

All the best,

Joel
December 10, 2021