Take away what you can, from any situation...

Yesterday, I walked into the local 4 plex theater (hilltop 4 theaters) in Kearney, Nebraska . My wife and I were going to go see Borne Ultimatum, the latest in the Borne series. We get to the theater at 1:30PM and pay our $11.00 for our admission (it is a matinée, so it is a little cheaper than normal). We stroll over to the concessions line preparing ourselves for the $7 feast of a medium popcorn, and a large soda. While we are waiting for our refreshments to come, I look around at this "fine" establishment trying to notice the things they have in the lobby that might be the reason they can charge $20 for 2 people to see a movie (with refreshments of course). ...what, I don't see a video arcade area, I don't see nice comfy and clean waiting benches, I don't see clean flooring that looks like they just cleaned it for me... How can they do this? How can this establishment be worth $20 a couple (during matinée pricing)?

We go and take our seats, and prepare our selves for a sweet action packed movie. It starts, and it is everything I hoped for (besides being able to hear the theater next to ours through the paper thin walls)... ...uhhh, wait a minute... I realize that while I was trying to get some of my money back, by chugging the large soda in hopes of getting as many FREE refills as I can during the movie, that I have to relieve my bladder. This is a good thing, I think to myself, now I will see that the bathroom will be everything I want it to be for the price of admission.

No, it can't be... a total of 3 urinals, 1 of which is broken, dirty floors, and dirty walls. Now, I can understand that because this is a little theater there doesn't need to be 20 toilets in the bathroom, but for the few you do have, please have them working. Take 4 couples admission $ and use it to have a plummer come to your theater and fix your toilet as soon as it breaks. Make people believe that this theater is a well oiled machine and always working.

Probably the most frustrating part about this dirty theater is that they let it be that way. They decided that they are not going to manage their employees to clean "anything" when they don't have a task to do ( They decided to be less than average). The sad part is that most of the people that go in there to watch a movie, wont complain because they don't expect much more in Kearney, Nebraska.

Why Does it have to be like this? Why can't businesses realize that if they were to put a little more effort in (not just to survive, but to be remarkable) that they could possible own the market in that area and surrounding areas? It frustrates me to see the stereotype of small town, mid-west businesses to be true over and over again. Don't get me wrong, this type of "survival only mentality" is everywhere in the US. But in the places where people expect businesses to be that way (small town, small time, and low quality) why don't they push through the extra steps and make the stereotype change? Do they know that they need to change? or that they can change?

I can honestly say that I learn more daily,(the right things to do for my businesses and the wrong things to do) from other businesses examples. Any business that wants to start a change should start with reading the book Purple Cowby Seth Godin.
`chais

The Issue of Time

While reading Small is the New Big, by Seth Godin, more specifically his article on "Relax...., I Mean, Work on the Difficult"; I realized the real issue of why time management is so hard and how to overcome the impossible.

Our efforts to control time, and its delegation towards "top priorities", doesn't always correlate with real life events. We often find ourselves caught up in the immediate urgency of the present. Emergencies tend to pop up unexpectedly and our attention naturally focuses on the current issue at hand. Companies are continually expecting more hours from there employees to make up for unexpected complexities or snags in projects or services rendered. Business owners and entrepreneurs work late into the night to either stay afloat or outrun there competitors.

Is this the way business should be conducted? Is this the only way to be successful in an evermore fast paced environment? Could it be possible that these unexpected shifts of time delegation, be related to careless preparation and decision making? Certainly it would be impossible to predict every possible obstruction in relation to a well structured time outline. However, if just a little more time were spent on proper decision making and preparation for upcoming projects, events, and services, these unexpected delays would most definitely be more few and far between. Would they not?

Ok, that sounds great hypothetically, but who has time to carefully prepare far in advance for these types of occurrences? Nobody does, not while running in this vicious cycle. Instead, break away from the cycle, take a few steps back. Consider this: What if we left work at 4:00PM everyday instead of 5:00, 5:30 0r 6:00, etc. What would that do to our work ethic? What would that do for our mind? If we had proper time to regain our strength and focus intently once again on our work ahead of us on a daily basis, would we not be more sharp in our thinking and our overall productivity?

This vicious cycle of needing more time to pick up the fragmented bits and pieces of urgency while falling behind on future planning and preparation for upcoming events must end. Relax, spend some time away from the fast lane. Look ahead, prepare adequately for upcoming events, reflect on strategies and make wise decisions.

What are your thoughts? In what ways do you overcome the time management dilemma?

The Complete 2007 Personal MBA Recommended Reading List (Business Books)

We did have a fully printable list on our blog, but we removed it to respect Josh Kaufman (the creator of the PMBA Recommended Reading list).

If you would like a fully printable list, please go to the link provided here.

http://personalmba.com/recommended-business-books/


We thank Josh for all of the time and hours of reading it took to develop this list.
`the Three Dot Team