Lawrence Fine

There are people who can speak about many subjects. They can carry on conversations about politics, religion, the weather, the economy and much more. Admittedly, they usually can’t go into great detail about any of these subjects but at a dinner party, they shine.

There are others who know a great deal about one or two subjects but are somewhat clueless about most other subjects.

Would you rather be a specialist (knowing a lot about one or two subjects and being clueless about the others) or would you rather be a generalist (know a bit about a lot of subjects but not a lot about any)? I realize there are options between these two extremes but if you would have to choose between the two, which would you prefer?

I would love to hear peoples opinions on this so if you get a chance, please email me at lawrence@lawrencefine.com with which you would choose and why

Thanks!

Have a great day.

Lawrence

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One area we, as a society, are truly lacking in is creativity. This is true in the work environment, this is true in sports, this is true in life.

The first thought is we need to find a way to train people to be more creative. Teach them how to be creative. Encourage them to be more creative.

However, the reality is, we don’t need to teach creativity (and I’m not sure it’s something that really can be taught) but rather, we need to stop discouraging creativity.

If we want students to be more creative in their writing, we have to be willing to allow for mistakes in other areas. When a teacher assigns a creative writing assignment and then hands back the assignment with red marks all over it for spelling and grammar problems, that wont encourage more writing in the future (creative or otherwise).

If an athlete tries something creative and gets yelled at for not doing the simple thing instead, that discourages creativity.

If a marketing person tries something different (as opposed to what all the other marketing people is doing) and is told it looks too different, they will stick to the norm in the future and avoid doing something remarkable. I met with an attorney recently who said he was looking at a legal journal and there were 12 advertisements for law firms and 11 looked the same (similar template, similar wording etc). This tells me that these firms are so afraid to be seen as anything outside the establishment that they probably aren’t being seen at all.

The best way to encourage creativity is to stop discouraging it. Until we stop discouraging creativity, we will continue to be “just like everyone else”

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Too often people don’t realize that people might be watching or listening to them and this might have a long term effect.

I was at a business function a few weeks ago and there was a person working there who made the comment “I don’t really care about this event, I’m just doing this because I’m getting paid but I think it’s stupid”.

A week later it was mentioned to me that this same person was looking for some work. What he is looking to do is something I have a need for but the idea of hiring him was never a consideration. His side comment the week earlier let me to believe he has no pride in his work and if he is willing to say that in front of others, what else might he be willing to say or do?

It never occurred to this person that a person who saw (or in this case heard) him at that event might be able to help him in the future.

When I was coaching high school aged soccer players, I would remind them that if they were interested in playing college soccer, they have to play as if the coach of their dream school is watching them at all times. While that particular coach might not be watching them at all times, some other coach might be watching and coaches do talk.

One bad action seen by one person might get spread to others quicker than you could even imagine (and you don’t believe me, check out youtube.com sometime)

Realize, someone might be watching at any time. Act responsibly

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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How many paintings did Leonardo da Vinci paint?

How many symphonies did Beethoven write?

How many discoveries did Marie Curie make?

It’s important for people to realize that quality is frequently judged as more important than quantity. People don’t recognize Da Vinci as a brilliant artist because of the number of paintings he did but rather because of their quality.

Beethoven wasn’t considered a genius because he was a prolific writer of music but rather because of how good his music was.

Marie Curry isn’t known because of the great number of discoveries and realizations she made but rather because of how valuable they were.

Quality is remembered long after quantity is forgotten

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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People frequently get frustrated near the end of projects and end them before completion. Unfortunately, what they don’t realize is just a small amount of additional effort can make a HUGE difference.

Too often, people think it has taken so much time, energy, money etc and they can’t afford to do anymore so they stop before it’s done. However, stopping before it’s done might be the difference between great success and complete failure.

An example would be an author who is writing a mystery. They might be on page 199 of a 200 page book and think “well, it’s almost complete and I don’t want to spend more time on this so it should be good enough”. However, finishing that last page is the difference between a possible best seller and 199 sheets of worthless paper.

An attorney might have done a great job presenting their case but the additional few minutes spent on the closing article might make all the difference in the world.

A Realtor might be selling a million dollar home but the few dollars spend on staging the house might make the difference between it selling or sitting on the market for months longer.

The last steps of a process might sometimes seem to be a good place to look for short cuts but they often are the ones that separate good from great and sometimes success from failure

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Would you buy a Ford from a car dealer who drives a Toyota? If he truly believed in Ford, he would drive one.

Would you be responsive to diet information from a fat person?

If you saw the manager of McDonald’s eating at Wendy’s would that encourage you to eat at McDonald’s?

It’s difficult to believe in something when it’s apparent the person selling it doesn’t believe in it either.

It’s not just about sales either. If you are a coach and preach discipline, then demonstrate discipline. If you are a business manager and you want your employees to give their all, then they must see you doing the same.

I know a soccer coach who has four basic rules for his team. They are actually four wonderful rules but there is one small problem. This coach breaks each of these four rules on a regular basis. How can he expect them to abide by the rules when he doesn’t?

I run a web design company called Web Breez and we create many web sites for clients (to see a small sample go to http://webbreez.com/portfolio.php) and one of the most frequently asked questions is “how can we get traffic to our web site”. There are a few different methods ranging from advertising, word of mouth etc but the one I always encourage is through adding content. This can be done through a blog or through other means but for long term traffic, content still is the most effective way I know. Does it work? If you are reading this article it’s because you are either on my blog or you went to my blog and subscribed to receive the information via email but either way, you are proof it works. If I encouraged others to generate traffic through content but didn’t do the same myself, I would have no credibility.

The adage “do what I say, not what I do” doesn’t work anymore. If you want people to do what you say, then do it yourself. Managers are in the background telling people what they should do. Leaders are out front doing it themselves.

Are you a leader? If so, make sure you are doing and not just saying

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Recently I played in a table tennis tournament (which a few of you just read as “Lawrence is a dork”) and was asked if I would be interested in playing in a higher rated division. The reason for asking me if I would want to play in this better division was the tournament organizers felt that while I had a good chance of winning the lower division, the higher division would be more challenging for me and I would enjoy it more.

This reminded me of all the times I have seen youth soccer coaches put their teams in lower divisions of tournaments so they could leave with a championship and tell everyone how good they were. Or, they would have a choice of two tournaments to play in and would choose the easier tournament. The more difficult tournament might have helped the team become better by challenging them and helping them learn how good they really could be but by playing in the lesser tournament, they got to pad their record and feel good about themselves (although it always seemed it was the adults who felt more pride than the players).

Would you rather be the big fish in a small pond or a bigger fish in a huge pond? For some reason people frequently ask this question incorrectly. They ask would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond. Competing against better competition allows you to become better yourself and while you might not be the best in the bigger arena, you do get to see where you really fit.

If we don’t challenge ourselves sometimes, who will?

By the way, I did choose to play in the higher division and lost in the quarterfinals. Oh well, maybe next year!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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The economy sucks, people are behind on their bills, some people are unhappy with the election results from last week, people are sick, your boss is mean, the baby is crying, service isn’t what it used to be, the weather is getting cold and basically life isn’t fair.

We have two options. We can do what too many people choose to do and sit around and complain about how bad everything is and find ways to place blame on everyone (except ourselves) OR we can deal with it and move on.

Option one of complaining about everything and placing blame elsewhere doesn’t do anyone any good and in fact just makes matters worse (if you are behind on your bills, sitting around complaining about them doesn’t get them paid any faster and in fact results in them getting even further behind since you aren’t making money complaining)

Option two of dealing with the issues and moving on is much more effective. If you are behind on your bills, reduce your spending and/or increase your income. If this means having to get a second job, then do it. If it means not eating out, then do it.

We have become a society of complainers. Deal with things and move on and life will prove to be much better for all!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Is it more difficult to get to the top or is it more difficult to
stay there?

For some, the motivation of being the underdog is all that is
needed to work hard and overachieve. As long as you have obstacles
to overcome, you will keep doing everything that is needed to get
to the top. However, when they get to the top it’s harder to stay
motivated because you are no longer the hunters but rather you are
the hunted.

For others, the confidence that comes with being the top provides
the motivation to do everything they can to stay at the top.

The thing that complicates things is if you are a manager (or coach
or whatever else you might want to call yourself) some people on
your team might be motivated be the uphill battle to become the
best while others on your team might be motivated more by staying
at the top. As in most aspects in life, you can’t assume everyone
is the same way.

If you aren’t careful, you will work very hard to get to the top
only to find out it’s not all it’s made out to be. Even worse, if
you aren’t careful, you wont stay up there very long anyway.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If everyone would apply the very sensible philosophy of “think…then speak” life would be so much better.

Just a thought!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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