Unused Tools
I had a great weekend with my grandparents. In typical “Barrett fashion” we made fun of each other’s downfalls as a way of saying, “Despite everything, I still love you.” It’s one of our tools for communicating our affection.
I do need to clarify at the behest of my grandmother that when I previously mentioned we went to Organ Stop and all the old people were swinging their beer mugs in the air singing to the music, my grandparents were not swinging their beer mugs in the air. They aren’t wild and crazy people and would never swing beer mugs like that.
Now with that out of the way, hopefully I can make it back into the will.
In addition to time with family, I spent an evening with friends. It was great catching up, however initial conversations were a little awkward because the normal conversation of “So what have you been up to” or “So what’s new in your life was still asked, but we all knew the answer already because we all read each other’s blog as a tool to keep up on each other and already knew what was new and what they’d been up to. Once we got past formalities the conversation was great and realized how much I used to love hanging out with all my old friends.
On my way home from visiting with friends, my 25 minute drive turned into a 2 hour expedition of late night Mesa. Sure I had Mapquest directions to get there and could have followed them backwards, but instead, when I thought I missed my exit I abandoned my Mapquest directions and went to a map provided by the rental car company. As a result, I became disoriented, lost my direction and wandered aimlessly for an extra hour and a half.
How many times in business do we have a tool, say a business plan, but like my Mapquest directions we panic, think we’ve missed our exit and abandon our tool. An unused tool, no matter how much potential it holds and how much time is spent perfecting its use is absolutely worthless if unused.
A business plan with dust on it is worthless.
I do need to clarify at the behest of my grandmother that when I previously mentioned we went to Organ Stop and all the old people were swinging their beer mugs in the air singing to the music, my grandparents were not swinging their beer mugs in the air. They aren’t wild and crazy people and would never swing beer mugs like that.
Now with that out of the way, hopefully I can make it back into the will.
In addition to time with family, I spent an evening with friends. It was great catching up, however initial conversations were a little awkward because the normal conversation of “So what have you been up to” or “So what’s new in your life was still asked, but we all knew the answer already because we all read each other’s blog as a tool to keep up on each other and already knew what was new and what they’d been up to. Once we got past formalities the conversation was great and realized how much I used to love hanging out with all my old friends.
On my way home from visiting with friends, my 25 minute drive turned into a 2 hour expedition of late night Mesa. Sure I had Mapquest directions to get there and could have followed them backwards, but instead, when I thought I missed my exit I abandoned my Mapquest directions and went to a map provided by the rental car company. As a result, I became disoriented, lost my direction and wandered aimlessly for an extra hour and a half.
How many times in business do we have a tool, say a business plan, but like my Mapquest directions we panic, think we’ve missed our exit and abandon our tool. An unused tool, no matter how much potential it holds and how much time is spent perfecting its use is absolutely worthless if unused.
A business plan with dust on it is worthless.
Oh yeah, to clarify some more, my grandparents didn't swing their beer mugs because (as they wanted me to clarify) they don't drink beer. Love you Grandma :)
posted by Matt Barrett @ 1/16/2007 08:18:00 PM
|
<< Home