Seven Tips for the New Year
A Magnificent Seven that will work wonders.
Since I am a towering castle of sloth, please forgive this brief and condensed New Year’s message.
My feeble excuse is that I have to fulfill the resolution of more page time than screen time. I can hear David McCullough, Niall Ferguson, Joan Didion, and Herman Melville, as well as clients and family members, calling my name.
So here are seven important items that I’m recommending and pinning up for myself this year.
1. “Gently in manner, strong in deed” was the motto that President Dwight Eisenhower kept on his desk. Part of this was a nudge to restrain his temper; a lesson he first learned as a youth when his mother told him of the Bible verse: “He that conquereth his own soul is greater than he who taketh a city.”
2. “Be what you would seem to be.” Lewis Carroll didn’t just write Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. He also gave us this admonition to be genuine. It’s especially important nowadays when we need to fend off the superficial and the conniving.
3. “Resign as General Manager of the Universe.” Engineer and writer Larry Eisenberg’s adage is correct. You can’t do it all. I’d add that it helps to have a sizable Zone of Indifference in order to gain perspective.
4. “Do what you say you will do” is an old management maxim. The author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, makes an additional point that saying yes to one thing means saying no to a bunch of others. Be cautious with commitments but, once made, keep them.
5. “Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle” is advice by J.M Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. The shocking truth is this also needs to be applied to ourselves. Many people are much more forgiving of others than they are of themselves. [I still cringe at the memory of stupid comments I made decades ago.] We need to set a statute of limitations on self-reproach.
6. “Keep in touch.” Write thank-you notes. Make calls. Go beyond the electronic and the convenient and embrace the time-consuming, but far more effective, personal touch. People often remember the fact that you took the time to see them far more than what you said. I recall this description of a beloved aunt: “She was the one who walked in when everyone else walked out.” You may never know the difference you make.
7. “Focus on doing right instead of being right.” You will make mistakes. Admit them. Correct them. Move on.
That’s it. Those are the magnificent seven. They may seem sparse, but I assure you that they can greatly boost happiness and performance.
I will be re-reading them in the days ahead.
Have a great New Year! Be what you would seem to be!