On Groundhog Day, we all wait this year with alittle bit more anticipation. Of course, those of us in the Midwest and Northeast are always afraid that the groundhog will see his shadow and that will mean 6 more weeks of winter. But this year, Groundhog Day takes on a special meaning. I believe that if he sees his shadow, it will mean that there will be at least 12 more months of recession. We have used every other metric to guide ourselves in this recession, why not Punxsutawney Phil?

We can only hope for a gloomy overcast day in Punxsutawney, PA so Phil does not see his shadow. It looks like so far the weather forecast means there will be an early end to the recession.

Like many of you, I have recently looked at our family budget. What most surprised me was the amount of money that I spend on all types of insurance in a month:

All Types of Life Insurance for my family: $1,500

Health Insurance: $1,500

Disability Insurance: $300

Home Insurance (2): $250

General Business Insurance: $200

Car Insurance: $50

That’s $3,800 a month or almost $50,000 a year I spend on “what if?” or “just in case insurance”.  Why do I spend so much?  Do I really need it or is my insurance guy, Dana Potts just that good at sales? Should I not just risk it?

I take big risks every day, but as I examine the various insurances I don’t know where I can cut?

Life Insurance- if something happens to me, I want my family well provided for. I have diabetes, so I can’t drop any of my insurance and hope to get it again.

Health Insurance- the reason more people go bankrupt in this country is because they can’t pay their medical bills. Health care is so high, they we can’t afford risking not having coverage.

Disability Insurance- the chances of getting disabled before you die are great. Again, my family needs to be taken care of just in case.

Home and Car Insurance: There are monetarily the biggest things I own. How can I not protect them?

During this recession, have you been able to cut any of your insurances?

I went to have breakfast at a local health food restaurant. I had toast and a latte. When the bill came it was $5.46.

$1.00 for Toast.

$3.95 for the Latte

$.51 for Sales Tax

Two questions:

When did coffee get so expensive?

When did the tax get as expensive as the toast?

Do you accomplish things based on what you have to get done (Task) or based on the time that you have to complete them? (Time). I never really thought about this much until a friend of mine moved from the city to a farm. She told me that where she would consider a task complete based on the time that she had when she was in the city, now, at the farm, she works at a task until it is complete.

This got me thinking…if I had more time to complete a task would I do it better? Do I do a task until it is really complete or good enough based on the time that I have? When we bought a beach house last year without cell or internet access, I found doing work around the house took longer to complete and I actually enjoyed it more! Without the time limit to get something complete, I could do it for however long I liked and to the level of completeness I wanted to. In the end, it felt a lot more relaxing and fulfilling.

In addition, I could truly strive for minimal achievement- by focusing on the task at hand only without all the other multi-tasking distractions. How much are you able to focus on task rather than time?

I am starting to republish my first book from 2003, You Need To Be A Little Crazy: The Truth About Starting and Growing Your Business with Booksurge. As I was communicating with the sale rep, April during the selling process, I noticed her email signature said:

How’s My Driving?
Did this answer appropriately address your question(s)?
If Yes; send an email to this address:  salesteam701@booksurge.com      
1 – Excellent – (explanation optional)          
If No; send an email to this address:   salesteam702@booksurge.com
2 – Unsatisfactory (please explain)

I loved it. How simple and yet so effective. I felt it instantly gave me permission to give them feedback when things went well or went things went poorly. I felt there was a way I could communicate so that someone would be listening. It made me want to do business with them.

Many times, this is all our customers want- an opportunity to be listened. Is that so hard?

I have seen people using there cell phones and PDAs in the strangest places. I have seen them used at the urinals in rest rooms, on bicycles, treadmills, etc, etc, etc. We do this because we are so programmed to multitask that we can’t “waste a minute” by just doing one thing at a time.

But now a new low. At the local salon where I get my haircut, they wash your hair first. As I was waiting, there was another gentleman getting his hair washed while at the same time holding his PDA high in front of him so he could read his email while getting his hair washed. At one point during this scene, he yelled out to the woman washing his hair. “Stop! I can’t see my Backberry, you keep getting water in my eyes.” Ugh!

This needs to stop. As I say in my new book, Bounce! we need to strive for minimal achievement by focusing on one thing at a time. The myth of multitasking is just that- a myth. Our brain can really only do one thing at a time. In multitasking, we just switch quickly. Studies show that this multitasking decreases our productivity overall by 50%. If we can strive for minimal achievement- that is, focus on one thing at a time, we will actually increase our power and results.

And besides, let’s just relax for a minute and enjoy getting our haircut. Email can wait 20 minutes.

I could not resist this headline in the latest issue of Laptop Magazine. Now from Europe, Phone Fingers no has rubber covers (where did they get this idea I wonder?) for your fingers so you don’t always have to touch your “germ invested fingers” to your iPhone and then put it against your face. You’ll look silly but sometimes that is the price to pay to stay healthy. The product comes in small to extra large so at least for this product, you will find a fit!

A clip from how I changed one business person’s life. Okay, so its Bill Levy, my brother-in-law and but its a start!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not being Christian, there is not much for my family to do on Christmas Day. We usually head over to Chinatown in Chicago and then to a movie. That is our tradition.But, that may change in the future. For the first time in its history, FAO Schwartz was open on Christmas Day. The CEO defended the move saying, ”The workers all volunteered to for the shift… adding that store will cater to non-Christians, tourists and families who want a fun outing on Christmas, similar to Thanksgiving, when the store is also open and people stop by after watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade…We don’t expect huge sales on Christmas day. We recognize the message that Christmas is not about shopping or toys. We just want families to make FAO Schwarz part of their Christmas traditions.” Having the store open on Christmas may be another way to spend that FAO Schwartz gift certificate before the end of the year. That may be a tradition the CEO would love. 

The day is already off…I arrived at the airport and the flight to and from LA was canceled today. They say it is equipment problems,  I say that its the incoming weather. I booked a flight to Dallas today instead ($30 less and it will still get me to the mileage goal. This is called a “mileage trip” by the airlines. Apparently I am not the only crazy business traveler that does this. I guess this goes on alot this time of year. It’s Tuesday, join me in Dallas for lunch!

Post Script- The flights worked out great. Came back on the same plane I flew down on with only 45 minutes in Dallas. The longest part? Getting home on public transportation here in Chicago because of the snow.