Blog #225
This post is the fifth part of this series, which shares my insights and take-aways from the recent Inspiring Entrepreneurial Strategy course I completed at Harvard Business School.
In this case, the events outlined here happened after my experience at Harvard; however, the thoughts and ideas expressed in this blog occurred to me during my time there. It was then that I realized I had not done any deep strategic work for myself. This really came to fruition when I agreed to be a coaching “test” subject for my wife, Reka, who is an individual and couples therapist.
One of our collective True North values is “Always curious, always learning”. As such, Reka is constantly growing, both personally and professionally. In fact, she is currently taking a course to become a Certified Life Coach. Once a month, she travels to Chicago for face-to-face training sessions, and on one particular day, her coaching client was not available…so I agreed to be her “client”.
We met over the phone and went through the exercise together, which was a wonderful experience. Reka did a great job as my coach; she even helped me reach a few “Aha” moments. In fact, one of those moments was realizing that I had not done a deep strategic review for myself in a while.
The next day, my schedule was completely open and Reka was still in Chicago. I went to the office and started to push my thinking as much as I could.
I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with opportunities…and I knew I needed to focus. Yes, it is awesome to be faced with these kinds of problems, yet I know the greatest success comes when I focus, focus, focus. Since I did not have to worry about translating my handwriting to others, I started jotting down things on the whiteboard. I wrote the words “Time,” “Talent,” and “Treasure,” which, I believe, are the only three things in the world we can leverage. I stood back, studied the board, and contemplated how I could maximize these elements.
I then proceeded to dive into a rabbit hole, which conjured up these thoughts:
- Time. Our time is limited and constantly diminishing – we lose it with every passing second. We can leverage time with other people’s time, talent, and treasure, but only to a certain extent. Based on this, we need to define what is our highest and best use to maximize our time, as it is our greatest asset.
- Talent. Like time, our talents can be leveraged. However, unlike time, our talents can be cultivated and expanded upon; we do not have to be concerned with losing them. With experience, we can teach others our talent (which is our second greatest asset as humans).
- Treasure. Treasure can be thought of in terms of money and material resources. Treasure can be leveraged, gained, or lost, thereby making it a rather elastic commodity. Other people or circumstances may take our treasure, but we can always get more. Though I believe treasure to be important, it is the least vital of the three.
With this in mind, the groundwork was set for my continued exploration of what a great 2020 will look like – which, I have to say, was rather fun.
How are you approaching your time, talent, and treasure? Are you interested in maximizing your resources in order to capitalize on them? We can help with that! Reach out to us today to find out more.
Keep Smiling,
Kris
