In the South Carolina debate last week, Ron Paul said something that really resonated with me:

When the #morality of a #country changes...so will the laws

How true it is.  The moral temperature of a country is the single largest predicator of the future laws and legislation.  Ron Paul used the example of abortion.  Even when it was illegal decades ago, it began to become social acceptable...so the laws followed suit.

In present day, Marijuana is illegal...yet is (in many circles) socially acceptable (or at a minimum condoned) and I am sure that the legislation in future years will change to accomodate.

It is scary how the moral compass can dictate the policy and legislation of a country...even when there is a fading calibration of the master compass.  We walk around with the confidence in our device as our guide, not realising that it is losing it's bearings and hasn't face due-north...ever.

As many of you know, I have two young daughters.  Having young kids (obviously) comes with some challenging situations.  One example of this that we (specifically my wife) has to deal with on a regular basis is the art of grocery shopping.  Juggling a crying baby with a 2-year old that wants to run up and down the aisles while avoiding oncoming shoppers is in fact challenging to say the least.

Recently, my wife told me that she was switching grocery stores.  Knowing how much she loved the one she shopped at...I asked her why she had made this decision (expecting it to be product based or the distance she had to travel to get there).  I was incorrect, as she informed me it was much more simple: They changed their grocery carts from being able to hold 2-kids down to a smaller 1-child cart. 

WOW.

Being that we are not the only family in Oakville with 2 young children, I am sure this decision was not an isolated incident.  Surely someone at a boardroom table at head office had this idea (most likely not having young children) in an effort to cut costs in making smaller carts and reduce the space of carts in the aisles.

Unfortunately, this decision has alienated any shopper with 2 children.  Sobey's, Loblaws, Longo's...they all have 2-child carts...so maybe at the outset, this cost-cutting measure was deemed a competitive advantage.  Also unfortunate, loyal business is now leaving for the competitor in a VERY tight-margin business...and all because a policy enacted miles away didn't take into consideration the needs of customers.

Lesson learned: Every business decision has a downside, if you don't understand it...you cannot mitigate it.

1) Learn the Lesson...Move On - Too many times do I see people punishing themselves for previous failures.  Not only does this prevent you from amortizing any lessons learned...it cripples your decision making process.  When I skinned my knee by falling off my bike when I was 6...I could've committed to never ride a bike again.  Instead, I committed to try harder, learn from others AND wear pants until I figured out what I was doing.  Learn your lessons, leverage your knowledge and put into practice some safeguards to help steer you clear of your skinned knee in the future.

2) Quitting ≠ Failure - Similar to my post on the discipline of strategic quitting...often, your best out is your first out.  By improving how you a)Identify pitfalls that lead to failure & b)Avoid them at all costs you are already amortizing previous failures.  If you measure success over a life-time, not a week, month or even year...your definition of failure will change and evolve to include refreshed perspective.

3) Failure Should be Amortized - It's really simple, your failures teach you lessons that last a lifetime (read THIS if you don't know what Amortization means).  When you touches the stove at age 4 and burnt your hand...you learned that it was hot, and it hurts.  Today, you don't touch the stove because you remember...it's hot, and it will hurt.  The pain at age 4 has been amortized over the course of your X number of years since than, making the experience of pain at age 4 well worth the lesson of not burning your hand regularly for X number of years.  Failing in business can be viewed the same way.  I've learned to double check financial information that I once took at face value...learned to not let an employee borrow my car unless I'm willing to pay personally to have it fixed...and most importantly, learned that if I don't prioritize my wife and kids and they feel neglected...Kraft Dinner loses it's appeal 3 nights in a row.

Learn your lessons, Quit before it's too late, Amortize failure over a lifetime.

I pray for the future generations that will have to clean up this mess.

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1. You Won't do What You're not Doing -

2. Talk is Cheap - Isn't it!  How many times has someone told you something, and not done it.  For some reason around New Years, we think that by throwing words out at this time of year...they are more likely to come true.  The fact is...Dreams DON'T Always come true...so get up and do something instead of waiting for a Fairy godmother to come and fix it.

3. Aim...then Shoot - In life...timing is everything.  Unfortunately, a lot of resolutions are made at midnight, when you've had a few drinks...at that point in time...world peace is looking like a pretty attainable objective.  Step back, take a look at what the year has in store, and purpose yourself to make a positive contribution to an obstacle that you are going to face.

I know that this post is a little leaning towards the "realist" perspective rather than the idealism that plague the blog-world this time of year...but when December 2012 comes around...I want to be known for hitting the objectives that I set intentionally and with commitment in January...not missing the mark on what "could've been."

All the best!

- Matt

So many bloggers write posts about how the next year will be different, where they went wrong in the past year or how they plan to change.  Last year, at about this time, I developed a list a 9 goals...3 personal, 3 spiritual and 3 professional...but ALL measurable.  These goals weren't "lost weight" but rather "lose 10 pounds."  They didn't say, "be nicer" but rather said "foster relationships with 3 people that you aren't initially drawn too."

These examples, are just that; examples...but you get the point.  Being specific is critical to measuring any objective.  When you're setting the company budget for the year, I'm sure your boss wouldn't be appreciative if you said your top 3 objectives were to: Increase Sales, Improve Efficiency & Lower Costs.  Although each of these are great goals...when you get to December 31st...how can you measure them?  If sales increase by $50...were you successful?  If you lowered costs by $7.45, did you achieve what you set out to do?

If you worked at JMA, the answer would be no.

Set tangible, measurable goals that will allow you to at anytime measure how successful you were and track the growth towards your objective.