An Eleven String Guitar

How many strings are on a 12-string guitar? No, it's not a trick question, but if you're in my house on the right day, the answer could be eleven.

That's not the right answer, but it is the true answer.

Why? It's not intentional. The strings come in various gauges, simplified on the container as Light, Medium, and Extra Light (an interesting logic of its own) and the mediums are hard to find. Using light gauge strings on a 12-string guitar means that the thinnest string is so thin (.08 cm) that it's very easily broken.

Sometimes, I can break a string while I'm tuning it, that's how easy they are to break. When that happens, it's eleven-string time until the next trip to the music store.

If you don't tell anyone, an eleven-string guitar could go undetected for weeks (I've done it). The sound is pretty much the same and the strings are so close together to begin with that you'd need to really get close to see the gap.

It's not ideal, but the music is still good and the rest of the strings don't seem to mind.

What did I learn from an eleven-string guitar?

Plan ahead

Clearly, I've done this before. Why not have an extra string for when one breaks? By planning ahead my 12-string guitar will always be complete. Maybe I just like to live on the edge, when it comes to music -- but when it comes to business, are your "extra strings" in place?

Play on with what you've got

OK, so sometimes we don't plan ahead enough. That doesn't have to be the end of the song. Lots of great music has been made with pieces missing and lots of great teams have succeeded long after key players left. Play on.

Know your breaking point

That .08 cm thin string breaks for me about half the time, which is why I usually select the higher gauge. What parts of your machine, or team, or project are breaking under the strain. What can you do to minimize that? How do you raise the gauge of your work?

Points to Ponder

If you play a musical instrument, change something about it (use a different reed, re-tune your strings, use a mute, amplify it...) and play your favorite song. How does change for you to be more creative? What else can you do to increase your creativity?

Draw a picture of yourself (or your company logo, or your favorite cat...) using your non-dominant hand. What details can you miss and still make a recognizable picture? Can you still capture the essence of your message? What accidental lines or marks spark a memory or idea?

-- Doug Smith

WHO SAID IT?

"You do not merely want to be the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do."

Was it...

A. Jerry Garcia
B. Eric Clapton
C. Pat Metheny?

The answer is here.

Comments

The Right People

Who do you get to help you solve your problem? You, of course, that's a given. Also, people who will be impacted by any solution you try. People who are feeling the effects of the problem right now. Even (especially) people who you think may be at the root cause of the problem. Get the benefit of many ideas. Enlist the help of people who will care how it turns out. Collaborate to gain commitment. Engage the right people in creating problem solutions so that they don't become the wrong people while implementing them. -- doug smith

Only Goals That Matter

We're all busy. No one can do everything. Creating meaningful goals matters in order to use our time and resources responsibly. Even when the intention is good, a bad goal is a burden. Unless the goal is important, is is worse than unimportant, it is a distraction. You don't need more distractions, do you? -- doug smith

In Front

Problems bring pain. Maybe it's physical, or emotional, or logistical-- as long as the problem is there, so is that pain. When we solve the problems in front of us we can put the pain behind us. -- doug smith

Healthy Goal Focused Habits

Successful goals are supported by productive habits. Some productive goal-achieving habits include: Working on your goal everyday Scheduling time to work on your goal Breaking your goal down into smaller, easily achieved tasks Telling other people about your goal What other productive habits do you use? -- doug smith

More, please

How many solutions does your problem need? Sometimes the answer is just one more. It could also be that your problem needs twenty more before you find the one that sticks. Finding solutions is the fun part anyway so just keep going. Create more solutions to a problem than you need in order to find one that works. -- doug smith

An Important Pause

We're all in a hurry. Urgency is a way of life. When we're working on a problem it feels as if the faster we solve it the better. But, have you ever solved a problem only to shortly discover that you haven't solved it at all? New complications arise. Surprises confound you. The problem roars back. The worry creates the hurry. The rush is not enough. Better to find the actual cause of the problem and face that issue. Taking time to analyze a problem will save time in solving it. And that saves time overall. That pause you take may be more important than you thought. -- doug smith

Shortcut

Your goals matter to other people when other people matter to you. -- doug smith

Better Of Course

Positive thinking might not fix everything that's wrong with the world but it will re-direct bundles of misdirection. How we look at people affects how we see them, which effects how they see us. Why not manage that better? Of course! Trying to mend a broken relationship? Appeal to their better self. Hoping to influence a stranger? Appeal to their better self. Building a better team for better performance? Appeal to each team member's better self. Appeal to someone's better self by first knowing that it is possible. Their better self is there even if you haven't seen it yet -- even if no one's ever seen it yet. What if you could be the person who sparks the inspiration in someone to grow better and better still? You can. -- doug smith

Side Hustle Blues?

As a leader, do you ever sing the side-hustle blues? That's when your team seems distracted because they're tired from working multiple jobs. When I worked in food service it was all around me: team members who were already wrestling with variable schedules and also juggling multiple jobs. Maybe because they enjoyed their other gigs -- like the musicians, actors, artists, and writers on the team. Or maybe because otherwise they couldn't make ends meet so there were the side-hustles in driving, delivering, retailing, and add-on food service shifts. People are wonderful and their potential is unlimited but their physical selves are not unlimited. Which can bring on the side hustle blues when people are tough to schedule, hard to motivate, and just plain tired. You'll never eliminate the gigs that team members enjoy, nor should you. Those are not the ones really sapping the energy as much as those that they are in only for the money. Employees won't need an only-for...

Opportunity Uncovered

Life is opportunity. What we believe can uncover -- or cover over that opportunity. What you believe is up to you. -- doug smith

doug smith training

Search This Blog