A.B.C. TOOLBOX #6
On dealing with people, sharing your time and living to be 100+.
Hello! Welcome to the A.B.C. TOOLBOX bulletin - a weekly selection of ideas, tools and people that I have come across and found interesting.
Remember: it is written with the intention to inspire and help you grow in business. I hope you will enjoy it!
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A. Book: Times change, people don’t.
It is 1936. This book is published for the very first time.
It is 2017. I read this book for the second time and wonder how come it is so timeless.
I assume most of you have read this classic a while ago. I encourage those of you to re-read it.
I encourage the rest not to get discouraged by the title, which sounds manipulative and cheesy.
But getting to the point. Ladies and gents: "How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.
It is a manual in building compassion and dismantling one's ego.
Illustrated with great stories.
One of the most interesting parts of the story is that of a “sketch broker” who had problems selling his sketches.
After failing to convince his client to buy something he decided to change his strategy.
He asks the same prospect to give him advice on how to amend the sketch.
They sit down together and work. Then he presents the client with the co-designed version of the sketch.
Bingo! Now the client buys it and then the next one too. The rest is history.
Nowadays we make “design thinking”, “lean methodologies”, “startup way” all sound so fancy and fresh.
We advise startups to co-design the value proposition with their client.
And it has all been there since before WWII in this timeless classic. Enjoy!
B. Cause: Become a Big Brother or a Big Sister
If you feel like sharing your time and experience with a child that is hungry for your attention.
Or you want to get a new perspective of seeing the reality.
Or you just want to find a good reason to go bowling, visit museums and feel like a kid again.
You can become a mentor at Big Brothers Big Sisters (in Poland currently only in Warsaw).
This NGO was founded in 1904 in the US and has since helped millions of kids.
As I have been a mentor for over a year I can give you some details of the process:
- You will be interviewed and matched with a kid with similar interests.
- You and the child will sign a yearly contract and meet every 2-3 weeks and do something you both like to do eg. go for walk, go swimming, visit a museum, etc.
- You don’t need to worry - everything is supervised by a professional psychologist, there is a mentor community and you are not expected to actually "mentor” the child - just to be a great listener and a friend.
I encourage you to get involved - you can contact Iga from BBBS Poland for more details: info@bbbspoland.org
C. Video: How to live to be 100+
What are the habits that can lead us to live longer?
Dan Buettner has been studying areas of the world with the largest concentration of people over 100.
This TED talk - recommended to me by my dear wife - has inspired me to change some of my habits.
I hope you will enjoy it.
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This is it for this Friday. Tell me which text was your favourite - A, B or C!
Just reply to this email. :)
Have a great weekend!
P.S. 64 people have already enrolled for my Facebook Live session on October 24 at 8 PM, Warsaw time (11 AM PST, 2 PM EST). Join us now, it will be fun!
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