Last week I read a story that mentioned a study that came to this conclusion: Only 14% Of Medical Errors Reported By Hospitals. It’s an alarming story, one that undoubtedly is true, but it’s the kind of story that leads to hysteria instead of understanding.

Overall, the question comes down to what constitutes an error. For instance, leaving a sponge in a patient after a surgery is definitely an error. Not changing the top sheet between patients in the emergency room is nasty, but that’s not considered an error, although OSHA would be all over it if they knew about it.

The standard for reporting errors comes down to what’s known as “medical harm”. That’s kind of a questionable standard because one could say that the act of a medical professional not washing their hands, thus setting up the possibility of viruses and germs spreading, is medical harm, but that’s not a reportable offense. When I had an issue with some of the care my grandmother “wasn’t” getting while she was an inpatient at the hospital last May I knew that some of what I saw as deficient wasn’t reportable officially either, though I did take it to a hospital representative as a complaint.

There are always standards for what’s reportable and what’s not. Even the story linked to leans toward the fact that hospitals aren’t reporting everything because they don’t have to. This kind of goes across the board by the way. There are things not reported as it pertains to almost every department in a hospital that end up being errors, yet not officially reportable errors. Heck, there are lots of billing errors every day, yet very few would be considered serious enough to report to anyone.

Strangely enough, we probably should be happy for some of this. Imagine being a hospital employee worrying that you’re going to make mistakes every time you do a procedure. That’s the type of thing that breeds mistakes, when people are scared to make them. Incompetence is one thing, slight errors that don’t lead directly to patient harm are tolerable. We might not like them but we have to be thankful that patients are fine.
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2012 Mitch  Mitchell

I’m betting I’m not the only one that gets irked by certain business practices of others. Truth be told, sometimes if we look at ourselves we probably exhibit some of these practices as well. I’ve been told by a few people that maybe I’m too thin skinned to be in business because it’s just how people do business. The day being rude, crude, and uncaring about others is the only way to do business is the day I check out completely and start… I don’t know what. lol

I’ve been thinking about this a bit and decided it’s time to write these things out. I stopped at 10 because after that it starts getting depressing and pedantic; we wouldn’t want to be pedantic now, would we? So here goes:

1. If you asked someone to contact you and they did, at least respond to them. This past year I’ve had a few people ask me to send them a proposal, or to contact them around a certain time to talk about doing a project together. Almost none of those people responded back when I did so. If you think your time is valuable, so is my time.

2. If you’re really not interested in something don’t lead people on. I’ve told people I’m not interested in something “right now” but might be in a few months when, even if I might be interested, I know I’m not going to do it. That just leads them on and irritates me when they call back. I’ve started telling people up front that I probably won’t do something and that they can take me off their list.

3. If someone tells you to stop contacting them, do it. Unfortunately, some people don’t listen when you tell them you’ll never be interested. Think about it; if I give a definite “no” and you continue calling me, how liable am I to use your services if I need them if you’ve irritated me? Ain’t happening.

4. Set your rates, within reason, and stick to them, only offering discounts when they make sense. I had this ongoing conversation with a friend of mine this year and eventually had to take a look at some of the things I do. I realize that I don’t necessarily discount, but that I give different rates to different people based on who they might be or how confident I feel in doing the project they ask for. It leaves me feeling frustrated most of the time because I feel like I’ve under-charged. By the end of the year, I’ve learned to only discount when I’ve gotten everything I wanted, so that it’s more my “gift” than my obligation.

5. Honor your hosts with proper decorum. One of my friends showed up at an event that was a coming out party for a periodical wearing shorts and a sweaty t-shirt while everyone else was dressed up. He acknowledged the error, realizing he’d misinterpreted the importance of the event and dressed way better at the next one. Someone else I know got to a networking event, started drinking immediately, and within 30 minutes was the life of the party, only the kind that everyone wishes had stayed home. How comfortable do you think people will be in trusting you to work with them after an exhibition like that?

6. Every encounter shouldn’t be used as an opportunity to sell. True, all of us in business are hoping to impress others so that when they need services or products we can supply that they’ll think of us. However, if I just met you and you’re giving me your card within 3 minutes and I didn’t ask for it, guess where it’s going when I get home? Most networking events are for people to get comfortable wit others and during that comfort conversation invariably the question comes up as to what you do. Wait for that moment; you’ll get more business that way.

7. Don’t promise something you know you don’t intend to do. This year at a networking event I met someone I actually already knew (who should know me since we’ve seen each other at least 10 times over the years, but I digress) who said that if I sent him a copy of my book and he liked it that he’d have me on his TV show to talk about it. Even as he was saying it I knew it wasn’t going to come to fruition, based on track record, but I sent him a copy anyway. I’ve never heard from him again, and I fully expect that the next time I see him in person he won’t remember that we’ve never met. Oh well…

8. Plan at least parts of your day so you can get to those things you feel are most important. I’m a part time planner in that I might average once a week over the course of a year, but usually get most of it done in a one month period. I complete immediate projects but don’t always get to those long, complicated projects that I want to complete because I forget about them sometimes. Nothing says you can’t alter your schedule here and there but you should at least know what’s out there that you’d like to give some time to.

9. Your business and your career should be about you. Are you happy doing what you do? Are you focused on one thing or do you have multiple things that you like to do? Are you happy with the money you make? Realize that if the Mayans aren’t correct and we actually make it through 2012 that you might have a long life ahead of you. Why not be as happy and as content as you possibly can while making a living? Never feel like you’re a slave to your job or career or even certain clients; always explore other options that can make you happy.

10. Also remember that it’s not all about you. Don’t step on others to succeed. Sometimes go to an event for someone else’s benefit even if you don’t want to. Help others to succeed because it always helps you as well. Even sole proprietors like myself can’t do it all alone, and the more you help others, the more you help yourself.
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

There’s an old story that addresses the early days of the space age. Supposedly the Americans had passed the Russians in space technology but still had one major problem to overcome. They couldn’t figure out how to get a pen to write in space. No matter what they tested on Earth, they just couldn’t get this issue solved until many years later when they finally came up with felt tipped pins, which seemed to work just fine. The thing is the Russians never had this problem; they used a pencil.

I sometimes like to think that I’m a really smart guy. I can solve a lot of problems, and in my fields of expertise I can often solve problems pretty quickly. That type of thing will give you a false sense of yourself as someone who can, or should have all the answers.

Like when I was spending all my time trying to pull the tape from my box of needles (I’m diabetic) so I could protect my private information. Every couple of months I went through this thing, and it was frustrating because the pharmacy tape is thick and wide and very strong. One day I happened to mention it to my wife when she came into my office. She asked me to hand her the box, which I did, and she ripped the top off and handed me back the box and the top so I could shred it; the top had my info on it. Goodness, why hadn’t I ever thought about that>

And my blu-ray player. I bought the remastered version of The Lion King and wanted to watch it a few nights ago. I popped it into the blu-ray player and then nothing happened. I took it out, cleaned the disc, popped it back in and once again nothing. I opened the drawer, waited about a minute and closed it again, thinking… I don’t know what I was thinking. After almost 10 minutes of trying multiple things and thinking that the disc was just warped and damaged something hit me. Blu-ray players are pretty much mini-computers, and sometimes they need to be rebooted. The only way to reboot a blu-ray player is to turn it off. So I did, turning it on 30 seconds later, and all was right with the world.

Often we look at the world’s problems as though they’re going to take eons to solve, and a lot of work. We forget to look for simple solutions first; many times there’s an easy way to solve almost everything. I have a business friend who was having problems with two clients he didn’t enjoy working with. He said he’d pondered what to do about it for the longest time and he wasn’t sure how to handle it because he worried that if he told them he didn’t want to work with them anymore that they’d tell others about how bad he’s treated them and he wouldn’t get any more business from anyone. I told him to raise his price, double if he had to, and see what happened. He did that, they both jumped ship, and his problem was solved. There were no problems because he’d been working without a contract, so he didn’t do anything unethical.

The next time you have a problem, whether it’s technical, personal or professional, see if there’s a simple solution staring you in the face first. You might save yourself a lot of grief.
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

Wow, this is a major league milestone day. There’s a lot of anniversaries that touch this date, some good, some bad, and today’s also the day, with this post, that I hit #900. When I hit #800 back in March I thought I would hit this figure in 4 or 5 months; instead, it took 9 months just like it did the previous 100.

To honor this particular anniversary, I’m posting my first video on this blog with me in it. I’m not sure that everyone who visits this blog has ever seen me in action, but I do have a YouTube page. However, most videos are for my other blogs, so I’m seeing this as something special. I may do more videos on this blog; we’ll see how this one is received. Without any further ado, the anniversary video:

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

Yesterday I had to have a colonoscopy. The process for prepping, then going through one of these things is a nasty bit of business, prefaced by not being allowed to eat for a long time beforehand. Take it from me, it’s probably best to try to have it as early in the day as you can to help stave off hunger, although there’s other things to deal with as well. If you’d like to see more about my day check out this link.

I’d been given this questionnaire to fill out and bring with me on the day of the procedure. I handed it to the woman then went to sit down. About 5 minutes later she called me up and started asking me questions about everything I’d put on the sheet. I thought it was odd because she just copied it off what I’d given her; it just seemed strange.

Eventually a nurse came to get me and took me into the back. She started asking me the same questions, and on one of them I just answered “yes” instead of the full answer, just to see what she’d do. She laughed, so I went ahead and answered her. After all of that was over she took me into the next room, which is where I got undressed and into a gown, and it turned out, where my procedure would be occurring.

There were 2 nurses in the room initially, and one of them started asking me the same questions again. At one point I said “How come I have to keep answering the same questions all the time?” She said “It’s not done; you’re going to be asked these questions a few more times.”

That wasn’t quite an answer but it turned out she was correct. When the doctor came in he asked me the same questions. When the anesthesiologist came in he asked me the same questions. And the nurse who’d originally asked me those questions asked them of me again.

I realized that they all wanted to make sure that not only were they getting the information correct but that I would know what was going on as well. See, at each step I was asked if I had any questions. I did a couple of times, while other times I just went about my businesses. Even though for a short time I found it a bit irritating, in the long run I realized that they wanted to be safe and wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be any mistakes like what’s happened in other places where physicians have performed the wrong procedures or procedures on the wrong side of the body.

Sometimes you have to verify things more than once to make sure you’re not going to get it wrong. Since I made it back home safely I have to say that it was worth it.
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

I’ve been on a quest this year to try to talk about “professionals”. All of us have an idea of what we consider a professional to be, and I’m not talking about sports. Basically a professional as anyone who take their jobs seriously, while making sure to take the time to treat others who are in business seriously as well. Everybody deserves to be treated as a professional until they prove that they’re not worthy. But sometimes things just don’t work out that way, or at least seem like it’ll work out that way.

Let me show you how I have touched on the subject this year:

Do You Treat People As Professionals?

Do You Act Like A Professional?

When You’re Not Respected As A Professional

Are You Representing Your Business Professionally?

Based on all of that, one would think I have covered the subject enough this year. But I don’t think so; it seems like there’s something missing. I started to think about it again last week, and it finally came to me. There needs to be a list to help bring all of this together. I can come up with a time of things, but I think I’m going to limit it to 10.

Before I begin I want to add something here. I want people to see this as something that should only occur between business professionals. There’s a couple of things I’m going to mention here that should apply to dealing with customers as well. Something a lot of people don’t think of is that customers for the most part are professionals. They all have jobs of some kind, otherwise they wouldn’t have the money to pay you. Respect knows no boundaries if it’s applied correctly; at least that’s how I see it. Now, onto the list:

1. Be on time. This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. If you say you’re going to be somewhere at a certain time to be there at that time. If you say to call someone at a certain time call him at that time. All of us will make a leeway for about five minutes because we know that people have their clocks set on different times. That’s not a big deal, at least to me. But if you say you’re gonna call me at 10 AM and I’ll hear from you till 5 PM, that’s a problem. If I never hear from you that’s an even bigger problem.

2. Don’t make commitments you can’t keep. Earlier this year I was meeting with a guy who basically told me he’d never tells anyone he talks to that he can’t solve their problem. His belief was that he can always find someone else who could do the work to get a project done. In my mind that’s somewhat an ethical because what happens if you can’t find someone who can do that work. You could’ve wasted a lot of time someone who’s a potential client, and lost their trust as well. Glitches happen sometimes when you work on a project; that’s to be expected. But if you commit to a time frame, stick to it if nothing out of the ordinary occurs.

3. Pay people on time. This is the second big peeve of mine, because obviously it has happened to me. People tend to think that just because you’re doing work for them they can pretty much pay you whatever they want to. If things are explained up front in their terms of their agreed to that allow you to make payments on time, then that’s a good thing. But it’s never good to have someone do the work for you and then suddenly you decide to change the terms.

4. Don’t think that because you’re paying someone you have carte blanche to say anything you want to to that person. I’ve seen people get really demanding after you signed a contract with them, sometimes even before you sign the contract with them, for what they want. If terms of the deal have been discussed already, then the deal is a deal. If someone does substandard work for you that’s one thing; if they did good work for you but you decided that’s not exactly what she wanted, then that’s on you and that’s another thing to discuss. It’s hard communicating the vision sometimes, but if you’re not part of the entire process and as someone who just wants to come in at the end and see what happened, that’s your fault for not being proactive.

5. Return phone calls. This was somewhat controversial, but go with me on. If you have a business and someone calls you with the potential for work, no matter what it is, call them back. If you’re already working for somebody and they’re trying to reach you, call them back. Nobody likes the feeling of being ducked by someone because it makes you think something is wrong. Quite often something is wrong, and the contractor is afraid to own up to it. But nothing can be solved if you don’t talk things out with each other. By the way, the same goes for email.

6. Don’t wait until the last minute to try to get things done. This is an elementary school where you’re waiting until you’re on the bus heading to school to get your homework done. Something that makes everybody look like they’re on top of their game is actually completing projects ahead of time. That also gives you an opportunity to be making more money for the time you’re putting into a project and allows you to move onto your next project. The only time I know of anybody being upset when you’re done with the project early is if part of the deal is they have to pay you at the end of the project and they were expected it to be done that soon. However, if that was a possibility of occurring you should make that clear to someone before you do it.

7. Be fair in your assessments of others. There’s nothing wrong with saying to somebody “that guy does great work, but it takes him forever.” There is something wrong with saying “they guide the worst contractor I’ve ever seen because he’d never to get anything done” if the guy actually got the work done and did a good job. We all know that negative comments stay around longer than positive comments, and why would you be out to ruin someone’s reputation for the wrong reason?

8. Treat others the way you want to be treated. One would think this is just common sense, but it’s something that doesn’t happen all that often. I find it ironic when people say that someone yelled at them for something when they tend to do the same thing when they’re not pleased. I’ve also seen people complain about stuff that they do all the time to others. That’s just being hypocritical, not honest.

9. Remember why you hired someone in the first place. There’s usually only two reasons you hire someone to do something for you. One, because you don’t know how to do it; too, because you have the time to do it. If it’s the first one being wary but let the professionals do their job. Asking questions is fine, but deciding to totally change something around when you don’t have any experience or knowledge about it is idiocy, and only complicates things on the back end. Knowing how to do something but not having the time definitely give you a step up to make sure you’re not being taken advantage of, but it also means you are better equipped at telling someone exactly what is you need.

10. When all else fails, treat people with respect. Something that happened to me earlier this year is that I received a call from a client who didn’t like a blog post I wrote. When I got into the thing he actually had to tell me he hadn’t read the post but that someone else had read it and mentioned it to him. When I read the post to him, at least a portion of it, he said “there’s nothing wrong with that but please don’t do it again.” I said “don’t ever try to change anything I do unless you investigate it first.” Respect was lost from that time on because this person didn’t treat me with respect, and I felt why should I treat him with respect. That usually leads to trouble, and it did.

And there’s the 10 points. Because the post was so long I have interspersed some images in here to help break up the space. Of course these are my 10 items, so if you have anything you’d like to add please add it by commenting on the post. I will respect you greatly if you do.
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

I tell it like it is, which means sometimes I tell stories that involve real people; okay, I always tell stories that involve real people. I often hope that if it’s a lesson post, like this one is about to be, that the person accepts it as it is, if they actually decide to stop by and read it. I say it that way because I run into a lot of people who say they’re going to check out the website and the blog, then don’t do either. I’m not that way, and thus the inspiration for this post.

Last night I went to a networking event in downtown Syracuse. It was an event recognizing a new magazine called Syracuse Woman. I know a couple of people associated with it, including one that was interviewed, so I thought I’d stop by to support it, even if only for a short period of time.

I happen to meet someone there who started talking to me about her business. During the conversation she said that she was hoping to grow her business but that some things had slowed down and she was looking to make the next step. I offered her the chance to participate in my interview series of small business people as a way to garner at least a little bit of publicity. She said she’d love to do it.

Today I sent her an email with the standard questions. I said she could answer them however she wanted and that if she included an image I’d pop that on the site as well. Within a minute I got an email back from where she has her email service saying I needed to click on the link to prove the email wasn’t spam.

I didn’t click on the link. I never click on links that come back to me, especially when it pertains to business. To me, anyone that’s making it even slightly difficult to reach them for business purposes, especially if it’s more in their interest than mine, isn’t totally serious about their business.

Of course this leads me into the opportunity to talk about business email in the first place. It’s interesting how many people who say they’re in business don’t have business email addresses. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if your “business” email address has “aol.com” or “gmail.com” or any other service other than, well, your own hosted business link, you’re probably not being taken all that seriously by others.

If you’re looking to only do small business then having a generic email address is fine. If I’m contacting someone to plow my driveway over the winter and he’s using a twcny.rr.com account, I can live with that. But if someone is looking at a long term or high priced contract with you, they’re going to be put-off with something like that. I mean, why would someone want to trust you with their $50,000 project if you can’t even see your way into spending less than $60 a year for a proper domain name and a host that will allow you to create a business specific email address, whether or not you put up a webpage (that’s something for another time)?

I always tell people to think about the people they want to work with and how they want those people to represent themselves to you. Then think about how you can represent yourself in the same fashion, within limits. If you can’t afford $700 shoes then get the best you can afford and keep them looking neat. Don’t price yourself into poverty, but don’t price yourself out of looking like a professional either.
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

Back in 2001, when I decided I was going to work for myself, I decided I needed to stock up on supplies.

I drove to the office supply store and started buying things I felt that every office needed; stapler, pencils, tape, pens, packs of paper to print on and pads to write on, and many other things. I also purchased something to put all that stuff in because I knew all of it wasn’t going to fit in my desk drawer.

by Sarah Sphar via Flickr

Yesterday I needed something and went to the drawer where I’d put all that stuff. I looked at the tape and the pencils and the paper clips all much of the other stuff that I’ve never used, still sitting there in packs, some of it, like the pens, useless to me now.

The problem was my perception of business at the time. I based it on what I had as an employee. However, when I thought about it, the only thing I was always replacing was pens, and that was because I kept leaving them all over the place, not because they’d run out. The type of pen I use now is way different than all those Bic pens I bought back in 2001; I didn’t even like those pens back then.

Many of us set ourselves up for what we perceive we need rather than figuring out what we really need. This goes for supplies across the board, and in this instance I’m also thinking about employees in a supply mode. Something that makes a person a great leader is being able to evaluate just what’s needed to get the job done. For instance, I also had a desk calculator back in 2001 that I never used because I always used Excel. That was a waste of money and if I’d paid attention to myself I’d have remembered that I didn’t even use a calculator at my previous job.

The same can be said for employees. In today’s world having someone that can type 50 words a minute is pretty much meaningless, yet it’s still a standard people use in evaluating employees. I haven’t used a typewriter in almost 15 years; what will that tell me? Most people do things on a computer, and I don’t know anyone with “typing” skills that can’t type at least 75 words a minute on a keyboard; I’ve been close to 150 words a minute but my skills seem to be diminishing some; sigh…

The evaluation of talent has to be for the right reasons, just as you need the right supplies for success. We don’t look at a resume, see spelling mistakes, and dismiss that person as not having intelligence. We look at a resume, see spelling mistakes, and realize this isn’t a person who pays attention to detail. Now, if this person is working in a factory spelling might not count; otherwise, it’s a big deal.

Almost every industry has changed in 10 years. This means the people I talk to in many instances see things much different than their counterparts from back in the day. In some areas the processes I use now are the same I’ve always used and those things still work. In other areas I’ve realized that I need to step up to the plate, update my technology and competence, and be prepared to engage someone in a new way. This is why I finally got a smartphone and why I’ve recently added Skype, although I still haven’t used it yet.

Are you making sure you’re using the right “supplies” for what you do, or using them in the right way to progress in your business?

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

Everyone’s heard the phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, right? It’s so true in so many different ways that I figured it was time to do a business analysis of this phrase. After all, it’s something that, for an independent consultant, can be hard to deal with.

Depending on what kind of work one does as an individual, sometimes it feels like you don’t have many choices when it comes to putting all your eggs in one basket. For instance, if I get a long term contract it’s hard to work on anything else while I’m doing it except for something quick like a speaking engagement. Even with a speaking engagement it’s hard to do more than one at a time within a reasonable period because, if you consider yourself a professional, you’ll prepare way in advance and then rehearse your material to make sure you know it and in order, whether you memorize a speech in detail or not.

Also, with some work, it’s dependent upon the schedule of the client. Some clients will work with you immediately, while others, for whatever their reasons are, will be hit and miss. That leaves you with either a lot of open time or many deadlines that have to be filled all at once; that’s not pleasant at all.

Still, there are ways around this, and they don’t only pertain to the independent business person. These same strategies work in the traditional business model as well. As a matter of fact, I used to apply these same strategies when I was a daily employee that I use now. Here are 3 ways of getting around this.

1. Work on whatever comes first. This is the easiest thing to do as an independent. Whenever I have more than one thing pending I always tell all parties that the one that comes through first is the one I’m taking. Even if the other one is more lucrative I’d rather have a done deal than pass one up and lose the other one. It’s the same with traditional business. If all other things are equal always do the one you got first. By not doing that, you might be sending a message that you think some people’s issues are more important than other people’s issues.

2. Work on critical issues first. Yeah, I know what I said in number one, but I made sure to add “all other things are equal”. If you’re faced with a decision that could shut down the business versus doing traditional projects you protect the overall interest first. If you get more than one critical issue at the same time pass the buck up the ladder if you can and let someone else decide for you. That might not seem like the most “leadership” proposition but it’s actually very smart. Why wonder which way the person you report to would have gone? Just ask that person, and if they defer to you then you’re in the clear. Otherwise, if you’re later asked why you went one way or the other you get to be absolved of all blame. However, if it’s you that makes all the decisions you just have to be circumspect with your decision and stick by it.

3. If you have many issues to get to, list them all and prioritize. This one should make sense but I’m still surprised by how many people won’t do it, and then find that they’ve missed something they really needed to get to. I don’t have the need to make this list as often as when I was an employee but I still make lists of projects I want or need to get done and then put them in some order. When I schedule things I’ll often schedule them in 1 – 2 hour blocks to work on and then work on something else. Based on importance I might work on one thing longer than another. If I have something I can get out of the way fairly quickly I’ll make sure to schedule that somewhere in the middle because I always believe that a series of successes or accomplishments, even small ones, helps boost one’s spirit.

The thing is that I do many different things, and I never want to get locked into thinking one is always more important than another because I’ve been burned doing that. For independents and sales professionals, it’s known as “keeping the pipeline filled”. For people working a job it’s the “Santa clause”; make a list and check it twice.

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch  Mitchell

Over the past couple of days I’ve been out of town on a consulting assignment. While out of town, I decided to take a trip to one of the local casinos, so to speak, to play a little bit of poker. I’ve made no secret on how much I love to play the game.

I sat down at the table with $80; I’m superstitious so that’s the amount I always start with. At the time I got there the guy sitting next to me had more than a thousand dollars on the table, and since one can only start with a maximum of $200, I knew he’d been on a roll at some point. He was a really good player and while I was sitting there, at least for the first hour or so, he was making more money than he was losing; that’s always the goal.

However, the baseball game was on, and it was getting into the later innings, and suddenly he lost his edge. He was playing cards that he wouldn’t have played earlier and his concentration was shot. When he finally played a hand that was so ridiculous that I asked him about it, he realized that he wasn’t mentally into the game anymore, since the end of the baseball game was close, and he left the table with just over $800; that’s not a bad day.

In the meantime another guy at the table went on an amazing streak, and at one point he had around $1,500 sitting in front of him. That’s pretty amazing at the level of game that I play, and he was taking some serious chances with his hands that were coming out good for him. The problem is that he was playing a fairly reckless style. If you know anything about poker, I can tell you that he was calling a lot of hands but not betting many hands first; that’s a bad strategy because it means you’re hoping for hands to come and not scaring anyone away. You can lose a lot of money that way, and he lost it all in less than 2 hours.

As he walked away, I thought about this thing where people often don’t know when to walk away from something. It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn playing poker, and it’s a lesson I’ve had to learn in business as well. The difference is that, in poker, when you walk away from the table you’re usually walking away with money, whereas in business when you walk away from the table you’re usually leaving money behind in some fashion.

There are always times to walk away. Sometimes it’s smart to walk away from an argument. Sometimes it’s smart to walk away from a job. Sometimes it’s smart to walk away from a project. Sometimes it’s smart to walk away from something that’s way over your head. And sometimes it’s smart to walk away, take some time to think about things a bit, then go back to it.

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