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Message |
| Posted By: |
Jim |
| Date: |
1-Mar-2001 |
| Subject: |
The Good Life and How to Get It |
There is an interesting article in the 2/27 issue of INC magazine. It is an interview with the owners of Great Harvest Bread Company, a 137 store franchise. The couple practice Zen and the article is about running a successful company while still having a great life. The article is available online at: http://www.inc.com/articles/details/0,3532,CID21829_REG3,00.html
Since that link is likely to have a short life, I'll reprint a few of their suggestions here. Note that they themselves have stipulated that there are no recipes. Each person must devise your own formula that is appropriate to meet their goals.
Avoid Debt - "A simple car payment will ever so slightly enslave your thinking."
Or company is private - "We just plain run it how we want." They take extended (over a month) vacations each year. They do that by hiring people who value this kind of lifestyle. The two simple answers to taking an extended vacation: "First, trust your people, even if they don't solve the problems exactly the same way you do....And second, remember the power of the physical solution: physically put one foot in front of the other."
They wear two hats - "We are employees and we are also stockholders.... Our relationship with the business is carefully, almost fanatically, businesslike."
"We get outdoors - a lot."
"Our TV plays only videos."
They keep journals of their experiences.
"We run or lift weights for an hour or two every day."
"We are completely surrounded by animals at all times. That's important because animals think differently." While this might not be possible for all city-slickers, it points out the importance of having others around who think differently from the crowd.
"Our house is 1300 square feet."
"We have compelling, constantly evolving personal loves, totally unrelated to our work."
"We aggressively prune anything that we don't use."
"We eat simple and healthy."
"We meditate."
Buy it, don't make it - "Anytime we can trade money for time, we do so."
Buy high, sell low - "That's really a key to freedom. The minute we're done with something, we sell it supercheap and get it out of our life, fast. When we need a thing to make our goals happen, we outbid everybody."
"We almost never multi-task. We start something, do it, stop it, pause, start the next thing."
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