Are you smarter than a 4 year old?

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Are you smarter than a 4 year old?

by Greg Fry on March 16th, 2010
28 Comments

I think I’d say no. I may have more knowledge, but very often it is that knowledge that holds me back. I have a four year old that lives every day believing anything is possible and any obstacle in his way is in fact a tool which he can use to create something positive. I believe children make great inspirational business coaches.

So I have a new business coach and he is only 4 years old, so cheap fees of Chocolate Buttons and trips to the park is all I need commit to. He constantly reminds me that life is simple and as adults we love to over complicate things. No wonder children love Superheroes after all they are on the same “can do” level.

Here are a few questions my son constantly asks me. When I apply his questions to my business he offers valuable advice:

Did you have fun at work and play with your friends today? – Many of us are so stressed and tangled up in our job that we forget to have fun. One of my favourite quotes is “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”- Confucius . Nobody said your job had to be boring and so much of our discontentment is down to our own attitude. The more fun we have the happier we are and very often the more productive we are at work. I work by myself and make a conscious effort to interact with other business owners throughout the day. Doing this spurs me on and I do not feel alone. My business friends are an invaluable support network and are always there when a challenging situation arises.
Why? Why? Why? – Ask yourself why you are doing each and every task and why you are doing that task in a certain way. Very often we avoid doing the important things at work that will help us achieve our goals and do the easier less important task that achieves very little for us. So we should ask ourselves – What are the benefits of completing this task? Very often we approach work in a routine and very methodical manner. Just because you do something a certain way does not mean it is the best and most efficient way of doing something.
Who are your favourite friends? – Know who you allies are at work and who you can rely on. I have some wonderful people around me in business. It is important that I treat them as the close and valuable friends that they are. This is very true when dealing with our clients. We should always put our current customers first and constantly show them that we appreciate and value them.
Do you play outside? – I was really bad about grabbing a sandwich and rushing back to my desk. Now, no matter how busy I am I make sure I get some exercise and take a break at lunch. I am amazed at the problems I can solve when I allow myself to relax and I let my creative juices in. I used to be prone to headaches at work, but have had none since I started getting some fresh air at lunchtime.
Did you talk to people on the phone? – In the world of social media and email we have become very bad at communicating on the phone or even in person. Nothing substitutes face to face and telephone communication. My phone bill has gone up recently, but so has my business. Ask yourself do you make enough telephone calls at work?
When are you coming home? If one’s working hours are the length of a piece of string, we tend to work later and very often get less done. If you are like me I tend to excel under time pressures and deadlines. So while it is often important to be flexible with working hours from time to time, try to stick to set hours and ensure you compete as much work within that time. You and your family will love you for it and you may even get more work done.
I played Bob the Builder. What did you fix? – Never run away from a problem, deal with it head on. A small hurdle in the business world can become a mammoth one very quickly if you do not fix it ASAP.

So If you don’t have children, find a friend or family member who does and invite yourself around one weekend for some cost effective business coaching.

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Category: coaching, motivation, Self- development, Sugartone

Tags: business, Business Coach, Careers Coach, communication, effectiveness, Greg Fry, inspiration, motivation, organising, personal development, positive attitude, Self Help, Sugartone, tips, work life balance, Work Tips

The Author: Greg Fry

Greg qualified from the Marketing Institute of Ireland and is passionate about helping organisations achieve more from their social media efforts. Greg is a Social Media trainer and workshop facilitator with the Digital Marketing Institute. He has also delivered lectures and short courses for leading organisations including SureSkills, Socialmedia.ie and The Michael Smurfit Business School. Greg also works with the Ahain Group as a Social Business Consultant. He believes that in order to make social media work for your business you must have a clear business goal, a clearly defined strategy and make sure that everything you do is measureable. Specialities include: Social Media Training | Personal Branding |Social Business Consultancy | Social Strategy Workshops | Interview Techniques | Psychometric Profiling | LinkedIn Training | Facebook Training | Twitter Training | Blogging | Online Video and You Tube Training | Emerging Social Media (Pinterest, Foursquare, Instagram, Google+ etc.) More information at: www.ahaingroup.com and www.careerscoach.ie http://www.careerscoach.ie

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http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Greg,
I won’t call this an analogy because I think you are absolutely correct, we can learn so much from children, and you have eloquently related your child’s questions to how we interact with our businesses.
A great post, the only problem now is that when your child is 14, he will realise the benefits you have received from him, and look for more than a packet of buttons. And its in print here, forever
Anonymous

Ahh rats…Great point. I must have been “…Away with the birds?” when I wrote that. Check out Elaine’s brilliant post here – http://bit.ly/coiSa1
http://richardmclaughlin.biz/ McLaughlin

Something that kids should understand by time they are 14, it will not just help them when they are old like us, but also help in high school and college.
Anonymous

There should be a four-year-old on the board of every company. Nice one Greg!
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Greg, you are quickly becoming Mr. Inspiration, what another truly wonderful reminder – particularly in these times when it is all too easy to lose sight why we should be getting up in the morning. Great business people have an ability to see business lessons in all aspects of their life, they understand that learning is all around so long as you keep your eyes and ears open.
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Brilliant. A word of caution – once they get past the wonderful age that you indicate above – they can be more destructive in terms of learning from them a.k.a. the teenage years
Anonymous

Greg
I ahve a 6 year old and i am amazed how much i have forgotten since i was his age. We accumulate so called knowledge but this clouds over the real us. A great course you maybe aware of is at the School of Practical Philosophy on Northumberland Road, they are running a Business and Philosophy couse, worth a look!
Anonymous

Thanks for the tip Barney. I will be wary of floundering business advice as he gets older. I have my 2 year old on stand by!
Anonymous

Thanks for mentioning the School of Practical Philosophy. I have heard of it, but must look into the school and courses in more depth. Well put by the way on “being amazed how much we have forgotten”.
Anonymous

Thanks @Lewis @Niall @Richard for your comments:)
Anonymous

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Please also invite your friends

Greg
http://www.TonyJohnston.biz/ Tony Johnston

Using the ‘Kids Filter’ is a great way to simplify things so we can see what’s real and what’s important. Thanks for the refresher lesson.
http://surviveyourpromotion.com/ katy

Hi Greg – love this post! I employ a 7 year old to review all of my plans and any flaws he can see are corrected before I take it to market! We all have blind spots and in our mad rush to get press or clients or hits on our websites, sometimes it’s easy to forget the fundamentals – make friends, be kind, snack regularly, work together. Well said!
Anonymous

Thanks for your comment. I am delighted to know that there is at least another 3 years business advice left in my 4 year old.
http://twitter.com/fredchannel Fred

Nice one Margaret. I believe nowadays all businesses should really apply the hybrid approach when it comes to marketing which is splitting their efforts online and offline. It’s true that at the end of the day you must be “where your customer buys”, however I would strongly suggest to any company that claims to do “business offline only” or Internet skeptics in the B2B arena, to start thinking in “online” terms if they don’t want to be left out in the near future…
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Hi Margaret. A point very well made. A combination of on and off-line marketing is required based on the where you know your target customers look for you. Many companies fall into the trap of “sure on-line is the cheaper place to market”. That’s great, but only if your customers are buying on-line!
Sage advice, thanks for sharing.
Anonymous

Good point Fred, ignoring the internet is an ostrich strategy but so too is ignoring how your customers do business. The fact is marketing is a constant exercise in review, analysis, adapt, implement, review, ad infinitum. (But I love it!)
Anonymous

Thanks Barney
http://www.encouragingexcellence.ie/ Mairéad Kelly

Good points, there will always be businesses that will require being taken by the hand and guided to the “modern” way of doing things. Some businesses however don’t like the way things are going, the loss of the “human touch” so will resist as much as possible. You made a very valid point Margaret, pitch your marketing to where your customers are, using the appropriate medium.
http://www.heartyimc.com Sharon

Great post Margaret, what I am finding is that the internet & social media is the ‘shinny new object’ and also because there are so many workshops and network events around this whole area running across the country, SME’s are wanting to jump in, stick up a web site, stick up a facebook page and then basically use it incorrectly. Believing that because we are in difficult times and it is cheap to do this is the new marketing answer, then they don’t see results and just believe that it is the times we are in. But often it is not and really what they didn’t do was research their customers, understand them and find out what they want and need and then develop a ‘customer marketing campaign’ around this. They then continue to feel deflated and wonder where to turn to next – in fact it is not the media tools they need to turn to it is the ‘target market’ & ‘message’ that are the starting points – media tools are the last piece of the jigsaw.
Anonymous

Nice post Margaret. I was reminded of this recently, when during a conversation I was complaining that our local pub doesn’t have a website outlining events, latest offers etc. I was reminded by some people in the conversation that they wouldn’t even think of going online to get that type of information. I guess we sometimes assume that the majority of people are using the Internet in the same way as us. However it is quite clear that this is not the case. Therefore a mix is always needed.
Anonymous

Agreed! It can be false economy just to hop on this “shiny new object” (well put). To me, it comes back to a fundamental misunderstanding of what marketing is about—the customer. Everything else should be built around him/her. It reminds me of that film “Catch me if you can” where the dad says to Leonardo “Why do the New York Yankees always win? Because everyone is dazzled by the stripes on their shirts” I think that can often happen with owner-managers and marketing–they get focused on the funky creative stuff and can be distracted from why they’re doing it! (Due in no small part to advertising/marketing execs trying to make marketing a mystery!)

Also love your use of the word tools–because that’s what our communication mechanisms are–tools to achieve our marketing objectives.
http://twitter.com/drofsocialmedia Brian Prenderville

nice post Mage
http://twitter.com/lecraic le craic

Tried similar 2 years ago on my blog http://www.lecraic.com/2009/03/10/its-i-love-ireland-week-on-twitter/ – it never took off.
http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

Interesting! Hopefully the Obama factor should help this time round…. if you don’t try it and all that
http://www.insideview.ie topgold

The word “Ireland” itself may trend as soon as Air Force One parks on the auld sod.
http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

Hi Bernie, You’re right of course! The objective here I suppose is to tie in as much positivity as possible
http://www.virtualofficesnyc.com/ devpoul

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