Author: Garth Beyer

The scheming that gets us further in our work (and life) is grand scheming.

It’s the action of plotting where we are to where we want to be and could be across a longer timeline than a week or month or calendar year.

It’s considering all of the challenges and decisions we’ll face over the long run.

In doing so, we realize that what we’re doing now or what we’re faced with completing later today isn’t as big as we thought it was.

We tend to exaggerate effort and time of actions in order to rationalize not taking them.

But those thoughts lose their footing in the grand scheme of things.

Stay Positive & Maintain Perspective

Photo credit

Some things are better when they are personal.

A handshake. An apology. A gift.

Other things – more often, the things we pay for – make us feel part of something.

A community. A surprise. A newsletter.

Business owners can strive to be personal, and for some, it works. But being personal isn’t a business, it’s simply being human.

So what that leaves is a mission for your brand to make every person that interacts with it feel as if they are a part of something.

Stay Positive & The How Is Up To you

Photo credit

We spend a lot of time asking, earning and abusing permission.

We spend very little time giving permission.

Even less time giving permission to ourselves.

To try. To fail. To stretch. To dream. To apologize. To forgive. To lead.

Stay Positive & Permission’s A Two-Way Street

Photo credit

If you have a caveat to your promise, you have a few options.

You can reveal the caveat after someone has committed to paying for your promise.

You can put the caveat in the front, so they know what they’re getting themselves into as they decide to commit. Preferably, not

Otherwise, you can remove the potential of the caveat becoming an issue at all.

Enable folks to subscribe for one month without auto enrolling them into an annual purchase.

Remove the week on your calendar that people can place orders you know you won’t be fulfilling.

Make the time to connect with someone when you’ve said you’re going to.

In a world with hundreds of other options, they’re a lot less likely to divvy out a second chance.

Not to mention, that the competition is catching up on eliminating pain points on the customer journey, and it’s either working to their advantage … or yours.

The race to removing any potential pain points sure beats racing to the lowest price.

Stay Positive & It’s All About Keeping Promises

Photo credit

The way we say “ty,” “thanks,” “thank you,” or “endless thanks” sends a certain signal.

How quickly we respond to emails also sends a signal.

Whether we’re the first to speak up in a room or if we’re the last – it sends a signal.

You guessed it, everything we do (and don’t do) sends a signal.

What matters is that we have our signals align more often than not.

Stay Positive & It’s Worth Keeping Track

Photo credit

Ever found yourself performing a monotonous task, a banal one,  assembly-line type of work?

If you can recall, I would bet that you were doing it poorly at first.

It likely took you awhile to find the rhythem, to notice the pattern of least resistance and to optimize your labor so you could get more with less.

And that was for a minuscule task like folding envelopes or cutting wood.

It might be worth being less hard on yourself as you tackle bigger projects.

Even more important, it might be better to be less hard on others as they do.

Stay Positive & It Takes Time To Streamline (But It Does Require Doing The Work)

Photo credit

There’s no doubt you have a close friend.

No doubt you connect well with a colleague or two.

Your boss likely does a lot for you and so does your parent and maybe a mentor, too.

But no one can advocate as often or as greatly for you than you.

It’s a choice to pick yourself.

Stay Positive & Speak Up, We’re Listening

Photo credit