First Come, First Served

Let’s just assume that’s how it works in every scenario.

The first to check in for their flight once they receive the notification that they can… first come, first served.

The first to respond to the email… first come, first served.

The first wake up in the house in the morning… first come, first served.

The first to ask for help from another… first come, first served.

It’s not that it kind of works that way in every scenario; it’s that it completely works that way in ever scenario.

The one who said “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today” wasn’t just spitting mud, that was someone who wanted to be served first…and was.

Stay Positive & HT To Ben Franklin

What You Design Around It

Where the trash cans are located… If there are deterrents bolted in… The distance you have the luggage rack from the ceiling of the vehicle…

None of these are close to the original design challenge of creating a tour boat, a rose garden, or tram, but they are so critical to supporting the intended audience of those creations. Almost as much as they are also saying “this is who we are not here to serve.”

What are you designing around your store? Your website? Your relationship?

Stay Positive & Another Reminder That Everything Is Marketing

Yesterday

Too often we’re left feeling and wishing we would have done something yesterday.

Spoken up. Explored. Sent the email. Submitted the application.

Overcoming that kind of regret is merely a mindset shift about today.

Today is just tomorrow’s yesterday; in effect we have the opportunity to construct the narrative we want about it. If you’re landing with more days of regret, you have the wherewithal to change it.

Stay Positive & Now Is A Great Time

In Awe

Carrying a beer is one thing. Carrying six of them puts people in awe.

Awe removes the subjectivity of good or bad and gets to the point of impact and remarkability.

Most of Ronnie Radke’s music is just fine…but it’s the moments he puts people in awe that make his music stand out and gets people who don’t even like his genre of music to be impressed by it.

Stay Positive & Aim For Awe

It’s Not For Me

It’s easy to judge an experience as being distasteful.

Or consider going through an area of town you haven’t been in in a longgggg time and to you, it’s worse now than it was back then.

Or how about rating a book, a beer, a boulder a 1 out of 5.

When most of the time what you’re actually saying is it’s not for you.

Others are loving the experience. Others are loving the way the town changed. Others are rating the book, the beer, and the boulder a 5 out of 5. (I’m talking about rock climbing, if you’re still wondering. Though, that analogy might not be for you.)

Better to label it appropriately. It saves the emotional toll as well as the strength of the connection you have with others you talk about it with.

Stay Positive & No One Is Upset When You Say “This Isn’t For Me”

How You Win Matters

It’s easy to look at results in business and think the story ends there. Two companies hit the same revenue goal. Two teams ship the same product. Two leaders post the same “success” headline on LinkedIn.

But beneath the surface, the paths they took couldn’t be more different.

And over time, those differences matter.

Take a company that chooses to invest in its people: offering growth opportunities, stability, and a culture of trust. Compare it to a company that leans on regular layoffs as a cost-cutting strategy, trimming teams the moment a spreadsheet demands a boost in margins. In the short term, both might post the same profits. Both might satisfy investors. Both might even receive applause.

But the long game tells a different story.

The company that invests in its people builds loyalty. It builds expertise. It builds a reputation that attracts the best talent—and keeps them. Its employees become advocates. Its customers notice the difference in service, in passion, in quality. Innovation flows naturally when people feel safe to create and contribute.

The company that chooses the layoff path builds fear. It creates a revolving door where knowledge and culture leak away every quarter. It spends endless time and money recruiting, rehiring, retraining. Its teams are cautious, not creative. Its reputation suffers, first internally, then publicly. The talent it needs most looks elsewhere—because why would anyone bet their future on a place that sees people as disposable?

At first glance, the results might look the same.

In the long run, they’re worlds apart.

Success isn’t just about what you achieve. It’s about how you achieve it.

Stay Positive & How You Win Determines Whether You Can Keep Winning

It’s Not All That Different, But It Is

One German says the dialect of the language is not all that different in the city as opposed to out. Then they say it is to someone who is not familiar with the language to begin with.

The process of starting a business is incredibly easy; it’s not all that different from starting anything else that’s large or time-consuming… except it is.

The magic of this concept is two-fold.

First the narrative and perspective is what matters most, which requires empathy for another to understand if – to them! – it’s all that different or not.

The second is the experience and encouragement of curiosity. Asking – and answering! – the question of how is this the same? How is it different? enables you to move forward faster.

Stay Positive & Contemplative