Author: Garth Beyer

Having done work that goes unused is a good thing.

The amount of prep you do for a sales call or interview that gets tossed after because you only used 1% of it… that was worth it.

The 1,253 product names you came up with before getting the client to select one… that was worth it.

Come to think of it, it’s quite rare to see a powerful project without scraps lying around… isn’t it?

Best not to get hung up on what wasn’t used. It all got you to the point of not having to use it.

Stay Positive & More To Better

I have a hard time coming up with an experience, a sales process, a website that is actually worse off because there’s humanity in it.

In a recent interview with a candidate, they were professional; they checked the boxes. And then they said “Can I be vulnerable with you for a moment?” and proceeded to share a personal philosophy that is driving their decision to apply. That made all the difference.

It’s worth taking a moment before you ship your next project to ask yourself: what’s the human element?

Stay Positive & It’s For People, Isn’t It?

All leaders prefer to work fast and prefer their teams to work fast, too.

However, the idea that working fast and shipping something sloppy, unproofed, unedited is a bit hypocritical.

I’d like to amend the work ethic statement to “work fast, then focus.”

Speaking from a real recent experience, I lost a recent opportunity because I worked fast and didn’t focus at the end. Two spelling errors cost me the opportunity.

A few tips to overcome the temptation to simply ship after working fast:

• Set an earlier deadline for yourself so you have breathing room to review the work before it’s actual deadline
• Ask a friend to review your work at a specific date and time prior to needing to ship it
• Fake present it / read it aloud / email it to yourself as if you were the boss of the project

Lastly, because you’ve likely subscribed to the notion of “move fast and break things” … the nuance to that is actually the missing part. “fix them and then ship it.”

Faster is better than slower. But complete is better than missing a piece.

Stay Positive & Speed -> Focus

p.s. this riff reminded me of a story about a marathon runner that was about to break the record for the fastest run marathon. At the final nine feet, he slipped and fell on the ground. He still beat the record, thankfully, but I bet he’ll focus at the end from here on out. Of course, we don’t need that experience to be a trigger for us. We can just learn from it and not make the risk. (Also a good read here from Daniel Pink.)

Being at the ready isn’t just a decision you make; it’s a skill.

When people say they are “lucky;” it actually means they were at the ready.

When a baseball players is in the field, they are in a constant state of ready.

Want to know how to be a remarkable baseball player?

Be at the ready when you’re off the field too.

Stamina isn’t just about endurance of work; it’s also a consistency of state of mind.

Stay Positive & Ready?

Chances are likely you spent about 1,200 hours looking at your phone last year. Do you remember much of what you saw?

Betting person would bet you also spent about 800 hours watching television (actually watching; not to be confused with having it on while adding to the hours above).

Months after, can you recall the connections you made or how you felt after hour 134?

The average person spends about 200 hours per year worrying.

Can you measure how far all that worrying had gotten you last year?

Perhaps a good resolution going forward is to do less wasting and more investing.

Stay Positive & Let’s Get To Executing It

When it comes to morality, it pays to consider what others think of your actions.

While we can think rationally about why we shouldn’t litter when on the highway; it’s not nearly as effective as there being a car right behind you that could watch you do it and judge you. In that context, it’s helpful to care what others think.

When it comes to practice performance, however; it pays to ignore what others think of your actions.

If you’re learning to skate, it doesn’t serve you to think about what others on the ice think of how well (or poorly) you’re skating. You’re there to practice. To do you. To perform in the only way that you can perform right now.

It’s a tricky talent, but being able to turn the switch of caring what others think or not is a talent worth acquiring on your journey to excellence in your craft.

Stay Positive & Then It’s About Knowing When To Use It

That’s what most choices are these days.

Even when we don’t think they’re considered.

Nike isn’t what Nike used to be. There’s a lot of competition of choice.

And in the scenarios we think there’s unaided awareness, there’s always that part of your brain that wonders if you made the right choice. One might call that after-choice consideration.

Were the flowers I got from Trader Joe’s the best option I could (should?) have gone with?

Marketing is a balance of awareness tied to validation (after choice) and consideration (before choice).

Marketing is always there.

Stay Positive & In One Sense, There’s No Such Thing As Unaided Awareness (Or At Least It’s A Fool’s Goal)