Life Lesson

We’ve got so many choices.

And even when it feels like there’s only one right answer, there’s more than one. Versions. Nuances. Parallel paths.

The only real way to know if the choice you’re making is the right one to make is to ensure it ladders up to your mission.

Business or personal, it applies.

If a decision can ladder up to your brand’s positioning of, say, pushing boundaries with sustainability or in the great outdoors (Sierra Nevada) then it’s a decision worth making.

If a choice can ladder up to your personal why, say, to extract meaning from victories and defeats so that I can help others recognize, reflect and continue pushing forward beyond their own (my personal why statement), then it’s a choice worth making.

It’s all about what a decision ladders up to.

Stay Positive & Less Time Arguing Over Pros/Cons, More Time Making Sure It Ladders Up

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Teaching someone a lesson.

Proving someone wrong.

Going through the process of elimination.

Crafting a rebuttle.

It’s all wasted time.

Time that could have been spent:

Learning something new.

Proving yourself right.

Creating magic.

Yes, anding an idea with someone.

Stay Positive & You Choose How You Use Your Time

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People want consistency in their lives.

People won’t often tell you that they want the consistency. Some don’t even know they do. But their actions speak the thoughts they don’t see.

Consistency doesn’t have to be the same thing every day. It can be something new but familiar every day. (Dumb example: a person wants coffee every day, but they might be someone who is okay with a different flavor each day.)

Art without consistency is just a passion project, not actual art. The recipe requires both ingredients: passion and consistency.

If you get deep enough in the weeds of consistency, you find nuance (often confused with inconsistency. Dumb example: someone who is on a year long diet journey but covers their salad with ranch dressing).

Once you find the nuance, that’s when you can market differently to different people, have real empathy and make consistency really matter.

Stay Positive & Inconsistently Consistent

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It’s fun when multiple choice questions have “none of the above” as an option.

Most of the time, when it’s the right choice, it’s blatantly obvious.

But in real life, it’s not because most of the time on a test, we know what the answer is supposed to be, but life? Not so much.

So we default to picking out of the options available instead of saying they’re not for us and treading our own path and discovering what the answer behind “none of the above” is for us.

But is picking from what’s available really the right answer?

Stay Positive & Life Is Not A Scantron Test

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If you want an idea elevated, it’s better to share it in the room with people (even half baked) than to put it in an email (even fully baked).

If you want someone to feel how considerate your appreciation is, it’s better to call them on the phone than it is to text.

If you want an apology to be taken seriously, it’s better to say it out loud in person (or video) than it is to write a note.

Type works, but not as well as talking does.

Which is your default?

Stay Positive & I Probably Should Have Made This Post A Voice Recording, Huh?

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No matter the goal you have, the career, the hustle dream – it’s going to be hard.

And the reason it’s hard is that anyone who wants what you want to give already has it.

So why bother?

Because you might (hopefully) offer it in a different way.

And different is hard to do.

Stay Positive & Different, But Meaningful

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The songs that catch on aren’t solely ones that repeat every lyric and rhythm; the ones that do have a beat of repetition.

It’s almost in the background, but in the foreground enough just to be noticed and appreciated.

It’s the familiarity and consistency that people crave while still giving them unfamiliar notes and lyrics.

It’s like letting them out in an ocean with a rope and each beat of repetition is a little tug to remind them you’ve got them.

Business works the same way.

It’s the routine people experience that gives them the confidence and reassurance to continue exploring whatever new offering your business might have on the table.

Without that beat of repetition, though, everything feels new all the time.

This is effective for the innovators and early adopters, but there needs to be a beat of repetition if you ever wish to cross the chasm to the early and late majority.

Stay Positive & It Starts With Showing Up Every Day

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