Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
Imagine joining friends for lunch a year from now and they ask what you’ve been up to during the pandemic.
Will you have enough to talk about after you fill them in on the shows you watched and home purging you did?
If you joined friends for lunch a week from now and they ask what you’ve been up to.
Will you have something worth sharing and being proud of?
Fulfillment is at our fingertips.
Stay Positive & The Choice Is Yours
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You could be putting out 20% off deals. Special offers. Discounts galore.
Or.
You might have already offered ongoing deals.
The deal that if they show up, they’ll leave better than they arrived.
The deal that if they paid you, they’ll feel like the value received was greater than the cash exchanged.
The deal that you’ll be there, as your authentic self, tomorrow just as today.
We might not need to add more deals, but stand by the deals we’ve already made.
Stay Positive & Double Down, Not On Discounts, But On The Existing Deals
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Meaningful work isn’t a race to the finish line.
Better to be the first to start. The first to step in a puddle. The first to make a wrong turn. The first to cheer on others. The first to welcome the spectators. The first to see the naysayers. The first through the obstacle course. The first to lead others.
Better, probably, to be the first to everything but the finish line.
That is. Unless you’re trying to be the first to start again.
Stay Positive & Increase Your Daily Dose Of Firsts
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I fully agree with Seth Godin that, as a freelancer, it’s on us to choose better clients.
But it doesn’t stop with clients. Not really.
As workers making meaningful work, it’s on us to choose better colleagues and bosses.
As contributors to society, it’s on us to choose better nonprofits and associations to be part of.
As people with full hearts, it’s on us to choose better partners to go through life with.
It’s on us in all aspects. Groups. Associations. Clients. Colleagues. Friends.
And, as always, if we can’t choose one that’s better because it doesn’t exist – then it’s on us to create it.
Stay Positive & Grasp Better
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If we’re going to default to doing the easy tasks on our list first, we might as well lean into making it a game.
A game that we can win big at by always adding something more challenging onto the list.
Here’s what happens:
We’re stressing about a speaking engagement we have set up for a week from now. It’s a small engagement, but it’s the biggest thing we need to prepare for. We can keep stressing about it OR we can add a bigger speaking engagement to our list. The work for the small engagement gets far easier to do and we worry less about it because there’s something bigger at stake.
Personally, since opening a craft beer bar, I’ve looked back and laughed at some of the conversations, transactions and events that I would have otherwise stressed to no end about. But it was all made minuscule by my commitment to even tougher conversations, transactions and events.
We can strategically use the expression “That’s the least of my worries” to our advantage.
Stay Positive & All It Requires Is Continuous Leaping
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A waitress was working a grind and, amid the afternoon rush, she spilled a beverage at a customer’s table. The liquid rushed across the table and onto a customer’s purse.
So many situations could have gone down. The waitress could have shrugged and apologized. She could have gotten a manager. She could have quit on the spot – fed up with the work and the pressure on her.
Instead she got the customer’s name, address and type of purse. She let the customer know that she was sorry and would happily be buying and sending her a replacement purse of the same.
Not every employee can be this waitress. At least not if left to their own accord.
But any brand can give an employee a budget per customer to use when needed. Can encourage their team to do what’s right in the moment. Can remind them that permission isn’t needed to follow one’s gut when it comes to caring for a guest.
The reality is every business owner is already trusting the employee with the brand in their day-to-day work. There shouldn’t be concern in extending the responsibility of financial support to make things right for a customer.
Stay Positive & A Little Can Go A Long Way
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In some instances, patterns are great.
A pacemaker. Winning a game of chess. Public transportation routes.
But the other good stuff comes from breaking habits.
Trying a new menu item. Exploring a new park. Giving that beer recipe that sounds weird a go.
Broken patterns lead to new experiences and new experiences lead to both a feeling of fulfillment and exhilaration as well as a new ability to connect with others on a whole new level.
We do ourselves and others a huge favor when we break away from the children’s menu.
Stay Positive & Toss Those Chicken Fingers Away
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