Life Lesson

You might not need more time to work.

The solution might be more time with the target, listening and understanding her wants, needs and worldview.

It might be more time collaborating with others. Picking his brain. Hearing what she thinks. More time to ask others to poke the soft spots on an idea.

It could be more time away from the work. Letting the task marinate in the back of the head while you enjoy some well-deserved relaxation.

If you’re struggling, you have options.

The answer isn’t always more work, more effort, more pushing.

Most importantly, if what you chose to try more of isn’t working, move on sooner than later.

Stay Positive & Get Creative With More

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If you’re going to attend a meeting and don’t feel like you have anything to contribute, yes and or provide a value add …

Then at least show that you’re curious. Ask questions, admit you’re trying to get smarter on a topic. Show you’re engaged.

If you can’t promise value now, at least make it apparent that you’re promising value later.

Stay Positive & Get Smart(er)

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Hopes up high. As in having faith, making room for some magic, rooting for the best case scenario, feeling now what it will feel like when everything works out later.

Head down low. As in not expecting a lot, doing a lot of the work to make sure things are on track, picking up the slack others don’t take advantage of, remaining mentally content with where you’re at.

Stay Positive & It’s A Rewarding Philosophy

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A friend of mine says she has five seconds to make a decision before her lizard brain speaks up with all the reasons to avoid the the feeling of risk and all the reasons to play it safe by sticking to the status quo.

Five seconds to act, trust her gut and keep moving forward.

For me, it’s about 20 seconds. 20 seconds before I convince myself not to do the thing I should. 20 seconds for fear to show up and tease me into inaction.

20 seconds to leap without regret.

We all have our countdown before the fight or flight response begins to rumble and we – more often than not – run once time is out.

Step one is being aware of what your countdown clock is set at. There’s no hard and fast rule. It could be two minutes. It could be a day. It could be 10 seconds. The beauty is that the lizard brain speaks up often, so you have plenty of opportunities to become aware of your countdown.

Second step is to take action more often within your window than not. Over time your countdown may grow and the taking action part becomes easier.

Stay Positive & Leap Before It’s Too Late

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Anything that we create and deliver ought to have something unique about it.

At least, unique at first.

Unique until it’s not.

Unique until someone strips it away.

Unique until it becomes the new norm.

In the pursuit of better, we need to create more work that’s unique, if only slightly.

Unique drip by unique drip, our work can change the culture.

Stay Positive & See You At The Edge

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At any given time, we can make our life worse and it seems easy to do.

But for some reason, making our life better seems hard.

It’s not.

It takes the same amount of effort, same amount of passion, same amount of help from others to go one direction as it does another.

What matters is deciding which path to head in and knowing you can change any time.

Stay Positive & It’s Always A Choice

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It’s a question worth asking with every decision you make because every decision you make is either adding or subtracting from the story they’re telling themselves.

Does the paint color make them feel calm and safe?

Does the menu design make them feel confident?

Does the greeting at the door make them feel invited?

How does the credit card fee make them feel?

How about the price?

The automatic Facebook message when they send you a note?

The sign outside?

The lighting?

The brands we instantly love make sure that every feeling is working in unison, and that there are more positive feelings than negative ones.

Go ahead and take a walk through your business or brand as if you were a customer and ask yourself how you feel along the way to quickly find areas for improvement.

Stay Positive & There Are More Opportunities Than We May Think

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