Life Lesson

The first little bit isn’t always indicative of how the rest of it will be.

A beer can change as the temperature of the liquid fluctuates.

The coffee shop might be doing splendid from its grand opening, but profits can swing for better or worse once the glamour of “new” wears off.

Someone might act passive aggressive to you, but have your back when the moment matters most.

We’re often worse off when we make assumptions based off the first little bit of anything.

Stay Positive & Start, Keep Going, Then Go More Until You Know

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You’ve likely heard the expression “reach into the cookie jar” as it relates to basketball. But reaching into the cookie jar has no impact on the ball. The ball has already left your finger tips.

So why the expression?

The action you take after the shot is indicative of how well the action before it was.

That’s why golfers are told to follow through. Why editors are told to read aloud. Why motorcyclists are told to look where they want to go. Why weightlifters are told to exhale.

To not do any of those is to slow down or incorrectly perform the action which has the most impact.

Don’t miss the bucket because you thought you could skip reaching into the cookie jar.

Stay Positive & Follow Through, Whatever Your Art Is

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Feeling scared? Fearful? Uncertain?

Even the pro-est of pros feel scared when they share their craft and make themselves vulnerable.

In that sense, fear is no different than happiness or sadness.

There’s no stopping it. All there is to do is notice it and work with it.

Maybe even dance with it.

That’s what the pros do.

Stay Positive & Make Every Day Pro Day

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It might not seem like it, but there’s a lot of content out there that’s not even slightly polarizing.

It’s safe content. Often unread content. Barely skimmed content.

Same can be said for the brands that we talk about (and the brands we don’t).

This isn’t all to say that content or brands need to run with an us vs. them campaign.

Rather, it’s better to define the “us” is and stretch with that for the long run.

Let the “them” sort themselves out.

Nike is polarizing. So is Samsung. Johnny Cupcakes and Purlin’ J’s Roving Yarn Company, too. It’s why we talk about them.

Stay Positive & Stand For Something (Anything, Please)

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You don’t need to worry about who you compete against when you put a piece of you in all you do.

Said differently, if someone were to be given a piece of your brand, could they build all the other pieces around it without direction?

Stay Positive & That’s How They’ll Miss You If You Were Gone

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You’ve finally been given it or it’s been sitting around for ages.

You finally got the promotion or you’re sitting on finishing the presentation deck.

You’ve got the permission or you have a deadline that’s weeks away.

Whether it’s new or old, you’ve got to do something with it.

And if you’re afraid, then set an expiration date. If you don’t do anything with it in two weeks, then toss it. Move on.

Either way, you’ll take action and action is what we need more of.

Stay Positive & Keep Moving Forward

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Edit: I just realized this is a lot like Godin’s recent post. Funny how that happens.

Chalk up another experience as being extremely mediocre.

The server had zero emotion. Almost robotic. There were pamphlets all over the floor. Menus were wrongly labeled. (They happened to be out of a prized item which added to the disappointment.)

The only difference between that experience and one with rich employee engagement and enthusiasm, attention to detail, and proactive action is that the boss wasn’t there in the first scenario.

Funnily, the best experiences I’ve had didn’t have the boss there, either. Instead someone chose to act as if they were the boss, to take responsibility and put in the emotional labor.

The only difference between an extremely mediocre experience and a remarkable one is showing up, whether you have the title of boss or not.

Stay Positive & Be The Boss (Of Yourself)

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