Life Lesson

A friend of mine was traveling back to the states, but got stuck in England because the airline she booked with went bankrupt and neglected telling her.

An author friend tried submitting her book to her first dream publisher and they said no.

A friend planned a brilliant educational event, but the venue never promoted it and no one but her two friends arrived.

Without notice, the bridge we think can bring us from where we are (point A) to where we wish to be (point B) can disappear. Poof.

My friend traveling has a whole new inventory of empathy after her experience, though, and she made it back safely with the helpful advice of a few friends.

My author friend submitted and published her own book and hundreds have already bought in and fell in love with the work.

The event friend, he ran it any way and picked up on some nuances that he’ll change for future events. Progress was still made.

Lesson is that the “poof” doesn’t mean it’s the end, it’s over, that moving on isn’t worth it.

If anything the poof is a signal we need to keep moving, find another way and learn how to build an alternate bridge.

Stay Positive & It’s Your Choice

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After making a couple of assumptions like knowing where you want to go and maybe having planned a few different ways of getting there, then what?

Thinking through what you’ll do once you’re there is as important as thinking how to get there.

More often than not we reach our destination or at least some version of it.

Stay Positive & Might As Well Plan For It

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Skimping out on the serving size of each customer who comes in the shop doesn’t have much of an impact in the moment and it’ll save you a few bucks.

Using a cheaper screw for a product that is “some assembly required” could lead to folks being frustrated, but not many. And if you’re selling 100,000 of the products, using the cheaper screw can save you a lot.

I wish it were true that making selfish business decisions was a slippery slope, but for most, it’s not. Brand erosion is more like a sine wave that has a downward trajectory. Decisions are made to cut costs and then a smaller “feel good” decision is made to try to make up for the selfish one.

Eventually, the brand erodes. Not as quickly as we like, but it does.

The paradox is that the same can be said for giving a customer an extra serving every now and then and investing in a tougher screw (but not any of the other product elements).

I wish it were true that making selfless decisions from time to time was a guarantee for success, but for most, it’s not.

Brand erosion happens when there’s a lack of consistency.

Written differently, brand loyalty, success and impression happens when there’s a consistency of the way one does things, preferably the selfless things.

Stay Positive & What’ll Your Brand Stand For?

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People … coworkers, family members, friends … come in and out of our lives.

Last I recall, it had always felt good to get a note from someone I hadn’t heard of in a while, to get a voicemail, to receive an actual letter in the mail.

I’m also sure we can list a lot of people who haven’t checked in in quite some time.

Doesn’t it make you wonder whose list you’re on?

Stay Positive & Maybe It’s Time To Make Time

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Whether the work stops, hiccups, goes full force, needs revisions, was given criticism, wasn’t used for how you intended, wasn’t shared enough, was shared too much, was scrutinized, needs an editor, goes on its own path … there are still people there to help it.

Hard not to be thankful for team members, huh?

Stay Positive & It’s Really About The People (Always Has Been)

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You’re surrounded by people with finite emotion.

They’re fighting their own battles in and outside the environment you’re working with them.

Benefits of the doubt are nice, but helping them out is even nicer.

Perhaps the more we do it, the more the culture will shift and the more others will do it for us.

Because like them, we’ve got finite emotion, too.

Stay Positive & Someone Has To Start The Trend

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Finding groups and associations and clubs and organizations and tribes is time consuming, but relatively easy.

Deciding if each group is worth reaching out to, if they will care to hear from you, if you have permission to contact them is a little more difficult and a bit more time consuming.

Figuring out what to say is the toughest work of all and the most time consuming. One message can’t resonate with every group. Nor will the same level of empathy resonate with each.

Can you remember the last email you were truly happy to get? It’s been awhile for me, too.

Now think of the groups you’re sending one to.

Stay Positive & People Are At The Other Side

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