Life Lesson

It doesn’t help to say you succeeded because of luck or you passed an exam because you’re smart.

It’s tough to say exactly what gives you luck and if your smarts were genetic or trained.

Better to pin your success (and your failures) on what you can improve.

You know, like gumption and persistence and social magnetism and a lot of studying.

In our effort of simplifying things, we lose sight (and let ourselves off the hook) of what got us here, and when we choose to ignore what got us here, it becomes infinitely difficult to get to get going to a better place.

 

Stay Positive & Keep It Real

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You can do what’s right and ethical and true to your mission statement later…ya know, once you get the ball rolling.

After all, you need a few hires, and sales are quicker to make by lowering the price (and your standards). Better to just get something out the door.

Thing is, I’ve never heard or remembered a great company starting out that way.

The greatest companies I know of started out doing what’s right, stayed doing what’s right and while some are extremely successful and well-known, others are still tiny – but still doing what’s right.

You don’t need to wait until later to do what’s right because the thing about later is that it might not come.

 

Stay Positive & Now Is Good

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I grew up being told that some rules were meant to be broken.

Some rules were outdated or didn’t make sense or were completely forgotten about or were used to hold people back who shouldn’t be held back.

I’ve come to find that it’s not that some rules are meant to be broken; it’s that some are meant to be changed.

A permanent rule is only permanent until it’s not, and it’s not when someone speaks up and it’s far easier to speak up when there’s data to back up the decision (even if that data is XX of people break the rule every day).

New data —> new rules.

When we hide the data or ignore it–that’s when we hurt our culture.

 

Stay Positive & Fluid

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Please don’t say it’s complicated or that it depends. Doing so holds us back from a solution, but more importantly, a thoughtful solution.

Define what the problem is and if you can’t find one, write them all down, then get to work.

What’s the solution for the one (or each) problem.

You’ll soon find that you’ll arrive at a number of solutions that solve far more of the problems you listed then if you argue about how complex the problems you have are.

“It depends” has never been a good answer and it never will be.

 

Stay Positive & Stop Making It Complicated

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All people can tire you out at some point, but there are two types of people in particular that are flat-out exhausting and ought to be avoided by all means.

There are the people you can’t change. The ones stuck in their ways. Those who don’t care what amount of rationale you can provide. It’s their way or bust.

The other people are those who show up for the click bait, are easily engulfed in whatever shiny object that’s in their view and fall for every pyramid scheme their friends toss their way.

It’s worth a quick gut check to confirm that you’re working with someone in the middle.

 

Stay Positive & Yes, There Are Times To Jump Ship

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So much marketing is about tactics chasing strategies.

It’s like starting a puzzle with only pieces, and many of them are pieces of different puzzles.

Better to start with the strategy and then chase down the right tactics.

I’m not suggesting that it’s easy, but it is easier.

 

Stay Positive & Do Yourself (And Brand) A Favor

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The beauty of watching a plane takeoff is in the ramp up before the tires leave the ground.

Heck, even being on a plane, the best part is still the speeding up, the force, the impending ascent.

If takeoff just happened, without any buildup … well, that’s not all too exciting is it?

Planes, projects, relationships – they all benefit from a ramp up period.

 

Stay Positive & Forward, On

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