Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
The way we say “ty,” “thanks,” “thank you,” or “endless thanks” sends a certain signal.
How quickly we respond to emails also sends a signal.
Whether we’re the first to speak up in a room or if we’re the last – it sends a signal.
You guessed it, everything we do (and don’t do) sends a signal.
What matters is that we have our signals align more often than not.
Stay Positive & It’s Worth Keeping Track
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Ever found yourself performing a monotonous task, a banal one, assembly-line type of work?
If you can recall, I would bet that you were doing it poorly at first.
It likely took you awhile to find the rhythem, to notice the pattern of least resistance and to optimize your labor so you could get more with less.
And that was for a minuscule task like folding envelopes or cutting wood.
It might be worth being less hard on yourself as you tackle bigger projects.
Even more important, it might be better to be less hard on others as they do.
Stay Positive & It Takes Time To Streamline (But It Does Require Doing The Work)
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There’s no doubt you have a close friend.
No doubt you connect well with a colleague or two.
Your boss likely does a lot for you and so does your parent and maybe a mentor, too.
But no one can advocate as often or as greatly for you than you.
It’s a choice to pick yourself.
Stay Positive & Speak Up, We’re Listening
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The hospital that performs team time outs prior to surgery drastically decreases the amount of incorrect amputations.
The restaurant that does monthly all-hands-on-deck tastings for its employees sells more meals and elevates employee advocacy.
The marketers who hold discovery sessions before a project catch more mistakes before they are made and craft more target-centric content.
There’s a lot to gain from a short (but meaningful) pow wow.
Stay Positive & It Need Only Be A Few Minutes
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Imagine running a subscription service that for years has had the default subscription be monthly. Then you switch it to three years.
Sure, sales from first-timers, habituals and inexperienced folks will increase by 3,500 percent, but at what cost?
Imagine serving a patron a beer at the bar. An expensive one. A big one. And they don’t like it.
Sure you could charge them for it and dump it out in front of them and charge them for another different one, but at what cost?
We can break our hold on integrity for a quick buck, but the cost of doing so (and the inevitable downward spiral that happens when we do) far outweighs the cost of cutting someone slack, of doing the right thing and of having empathy.
Stay Positive & Remember That Golden Rule?
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Fears are a pretty common thing and we connect on them often.
Most of the time a group gets together, discussion around the latest concern or worry ensues.
I’d press for another conversation to happen regarding something else everybody’s got.
The side hustle. The big dream. The passionate hobby.
Whatever you call it (and you know what yours is), everyone around you has one, too.
Rarely will you see a face light up like you will when you talk to someone about something they’re passionate about on the side.
And it’s interesting to consider that frame of reference.
Side hustle rather than in-front-of-you hustle.
It’s close to the heart, it’s a companion, it’s attached to you.
No wonder people light up when they talk about it.
Stay Positive & All It Takes Is A Question Or Two
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There tends to be an optimal time for everything.
The best time to switch a job. The best time to have coffee. The best time to wake up, start a relationship and buy a home. It’s all here.
Still, however, “now” might be the most powerful moment there is to start.
Stay Positive & Make Your Own Research
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