Life Lesson

I often joke that perception is in the eyes of the beerholder.

But that’s actually true in regard to beer.

Beneficial to marketers is that the beerholder can be influenced.

If she thinks the beer is quality-made, with rich ingredients, from someone like her, then it’s craft. But if she thinks it’s mass-produced, thinned out with rice and made by some non-average Joe, then it’s faux beer.

—

My dad used to have a collection of items from the set of Bonanza. (Que theme song) To someone walking through the house, they might see the indian arrow as spectacular, a true piece of history and a rich story behind it.

To my dad, it was authentic, yes, but only to the show he loved. There was actually nothing in the way it was manufactured that fits the story people have of the arrow until my dad talks about it: what episode it was in, how there was only one made, how he has the letter validating its authenticity tucked away for safe keeping.

All the sudden, the arrow is fake, but spectacular, still.

—

Quality can’t be specified by some systematic ranking. Spectacular can’t be assessed by a famous signature. And remarkable rarely has anything to do with a top 10 list decided by a few people at the top.

And a fake piece of work? It’s only fake when the story behind it doesn’t align with the story someone had told themselves about it. (Until they change that story.)

I joke about accurate perception being in the eyes of a beerholder because, from my experience, everyone holding a beer (doesn’t matter what beer) has been a remarkable storyteller.

They tell stories that fill others with passion, that sometimes alter worldviews, that get someone to feel and appreciate what they’re talking about.

—

If you’re wanting to sell more of something, then seek out a better story (or storyteller).

 

Stay Positive & No Stamp Necessary

Photo credit

Networks can be difficult.

Online networks, television networks, social networks, personal and business networks – They’re all prone to not doing exactly what you want them to do and certainly not in the time-frame you want them to do it in.

So you’re left with a couple of options.

You can force progress and leverage your status and push the network in hopes to have them meet your expectations at the risk of breaking the thing you’ve built.

Otherwise, you can realize the network is something you’ve bred and that it needs to grow at its own pace. You can work with it as some members arrive and some members depart. You can make smart strategic decisions about it with the intention of it fueling itself in the future.

Each option is tough to do. And trying to do both at once is fatal.

 

Stay Positive & You Don’t Force A Network, You Feed It

Photo credit

The quickest way to relieve tension around something today is to deal with it tomorrow.

Or later or next week or after something else happens or when you’re finally told to.

The urge to find relief, though, is one of the many signs that you know you’re on the right path.

Tomorrow’s not worth the wait.

 

Stay Positive & Impatience Is A Virtue

Photo credit

It feels uncomfortable.

Someone mentions it probably won’t work.

It’s not in your job description.

You feel the need to search for reassurance.

People start asking tougher questions.

You start worrying more about failure.

Little voice inside your head says you’re not good enough.

You realize how much you don’t know.

Shame makes an appearance.

Vulnerability, too.

 

Stay Positive & Keep Going

Photo credit

Just about any project you could ever work on could be considered a work in progress.

It’s something that can break tomorrow and something that could take off.

When we begin to see all work as work in progress, we let go of the status-satisfying need to win, to get there first, to call something done.

(Alas, that doesn’t mean don’t ship you’re work. Ship it when it’s good enough and then keep shipping better versions. People love to see the progress.)

The idea of it being a work in progress is emotionally freeing. It gives you permission to suck, to stretch and to ask for help.

Turns out, a work in progress doesn’t quite feel like work.

 

Stay Positive & Keep Building Better

Photo credit

Today is different from yesterday.

And drastically different from five years ago.

At some point, the world becomes so different that it’s time to decide to do something different and not hang on to status quo.

It’s not saying what you decided to do was wrong, either. What you were doing might have been right back then, but that was back then and this is now.

Trouble occurs when we put more energy into defending choices we made in the past, to upholding our status or keeping things the same because they have become easy. That’s when we get stuck and that’s when we begin to lose the tribe we built by being bold and making a new decision in the first place.

The world changes. We need you to be bold enough to change with it.

 

Stay Positive & Check Back Again Tomorrow, Things Might Be Different

Photo credit

Consider the restaurant owner who is opening her first business. She subscribes to every trade publication. She joins the restaurant association and a few restaurant owner online social groups. She buys a ticket for trade show in California and signs up for a restaurant owner mastermind group with international restaurant owners.

This restaurant owner is becoming part of a tribe.

Consider the restaurant owner who gets involved in a handful of neighborhood associations near her venue. She subscribes to all the local newspapers. She joins a kickboxing association and a stand up paddle boarding group. She’s active on a handful of the city’s Facebook groups. She also goes around to area schools and demonstrates different cooking techniques.

This restaurant owner is leading a tribe.

 

Stay Positive & We Need You To Do Both

Photo credit