Life Lesson

The beauty about online feedback on products and services is that it takes a few bad reviews to actually turn someone off.

Every focus group I’ve analyzed, everyone says that they take bad reviews with a grain of salt.

Some people are simply pissed off when they review. Others give a bad review regarding a part of the product that doesn’t really matter. Others just give bad reviews to be funny.

You can work really hard to get fewer bad reviews; but they’re going to happen.

Even if you were to try bribing people not to leave a bad review, they’ll leave the money on the table and go write a bad review. It’s just what they do.

Better to focus on what can get you more good reviews, because it only takes people one good review to feel the reassurance they need to hit the “one-click buy.”

 

Stay Positive & Work For The Stamp Of Approval

Photo credit

The lowliest position doesn’t matter.

The wage they make doesn’t matter.

Who they work with doesn’t matter.

A passionate person doesn’t let anything get in the way of others knowing that they’re passionate.

Everything from design to quality to lighting can add to the passion, but bottom line is that the passion is still noticed, still appreciated, and all too rare to come by these days.

That means one of the best actions a leader can take is to nurture the passion, to teach all there is to appreciate about a product or service and to ignite devotion.

Love is a skill.

 

Stay Positive & Train it

Photo credit

It’s not easy for us to know when another person is going through a crucial time in their life, their work or their relationships.

Yet, you’ll be subject to criticism for not seeing it. You’ll deal with the consequences, begrudgingly.

Who could blame you though, for tuning into your own life?

They can.

They will.

They need you to see them; to ask more questions and to listen more than talk.

It’s too damn easy to brush empathy off, but both parties hurt when we do.

 

Stay Positive & It’s Not Fair In Short, But It Is In The Long Run

Photo credit

Mind the gap, as in: pay attention to it, fill it, care for it.

In a world where it’s not worth competing on price or speed or size; what is it you’ll focus on?

Customer experience? Education? Flare? Connection? Philanthropy? Package design? Caring more?

There’s a lot of opportunity to differentiate yourself the more you think about it.

No need to race others to the bottom. Better to raise the bar.

 

Stay Positive & Mindful Of The Gap

Photo credit

A lot of time is spent on “free time” activities like video games, movies and hanging out. Some spend that time excessively to which they’re confronted–”Don’t you have anything better to do?”

But it’s hard to think of anything worse than time wasted by showing up to an event or meeting, but not actually being present. Your better off staying in bed and listening to the latest top 40.

If you’re going to show up, the best action you can take once there?

Be there. Fully. Presently. Wholly there.

 

Stay Positive & If You’re Not Showing, You’re Weighing People Down

Photo credit

Parkinson’s law.

It’s an easily forgotten, but just-as-easily leveraged law. It’s the adage that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Even when we know the P-Law, we often ask for more time, we push deadlines back and we give ourselves as much cushion as possible because the more cushion we have the better our lizard brain feels because it doesn’t need to react or worry or work on the edge yet.

The reality is that the law works to our DISadvantage when we let our fears dictate timing.

Better to consistently give ourselves less time because eventually that becomes the new norm for our lizard brains. We freak out less when there’s a two-day turnaround. We worry less when the deadline is around the corner. In other words, we adapt.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Let Your Lizard Brain Tell You Otherwise

Photo credit

We subject ourselves to a lot of negative self-talk.

Especially when we make a mistake or are asked to step in shoes bigger than the pair we have.

Even more so when we let someone else down, ruin something for the long-term or a break a heart.

A quick way to self-kindness is to talk to yourself the way you’d talk to a friend who made the same mistake.

Certainly you wouldn’t say the things you’re saying to yourself to a friend.

 

Stay Positive & On Your Toes

Photo credit