Life Lesson

Three reminders from a presentation I gave on AI to a room of roughly 20 business owners today.

• Set expectations with the audience as early as possible. Under promise then over deliver.
• Do all you can to know the people who will be in the room. Adjust your presentation to call them out specifically.
• Pause during your riffs to read the room. If it’s going over their head, call out that you are observing that, make a final statement, and transition on. “If you want me to circle back to this more at the end, I can.” goes a long way.

Stay Positive & Go On And Prosper

How long does a tightrope walker try to balance on a tightrope?

How long does there need to be tension on the tightrope for a tightrope walker to perform?

The answers may shock you.

Well, not really. The shock comes from that connection that we’re all tightrope walkers in our work.

Balance isn’t something we attain, it’s something we constantly work toward.

And the work worth doing? There’s constant tension. No let up.

Of course, you can always get off the tightrope…but what’s the fun in that?

Stay Positive & I’d Rather Break Records

It’s a beautiful statement that starts with very little power but that power quickly converts to meaning.

If you wake up early, you might as well go ahead and work out.

If you have down time on a plane, you might as well read a book.

If you see a co worker struggling on a project, you might as well help out.

You can draw a connection between the way you feel fulfilled (or don’t) at the end of each day to how many times you find yourself saying “Well, I might as well….”

Stay Positive & Notice How There Are Very Few “Bad” Situations You Say That Expression For

Comparing hurts.

Most of the time, it hurts in the short term. I can compare our Christmas light setup to our neighbor’s and immediately feel bad. (Bad for them, that is, because ours is amazing.)

Every other time that it doesn’t hurt in the short term; it hurts in the long term.

We might have a moment of bliss (like when I typed about how great our holiday lights are in comparison), but it doesn’t actually serve us in the end. That feeling results in no meaningful connection with the neighbor’s, no action step for improvement, and no solace against the fact that maybe, just maybe, they’re not done putting up lights yet.

You can swap lights out for just about anything and the result is the same: comparing isn’t worth the time.

Stay Positive & You’ve Got Better Things To Do, Anyway

It’s that simple bit of thinking that almost always results in you actually finding value.

If you go into something without looking for any, that’s exactly what you’ll find.

I’m not a big fan of always saying yes to every sort of invite, but I am a fan of always saying yes to every sort of invite IF one can do so with the thought that there might be some value to take away from it.

Stay Positive & Yes, With The Right Mindset

My absolute favorite passage in Seth Godin’s new book, This Is Strategy, is when he refers to the fact that a construction worker doesn’t get emotionally upset about the hammer.

So why would someone who is trying to increase their net worth emotionally upset with money/budget?

Far better to see those elements for what they are: tools.

Of course, if the tool you have isn’t working, find a better tool. But if it’s a working tool and it’s causing to be emotionally distraught, that’s not a problem of the tool’s.

Stay Positive & Place The Angst In A Better Spot

Simple as that.

Stay Positive & Try It And See What Happens