GarthBox

If you’re being asked a work-related question, magic often happens when you don’t respond.

People figure it out.

People find elsewhere to find the reassurance.

People assume agency and keep things moving.

You don’t have to respond to everything the second you get it.

Magic happens for you when you don’t, too.

There’s mental space for ideas to form.

There’s focus on what’s in front of you.

There’s freedom from the weight of feeling like you are truly needed.

That is the goal of a leader: to inform and empower others to not need you; so you can move to the next space that people need you, and so on.

Stay Positive & Give It 15 Min Before Responding

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If it’s standard size, there’s bound to be some efficiencies.

It’s also likely that whatever is standard size, is familiar and fit for the masses.

The problem is that no one ever talks about anything that’s the standard size.

The larger problem is thinking that there are more people who want standard size than there actually are.

On the flip side: something that’s not the standard size is sure to be talked about (damn Costco carts are huge… dang this business card is cool… and so on) and it’s also a smarter business move because the age of the masses isn’t as easy to connect with as it once was; different people want different things.

The long tail cares about non-standard size; they care about the size that fits them specifically, and the people like them, too. They want a size that makes them feel seen.

Stay Positive & Start Looking

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Rationale goes, once they know what you know, they’ll decide what you decide, choose what you would choose, buy what you would buy.

But that’s not how it works, as any solid marketer knows.

Quite the opposite actually.

One you know what they know, the story they are telling themselves, the value they see you’re offering, then you can help give them what they’ve already chosen.

More listening. Less telling.

More story. Less statements.

Stay Positive & Market On

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Loyalty is derived out of a promise that I’ll show up for you tomorrow, if you show up, too.

Thus, it begs the question around what you are doing when you end an email, send a customer off with their package or charge someone for their bill.

Are you signing off for the day? For that connection? For your work?

Or are you signing up to be there for them again when they need you.

Trick is, they can tell which you’re doing.

Might as well be intentional about it.

Stay Positive & Signature Here

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The obvious path of advancement is to do the job, check the boxes and deliver on your promises.

The not-so-obvious, but ultimately the fast-track of advancement is to do the above PLUS lighten the load for others.

It’s likely not often that the buck stops with you (or the final product gets shipped by you), rather you influenced the project with your expertise and now it’s the next person’s turn to keep it moving toward market. (Even as an author, you have an editor and a publisher and maybe a promoter you’re working with, too.)

The real artist thinks through what can be done now to make it easier for the next person. (She hits spellcheck, perhaps.)

Do your work and do it with intention, but then consider how to make it easier for the next person.

Help enough others and you’ll find that you’re also helping yourself advance more quickly.

Stay Positive & Help Another Out

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A side hustle doesn’t have to be an additional source of income, that is, if it’s an additional source of information that helps your main hustle.

If you’re a marketer, it helps you market better by starting your own business – it gives you the edge you need to understand your clients.

If you’re an author, it helps you write better by starting your own publishing business – it gives you the edge you need to understand what writing resonates.

And so on.

Stay Positive & Side Hustle It Up

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Too often we focus on the tool that gets used and how it can get used better.

Or how to make the most out of a meeting.

Or how to make it a remarkable experience for guests during business hours.

It’s all important.

But on the path of remarkability, it’s worth questioning how to make use of the unused.

What can the unused tool be used for?

How can I elevate the experience of team members the other 23 hours, outside of the 1-hour meeting?

What’s the best way to make use of this space outside of business hours?

You may find more growth from the unused than the used.

Stay Positive & Leverage All You’ve Got

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