GarthBox

Ideas and decisions.

They are bad… until they are not.

And they’re not once enough others think they’re good.

The flip, of course, is that ideas and decisions are good.

They are good… until they are not.

And they’re not once enough others think they’re bad.

We can spend a lot of time evaluating whether a decision is or was good or not, but too often we jump to a conclusion too soon. A few people think it’s bad, so we quit or a few people think it’s good, so we keep doing it.

Better to keep your focus on doing work that matters than evaluating too soon.

Stay Positive & Marathon It

Photo credit

The best leaders make decisions. Not just big ones, but many of them.

There’s a lot that goes into making a great leader after a decision has been made.

But there’s no leadership without a decision.

Are you the one making them?

p.s. if you’re in a situation where you’re more in a position of doing what you’re told and checking boxes… you can still decide the how and decide to push the envelope and decide to put your spin on it. And if you’re still stuck, you can decide to take your talents elsewhere. (That’s what a leader would do.)

Stay Positive & Decide Some, Then Decide Some More

Photo credit

There are two ways to figure out if it’s all just in your head.

The first is if you’re surrounded by empathetic people who know you and can call you out when the stories you’re thinking are truly just stories in your head – not reality.

Example of a story in a head: If I speak up, they’re going to think I’m incapable and that I can’t keep up and they might even consider firing me if they know I’m struggling.

Solution: A friend who hears you talking about your workload and is there to remind you of the team that’s around you ready to support and help you through the influx of work.

Sadly, we don’t all have these empathetic friends near us. (And to be forward, with how many negative stories we think, it would equal a few full-time jobs to combat it.)

So the second way is to write out the story that’s in your head in one column and then the other column is “reality.”

It’s funny how when you write it down on the “in my head” column, you realize it’s not something you can write on the “reality” column.

Just an quick way to keep yourself in check and moving forward.

Stay Positive & Control Your Head, Don’t Let It Control You

Photo credit

You can do a good job by just tackling projects and tasks as they arrive.

But not only will the projects and tasks be done better when you’re amped to do them – you’ll enjoy doing the emotional labor more, too.

And the best part about the process of getting amped? It doesn’t need to take long.

A deep breath and a reminder of the goal you’re working toward, a short reading of something an idol has written, a fist bump by a friend might be all you need.

The hard part, of course, is being mindful enough to know when you need to get amped up.

Stay Positive & Dial It In

Photo credit

You can put a team together to try innovating something for your entire customer base, the masses. Review processes typically bog this path down and nothing comes to fruition – or if it does, it’s a lot less innovative than the team set out to create. (You moved that button to the other side – what a great innovation that applies to everyone!)

An alternative is to put a team together to try innovating something for one customer. Hell, the customer doesn’t even matter. Big. Small. Niche. Not niche. Pick one and set the team off to figure out something they could create to make the life of that customer infinitely better. Make it personal. Make it customized. Make it meaningful.

Once achieved, offer it up to others. Not because every one will take advantage of it, but because a few will and those few will likely talk to others about it.

Repeat.

Stay Positive & A Few Is All You Need

Photo credit

Projects go over budget. Meaningful projects take longer than planned. Culture shifts require a lot of people to act in sync.

The fact is, you’re going to use more resources than you want or arrange for.

What matters is that whatever “more” you need goes to something that matters.

Work that leads to more red tape might not be the work worth doing. Spending more on a part of your business that gets 1% visibility might not be the space to invest more in.

You might have little control over the “more” of what you’re doing will take, but you have a lot of control over where to put it.

Stay Positive & Plan Where To Put The More

Photo credit

Years ago, Seth Godin wrote about off-roading.

It’s the act of solving a problem by doing something so unique, so fascinating, so on the edge that you become noticed and leap ahead toward the goals you have or challenges you’re trying to overcome. It often leads to some raising of eyebrows by spectators, too, fyi.

The most important takeaway, though, is not to do it often. Off-roading doesn’t get good mileage, according to Seth.

One more reminder about off-roading: keep the foundational elements of your mission moving forward, maintain that steady expected momentum, keep the core efforts in tact.

Off-roading is a leaping mechanism, not the main mission.

Stay Positive & Let’s Goooooo

Photo credit