Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
It’s a smart question to ask before starting any work.
The answer will help you prioritize timing of the work.
The answer will determine if it’s worth doing.
The answer holds yourself and others accountable and gives you a time stamp to check in on it.
It’s a far different question to ask than “when do you need it by?”
Stay Positive & Set Yourself Up To Prevent Regret
Not pleasant but there are 91 sexual offenders registered in a specific area of town.
That feels like a lot. Scary even. So much so that it warrants telling coworkers that you couldn’t believe the number.
This alone can start a downward spiral for a neighborhood. Now imagine if there were many more like you who were spooked by the number and told others. You can see where this is going…
Now let’s back up for a moment and revisit the initial number of 91 and imagine if we also considered that there were 45,500 people documented as living in that same area. That’s .002% of sexual offenders.
That feels small. Not even slightly scary. It’s so little that it’s not remarkable enough to tell any coworker about.
A recent digital marketing example of this?
“Our engagement on that Facebook post published by the industry pub did amazing!”
Stopping at that number could be detrimental to the budget.
It’s a far less inspiring narrative when you see that only a few people who engaged with the post are the people you intended to reach with it.
Lesson here? When there’s a narrative, see how you can slice it another way, particularly when it comes to numbers.
Truth be told, you might just be sharing the wrong narrative.
Stay Positive & Measure Twice (And Differently), Cut Once
There are three layers to learning: listening. Watching. Experiencing.
You want to lock in a lesson? Go through all three layers.
It begs the question of what are the layers to connecting with coworkers? or writing your first novel? or making a burger?
No argument here: it’s infinitely easier to get to the end goal if you know the layers involved around it.
Stay Positive & Everything Is An Onion
Anecdotes are incredible tools to help people understand a concept that they’re struggling with.
I’ve found another valuable use of the similarity skill: it can remove (or, at least, reduce) judgement of others.
If someone is pissing you off? Can you find a similarity in their life to yours that would lead to you acting in a similar way?
If someone is clearly in emotional pain… Can you find a similarity in your life that would make you feel the same?
The faster we can feel how they feel (or close to), the faster we can truly connect and overcome the hurdle.
Stay Positive & Blind Judgement Is The Opposite Of An Anecdote
I’ve found that people who continuously take professional certificate programs are the ones that are unafraid. It’s not always that they learn something new, but that they’re willing to learn something new and the activity holds them accountable to putting their knowledge into practice.
I’ve found that the leaders who excel have all been reported as having done the reading. They’ve consumed the industry, the leading authors, and the foundational books for their profession. But even more importantly: they still do the reading.
Remarkable things happen when you’re unafraid to keep ideas of how to be front of mind.
Stay Positive & You Can’t Drive To Your Destination Solely With The Rearview Mirror
It helps to be a good person, of course. One that listens, connects, gives, leads, provides feedback and so forth.
But that primarily impacts the work life of a person.
Today leaders need to do more for the well-being of the employee, which can be equated to the formula of work + life = well-being.
That means doing things that benefit their life. Connecting them with a financial advisor or giving that bonus to them when you hear they are working on remodeling their deck versus at the end of the year.
It forces a leader to consider the social events which were previously called “work events.”
Or consider how valued the wellness/fitness/health stipend is for organizations to offer.
A leader that viewed employees holistically used to be a nice-to-have; now it’s damn near a requirement.
Stay Positive & For Any Leader Or Business That Wants To Thrive, Of Course
It’s important to consider what is the next best option when the one you have don’t work.
Too often it’s easy to go to the worst option (though we call it the “easiest” to make ourselves feel good about it).
It requires some serious emotional intelligence to think through what the next best option is.
Hell, it may just be because of that that it is the next best option.
No thought behind it = worst option.
Stay Positive & Stay On The Smarter End Of The Spectrum
