GarthBox

There’s a coffee shop opening up less than 300 feet from where I live.

Why would I go there when I can have coffee just as good for a lower price, handmade by a person I trust (myself), and have it be 10 feet from where I’m typing?

The answer rests in the irrational.

Because of the story I’d tell myself; the coffee there becomes something I can tell others about and connect over. It’s the story that I’ll tell myself about being more energized – both from the fresh air and from the coffee made by someone else.

The list goes on about the irrational reasons to go there over stay here.

The same can be said for a lot of brands and their customers. It’s why we look at consumers and think, why the hell would they buy that?

Smart marketers dig into the irrational answers.

Stay Positive & What Irrational Stories Are Your Customers Telling Themselves?

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Speed in the supply chain can save you money, but it can also get you so much more.

Speed with delivery gets you a loyal customer.

Speed with projects at work builds others’ trust in you.

Speed of decisions eliminates the terrible feeling of a sunk cost.

Speed of showing your heart gets people to connect with you on a level like no other.

Of course, the big caveat is that what we do needs to be as valuable as possible. Speed doesn’t mean we can cut back on quality ingredients or produce half-assed work.

There’s a reason speed is a skill. We can learn it, train it, and get better at it.

Stay Positive & Aaand We’re Off

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We’re quick to leave things behind once we ship them.

We don’t read back the blog posts we wrote last month or stop to meditate on how we feel with the meditations we’ve been doing.

We don’t look back to see how well of a friend we’ve been to the new ones we’ve made or review the emails we sent to the team last week.

We don’t revisit the work we created six months ago to see how much it has changed or how we’ve changed our process of creating it.

When we don’t do any of that, we lose the chance at holding onto what has worked well and could help us grow more. When we don’t check-in, we start from a state of square one more often than we need to.

It takes time to pause and reflect, and doing so can often show the bad habits and bring to light the less-than-impressive work we’ve done, but that’s worth it, too, if you’ll make it be.

Stay Positive & Look Back, Look Forward, But Remember To Also Look In

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All learning is frustrating at first.

No one wants to feel dumb, struggle to memorize something or explore teachings on a subject they may never put to use.

The reality, though, is that there’s always something more to learn, so we need to get comfortable with feeling dumb.

There’s no way we can memorize everything, so we need to get comfortable with trusting our gut and putting our learning into action.

And when it comes to learning the thing we think we will never have use for; it’s simply a lie we tell ourselves. At some point we all meet someone who we can share a connection with because we understand the thing they’re talking about or passionate about.

Stay Positive & We Learn So We Can Connect

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Brewing coffee with a french press might give others the appearance that you’re sophisticated, but it might also fill you with joy.

Owning a Yanagi doesn’t mean you will ever use it, but it might fill you with joy to have it.

The fun socks you wear while you work your butt off each day and the morning routine you have and the headphones you own might go unnoticed by those around you, but they might also simply fill you with joy.

As we pursue the change we seek to make, we might as well find ways to be filled with joy along the way.

Stay Positive & What Can You Do To Make The Journey More Fun?

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It takes fewer steps to launch a project than you think.

It takes fewer people you think to make it work, too.

It takes fewer stakeholders to be involved for it to work right.

It takes fewer hours to learn the ropes than you think.

Change your perspective and put yourself into action.

It truly is easier than the story you’re telling yourself about it.

Stay Positive & Go

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The best kind of map is the one we draw for ourselves.

It gives us agency and offers us the flexibility to change it throughout – something we wouldn’t risk doing if it was a map someone else gave us.

The map we make removes fear and excuses we would otherwise use to keep us standing in place.

It also provides a drip campaign of fulfillment. At the end of the day, we can see our progress made and milestone(s) met.

We spend a lot of time looking and asking for maps when all we need to do is pick up a pen to draw our own.

Stay Positive & Give Your Agency Some Urgency

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