GarthBox

I attended my quarterly barrel-aged beer analysis meeting today and we had a new addition to the tasting panel.

To catch you up to speed on what it entails: we blindly taste beer that has been pulled from a variety of barrels and we fill out a very thorough sensory sheet. After we go through them all, we share our feedback out loud about each one.

The newbie? It killed him to share. Every time it was his turn he was doubting himself or comparing his notes to someone else’s or bashing himself for not detecting something everyone else did.

But in this setting, the only wrong answer is no answer. He was right, no matter what he would say, and we had to remind him of that again and again for about 6 of the beers until it got slightly easier for him.

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I talked to a couple of colleagues recently about my bandwidth being stretched to the point of exhaustion. It wasn’t easy for me to do. it was like I was the fella blind tasting beers for the first time. I wanted to doubt myself, compare myself to others, bash myself for not being better.

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Controlling a narrative for ourselves will always be harder than we think. We can know what the right thing to do is. Hell, in the taster’s case, he could be told it four times and two minutes later still go back to his habit, in this case, self doubt.

Always hard, but… always worth it.

Stay Positive & Chase The Worth

It’s a hell of a lot easier to go through work with the mindset that it will be an ebb and flow.

It’s a constant pressure-tester.

It squeezes and then it relieves.

It presses and then it expands.

It tightens and loosens.

That’s not to say you’re not in control; but there’s a limit to the control.

It’s impossible (or even if it is possible, it’s not pleasant) to remain on one end of the spectrum.

Sine waves are universal.

Our work is no exception.

Stay Positive & Especially The Meaningful Work

It’s not just something to do when you’re caught in a conversation you don’t care about.

It’s actually a skill to develop, a muscle to train, an action to be intentional with.

When you read the expression “writer’s write,” you might guffaw at the simplicity or obviousness about it, but the reality behind it is what writer’s don’t do. Or, in other words, what they zone out.

For any muse, it pays to zone out on it. Not all the time. Not every time. But consistently enough to have the focus to deepen your impact, not just spread it. And that’s only achievable with deliberate focus.

Stay Positive & Where’s Your Zone?

There’s no shortage of information out there.

As a result, it’s obvious that no risks need to be taken without a bit of research to start.

ChatGPT can help with a marketing plan framework.

YouTube can help with understanding how to remove your dishwasher.

A Q&A with recently published authors at the local bookstore can help you understand all the steps of getting your novel published.

With great knowledge, however, comes the responsibility of having to determine when it’s your turn.

Your turn to launch the marketing campaign; your turn to disassemble the dishwasher and discover what’s different about yours than the YouTube video; your turn to hit the publish button and figure out what you’ve missed specific to you.

Because there’s one truth about learning; doing is always different. Always.

Stay Positive & Speed To Doing (Because There’s More Learning To Be Had)

Whether you’ve been hired by someone else or you’ve hired yourself, you’re hired for you.

Which means that the goals you have should be yours.

Which means that the leadership style should be yours.

Which means the one to take accountability whenever one can…that one is you.

Which means what makes a project yours is you.

Stay Positive & You’re The Differentiator

It’s great to have an elephant in the room.

It gives you something to break the ice with; gives you something to get on the same page with; provides clear focus on what needs to be addressed.

Meetings without elephants are subject to distractions and disconnects.

Stay Positive & Don’t Run A Meeting Unless It’s Clear What The Elephant Is

It doesn’t take much energy to complain. But over time, that energy certainly adds up.

Role-playing here, if you took all that time someone complained, do you think they could have impacted the thing they are complaining about?

And because, dear reader, you’re unlikely to be the one complaining… a question for you.

Do you think you could have impacted the thing they are complaining about with all the time you’ve invested in them listening? Or given them actions to take the moment they start complaining?

It can be easy to shrug it off as their problem because it is. But lest we forget that we can have everything we want if we help enough others get what they want.

Stay Positive & What If, For The Sake Of Role-playing, You Did Make Their Problem Yours?