GarthBox

Relying on data to make your next move is the lazy way of decision-making.

It plays to the short run, the immediate gratification of having a form of assurance around your next step.

Data, the way it’s often used, gets you to conform at the same time that it stops you from seeing why you started something in the first place (to make a human impact).

Long form data, though, the kind you can’t measure on a weekly basis–that’s important data. It’s the type of data that you can look at and feel what’s working and what’s not; There’s no need for a spreadsheet formula.

Data that’s even more important? Words. The ones your target uses online and off, what they say to their parents and to their friends considering a similar investment. Those words are much more insightful than whether or not the logo works better in the top left corner or bottom right.

What I’m getting at is that if you’re in something for the long haul, to have a real impact, to change the status quo, then you better be measuring for that.

 

Stay Positive & The Rest Is Just Distraction

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If you want to grow, get better, beat out the competition then you need someone who is willing to push back on your ideas, someone to challenge you, someone to get you thinking about your business differently than how you currently see it.

If you don’t have someone to play devil’s advocate, it’s time to assign ’em.

 

Stay Positive & No, It Can’t Be You

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The more larger projects you take on, the more you’re often inclined to spread yourself thin, to pivot from one project to another in hopes of advancing on all together.

The thing about pivoting, though, is that you stay standing in one spot.

Prioritize your large project, move forward with it until it’s either complete or the momentum you’ve built is unstoppable–Only then does it make sense to give another large project your attention.

 

Stay Positive & Pivoting Holds You Back

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…and know that eventually that excitement will wane.

You’ll get disappointed because you worked so hard in that space and don’t want to leave it, but that something else that came along and stole your attention and excitement? That’s called the edge.

It’s fine to leave things behind. It’s fine to switch. It’s fine to follow the excitement.

The longer you stay in one space, the further the edge gets from you, and the edge is where all the fun is at.

 

Stay Positive & Keep Moving

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Remember the first time you got sunburn last year? The human race is a forgetful bunch.

Consider this: How many actions will you take this year for the first time without remembering what you learned from doing it for the first time last year? Or the year before?

There’s a reason consistency is key to success and science points us to the fact that we lose the muscle memory we gained after seven days of not practicing our craft.

If you’re making the same mistakes on something you consider to be a passion of yours, it might be time to choose a different passion.

Writers write. Wine critics swish and spit. Basketball players shoot free throws… daily.

 

Stay Positive & You Remember What Matters By Doing, Persistently And Consistently

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You can make strong connections 1-1, but the beauty of connecting is the more you do it; the more people you connect with and then, in turn, connect to other people, the stronger all connections becomes (including yours).

It’s great to make a friend who is going to be everything you need, who will push you and challenge you to be the best you you can be.

Yet, it’s far better to connect that friend to another friend and that friend to another friend.

There’s no need to be selfless about your connections.

It actually hurts you more when you are.

 

Stay Positive & Be The Connector

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There’s not much else that will increase your chances of success than focusing on the one thing that leads you down the path to completing your goal.

If you’re trying to make sales, then your one thing is picking up the phone and calling.

If your goal is to bulk up, you’re one thing is waking up earlier to hit the gym.

Figure out what the one thing that needs to be done for all the other pieces to fall in place, then do it, again and again.

Then there’s focusing on the small things, because as Seth Godin mentioned, a small thing, repeated, is not a small thing.

The handwritten notes, the moments of surprise and delight, remembering someone’s name–they all add up over time, and with interest.

Focus on these things and you’re set.

 

Stay Positive & Up For It?

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