Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
Expectations are some of the most valuable insights you can observe, glean and use.
What does your customer expect from you?
What does she expect before we walks in? How about after she walks out?
Make a list of customer expectations.
Now call them commandments and meet them consistently, with care.
Stay Positive & Meet Them Then Exceed Them
Photo credit
You want to do remarkable work, to make an impression, to see project A, B or C to the end.
But to do so, you often need others on your side to help.
In gathering team members, you imagine that the other person(s) want to do the project as much as you do. They are just as excited as you, and if they’re not, surely your passion and drive will rub off on them, right? This is a slippery slope.
It might get people onboard, but it’s going to be a constant battle of always motivating and being discouraged when they don’t meet the expectations you have of someone who truly cares about the project.
The other path requires leadership, delegation, and project management. It calls on you to assign tasks, hold them accountable and to work with them through the problems they face on the project.
There’s a big shift in results between motivating new project members and leading them.
Stay Positive & Work Smarter, Not Harder
Photo credit
There are two paths you can take to get noticed, respected, and cherished for your endeavors. The first path is to build something that fits in with the rest. Write a book that’s just like the current spread of New York Times bestsellers.
The other path is to build something new. Instead of spending time trying to fit in, you can spend time creating something that speaks for itself. Write a book that changes the life of a small group of people.
The effort required for either path is about the same.
Stay Positive & Why Not Make A Difference By Building New?
Photo credit
Majority of your problems (and the world’s) is that you’re telling yourself a story that’s different than the person’s, brand’s, business’s, boss’s story that you’re interacting with.
The sincerest action you can take is to listen to their story.
What’s your colleague telling herself about the project she’s working on?
What’s your client telling himself about the email plan he has to approve?
If you could hear their story, what would you do differently?
It’s more than likely you’re telling yourself your own story, but if you want to leap, employ the human element of interaction and to make a difference, you have to set aside your story and respond to theirs.
Stay Positive & We Before Me, Right?
Photo credit
The thought process behind a competitive advantage often begins with what you can do that no other competitor can do.
It’s about ownership. About that special aspect that makes your brand your brand.
All the while you search for that sole differentiator, brands all around you are setting themselves apart not in what they do, but in how much they do.
Consider combining these two aspects. It’s not so much about outperforming a competitor, it’s about out-executing them.
You and all your competitors have great ideas for differentiation, but the sole factor that will set you apart is action.
Stay Positive & Take Action
Photo credit
How fast you find a process for things determines how quickly you can scale.
The quicker you scale, the further you get ahead of your competitors.
Formula has it that the smartest way to get ahead is to focus on developing a process for any task possible. In fact, one might say discovering a process that produces a solution again and again is more urgent than finding a band-aid solution.
Stay Positive & Consistency Is Everything
Photo credit
Two quick ways to create some space or pure pride in your life.
Toss what’s slow, broken or holding you back. This may mean parting ways with an object (or person) that holds a sentimental value to you. It may mean cutting cable or tossing the sweatshirt you haven’t worn in more than a year. The thing about clutter is that it purveys across all aspects of life. Clean out one spot and see the benefit of a clear mind in every spot.
Alternatively you can build what you believe in with more gusto than you have before and ship it. This may mean finishing the book you started to write and sharing it as a PDF. It may mean focusing on a process that already works and figuring out how to make it better, faster, smoother. Make something remarkably better and see the benefit of confidence in all other work.
Stay Positive & Make It Great Or Toss It, But Please Do At Least One Of Those
Photo credit
