GarthBox

It’s been more than six years since I’ve been to Boston. I’m here for #INBOUND15 – a fairly large (10,000+ people) marketing conference. I stayed traditional and took a taxi from the airport to where I’m staying.

The 20 minute drive was filled with the driver telling me all about UberX: how most drivers lack insurance, how they don’t actually make much money, how so many of his taxi driving friends switched over to the darkside.

I’ll be UberXing to the conference and back to the airport when it’s time to leave. None of what he told me convinced me not to.

In his rant, he forgot to say anything that mattered to me, the customer. At the end of MY day, UberX is cheaper, so why not?

If Taxis, UberXs, anyone, really, wants to make it in business, they’ve got to consider what’s in it for the customer and not get lost in the battle of what’s in it for themselves.

Stay Positive & Brag To Your Customers, Don’t Rant To Them

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I’ve heard the suggestion made often.

Outsource this. Hire a virtual assistant for that.

For things that can be rated as efficient/non-efficient, this tactic works.

But we’ll never be able to outsource the things that matter like caring, loving, trusting.

That starts and ends with us, and us alone. Businesses trying to shortcut it, outsource it, virtualize it are wasting their time.

Stay Positive & You Either Care Or You Don’t

Think of that beast that’s holding you back from the success you seek.

Complete this statement: You can’t achieve success because…

You need funding? Approval from a boss? An introduction to someone influential? A forward written by a previously famous author?

Now complete this statement: You can achieve your success if…

Turn “you can’t” into “you can if…”

Stay Positive & Because You Can (As Long As You Think Of Things Differently)

We often cut ourselves slack when we know we’re doing something for the first time.

When most work pressure is self-produced, it’s nice to have projects where we give ourselves a break because it’s our first time.

I wonder how your work would change if you kept that mindset with every project you take, every task you start, every new idea you start working on.

Aren’t you doing what you’re doing for the first time anyway even if you have done it before? You’ve taken the lessons learned from that first time and are applying them to this first time, right?

Confusing? Yes, but ultimately worth sorting out in our mind.

Stay Positive & Take That Weight Off Your Shoulders

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then it’s another.

There used to be a clock that was never right in a classroom at school a couple of years ago. Everyone hated it, but no one did anything about it. Until one day, a guest speaker came to class and at the end of it, took the clock with him, forcing the department to replace it.

Now students complain about the chairs. (Don’t worry, I vow when I’m invited to speak in that classroom I will take all the chairs afterward.)

Then it will be something else to complain about.

It’s a curios mindset: if it’s not one thing then it’s another. Those who have it care less about perfection. They don’t get distracted by the little things like a clock that’s not working right or part of a desk that keeps falling off when people even slightly touch it (yup, that’s my desk right now). What’s the point?

In a world of constant yin and yang, we’ve gotta decide at what point do we stop trying to change the little things that are bugging us and devote that energy to work we love. We can minimize griefs, but we will never be able to destroy them completely.

Stay Positive & Where Are You Spending Your Energy? Time’s Ticking.

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When you’re concerned about getting credit for a project, you’re bound to deliver sub-par work. There’s not much arguing it, unless you’re totally fearless.

When you want your name on work, there’s the initial thought of all the possibilities, of the spotlight, of the recognition.

Then the fear sets in. What if it’s not good enough? What if you don’t know how to complete part of the project? What if you can’t over-deliver like you dreamed of doing?

Better to focus on the big picture, the why of the project and care less about the names on it.

Stay Positive & It Helps To Have A Team Too

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