GarthBox

What separates a good agency from a great agency (you know, when both can do the same thing for you), is the attitude in which they have about the work and your brand.

When everyone has the same tools to achieve a goal as you, it’s the attitudes that differentiate.

When two salespeople have read every selling book under the sun, what they get judged by is their attitude in the moment.

When an organization sifts through 30 resumes and finds five that are nearly identical, but also fulfill the position’s requirements… you can guess on what they evaluate in the candidates before selecting the one they’ll offer the job too.

It’s not that it might be attitude. It’s that it is.

Stay Positive & It’s Everything, Really

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If you’re reading this, it’s likely your culture puts a hefty priority on praise and blame.

Compliments of all sorts. Celebrations of wins. Kudos to work that got completed.

And the opposite is true, especially when things don’t go right. There’s always someone or something to blame.

Unfortunately neither praise or blame helps us move forward. Not until we evaluate and understand the intention behind them.

“Good job” isn’t nearly as effective as “I appreciate that you’re putting in the extra effort as you work toward that promotion.”

or

“How could you?!” isn’t nearly as effective as “I’m bummed you didn’t see the value in doing X. I’ll be sure to better communicate that next time.”

And so on.

Stay Positive & Get To The Core

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Two truths about discomfort.

It’s a sure sign that you’re doing something that’s likely to be remarkable, apart from status quo and might be stretching your limits. It’s required to learn and grow and to differentiate.

The second truth is that discomfort is really short lived, but we often ignore this truth. Most new things are uncomfortable at first, but the moment you start talking to someone, the moment you’ve gone through this new process a couple of times, and so on, discomfort dissipates.

It’s a short-lived feeling but it’s also the feeling that’s required when leaping forward.

Stay Positive & 3 2 1 Go

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First, down the road isn’t often a good direction to go in. It’s a path paved for other reasons than the ones you’re set out to achieve. It’s conformity. It’s the status quo, too.

Kicking might not be the best method, either. It’s going to damage the can. Disappoint.

And bigger picture-wise: it’s a massive waste of time.

That doesn’t mean leave the can there and ignore it.

Pick the can up. Put it where it needs to go. Then get on with work that’s worth doing.

Of course, this isn’t about a can. It’s about the little bits of busy work we face in our lives. The stuff we often pass off as “someone else’s job” or “it’s not that important right now.”

Stay Positive & No More Hiding

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No, not in the “do what’s right because people are watching” kind of way.

Rather, in the, “someone is going to use this after me” kind of way.

As in, what can you do so the person after you has as great of an experience as you did. (Oh, and ya know, maybe even better?)

We can leave a paper trail or a map. We can leave notes of inspiration. We can publish our watch-out-fors and lessons learned.

Stay Positive & Perhaps It’s Time To Start A Blog?

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There’s the direction of taking more responsibility and agency and accountability, not only for actions but the results from those actions. This direction requires you to ignore the status quo, do what’s right and take on discomfort instead of passing it off to someone else.

The other direction is beginning to require more work for less impact; it’s the direction of conformity, maintaining status quo and pushing off responsibility with a line like “I’m just doing my job.”

Stay Positive & Which Way Are You Racing?

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There’s not just one reason to list your accomplishments.

• You never know who may ask what you’ve done lately. A friend or your boss may ask. It’s important for both relationships to have an answer at the ready.
  
• If you’re like me, you’re quite terrible at taking photos of moments, big and small in life. The beauty of words is that a few can bring back images from your memory.
  
• At the end of any day, I believe our happiness is contingent on how fulfilled we feel. It’s hard to NOT feel fulfilled when you’ve either added or looked at accomplishments you’ve made, regardless if they happened today or last week.
  
• Over time, you’ll realize how accomplishments you’ve made in the past have made your future state even better than you imagined–motivating you to make more.
  
• The list goes on…

Note: Don’t try to gauge if something is worth documenting as an accomplishment. If it’s something you’ve done or influenced and you think about writing it down as an accomplishment, just do it.

Stay Positive & Start Today

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