Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
Someone can’t be as moved by a book as you were if it stays on your bookshelf.
Someone can’t fund your idea if the full scope of it isn’t written down.
Someone can’t give you a promotion if you’re not the one speaking up in the room.
Progress requires vulnerability.
Damn, is it magic once you embrace it.
Stay Positive & No More Hiding
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It pays to assume the client is going to ask some really good questions.
It helps to assume the recruiter is going to ask some really good questions.
It’s beneficial to assume the bank loan officer is going to ask some really good questions.
The better the questions you assume you’ll be asked, the better you’ll be able to answer them.
What’s great is even if the questions aren’t as good, aren’t as thorough, aren’t as deep as you role-played, you’ll still provide some really excellent answers.
After all, they’re assuming you will.
Stay Positive & Prepare Now
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Distractions aren’t all bad.
The ones that stop us from doing meaningful work – sure, we could do without those.
But then there are the benefits of a silver lining to distract you from the grey cloud; what you can give to distract you from what you weren’t given; and so on.
Stay Positive & Choose Your Distractions Wisely
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Are you writing enough? Are you finishing the project quick enough? Are you running at a sustainable rate to see growth but not burn out?
Shit doesn’t go according to your plan, do you have a friend to call? You’re trying to DIY a repair on your house, do you know someone who can help?
Do you know how to get out of the rut you’re in? Are you thinking outside the box enough?
In all of these scenarios, it sure does help to have someone to text, call or simply talk to. Which begs the real question: are you regularly connecting with new people?
Stay Positive & Connect For A Win-Win
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The big breweries of 10 years ago never imagined that they’d be putting as much fruit puree in their beers as they are now.
Scientists of yester never imagined that they’d discover a fifth tasting receptor on our tongue.
The publishers of old never imagined that they’d be competing against anyone with an internet connection.
Alas. The challenge isn’t to think of the unimaginable and act on it, per say, but merely be open to inching your way toward it.
Creating something unimaginable is done with the power of six words…
“How can we make this better?”
Notice that it’s not how can we make something different. Different is easy enough to do, but the sad part is that different doesn’t always stick. Better, on the other hand, better always lasts… that is… until better arrives again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Until we look back and realize we’ve done something we never imagined we’d do all that time ago.
Stay Positive & Make Magic Happen
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If you want to lose weight: you need to consume fewer calories than you exhaust in a day.
If you want to be a writer: you need to write more words than you share with your audience.
If you want to market better: you need to listen more than you advertise.
Progress is always two-fold. There’s the thing you need to do (the obvious action) and the thing you need to do it more than (the non-obvious action).
Stay Positive & Make Sure You’re Doing Both
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It’s quite rare that we get a true “more is merrier” situation.
Normally you read about “better” being better and “more” having a point that there’s a diminishing return.
Alas, the sneaky strategy here is that more better is what makes a brand win. Here’s a quick example:
You can use communicative tactics to impress your target with the value they will get out of your offering. It’s a positive tactic; one of reinforcement and escalation of status.
You can also use communicative tactics that scare your target with what they lose if they pass on your offering. It’s a negative reinforcement; one of scarcity and pre-experienced regret.
There’s one kind of marketer that picks one tactic over the other. Then there’s one marketer that decides to implement both because she knows her strategy is to treat different people differently.
We could probably think of myriad ways to connect with our audience. Rather than all the back and forth of internally (and with no shortness of bias) trying to prioritize them, we’re better off launching more tactics and testing them–aligned on the strategy of treating different people differently, of course.
It’s an entirely different marketing strategy when you go from “what should we say” to “who longs to hear this?”
Stay Positive & As Always, It Starts With Listening
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