Like it or not

The distinction between personal and professional is dated.

Not because you are supposed to work 80 hours per week, but because human beings do not have a siloed mind.

If you face personal challenges, you will struggle to shine at work. If you face professional challenges, you will most likely be distant and grumpy in your private life.

That’s a great reminder for leaders. You take charge of the full package, whether you like it or not. Better go at it intentionally then.

The committee

All great marketing was challenged. At some point, by someone.

And so, if everybody likes what the marketing team produces, they are probably on the wrong track.

The truth is, you don’t know what is going to work or what will be great. So never have a committee preemptively trying to determine that.

Image from Marketoonist.

In any given moment

If you are reading a book, do read.

If you are doing some work, do work.

If you are checking emails and social media, do check emails and social media.

If you are chatting with a friend, do chat with a friend.

If you are in a meeting, do be in the meeting.

The point is that you should commit to whatever it is that you are doing at any given moment. Mixing different activities at the same time is a sure way to get nervous, stressed, and eventually achieve nothing.

Small to get big

Pursuing your goals is a work of removal, not addition. That’s where most people get lost.

You don’t need more time, you need less time.

You don’t need more resources, you need less resources.

You don’t need more opportunities, you need less opportunities.

You don’t need a larger market, you need a smaller one.

Get small to get big.

Reconsider the system

If you miss your targets once, it’s good to try with more time, more resources, more of whatever you think was missing, without touching the system.

If you miss your targets consistently, then more is just going to be an excuse to delay something inevitable. You have to reconsider the system.