Turn the narrative around

A negative turn of events is not inherently bad. A positive turn of events is not inherently good.

You ought to be able to see the good in the bad as well as the bad in the good. Not to be detached from reality. Not to be problem child or the naïve dreamer. Not to stay away from grief and joy at all costs. But to be able to appreciate the power that you have to turn the narrative around.

Audit and reset

When you start something new, it is difficult to anticipate where that will be going.

Perhaps you buy a tool, you set up a process, you hire a few people, you add a contacts field in your CRM, and then after one or two years you find yourself in a completely different situation, and the thing that used to work (kind of) now clearly does not work anymore.

The problem though starts when you avoid auditing and resetting, and instead add more on top of what is not working. Another version of the tool, more people, a new step in the process, one more contacts field in the CRM.

Before you start adding, be sure to audit and reset.

It takes time, it might feel like a failure, and it’s not always pleasant. But that’s how you make the most out of what you will decide to bring in next.

Surprising

There are so many variables in any open position, in any grant available, in any reward you might be pursuing, that it is actually more surprising when you succeed than when you fail.

And by the way, neither success nor failure is a reliable measure of your worth.

The sooner you get used to it, the more you can focus on building your own measure.

When times are tough

The surest and fastest way to get unstuck is to bring in a different perspective.

A therapist, a coach, a colleague from another team, a mentor who’s been there before, your partner, a friend, a business advisor, a marketing agency, a freelancer.

Make that connection when times are tough.

Actually, make the connection when times are good so that you can leverage it when times are tough.

No, thanks

What is valuable to your audience?

We design experiences with our own benefit in mind, trying to make life easier for us, adding an additional step so that we don’t have to do some more work.

And the burden of all this, of course, is on the user. Who has options and kindly says, no thanks.