One of the biggest and most painful mistakes you can make is to believe it is about you.
Things happen all the time, people have thoughts and feelings that make them behave one way or the other, words are said and opinions expressed more than we can appreciate. And it is not about you.
Making it personal is the opposite of committing. It is a way to hide, to postpone, to not do.
It is also a strong instict, as each one of us is the main character to their own story.
Just keep it under control.
Languishing is very real. And the best place you can start from is to acknowledge it is.
You might not yet be able to get out of this state, this weird absence of mental health, but self-awareness is always the first step towards something better.
Doing (without interruption) and connecting (with the intent to share) are great second steps, whenever you are ready.
Feeling ineffective is very different from feeling worthless.
Being down is not the same as being miserable.
If someone irritates us, it’s not the same as if they would enrage us.
When we feel regret for a situation, that does not make the situation humiliating.
Language is made of shades. And when it comes to emotions, in particular, being able to verbalize the different levels of intensity can make the difference between seeing options and getting lost.
We can get better at expressing how we feel, and this vocabulary of emotions by Ed Batista is a fantastic tool for that.
How are you feeling today?
Three questions to unlock learning.
When you do this regularly and consistently, no bad experience will stop you.
Rather than starting your next meeting with “I have heard”, “I have noticed”, “The numbers say that..”, try kicking off a conversation with the first question, and keep your mind open by supporting it with the other two.
People do not want to be told what they did wrong and what they should have done instead. People want to learn. Guide them in doing just that.
Imagine if you would have to act as the perfect employee to impress your boss and at the same time as a lazy employee to get along with your peers. If you would have to pretend to be the family man at home and at the same time the ruthless playboy with your friends. If you would have to be sloppy and quick at work and at the same time meticulous and detailed in your free time.
At best, everyone (including you) would have some serious issues figuring out who you are.
This is the same impression many B2B companies give.
They have one story for the investors, one for the customers, one for the partners, one for the analysts. Each department tells it in a different way, using different language, and focusing on different themes. The result is total confusion.
If you want your brand to be authentic, define what that means, check regularly whether the definition is still relevant, and stick to it.
That’s how you find your audience.
You've got this 