Scripts

The best way to build a relationship with others is to not treat them as if they were playing a support role in your masterpiece script.

Like the entrepreneur who can’t figure out why employees don’t care as much as they do. Or the manager who gets mad when someone resigns for a better position. Or the friend you don’t hear from anymore because you moved to the neighbouring city. Or the parent who can’t accept the fact their kids are taking a path they had never imagined for themselves.

Everyone has their own script they are working on, and when two people come together to co-author some parts of theirs, it’s a blessing, not an obligation.

We tend to forget that very easily.

Authenticity

Authenticity is a choice.

It’s a choice between trying to have it all and pursuing only what matters. Between trying to please everyone and accepting that some – most perhaps – will not like the things you do. Between cutting corners and taking the path less traveled. Between bending others’ rules and setting your own rigid rules.

Authenticity is difficult not because people don’t know how to be authentic. It is difficult because in most cases choosing authenticity is inconvenient.

Right there

The internet is full of messages that try to get someone’s attention to direct it somewhere else.

Banners that link to a landing page.

Welcome emails that link to three video tutorials.

Social media posts that refer to a comment that links to a blog article.

CTA buttons that link to a short form that links to a longer form that links to a privacy policy.

It is tiring, frustrating, and there is a huge opportunity to actually deliver the value you have to deliver right where your audience’s attention is.

Better feedback

You don’t care!

It just seems as if you don’t care.

When you are late in the morning, I feel like you don’t care.

When you are late in the morning, I feel frustrated, as I get to question your commitment.

The four statements all say the same thing. The way this is done, though, is extremely different. Only the last one opens the listener to what comes next.

And since we too easily tend to project our feelings on others’ behaviours – by judging the things they do under the lens of our own situation -, we need to practice how to give better feedback.

Thanks Ed Batista for the reminder.

Make it about people

Experiences matter not because of the results you are getting, not because of the expertise you accumulate, not because of the final outcome, not because of the knowledge you did not have before.

They matter because of the people you share them with.

Make it about people, sooner rather than later.

That’s a way to cherish every moment of the journey.