A twist on the 99% idea is that the vast majority of people (say 99%) – or even better, the totality of people in the 99% of cases – will not act on the information they are given or on the knowledge they are accumulating. They will just keep falling back to hold habits and practices, because that is more convenient. Because that is how our brain is wired.
This gives you an incredible advantage if you manage to build a practice of doing, shipping, delivering.
There is always a warning. There is always a sign.
You should be prepared, and yet you are not. Partly because it is easier to think at life as a straight, uninterrupted line. Partly because most warnings are encrypted, unclear, have mixed words, and it is only easy to spot them afterwards.
And so, when something happens to you, searching ex post for warnings and signs is pretty much useless. Think instead about where you can go from there, and whom with. That is how you will unlock the potential of the situation.
Data is everywhere these days, that also means we got accustomed to looking at data to find meaning in situations that are difficult to interpret.
And so, if you present numbers or percentages, be aware of two things.
First, if that is all you have to say, people will get bored fast. If you do not have a story to accompany your data, if you cannot tell what the data means to you, to your organisation, to your purpose, if you cannot express how things could look different in case an alternative path had been chosen, then the time is pretty much wasted. Sure, you can look at history and see how those numbers and percentages have evolved, compare them with similar ones, but eventually none of that will inspire action.
Second, what numbers and percentages mean to you is not necessarily in line with what they mean to somebody else. Data might be universal, their interpretation is not. And so, be prepared at being challenged and having to inspire people to believe the story you read is more accurate than others. Follow up on that, repeat, look at it from different angles, and be consistent over time.
Data can change your world, but as a matter of fact it probably isn’t now. It’s up to you to fix that.
I have always been fascinated and vaguely astonished by the fact that, at times, communication is successful.
We do not put enough emphasis and preparation into it, and we have so many different ways to look at the world and interpret it, that it is quite a thing that two persons can come together at some point and understand each other.
What is your mental image of a tree? Of a car? Of a house? Of course, with such physical objects we often get past the ambiguity. But what with more complex concepts?
What do you think when you hear about honesty? And productivity? And work-life balance? What is your intent when you use words such as “democrat” and “republican”, “conservative” and “progressive” and “liberal”, “capitalist” and “communist”?
I promise you, it is different from how the person sitting next to you thinks about them.
And so, why are we not training for better communication? Why is this not a matter taught in school? Why are we left growing up under the false impression that everyone around us understands what we mean? And shares our same set of assumptions and priorities?
Communication is unorganized chaos for the most part, and when it succeed it truly is a work of magic.
If you have to be bold about one thing in life, be bold about picking yourself.
The time of waiting for others to pick us is over. Bosses, teachers, examiners, recruiters are nowadays just as powerful as we let them.
Be the one to pick yourself instead.
To do what you are passionate about. To do it consistently. To do it in line with your values. To do it for the rewards you decide matter. To do it wherever, and for whomever, you choose to do it.
It is scary, and it is powerful.
Let’s go.
You've got this 