Angles

Your sadness might be caused by another person’s insecurity.

Your fear might be caused by another person’s boldness.

Your silence might be caused by another person’s loneliness.

There are different angles to the same story. And the capacity to appreciate more than one of them will help you get past whatever it is that is holding you back.

FOMO

I think there might be an opportunity there.

That’s a sentence that destroys focus, motivation, productivity. Because it is true, there probably is an opportunity here, there, and everywhere in between. And that’s not a good reason to pause and go pursue it.

Not fit for the role

Everyone who is about to get promoted to a higher role that requires them to manage people, should sit in a meeting and demonstrate that they can:

  • Shut up.
  • Facilitate the discussion.
  • Follow up to whatever gets decided.

If they talk too much, if they interrupt others, if they ignore the person who is silent, if they don’t ask open questions and listen, if they go back to the same topics every other meeting.

They are not fit for the role.

Defending boundaries

Others will always ask, demand even, that you change your mind, do something, behave in a given way. And of course, it is your responsibility to accept what you feel comfortable with and push back against what is not for you. What does not help your own goal. What does not stand for you own values. What takes you farther from your purpose.

You set the boundaries and you are the one defending them.

Too many measures

You get what you measure.

Unless you measure too many things.

In that case, most likely, you get nothing.

Define success, pick a good proxy, and stick with it.