This viral picture reminded me of a couple of things.
First, that creativity (coming up with ideas) and innovation (the implementation of those same ideas) can be applied to anything, even something as old as business cards.
And second, that creativity and innovation are often a good way to create early stages buzz. Whether that will spread further down the line, though, is a different matter.
You can’t have it all.
It’s a sentence we often hear and one that is incredibly difficult to live by.
Of course, when you think, act, are as if that were true, the single thing that’s left is to understand what is important. Remove the distractions and the infinite opportunities, get them out of the way.
You can’t have it all means you can still have some. The trick is ensuring the “some” is highly relevant.
Customer communication is an opportunity to establish and strengthen a relationship. Not just a way to deflect a possible inquiry.
You should know (and tell) whether a package has been delivered or not. And if it has, spare the customer the clutter in their inbox.
You could add the link to track the delivery. And spare the customer the trouble to dig into their incoming messages to find it.
You could suggest a direct way to ask a question. And spare the customer the time to go through the website, the help section, the knowledge base articles, and the feedback form.
Good customer communication often goes unnoticed, because it makes the experiences smooth and does not impose additional tasks on the receiver.
It’s not impossible, and can be achieved with some intention.
As the holidays get close and the news fill once more with variants and spikes, it is worth reminding that it is ok not to be ok.
It is ok to be anxious, stressed, demotivated. It is ok to not feel like doing anything. It is ok to be languishing and just wanting to give up. It is ok to take days off, to go for a walk in the middle of a busy day, to want to meet others and at the same time dread the moment when that will happen.
All of this is ok, and the moment you are fine with it, you can start expressing how it is. People will feel a little less afar. You will be a little less alone.
We are living through this.
You’ve got this.
There is a thin line between your fragility and other people’s fragility.
They often live in the same space.
I don’t like this project – It can be interpreted as an attack, a lack of trust, a doubt on your skils, a revenge for something you once said (your fragility); and at the same time, it can be a manifestation of fear, uncertainty, adversity to risk, a different mindset (other people’s fragility).
Someone not returning your greeting – It can be interpreted as a dislike, a judgement, a strong preference to not spend time with you, a way to send a clear message about the meeting that is about to begin (your fragility); and at the same time, it can be a manifestation of a cluttered mind, uneasiness around others, a disinterest towards socialization, tension for the meeting that is about to begin (other people’s fragility).
Your role is to understand the boundaries of your fragility, the words and actions that trigger it, so that you can extend from there and accept other people’s fragility and their own effort to understand them.
Take the comment on the project and appreciate that it is feeding your lack of trust in your own skills; then move towards the other and sit with them as they explore their own side.
Take the greeting that was not returned and appreciate that it is triggering your struggle to belong, then move towards the other and sit with them as they explore their own side.
When you don’t do this, the thin line grows into a thick wall.
You've got this 