Do you prefer audio? That’s why I’ve made the audio only of today’s video available separately.
Today’s show is important because the message is universal. Everybody suffers hearing two contrasting voices. One tells us we can keep going, encouraging us to push forward. The other one tells us to quit, urging us to give up because we’ll never be able to succeed. Sometimes we listen to one over the other.
The high achievers have both voices. They’re just able to silence the naysayer better than the rest of us. They think differently. They feel differently. And they perform differently, too.
Your business won’t go anywhere without workflow and systems that fit.
When’s the last time you closely examined your habits?
If you’re like me, it’s been awhile. It’s not that we avoid it. We just don’t think about it. We go ’round and ’round and ’round giving it little (if any) thought.
Until something happens…
That causes us to think about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.
I’m fond of systems and automation. Always have been. And I love technology. But I still find myself doing things simply because I’ve always done it that way. Only when I’m inspired enough to examine my habits do I come face to face with the reality that what I’m doing may not be working for me, or my business. Other times a workflow or system is in place that works well, but circumstances change…and I don’t change the system.
If you carefully think of how much life is spent in mindlessness — you’ll quickly be depressed. Most of us waste hours doing things that don’t work, but we’re not thinking about if it works or not. We just do it because it’s what we’ve done for a long time. Or because it’s comfortable. Or because it’s easy. Or because we think there’s some reward (when in reality, there is no reward). Delusion hurts us every time!
Today’s show would likely get downloaded more if I filled it with the lastest, greatest iPhone apps…or talked of the newest software…or explained some “hack” that a famous blogger uses. Nope. That’s not it. It’s about getting more done. It’s about finding out what works for us. It’s personal. It’s individual.
I know it’s easier to listen to somebody we admire tell us what she does. Then we can just copy that.
It’s a lot harder to examine what we do, figure out why we do it that way, then architect a better way. It’s a LOT harder. But it’s more profitable.
Business often looks like a typical dart board…full of holes!
There’s riches in niches. Go narrow, go deep. These are terrific bits of advice.
They’re also very hard for people to figure out. I know because I’ve been helping business owners figure it out for a long time. It’s always (always) the first point of conversation, especially with business owners struggling to find a new level of success.
I now understand the dilemma better. I can’t fully explain it, but I do understand how it feels to be confused about a target market. I started looking in the mirror and realized I had no clue about my own target market.
My challenge was compounded due to my lifelong experience, my indifference to any particular industry or space and my utter contentment and satisfaction with just about any selected space. In today’s show I’ll explain my own situation in hopes you can look at your own, and better figure out a few things.
Just remember, it’s one thing to take aim at a particular target…it’s something different to actually hit it. That picture illustrates how many businesses aim and execute serving a target market. The target ends up with a bunch of holes all over the place. Part of that is the process necessary as we figure things out. We just have to make sure that we’re working to figure things out and not aimlessly throwing things toward the target. People often confuse them for the same activity.
Progress doesn’t have to be intentional. Sometimes we find success because we’re putting in the work and a happy accident happens. An accident that wouldn’t have occurred if we hadn’t shown up and put in the effort. But there are other times when we’re spinning our wheels by doing things without thinking…hoping something good will happen. Not a good way to go.
Like a good game of Battle Ship, we want to hit more than we miss!
Here were some of the things that were crucial for me. Your list might look very different.
a. Don’t want to be gone from home alot
b. Don’t want employees
c. Don’t want a long commute
d. Want high margins
e. Want to create digital learning (and help)
f. Want to be able to give more to causes
Later on I added a 7th – and very important – criteria. It’s a criteria that I think is worthwhile for anybody! The first 6 aren’t universal, but that 7th one is. It’s something that you must give lots of thought. And in thinking about it, you have to be true to who you are. It’s why I’m fond of various profile assessments that can help us know ourselves better. You don’t want to serve a market that isn’t a good fit for you.
P.S. Did I say “strategical” during today’s show? I certainly did. Come on, every podcaster makes up words. I’m adding that new word to my podcasting dictionary. 😀
I may be late, but at least I’m closer than 200 years.
I was once a fan of Jimmy Buffett. When I was younger. His early days. And I’ve never had so much as a single drink of alcohol. Go figure.
By the time he moved from the gulf coast to the mountains of Colorado to find himself, I was long gone as a fan. So when he returned to the Florida Keys and found his way back home to the gulf, I had been away from his current music for a few years, but his earliest work continued to be in my ear buds pretty regularly. Well, to be fair — I’ve always loved his voice. The whole Parrothead thing escaped me though. But, this isn’t about Jimmy Buffett so much. It is about one of his songs though. A song that I’ve sung thousands of times while driving in the car.
I’m out and about and “A Pirate’s Look At 40” pops into my head. I’ve seen him perform it live many times – pre-Cheeseburger in Paradise Jimmy Buffett.
Part of the lyrics are…
Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late The cannons don’t thunder, there’s nothin to plunder Im an over-forty victim of fate Arriving too late, arriving too late
And so in keeping with the last few posts/podcasts/videos here – I began to wonder about my place in time. It’s not something we can do much about, but there are a few takeaways that might be able to help us.
We’re definitely still in the “Attention” economy, but haven’t we always been?
We want to stand out from the crowd.
But…we also want to fit in.
We want to hear about how really successful people did it…so we can do it, too. Over and over you hear the question asked, “How did you do it?” That’s because we think there’s some secret that we don’t know. And it’s because we don’t want to put in the work…especially if we can just copy somebody else’s work. Remember those jerks in school who’d stretch their arms over their desk so we couldn’t see their work? We hated those smart alecks.
But if we’re all copying each other – or if we’re all copying the successful people and trying to do exactly what they did – won’t we end up blending in? If we all dress alike, talk alike, work alike…won’t we be alike? And then, won’t that make us all average?
Is your brain tired yet? Mine is always tired. But such is the life when you have to live with my brilliance! It’s a curse.
Well, here’s what we really want…
To be part of the crowd, but we want the crowd to applaud us, follow us, friend us, subscribe to us, read us, watch us, buy from us, and hold us up above all the rest.
We want to be like everybody else…but better!
With more business. With more followers. With more fame. With more income.
