I’m preparing for a last-minute trip to New York City.
I was invited to a high-level mastermind meeting with some of the nation’s most successful Internet entrepreneurs, at the Inc. Magazine boardroom.
I’m filled with excitement.
There was a time in my life when such a meeting would have filled me with anxiety.
I am a positive person.
I always believe and have faith for the best possible outcomes, that I am guided by God in everything that I do, and protected from my mistakes when I’m not listening to Him carefully.
That being said, I also believe God gives us wisdom for dealing with practical matters in our lives.
When it comes to our business, I believe we should believe for the best, and plan for the worst. I call this “positive pessimism”.
What does this look like for information marketers?
It means we should set up our companies so that we can still make money even in the worst of circumstances. This translates to:
Planning for poor results allows us to build in safety nets, so that even if our campaigns don’t work the way we hope, we can still be profitable.
This is much better than the way most people plan their businesses: planning for the best, and counting on it in order to make the bills.
Question for you: What do you think of the idea of positive pessimism?
When you have a hot idea, act on it as soon as possible.
Get an inspiration for a new ad campaign? Get that campaign launched today.
Have an idea for a new book? Start writing before the sun sets tonight.
The point is, the longer you wait between inspired idea and efficient execution, the less likely you will ever complete or accomplish your great idea.
The faster you can act on an idea, the more likely it is that you will complete it — and profit from it.
The reverse is also true.
Question for you: What is your “speed to process” ratio? Do you act quickly on your ideas? Or do you collect them in a notebook, hoping you’ll do them “some day/later”? How is that working out for you?
Most entrepreneurs like to think of themselves as pioneers. Trailblazers. Adventurers.
It’s a very romantic image, isn’t it?
There’s only one problem: in the Americas, the pioneers were the ones found along the trail with arrows in their back.
If you are committed to being a pioneer, you are also committed to receiving the arrows.
If you don’t want that kind of risk, it might be best to let other people be pioneers, and for you to follow after they’ve taken the risks, and done the dangerous work. You might be happier as a “settler”.
This is not an indictment of your character. For instance, you’re not being a pioneer if you become an accountant. Or even a CEO. But both can be very profitable and honorable career choices.
On the other hand, staking your future on an uncertain technology startup is pioneering. We love to hear the success stories – the “outliers”. What we typically don’t hear about is the hundreds of thousands of people who go off on the pioneering trail, never to return.
So you have to ask yourself: arrows, or no arrows?
Question: Are you more of a pioneer, or a “settler”?
Today is Independence Day in the United States.
July 4th is the day we commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
By signing that document, our Founding Fathers threw off the yoke of bondage and declared our freedom as a nation.
The declaration was bold. Brave.
And it required backing up.
Whether you think the economy is killing your business or you think the economy is supporting your business, you’re right.
The destiny of your business is, with very rare exception, not determined by the economy.
So what determines the destiny of your business?
Your beliefs about the destiny of your businesss.
Think with me.
Your beliefs are nothing more (or less) than a feeling of certainty about a particular thing.
Whatever you are certain about, you act on.
What you act on determines your outcome.
To change the outcomes you are experiencing (in business or anything else), change your beliefs.
At the very least, examine them carefully.
If your beliefs are not supporting you… why would you cling to them?
You beat the economy by not believing you are its victim.
I was listening to an audio recording of a talk by Graham Cooke.
Graham shared a story about a dinner conversation he had with the lady who had just received a promotion. When he asked her if she was excited about the promotion, she told him, that she was, in fact “terrified.”
Graham considered this for a moment, and then asked her, “Yeah, but what if you’re not? What if you’re not terrified, but instead you are a bit anxious and somewhat excited?”
The woman thought about this, and then said Graham was right… she wasn’t really terrified, but a more accurate description would be that she was a bit anxious and somewhat excited.
“Right,” said Graham. “But what if you’re not? What if, instead of being a bit anxious and somewhat excited, you are actually only a tiny bit nervous and really excited?”
After thinking this over for moment the woman agreed that “tiny bit nervous and really excited” was a more accurate description of how she felt.
Graham proceeded to walk her through a few more progressions of this kind of thinking, until she realized that she was actually quietly confident and incredibly joyous about her new promotion.
Quite a difference from being “terrified”, isn’t it?
The lesson I take from this is a simple one. It is this: the language we use to describe how we feel about any given situation has a powerful influence over our emotions.
Simply asking ourselves if it’s possible that we might feel excited, instead of anxious, about a particular circumstance or situation, has the power to alter our actual emotions about that situation.
My question for you is: what situations are you facing right now that leave you terrified, bored, or depressed?
Think about that for a moment.
And then, think about this… what if you’re not?
John Updike was once asked why he seems to like every book he reviews. His response (I am paraphrasing) was, “Because I don’t waste my time reading books I don’t like.”
Being a critic is easy. It requires no risk, no creativity, and no courage to take potshots at someone else’s work. Especially not in the Internet age, when you can be a critic in relative anonymity.
I am not suggesting that we promote or endorse products, services, books, or art unworthy of attention.
This is where the subtle malignancy of criticism can readily be demonstrated.
It takes more work, and more creativity, to find and promote the worthy efforts of others than it does to be a critic.
It takes infinitely more work to actually be a creator.
To be a creator is to take risk. To risk failure, ridicule, even hardship.
But the rewards are immeasurable. So are the benefits to others.
You don’t want to be a critic. It’s easy, and it’s sleazy.
Be a creator.
Be an encourager.
Be a leader.
How do you get out of a rut? What does it even mean to be in a rut?
Someone (I believe it was Jim Rohn) once said “a rut is merely a grave with both ends knocked out.”
To me, a “rut” is a season of life where our thinking has become stale, tired, and boring. In the exciting, limited-time-only adventure we call life, there’s no time to waste on “ruts”.
Here are 3 sure-fire ways to renew your thinking and get yourself out of a rut.
Of course, if I made you such an offer you would refuse.
You would most likely be offended.
Some were offended by the title of this post, and didn’t even bother to read it.
But by offering a bowl of vomit, I was not merely trying to gross you out. The point was: how often we repeat the same dysfunctional behaviors (in our businesses, and in our lives)… and yet somehow expect a different result.
That great book of business wisdom, the book of Proverbs, contains good advice for us today:
As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.
Proverbs 26:11
The next time you’re tempted to have a bowl of the bile of your own making, what if you just said no?
Question: What Proverbs do you apply in your business? Post them below.
