The Secret Foundation Of Long-Term Success
“I know you’re getting a lot of emails about Black Friday, but this one is different . . . “Do you know how many emails I got yesterday?
Do you know how many of them started with a sentence like this?
A lot.People judge books by their cover, Instagram feed, or email subject line.Most people who even read the news are strictly headline readers.It doesn’t matter whether you have users, clients, patients, or employees—it’s your job to stand out.
It’s your job to build trust.
All of these relationships culminate into the foundation for our long-term successes.Trust becomes your reputation and brand.
2 Minute Action
Remember/recall something specific about someone’s in your life, today.When is their birthday? How is their mother doing? Doesn’t their son have a big hockey game this weekend?Being specific is a thousand times more powerful than being general.
The Unintuitive Way A Brick Wall Can Show The Future
Lots of people can have a difficult conversation.Lots of people can go for a 4 mile run.Lots of people can overcome a fear.That’s all great.Those experiences tell us what we’re capable of.But what happens next is truly important.
What happens next is how consistently we do these things.
When we conquer new fears everyday, we build a powerful confidence that lets us approach what was once unapproachable.When we run everyday, running becomes easy and we are on to the next challenge.When we are consistently assertive and kind, we develop a reputation of respect and dependability that helps us with later endeavors.
Our daily actions are investments in our future.
Every second counts and every decision matters.My old high-school track coach used to say:“Every practice is like one brick and at the end of the season, you’ll have a brick wall. If you miss one practice, it probably won’t make a difference, but if you make a habit of it, the whole wall will be full of gaps.”
Every day is a brick.
Either you show up and make it happen, or you leave the gap.
2 Minute Action
It takes 2 minutes to visualize your day.Walk through how it will go and rehearse your actions.Prepare for battle!This is your time to suit up and commit to a day of purpose.Pick one brick to lay and make it happen.
The Most Overlooked and Practical Application For Trust
Missed meetings that stay on the calendar.A pile of to-dos.In fact, a big long list of to-dos with dates that are WAY overdue.Seems innocent, though, right?What harm could it do?You're just adjusting. You're still striving. You're just on your way there, right?
Here's the problem:
When you stray from the structure you've laid out--whether it's a calendar event, to-do, or whatever--you're building distrust.You're teaching yourself that you can't trust the calendar to tell you what's important because sometimes there are events you can miss.You're teaching yourself that you can't trust your to-do list because it's packed with tasks that don't matter and clog up your view of priorities.You're teaching yourself that you can't trust yourself to get things done or honor the schedule.If your calendar is sacred, you will trust it.You'll have a good relationship with your calendar and you'll enjoy using it as a tool--because it will actually be useful.You'll have a good relationship with your to-do list and you'll enjoy using it because it will also be useful.
2 Minute Action:
Scan your calendar for the week. Delete anything you KNOW won't happen. Reschedule, kick back, block off a chunk of time to get something done--whatever you need.Do it now.In tomorrow's post, I'm going to tell you more about how to prune and reset your to-do list.