Read This If You Think You Should Be Yourself
"Be yourself and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
"Stick to your guns."
"Not everyone will like you, just keep doing you."
Have you heard any of these before?
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with being yourself--sort of.
I mean, let's get real here.
What if you're a jerk?
Here's an example:
Steve Jobs did some impactful work, but there are 2 things that Jobs fans often forget.
- Steve Jobs didn't do anything by himself, he had Steve Wozniak as his chief integrator to get stuff done.
- Steve Jobs was a jerk to a lot of people.
What's important about this is the outcome and then also "how" the outcome was achieved, specifically, I'm talking about working relationships.
It's great if you're making an impact, but it's not great if you're not treating others with respect. Impact and respect are NOT mutually exclusive!
So, do you think "keep doing you" is good advice for Steve Jobs? Maybe in part.
I think better advice might be "be true to your beliefs and empathize with others."
Or maybe something like "be genuine, honest, and respectful."
So, be yourself AND make sure you're auditing the feedback that's around you.
This gets harder if you've built a lifetime reputation of being difficult to work with because, at some point, the feedback people are willing to provide you might not be honest since honest feedback has gotten them nowhere with you in the past. But that's a deeper story.
2 Minute Action:
Every couple of years, I put together an anonymous feedback form and send it to the folks who know me best or who have worked with me closely.
Some people fill it out. Some of them just call me and say "let's talk through this in person."
There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's, here.
In 2 minutes, you can call a trusted friend or create an anonymous Google form that you can send out.
Do you (iterate). Get feedback (measure). Understand the feedback (learn). Revise your approach (reiterate).
Here are some questions you can steal from me, for your own feedback form:
- What are 3 of my superpowers?
- What might be 3 of my biggest weaknesses?
- What do you think is the best part of working with me?
- What might be the most challenging part of working with me?
- If you had telekinesis, what would you make me automatically understand?
Why I Love Haters
Let's talk about haters.Haters are the 2%-5% of people who just can't be pleased, entertained, soothed, or fixed.
There's nothing you can do about them.
Don't confuse this with feedback.People who complain are often offering you valuable feedback, even though they might not do it in a respectful way.It's your job to avoid taking things personally and listen objectively to what they're saying.
Sometimes you can't fix it and sometimes you can.
The point is, you'll know when you've got a hater because this is the person who just wants to complain or "get a rise" out of you.But you know better.If you focus your energy on haters, they will absorb all of it.If you focus on feedback, you will continuously improve.The punchline is that when you meet a new hater, you've given an opportunity to grow.When you meet a new hater, you're given an opportunity to choose to make the world better.
2 Minute Action
How about a random act of kindness, today?It only takes 2 minutes or less.Text someone. Leave a post-it note. Send a gift.You have everything you need to make the world just a little bit better.
Read This If You Need Strong Monday Focus
This is a sneaky one because almost everyone does it.
Choose the right domain name.Design the right logo.Develop the 5 year business plan.
Get all your ducks in a row.
And that’s exactly the problem.While most of us are out there “thinking through” the problem, our competitors are already done with version 1 of the prototype and getting feedback from customers.It’s so easy to get caught up in the easy stuff because it feels like it matters. It’s much more difficult to ask yourself: “what’s the hard part of my project?”If your project doesn’t have a hard part then you don’t have a project—it’s probably a hobby or dead end.Steve Blank used to say (and I guess he probably still does say) “Get out of the building and talk to customers.”
No matter what your problem is, the people you’re solving it for know the answer.
Example:
Need better sales copy?Go read some of your customer reviews and testimonials.That’s way faster, easier, and cheaper than taking a course on copywriting and reading the top 5 books about sales strategy.
You don’t need to optimize, yet. You need to start.
The time you’re spending making it perfect is the time you could have spent getting the traction you need to then have the opportunity to have something to optimize.You know that little yellow “buy” button on Amazon’s website?You better believe that they spent a LOT of time and energy optimizing it. And they should, because they have a bazillion customers.If you don’t have a bazillion customers, you’re killing yourself by focusing on the wrong work!
2 Minute Action:
What’s the thing you’ve been dreading doing? Do that first.What’s the feedback cycle you’re getting on your work? Could it be more frequent or more actionable? Ask your supervisor or colleague, today.Give yourself permission to have an ugly, embarrassing website (or none at all!) and re-center your focus on the hard stuff.The discipline early on is going to pay dividends later.It’s Monday, people. Let’s start this week off strong.