Read This If You Don't Think You Have An Enemy
It could be a person.
It could be a substance.
It could be a disease.
It could be a thought.
It could be someone else's thought.
It could be anything.
Whomever or whatever your enemy is . . .
"Your enemy thanks you for not giving 100%, today."
- unknown
I stole this little quote from military culture.
Powerful, isn't it?
Now that you feel that way . . . you're accountable.
2 Minute Action:
Maybe it's a gratitude letter to an old boss.
Maybe it's a monthly payment to UNICEF.
Maybe it's telling someone the constructive truth.
You pick.
We're all counting on you to make something important and meaningful happen today and it could be something that takes 2 minutes or less to start or finish.
How Seeing The Rain Can Launch You Toward Success
You know the guy selling sunglasses on the street?Well, that guy does something smart.As soon as it starts raining, he's selling umbrellas and ponchos.Might sound pretty obvious but there are many businesses that just don't adapt to market conditions.
The tricky part is seeing the rain.
Blockbuster said: "our data show that people still like the experience of walking into a brick and mortar store."The trouble is that this was true--at least, it's what people reported to be true. It's what the customers themselves thought to be true.It's just that, when faced with the choice, people prefer sitting on the couch and watching Netflix."Self-report" is a pretty poor assessment of the truth unless you're literally just looking for people's perceptions.A better assessment, in science, in business, and in life is the assessment of actual behavior.Measure actual market behavior and you will find the truth.See the rain and it'll be obvious that you need to sell umbrellas.
2 Minute Action
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.What are the ways you're measuring your success?Sales? Impact stories? Market Share? Lives saved?Take 2 minutes to identify 3-5 ways you're measuring success.Once you've got a few, ask yourself: "how will I know when it's raining?"
How To Survive In The Information Age
We have a TON of information at our fingertips.
Some of it is true.Some of it is not.Some of it appears true but after some training, we can see it's false.Some of it isn't true or false.Some of it was once true and isn't anymore.Some of it requires a lot of time to understand.Some of it requires a lot of intelligence to understand.
Here's the punchline:
We've got a ton of "information" to filter through.The hard part isn't finding data, it's analyzing it.It's what we choose to believe.And if you haven't developed a good information filter, you'll be overwhelmed by the firehose through which it comes.What's important is constantly refreshing your version of reality based on the most up-to-date and the most ruthlessly investigated information.Else, your business becomes less useful, your expertise becomes obsolete, and the quality of your output degrades.That's right. Refreshing your version of reality.Piece of cake, right?
2 Minute Action
Here are 5 questions you can ask yourself to get closer to understanding how to improve your information filter and keep learning.
- What's something you once believed to be true but don't anymore?
- What experiences or people helped change your mind?
- When was the last time you were so surprised because you learned something new?
- What kind of people were around you when you had these experiences?
- Why were you there in the first place?
Take a look at these answers and you might see something emerge--maybe a pattern.Now that you have some insight, it's up to you to put yourself in a position where you're more likely to be lucky.