3 Small Reminders That Will Make You Relentless
It’s easy to be incapacitated by the hugeness of your dreams.Its just as easy to be incapacitated by the lack of huge dreams.If you’re serious about achieving your goal, you have to take a step back and clarify a few things:
1. Define the fantasy
Are you really sure that starting a non-profit is the way to your happiness? Did you know that you’ll have to put together a board and then THEY will be in control of your company?It might take some challenging to figure out if your fantasy of the perfect future is actually what you want.
2. Do the work
There is no substitute for hustle. Commit to something and see it through. When you’re done, assess what you should keep doing and what you should improve. Don’t start working again until you have a new hypothesis to test.
3. Make the work smaller
Most people bite off more than they can chew. It’s pretty normal, especially in American work culture. Make the steps smaller and more fun to accomplish and you will have a positive feedback loop that will lock you into a behavior pattern that will increase the chances of success.That’s it.You will read about tricks and tips and tactics and strategy and how to make your website better and how to get cheaper leads and how to write better . . .. . . and it’s up to you to stay focused.Its simple, not easy.You already know what to do.Just start.
2 Minute Action:
I firmly believe that everyone has 2 minutes to do something in a day. There is no excuse for not having 2 minutes.If your next step is too big, I challenge you to break it down into smaller pieces.”Start a non-profit” sounds like it would take more than 2 minutes—but “set up a call with my friend who works at a non-profit” is much smaller.“How to file for a non-profit” is a quick Google search.Looking up “pros and cons of a non-profit” takes 2 minute sor less to get a quick idea.Today, I’m asking you:What is your 2 minute action?What could you do today that only takes 2 minutes and can move your forward.It can be as small as you want—you just have to do it.If you still don’t want to take action and you know it only takes 2 minutes, it’s your job to figure out what other excuse you might have.More on that, later.This post took you about 2 minutes to read, so remember that when your brain starts feeding you excuses.
The Counterintuitive Effect Of Employee Of The Month
What is it about the employee of the month program that feels so fake and contrived?The weird thing is, that it's programs like this, that are intended to recognize people for their hard work, that fall short in delivering the one thing that people need to be the best, highest output versions of themselves.It's the recognition for their work that people are looking for.It's the idea that their work matters.Still unsure? Check out these quick and powerful stats about employee recognition.
It's clear:
People don't leave bad jobs.People leave bad managers.
So what do you do?
Take literally 2 minutes each day and recognize someone on your team.
2 Minute Action:
Just call them out for something they did when no one was looking.
- Send an email.
- Post in your Slack lobby.
- Write a thank you card.
It takes 2 minutes.Everyone has 2 minutes to recognize the people around you for the great work they're doing.
The Fastest Way To Supercharged Professional And Personal Productivity
You line up the ball.You walk it down the lane.You roll it down that oily wooden lane.Crash!In an instant, you know exactly how you did.In the next instant, you get the chance to analyze your roll.Was your grip too loose? Did you move your wrist too much?
The point here is that this immediate feedback helps us modify our performance quickly.
Of course, for most of us, daily life doesn't feel like this at all.In fact, many people feel like there's an "invisible ledger" at work, where the boss is keeping score without sharing how you're doing.And it's only after a few months, at our quarterly performance review, that we get the chance to see how we're being graded.Ridiculous!If you want to see change happen fast in your professional and personal life: call it when you see it.There's no substitute for this.The faster you reward or re-direct someone's behavior, the faster they have the opportunity to change it.This isn't new information, it's operant conditioning and it was coined about a century ago.If employees are throwing pennies down a well and they never hear a splash, well, that's a great way to discourage them from throwing pennies down the well.Rewards for good actions. Re-directs for actions that need to be improved.It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative behavior, the reinforcement just has to happen fast.
2 Minute Action:
Be specific.Catch someone doing something right, today.Call it out and praise it publically.It literally only takes 2 minutes to make someone's day.And you have the power to make it so.