or perhaps, you’re looking to improve.
You can’t do both at the same time.
If it’s perfect, you can’t make it better. But if you don’t make it better, you’re getting no closer to what you set out to accomplish.
Reblogged from: here
Tag: self
The marketing we deserve
We say we want sustainable packaging…
but end up buying the one in fancy packaging instead.
We say we want handmade, local goods…
but end up buying the cheap one, because it’s ‘just as good.’
We say we want the truth…
but end up buying hype.
We say we want to hire for diversity (of thought, culture and background)…
but end up hiring people who share our point of view in most things.
We say we want to be treated with respect…
but end up buying from manipulative, selfish, short-term profit-seekers instead.
We say we don’t want to be hustled…
but we wait for the last-minute, the going-out-of-business rush or the high pressure push.
It actually starts with us.
Here’s the thing. It also starts with anyone with the leverage and power and authority to make something.
Because even if it’s the marketing we deserve, it’s also the marketing they create.
Reblogged from: here
Self talk
There’s no more important criticism than self criticism.
There’s no amount of external validation that can undo the constant drone of internal criticism.
And negative self talk is hungry for external corroboration. One little voice in the ether that agrees with your internal critic is enough to put you in a tailspin.
The remedy for negative self talk, then, is not the search for unanimous praise from the outside world. It’s a hopeless journey, and one that destroys the work, because you will water it down in fear of that outside critic that amplifies your internal one.
The remedy is accurate and positive self talk. Endless amounts of it.
Not delusional affirmations or silly metaphysical pronouncements about the universe. No, merely the reassertion of obvious truths, a mantra that drives away the nonsense the lizard brain is selling as truth.
You cannot reason with negative self talk or somehow persuade it that the world disagrees. All you can do is surround it with positive self talk, drown it out and overwhelm it with concrete building blocks of great work, the combination of expectation, obligation and possibility.
When in doubt, tell yourself the truth.
Reblogged from: here
New times call for new decisions
Those critical choices you made then, they were based on what you knew about the world as it was.
But now, you know more and the world is different.
So why spend so much time defending those choices?
We don’t re-decide very often, which means that most of our time is spent doing, not choosing. And if the world isn’t changing (if you’re not changing) that doing makes a lot of sense.
The pain comes from falling in love with your status quo and living in fear of making another choice, a choice that might not work.
You might have been right then, but now isn’t then, it’s now.
If the world isn’t different, no need to make a new decision.
The question is, “is the world different now?”
Reblogged from: here
Did you win?
A far better question to ask (the student, the athlete, the salesperson, the programmer…) is, “what did you learn?”
Learning compounds. Usually more reliably than winning does.
Reblogged from: here
Hope and expectation
Hope is fuel, it moves us forward and it amplifies our best work.
Expectation is the killer of joy, the shortest route to disappointment. When we expect that something will happen, we can’t help but be let down…
The existential crisis (and the other kind)
For some, crises are existential. The subsistence farmer, the parent without access to medical care, the person living in a makeshift shelter–this crisis might be the last one they ever encounter. Deal with this crisis or cease to exist.
As a result, crisis management became a cultural emergency, something we all focused on. High alert, drop everything, this is do or die, because if we don’t get through this, it’s over.
Now, of course, for those lucky enough to live in a well-off part of the world, insulated from disaster, few crises are actually this black and white—they merely feel that way.
The project might be in jeopardy, but you’re not.
Selfie for the first time – Nepal
It is priceless to see the happy faces and the innocence they have in them. It is Pure, surreal and very much one’s own self. I was never into smiling more often in front of the camera and get too conscious. I never had an answer to it until I saw this video which truly indicated, clarified and soothed me on being very much me.
It is truly a priceless capture to have someone in their own life being captured naturally.
Enjoy this lovely video and have a great weekend. Cheers
Can I see your body of work?
Are you leaving behind an easily found trail of accomplishment?
Few people are interested in your resume any more. Plenty are interested in what you’ve done.
The second thing you’ll need to do is regularly note what you produce in a log or find some other way to keep track.
The first thing is more difficult: If the work you do isn’t worth collating and highlighting, you probably need to be doing better work.
Reblogged from: here
How do they know you’re not a flake?
Before your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person is going to triage it to find out if it’s even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures.
- Do I know this person?
- Did someone I trust send them over?
- Where does she work? (Ideo? the FDA? The New York Times?)
- Has she won an award? Is she famous?
- Are there typos and is the design sloppy?
- Are they pestering me?
- Do I already follow this person online?
- Does music play when I visit the website?
- Will my boss be pleased when I bring this project up?
- Who else is pointing to/referencing/working with this person?
- Is it too good to be true?
Notice that all of these questions get asked before the idea is even analyzed. Doesn’t matter that this might not be fair, it’s a hurdle you have to cross.
Not all good ideas are pre-proven, sophisticated and from reliable sources. That’s not your fault. Doesn’t matter. In a noisy world filled with choices, you can’t blame your prospects for ignoring you. I know that you’re talented and have a lot to offer, but do they?
Reblogged from: here
Janak Mistry 