by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 15 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 10 Tips from Seth Godin on how to be remarkable
— From Seth Godin’s blog post titled “How to be remarkable,” (in turn from Godin’s post on The Guardian).
I’ve always enjoyed Seth Godin’s definition of remarkable: in a nutshell, something to make a remark about.
And as I was looking for that specific quote for a project of mine, I came across this great post and news article that Godin posted over a decade ago, that is as valid today as it was back then.
I’ll leave the whole piece below for you. Enjoy it – it’s remarkable! 😉
How to be remarkable
You’re either boring or you stand out. You’re either invisible or remarkable. And, all your life, everyone has been pushing you to fit in. All your life you’re told to keep your head down, work hard, don’t make waves and get it done. What rubbish. Here, in 10 easy steps, is how to grow. How to stand out. How to get noticed, make a difference and have a shot at the big time.
1.Understand the urgency of the situation. Half-measures simply won’t do. The only way to grow is to abandon your strategy of doing what you did yesterday, but better. Commit.
2.Remarkable doesn’t mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it? If not, then you’re average, and average is for losers.
3. Being noticed is not the same as being remarkable. Running down the street naked will get you noticed, but it won’t accomplish much. It’s easy to pull off a stunt, but not useful.
4. Extremism in the pursuit of remarkability is no sin. In fact, it’s practically a requirement. People in first place, those considered the best in the world, these are the folks that get what they want. Rock stars have groupies because they’re stars, not because they’re good looking.
5. Remarkability lies in the edges. The biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn’t always matter which edge, more that you’re at (or beyond) the edge.
6. Not everyone appreciates your efforts to be remarkable. In fact, most people don’t. So what? Most people are ostriches, heads in the sand, unable to help you anyway. Your goal isn’t to please everyone. Your goal is to please those that actually speak up, spread the word, buy new things or hire the talented.
7. If it’s in a manual, if it’s the accepted wisdom, if you can find it in a Dummies book, then guess what? It’s boring, not remarkable. Part of what it takes to do something remarkable is to do something first and best. Roger Bannister was remarkable. The next guy, the guy who broke Bannister’s record wasn’t. He was just faster … but it doesn’t matter.
8. It’s not really as frightening as it seems. They keep the masses in line by threatening them (us) with all manner of horrible outcomes if we dare to step out of line. But who loses their jobs at the mass layoffs? Who has trouble finding a new gig? Not the remarkable minority, that’s for sure.
9. If you put it on a T-shirt, would people wear it? No use being remarkable at something that people don’t care about. Not ALL people, mind you, just a few. A few people insanely focused on what you do is far far better than thousands of people who might be mildly interested, right?
10. What’s fashionable soon becomes unfashionable. While you might be remarkable for a time, if you don’t reinvest and reinvent, you won’t be for long. Instead of resting on your laurels, you must commit to being remarkable again quite soon.
“But wait!” I hear you say. “My boss won’t let me. I want to do something great, but she won’t let me.”
This is, of course, nonsense. Your boss won’t let you because what you’re really asking is: “May I do something silly and fun and, if it doesn’t work, will you take the blame – but if it does work, I get the credit?” What would you say to an offer like that?
The alternative sounds scary, but I don’t think it is. The alternative is to just be remarkable. Go all the way to the edge. Not in a big thing, perhaps, but in a little one. Find some area where you have a tiny bit of authority and run with it. After you succeed, you’ll discover you’ve got more leeway for next time. And if you fail? Don’t worry. Your organisation secretly wants employees willing to push hard even if it means failing every so often.
And when? When should you start being remarkable? How’s this: if you don’t start tomorrow, you’re not really serious. Tomorrow night by midnight or don’t bother. You’re too talented to sit around waiting for the perfect moment. Go start.
ACTION
TODAY: Start today at being remarkable! Start small, where you are and with what you have.
FUTURE: Keep this tip sheet handy and frequently refer to it. Start the habit of becoming remarkable in little things first, as Godin suggests, and then run with larger projects! Rinse and repeat.
Know someone who is remarkable? Please share this post with them! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 54 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Leaders take initiative
— From The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow by John C. Maxwell
A trait in leaders is that they always take initiative. In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, leadership guru John C. Maxwell pointed out that it is a leader’s responsibility to initiate a connection with his or her followers.
Yet, “that’s not the only area where leaders must show initiative,” says Maxwell. “They must always look for opportunities and be ready to take action.”
Maxwell is a genius when it comes to distilling the characteristics of every aspect of leadership. And in this case, his brilliance comes through again in The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, with four qualities that he believes enable leaders to take initiative and make things happen.
1. Leaders know what they want. Clarity and vision are the keys here. Maxwell points to Napoleon Hill who said that the starting point of all achievement is desire. “If you are going to be an effective leader, you’ve got to know what you want [and where you’re going]. That’s the only way you’ll recognize opportunity when it comes.”
2. Leaders push themselves to act. “There’s an old saying, ‘You can if you will.’ Initiators don’t wait for other people to motivate them. They know it is their responsibility to push themselves beyond their comfort zone. And they make it a regular practice.”
3. Leaders take more risks. “When leaders know what they want and can push themselves to act, they still have one more hurdle. That’s willingness to take risks. Proactive people always take risks. But one of the reasons good leaders are willing to take risks is that they recognize there is a price for not initiating too.” Maxwell shares a quote from President John F. Kennedy:
“There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”
4. Leaders make more mistakes. “The good news for initiators is that they make things happen. The bad news is that they make lots of mistakes. […] Even though initiating leaders experience more failure, they don’t let it bother them. The greater the potential, the greater their chance for failure. […] If you want to achieve great things as a leader, you must be willing to initiate and put yourself on the line.”
As Maxwell reflects on these traits, he asks, “When was the last time you initiated something significant in your life?” I’ll leave you with that thought to ponder today and a quote by former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca who said, “Even the right decision is the wrong decision if it is made too late.”
Where do you need to jump-start your initiative?
ACTION
TODAY: Think about something that you’ve wanted to do for some time but have been putting it off. Why is that? Analyze your mindset and determine why you’re hesitant. Ask why five times so that you can get to the bottom of it and take initiative today—even if it’s just a tiny little step—towards making it happen.
FUTURE: Opportunity is everywhere. That is a wonderful thing, but it can also be overwhelming. Cultivate a mindset of discernment so that you can take initiative and act only on those opportunities in which you can succeed. That’s where your time and efforts will be rewarded.
Know someone who is constantly taking initiative? Please share this post with that person, he or she deserves recognition for being an initiator, hats off! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Mindset, Tools, Wellbeing
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 27 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Compare well if you’re going to compare to others
— From: Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals by M. J. Ryan
If you’re going to compare to others, compare well, was the wise counsel that M.J. Ryan—leading expert on change and human fulfillment, and author of Habit Changers—gave to a young business owner who was in her twenties, and who was complaining about “not being ‘as far along’ on the success path as her peers.”
Ryan says that this is a very common feeling: “We look around, rank ourselves on some invisible scale of achievement, and usually find ourselves wanting. There’s always someone who’s done more, made more money, gotten more glory, no matter our age and stage.”
And despite what the experts say that we should not compare ourselves to others, Ryan points out that is impossible. “Part of what our prefrontal cortex exists to do is take in information and compare that to conclusions and judgments it has previously made.”
Ryan suggests not battling this tendency of our brain to compare ourselves to others but instead, as she told her young client, “be sure to compare well.”
I think this compare well mantra can serve us all. Ryan recalls the conversation:
“What do you mean [compare well]?” [The client] asked. “Well,” [Ryan] said, “What does success look like to you?” She had her answer immediately: “Being my own boss, having the freedom to do things when and how I want.” “So when you compare your situation to others given those criteria, what do you notice?” [Ryan] replied. “I’ve already got what I want!” [The client] exclaimed! “I’ve been so busy comparing myself against a yardstick I’m not even interested in that I didn’t even notice the success I’ve created.”
Going forward, since we will all compare, it behooves us to compare well. This way, as the author mentions, we will be in alignment with the success we truly want and comparing ourselves by the measurements we truly value.
ACTION
TODAY: Who have you been comparing yourself to? Decide instead to compare well: Ask yourself the two questions that Ryan asked her client: What does success look like to you? So, when you compare your situation to others given those criteria, what do you notice? Your answers will be revealing: (1) they’ll make you grateful for getting clarity and for being where you are; (2) they’ll set you in alignment with your definition of success; and (3) they’ll point you towards the path you must follow to achieve (or to continue to attain) the success you want.
FUTURE: Remember that if you are going to compare anyway, you must compare well! There is no need to compare someone’s sizzle reel (especially from social media) to your everyday life. Don’t let that deceive you or bring you down: we all make our best effort to look great online. Compare yourself well and only to yourself as you move in the direction of your goals.
Know someone who would like this post? Please share: Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Celebration, Collaboration, Growth, Leadership, Mindset
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 33 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Gary Vee’s philosophy on leadership
— From #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness by Gary Vaynerchuk
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been poring over all the leadership books I own, working on distilling some of the most important lessons on leadership for a keynote that I’ll be giving this month to a Fortune 500 Company.
This has been a super fun endeavor, and a titanic one at that, because I could talk about this topic for hours without end, and I only have one hour. Yes, 60 minutes, Q&A included. The time has become a beautiful constraint as it has forced me to focus only on the key points and pick the most relevant stories. The presentation is going to be awesome!
I will be sharing with you tidbits of my talk as future posts. Yet, in the meantime, I wanted to share with you today this excerpt about Gary Vee’s philosophy on leadership. It comes from Gary Vaynerchuck’s (“Gary Vee”) book called #AskGaryVee. Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur that I deeply admire and respect, and I hope you enjoy reading his take on leadership as much as I do.
Cheers!
My philosophy on leadership is very simple: Everything in business stems from the top, whether you’re the boss of two people in a three-person team or the head of a Fortune 500 Company. And everything that happens in a company is 100 percent the CEO’s fault. After all, the CEO is the person who puts people into a position to make good or bad decisions. It’s no accident that when some companies change their CEO they go from winners to losers or vice versa. It may be the most important variable for success in running a business.
Being a leader today is a greater challenge than ever because of social media. It has completely changed the nature of the job. You used to be able to—no, leaders were expected to talk from the top of a mountain. You’d make your proclamation and not worry much about hearing anything back, certainly not in real time. But now that our communication channels have given everyone a voice, whatever you say from on high may invite a reaction. You might get it in-house, or you might get it from the masses. […]
The only effective way to truly lead is to practice and model the behavior you want to see in others. […] I know my team is watching me. I can’t tell them to go the extra mile if I’m not willing to do it myself. If the DNA from any business stems from the top, the top has to ensure that its values, beliefs, and attitudes trickle down to shape the culture and encourage a productive, innovative, creative, and even happy environment.
One hallmark of a good leader is to ask questions. It’s the best way to show your team you recognize they’re more than just cogs in a wheel. “Hey, how are things going?” “How’s the new baby?” “What are you excited about lately?” “Do you have any ideas you’d like to discuss?” It’s also the best way to solve problems. Don’t ever start offering solutions before asking tons of questions: “Why are we two weeks behind?” “What do you think is the issue?” “What do you need?” And then for God’s sake, listen. Be compassionate. Be fair. Hire people who embody those characteristics, too. Celebrate successes, and when you have to reprimand, hark back to all the times you screwed up and remember that those mistakes have everything to do with who you are today. Great leaders aren’t born, they’re made.
[…] Look in the mirror and think about what you do well and how you could do even better. Leadership needs to be a big pillar in your development…
ACTION
TODAY: Think of the way in which you lead: yourself and others. In which areas are you awesome and in which do you need improvement? Ask the people that you lead for feedback, they will tell you where you’re strong and where you’re not.
FUTURE: Be intentional about your leadership and values on a daily basis: put the work into becoming the leader you want to be, so that others will want to follow you. Preach by example.
Know someone who rocks as a leader? Please share this post! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 6 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: What’s the difference between performance goals and learning goals?
— From Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success–and Won’t Let You Fail by Keith Ferrazzi.
When setting goals, it’s important to understand the difference between performance goals and learning goals. “Not knowing the difference can harm the way you think about the future,” says Keith Ferrazzi, author of Who’s Got Your Back.
“Certain goals, known as ‘performance goals,’ imply a finite result, like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… far more important is developing a process and a roadmap that help you achieve that income in a given time. In other words, you should be thinking about the rainbow, not just the pot of gold.”
The process and the roadmap that the author is referring to are the learning goals. And when setting goals he recommends having both types.
Performance goals are the goals that we normally think of: specific outcomes such as losing 10 pounds, getting a new job, traveling to Hawaii, getting married, etc.
Learning goals “emphasize acquiring new skills and knowledge to push and expand your skills and career forward.” Learning goals are key to accomplish our performance goals.
Here are a few examples that the author offers to make even clearer the distinction between these two goals:
| PERFORMANCE GOAL |
LEARNING GOAL |
| Lose 10 pounds |
Learn to cook healthier meals |
| Increase Web traffic by 50 percent |
Find five new marketing tactics |
| Boost sales 10 percent |
Learn how to hone your best pitch |
Ferrazzi goes on to say that “performance goals can be motivating [but the] flip side is that, set inappropriately, they can be intimidating and sometimes debilitating when we fall short.”
Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA states a similar thought in this post.
Kaufman says that when we set performance goals that are not directly under the control of our efforts we may become terribly disappointed if something happens that prevents us from attaining our goal.
For instance, he notes that if we set a performance goal of losing 20 pounds, and something happens that makes our weight fluctuate on any given day, we might feel very frustrated. Instead, if we make our performance goal something that we can indeed control, such as 30 minutes of exercise every day, we can then be satisfied with the outcome once we’ve performed the task(s) needed to fulfill our goals.
Further—and this is probably the most important thing to take away from today’s idea—Ferrazzi says, “With learning goals, failure is an impossibility.” He explains:
In the course of creating and carrying out your goals, of course you are going to make some mistakes. It’s part of learning. No one with ambitious career or life plans gets ahead without experiencing glitches and setbacks. […] But once you switch your attention to learning goals, the whole idea of “failure” starts to make less sense.
When you are constantly learning from everything you do, failure ceases to be an option.
With learning goals, since you are learning, putting into action, tweaking and adjusting to make the outcome better, and repeating often, you are naturally moving into the direction of your performance goal with actions that are under your control. That is why I love it when the author says that failure is an impossibility—it truly is!
ACTION
TODAY: What performance goal are you working towards where you’ve had mixed or variable success? Examine what you are doing and determine what learning goals and actions under your control you need to add to the mix so that you can get the results you desire.
FUTURE: When setting goals in the future, create the habit of doing so incorporating performance goals that you can control and learning goals that will make it impossible to fail.
Know someone who could benefit from reading this post? Please share it! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Marketing, Opportunity, Planning
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 51 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The best definition of marketing you’ll ever find
— From REWORK: Change the way you work forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
I love marketing, and this is the best definition of marketing I’ve found so far. It’s just one word:
EVERYTHING.
Whaaaat?!
Yes: marketing is everything.
Most people tend to think that Marketing is a Department or a few, specific activities within a company. It’s not. At least that is not the definition of marketing that Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, abide by in their book Rework.
The authors say the following about Marketing:
“Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365.
Just as you cannot not communicate, you cannot not market:
- Every time you answer the phone, it’s marketing.
- Every time you send an email, it’s marketing.
- Every time someone uses your product, it’s marketing.
- Every word you write on your website is marketing.
- If you build software, every error message is marketing.
- If you’re in the restaurant business, the after-dinner mint is marketing.
- If you’re in the retail business, the checkout counter is marketing.
- If you’re in a service business, your invoice is marketing.
Recognize that all of these little things are more important than choosing which piece of swag to throw into a conference goodie bag. Marketing isn’t just a few individual events. It’s the sum total of everything you do.”
Very few people and companies recognize and embrace that marketing is everything that you and company do: from beginning to end of the buyer’s journey.
Isn’t this the best definition of marketing you’ve encountered too? Let me know in the comments here.
ACTION
TODAY: Embrace this new definition of marketing and the fact that marketing is indeed everything: as part of your company you and your employees or colleagues represent it all the time. What is the image of your company that you, your colleagues, and all your actions give to the world? Is this image in alignment with what you want and should portray according to the company’s mission, vision, and values?
FUTURE: Make it a habit of conducting a periodic marketing “audit” where you look at the touch points for the customer/client. Determine what the best way to represent your company would be for each particular point to be in alignment with your mission, vision, and values.
Help someone see how everything is marketing by sharing this post via email, Facebook or Twitter!
