Easier Said Than Done
My dog has a urinary tract infection. The vet says, “Just bring in a urine sample.” Sounds simple enough, but it’s easier said than done when he thinks it’s a game.
People will tell you to start your own business. Hire someone to help. Just get more customers. Go get a loan. Consistently write amazing content. Easier said than done.
Want more subscribers? Here’s a foolproof trick: first become a celebrity and the followers will follow. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has 400,000 subscribers here with just three posts. Copy his formula. Easier said than done.
It may not be easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it and it would be an awfully crowded space. Risk = reward for a reason. The trick is not making it harder than it needs to be.
Do Your Homework
Before rushing into something or simply following the herd, do your research. Understand the challenges ahead. Talk with people. Think things through. Experiment.
Don’t let emotions cloud your judgment and rush decisions. Take it slow and know what you’re getting into.
Create Systems
I’ve worked with companies that have onboarded plenty of employees, written hundreds of proposals, repeatedly dealt with difficult customers and suppliers, and each time was as if it were the first.
If you going to do something more than once, write it down. Refine it over time. Create a repeatable process so you can focus on making things happen rather than figuring out over and over how to make it happen.
Map your system so you can easily understand it and explain it to others. Know the critical path and where value is generated. Identify and eliminate bottlenecks. Don’t grope your way through the darkness, use a map to guide you.
Explore the Future
Yeah, I know you’re busy. You have an immediate to do list that consumes your day. But you really need to think about what comes next.
Whatever you do now should be a step on a long journey. If you don’t have a long-range direction, those steps could cause you to walk in circles.
Study the future. Explore the potential paths ahead and position yourself for the opportunities, risks, and uncertainties that await.
Develop a strategy that unites and lights the path forward, communicate it, and live it. Strategy, believe it or not, isn’t a week offsite or a PowerPoint nobody reads. It’s not a wish list. It’s a living thing that takes us from here to there. It’s the framework that defines intent and fills in the gaps of uncertainty.
Foresight and strategy aren’t easy, but they make it much easier to move forward.
Find Your Own Way
If the road ahead is rocky, find another path. If the traditional model everyone else is using doesn’t work for you, blaze your own trail. You don’t have to select from the “official” hairstyles. Choose your own.
There are plenty of successful examples: Sara Blakely with Spanx, Apple’s Steve Jobs, and Mary Kay Ash with $1.2 billion in cosmetic sales.
Tom Scholz, had a graduate degree from MIT and worked as an engineer for Polaroid. But he really wanted to make music; his music, his way, on his schedule.
Tom built a studio in his basement. He created amplifiers, guitar pedals, and other devices of his own design to get the sounds he wanted. He made a whole album, writing the songs, playing every instrument, producing, and recording with some help on the vocals.
His demo generated interest, but also resistance as it didn’t follow the standard formula with record labels, producers, professional recording studios, etc. When the album hit the streets, he had put a band together and recorded all but one song in his basement.
The band is Boston. They’ve sold 75 million records, including 17 million with the first one.
Now I’m not saying you should throw away the playbook and ignore what 90% of everyone is doing. There’s a reason the status quo is the status quo. You should; however, not just cut and paste.
If it makes sense, do it. If it’s not working and you think there might be a better way, you’re not obligated to run with the herd. Dare to be different, if you dare.
There you have it, my four easy hacks to make hard things easier. If this works for you, remember where you got it and DM me for where to send the check. If it doesn’t, hey I’m just some guy on the internet. You make your own decisions.