We hear the fantastic song of perfectionism as soon as we start a project.
The sweet song is good because we see a new project as a slice of our identity. The song leads us to believe that any imperfection is a mark on us.
The song also prompts us to believe that once we hit that fabled “perfection,” any and every accolade we can think of is on the way. We just have to make sure it’s perfect.
Perfection is a siren call.
Remember the sirens? In Greek mythology, they lead sailors to their death.
The siren call of perfection is doing the same thing to our creativity. It lulls us into the hope for perfection; each moment we strive for perfection results in the atrophying of our creativity.
Don’t let your creativity die, because like the sirens, perfectionism doesn’t exist.
That feeling where the task, project, or dream you have feels like it’s too big?
You feel overwhelmed.
You begin to plan on getting your task done; you find that it’s bigger and bigger.
Instead of this idea you have bettering your life, you look at it as a burden.
At that point, you put it away. After a few days, months, or years you pick it up and do it again.
We all go through it.
There is a small phrase that can short-circuit this script.
It gets you out of your head and gets something into the world.
That phrase is “start small,” and it’s the theme for this month.
This month’s theme ties into execution
At the end of last year, I wrote a post that resulted in my picking four themes for 2016. They are the guiding light (strategic) for my ideas. Each month on this blog, I break things down into the practical (tactical). This year I want to tie them together, so each month, I have to write the reason they connect.
Over two months we discussed communicating and saying no. Those are foundations to put in place. Now it is time to get a little more reckless and start stuff.
Reread candidate
What To Do When It’s Your Turnby Seth Godin– This book is fantastic in getting someone from “zero to one.” My hope is that we’re all doing that this month.
Assumptions
The more experiments are, the better.
Our emotions stop us from starting more than anything else.
A lot of experiments are free; our mind tricks us into thinking otherwise.
As we walk into a new calendar year, I want to take the time to lay out what went well, what happened unexpectedly, and what went wrong. Each of these things have a lesson in them, especially the failures, and documenting them helps not only me, but anyone who reads them know that there are lessons in anything.
The end of December is a great time to deal with clean slate thinking (since everyone else is) and work out what didn’t go well and what did go well over the last year. It was both exhilarating and painful to write this, but so is anything else that’s good.
What happened in 2015
I spent the last few days sitting over and thinking about the goals I set in 2015, and what they mean for me. Usually when I do this, I try to pull a bunch of notebooks out and crawl over the notes, hoping to find some nugget of wisdom to move into the next year, but having this blog, and forcing myself to go through that process every month, made me sharper in dealing with whats important and knowing what to write.
So, my process got better. But what did I do that got better over the last year?
Expected
I expected to get more confident – I wasn’t confident. Over the last few years, I saw my confidence erode due to problems at work, an expanding waistline, and, dealing with some of the darker sides of comedy. So, I made a point to get confident again. It started with reading, then doing. Tools like online workshops meshed with networking events. Building my contact list and providing value to the people on it gave me more juice. By the end of 2015, I am starting to feel like the old me again, and I love it since my plans for 2016 involve me making a few scary leaps.
Better read – I worked myself into a good reader. I started the year as an “ok” reader, taking time to read when I could, but by the end of the year I got back to enjoying books. It’s become a bit of an addiction. The benefits are tremendous. 100 books later I feel like a better reader and a writer. I read so much I learned I had to change my strategy though, but more on that later.
Connecting more with family/friends – It felt like I didn’t talk to anyone in 2014, but now my relationships are in a great place. It started strangely, automating my texts to friends and family (sounds cold but it worked by forcing me into a conversation) and then eventually spending more time.I made sure the time meant more too with no cell phone, no computer, no books. I put my attention on them.
Clutter – I started this year with a ton of stuff. Now I don’t have that stuff anymore. It’s nice to walk in my apartment and have room to move and nothing to clean up. I feel like my mind freed up.
Physical Appearance – It’s always interesting to see how things morph. At first I thought of ways to exercise, but I found out about coaching in February and took a chance. She walked me through and taught me a ton over the 6 weeks we worked together, and now I am the sharpest guy in the room most days. That gave me the confidence to lose weight (down 30 pounds this year) and work on the other parts of my appearance (Sharp haircut, shoes, etc)
Unexpected
The video blog – I never thought about doing video until this year. I hated recording. Now, I am glad its out there. Its been a way for me to try to understand how I come across, and work to get better in a medium that is just getting more and more widespread.
This blog – Speaking of the blog, I knew I was going to write more in 2015, but to look at this now and see that I’ve done over 300 posts in a year amazes me. I’ve become a better writer, better at getting my ideas out, and better at delivering content. I can’t wait to see what lessons writing for over 350 will do for me next year. Better content begets better content.
Being a Godfather – I am the godfather to a wonderful baby girl(Hi Skyler). Very important to me and a cherished honor, especially since my life was headed for calamity at the time of her birth.
Jury Duty – After having a period of crisis earlier in the year(A lot of flux and starting a bunch of scary experiments that turned into the wins above) I received a jury summons. It was the last thing I wanted. What I thought would be just an interesting experience to check out the courthouse for a day turned into 4 months away from work. I got to do a lot of thinking and reading during this period,and it changed my life for the better. An experience I recommend for everyone.
Losses
Job – For all my personal wins, my job suffered. I concluded that I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. My chance at delivering my best isn’t here, so 2016 is a year I venture into the new.
Submitting content – Where I was great at generating content, I was horrible at submitting it . I put out 1 guest post and ended up doing 1 writing packet. Number I won’t repeat in 2016.
Calendar – I didn’t give deference to my calendar. I learned how to deal with the tactics, but never invested in it emotionally.
Comedy – I didn’t do it nearly the amount I wanted to in 2015. There were pockets of working on it every day, and weeks where I didn’t see a stage.
Meditation – Like comedy, fits and spurts. The good news is, I could have said the same thing for the blog, and now its a pretty strong habit.
What will happen in 2016
The future is interesting because it isn’t set. If you would have told me that I would spend a quarter of my year in a courthouse last December I wouldn’t believe you. Life changes, and to try to plot it out in on big chunk isn’t the way to go.
So, its time to experiment, and go for something newer that gives me direction, while letting my mind roam. I am going for big themes and little milestones.
By doing it this way, I am going to learn a ton and make some mistakes, but the plan is to have my 2016 process get bigger. I spent 2015 looking at what was in front of me instead of the big picture planning that introduces huge reward.
Themes
Execution
My biggest failures are failures of execution. It’s also where I find the most opportunities. This year, some places I executed well (this blog) and some places I executed badly (brand expansion). One of the things I want to focus on in 2016 is how to expand on executing not just for myself, but for the community around me.
I read over 100 books. This was great, but only a first step. I never plan on reading 100 books again. My plan going forward, is to pick a great choice of books that I read through last year, and study them fully. I did this on accident with Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World, but now I plan on doing it on purpose with several books I read this year. I will still take in a new book and read it, but I want to put my energy in the books that have the most to share, because often you don’t get everything out of it on the first read.
Around September this year I had a frightening observation. When I looked around me, I only saw what was in front, I never looked down the road. I rarely pursued my legacy.I am not going to repeat this mistake. Now its time to take a swing at big ideas, and I will keep up time to work on just that. Clean up time is over, now its time to bat for the win.
In Conclusion
This was a good year. I ended up fixing a lot of the problems I had. It led to huge development, not just in my self, but network and community.
I think the 5 themes for 2016 only help building those three things and in a year, I will be back here, revisiting how that worked, and how it makes me work. If you have any questions, please tweet me and lets discuss your goals and plans.
That question drums around in my head before, during, and after I create.It isn’t because I have fond memories of Shakespeare, but I have fond memories of being invisible.
Sometimes it’s nice.
Execution is difficult. Creation is difficult. Every time we push something into the world, we are dealing with both external and internal forces that make us turn back.Doing anything, especially when there is no instructions and no boss to cover for us, means leaning into the fear – fear of inadequacy,irrelevance,and indifference.
We become visible to the world around us because it involves stepping up and saying – as Seth Godin says – “here, I made this.”
It goes into the world, and we don’t get safety anymore.
Fear has agency here. It’s easy to fall into “it isn’t finished” mode.
It hits me like a ton of bricks. Every blog post, video, or email – it never feels done. But I hit the button anyway.
Why is that?
You learn much faster when you become “visible”.
There is a sense of normal when you stay where you are. When I stick in the same routines long enough, there is a chance at life feeling “normal”. Normal means comfortable, at least in our heads.
But the hidden cost of that normalcy is complacency. Anything complacent is replaceable – they become a statistic in a world where things are that much cheaper.
Invisible is normal.
So, each time I hit that button, each time I ship, I get to come out of my bubble and say “hello, I am here”.
If I get hit, I learn a lesson. If I get love, I learn a lesson. If no one cares, I still learn a lesson.
So, if you ask yourself that question, try to err on the side of “to be”.
[bctt tweet=”I looked back at some of my biggest failures and recognized that bad execution in a few of them. “]
Three Thoughts:
Anchoring controls more of our lives than we realize. It dominates as a bias because its subtle layering hits the lizard brain. Independent thinking is difficult, especially since you find anchoring in media, marketing, and design. It’s shocking and sobering. Its harder to figure out how to think outside the box when so much is anchoring you inside of it.
Execution is important, because it underlies everything we do. Give me a worker that executes brilliantly over an idea man everyday (and I am an idea man, and this kills me). One thing my job is forcing me to execute, and I experienced some growing pains. I looked back at some of my biggest failures and recognized that bad execution in a few of them. Business is about execution. If you are a great idea person, figure out how execute. If you execute well, understand ideas. I just bought a few books on the subject. This is why I deal with fear so much here, fear stops execution all the time. We don’t lean in, we pull up just to get to safety. We aren’t raising our hands high enough.
Presentation. Please think about presentation. As much as intelligence, bravery, and honor matter,people see you, and how you present yourself first. We often notice more than we think. Be strong enough to make decisions on how you present yourself to the world. The front page of your site, your emails, and how you talk about what you do matter because it is the first layer that they see, and often its enough to make people decide if they want to deal with you. So, trust yourself and trust your presentation enough by working on it.
On my way to a wedding!
Lovely day to do that here in NYC (I love fall weather, 40 degrees to 60 degree weather)
Tools are used as function of a task. They handle a series of jobs, and as designed, experts at them. They can also do other things, just not as well – hammers are great at nailing in boards, terrible as an exercise weight, and ok at killing people (not great at distance but pretty good when you close 🙂 ).
The job of a tool isn’t to understand context or to make connections, it is to go up there and do the job well, and the best of its abilities. The human tools internal fight comes from self-doubt. It is about showing up and letting your work improve you. There is nothing more powerful than a well-worn tool that is kept up. The right tool implemented in the right way, can change the world.
Craftsman design for the job. They are there to create the connection to the work and to decide the context of the tools that complete the job. They need competency with a lot of tools, because understanding them is the only way to get the work done proficiently.
Craftsmen have to fight ego. If they try to do what the tool does, they are not doing the tool service, and they are slowing up everyone involved. They aren’t going to change the world, her job is to put the tools in place to change it. Understand that, and you can work wonders.
The great thing about being human is we are both. We can allow context to decide which one is the best for us. Simply, we have both the power to change the world and help someone to do the same.I think that is powerful. Both craftsman and tools are crucial to understanding and developing the world around us.
This week, I attended the 99U Conference in New York City. It is an amazing festival, where some of the sharpest creative minds in tech and design meet and discuss executing their inspiration. It features themed talks, workshops, exhibitions along with many other helpful tools to help push the attendee to start making, and to start making with purpose.
The entire event was engaging, and getting to meet people from all over the world( 3 different continents ) , doing all types of things, is very energizing. I didn’t get much sleep through the entire thing, connecting with people of that caliber was a shock to the system and I couldn’t get enough. Executing small ideas during the two and a half days came off easy.
All well and good, except now I find myself back in my same apartment, around the same habits, and the same people in my normal life. The magic source has gone, and one thing I painfully learned last year is that the magic will follow right along with it if you don’t make changes to support it.
How do I continue the momentum? I have come up with 3 ideas.
Emailing everyone I met from the conference – If we met there and you are reading this, expect to hear from me often. I want to help push you towards your goals and I want you to force me to answer some uncomfortable answers about mine.
Being More Transparent – This blog will catalog more of my work, and who I am. I have tried to compartmentalized a ton in my life, but I am seeing the flaws in that. So, if you see me slipping, feel free to just tweet me WHAT ARE YOU DOING,ADAM! First, that will freak me out :-)…but then it will get me to the right state of mind – uncomfortable and ready to execute.
Accountability Partners – I found 2 during the conference. I now have I have 3 total. It will be an interesting experiment seeing how those three sessions go each week. Watching other people do what they need to do will get me going.
I would like to build on everything I got from that conference. Execution is the hardest hurdle to get over. But, as I learned this week – “Execution is the start of the idea.” Now we are off to the races
From the desk of Adam Thomas 