Have you even found an old box, and as you go through the box you remember the things that were happening when you were accumulating those items?
Finally, I did an inventory last week and unearthed at least 5 years worth of unreleased content. Notes, ebooks, videos, mindmaps, old courses etc.
This stuff has been sitting on eight hard drives for the last several years.
Let me tell you what this stuff is…
At the end of the day, look back and ask yourself, “What did you really accomplish today?”
If you can’t answer that question with:
- I did this
- Got this completed
- Talked to so-and-so about this
- Finished this project
- Closed this deal
Then perhaps it is not how you are ending your day; it may be how you are starting your day.
I keep a long list of things that I need to do. Every morning I look at the list and ask myself, “How can I move these tasks forward?”
Will it require an email?
Do I need to make a phone call?
Is there a specific task I need to do?
I realized a few years ago that all I can do is move things forward one step at a time… one baby step, then another one.
Trying to do too much too fast usually means that nothing substantive actually gets done. In the end all you have is a bunch of unfinished items, which leads to unfinished projects.
Take a step back and see what little things you can do to move a project forward. You will find that you actually have a lot less to do than you think, and can accomplish more than you can imagine.
Get moving…
No business owner ever has enough time or information to make the right decision. Too many things can change that are outside of your control.
Technology is changing. The customers are changing. The market demand is changing. And yet we are hopeful that we make the right choices on a day-to-day basis.
What I have found in the last few years is that it is not the correctness of the decision that has been my saving grace. It has been the ability to change from the decisions that I have made to something different, quickly and without reservation.
When the world is changing around you, your best position is that of flexibility. Don’t get stuck and fixed in the idea that this is the way that it is going to be. As soon as you dig in you will find that the market has yet again changed around you. You are left standing there and wondering, “What happened to my glorious sure-fire plan?”
Learning how to make good decisions is one thing. Learning how to make good decisions on the fly is becoming a required skill for the business owner who is working in ever-changing market situations.
Think better. Think faster.
Filed in Actions You Can Take, New Actionable Thinking by David Bullock
I recently listened to a speaker talk about this “blue sky idea” that I know will never work, yet the audience was eating it up… Does this sound familar? It certainly is something I’ve seen happen over and over.
The information this speaker provided was:
- Outdated
- Unrealistic
- Unusable
Yet, the audience was feeling good. Perhaps that is all that matters.
This happens every day all over the country.
To prevent yourself from falling into this trap and wasting both time and money, you should ask yourself a few questions before signing up for that next seminar:
- Who are you listening to?
- Do they know what they are doing?
- Can they demonstrate what they are talking about?
- When was the last time that they did what they are telling you works so well?
The business audience is depending on the expertise of the speaker to bring them new ways to think about and know the world around them.
A good speaker shows new ways to “know and see” the world.
There is a profound difference between knowing what to do and being able to do what you know.
The key to execution is being able to do what you know and then get it done to the outcome of a stable result.
Really, knowing how to do something means that you can think with the materials and that you can improvise and innovate, because nothing is as cut and dry as it seems.
Just something to think about.
Filed in Actions You Can Take, Random Ramblings by David Bullock
As we completed the Barack 2.0 project, we had the opportunity to speak with the professors at Wharton School of Business about the data exhaust that is created due to new media platforms and practices.
These are the questions that came out of that discussion:
- What data is required to produce a profit in business?
- What data is worth inspecting?
- You have the data… now what?
- Does it go into a nice report and sit on the shelf?
- Is all of this data collection and measurement meaningless?
It can be meaningless if the data is not useful and pragmatically applicable.
Let’s look at a few concepts that filter out a lot of the noise:
More on Perfect Information: Social Media Strategy and Tactics
Filed in Actions You Can Take, Social Media For Business by David Bullock
When I worked in the robotics industry many years ago, there was this guy named Scott. He just made me laugh one day because I asked him what his role was and he said, “I am the idea guy.”
Why is this funny and how does this apply now?
While ideas are very important and we have to have them, at some point someone has to take the idea and do something with it. There are millions of ideas available right now in the US patent office. Some of them are good, some are bad and some are just plain crazy but all in all they are ideas.
When I hear someone say that they are an idea guy, I always get a bit worried. If you are just an idea guy when did you get the practical and pragmatic experience to know when your idea is a good one?
The Superbowl is over. Lasted for one day. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on the win. Congratulations to the advertisers that debuted their new commercials.
But let’s look beyond the Superbowl to the Pepsi Refresh Project.
For those of you who have not followed the story… In a nutshell, Pepsi decided not to advertise during the Superbowl. They decided to use the money that they would spend on “traditional advertising” on a social media project.
More on Leveraging Social Media to Transform: The Pepsi Refresh Project
Filed in Actions You Can Take, Advertising Insights by David Bullock
Observed by David Bullock
Viewing this video this morning, I could not help but think about the opportunities that we have before us.
Knowledge is only one component of success. Being able to take effective action and then build the structure to hold your idea is critical to your success.
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Knowledge is step one.
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Getting an Idea is step two.
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Building Something is step three.
How many of us stop at getting the knowledge and getting that great idea?
Sometime you need to sit back and analyze what you are doing with your business. There is a whole area of activity that can suck up time and funds without the business owner truly being aware of the drain it can have on your bottom line. I called this activity “Non-Revenue Generating Actions”
As a business owner, you can easily get caught up in doing things that don’t make any money for your business. Usually we classify things like:
- getting the mail
- paying bills
- paperwork
- building websites
- answering email or the phone
as things that need to be outsourced and not “important” for a business owner to handle. The craze right now is to outsource everything. That is fine, if you are outsourcing the
- right things
- to the right people
- for the right projects.
But there is a bigger hole in your business that is beyond outsourcing. It is the thinking that chooses the projects that you work on.
So when did life get to be so complex and complicated? This young man speaks so many simple truths in 3:25 mins.
- Taking Risks
- Doing The Work
- Great Success
- Making the Effort
- Saying Thank You
- Knowing When You Are Complete
Filed in Actions You Can Take by David Bullock
