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Tag: test

Is quitting an option?

Quitting might be the best thing you can do.

Quitting is a largely underrated skill. By removing yourself from situations that are detrimental to your growth, you place yourself on the fast track towards opportunity and success. Read more on why quitting might be good for you in this NY Times article.
A few things you might consider quitting:

  • where you live
  • your career
  • relationships
  • your job
  • destructive habits
  • irrelevant projects
  • time wasters
  • negative thoughts

Why (and when) should I quit?

Questions to help you decide if quitting is the best option:

  1. Is this person / situation / job / environment helping me move closer to the person I aim to be?
  2. Do I find this person / situation / job / environment supportive or destructive?
  3. Am I inspired to think big, create, start, and finish?
  4. Is the work I am doing meaningful, important to me, bettering my community, and/or changing lives?
  5. Do I mostly feel calm, confidant, and secure?
  6. Am I able to nourish most aspects of my being (mental, physical, spiritual) and accomplish the goals I’ve set for myself?

[You can also check out this Should I Quit? online questionnaire. Or find someone who can help you walk through this process.]

You always have options.

Instead of quitting, you could:

  • hope the situation improves
  • wait for things to change
  • complain about them
  • work to improve them
  • ignore them
  • get fired
  • settle

The important thing is that you realize you have choices.
The difficult part is honestly assessing which one is right for you.

It might not work.

The moment before you ship.

There’s a second of hesitation. You question whether you’re going to look like a fool, if your idea is stupid, if you’re wasting your time.

I had one of those this week.

Actually, I was petrified. I was trying something new, and I was scared it wasn’t going to work.

When you face moments of “This might not work,” do you turn around or keep going?

I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with #cxchat. I’ve seen twitter chats before, and I’ve questioned their value. I wasn’t convinced participants share authentically and reveal honest opinions. I was worried that no one would show up and thought I would be answering my own questions.

If you overcome fear and risk looking like a fool, good things can happen.

Not only did people participate, they shared. They shared their successes, their tools for creation, their secrets for building communities.

Digital strategists, managers, entrepreneurs, comedians (here’s looking at you, Matt Haze), designers, coders, coaches, artists, producers, writers, strategists, and marketers from all over the nation joined in. Responses were generous, thoughtful, honest, real. One of the participants even designed an incredible booklet for all to share; it’s now featured on Slideshare.

You can see what else was discussed during the chat here.

New connections, new resources, new perspectives.

I’d say #cxchat was a success. I’m glad I didn’t let fear get in the way.

(For those of you who missed it, we’ll be hosting another #cxchat Tuesday at 4pm ET.)

The next time you think, “This probably won’t work,” dive in, headfirst, and relax knowing most mistakes can be corrected. Who knows, you may stumble upon something great…

Are you in love with your problem?

A few months ago, I found myself in a room with Seth Godin and a small group of eager entrepreneurs. Seth posed the following question:

 “Are you so in love with your problem you’re unwilling to try an imperfect solution?”

This prompted me to wonder how many situations I’ve refused to relinquish control, choosing instead to hold out for that perfect, golden answer that would fix everything in one fell swoop. This refuse to settle mantra has gotten in my way and prevented me from taking steps concrete steps of action.
I know I’m not the only one.
Looking around the room that day, every attendee had scrawled their own dilemmas onto scraps of paper. It may come as no surprise that every one of these problems had a solution that another attendee could devise. It wasn’t that any of these attendees were unexperienced, unintelligent, or unmotivated. Quite the opposite.

It can be easier to hold onto a problem than attempt a resolution that might fail.

We come up with hundreds of reasons why we shouldn’t or can’t, so we don’t. We develop relationships with the problem itself, telling ourselves stories that may or may not be true. We believe our inner dialogue (“It just can’t be done.”), electing inaction over failure and fear. Only the very best for our problems, nothing less!
Of course, we’re able to consider another’s issue with relative calm. As outsiders, we lack the emotional connection and historical weight that the owner carries. We use our own fresh eyes to create probable solutions with creativity and ease, even wondering what the fuss was about in the first place.
Then we arrive at our own obstacles (or put them off for as long as possible), and we’re stuck.
I’d like to ask you the same:

Are you willing to try something that might not work?

an entrepreneur’s two sided coin

Nothing — criminals, graduate school, Social Media Week, Seth Godin — prepared me for what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

There are many warm, idealistic perceptions of the life of an entrepreneur. Being your own boss, running your own show, creating things that matter, following your bliss. Anyone who has groveled at a desk job is lying if they say they haven’t dreamed of what it would be like to play by a different set of rules. Fantasies of setting your own schedule and having more dimes in your pockets seem anything but illicit.

And the success stories! It’s thrilling to hear about the one who struck it rich, the single mother whose idea took off, the underdog whose product went viral, the family man who sold his company to pursue his passion. We love them. We try to find where they drink. We scour articles and books instructing us how to live passionately and make money while doing it.

Very rarely do we hear about the shitty parts of the process.

If we do, it’s after the big win (and even then, we tend to gloss over those not-so-appealing details). The long hours, the misdirection, the insecurities, the unknown, the uncertainties, the sacrifices, the pain, the anxieties, the waffling bank account. The struggle isn’t what we want to buy. We want the finished product. The clean, packaged version. We shy away from the gritty, dirty parts, and when they happen to us, we’re not sure if we’re on track.

Moments of rolling around on the floor is exactly what is needed for ideas to manifest.

It’s those moments of doubt and despair that prompt action. And it is such moments that make us human, vulnerable, approachable, relatable. Because of these unglamorous, unspoken phases, we champion the entrepreneur. We marvel at their guts, their innovation, their creativity, and their gumption. We should consider celebrating the failures, too.

No experience mimics that initial jump into the unknown and the subsequent thrashing that occurs.

I remember the way my heart would race as I entered the county jail to conduct interviews. I’ve known long work weeks, late nights, early mornings, and the loss of self to put on a good show. I’ve felt the pressure of “that one shot,” that chance of doing something really great, and the pressure of not fucking it up. And I felt the flip side of when it did go well, the postpartum that can follow. I’ve shipped and failed then shipped something else and waited to see what happens.

It’s testing. There’s no guidebook, no rules, no one tells you what to do or what needs to happen.

Nothing will properly prepare you. You don’t need a certain degree, specific experience, or a different title. The project is yours, and it’s waiting for you to give it life. There is no known. There is only doing. And today.

You may never be ready. You might try and realize it’s not for you. But you’ll never learn if you don’t at least try. You must learn through action.

So go and test. Test, and test again.

empty highway overlooking mountain under dark skies

A manual for daily adventure

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. Go to work, come home, throw together dinner, veg out on the couch.
You’ll never live the life you secretly wish for if you become routine’s slave. You have to shake things up.
When you enjoy your life, you’ll inspire people around you to test limits they’ve drawn for themselves. Passion and excitement are contagious. Improved relationships, enhanced creativity, boosted productivity, discovery of yourself and the world around you are just a few byproducts of a life with fire behind it.
Sounds great, but how does this happen? Certainly not overnight.
Here are 80 ways to get you started.
We all have different thresholds for daring and adventure, so pick a few that feel brave to you and dive in. Let me know how it goes.

  1. Pack a lunch. For a friend.
  2. Go see a movie by yourself.
  3. Bring a slinky to the office.
  4. Rotate a stack of favorite photos in your wallet.
  5. Buy sidewalk chalk.
  6. Invite people you don’t know very well over for dinner.
  7. Dance.
  8. Call a friend unexpectedly, for no particular reason.
  9. Put Play-Doh on your desk.
  10. Write a love letter. To yourself.
  11. Stroll through a bookstore and notice which section pulls you in.
  12. Buy the Sunday paper and savor it with a treat.
  13. Do something to fail. Something you know you’re miserable at. And enjoy.
  14. Ride a bike. Rent if you don’t own one.
  15. Host a themed party.
  16. Take public transportation, even if you think it’s slower.
  17. Start a scrapbook with images you tear out of magazines, newspapers, funny office memos.
  18. Schedule a coffee date with someone you admire.
  19. Write a pageful of questions. Don’t worry about answers.
  20. Try a new restaurant.
  21. Mail a thank you note.
  22. Walk home from work a different way.
  23. Book a trip.
  24. Stare out the window.
  25. Set aside fifteen minutes to write. About anything.
  26. Make a themed playlist.
  27. Ask a friend for a book recommendation.
  28. List 100 things you’d like to do before you die.
  29. Sign up for a class.
  30. Teach a class.
  31. Move! Jump. Climb. Skip.
  32. Bake lasagna for the local firehouse.
  33. Compliment a stranger.
  34. Brush your teeth with opposite hand.
  35. Run an extra 5 (minutes, miles, blocks, laps).
  36. Concentrate on nothing except pouring yourself a cup of tea.
  37. Host a trivia night at your place.
  38. List 10 “self care” items. Aim to do 2-3 each day.
  39. Order in. Unplug and turn off everything. Eat by candlelight.
  40. Support a local business owner.
  41. Take your workout outside.
  42. Don’t send an email. Walk over to your colleague’s desk.
  43. Smile at a kid who isn’t yours.
  44. Find a recipe and cook.
  45. Look up. See the sky.
  46. List 4 things you are thankful for in this moment.
  47. Pick up your favorite book and head to the park.
  48. Watch a black and white movie.
  49. Make yourself feel uncomfortable.
  50. Consider the book you’d write.
  51. Bake something — a pie, cookies, bread. Wrap it in pretty paper and give it away.
  52. Set a new fitness goal.
  53. Initiate conversation at the coffee shop.
  54. Volunteer.
  55. Do 1 thing today that really excites you. Tell no one.
  56. Sing loudly in the shower/your car/your backyard.
  57. Doodle.
  58. Plant something.
  59. Allow yourself 5 minutes of nothing.
  60. Set out to scare yourself.
  61. Paint. Draw. Make something. It doesn’t have to be good.
  62. Visit a farmers market.
  63. Count your breaths, 6 seconds for each: Inhale. Pause. Exhale.
  64. Buy yourself flowers.
  65. Book a massage.
  66. Style your hair differently.
  67. Hide a note for your partner to find.
  68. Put your other shoe on first.
  69. Be a slob. Don’t make the bed. Leave it on the floor.
  70. Daydream.
  71. For one day, don’t make any plans.
  72. Write on a napkin.
  73. Eat with chopsticks.
  74. Act like a tourist.
  75. Clean. Throw out junk. Organize.
  76. Build a tent in your living room.
  77. Pretend you’re famous.
  78. Ask yourself: “If you could do anything, anywhere, what would it be?”
  79. Donate money to a cause you’re interested in.
  80. Write down what your life looks like this time next year. Five years from now. Next week.

Read the fine print!

Or don’t.

Restraints, boundaries, rules, guidelines, regulations — how you navigate and manipulate them is what separates you from the person sitting next to you.

You can test limits, see them as a dead end sign, or ignore them.

Press on, beyond predefined trails, and you might find yourself heading into the land of creative bliss.