20 mile marches

When we set out to navigate an uncertain world we have two choices:

1. You either let the weather determine your pace - good weather you go far/bad weather you wait until it improves.
2. We determine our pace. Good conditions or bad. We march 20 miles every day.

Those who are most successful find ways to exert self-control in an uncontrollable world. Make the commitment now to march 20 miles every day. 

Did they get the joke?

Finding an audience is one the hardest things to do when overcoming the Resistance.

You are going to spend a lot of time telling the joke. You are probably not going to get the reaction you were hoping for at first. This can mean:

1) The joke (product, service) is bad and the audience (customers) you are trying to serve won't get it.

2) The joke is good and that particular audience doesn't get it. You just need a new audience to tell it to.

If it is a bad joke then log it in the idea folder and move onto the next project. One word of caution: don't throw away the joke too soon. You may have just delivered it wrong. Your audience just might not get it yet. No one used Twitter or Instagram when it first started, doesn't mean the creators were telling a bad joke.

A go-to line for angry customers

When a customer calls and is upset about a product or service that fell short of expectations, resist the foolish choice to tell them what is in the hand book. Instead ask them what happened and how you can help. Let them talk. Don’t interrupt the customer. Be silent on the other end of the phone. Remain silent when getting invitations to engage in the confrontation. This is the customer trying to bait you into their emergency. Remember it is not your emergency but you are there to help seek clarity.

You may notice they will start going back in circles and telling the same story again. This is when you know the customer is done talking. When the time is right and it is your turn to talk, here is a go-to line that will help everyone win this interaction: "You are absolutely right. I can see why you are upset. If I were in your shoes I would be upset too." When appropriate add an apology.

You have now validated the customer. Proceed with what you can do (not what you can’t do). This is the next line you use: "After hearing your story, I think we all want the same thing."

Customers may not leave the conversation completely happy but they will leave knowing they have been heard and at least have clarity on what happened.

Don't take what the customer has said to heart when they are upset. You have done all that you can. This product or service was just not meant for them and you have done what you can to fix it. No product or service is meant for every single person.

Microwave instructions

I noticed someone wrote and posted instructions on how to use a microwave. Who needs instructions on how to use a microwave? Even if it is a new microwave no one needs the manual. You just do it. You do it because the risk of failing is small. You are not going to be crushed if you can't figure out how to use the microwave.

It’s also important to ask why. Why was it so important that these instructions needed to be written, edited, printed, laminated and taped next to the microwave?

Step 1) Cover your food.

Stop right there.

Someone had wrote the instructions in hope that someone would cover their food so they (whoever wrote the police and procedure) did not have to clean up after someone else. That is why policies and procedures are written. They are not written to keep us safe but to make sure that we clean up the mess we make so someone else doesn't have to.

Customers are worthy of your time

It is difficult to help someone after a long day. Ordinary people will say, "I will do it later." This is a natural reaction. Instead of reacting try responding. You may be tired but can you give just a little more? It may only be answering one last phone call or sending one more email. It will only take a minute. Can we give 60 more seconds of our time and attention to help someone? Consider the message you are sending by not helping. I could help you right now but you are not worthy of my time, attention or labor.

In that moment, you can be extraordinary to someone. Be extraordinary enough times to enough people, they won’t see you as ordinary person anymore. 

Draw a line in the sand

Be careful what compromises you make.

Shave a little here, a little there; no one may notice except you. It’s a slippery slope though. A better path, a hero's path, is to never make compromises on your integrity. Everyone has to draw that line in the sand. That line that says this is as far as I go. Draw the line once and never cross it. Villains on the other hand will draw a line, cross it and draw another over and over again. 

Your integrity is not for sale. It is far too valuable. Make the decision now on the type of person you are going to be. Later when faced with a temptation you won’t have to make a decision. You will have already made it.

Sprinting and pacing

In our 20's we tend to sprint everywhere we go.

We sprint to get to work.
We sprint while at work.
We sprint to get back home.
We sprint while at home.
We even sprint in our sleep. How many of us actually get 6-8 hours of sleep each night?

The Wasatch 100 mile endurance run finished last month in Salt Lake City. You can review the results of those who completed the race here. Out of the 313 runners that started, 203 completed the race. 

What was the average runner's age to finish this year? 42.
There were only 9 runners under the age of 30 that finished the race.

The occasional sprint now and then to hit a deadline is a useful skill to have but most winners pace themselves. Our endurance increases with time. Our careers need to do the same thing.