It’s the end of the week, and time to sum up the #weekdaykickoff. This is what you learnt.
No rockstar, no audience
You want to please everyone, you’re not pleasing a single human soul. Potentially you are able to engage people with your content. You have what it takes to build momentum and have their attention — potentially. This is are only quick and dirty affairs. You’re not engaging for the long run.
If you consider your content curation like a TV program where the audience is used to particular times and dates for the publications, think of becoming that channel with a new episode every Wednesday at 5pm CET. However, you engage with your audience around the clock, of course. New content is only the means (or excuse) to continue the conversation. Nourish the conversation so it doesn’t dry it or starve.
The editorial calendar I shared as an example with you should be your best start to conquer your audience.
No confusion: Focus & Dominate
You have plenty of interests, hobbies, passions, a lot of time and are willing to work hard. The variety of opportunities and chances to succeed and fail are enormously high — insanely high. This is fascinating and humbling at the same time.
Where do you actually start? What’s your first step to gain clarity? Clarity, for example of who you are (self-awareness), is what you need in the first place to make some qualified decisions or actions.
Start with a list of your strength. Give it 5 minutes and write them down as they come to your mind. For myself, I found 17 immediate strengths.
After, you want to detect your no. 1 strength. It doesn’t have to be your top top top strength but the one you want to focus on — although another strength could be stronger. You choose this one by first selecting your top three. In my case, I chose: writing, good vocal presence and giving a good feeling. I’m strong in all three but I felt I want to focus and improve on writing although the other two would need focus and strengthening as well. Again, this is not important. You set your no. 1 priority and then you stick to this decision.
So, I chose writing is my no. 1 strength to focus on. In order continue focussing on it, I created an Achievement Contract. Feel free to use it for yourself.
Among others, the contract says that I will be doing something every week to pursue becoming a well-paid writer by March 2018. If I don’t, I pay a failure fee of passiveness.
You always communicate
You’re so strongly defined by your actions and notions that you almost forget how aware people are of your subtle communication:
- the step to the left to leave more room for the woman entering the metro train,
- the child-like, mischievously smile towards that attractive person next to you,
- your hand put against the back of an older lady who was about to fall because of a sudden stop of the train.
In your little actions, either visible to people or invisible (with an even bigger outcome in the long run), is where you make a difference — especially when you don’t ask for anything in return (applying the rule of reciprocity).
Do a good thing today and don’t make a big deal out of it.
Do the small jobs first
You underestimated the game because the opponent was listed low in the score. You blindfolded yourself and acted with arrogance. You stopped caring about reality and what’s in front of you. You did let your past experience tell you how to approach the client instead of listening to the signals right in front of you.
Whether you are in sports, academia, science or economy, you don’t and never underestimate the small jobs that need to be done. Often, it’s the small jobs that you need to do first to a) show you’re capable to successfully finish them b) build the strong basis for the bigger jobs. Do small first.
The same attention to detail, care and professionalism go into the small tasks. Don’t make a difference between a low-paying client and a high-paying client — and I’m not saying to sell yourself under price.
Do the right thing because it’s always the right thing.
The takeaway for the weekend: You always target your efforts to specific people with specific needs. Otherwise, you will reach nobody. While you are multi-talented you curate your strengths by only showing one at a time. This will help you establish yourself as an expert and the go-to person in the field of x, y, z. Watch your communicate even if you don’t express — body language and your facial sensations sometimes convey more than you would like to. As with every start of an endeavor, you start small first: prove that you’re capable of handling small, then get your hands dirty on the big guys!
Have a fantastic weekend!
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This was episode 65 of the #weekdaykickoff 🌊 Every weekday (Mon-Fri). Also find me on Anchor so we can talk — literally talk from person to person!
Also published on Medium.