figuring out your focus.
Starting small is the only way to get yourself moving in the right direction. Quarterbacks don’t throw up hail mary passes in the first drive of the game; and neither should you. It’s hard when you’re first getting started, I can tell you that from my own failures and experiences.
I think about an idea, jump the gun and fall in love with it too quickly. We hit the honeymoon phase and I start working ferociously. Eventually, there becomes a roadblock or slow down for whatever the reason might be. Another idea or responsibility might arise, my focus might be required on another project and I lose focus on that bright idea I once had fallen in love with.
Because of this problem, I’ve started to treat new ideas like an expensive item I’m shopping for. Rather than buy an expensive item at first glance, it's better to wait a couple of weeks to decide if it is truly necessary and a good way to spend hard earned money. I treat new ideas in the same way and think through real opportunities, obstacles and upside if I were to put my time into given projects. This makes me far more selective on what I choose to work on and more productive with my focused attention.
building on early success, or lack thereof.
Whether a new idea or project gains traction or not, the purpose is to ignore the immediate results and build your process. I often get carried away with hopeful plans down the road in the future that I lose sight of the more immediate needs.
Instead of hoping for a moonshot of success out of the gate, I’ve learned that things take a lot more time than first expected and I need to manage my expectations a lot more carefully. In addition to managing my expectations, ignoring outside noise is one of the biggest areas of improvement I think we all can make.
In a recent post by Paul Graham, he stresses the importance of ‘early work’ and ignoring the noise from the critics (and yourself). Rather than getting caught up in what other people are doing or second-guessing yourself, it’s better to focus on and fall in love with the process.
“Unfortunately, if you want to do new things, you’ll face a force more powerful than other people’s skepticism: your own skepticism. You too will judge your early work too harshly. How do you avoid that?”
We tend to doubt ourselves time and time again. Anytime I am working with my head down and ignoring the crowd, I do good work. Anytime I second-guess myself or doubt the process, I spiral out of control.
Becoming obsessively focused on your own work gives you the ability to produce great work. I’ve spoken to so many different successful people and they all have the same common approach to building their business. They just winged in.
It might not be easy putting out work for outsiders to observe, but that’s how you kickstart something special.
staying optimistic when times get tough.
It’s easy to be optimistic when things are easy and going well. But when shit hits the fan and the times get rough, it’s hard to stay optimistic. There are many people who don’t agree with the Law of Attraction or the power of staying optimistic, but I truly believe in manifesting better outcomes for ourselves.
No good can come out of complaining. Yet we complain all the time.
No good can come from being pessimistic. Yet we love pointing out negative attributes to each other.
It’s so much more productive to think about the issue at hand and figure out potential solutions. Talk through problems, bounce ideas off the wall and make suggestions to help improve your current situation.
growing confident when you feel lame.
It’s hard to be OK with being embarrassed. It’s not easy to feel confident when you feel lame. However, everyone else feels lame in their own way. We all are dealing with internal and external issues for whatever reason it might be.
A strong self-confidence is what can set yourself apart from the norm. Diving deeper into Paul Graham’s post, he elaborates on the benefits of having that self-confidence in your work.
“But it’s a bit strange that you have to play mind games with yourself to avoid being discouraged by lame-looking early efforts. The thing you’re trying to trick yourself into believing is in fact the truth. A lame-looking early version of an ambitious project truly is more valuable than it seems. So the ultimate solution may be to teach yourself that.”
We are all learning as we go and it’s a work in progress. Have pride in what you do and build yourself up to others. Your peers will think much more highly of you if you talk more highly of yourself. Share your progress with others and collaborate on different ideas.
Amazon started as an online book store in Jeff Bezos’ garage in 1995.
Today, $AMZN currently has a market cap of $1.58 trillion dollars.
There are small ideas that can turn into massive success stories with small, consistent, focused efforts.
building in public.
I’ve started to grow much more fond of the term ‘building in public’. It refers to documenting your process, sharing your experiences with your peers and discussing any obstacles or opportunities along the way.
At this current stage in the game, Re-Shft Studio is helping develop a homemade apothecary and crafts brand, building a recipe developers website content plan and managing an interactive content strategy for a high-net worth boutique insurance agency.
There are internal projects that will take time to unfold as well. The newsletter is in the early stages but has no set timeline. Currently, the plan is to send out the fifteenth and first of each month. The goals for the newsletters’ future is to collaborate on cross-marketing partnerships to grow our readership, find a supporting brand sponsor to help provide resources to improve the newsletter experience, and start the beginning phases of a brand activation event for spring 2021.
If you are interested in collaborating on a blog post or newsletter blurb, let’s chat.
If you are looking for help developing your brand and building a website, let’s work together.
Thanks for reading.
- mm