Daily

The decision is hard to make because it’s important to you.

It’s not bad that it’s hard. If it was easy then you probably weren’t invested enough in the solution in the first place.

It shouldn’t be ignored because it’s hard. It’s worth the time and energy to find a solution.

Hard is a good indicator that you might be on the right track.

Somewhere along the way, Instagram became a popular place to not just share pictures, but your thoughts too.

It’s basically become a new platform for blogging and vlogging on.

Which raises the question: When it comes to sharing your valuable knowledge, where should you share it? On social media like Instagram or on your own website?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, here’s the good and the bad for both platforms:

Instagram has a huge number of accounts, over 1 billion active ones. That’s a lot of eyeballs who are searching through Instagram to potentially find you and your content. To get people back to your website you need to direct them there from elsewhere (initially).

On your own website you can control the experience from the instant someone arrives. Instagram is designed to be addictive.

Instagram has advertisements that you have no control over. Your own website can be a place that has no ads or just focuses on selling your own products.

Blogging is largely a top-down format these days, with the information going one way (from writer to reader). Commenting on Instagram is quick and easy (often just emoticons) making it great for engagement.

Which is better?

For engaging with your community and spreading the general message around what you do, in order to garner some interest, short posts to Instagram are best.

For diving deep and teaching, I still believe that blogging on your own website is the best way to do that.

The problem with freedom is that we are, well, free to do whatever we like.

There is no problem with this when we are children. While we are free from a lot of responsibility as children, we are also quite restricted in how we can spend our time.

The inevitible boredom of being restricted gives way to invented games, lying on the ground staring at clouds and provoking our older siblings.

As we become adults, those restrictions change. We gain responsibilities such as bills, jobs and owning stuff but we also become free to access a world of passive, distracting activities.

Suddenly we have so much freedom, so much choice, that it becomes overwhelming. Instead of spending our time creating and inventing things to stimulate ourselves like we did as children, we can simply press a button and be stimulated.

So what do we do? How does one get back a bit of that freedom and creativity of our childhood?

The solution is to choose less freedom. Impose your own boundaries. Say no to more things.

Live a life with less so that you can live more of life.

The existential question of the privilaged: Am I doing the work that I’m supposed to be doing?

The work that is the most helpful.

That lights me up.

That moves the needle for someone.

That helps me be seen by others.

That helps me see myself.

That supports my family.

That gives my life balance.

That gives my life purpose.

That helps me feel like I’m making a difference.

I don’t have the answer. It’s part of the reason I started writing this blog. My hope is if I stick enough words of reflection on a digital page that some patterns will emerge and that those patterns will point me in the right direction.

Even if that direction is to the realisation that I am in the right place, right now.

The customer asks for something unusual.

A special circumstance, and maybe, the benefit of the doubt.

Do you play the corporation card and simply refer them to what is written in your policy? After all, you can’t have people taking advantage of you or your business. If you let one person be the exception, everyone will want the same.

Or do you use this as an opportunity to learn? By instead seeking to understand why this person is asking this of your business and how you can perhaps help solve their need in a way that works for both of you (because if one customer is asking for this, more are wanting it too).

Both options work. Both options get a result. Which will you choose?

Being able to communicate well is not just for people who work in sales or lead teams, it’s for every person.

Being able to communicate well is about being understood. Being understood helps us feel seen. It helps us feel like we belong.

Here are some things I’ve found that help me communicate better:

Listening to the work of Brené Brown. I recommend starting with the audio, The Power of Vulnerability which dives deeper into the learnings shared in the TED Talk of the same name.

Slowing down and trying to practice empathy. Really trying to understand what is going on for the other person on an emotional level. I don’t always do it well, as it’s often inconvenient and means putting whatever I’m doing (or trying to say myself) on hold while I listen. But when I do it’s always worth the effort.

Avoiding messaging and emails for sensitive topics. I much prefer face to face or video chat so I can see the other person’s reaction and know if I’m being understood or need to explain myself better.

Taking time off is a wonderful thing.

It’s important time that’s needed to get perspective, recharge and allow new ideas to filter to the surface. Things that often get lost and ignored in the day-to-day, heads-down, bums-up work of running a business.

But taking time off is also a momentum killer.

All of that work you put into projects to get them moving and shaking has come to a halt.

After weeks of doing things with no schedule, also gone is the work routine and habits that allowed you to get that momentum going in the first place.

Now that you’re back at working on your business, you’re left with the daunting task of getting that momentum going again.

How does one build momentum again?

With tiny consistent actions.

Doing a huge amount of work in one day and then burning yourself out again is not a sustainable way to build momentum (but can be tempting after returning from time off). Instead, it comes from doing small actions that add up overtime.

A marathon is finished with thousands of steps. A plane is built with millions of components. Momentum is created by hundreds of tiny actions.

So begin today, with the smallest task. Then tomorrow do it again. And do it again.

And do it again.

In the world of saving money and loans there is a phrase that’s often used, Compound Interest.

What this really is is a form of Compound Choice. A decision we made in the past led to multiple choices which has led us to where we are now.

Often that has unwittingly led us to a place we didn’t want to end up.

So when thinking about the future, don’t wait to make the choice later to pursue the things and the life you want, start putting some time into your hobby today, or negotiating to work one day a fortnight from home, or arrange that family get together.

Look at the people around you who are 20 or 30 years older than you. Do you want to be where they are at that age? What choices did they make?