Focus and Consistencia
I took my dad to a pet store. I don’t know why he said yes, but I do know why I wanted to take him; I was trying to get him to buy a dog! Specifically, a puppy.
Unfortunately, the dogs we met that day were big ol’ duds. They were sleeping, annoying, or you could tell they had “nothing going on upstairs” (a.k.a. they were stupid). Needlesstosay, it was a bust.
BUT, I did make a friend. There was a cockatoo perched on a pleasant little post. It looked unfazed by all the activity in the store. It was obviously a veteran. It casually looked around the store, and ignored everyone saying, “Heeeeellooo. Helloooo. Pritty bird. Pritty birdie. Say Helllloooo.”
I went up to the bird. Looked at it, and then hid behind a pole that was near its perch. I proceeded to poke out and say, “peek a boo.” I repeated this for several minutes, and received a few blinks as a response. I was entertained, at least, so I took that as a win.
As I started to leave the cockatoo started screeching! It was as if an alarm went off, and she was acting as if I was stealing her eggs. You could almost hear her saying, “‘don’t leave, I’m so bored, these people suck, you entertain me human!” Sadly, I had to leave because we had a lunch date. I waved goodbye, and intend to visit again very soon.
Why do I tell this story? Quite simply, it’s because sometimes we are making a difference when we don’t realize it. Sometimes, slow and steady DOES win the race. Even if we feel like our audience is only blinking occasionally in response to our efforts.
In my spring years, I was definitely a sprinter. As Gimli said in Lord of the Rings, “We dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances!” That was essentially me.
Start and stop. Build and restart. Begin and end. Over and over again. As you might imagine, I never allowed a project to ripen. It was only in my autumn years that I have begun to appreciate incremental growth and building with focus and consistency.
Case in point, one of my favorite success stories is from a friend of mine. He did something very simple, but he did it very consistently.
He went for a 20 minute walk each day. On this walk, he would come up with an idea for a blog. When he got home, he would write his blog post. He then recorded himself reading the blog and then launched the recording as a podcast. He did this every single day for a year.
What happened? He gained 45,000 email subscribers on his website, and at the end of the year launched a book to 10,000 raving fans. He was focused and consistent, and had built momentum over time.
Why don’t more of us use a similar tact? ‘Cause its hard! There are so many content creators, but I think 80-90% of them disqualify themselves because they are inconsistent. Their audience doesn’t trust them to be consistent, so they don’t trust them with their time, money, or engagement.
What about you? Have you ever started something and not completed it? Have you ever given up on something that potentially just needed a little time to mature?
You probably have. Me too. If you haven’t, my hat is off to you. And also I don’t believe you.
Here’s what happens when you are consistent and focused over the long-term: you get really, REALLY good at something.
I often say I would rather have someone who has been doing FB advertising for 6 months than someone who has spent years taking courses on how to do it. You have to be “in the arena” to refine a skill. Engaged in the real world is the only place that allows you to test your mettle, wrestle with assumptions, determine what works and doesn’t, and refine your concepts and offerings. It is humbling, diligent, necessary work for success.
You will also learn that it is impossible to turn a parked car. In other words, you have to be producing and interacting in order to know WHEN or HOW you are supposed to adjust your projects. This is my simplistic version of how to succeed.
But the pitfalls are as many (probably more) than the wins. Here are just a few pitfalls to keep us from the process necessary to become seasoned:
1. Giving up before we get really good.
2. Being a megaphone to our audience/customers. Not allowing their feedback to refine us.
3. Our lack of engagement. This is the “set it and forget it” liability.
4. Focusing on the wrong area. We can do this because we are trying to “follow the money,” do something with no audience enthusiasm, or because we simply haven’t found our niche.
5. Losing our voice. Companies, like people, can lose their authentic voice. When they do, the company becomes hollow and brittle.
6. Starting and stopping (like dwarves).
7. Not continually learning from those ahead of us. We become insular if we only listen to our own thoughts.
8. A bunch more I won’t mention. Pick your poison.
With all of these pitfalls, what are we to do? Well, I have an opinion about that too.
FIND YOUR JAM (get focused):
This isn’t a one-off experience. This is a growth process of learning to recognize your point of convergence; In this place, you have enthusiasm for your offering, you are talented in it, and your intended audience responds to it.
Perhaps you already have a general idea of what this area is, but I can assure you, the more you export your ideas the more refined they will become. You’ll quickly learn what excites you AND your potential customers.
BE CONSISTENT (metronome that shizz):
It is difficult to be consistent, and we as fallible humans over-estimate our commitment level. Instead of over-committing, try to find something you can do regularly and diligently. Perhaps you decide to only do one post a week. That’s fine! Build trust with your audience (and yourself) by learning how to commit to adding value over the long-haul.
Another secret to consistency is building a backlog. Every serious content-creator has times when they are REALLY productive, and the inevitable dry-spells. They take advantage of their enthusiastic moments by creating a lot of content and adding it to a “use later” bin. With a big backlog, you will have no problem being consistent AND staying out of “desperation creation.”
Essentially, I am feverishly trying to make something not sexy (focus and consistency) sexy. I am telling you to “take your vitamins” and invest in yourself over the long run. AND, I am trying to get you to avoid my common mistake: giving up when I don’t see the immediate results I want.
When you are feeling discouraged, try to remember these few things:
Business happens in ebbs and flows.
Most people give up RIGHT before their breakthrough. Don’t be one of these people.
You have a cockatoo that is listening to you. You may not know it, but they are interested in you. Don’t abandon your cockatoo-friend. He may scream at you.