yann girard - rethinking the now

Marketing measured

Reach and people taking action are two different things entirely. 

And the only thing that really matters is how many people are taking action. 

That's why most of the platforms out there make it more and more difficult to figure out how many people are actually really taking action.

Because if they didn't, then it would become obvious that less an less people are actually really taking action, while more and more people are "just" being reached without taking any action at all.

Which would dramatically decrease ad spend on these platforms...

Like you think

It's hard to live like you think.

Almost impossible.

But it's the only way worth living...

Skills vs time vs motivation

Skills without time or motivation isn't enough.

If you're skilled but have no time or motivation you'll end up nowhere. 

On the other if you have no skills but time and motivation you'll end up somewhere.

Because skills can be learned.

Over time.

And with the right kind of attitude.

And motivation...

Choices

We often confuse situations where we do have a choice with situations where we don't have a choice.

Situations such as...

What things to do.

What jobs to work.

What partnerships to be in.

Or what friendships to have.

But here's the thing...

You probably do have a choice.

Maybe not an easy choice. 

Or a straightforward choice.

Or a predictable choice. 

But a choice.

So don't waste it...

It's only you...

... who's always tired.

Feels like a failure. 

Misses deadlines.

Procrastinates.

Doesn't get stuff done.

Doesn't follow up.

Doesn't do the hard stuff.

Doesn't unleash her potential.

Doesn't make a ton of money...

The good news is that everybody else is just like you.

I'm like you.

We're all like you.

And once you realize that you're not alone, it's a lot easier to avoid the regret that will paralyze you.

The regret that you didn't do what you said you were going to do.

The regret that you let yourself and everybody else down, once again.

And this regret is what will ultimately get you down.

It's not the things you didn't do.

It's the regret.

It'll poison your thoughts.

And with them everything you do.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Don't let yesterday be your tomorrow...

Making money doing what you love

You probably can't make money doing what you love. But you'll probably be able to love what you already do...

 

The source of disappointment.

Are expectations.

If we expect too much and it doesn't happen, then we'll be disappointed.

But lowering your expectations and playing small isn't the answer either.

Even though lowering your expectations and meeting them might make you happy in the short term and help you to avoid disappointment, it'll crush you in the long term.

Because playing too small will lead to disappointment some time in the future.

You might not care about the future right not.

But your 80 year old self will probably care a great deal about it...

Strategy vs vision

It's hard to come up with a proper strategy if you don't have a clear vision.

Because a strategy is just a collection of the things you'd have to do to get you closer to reaching your vision.

So if you don't really know where you're going, you might end up somewhere, but that somewhere is probably nowhere close to where you really want to be...

 

The best kind of marketing...

...is to make products that are so much better, so much more innovative and yes, sometimes even a lot crazier than everything we've ever seen so far.

So that people have no other choice but to talk about them.

No matter if they're a customer or will ever be a customer. 

Needless to say that this is also the hardest kind of marketing.

But it's increasingly becoming the only kind of marketing that really works...

Hat tip Elon...

 

Difficult decisions

We always ask for more time.

Because it allows us to postpone taking responsibility for our decisions.

So when we're asking for more time what we're really asking for is for the underlying problem to just disappear.

Or for the solution to become so obvious that our decision about how to move forward can't be wrong anymore.

Because we don't want to take responsibility for things going wrong.

But that never works...

More time won't help.

More data won't help.

More insight won't help.

The only thing that'll help is to make a decision and own it...

Ways to grow

By making others feel small.

By criticizing them.

By discouraging them.

By laughing at them.

And by humiliating them.

All of these things will help you grow.

But at the expense of making others feel small.

That's why it's always a good idea to do it the other way round.

By making others feel big.

By encouraging them.

By helping them.

By motivating them.

By supporting them.

And by showing them how it's done.

All of these things will help you grow.

But not at the expense of everybody else.

And instead because of everybody else.

Because if everybody else around you is growing, you'll automatically be growing with them...

How to know when you're ready

To start diversifying.

To start taking on more risk.

To start saving.

To start a business.

To start a family.

To start investing.

To start...

So how do you know when you're ready?

You'll never know.

Unless you do it.

And then you'll probably realize that you weren't really ready after all.

And that there's no way in the world that you'd ever have been ready for any of this.

Because you'll never be really ready for any of this.

That's why you'll always be ready...

And that's probably one of the most important lessons out there...

The biggest danger

The real danger is rarely the biggest danger.

The biggest danger is the one we imagine in our heads.

That's the one that paralyzes us.

That scares us. 

And divides us.

Instead of uniting us...

Opinions...

Are holding us back.

From doing the things that really matter.

From doing what we really want to be doing.

And from following our own path.

Ultimately, opinions are in the way of experience.

And experience is the only thing that really matters.

To be able to do the things that really matter.

To be able to do the things we really want to be doing.

And to be able to follow our own paths...

What successful people do

They don't say "no" to almost everything.

Before they were successful they had to say "yes" to almost everything.

To get a reputation.

Jobs.

Gigs.

Shows.

Knowledge.

Experience.

Exposure. 

Customers. 

Partners. 

Credibility.

And an audience...

And once they had it, then they started saying "no" to almost everything.

So the only way to get to a point where you're able to say "no" to almost everything, you've gotta say "yes" to almost everything...

Questioning things

Question the things you do believe in.

And reassess the things you don't believe in.

Because those are the places where growth can be found...

What most people are getting wrong about entrepreneurship...

You don't need a product to build a community.

But you need a community to build a product...

Interesting conversations

Are about listening.

About understanding.

About seeing. 

And believing.

Interesting conversations are about change.

About the status quo.

About the past.

The present.

And the future. 

Unfortunately, interesting conversations don't happen as much as they could and probably should...

The exact opposite

Just because you wouldn't buy it doesn't necessarily mean that everybody else won't buy it either.

Just like if you'd buy it doesn't mean that everybody else will also buy it.

And that's one of the biggest challenges.

To realize that you're not the market.

And that whatever you'd do, it's very possible that the market is going to do the exact opposite...

Don't fight it.

You can try to build a fence around it.

You can try to avoid it.

Or you can try to ignore it.

But it'll always be around.

It has always been around.

It has created everything around us.

And will keep creating everything around us.

Change is the past.

The present.

And the future...

Money can ruin everything...

One of the biggest challenges is to stay intrinsically motivated after you started getting paid for doing something that just a while ago you did for free, just because you enjoyed doing it...

Choose wisely...

Do you have to be really good at it to become passionate about it or do you have to be passionate about it to become really good at it?

If you believe in the latter and you aren't really passionate about anything, then that also means that you'll probably never be able to become really good at anything.

It's convenient.

And means less work.

And less struggle.

It lets you off the hook.

On the other hand if you believe in the former, then you know that you'd have to put in the work to become really good at it so that you'll become really passionate about it. 

Now you're on the hook.

So one of the above lets you off the hook while the other one will never let you off the hook.

One will push you to achieve things you've never thought possible, while the other one will push you to remain in the status quo.

Choose wisely.

What you want to believe in...

It's easier than ever before...

.. to be busy focusing on the incoming.

Emails.

Slack groups.

Messengers.

Notifications.

Video calls.

Gigs....

It never stops.

The Internet made it easier than ever before to spend your whole day reacting instead of acting.

To be reactive instead of proactive.

To be waiting instead of creating.

But waiting for the incoming will rarely help you to move forward.

Only moving forward will help you to move forward...

The first rule for creating stuff.

Is to do it regularly.

The second rule is to never skip it.

If you skip it just once, you'll continue skipping it.

Until one day you've stopped doing it for good.

Creating stuff and putting it out there is hard.

You'll fail.

Multiple times.

You'll get rejected.

By almost everyone.

And you'll feel like giving up.

Practically every single day.

That's why the only way to be able to keep doing it is to keep doing it.

There really is no other way...

Have you ever thought about it?

That you're already good enough?

Skilled enough?

Talented enough?

Experienced enough?

Fast enough?

Pretty enough?

Have you ever thought about it?

Maybe the only thing you're missing is enough courage...

When to do it

When's the best day to write?

To post?

When's the best time of the day to send an email?

When's the best time to call?

When's the best time?

The best time is the time where you don't have to think and decide about what's the best time anymore.

That's why (if you can) the best time is daily.

But of course you can't do daily.

Which is exactly why you have to do it daily...

So you know what you have to do to figure out what to do

When you know what you're doing it's easy to just do it.

You just follow the map.

Those kinds of jobs will disappear.

But when you don't know what you're doing , have never done it before and there's no script to follow, that's a whole different story.

Those kinds of jobs will increase.

So what can you do?

You've gotta get comfortable being uncomfortable again.

You've gotta do things you've never done before.

Get used to trial & error.

Learn how to navigate a problem without a map.

Or a guidebook.

Or a script.

And you learn how to do it by doing it.

And not by just reading about it.

So that next time you see something you've never done before, you know what you have to do to be able to figure out what to do...

The worst kind of drug

It silently kills your creativity.

Your inspiration.

Your motivation.

Your dreams.

Your ambitions.

Your goals.

Your time.

Your freedom.

When you have it, it's never enough.

When you don't have it, you can't think about anything else. 

Most of us can't survive without it.

We all need it.

And want it.

So badly that we often forget why we're even doing all of this.

The worst kind of drug isn't what you think it is.

We're all addicted to it.

And can't live without it.

The worst kind of drug is..............

A paycheck.

HT Nassim Taleb.

Faster execution

The only way to faster execution is by eliminating available options.

The fewer options you have, the better you'll be able to focus.

And the better you'll able to focus, the faster you'll be able to execute.

So if you feel like you're not moving fast enough, consider eliminating some of your options.

Sometimes choice helps.

And sometimes it doesn't.

And when it doesn't, get rid of it... 

 

 

The only choice you have in an overcrowded market...

... is to overdeliver.

Over and over again.

There really is no other way.

Because everything else won't get you noticed.

Even a multi million dollar budget isn't a guarantee for getting noticed anymore. 

The stuff that gets you noticed today is the stuff that most people aren't willing to do.

Because it's just too much work.

And that's your sweet spot right there.

No matter how big or small your budget.

No matter if you're just a one man show.

We live in a time where everybody has the chance to get noticed and to do something miraculous.

Use it..