yann girard - rethinking the now

Your best choice...

.. is to do something.

No matter how big or small.

Because if you don't, then you'll always end up having to do what other people tell you to do.

And that's probably not going to be something that you really want to be doing.

So go do something...

They will always lose...

Don't try to hide your ideas.

Because ideas that don't spread, will always lose...

It just decides

If you can't find people, viewers or listeners to help you work on your ideas or help you to spread those ideas, then your ideas might not be as good as you might think they are. But at least you know what's wrong. And what needs to be fixed... P.S. It's not the market's fault. It never is. The market just decides...

Luck.

The lottery type of luck.

The sudden type of luck.

The unexpected type of luck.

And the desperately needed type of luck.

Those are all types of luck that you shouldn't focus on.

Or bank on.

Because they don't exist.

And if they do exist, chances of you getting lucky are pretty slim to basically non existent.

That's why the type of luck you should focus on instead is the luck over time. 

The type of luck that shows up after you've put in the work. Over and over again.

The type of luck that seems to appear out of nowhere, when the reality is that it's been building up over time.

That's the type of luck you should focus on...

How to find you and your work?

You shouldn't start thinking about how people are going to find out about you, your ideas or your work once you're done.

As a matter of fact, how people are going to find out about you is the very first thing you should be thinking about.

Even before you start creating anything...

You don't have to be an expert...

... to put yourself out there.

To put your work out there. 

To tell your story.

Or to create your art.

As a matter of fact, the only way to become an expert is by putting yourself out there.

By putting your work out there.

By telling your story.

And by creating your art.

That's the only way...

Change takes time...

Maybe change doesn't happen as fast as a lot of people predict.

But the problem when it takes longer than expected, is that once it hits, you might already be at a position in your life where it'll be a lot harder to adapt to that change than it is today.

The best time to adapt to change was yesterday.

The second best time is today...

That ego thing

If you ignore the low hanging fruits, you'll never have the energy you need to climb that tree all the way to the top where all the best fruits can be found...

Please don't interfere

"I could have done it way better than her."

"I'm a lot more talented than him."

"Everybody could do that."

Alright.

That's great.

So go ahead and prove it.

And if you can't, then please don't interfere with the people who are busy doing the work...

Spreading your risk...

The hardest part about spreading your risk is to spread it across the industries, asset classes, countries, income streams, projects, developments, etc that you don't necessarily believe in that much. Because those are our blind spots. And our blind spots are what usually gets us...

The longer you wait, the harder it gets...

That thing you're thinking about doing, what's holding you back?

Money?

Time?

Experience?

Confidence?

Contacts?

Skills?

And what about when you have all of those things?

Are you still going to do that one thing you've always dreamed about doing?

Probably not...

Because your fear is still going to be there.

It's probably even a lot bigger now.

Because now, there's a lot more at stake...

All at the same time...

The cheapest thing in the world?

Changing your mind...

The most expensive thing in the world?

Changing your mind...

It costs you nothing and everything.

All at the same time...

Most of the time, better is better...

Bigger isn't necessarily better.

In many cases, bigger is just bigger.

With all the hassles and drawbacks that come with it.

Sure, bigger has many advantages.

But before you're going for bigger, try to make sure that those advantages are what you're really looking for...

While difficult doesn't...

If people tell you that your product or service is too expensive, what they're really saying is that the value you're providing, is a lot less than the price you're charging.

So you can either lower your prices or you can try to figure out how you can increase the value you're providing.

The first one is easy.

The second one is a lot more difficult.

But easy is never a good long term strategy.

Because easy gets more and more crowded every single day.

While difficult doesn't...

Your strategy

If you strategy only works out if you reach hundreds of thousands of people, get tens of thousands of downloads, sell thousands of products and get hundreds of shares and retweets, then you probably need a new strategy...

 

The source of opportunities...

A while ago you did something remarkable.

Something difficult.

Something challenging.

Something that a lot of people are scared of doing.

Something that might not work out.

And that something you did some time in the past, lead to recognition.

And opportunities.

So when was the last time you did something like that?

Start today...

You can start small today.

With the skills, time, resources and whatever you've got.

Or you can wait until tomorrow and hope that you might have more time.

More resources.

More skills.

More experience.

But hope is never a good strategy.

A much better strategy is this:

Start small.

But start today...

You're a business...

Just like I'm a business.

Just like we're all a business.

With daily, weekly, monthly and yearly expenses.

And revenues.

Or income.

But there's a big difference:

A business doesn't rely on a single stream of income.

Or a single product.

Or a single service.

And neither should you...

Social media is different

Social media doesn't work like TV ads.

Or radio ads.

Or newspaper ads.

Or any other ad.

When people see what you post on social media, they don't want to buy from you.

And they usually won't buy from you.

Because they probably don't know you.

And don't trust you enough to put money in your pockets.

And of course, because there's just way too much noise out there.

While at the same time, pretty much everybody can now afford ads.

Whereas back in the days when TV ads were still a thing, only businesses with proven products or services were able to afford ads.

So people automatically trusted those ads and went out to buy their stuff.

But that stopped working a long time ago.

And what a lot of people still don't understand, is that social media is for building up trust.

So that maybe if you have something to sell in a year or two, people will trust you enough and end up buying your product or service.

Bottom line:

Social media is for building up trust.

But not for selling...

How to catch a goldfish...

If you can't convince a small group of people today, you're probably not going to convince a large group of people tomorrow.

No matter how big your budget is or how many resources you have. 

If it doesn't work on a small scale, it's probably not going to get any better on a bigger scale.

On the contrary, it's probably only going to get worse.

So don't waste your time trying to catch a whale, if you haven't really figured out how to catch a goldfish, yet...  

It's always about this one thing

Before you'll be able to sell your product or service, people need to trust you.

Before you'll be able to raise money, people need to trust you.

Before you'll get that job, people need to trust you.

Before you'll get anyone to read your book, people need to trust you.

So the bottom line is this:

Build up trust before you need it.

Because if you only start when you really need it, it's usually already way too late...

If it doesn't work out...

You don't have to change your goals.

But you probably have to change the way you're trying to get there...

The problem about marketing...

... is that it doesn't take a lot of money anymore.

And instead it takes guts.

A lot of guts.

Which is why it's such a huge opportunity...

If you have those guts, then pretty much everything is possible.

Because most companies and individuals don't.

Do you?

Never stop playing...

The probability that you're going to lose is pretty high.

After all, we're constantly competing with everybody else who's competing with everybody else.

So you're going to end up losing, most of the time.

But what you do when you lose, that's what really matters...

Do you keep playing?

Or do you give up?

Unfortunately, over time, the majority of the people just stops playing.

But when you stop playing, you stop learning.

You stop growing.

You stop experiencing new things.

And you stop experiencing the joy of the unknown.

The joy of the game...

So what do you do when you lose?

It's a common excuse we use:

I would love to do this and to do that, but I really can't.

Because I first need to learn more skills.

And I need to become more confident.

And get more experience.

And build a network.

And make more money.

And...

But what happens then?

What happens once you have all of this?

Will you do all of those things you dreamed about doing?

Will you...?

Are you..?

This is post #2013...

... which means that I missed announcing post number 2000.

 I started this blog back in 2013.

And decided to write daily some time in 2015.

And have since then published one post every single day. 

Some of the posts on this blog are very short.

While others are extremely long.

As a matter of fact, I even published an entire book on this blog.

A book that I wrote and published in just thirty days.

I gave it away for free.

It was read and downloaded by tens of thousands of people.

While other posts and books I wrote, were only read by a handful of people.

But that's not what really matters.

What matters is that you commit.

And that you show up.

Over and over again.

Even when you don't feel like it.

Especially, when you don't feel like it.

But for what?

For yourself.

And the people who need to hear what you have to say...

The best productivity hack...

Is to realize that your fear of getting more things done is what's ultimately holding you back from getting more things done. Simply because the more things you're going to get done, the higher your chances of failure or making mistakes. That's why we keep sabotaging ourselves and keep failing at getting more things done...

Time to reconsider?

That marathon you want to run, would you also run it all by yourself on your regular running track?

That business idea you're working on, would you also work on it, if you already knew that it won't make you rich?

Or that book?

Would you still write it, if you already knew that no one is going to read it?

Or that job?

Would you still do it, if you didn't get paid?

Would you?

Start something...

You don't have to do what people want you to do.

But you've gotta do something.

Because if you do nothing, you'll always end up having to do what people want you to do, and tell you to do...

If you need a guarantee...

If you need a guarantee that it's going to work out, then it's pretty much guaranteed that it's not going to work out...

You shouldn't...

Compare your bad days to everybody else's best days.

Compare your start to everybody else's finish.

Compare your weaknesses to everybody else's strengths.

You really shouldn't.

Because you'll always loose.

No matter how hard you try...