Deal with clients.
But what do you do?
What do you do?
This is not the Why or How question. This is much harder.
On one level, it is so bloody obvious that it almost pains me to type those four words, but on a higher plane it requires you to question what it is that you do each day.
What are you building?
And for whom?
Are you hoping for a nice, cosy existence bathed in the warm glow of your profession or the knowledge that you are making lives better?
Do you even care?
It used to be a slightly hackneyed joke that marketing was the department that liked to say no. Let’s face it, it so easy to say no.
In building your destiny, don’t you sometimes crave for someone to say yes [including that person inside your head who likes to talk you out of doing what you know you should be doing]?
“Yes, you can attend that event.”
“Yes, you can start that hair-brained scheme.”
“Yes, you can spend the next 3 months building without recourse to the (bloody) clock.”
“Yes, you can hire.”
“Yes, you can try social media.”
“Yes, you can tear up the client excellence script and start again.”
Where is the department that likes to say yes?
Oh sure, there needs to be some constraint on your proclivity to spend but showing initiative, thinking outside your tiny box and doing more than showing up will soon be a prerequisite to success.
No one is going to gift you a career. If anything they want to keep you down. The more compliant the better.
Next time you turn up for work ask yourself “What do [I] do?”
If you can’t answer that question in less that 140 characters then you have a problem. Why? Simply because others will determine your fate for you. And that will be determined by your numbers – nothing more nothing less.