Choose, Move, Measure, and if needed Pivot
Editor’s Note: This newsletter was originally published on Monday, January 31st, 2022.
There is a lot of indecision going around!
Based on experience, the onset of a new year brings new opportunities and potential changes. Whether it be budgets, strategies, or general day-to-day decisions, it always seems like there are questions & concerns as everyone returns from their holidays.
This year has been no different. I had this conversation with someone last week where they were mentioning a number of possible options, but were at a stand-still in their decision-making process as there were many factors yet to be finalized.
My advice (as above) was simple: Choose, Move, Measure, and if needed Pivot.
I have been trying to follow this simple model for the past few years and it has helped my decision-making ability greatly. (Note that I said ability and often not, results!)
I am still wrong as often as before, but trending toward quicker decision-making (even in the face of limited information) has been a game-changer for me.
Think about it:
- If there is a decision to be made, I am not where I want to be.
- If I have a supposition about a better end state, I am better off choosing and moving in that direction than staying where I am.
- If things improve, I have those previous results to help clarify the remainder of my journey.
- If things stagnate or get worse, I have additional information and a new vantage point from which to pivot and reset my path.
In almost all situations, waiting to decide is the wrong decision. Time is truly our most precious resource and time spent waiting is something that you can never get back. If nothing else, you learn even on a failed journey.
What are some decisions that you have been putting off that you need to make a decision today?
On an unrelated sports note, congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams on their victories in Sunday’s AFC & NFC Championship games. Interestingly, both teams overcame double-digit deficits in comebacks to win their respective games. A big #GoodLuck shout-out to Matthew Stafford as this has been his first successful run in the NFL playoffs and will be his first Super Bowl appearance. As a former #DGD, here’s to hoping that he “gets his ring”!
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain
— Bojohawkeye (@bobodojo) January 29, 2022
I heard this awhile ago for the first time from @tferriss and was great pre-pandemic. Odd how it's now near criminal to reflect or question....
The quote above highlights the synergistic relationship between scaling & growth. You cannot successfully accomplish the latter without addressing the former!
If you seek to be a growing organization, you have to address delivery and execution within your current footprint & customer base. Putting the processes and patterns in place to be effective “where you are” is one of the biggest success factors toward looking to something more.
Consider these:
- At your current state, how much of an impact is it if a leader or key contributor in one area moves to another?
- What concerns would you have if they moved on to another organization altogether?
- If there was some overall financial, cultural, political, etc. shift that measurably changed your operation, do you know how you would respond?
Each of these realities could manifest based on what your organization does today! There need not be “growth” that highlights these kinds of problems and inefficiencies.
If you feel that you’d struggle where you are if these realities changed, know that they would definitely if you sought to grow and scale. Almost no one “grows out of their problems & limitations”. Plenty of people smarter than us have tried and struggled (or failed) down this path.
Net-Net: Put the processes and controls in place where you are in preparation for your future growth plans!
For those checking out the book reviews, I reviewed Twelve And A Half (Amazon affiliate link) by Gary Vaynerchuk. You can check out my notes at this link.
Keep a lookout as I have finished reading the following books and will be posting my notes for those very soon!
- E-Myth Revisited (Amazon affiliate link) by Michael Gerber [review notes link]
- One Million Followers (Amazon affiliate link) by Brendan Kane
- Content Inc. (Amazon affiliate link) by Joe Pulizzi
- Twelve And A Half (Amazon affiliate link) by Gary Vaynerchuk
Download the 2022 planner to:
— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) January 5, 2022
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— Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) December 2, 2021
Other Links
People-Also-Asked (PAA) vs Featured Snippets
While Featured Snippets have gotten a lot of attention within the SEO and content development communities, actual data is suggesting that optimizing for Google’s People-Also-Asked functionality could more positively affect ranking (and traffic). Kevin Indig, Shopify’s director of SEO highlights that PAAs have been increasing since March 2020 & appear on as much as 10x the number of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) as do Featured Snippets.
Here are a few other SEO-related links to check out as well:
WordPress 5.9 Launches
Our website (as well as millions of others) is published on the WP platform. With its most recent 5.9 release, site developers have additional features available (including full-site editing) as well as a number of underlying & performance improvements.
Google’s CEO addresses making meetings more effective
As organizations have moved to more virtual meetings, challenges have manifested resulting from the difficulty of promoting a connected culture. Sundar Pichai of Google suggests limiting audience size to promote effectiveness. That is a great idea completely aligned with other suggestions that I shared in an earlier YouTube video. You can check it out here.
While this post on our website is focused specifically on Bankruptcy Attorneys, the ideas are relevant across a number of legal (and non-legal) verticals. Be sure to check it out.
Internet Explorer will be officially retired this year. Looking at data from @Akamai's mPulse, there's a steady decline since it was announced last year. Shared some thoughts here on what this means for the web. https://t.co/hZcEDlbFkb. . pic.twitter.com/rhvqoKrijK
— Paul Calvano (@paulcalvano) January 31, 2022
