Daily Lab: Plans don’t change minds
Does that mean we accept less from or for ourselves? No, it means we find things we want to do.
“Plans don't change minds—they only help us remember to do the things we already want to do.” — Katy Milkman, How to Change
As we all know, planning to go to the gym in the New Year doesn’t actually get us there.
Planning to start posting every day on LinkedIn doesn’t actually make it happen.
And planning to update our website doesn’t get it updated.
Because we do the things we want to do. And we don’t actually want to do any of those things.
Does that mean we accept less from or for ourselves? No, it means we find things we want to do.
Just like, even though we might hate the gym, there’s almost certainly other types of exercise we would enjoy, there’s almost certainly other types of marketing (or other approaches) that you would like.
If you don’t want to post on LinkedIn, your content’s going to suffer anyway. So find where your customers are that you want to be, too. And go there.
If you don’t want to update your website, it’s probably because the scope of the project is overwhelming. So find the quickest, tiniest, easiest thing you can do to move it ahead today, and only do that. But do that again tomorrow. And the day after. (Here’s how).
Because the first step isn’t figuring out what you think you have to do.
It’s figuring out what you want to do. Then, you figure out who wants that.
Find them where they are. Adjust your approach to suit their perception of value.
And keep doing what you love, because you love it.
Not because you planned to do it.
