Kelford Labs Daily: Resolution or obligation?
Focus on what you want to do.
“If you want to predict how much a person—including yourself—will stick to a resolution, ask how excited they are to engage in it rather than how important the resolution seems to be.”
— Ayelet Fishbach, Get It Done
Well, it’s February.
By now, most people’s New Year’s Resolutions are just somewhat shameful memories.
Merely records of commitments they’d made for their future selves that, once future became present, disintegrated into avoidable chores.
Marketing goals and resolutions are no different, for most who try them.
We write down, or boldly proclaim, that we’re going to do something we’ve never done before.
That we’re going to exert more effort than we ever have before.
We’re going to spend more time than we ever could before.
And then, you know, we don’t.
Because the person who made the commitment and the person who has to fulfill it are the same person.
And bold proclamations—“This time I’m serious”—are predictors of failure, not success.
No, the people—marketers and entrepreneurs included—who actually get the stuff done they want to get done do it because they want to.
That’s the whole secret to getting big marketing things done:
Wanting to.
So let’s look at your marketing goals for this year. Pull out your list, right now if you can.
Take a look at it, and really ask yourself: Do I want to do this?
Ask: “Of all the items and tasks I’d have to do to get what I want, which ones do I actually want to do?”
Now, here’s the hardest part:
Cut out all the stuff you don’t want to do.
I know, I know! You’re tough, you’re committed. You don’t like the idea of giving up.
But if I know anything about marketing from almost 20 years of consulting, I know this:
Doing a little bit well, consistently, and eagerly is much more effective than doing a lot poorly, unenthusiastically, out of obligation.
But I can guarantee you this: If you focus on what you like doing—what brings you intrinsic joy—and you make the most of that energy and enthusiasm, the rest will follow.
Start with what you like, and build up your stock of enthusiasm which you can deploy on the stuff you like less.
Until, pretty soon, you find you kind of like marketing.
Not because you have to, but because you focused on what you wanted to.
