|
Read Time: 5 Minutes
Today's newsletter might ruffle a few feathers...
And that's a good thing. It's an important topic we should talk about.
Here's the kicker - I'm a firm believer in the view that:
You should be consciously cultivating (and continually architecting) an inner circle who possess impressive, ever-increasing professional results.
Look, I'm all for positivity and mutual encouragement. I don't advocate trashing your network or putting your friends down in unhealthy competition.
That said, I firmly believe you should often feel inadequate next to your high-achieving peers - so you continue to push and encourage each other.
In a subtle, nonverbal way...
Your internal board of advisors should continually push you to higher heights.
Your internal drive and thirst for excellence will be continually spurred on and bolstered by those around you.
Achieving whatever you want in this life, primarily comes from your own burning desire and clarity of vision.
But it should be scaffolded by those around you, so you NEVER:
- Get complacent,
- Settle for less than your full potential,
- Accept average results as the norm, or
- Feel like you're "done" growing
I'm not suggesting you build some crazy cutthroat environment, where everyone's trying to one-up each other all the time.
Quite the contrary...
I'm talking about an intimate environment where everyone's shining so brightly, crushing their respective lanes so well, that it simply inspires you to be better by osmosis.
The other day I was on a prospect call.
Guy just came back from a sabbatical after he and his partners sold their company for millions, exiting via acquisition to a publicly-traded NASDAQ company.
I could instantly feel his energy, the experience and insight he held.
And the opportunity was a stretch outside my comfort zone, as I've simply grown accustomed to.
Instead of working on my typical inbound, info product brands with audiences baked in...
These guys were looking to scale their client offers to cold traffic; something I have less experience in.
In fact, the project was so big, full execution of it would be completely outside of our capabilities to deliver. This fired me up and intrigued me.
We need to strike a deal here, where we start small and vet each other.
And it's on US as a team to overdeliver from day one, so we can represent our approach, skills, and implementation correctly.
It's the only way we can consistently grow into tackling their:
- Sales funnels,
- Nurture-content creation,
- Sales copy & positioning per client, and
- Product line extension to the audiences we help build
But as I said, that fires me up.
It's the type of opportunity that makes me see a clear path to personal growth, mutual value, and a tinge of uncertainty to overdeliver...
... which inherently makes me recognize the absolute requirement to make sure we DO.
And working with clients (oftentimes more successful than myself) is a single micro-example of how I consistently put myself in those uncomfortable positions.
The kind that make me feel inadequate and under-experienced - so I can show up with my A-game and get comfortable at that level, and ascend to the next.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don't cultivate the sort of cutthroat, toxic environment that makes you feel inadequate because your peers or clients put you down.
No.
That's a fast-track to feeling devalued, dejected, and perpetually dissatisfied.
Tying It All Together:
Instead, find the balance between building a circle that pushes you to grow aggressively, and cutting out any leeches or detractors from your core purpose.
Your One-Minute Takeaway:
Make sure you have the right types of people around you at all times - who actually help you grow in different areas, and share nuanced perspectives from various angles.
Maybe you've got friends who are on their A-game with fitness, nutrition, training, and rest. They can teach you a thing or two, and you probably possess some skills they'd like to sharpen as well.
Find the mutual value exchange.
Maybe another one of your friends or customers is super sharp at media buying. Or SEO. Or branding.
It's tough to be "all things at once".
But the closer you can get to being the most developed, well-rounded force of nature you can possibly be, the better prepared you'll be for the challenges of life and the business realm.
Learn to attack things from all the angles that actually matter, and move the needle on attaining your desired results. |
