If you are trying to make everyone happy, you are making no one happy.
(This is true for both work and home.)
All too often we worry about shaving the edges. Polishing to appeal to the masses. Average products for average people.
But the edges are no longer for the geeks and the freaks (the early adopters and laggards). People are moving to the edges to find something interesting. Products, goods, and services that are remarkable.
Your niche is not everyone. Because then you have no one.
We don’t ask fire to cool down when it gets too hot.
In order for fire to change we have to act upon it.
People are the same way.
They are hard to change, we simply can’t ask them.
We have to act.
Occasionally, we may burn ourselves in the process.
(But waiting for the fire to burn out is a guarantee for more destruction.)
Before the internet the old 1% worked on Wall Street. They owned the factory. Went to an elite private college. Made a lot of money. Charged interest. Raced for the bottom. Are fundamentalists. They want things to stay the same. Are managers. They find someone else to do the work and get them to do it faster and cheaper. Never have enough money. Worry about scarcity.
The internet has changed everything though. Everything. No longer do you have to wait for your turn. (As Seth Godin says, “It’s always your turn.”) A door has opened for the new 1%. This new 1% is one that Goldman Sachs or Wal-Mart can’t go through. They are too big to fit. Because they are afraid to fail. And now they are the ones stuck on the outside.
This new 1%. The new elite. They are not waiting to be picked. Assemble a tribe. Make work that matters. Are generous. Understand the power of community. Leap. Embrace tension. They have enough and see more abundance. Challenge the status-quo. They lead us. And they inspire us to do better.
The new 1% is not limited to 1% of the population. Anyone can come. It’s for anyone that is willing to make the world a better place.
He likes skim milk.
She likes whole milk.
So you buy 2%.
And no one is happy.
We like to think that when the voice in our head says, “Oh, I am really scared” that those thoughts proceed to control our actions.
It turns out it’s the other way around: that our body has made a decision that it’s scared (or hungry, or angry, or lonely, or tired, or whatever) and then the voice in our head reports what is going on with your body.
In other words, the voice in our head is a narrator. But if we want to change the story, we don’t stop the person narrating the script. We need to change the script!
We can stop bargaining with the voice in our head and realize that it has no autonomy or agency. Instead, we can say thank you. Thank you for informing me about what is going on. This is significant when it comes to making work that matters.
The Body: Hands get hot, posture sinks, hands folded across your chest.
The Mind: “Stop this. You are going to be made fun of. You’re not qualified for this. Who do you think you are?”
Your Response: “Thank you. But I need to get back to work.”
Recently, Steven Henegar College approached the Mayor of Midvale, UT (suburb of Salt Lake City) to offer two life changing scholarships to the citizens of Midvale.
The first scholarship was a full ride, four-year program (valued at $25,000). The second scholarship was for a two-year associates program (valued at $12,000).
The Mayor announced the scholarships in her newsletter to the citizens. She asked for anyone interested in the scholarships to write her. From there, they would choose who would most benefit from this opportunity.
At a local art show, the Mayor rose to the podium to announce who would receive the scholarships. As she spoke, she announced that she received only one letter. One letter!
There are about 28,000 residents in Midvale. Of those 28,000 residents, 4,000 fit in the 15 to 24 age demographic. The 15 to 24 year olds are not the only ones to blame for a missed opportunity here. Most people know somebody that could have benefited from this scholarship.
In this case, if anyone would have picked themselves to play the game they would have at least received $12,000 to go to school. But only ONE person picked themselves. Just one. (And good for her.) I know some people didn’t get the message. And I get that. But “I didn’t know”, “I didn’t have time”, “I didn’t think”, “I didn’t see” are forms of hiding.
This is an endemic problem. The internal narrative. The story we tell ourselves. We can’t bargain with it. We think we are being safe and cautious listening to this voice that is telling us not to bother with an opportunity just to play the game. We think we are being rational, “People like us don’t win things like this.” It is ingrained, “We aren’t special enough. You are not good enough. Who do you think you are?” Worse of all we minimize it and amplify the story, “I didn’t want to go to Steven Henager anyway.”
We sit back and wait and wait and wait to be picked. Then we complain that we never get picked.
So pick yourself. Pick yourself to play in the game. You might not win. And that’s okay. Play again tomorrow.
If it’s not causing tension, then it’s not scary enough.
If it’s not scary enough, then you are probably looking for a guarantee.
If it’s guaranteed to work, then it leaves no room for failure.
And if it can’t fail, then it’s too safe.
If it’s safe, then there is too much compliance.
If you are looking for compliance, then you are looking for a map.
But leaders are map makers, not map readers.
If you are following instructions, then there isn’t much risk.
What kind of risk are you taking: is it real or perceived?
If it’s real and you need to run from a saber tooth tiger. Then RUN!
But if it’s not a saber tooth tiger in the bushes and it’s your boss wondering how far along you are on the TPS reports…then it’s not real.
It’s all invented.
If it’s all invented, then maybe we can tell a different story.
A better story: you are good enough.
Does that make you feel uncomfortable?
You are good enough to show us your best work.
If it’s going to be your best work, then you are going to take a beating.
Trolls will be trolling. Critics will criticizing. Haters will be hating.
That’s the price for admission.
Before you step on that stage, that moment is yours.
It’s tension.
Lean in.
You can’t out “Wal-Mart” Wal-Mart. And you can’t compete with Amazon or McDonald’s.
They have what they do down to a science: measure for productivity and accuracy to become a little faster and a little cheaper.
Henry Ford perfected it. He went out and said “Come work for me. And instead of making 50 cents per day, I’ll pay you $5 per day.”
For a while, this made us all very rich. Particularly the factory owners. But it doesn’t anymore. And quite frankly, it isn’t a good deal either.
Here is what’s changed: the means of production are no longer controlled by those who own the factory. We saw it 500 years ago with the printing press. Scribes lost their job and power shifted from the professional scribe to the amateur presser. And we saw it recently with the music industry. (Remember when the record labels were bringing families to court over pirating.)
It is self-preservation. And it happens when we can amaturize an industry – “Professionals”, factory owners, and scientists lose control.
Scribes were scientists. Henry Ford was a scientist. Record Execs were scientists. And they were all very good at inserting money at one end of the machine and having profit spit out on the other. Tinkering with it to squeeze more profit.
However, the demand for scientists are gone. Because at some point it can’t get any faster or cheaper. (Think about messaging: from horse to train to phone to fax to email to IM.) What we need are more artists to change the status-quo, to raise the bar. Wal-mart is no longer remarkable. It doesn’t cause us to stop and cross the street.
What if we decide to quit the things that take 80% of our time that only bring 20% of their value?
You don’t have to quit TV, or Facebook, or Pinterest, or SnapChat, or Twitter, or YouTube all together. But maybe you quit on the videos or feeds or outlets that don’t bring a lot value.
How about customers, can we quit them?
You bet. Not all customers of course. The customers that take advantage of your generosity – we can quit them. When we free 80% of our time: what could we do with all this free time?
We can treat the other customers differently. The ones that really matter.
And now: you’re either in or you’re out.
Instead of spending our time chasing every customer that walks by (to the bottom), we can now spend our time sharing our work in a more generous way (to the top).
So welcome: Here, I made this. It’s not for everybody. But it may be for you. And if not, that’s okay too. There is something else down the road that could probably fill your needs. But over here – people like us do things like this.
There is none.
Either you do it, or don’t.
You can participate or spectate.
Josh Allred's Blog 