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This point ties in well with my point about “ stop doing the wrong things well ” I made in the November 1 issue of Work Smart Wednesday . If me and my team are working hard, but it feels like I’m going in circles, I ask myself the most important question: “is everybody prioritising the highest value tasks?”. When you pick the right priority, it often doesn’t really matter if you do it well or not. Doing the right thing poorly is still worth more than executing the wrong thing

I have a fairly large family. Large enough that a few years back we all decided to switch to a family-wide secret santa rather than everybody buying individual gifts. This is a practice I have extended to my friends and employees (can be great for teams!). Done well, these work wondrously, it is both easier and more fun. Unfortunately, organising a secret santa is a pain. It takes a long time and usually it is obligatory that at least one person knows who everybody has been

Well, giving away your time makes you feel like you have more time at least - which is almost the same thing (if not better!). This article from Harvard Business Review explains why people who give time away actually end up feeling like they have more time, not less . Giving your time to others can make you feel more “time affluent” and less time-constrained. Yes, objectively those that volunteer have less time at first, but they feel more effective and that feeling enhance

Many people spend an incredible amount of time making sure everything they do is done to the best of their ability. You are probably aware of the phrase “if it is worth doing it is worth doing well”. What most people forget are the two important caveats include in this sentence: IF it is worth doing Worth doing WELL ‘Worth doing well’ is not the same as ‘worth doing perfectly’. I use this simple sentence as a guide to help me stay focused on tasks that matter. The first step

When someone asks you, “how are you feeling,” do you often respond, “busy”? First of all – “busy” isn’t a feeling. Overwhelmed, stressed, scattered, distracted, guilty, frustrated, tired. THOSE are feelings. I make a conscious effort to NOT describe myself as busy, but to use a different adjective. This is more important than most people realise… Side note: Many entrepreneurs, particularly males, struggle with identifying their feelings when they first start out - I know I s

While reading Alex Hormozi’s new book “$100m leads” , an insight which has been bubbling away for a while, rattling around in my brain somewhere, came to the fore. The final trigger was a client proudly telling me they read 50+ business books per year, yet we were working together primarily on growth as they had made limited progress with their business on their own. The insight? Knowledge is useless without utility. What is the point in knowing something if you cannot use it

Since I began writing these emails I always make sure to read them when they go live just as though I was a subscriber, not the writer. I believe there are two main advantages to this - it helps me see my output with fresh eyes so I can better evaluate what is good and what needs work, and I get to be reminded of the lessons I share to stay sharp for my own (and my client’s) businesses. The second is particularly useful as I often ‘batch’ the writing of these emails, which sa

We would all like to believe the world is a meritocracy. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case in almost every way. One way we need to add to that list - it isn’t necessarily the best content that goes viral. Just because you say or share something worthwhile it doesn’t mean that you will be rewarded. Knowing this can be both a blessing and a curse. A curse because it is frustrating to know that the world is stacked against you. A blessing, because when you recognise what obstac

One of the most important factors when considering how to market to your audience is determining how solution aware your audience is. This has a huge impact on where you should market and advertise, what messages you should share (how to market), and how much it will cost to acquire customers. There are generally considered to be 5 stages of awareness: U naware No knowledge of their problem, but likely feels symptoms of the issue Example: Sharp pains in their side but they th

When comparing prices, we process them in one of two ways – either by looking at each number digit-by-digit (without rounding) or we round the number in our mind. When the original and discount prices are listed side-by-side, we compare the prices through the first method, we compare digit-by-digit. This creates comparative pricing and can useful, especially when utilising psychological pricing (e.g. $9.97) as it often leads to us having a lower perception of price. Consume

I came across this recently and found it funny. While toxic positivity is absolutely a thing, one we all need to avoid being a part of, I hope to encounter more ominous positivity to combat it with humour. Everything will turn out fine, you cannot stop it You will be okay, you have no choice You will succeed, it is inevitable Happiness is coming, you cannot escape it What ominous positivity messages can you think of? Please share them with me! 💡 Quote I'm pondering “ Compar

People buy from people . The vast majority of purchasing decisions are driven by emotion , rather than logic. It is extremely valuable when you can connect with your potential customers, not just simply contact them but truly build a sense of connection. However, creating a sense of connection can be difficult - especially at scale. Fortunately, there is good research on this topic. We know what key activities to do in order to create authentic connections with your potentia

Your health underpins everything else. Health is your foundation. It is hard to focus on building your business when you're sick. How you spend your time underpins your health - do you make time to eat healthy, to exercise, to give yourself space to think freely? Nothing is more urgent. Nothing is more important. While some people are aware of this lesson via Maslow’s hierarchy of needs , they often fail to implement it. You must prioritise your health above all else. That

One of the things many smart people struggle with is the belief that being right matters. People often realise how little being right matters when they get into a serious relationship like a marriage. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what is factually correct - something else in the moment may matter more, or it matters more how the information is delivered, or how it feels. While we learn the lesson personally, often with a child or spouse, few people take it a step further to e

Sometimes it is difficult to see the progress we have made, yet when we compare ourselves to who we were 10 years ago the differences become obvious. The same is true with problem, it can be hard to see what the problem really is, to ‘see the woods through the trees’. Getting objective feedback can help a great deal, somebody else who can see the bigger picture for you, but that isn’t always possible (or the person isn’t always able!). External help is useful, but we also nee

Elon has really tried hard to shake things up. Whether you like him or not, you cannot argue that he doesn’t try to forge his own path. AI, social media, and search engine algorithms have been notoriously tightly held, with some key players stating that nobody knows how the algorithms work . Elon recently made the Twitter (AKA ‘X’) algorithm open source. He has let everybody see the code that drives the Twitter algorithm . This is extremely valuable for you if you use ANY soc

In Work Smart Wednesday last week when discussing why hiring should be the last thing you do , I briefly mentioned a common problem in small businesses: bottlenecks caused by the founder being the main point of contact. Today, I am going to expand on that point as it relates to a larger issue - thinking small. When companies are small, founders often get caught up reacting to situations. They get stuck in a ‘chicken and egg’ problem, a loop, where they cannot do x because th

We spend our lives making decisions. What to wear, what to have for dinner, how to complete a task… the list goes on. Psychologists have documented that large numbers of decision cause “decision fatigue” , which causes of irrational trade-offs in decision making - it causes us to make mistakes. This effect is exacerbated by having to make decisions from a ‘blank slate’. If we have to evaluate our options from stage 1 every time, it takes more energy to make the decision. More

You have a problem: you are too busy. You need help. What should you do? Most people in this situation opt to hire employees or freelancers to work alongside them and relieve the pressure. This is often the first thought, a hire-first mentality, a kneejerk reaction. In effect, they are hiring people in an attempt to improve the system - the system has led them to become overburdened, they hope that by adding another person into the system it will spread the burden and lighte

Reverse trials are a relatively new, and increasingly popular, method to convert your customers. Particularly common in SAAS businesses but useful for all business types. What are reverse trials? Reverse trials are a hybrid trialing system, a free trial combined with the ‘freemium’ model. You start with access to all features like a free trial and when the trial time elapses you revert to a freemium version. Each outlined: A free trial gives you all features then ends. No m