The power of being really good at a few things, not everything
Today’s topic is part 3 of the deviation from working on others to working on the G.O.A.T… you!
Last week we spoke about being a bit kinder to yourself and tooting your own horn. I hope you took some time to do that last week!
Today is about being great (maybe even amazing) at a few things without trying to be great at everything.
I see it all the time. Trying to master every d@mn skill you can. Best project manager, best innovator, best time manager, best note taker, etc etc etc.
You’ve got me feeling like this…
But don’t you need to be the best?
Nope, sure don’t. You JUST need to be great at a few things. If you can be better than 75% of leaders at a combination of 2-3 things, you’ll be in a winning position. More on that in a minute. For now, how do you know you’re trying to be great at too many things?
Burning hours on BS – if you’re spending hours perfecting the formatting of meeting minutes that no one will read, updating slides that offer no value or trying to learn how to manage a project management template then you’re guilty of this.
Chasing diminishing returns – Does a better image for slide 57 of your ppt really improve the outcome (and will anyone read it)? Does meeting with Sally from procurement for a coffee chat actually help (come one, it is your fourth cappucino with her this quarter)?
Grumpy about things that don’t matter – if you’re building a team that is kick@ss at customer service, does it really matter that they occassionally misfile things (expecially if they are amazing at the CS part)? Is it worth fussing over their grammar when you could easily install Grammarly on their PC and save you both the unnecessary instruction from the grammar police (you?)?
A better strategy
Now instead of worrying about the $hit we mentioned above, here’s a better strategy:
Pick 2-3 things you can be amazing at – PLEASE hear me on this. I PROMISE you that if you focus on 2-3 things that give you an advantage, you can build a bad@ss career. For me, those things are People, Strategy and Digital. I’m not the best at any of them, but I’m very good at the intersection of those three. For you, it could be innovation + customer service + leading bad@ss teams or it could be project management + sales + training. Whatever it is, own it and keep it as your primary focus.
Spend as much time as you can on those – now that you’ve locked in your 2-3 bad@ss areas of amazingness, it’s time to focus on those. If you chose innovation + customer service + leading teams, then those need to be your focal points. That means finding as many projects and ways as possible to become the most skilled you can be. That also means saying no to training, opportunities and projects that don’t further your agenda in those areas (sorry, that means saying no to that intro to sales course you were thinking about). It’s not me being harsh, it’s called focus 😉
Align opportunities to your bad@ssery – Now that you’re focus is locked in and your skills are growing day after day, it’s time to ensure the world gives you what you’re the best at. You have to nail your value proposition (your pitch) and push that out to your network, boss, customers, staff, etc as often as possible. NO don’t spam them, YES tell them how you can help in those areas. You’ll be shocked what the world sends your way when you tell people how you can kick@ss for them.
Now, take a moment to lock in your 2-3 areas of bad@ssery and make big things happen. It’s your time to return to being the bad@ss you were always meant to be.
