“Practical Tips” for Being Awesome

Once you’ve done enough experimentation and evolution (and this may take some time!), you’ll find yourself with a more focused pursuit that brings you alive and brings out your truest self.

And as you continue to evolve and to launch new, related experiments branching out from this pursuit, you’ll begin to gain the skill, experience and contacts that’ll help you carve out the potential for paid work/employment and/or business opportunities.

For example, as I branched out and evolved from my Unlost pursuit, launching related experiment after related experiment, I was able to amass lots of copy writing– and social media– and marketing– and web experience.

After a year of this type of evolution, if I’d wanted to do freelance writing or to work for a marketing or web company, I would’ve had something of real substance to show– even though not long ago, I’d had no experience with these things whatsoever (and didn’t really even know that I liked them).

Without ever having left my full-time accounting job, I now had a resume on which I could list things like this:

• Created and marketed The Unlost, a blog for finding your way
• Crafted email campaigns using Mailchimp with average open rates of xx%
• Created and managed social media campaigns across Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, building a following of 3,000 + from scratch
• Work published on the Boise State University Arbiter (circulation of 30,000+),LifeAfterCollege.org, TinyBuddha.com (500,000+ Twitter followers), BrazenCareerist.com,GoodWomenProject.com, and so on…
• Attended Wisdom 2.0 and World Domination Summit conferences
• Etc., etc.

Even better, I now had the contacts to pursue those types of opportunities.

Are you starting to see how this works now?

In the process of E & E, you aren’t just finding your aliveness and “figuring out” what you want to do– you’re also positioning yourself to transition into related work without the huge risk that comes from picking a pursuit “out of the blue” and jumping right in. You’re  building and evolving over time until you find eventually find yourself somewhere new.

Of course, doing work for free on the side (for yourself or for others) like I did isn’t the only way to do things– it’s just one of many models you can use to build skill, experience, and contacts, while simultaneously learning what brings you most alive & while avoiding Internet shopping with everything you’ve got.

Everyone’s E & E process will be unique, so let your aliveness guide you.

But enough E & E review: The point I’m getting to is that these sorts of career opportunities don’t just happen through leisurely experimentation & evolution.

After all, you can evolve upon successful experiments all you want– and you can absolutely enjoy yourself while doing it–  but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to make a career of it.

This section includes a variety of practical, actionable tips for making the most of your evolutionary process and for making your way into new opportunities.

Don’t try to do everything at once– instead, pick one section that speaks to you especially strongly and that fits in with your current E & E process. This is what you’ll focus on  while completing your experiment this module.

Each selection includes a question (in bold) to help guide you in taking action on the principles. Use this question to guide you as you complete your current experiment.

What makes you different?

In a world of all-the-same, I’ve learned that one of the most important things you can do is learn to STAND OUT. You don’t have to go wayyyyyy outside the box (unless that’s your style), but regardless of the circumstances, you can always find a way to differentiate yourself from the masses of people who are all doing things the same. You can always find a way to shine.

In my article below I explain why blending in doesn’t work, and why it’s important to stand out:

• Why Your College Degree Doesn’t Mean Sh**

In the world of jobseeking, here are a few ideas/examples to get your juices flowing:

• How to Get Hired By Anyone: 5 Foolproof Methods for Landing That J-O-B
• STAND OUT OR GET OUT: How to escape mediocrity and do the work you love

If you like the “video resume” idea that I mention in my article above, you might want to check out Shane Mac’s online service, Hello There, to create a “video introduction” of sorts. This makes it easy as heck to impress potential employers.

Also consider reading Seth Godin’s book “Purple Cow.” He’s written it about business and marketing, but it absolutely applies to individuals as well. What makes you different? What are you doing that’s worth remarking on? In a world of brown cows, how can you be a purple cow?

• Purple Cow

Q: What are you trying to accomplish right now, and how is everyone else trying to do the same thing? How can you do things differently in a way that supports the “WIIFT” Principle (“What’s In In For Them– see #2 below)?

The “What’s In It For Them” (WIIFT) Principle

Reality check: No one really cares about giving you a job or an opportunity.

I mean, you’re awesome and all (you really are!), but what they really care about is how you can help them.

What’s in it for them?

The way to get someone’s attention is to always, always, always come from their point of view.

How can your skills and experience help them solve their problems and achieve their goals?

Getting really good at what you do (#3)– and even differentiating yourself (#1)– are moot if you fail to demonstrate what’s in it for them.

Derek Halpern of the website Social Triggers shares some great examples in his article below. (His examples revolve around getting responses to your emails, but you can apply the “WIIFT” principle to anything you’re doing: phone calls, cover letters, getting kids to do their homework or coworkers to get behind you on a project– anything at all.)

Check it out: http://www.appsumo.com/simple-framework-for-emails-that-get-to-yes/

And here’s an excerpt from Shane Mac’s book, Stop With The BS, about how you can apply “WIIFFT” to your cover letter when applying for jobs:

If you have three seconds in your email cover letter to catch your reader’s attention, then what does your first line say? It better say something about them, not you. People like to be praised. Companies like to be praised. It is human nature.

What does your second line say? It better say something completely unique, inspiring, and/or valuable so that the reader will say to themselves … I want to read more. If not, you are toast. This is where I used the business plan. It is actually super easy and does not take that much time. What it does is set you apart. It makes you stand out in a crowd of the same cover-letter-and-resume world we live in. FML. (F My Life for those who don’t know.)

It is a 30, 60, 90 day goal plan (or list) of what you want to do within the company. What are you going to do for THEM. They can be super high-level. The idea here isn’t that you have the answers to change the business, it is that you are willing to learn and dive right in when you get the chance. It is really about the person reading it saying to themselves, “I have never seen something like this before.” (Once you get on the phone that is another story and I will address later.)

You can also throw in a one-year goal to show longevity.

If you would like to see exactly how I would approach an employer with an email and the business plan attached (the one I actually used to get interviews) send an email to bizplan@shanemac.me  and you will receive an auto-responder that is exactly how I landed interviews. Simple, unique, and actually was effective for me.

Whether you’re pitching your boss, landing clients or applying for jobs, specifically answering the question of “WWIFT” is the golden ticket. Don’t overlook its importance.

The secret to all of this is to give the employer what they want before they ask for it.

Make them say… “Well Damn, who is this fellow?”

– Shane Mac

Shane’s got lots of other great stuff inside his book, Stop With The BS, if you’d like to learn more.

Q: When pursuing a new experimentation/evolution opportunity that involves contacting someone or applying for a job, implement the “WIIFT” principle by following this three-step framework:

1. What am I trying to achieve/get/do? (i.e., I’m trying to get this job, I’m trying to land this customer, I’m trying to meet with this person, and so on.)

2. What are the problems/wants/needs of the intended recipient? (Be specific. This may take some research on your part.)

3. What are the specific things you (a) Have done in the past, (b) Will do in the future (see Shane Mac’s “Business Plan” above for one example), or (c) already have done (see how The Unlost’s Homework Officer, Paulina, landed her position among a crowd of applicants at #xx) that are related to what you’re trying to get/do/achieve, and how will these things specifically help solve their problems or fulfill their needs? (“WIIFT”?)

BONUS: Also consider doing things differently 

Get so good they can’t ignore you

In order to evolve your way into new opportunities, you obviously can’t suck: You have to get really good at what you do.

And guess what? It turns out that most people don’t actually know how to get really good at something, and that masters have a completely different way of practicing than do those who are simply mediocre.

In the book Talent is Overrated, author Geoff Calvin explains why talent alone is not enough– and how to get really, really good at something. Straight from the book description:

Asked to explain why a few people truly excel, most people offer one of two answers. The first is hard work. Yet we all know plenty of hard workers who have been doing the same job for years or decades without becoming great. The other possibility is that the elite possess an innate talent for excelling in their field. We assume that Mozart was born with an astounding gift for music, and Warren Buffett carries a gene for brilliant investing. The trouble is, scientific evidence doesn’t support the notion that specific natural talents make great performers.

According to distinguished journalist Geoff Colvin, both the hard work and natural talent camps are wrong. What really makes the difference is a highly specific kind of effort-”deliberate practice”-that few of us pursue when we’re practicing golf or piano or stockpicking. Based on scientific research, Talent is Overrated shares the secrets of extraordinary performance and shows how to apply these principles.

Here are a few tidbits on how to practice deliberately. If you want to get more in depth on these topics, I suggest reading Calvin’s book (above).

• STRETCH YOURSELF– over and over and over again

If we want to get awesome at what we do, we can’t just “put in our time” and have a leisurely time doing the pleasurable, easy, enjoyable things: instead, we should spend most of our time working on the most difficult and most demanding parts of our work and focus on mastering those.

Stretch yourself. Practice should be hard every time, not easy.

And don’t just do it once– do it over and over and over again. This is what it takes to approach mastery.

Devote most of your time to the really hard stuff.

• ASK PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE IT BEFORE (& GET THEIR FEEDBACK)

Feedback, feedback, feedback. From your boss. From your customers. From those who have experience and who are the best in the field. Because if you’re working in a vacuum and in complete isolation, how can you ever know whether you’re “getting it right?”

Get feedback and advice from people who’ve already done it (and who do it well). As much as possible, learn from the masters.

• REMEMBER IT TAKES TIME

Lastly, remember that it takes time to get really good– mastery doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not just work or practice; it’s hard, focused, deliberate practice OVER TIME.

Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an “Outlier.” He is, of course, right. My mother says practice makes perfect. She is, of course, right. A billionaire friend once told me to read one of the best stories on successful living, The Tortoise and the Hare. He says, “Every time I read that book, the tortoise wins. Slow and steady wins the race. He is, of course, right.

Not many people in our A.D.D. culture can stay FOCUSED, but those who can are on their way to winning. Add to the focus some serious pull-your-shirt-off-and-paint-yourself-blue-at-the-football-game INTENSITY, and now you have a person who is a difference-maker. But very few companies or people can maintain that FOCUSED INTENSITY over TIME. It takes time to be great, it takes time to create critical mass, it takes time to be an “overnight success.”

– Dave Ramsey

But because you enjoy doing it for the sake of it, on a Saturday morning– because this pursuit makes you feel alive, because you enjoy the process just as much as you enjoy the outcome, you don’t mind that it takes time, do you?

 Q: How are you working to get really, really good at the things that matter most?

• Are you learning from the best? (If not, what’s your plan to begin doing that today?)
• Are you putting in active, deliberate practice over time to get better at what you do– particularly around the most challenging, but most important, aspects of your work? (If not, what’s your plan to begin doing that today?)
• Are you getting constant feedback and readjusting (from the best and/or from the people you’re serving)? (If not, what’s your plan to begin doing that today?)

Get Good At The Right Things

What should you focus on if you want to be able to leverage your pursuit in order to make a career of it?

well…

simply put, you should focus on the things that matter to the people your pursuit is in service of.

Who are you serving with your pursuits?

Have you ever thought about that?

I’m technically a writer (I guess), but I hardly spend any time getting better at my sentence structure or metaphors or technical writing.

I haven’t taken any journalism or writing classes.

Why?

Because when it comes to what really matters to the people I’m serving with my pursuit, I’ve realized that that ain’t it.

Sure, I have to have basic competency– it’s just plain unprofessional to be misspelling words all the time.

But let’s just assume that you already have a basic competency at what you do. That’s just expected. That’s the starting point; the prerequisite. Beyond the fundamentals– beyond what’s expected– what really matters to the people you’re serving?

People don’t read my blog because I’m the most grammatically correct or because I use fancy words. They don’t read my blog because I’m the “best” writer in all the land.

They read it because I am helping them solve real problems in their life. They read it for a laugh and for advice. They read it to feel less alone and because it’s relatable.

That’s the stuff I work hard–really hard– to get good at.

So ask yourself what matters most to the people you’re serving (and keep in mind that there may be multiple people you’re serving– for example, your boss and your customers).

Q: Who am I serving (or who do I want to serve), what matters to them, and how can I get really good at that stuff– at the stuff that matters?

Earning money on the side

Some of you might want to try an E & E experiment that involves earning money on the side.

YEAH!! That can be a great experiment!

If you want to learn more about this, Ramit Sethi is most definitely your man. He has lots of great content (free and paid) about starting a side hustle with skills you already have. He walks you through the process and tells you how you can earn money with a side business– even if you don’t have an idea of where to start:

Earning more money: How to turn your skills into services that people will pay for

You might also check out Chris Guillebeau’s book The $100 Startup, another great resource if you’re interested in potentially starting a business.

Q: What skills might I be able to leverage to earn money on the side? How can I begin experimenting with this idea?

# # #

Next: Move on to Section 7.4: Reflect/Plan