Do One Thing Every Day

/ Zach Heller
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There are times in everyone’s career when we get bogged down in the day to day. When it seems like our to-do list is too long, and too full of tasks that don’t matter. When we feel helpless against the neverending slog of menial work.

It is precisely at those times when we need to execute a purposeful prioritization of our time.

Time management is key to becoming successful. It is key to ensuring you continue to have a positive impact on your company.

Reconsider Your To-Do List

The first step in breaking out of this struggle is to have an honest conversation with yourself about your daily tasks. Chances are, you have taken on more and more items over the weeks and months, without ever questioning them, and without ever removing items that were already on there.

That is a surefire way to over commit yourself.

Now is the time to consider them one by one. Is this something that has to get done? Is this something that I should be doing? Is this something that can be automated?

Asking yourself those questions should expose some of your daily tasks as frauds and time-wasters. Eliminate them until you get to a more manageable list, which gives you room to grow and have a larger impact – personally and professionally.

Define Your Goals

Next, you have to consider where you can have the greatest impact. Your time is the most valuable thing you have. You need to learn to use it wisely.

What are your specific goals? I like to bucket these into two different groups – personal goals and company goals.

Personal goals might include items that will help your career, your earning potential. Company goals are the areas you are responsible for when it comes to growing the business.

Clearly defining these goals – even to the point of writing them down – will help you identify those tasks you should be working on in support of your goals.

What’s Your One Thing?

Do one thing every day that brings you closer to your goals. This is not the same thing every day, but rather a new thing each day.

For example, if you goal is to improve the ROI of your email marketing programs, today’s one thing might be rolling out a new split test. If your goal is to learn data science, today’s one thing might be watching a 30 minute lesson online.

Whatever it is, make sure you make time for it. Accomplishing just one thing each day that matters will do two things for you.

First, it will help you get over the feeling that you’re not making progress. Suddenly, you will be able to see and experience the impact that you are having on your life and on your company’s performance.

Second, it will help you identify other areas where you can have an impact. You will find that there are ways to optimize your schedule and your routine to free yourself up to accomplish even more.

Commit to doing one new thing every day that takes you closer to your goals, and you’ll rediscover your sense of purpose.

What is Your Content Marketing For?

/ Zach Heller
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Content marketing has been the “it” thing for online marketers over the last half decade. You have likely seen the headlines or heard the advice – if you run an online business, you have to be doing content marketing.

But why?

First, it helps to quickly explain what content marketing is. You might think you know, but the term has quickly been adapted to mean lots of different things to different companies. So an overview here will help.

What is Content Marketing

Content marketing comes in many forms. But they all share two things in common. They are pieces of content intended for prospective customers. And they are not ads.

They might be blog posts, articles, lists, images, videos, stories, or experiences. They might live on your website, on social media, on websites you work with or advertise on.

Why Content Marketing

The reason that content marketing became so popular is because there has been a general rebellion against all things advertising. The theory (and evidence proves this) is that customers are so overloaded with ads these days that they are adapting to them. In other words, they are better able to recognize when they are being advertised to when that advertising is more traditional (think banners and billboards and commercials), and in turn are better able to tune them out or ignore them.

Content marketing is the brand’s answer to that. By offering up free content intended to engage with potential customers, the goal is to bring them into, or move them through, the marketing funnel without traditional advertising.

What is Your Content Marketing For

That brings us back to the question in the title. Just like anything else that marketers do, your business must have a defined reason for getting started with content marketing. What is your goal?

Many companies today spend time and money on content marketing for no other reason other than they feel it’s something they are supposed to do. Or maybe someone on the board or in the executive office told them that they wanted to see more content marketing.

But unless you have identified a clear goal, how do you know if you’re succeeding?

Success in content marketing will look different for different brands. Some have seen great success writing articles for their users. These users spend more time with the brand, and become more valuable customers.

Some have seen similar success with Facebook videos – which are funny and engaging and easily shareable. Users end up disseminating these videos and the brand’s recognition grows accordingly.

These are two examples, of hundreds. So your job today is to decide why you are doing content marketing? What is the goal?

Once you’ve defined a goal for your organization, you will know what kind of content will help you achieve that goal.

Two Theories on Goal Setting

/ Zach Heller
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There are two competing theories on goal setting. We covered both of them last week:

Both theories have their advocates. And both have their detractors. So the question is, which one works best?

And as is often the case, the answer is, it depends. In this case, it depends on how you define what a goal is.

The benefits of using more achievable goals are improved morale from attaining said goals. It can bring teams closer together, and increase passion for the work at hand. People who argue for this approach define a goal is something they expect to be able to achieve. Goals, in this case, are an expectation, a predicted result.

Detractors would say that’s not a goal. A goal is something beyond the expected result. Because a goal should be used to motivate people to overperform. That’s why they use stretch goals. Achieving expectations is all well and good, but in order to improve over time, they set stretch goals their teams can aspire toward.

In the case of stretch goals, coming up short is okay. In fact, if you always hit your goals, you are not setting them high enough, they’ll argue.

So how do you define goals? The answer to that question is the answer to which approach will work best for you.

The Case for Setting Stretch Goals

/ Zach Heller
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At work and in life, it is important to have goals. Goals help to focus us, keep us moving forward. They let us know if we’re doing the right things, and doing them well.

But setting the right goals is a skill that many of us have yet to learn. When leading a team, how do you know if the goals you’re setting are the right ones? Are they too easy? Too hard? Does it matter?

While there is much debate about whether it is better to set goals that are more attainable or to use stretch goals that are often beyond the realm of possibility, no one debates the value in setting goals.

So if it is your job to set the goals for your team at work, you will need to decide how to set them.

The argument for setting stretch goals is a simple one.

First, people who set stretch goals define goals differently than those that set more achievable goals. If you are constantly exceeding your goals, they say, then you are not setting them high enough. Instead, goals should be used as motivation to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Stretch goals motivate a team to outperform expectations, rather than just live up to them. When you set goals that seem almost unattainable, you force your team to explore new opportunities and test new ways of doing things that they might have otherwise ignored. You bring out creative thinking and problem solving skills that might have been lying dormant.

Yesterday’s post presented the case for achievable goals.

The Case for Setting Achievable Goals

/ Zach Heller
goals.png

At work and in life, it is important to have goals. Goals help to focus us, keep us moving forward. They let us know if we’re doing the right things, and doing them well.

But setting the right goals is a skill that many of us have yet to learn. When leading a team, how do you know if the goals you’re setting are the right ones? Are they too easy? Too hard? Does it matter?

While there is much debate about whether it is better to set goals that are more attainable or to use stretch goals that are often beyond the realm of possibility, no one debates the value in setting goals.

So if it is your job to set the goals for your team at work, you will need to decide how to set them.

The argument for setting achievable goals is a simple one.

First, achievable goals are realistic. There is value in hitting and outperforming your goals. It is good for team morale, as you get to celebrate strong performance, whereas stretch goals that you never achieve might leave team members feeling down or unmotivated.

Second, achievable goals help you sell yourself and your team to the rest of the organization. Whether you are working toward bonuses or promotions for yourself and your team members, trying to grow investment in your division/brand, or looking to generate positive coverage outside the company, beating your goals is better than the alternative.

Tomorrow’s post will present the case for setting stretch goals.