Be Different or be dead

May 10, 2021

How to make yourself undeniable and win every contest

Source: Unsplash

How to make yourself undeniable and win every contest.

Undeniability is the condition where an individual won’t be put off their goal.

It’s a force that moves inexorably towards the intended finish line and there’s nothing anyone or anything can do to prevent it from achieving its intended purpose.

Successful people tend to have the ‘undeniability factor’ working for them. When they put their mind to doing something, they simply cannot be denied achieving their intended outcome

How does one acquire undeniability? Do they learn it in school? Do they acquire it with life experience? Are they born with the undeniability gene? Or is there some other reason some have it while others don’t’?

The reality is that it’s probably a bit of each.
Like most profound and complicated-to-explain things in life, I believe it’s a combination of a number of factors that are at play when undeniability is being formed in a person’s motivation profile.

But it’s what you observe in real life situations that offers more understanding than hypotheses tested in a lab environment ever will.

And so, after witnessing (not a large) number of undeniability ‘masters’, these are the 5 like-no-other attributes they possess that give them their affliction:

Goal setting

Undeniables are tenacious goal setters with a substantial number of them in the audacious category.

The goal setting process instils urgency and a sense of commitment which provides the energy to relentlessly move forward.

They set goals for everything no matter how small. If it’s worth doing, they need to set a goal to get it done.
Their goal setting infatuation makes them the antithesis of most people who thrive on activity and business and achieve terribly little.

Personal conviction

When they set their sights on a goal, undeniables are all in. They’re not ‘slightly interested’ in achieving their goal; they are and passionately driven to do so.

And it’s not out of intellectual interest in the subject matter; it’s a drive in their gut that makes them move on it relentlessly.

Bravery

Undeniables are brave; they are fearless in pursuit of their end game.

Trepeditiousness knows no part of them. They understand the risks but nevertheless drive forward often right into the face of adversaries. Walking into a buzz saw isn’t a pleasant experience for them, but they’re ok with doing it if it’s a requisite to achieving their purpose.

And their bravery is supported by the fact that they know their stuff; it’s what makes them special and gives them the confidence to move often against the crowd and willing to accept all of the consequences that often befall a contrarian.

They are the expert in whatever they’re targeting to achieve, which is mandatory to meet the challenges they face in advancing their agenda.

Mentors

Undeniables have a stable of like minded (but different) mentors to draw on for advice and guidance consistent with each unique journey they pursue.

Bumps in the road require different perspectives on how to maneuver through them and having a mosaic of experience to tap into allows the undeniable to consistently achieve their goals.

Their mentors are special with each one of them having an unparalleled history of getting stuff done as opposed to having only a lofty academic pedigree for credentials. Undeniables hunt for the ‘been there done it’ mentor and they accept nothing less.

Age and maturity

Undeniables start early in life when their energy reserves are high, curiosity is growing and passion is honest.

They were researchers of anything that interested them, spending hours and hours trying to understand every aspect of the topic in their crosshairs.

They realized very early that their exam goals could be achieved by working out a rigid (and sometimes ‘unrealistic’) study schedule and by putting in more hours than anyone else.

They also have an idea of what they wanted to be when they grew up before their schoolmates. They had a rudimentary career plan that not only defined the few choices they were interested in, it also defined the possible routes to achieve each one.

Undeniables are special people  that achieve success in spite of those around them who try (often unknowingly) to deny them.

Study the traits I’ve given you and see if you can emulate them — this stuff is ok to copy because there are so few of them in the world you will be viewed as an original.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.10.21 at 04:53 am by Roy Osing
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April 19, 2021

Why a sensational mentor doesn’t have to be really smart

Source: Pexels

Why a sensational mentor doesn’t have to be really smart.

As a young professional, one of your main challenges is to find a mentor who can guide you in your career.

It’s virtually impossible to launch and navigate your career in this complicated world and make the right decisions without insights from someone with experience who can help you maximize your potential.
It’s a tough challenge; the right choice can accelerate your success and the wrong choice can hold you back. What’s the best way forward?

The ‘mentor market’ is burgeoning with many people promulgating a variety of ideas on what it takes to have a successful career; the airwaves are cluttered with opinions and advice. Subject-matter experts abound on every topic. Given this message barrage, to whom do you listen? Who do you believe? Who do you trust? Who do you follow? In whom do you invest your time?
And how do you recognize when someone is blowing smoke at you and feeding their own ego rather than providing you with quality advice?

The reality that young people face is that those with impressive academic pedigrees seem to get the attention and respect that appeals to those seeking career guidance.
Professionals who publish papers, give expert seminars and write books get tagged as good mentor material, so naturally you look to them for help.

I urge young professionals to be wary of these common types of mentors.

Amazing mentors are not found in the halls of academia and publishing but in the trenches of organizations where the work actually gets done and results get delivered.

Find a mentor who has done stuff

My counsel is to find and listen to people who have had a rich and long career of actually doing stuff – lots of stuff – and who have demonstrated achievements in the areas that intrigue you.

If your ambition, for example, is marketing, find a marketing practitioner who has a strong track record of achievement in implementing new products, launching successful advertising programs and managing pricing in a highly competitive marketplace.

And shy away from marketing pundits that may be knowledgeable in marketing theory but lack the credentials in applying what they know.
Theory and academic principles are not trustworthy beacons for what works and what doesn’t work in the real world, which is replete with bias, uncertainty and unpredictability. Just because theory says it is the right thing to do doesn’t mean it will work – there are simply too many variables in play.

Find a person who has a doctorate in messiness

Find people who have implemented successful strategies in an environment of organizational politics, cultural impediments and the wars of competition — where achieving anything worthwhile is messy, inelegant and often painful.

It’s not always easy to find these individuals to recruit as mentors because they are always heads-down in the swamp getting things done and not always receiving public acknowledgment and recognition.

Look for the people who have learned that a minor portion of theory with a major dose of practicality is the formula for success.

Discover operators not thinkers

Find your way into groups of operations leaders in your organization and get insights on individuals they admire and respect because of what they’ve achieved; find people with a different type of MBA experience — ‘masters in business achievement’.

Let frontline people guide you

Talk to frontline people about who they think are effective at getting stuff done. People engaged in execution are in a great position to identify supervisors and managers who excelled at supporting the execution process.

Look to small business leaders

These people have to achieve things everyday to stay alive, so they are excellent mentor candidates. Find a successful small business and you will have, in its leader, a prime prospect.

Develop relationships with associations such as boards of trade whose members are typically small-business leaders and whose daily bread is produced by what they do, not by what they plan. Focus on members who get media recognition because of their consistent, sterling results.

Find a failure

Rarely does a plan turn out the way it was originally conceived. Unpredictable events come into play which renders your original intent unachievable, so it’s mandatory to take an alternative course and salvage what you can to still describe your plan as a success. So what you need in a mentor is someone who has experience in failing and recovering from the ‘body blow’ they took.

The guidance you will receive from individuals who have failed a few times will be invaluable. The media is a good source to discover business failures and the people who were involved. Failures rarely happen because the idea was completely worthless; they happen because a brave idea could not be implemented for reasons beyond their control.

Study execution cultures

Research other organizations and find those that have a culture of execution rather than one that tends to a lot of discussion and thinks that knowledge alone will produce brilliant results. Probe for leaders who have achieved noteworthy results and who may not be spectacular on the ‘know’ factor but are accomplished on the ‘do’ scale.

Doing it is 10 times better than talking about it, and I suggest you find a mentor that walks that talk.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.19.21 at 06:33 am by Roy Osing
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April 17, 2021

12 signs of digital hoarding + tips to quit

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In today’s hyper-competitive business landscape having an online presence and — breakthrough technologies to maintain that presence — isn’t an option. Oftentimes, it’s mandatory to keep up.

Still, getting ahead of technologies meant to improve our decision-making and streamline our businesses can feel like an entirely new job. (Hence why many businesses have IT departments.)

After all, as this blog has written before, “In business, digital technology is the heart of products and services, internal control processes and customer contact systems.”

But how often do we really take a step back and evaluate all the technologies and data we’re buying into? How often do we consider the digital clutter we keep?

Crazy as it may sound, there’s a term for holding onto too much digital data, old programs, and even unused devices— digital hoarding.

And for businesses, digital hoarding can have many repercussions, including:

▪️Slower devices
▪️Increased employee stress
▪️Lowered productivity
▪️Heightened cybersecurity risks
▪️Negative impacts on the environment

All this to say, the time is now to take inventory of what technology and data your business can toss and keep. You may even want to make this a part of a business-wide spring cleaning routine.

To put your company on the right track, consider more ways in which we amass digital clutter, how to identify digital hoarding habits, and also how to break them in the infographic below, courtesy of Norton.

— Sarah Pfledderer has over a decade of writing and editing experience in magazine journalism and blogging. She specializes in lifestyle topics and occasionally dabbles in tech. By day, she is a content marketing specialist at Siege Media.

• Posted 4.17.21 at 04:35 am by Roy Osing
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April 3, 2021

Why great people often do things that surprise everyone

Source: Unsplash

Why great people often do things that surprise everyone.

You’ve heard these types of comments before as descriptors of an individual who attracts a positive rating from leadership and is viewed as someone with potential to go further in the organization.

“He can be counted on to deliver consistent results; he’s dependable.”

“She’s predictable; you get few surprises from her work.”

Predictability can be a negative

Predictability is often, if not always, looked upon as a strength; an attribute that leaders find “comfortable” and desirable.

Over my career, I noticed many predictable employees found their way up the career ladder, but these people didn’t add the greatest value to the organization.

In fact, I believe the easy and comfortable employee robs an organization of long term value because of their restrictive and conservative ways.

Here’s my thinking.

Unwelcome bedfellows

A high comfort level implies that predictable employees follow the approach expected by the organization’s “establishment”; they follow the rules that govern acceptable behaviour.

Meeting leadership expectations can sometimes be unwelcome bedfellows to breakaway thinking and achieving glorious results. The best result can sometimes be achieved by NOT following the prescribed direction exactly, but by following your gut — but it requires risk taking and the conviction of your ideas.

Predictable behaviour prohibits breakaway results.

Boredom

In many ways, being relatively certain of an outcome is uninteresting; the “amaze factor” is absent.
The capacity to discover something unexpected is stripped away, denying a result that presents a new opportunity that emphatically changes the direction of the organization.

While you are busy doing the expected, you’re not on the outlook for creating a surprise that vaults your performance to another level.

Learning from what is achieved WHILE it is being achieved and then taking whatever action is implied by what is learned is severely restricted.
Predictable behaviour is boring.

Equations

Acting involuntarily to a prescribed set of rules and behaviour means predictable folks’ actions can be formularized to a certain extent.
An equation — or some other tool that creates a relationship between inputs and output — can be used to determine the outcome of their actions with a high degree of precision.

It begs the question “If an algorithm can be constructed that use a person’s action(s) to predict an outcome, why use a human in the process?” You don’t need human value-add; use software to create it.

Predictable behaviour limits the human factor.

Originality

Predictability suggests compliance and risk minimization which stultifies innovation and creativity.

People look for rules and governing policies to guide their behaviour and approach to problem solving rather than finding the appropriate method to solve the problem at hand.

Original thought is missing in action in favour of dutifully following the rules and practices of the organization.

Predictable behaviour quashes originality.

Contingencies

Individuals who operate mechanically have difficulty creating a new approach to a challenge or problem if the accepted method doesn’t work.

A Plan B mentality escapes the predictable one; inefficiency and frustration are produced by continually attempting to reapply the same approach in hopes of achieving a different result.

Predictable behaviour misses the need to recover when Plan A doesn’t work out.

Predictability does help some individuals be successful in a controlled environment, but there are long term opportunity costs to the organization that are always ignored.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 4.3.21 at 06:24 am by Roy Osing
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