A road to emotion

I started Seth Godin’s new book: This is Marketing. Already a few chapters in, I read something that resonated with me: marketing is a road to emotion.

By road to emotion, it means that marketing needs to connect to a higher order sentiment. A feeling, a reaction. It can connect the customer to a product that removes frustration, bring joy, fill with surprise & delight.

As a marketer, I am trying to up-level my briefs & strategy to reach this more readily. How can I tap into more primal human feelings of belonging, care, support, etc with my product?

I think it starts by really understanding the space my customer is in, deeply. Most have families, most have jobs and want to do better. How am I getting them closer to what they “feel” versus what they “need”?

Will be working this - building a better road for them.

When not to scale

As I think about my week, I spend time wondering how can I make things work faster, more efficient. How I can scale my time. On the most part, this does get me more out of my day.

But sometimes, I think of things that it’s better not to scale faster. Like spending time with your family, or a leisurely dinner with your friends.

We work on certain things faster so we can do certain things slower. Hoping to remember that.

Live in the arena

There’s a quote that I continue to reflect on:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

The idea that life begins when you actually show up. When it’s messy and confusing. When there is no plan, or established path. There have been many times where I was the bystander; it was easier to look on versus jumping in. Fear brims and bubbles inside.

Hoping to always have the courage to stand tall, in whatever arena of life I’m in.

Rush and point

I was reading the other week about a wonderful phrase: rush or point.

Inspired from Abby Wambach’s book, Wolfpack, it talks about the idea of what makes being a great leader in a team.

When someone on your team does something amazing, rush to celebrate them. Envelop them in appreciation, because behind every success, there’s a mountain of work unseen.

When you do something amazing, point to all the people that made it happen. Likely, many of them gave you the wind so you can fly higher and do more.

Here’s to doing that with gusto.

Just start

Whenever I find myself a little trapped by inaction, someone told me long ago to just start.

The process of just putting your feet on the ground and lifting off spurs action. A snowball continue to gain steam.

In work, this has really translated to “starting the first draft”. But just the process of opening a doc, writing a few words - you really get the momentum going.

So here’s to starting. And then continuing the momentum.

Memories and Time

When I want to reflect on my life, and the time that I spent, I want to remember my collection of memories.

Memories from great discussions, delectable food, amazing scenery, laughing where my voice cracks - everything in between.

Not the amount of hours I worked, or the money in my account.

The little thoughts that swirl in my head when I go to sleep and when I wake up.