Stuck in the Trenches

November 13, 2008 · Comments

Canyons It’s easiest to keep doing what you’ve been doing. It’s no effort at all to keep looking at the same metrics, make the same moves, do the same thing with a new name, even. Your customers are good enough. Why prospect for more? The way you tell your product’s story is excellent. It’s worked for several years. Why change it?

You, at your desk, can come back and do the same thing over and over and over for weeks and weeks, and it will look like youre doing something. It will feel like you’re moving. But if you’re in the trenches, and you can’t see things from a different perspective, how do you know it’s working? How do you know anything?

In life, in business, in our interactions with people, the most visible thing is that things are the way they are. The truth, with effort, is that everything can change. Nothing is permanent. Your job is not permanent. Your relationships aren’t permanent. Where you live, what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, are all things that, with effort, could move. Could change.

Are you stuck in the trenches or are you looking at 2009 with new eyes? With or without the answers, will you stick with what you’ve been doing, whether or not it’s working? Or will you be daring and try something new?

I’m over here trying something new. How about you?

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  • Ed
    Your quote earlier "Salespeople: now is not the time to get pushy with your prospects. Now is the time to find value matches and more direct fits."

    Got me thinking that while my conversation has been edifying,
    and I've learned a lot, met so many great people that I now reach out and help, and would probably ask the same,

    I stopped telling folks what I had for them.
    Even if it was a:
    -Fresh relationship
    -Fresh product (at least to them)
    -Fresh approach

    Time to make the donuts.
    Make it a fun recipe.
    Oh, and ask what variety they want,
    not what you happened to have in the tray.
  • Shiny new here, bring on 2009!

    And thanks for the LinkedIn WordPress application tip!
  • One should make long term goals and actually look around to see what is happening.I´m ready for 2009.
  • New year, new hopes. We're ready for 2009 :)
  • Tkmycall
    Chris:

    Thanks. This is exactly what I needed. If we expect the worst - we won't be disappointed I will set high goals for myself in the new year.
  • Einstein got it right when he said, insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

    Times change and if our approach doesn't change with them, we end up dead in the water...in all aspects of life.
  • I check daily and in depth to find out where I need to go, and to adjust my navigation. Love it.
  • Cynthia
    Trying something new? For me, it's what affirms my life, my beliefs, my soul!!

    When my chronic illness & disabilities made it impossible for me to work a "regular" job last year, I helped to create a position that allows me to control my schedule and health and work from home. I have work that I love and am passionate about (www.phpnw.org).

    When I found that I didn't have the physical/mental resources to do anything beyond work; that my life lacked balance that I craved, I self-advocated and was blessed by connecting with the pro-bono services of an excellent life coach.

    I may have multiple challenges, but all of us do. And obstacles aren't meant to defeat us, but rather to give us opportunities, enlarge us, teach us, transform us. I'm all for a mass migration out of the trenches - and 2009 will give us all the chance to try something new!
  • Usually we see articles like this closer to New Year's Eve. I like that you chose to write about this now, while we still have 6 or so weeks to go in this year. Yep - just 6 short weeks. Seems longer, eh?

    As much as I'm a firm believer in living in the moment, it's vitally important to have the future in one's sights at all times. The message I get from this post is, don't wait until 2009 is here to figure out what you are going to do. Sit down today, map out some goals, and figure out how to get there.

    Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend! :)
  • I was actually thinking about this earlier today... not only has so much happened in the last 11 months (being in India there is new drama daily) but it has also gone so quickly!!!

    I got some goals achieved, but i guess being an astronaut will have to wait till next year :-)
  • Thanks for the reminder to reavaluate. It's critical in these changing times to see what's working & what's not.
  • Wise and welcome counsel, even and especially for folks like me who are solo freelancers/consultants who primarily work from a home office and sit in front of a computer screen all day n' night.

    As it turns out, I got out of my pjs (TMI? and got into NY last night for a book event, met some great folks, learned a lot, ate great chocolate truffles, and feel more energized about my current writing project.

    2009? Probably more of the same but hopefully with new and different perspectives.
  • I'm always trying something new ;]
  • I agree: many people are happy to just go to work, fiddle around, go home, and do it all again the next day. The fact is - it does take more effort to change and do something new, but, in the end, its much more fulfilling and more than likely, profitable.
  • Considering the worldwide financial meltdown and layoffs galore we all are being forced to do something new whether we plan for it or not. Are we ready to embrace something new?
  • Wow. Good thoughts.

    Last year was my time to try something new... working for the "man" after being my own boss for 14 years. It's not bad and getting a check every two weeks is cool, but I'm missing the passion- the challenge- the drive.

    2009 for me is for reaching higher than before and going places I've not gone. And fortunately for me I have all you guys, the twitterites and facebookers to ride with me.

    Thanks Chris... good stuff.
  • After 13 years, and with what appears to be a fairly wacky '09 approaching, we've instigated and embraced major change at our agency. A bit like a wardrobe specialists in a three-person production of Les Misérables. We've gone from dabbling in social media to total immersion. We're relying less on traditional media by adopting our brand of combustible, convergent communications. We've changed the video distribution method for one of our largest clients using iTunes. We're de-departmentalizing the entire agency. And identifying those that truly want to be on our shiney new bus.

    It's exhilarating, if not a bit unsettling. But we're not merely going to survive in this market. We're going to thrive.

    The challenge with change is the mindset that, "Hey, I know I can be successful doing it this way. Can I really duplicate or even be more successful doing it any other way?" Yes you can. You just got to believe.

    Thanks for the post and the reminder that change is a responsibility for all leaders.
  • It's great to have a positive outlook and look forward to the future. But it has to be reasonable and fit within your situation. I am already on my "new outlook adventure" right now and continuing the risk for 2009. I am excited and hope for the best. Good luck to everyone else as well who is trying something new.

    Craig
    www.budgetpulse.com
  • For a guy who doesn't sleep (much), Chris certainly has a knack for seeing and sharing non-obvious truths with clarity and even a soupçon of "tough love," when necessary.

    Yep, it's absolutely, totally counterintuitive to take career risks during scary, uncertain times. Those of us who are parents and spouses instinctively want to protect our families from hardship and to ensure that their needs are met.

    Ultimately, it can be a lot scarier in the long run, though, to tread water in place and keep doing the same stuff, in the same way and achieving (surprise!) the same - or even diminishing - results.

    So, good on ya' Chris, and good on us all. May God inspire and enlighten us with the insights we'll need to utilize our gifts to the fullest, and to discern and fulfill His will in 2009.
  • Joanne Tolkoff
    Thanks for getting me started early. I am actually in the process of trying to shift everyone in my department into new ways of thinking. Sometimes I get down because it is so slow and expecting clear results may not be what is in order. I have to learn to let things bake for a while.
  • Love this, Chris. It resonates with a GREAT article I just read -- by Geoff Colvin, in Fortune, about "deliberate practice." Here's the link:

    http://is.gd/4xYr

    Deliberate practitioners (think Tiger Woods) go out of their way to get external, unemotional perspectives on the work they're doing and the effects that it is creating. Then they *design* practice regimes for themselves that will address shortcomings and capitalize on strengths, keeping these non-trench-bound perspectives in mind. Lots more good ideas in this vein in the Colvin article.

    (I've opined much more on this -- see the link in my signature here if you're interested.)
  • I think everyone has spent some time in the trenches now and again. As life becomes monotonous sticking in the trenches where the ground is well trodden is the EASY thing to do.

    What I like to do when I find my self dug in deep is rally the troops to a brainstorm or just let your mind wander from the day-to-day tasks. Break the cycle and be original! That's what makes great business.
  • Definitely exploring new ground... but not really finding the right vector at the moment...
  • Great reminder Chris. It's easy to simply do the same thing you did yesterday but the path to excellence requires us to move outside our comfort zones.
  • I'm doing new things. I just wrote my first ebook and have gotten great response. It somehow landed in the hands of my very first assistant news director in Cleveland who e-mailed me about it today. And someone blogged about it yesterday. The biggest thing I'm doing and will continue doing is working to always be more than "Angela who works for Company X." I need and have created an identity outside of that. So while i will always kick butt and take names at my paying job, I am committed to doing some of that for myself as well. 2009 will be the year I wirk this plan like never before. Thanks for being a great inspiration, Chris.
  • Everyone always goes into the new year with great expectations of change. "I'll do this." "I'll do that." "I'll lose weight." "I'll change my ways." Yeah... It's nice. By mid-February, all that talk of change is completely gone.

    Fact: Most people won't make any changes in 2009, no matter how certain they are of the opposite right now. No matter how great an idea, there will always be an excuse why it can't be done, a reason why it shouldn't be done, or a tomorrow when maybe they'll get to it.

    Those of us who embrace change don't really have that problem... but we still have to live in a world populated with people who only TALK about change.

    Anyone who wants to have an amazing 2009, come on board. Hop on our train. There's room. Everyone else... well, I guess we'll see you next year.
  • There are an enormous number of American “knowledge” workers, companies and MBA programs whose work and whose professional standing is based solely on the agreed-upon script. They have long since stopped thinking, responding, understanding, questioning and interpreting. They can’t improvise to save their lives. What we need are critical thinkers. We need innovators. We need improvisers. We need fearless visionaries. We need business leaders. Our current crises will not be solved by trying to reconstruct the old paradigms and by reciting the same script on PowerPoint.

    Here's a video that I think every marketer should think about as they approach 2009: http://www.unboundedition.com/content/view/8823...
  • Very insightful post, Chris.

    It does remind me that the necessary result of, say, an impending recession (like that will ever happen...) is re-evaluation of purpose and direction. If you are unable to innovate and stay relevant, then you fail.

    It's a pity that we don't maintain this mindset when things are going well.
  • Спасибо. То, что нужно ))
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