Make Life at Work Better for Your Team

According to a recent Bersin Report, a major focus in the years ahead will be on human performance – a combination of how we think, feel, experience, and react to the world around us. People today are experiencing higher stress levels, pressure to do more in less time, and forced to juggle multiple priorities – all with a smile on their face. So, it’s not surprising to see employees disengaging and burning out. For example, the Bersin report shows:

• Employee engagement levels today are no higher than they were 10 years ago
• Productivity in the United States after the iPhone launch has slowed (ironic considering the device was meant to make us more productive)
• Employees in the United States take 4-5 days less vacation now that they did in 1998
• Almost 40% of employees believe it is impossible to maintain a growing career and sound family life

Work-life balance is important – but don’t overlook the importance of life at work. How do we as leaders make the work we offer one that encourages employees to perform at their best AND enjoy themselves while they’re doing it? What is good about life at work at your organization? What is not? How are you challengingyour employees to be their best? Consider adopting these strategies when assessing your company’s life at work:

Offer Purpose
We all crave to find a deeper meaning in the work we do – to have purpose, to contribute to something bigger than ourselves and to feel energized. How does the work you offer contribute to the small and big picture (company, industry, community, self)? Although this is often a personal journey, employers can support the importance of discovering purpose with their employees. 

Embrace Mentoring
Having someone who helps you work through challenges, pushes you out of your comfort zone, and helps to define your career path is something many of us long for in our careers. Effective mentors are perfect for this and go a long way in keeping employees engaged and excited about the work they do. 

In addition to these strategies, ensuring your employees have access to the resources they need and keeping the lines of communication open are always key to making life at work better. We spend a big chunk of our waking hours at work – shouldn’t making it a great experience be a top priority? We think so.

Reach out to us at https://www.successfulculture.com/contact/ to discover how we can help your organization make your organization’s life at work better.  Our SCALE Academy is the perfect place to start! Building cultures where everyone can thrive is what we do best. 

Are Your Leaders of Tomorrow Ready…Today?

As a leader, one of the most important things you can do is groom the next generation as capable of continuing your vision – or better yet, transform it into something even better than you could have imagined. When leaders fail to develop those around them, no one wins. Top talent leaves for greener pastures and businesses struggle to grow. Take it from Seattle Genetics, Amazon or any of the other companies voted as having the best training and development programs – when your leadership training program is done right, job satisfaction levels increase, you promote more from within and have better retention overall. Everyone wins.

Need more convincing? Consider this – 63% of Millennials do not believe their leadership skills are being fully developed and are likely to leave an employer for an opportunity to better develop those skills. Possibly more shocking – in a study reported in Forbes, 58% of managers said they did not receive any type of management training for their current role – inferring they may be good at their job, but have no direction on how to lead others. So what’s a business leader to do? Here are a few things to consider when designing your leadership training program…

Leadership Training that Fits Your Culture

Developing a leadership training program does not happen overnight – it takes careful planning and execution to ensure you have a program that fits your culture. Some skills are universal to becoming a strong leader such as being a great communicator , knowing how to delegate, and executing against the “big picture”. However, make sure to look to your culture for additional skills and behaviors that represent a good leader in your organization. A great resource for this is your people. As them “As an emerging leader, what skills do you want to personally develop?”

Offer Internal Mobility

Don’t limit your employee’s vision of what growth opportunities are possible. Becoming a great leader is not a straight path up the org chart. Instead, encouraging internal mobility and cross-department training is a great way to give your next generation leaders hands-on experience. Understanding how the business operates from different vantage points creates a well-rounded leader.

Maximize the Learning Experience

To maximize the learning experience, learning content needs to be user-friendly and personal. Traditional classroom training can be highly effective; however, with today’s mobile app capability and introduction of AI, learners are increasingly pushing for “on-the-go”, individualized training. Riding the train to and from work, flying to a client meeting, or on their own time, employees today love the flexibility that on demand learning provides.

As with any program, the success (or lack thereof) often depends on whether or not the program has support from the top (that means you!). Executive leadership support shows your leaders of tomorrow that you are committed to their development and growing the organization.

Developing a leadership training program is the perfect way to create a culture of continuous learning, which will benefit your organization today, tomorrow and beyond. Reach out to us at https://www.successfulculture.com/contact/  to discover how we can help your organization develop a leadership training program that develops and retains your top talent too.  Our SCALE Academy is the perfect place to start! Building cultures where everyone thrives is what we do best.

The A-B-C’s of Executive Presence

Years ago, I had the opportunity to listen to the hall of fame basketball Coach Pat Summitt speak at an HR leadership conference in Tennessee. When she walked on stage, her energy filled the room. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, fully engaged, and walked away with a sense of newfound purpose. I can only imagine the passion and energy she passed on to her players on the court.

We all know someone like this. They walk into a room, command attention and inspire us. Some people are just born with this ability; others have to nurture it. I’m talking about presence – our unique blend of personal and interpersonal skills and behaviors that influence others. As an executive, the presence you project can make or break your ability to inspire your organization and garner respect from fellow leaders. According to a survey in Forbes, having a strong executive presence accounted for 26% of the reason why someone is chosen for a promotion over their peers. In short, executive presence is a powerful thing.

Now that you’ve earned a seat at the leadership table, how would rate your executive presence? What makes your presence impactful? Inspirational? Where do you need to improve? Just like learning the alphabet in grade school was fundamental to your education, honing in on the foundations of executive presence is a combination of another type of A-B-C’s:

• Appearance. You’re a leader…dress like a one. But what does that really mean? We often get the vision of a person is a stiff, formal black suit behind a desk. That may not fit your culture and could backfire on how approachable your image appears. Take it from Mark Zuckerberg or Sheldon Yellen – your appearance should match the culture you want to create. What do you want your outward image to say about you? The way we dress makes a first impression, often before we even open our mouths.

• Behavior. All great leaders know you must exude confidence  (not to be confused with arrogance). But there is a balance. Learning to own the room without steamrolling others is a critical element to a having a successful executive presence.

• Communication. Great leaders are great communicators. This applies to in-person, phone, email, online – anywhere you are communicating with others. Communicate like a leader and people will follow you.

Keep in mind – maintaining your executive presence online is equally important in today’s transparent, oversharing social media world. A survey in Entrepreneur reported that 64% of employers have made employment decisions based on reviewing a person’s social media accounts. Fine-tuning your executive presence will help you lead like the leader you are destined to be.

The executive presence projected from your top leaders can reinforce or hurt your organization’s culture. Reach out to us at https://www.successfulculture.com/contact/. We love helping our clients build successful organizations – full of leaders ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow and inspire everyone along the way.

Three Steps to Living Audaciously: Setting Your Lifetime Legacy Mission

My lifetime legacy mission (LLM) is to educate, equip, & empower 100 million entrepreneurs & leaders worldwide to reach their greatest personal & organizational potential.

In my last two speaking engagements, I watched the audience’s reactions as the conference coordinator read my bio aloud. People were taken aback. They raised their eyebrows and smiled in surprise.

During my remarks, I put my lifetime legacy mission into perspective:

• There are approximately 400 million entrepreneurs in the world, so my goal only reflects 25% of that population.
• I’m only 48, so I estimate I have another 40 years ahead of me to make my impact.
• There are so many ways to reach people globally today. Between my writing, speaking, online products (in development), merchandising line (in development), and consulting, I should be able to touch a lot of people.
• Even if I achieve only 50% of my goal, I’m still impacting 50 million people, which isn’t so shabby.

Here is what I know for sure:  If I don’t envision it, and put it out there, it will never happen.

• Elon Musk (Founder of PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla)
• Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon)
• Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook)
• Steve Case & Ted Leonsis (Founders of AOL)

These are just a few audacious thinkers who have committed to changing the world.

Why shouldn’t you think big? Because someone else may find your idea to be grandiose? Because you sound unrealistic? Are those really reasons to limit our thinking?

“Thinking realistically is the quickest path to mediocrity.” ~Will Smith

I can’t remember the exact day when I committed to my LLM, but I do know this: everything changed the day I committed.

When I start to get tired, I remind myself of why the little things matter. When I doubt myself, or question why I am doing what I am doing, I reach back to my LLM, and the possibility of helping so many others live up to their potential.

You can set an LLM too, and here is how you do it.

• Think about what fuels you. What creates a fire inside of you? When an opportunity presents itself, or when you have achieved a specific result, how does that impact you emotionally, physically, and spiritually?
• Think about your success without limits. If you had absolutely no constraints (money, time, resources, energy), what would success look like for you? Think BIG. Think audaciously.

• Craft your LLM using this format:

My lifetime legacy mission is to:

1: Insert Verb

2: Follow that with the number of people you want to impact

3: Follow that with the target population you will impact

4: Follow that with how you will impact them

Your LLM should be connected to what you are doing every day. If it’s not, you need to re-evaluate what you are doing every day, and how you are spending your valuable time.

As a Melanoma survivor, I have a very healthy respect for mortality. Our lives pass by in the blink of an eye. Every day you should LOVE what you are doing. If you don’t, what is holding you back?

Your LLM begins with the mindset that you are capable and worthy of living a life that delivers joy, fulfillment, and impact to yourself and everyone you touch.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~Marianne Williamson

Your LLM is inside of your heart & spirit right now.  “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world.”

My hope is that as I let my own light shine, I am unconsciously giving you permission to do the same. As I am liberated from my own fears of failure, loss, and disappointment, my hope is that my presence automatically liberates you.

Today, commit to developing your LLM. I would love to hear your mission. Please email me your LLM at [email protected] and indicate if I have permission to share.

The world needs your light!

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Sign up here to receive Successful Culture’s leadership blog every Friday. All posts contain actionable content to make you the best leader you can be, to help you develop your people to their greatest potential, and to help you build your best organization.

About Successful Culture
We work with business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams that want to achieve their greatest personal & organizational potential. Through coaching, strategic consulting, retreat facilitation, and workshops, we equip leaders & emerging leaders with the mindset, tools, strategies, and processes they need to excel.

Ready to move forward? Email us today at [email protected]

Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Engage with me during my morning Periscope sessions as well (@marissalevin).

Please check out my Inc. Magazine columns on my Author Page too.

~Marissa Levin
CEO, Successful Culture
“Taking Leaders from Triage to Transformation.”

Three Ways to Find Peace in Your Personal Choices & Priorities

In today’s self-promotional, often grandiose, rose-colored online society, it’s easy to feel that you never do enough, that you’re not at the right places with the right people at the right times, and that you can never catch up. It’s a self-sabotaging mindset that can dash our hopes and deflate our spirits.

How do we find peace with where we are at this precise moment in time, and with the choices we make for ourselves? How do we not feel as if we are missing out?

I live in multiple universes. For the last 20+ years, I’ve been a driven entrepreneur as I’ve built two companies while developing my writing and speaking careers. However, for the last 18+ years, I’ve also been a full-time, hands-on mother to two sons (now 18 and 15) with my husband of 23 years. During that time, I’ve also juggled elder care and loss during my mother’s grave illness and eventual death.

I speak frequently about the elusive holy grail of work-life balance, and the myths that one can have it all. I’ve spoken with and counseled hundreds of women about juggling my dual-careers of business- building and home-building.

Microsoft selected me last Fall as one of eight entrepreneurs to participate in a discussion with other industry experts about the future of women’s entrepreneurship. In my interview, I stressed the importance of “Leaning Out,” and of being OK with passing up opportunities that don’t align with where you are in life at a specific moment in time.

After performing this non-stop juggling act for almost two decades, I’ve finally learned the secret to knowing and celebrating your personal priorities:

You alone must make peace with your choices, with no regard for anyone else’s opinion, understanding, or approval.

This inner peace results from acknowledgement of three truths:

1: Your knowledge of your personal core value system, and how it drives where you are at this point in time;

2: Your courage to live your values and reach back to them when you are challenged to depart from them;

3: Your awareness that where you are today will shift. All is impermanent, including your priorities, at any given moment in time.

Prioritization is a pyramid.

While we may think we have “competing priorities,” we can only have one priority at any given moment. To be thinking of other commitments while we are physically engaged in a single priority only prevents us from being present in any priority.

I’ve created a Prioritization Pyramid that shows the correlation between prioritization and clarity. When we fully commit to our priorities, we achieve clarity.  Clarity leads to renewed focus and a sense of calm.

When we are confused and conflicted, our path to clarity is through our core values. What matters most to us at this precise moment in time?

I was recently presented with several incredible opportunities that seemed like prioritization conflicts but through deeper analysis, I realized they were not conflicts at all. In the end, my choice of where to be at this precise moment in time manifested from my core value of “family first.”

My mother used to say, “We can’t be tall and short at the same time.” I think of this often as I continue to be presented with wonderful opportunities that may challenge my “family first” value.

When we are presented with “opportunities” no matter how big or small, we will miss something else if we choose to accept the opportunity. There are no “right” or “wrong” choices; there are only choices that do or don’t work for your specific life, at this moment in time.

Your choices don’t have to please others. They must simply work for you.

1. Knowledge of your core values.
2. Your courage to live your values and reach back to them when you are challenged to depart from them.
3. Awareness and acceptance of the fact that where you are today will shift and that everything is impermanent.

These three truths will allow you to celebrate your personal priorities without second-guessing your choices, and achieve clarity & peace along your journey of both realized and missed opportunities.

Wishing you peace and clarity as you step into your personal power of prioritization.

PS: I wrote about the path to clarity in our businesses in a previous blog here. I also share my three integrated strategies (time management, energy management, and prioritization) for Peak Productivity here.

I work one-on-one with CEOs to help them clarify their priorities in both their personal and professional lives, so that they achieve maximum clarity, productivity, peace, and joy. Through my proprietary toolkit and highly targeted coaching sessions, we clear away the clutter. Email me at [email protected] if you can benefit from greater clarity of your priorities and more effective time management.

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Sign up here to receive Successful Culture’s leadership blog every Friday. All posts contain actionable content to make you the best leader you can be, to help you develop your people to their greatest potential, and to help you build your best organization.

About Successful Culture
We work with business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams that want to achieve their greatest personal & organizational potential. Through coaching, strategic consulting, retreat facilitation, and workshops, we equip leaders & emerging leaders with the mindset, tools, strategies, and processes they need to excel.

Ready to move forward? Email us today at [email protected]

Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Engage with me during my morning Periscope sessions as well (@marissalevin).

Please check out my Inc. Magazine columns on my Author Page too.
– In my latest Inc, article, I share The Essential Guide to Avoiding Workplace Text, Email, & Social Media Disasters.
– Learn about the 9 Leadership Behaviors that Lose Employee Trust & Respect here.

~Marissa Levin
CEO, Successful Culture
“Taking Leaders from Triage to Transformation.”

How Emotional Intelligence Increases Your Success; 6 Easy Strategies to Increase Your EQ

Emotional Intelligence (EQ or EI) is a term created by two researchers, Peter Salavoy and John Mayer. It was popularized by Dan Goleman in his 1996 book of the same name. (Emotional Intelligence). They define Emotional Intelligence as the ability to:

• Recognize, understand and manage our own emotions
• Recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others

• Self-awareness: knowledge of our own emotional state and how we are showing up in the world.
• Self-regulation: ability to control how we are showing up, and to keep our emotions in check when situations call for control.
• Motivation: (defined as “a passion for work that goes beyond money and status”): what moves us to do our best?
• Empathy for others: feeling for others when they are experiencing emotions (positive or negative) as a result of their own life experiences.
• Social skills: Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks with communication.

• Insensitivity: People who are insensitive are often perceived to be uncaring. Others are less likely to want to work with them or offer help.
• Arrogance: A mentor once defined arrogance as “unearned confidence.” Arrogant people project superiority and egotism. They are often closed off to feedback from others, and believe that their way of thinking is the only possibility. They do not make good team players.
• Volatility: Volatile people are disruptive, unpredictable, and not attuned to the emotional states and concerns of others. Their presence impedes and harms progress because their emotional state can distract and destroy the advancement of key relationships or initiatives.
• Rigidity: Inflexible thinking significantly impedes an individual’s ability to connect with others at a deeper level and establish trust because they are shut down to different perspectives. A relationship can’t develop when one person refuses to grow or accept new ways of thinking.
• Selfishness: The best leaders always subjugate their own personal agendas for the greater good of the organization or the team. When we are driven by our own selfish motives, others are unable to trust us because they know we do not have their best interests in mind.

1. Keep a journal. Create a list of situations or events that “trigger” negative emotions, such as anger or frustration. Then write out a strategy to deal with these situations in a positive and effective manner. Review these strategies often so you’re prepared to put them into practice.
2. Practice being calm. The next time you’re in a challenging situation, be mindful of your response. Do you relieve your stress by shouting at someone else? Do you clench your teeth? Does your heart rate accelerate? Counting to 10, or closing your eyes and taking a deep breath, will help you control your emotions so that your emotions don’t control you. Remind yourself that a negative reaction to a stressful situation will likely make the situation worse, and will impact your relationships with others long after the situation has passed.
3. Be positive. Emotionally intelligent leaders lead from a place of optimism. They find the silver lining in the storm, and view challenges as learning opportunities. As leaders, they are aware that their reactions will set the tone for how others respond to difficulty.
4. Put yourself in someone else’s position. Strengthen your empathy muscle. It’s always easy to support your own point of view. Emotionally intelligent leaders always consider how decisions and situations impact others. Empathy tells others that you care about their well-being and success, and that they are not alone in their difficulty. They also communicate their support.
5. Pay attention to body language. When you listen to someone, do you cross your arms or look around? This tells others how you really feel about a situation, even if you are speaking a different message. Learning to read body language can be a real asset in a leadership role, because you’ll be better able to determine how someone truly feels. This gives you the opportunity to respond appropriately.
6. Practice gratitude. As a leader, you can inspire the loyalty of your team simply by showing appreciation. It tells people you are paying attention, and that you acknowledge that others are essential to your success.

Three Questions Great Leaders Ask Themselves in the 21st Century

I recently designed and facilitated a two-day leadership training program for senior managers in the Air Force. The program objective was to educate them on the mindset and skillset required to lead effectively in the 21^st century. They work in an environment of heavy demands, limited resources, and severe time constraints, and are challenged to motivate a highly-pressured workforce.

My training included 7 interactive and introspective modules. In each module I included a TED Talk on leadership and a discussion worksheet to encourage transfer of concepts from the presenter to the student.

One of the TED Talks I shared was “What it Takes to be a Good Leader” by Roselinde Torres. In her talk, she shared her experiences of working with hundreds of organizations to uncover why leadership ability is declining, even though attention to leadership development is increasing.

She presented three questions that all leaders will need to constantly ask themselves as they hone their leadership skills in the 21^st century:

1. Where are you looking to anticipate change? To answer this question, she recommends looking in one place: your calendar. With whom are you spending your time, and on what topics? What are you reading? How are you distilling?  Great leaders see around corners and shape their future based on what they see. What you read, where you are, and who you are with will shape what you see.
2. What is the diversity metric of your personal and professional stakeholder network? To some extent, we all have a network of people that mirror us. This question addresses your capacity to develop relationships with people that are different than you. Those differences can be biological, physical, functional, political, cultural, socioeconomic. And yet, despite these differences, they connect with you and they trust you enough to cooperate with you in achieving a shared goal. Great leaders understand that having a more diverse network is a source of pattern identification at higher levels, and is an important component in solving problems, because you have people that think differently than you do.
3. Are you courageous enough to abandon a practice that has made you successful in the past? There is an expression: Go along to get along. But if you follow this advice, chances are as a leader, you’re going to keep doing what’s familiar and comfortable.

Great leaders dare to be different. They don’t just talk about risk-taking, they actually do it. The most impactful development comes when you are able to build the emotional stamina to withstand people telling you that your new idea is naïve, reckless or impractical.

When you step out with a new idea, the people who will join you are not your usual suspects in your network. They’re often people that think differently and therefore are willing to join you in taking a courageous leap. And it’s a leap, not a step.

Asking yourself these three questions will force you to have important conversations with yourself, and examine how you are showing up in the world & in your organizations. All great leadership begins with self-awareness. We can only lead others well when we know ourselves well.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”  ~Aristotle

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How to Spring Clean Your People and Your Processes in Your Business

Hooray it’s almost Spring! It has been a long, cold winter with lots of hibernation.

Why You Must Have That Difficult Conversation – And How To Do It

There are four words that, when we hear them, we stop in our tracks because we know they are going to be followed by a lot of other words we may not want to hear. This happens in both our personal and our professional lives. Those four words are…. “WE HAVE TO TALK.”

Did you just feel a shiver run up your spine when you read them? Did they sneak their way off of the screen, and grip your throat a bit?

I don’t know who is stressed out more by these words… the person initiating the conversation, or the person on the receiving end.

If you are the initiator, you know you’ve been carrying around this conversation for a while now. You’ve role-played how it will go, what the reactions will be, and how you are hoping it will end. You’ve determined when and where you should have the conversation. And, you’ve come up with lots of reasons why you shouldn’t have it.

If you are the recipient, first you may try to brace yourself for what’s coming with some mindfulness techniques, like deep breathing, or you may quickly tell yourself it can’t be that bad. Or maybe you will immediately launch into a defensive mode. Or, maybe you’ll say, “this isn’t a good time,” or you’ll run.

Putting all of the emotional baggage aside that accompanies the conversation, here is the one reason you must have this conversation.

IT WON’T GO AWAY BY ITSELF.

When it’s time for a difficult conversation, at least one of three things happen:

1: The person who needs to talk keeps it inside. It grows, and festers, and takes on many additional lives of its own, until the angst or anger associated with the original conversation overtakes the actual topic.

2: The person who needs to talk talks to others. Rather than having the conversation with the person they need to talk with, they seek out advice and support from others, and fuel the issue with input from people that may or may not be understanding the entire story (and are definitely not hearing multiple perspectives).

3: The person seeks out the other person (the target) to have the conversation. And, usually it doesn’t go nearly as badly as they’ve fabricated in their minds. Although, sometimes it does go badly. But when that happens, at least it’s over, and the people can address the elephant in the room.

A Self-Assessment Checklist

How can you prep and move through this conversation with as little drama as possible? Here is a checklist of questions for you to answer prior to having the conversation.

1. What are your objectives for this conversation?
2. What do you believe is the other person’s position in this conversation? What reactions are you anticipating?
3. Based on your history with this person, how effective are they at pushing your buttons, or triggering you? How safe do you feel with them? Based on this information, how can you pre-empt triggers?
4. How are your feelings about this conversation impacting how you will show up? I remember learning that the mere act of inserting a thermometer into a glass of water to measure the temperature changes the water temperature. Similarly, your disposition in initiating the conversation will impact how the conversation plays out. What is your personal temperature?
5. How have you contributed to the situation leading up to this point? Have you owned that? Have you expressed that to the other person?
6. Can you approach this conversation without blame or ego, and focus only on solutions?
7. How aware are you of your own body language? Can you do a body-language check prior to the conversation to ensure you are not projecting a defensive or offensive message?

Alternative conversation starters

Perhaps you can diffuse the situation with a softer opening. One of these may work:

“I could really use your help with a challenge I am having.”

“I would love your perspective on this situation.”

“Can you please help me to understand something?”

It is also a good idea to schedule the conversation, even if it’s for 15 minutes (although it’s important to not rush, so that nothing goes unsaid or unresolved). This way, both participants are completely prepared, focused, and present. No one feels they have been cornered into a conversation they were not prepared to have. Difficult conversations always flow best when both parties feel safe to have the exchange.

Conversation closers

Alternatively, when the conversation is concluding, both parties should feel that they have had ample time to express, and that they have been heard. Something like this may work:

“I really appreciate you having this conversation with me. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?”

“Are we good now?”

I hope these pointers can take the edge off of your next difficult conversation. It probably won’t be nearly as challenging as you anticipate. And just in case it is, you’ll be fully prepared to manage it from beginning to end.

Good luck!

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4 Ways Perfection is Our Enemy and 4 Strategies to Embrace Imperfection

One of the questions I’m constantly asked is, “Marissa how do you get so much done?” Admittedly I move at a brisk pace. I don’t really have a choice, because I have a lot going on. However, we all do. We all have too much to do and not enough time. We are all somewhat controlled by both the blessing and the curse of our digital devices, which allow us to be accessible & on 24/7.

One of my secrets, however, is that I embrace the idea of imperfection. I will never be perfect. This doesn’t mean that I don’t give 100% effort, or that I’m satisfied with mediocrity. On the contrary, I tend to lean the other way. I set very high standards for myself, and strive to exceed the expectations of those that depend on me. However, I’ve also learned to recognize when I’ve crossed over into the dangerous zone of “perfection obsession,” and I’ve trained myself to embrace that “almost perfect” is usually acceptable.

One of my favorite business models is the Lean Start-Up Model. Rather than having every business element locked in place and etched in stone prior to launching an idea, this model allows for a much more fluid growth trajectory. The founder is able to constantly pivot direction in response to market feedback, throughout the life of the business. Rather than exerting energy in building an immovable & inflexible model, and then staying squarely in that pre-defined box, a leadership team can reconfigure the business to remain relevant & responsive.

For those that may have difficulty escaping the claws of perfection, I’ve identified 4 ways perfection impedes our progress.

1. It slows us down or stops us from moving through a milestone. The quest for perfection causes procrastination. We become so fixated on the perfect end-result that we don’t move forward until we are 100% there. When I wrote my book, “Built to SCALE,” I stayed focused on completion, rather than perfection. Ask any author how difficult it is to release a book, and they will tell you it is incredibly painful because we always have more to add or more to edit. It’s never really “finished” in our minds.
2. Perfection causes us to question our own accomplishments and achievements. We become so focused on what we haven’t completed or what haven’t done well that we forget how much we really have accomplished. Sometimes we just have to pause and be in gratitude of all we have accomplished. We forget the struggle we endured to arrive at where we are. This is a self-destructive mindset.
3. Perfection shifts our perspective from the journey to the end game. Focusing solely on the end-game or final deliverable impedes us from appreciating what is right in front of us. Suppose you never make it to your ending. Suppose you never achieve “perfection.” Will you still be able to look back and appreciate the good that came out of the journey?
4. Perfection removes the margins of error, setting us up failure. Are you defining yourself solely by a score of 100%? If you achieve 90% of your goals, can you appreciate your success? The beauty of life exists in our shades of grey and in the fringes, not in life’s absolutes, and certainly not with only smooth edges. Life is messy and unpredictable. Very little will go exactly as you expect. I have so many friends looking for the “perfect” job or the “perfect” partner. They continue to dismiss so many opportunities that are right in front of them. Allow yourself some breathing room, rather than only accepting perfection. Total inflexibility severely narrows our choices.

Shifting Our Mindset: Embracing Imperfection

1. Embrace progress. Create a sense of urgency about what you are trying to achieve. The quest for perfection can stall our momentum. If you have an idea, it does not have to be perfect for you to launch it! Put a deadline in place and move briskly to make it happen. Perfection is the enemy of progress.
2. Remember that others are not evaluating you the way you evaluate yourself. We are always our own worst critics. And for those that criticize us more severely than we criticize ourselves (which is hard), ignore them. (Reread my article on how to manage the three types of haters in your life). They aren’t in your corner. People generally see the accomplishment, not what’s missing.
3. Embrace “draft mode.” Draft mode makes everything a little lighter, a little less serious. Most of the time, if you make a mistake, you can fix it. It won’t be the end of the world. You can change your mind. You can move a little to the left or right. For major pushes, and in circumstances where people are depending on you, have confidence that you will do what’s necessary to make it work. For the smaller things, however, move briskly.
4. Remember to enjoy the journey! Refer back to my column about Rule #6. We must be mindful to appreciate how we are spending every day, not just the culmination of what we are working to achieve. Our endings are unwritten. As much as we plan, and as much as we think we know how things will turn out, they are not decided. Our time is limited and precious. The culmination may or may not deliver the happiness you have attached to the outcome. Your greatest potential for happiness lies in the journey, and in the little things leading up to the end.

I hope this perfectly framed the concept of imperfection for you. Good luck, and celebrate the wins!

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