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Alternative Title: Join Us in the 10%! Get Moving! Avoid Perfection! Work the Criticism. Use the Hive-mind! Keep the Faith! Just Go!

It’s been a rocket ride the last few months, and I worked hard to quickly go from the ‘anger’ and ‘denial’ phase of the Seven Stages of Economic Grief to ‘acceptance’ and ‘hope.’ That’s because I knew that doing so would be critical to the potential success of my reinvention.

Much of that mind shift has come as I ramped up the sophistication of my home broadcast studio – and continue to do so. Every week is a new week – I get better at what I do, the content becomes more concise, the production a bit crisper, the message more powerful!

My effort is paying off – making the national news on the weekend was a huge win, and an increasing number of client inquiries indicates to me that people are seeking insight on how to move forward. I’ve been doing that on stage for 25+ years, and in the last week, have come to realize that people are really getting into that message. It’s needed, it is powerful, it is important. I can deliver in a compelling, very unique online style.

With that, I’m a part of a small vanguard of people – let’s call them the ’10 percent’ – who ARE moving forward despite uncertainty. If you saw the news story, you’ll have seen my comment that I am stunned by the speed of innovation and transformative thinking all around me.

But only with some people. Too many other people are stuck, frozen, locked in panic. I spoke about this on stage in New Orleans in 2010 in front of 5,000 people.

Aggressive indecision – is that you? Are you part of the 60%? The 30%? Or the 10%? Who are you?

Here’s the thing – you should make a conscious decision to join us in the 10%. My journey echoes the journey of the other action-pioneers I see out there. Reflecting, these are the lessons I’ve learned as I thought about my own voyage in the last two months:

  • Keep your plan vague: don’t overdo it. The old world had us in long, luxurious planning cycles. That’s gone – both the time horizon and the certainty of the plan. Speed matters more than a plan, more so than ever before. I had no idea what my real goal was with an online broadcast – I keep figuring that out as I go.
  • Learn as you go. You are an expert at nothing in this new world and an amateur at everything. Just-in-time knowledge has long been my key skills watchword. It’s now a reality. I know WAY MORE today than I knew a month ago about online broadcasting. I even have buzzwords. My thirst for new knowledge is at an all-time high.
  • Make mistakes. Don’t be scared. Learn from them. Repeat. I committed to going live even though I wasn’t certain it might not work. Some things blew up along the way, but it wasn’t totally awful. Just a bit awful. That’s ok.
  • Go for the small wins. This is not about excellence. This is about achievement.
  • Work the criticism. When you get it wrong, take the lumps. Listen to the critics. Learn from what they tell you. My 2nd broadcast was a dog’s breakfast mess, and someone took the time to tell me so. It hurt at first – but then I took it as an opportunity to do better.
  • Keep the faith: don’t give up. There is no immediate return like it was in the past – whether monetary, emotional, or other forms of reward. But when they happen – oh, they are SO much better!
  • Collaborate more. See ‘learn as you go.’ The global hive mind is your new best friend. Learn how to harness its riches. I discovered an online community on Facebook for the software I am using – Ecamm Live – and for me, it is now like drinking from a video production firehose!
  • Modify more. See ‘vague plan.’ If you had the planning wrong, adjust the plan. What will I be doing online a month from now? Heck, I don’t know. I’ll know when I get there!
  • Think longer term. This too shall pass. Everything you do today might have a return tomorrow, even if we have no idea what that might be. Because – what’s the alternative? I’m pretty convinced that my efforts will make me a standout success compared to my speaker competition because my product offering is so much better.
  • Embrace the uncertainty. It’s here, it’s everywhere, and it’s not going away. Accept it, and let it motivate you rather than detract you.

Get moving.

Do it now.

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THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE FAST features the best of the insight from Jim Carroll’s blog, in which he
covers issues related to creativity, innovation and future trends.

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