Things are going well.
Despite the recent, short-lived dark night of the soul I wrote about yesterday, I’m building my solo business according to plan and my assumptions have held up to this point.
After altMBA, I knew my schedule would settle into a regular cadence of group calls with Unreal Collective and calls with the folks I work with 1-on-1. And even though I’m opening up some time to work 1-on-1 with a couple more individuals, I still have time to work on new projects.
This has presented a couple of new challenges.
- How do I determine what project(s) to focus on next? Member events? (Spoiler: yes). Creating a course? Writing that book? Community events?
- How do I best organize my schedule so that I’m maximizing this open space?
I’m experimenting with different layouts of my calendar, and I’m running tests to determine which projects to spin up. I’m having a blast.
But what is more important than both of those things, and that I’ve kept top of mind, is a quote from the founder of Under Armour, Kevin Plank. When asked what challenges he faces as he grows Under Armour as an organization, Plank said:
You know, we’re a slogan-based company. I keep these whiteboards in my office, three across and five down, that say things like “Overpromise and deliver,” “Walk with a purpose,” “Done, done, done.”
At the center though, and the only one written in red ink, it says simply, “Don’t forget to sell shirts and shoes.” We get caught up with lots of other things, signing teams, signing athletes, do all these things — but our company rings the register and we build profit when we sell lots of shirts and shoes.
It’s easy for success and progress to lure you into the “more” trap. So part of the organization of my schedule has become what I call “Magic Monday.”
I just finished a book on coaching, and there was one line that really stuck with me.
Magic is just someone spending more time on something than someone else may reasonably expect.
My busiest day every week is Tuesday with 1-on-1 and group calls. So I spend a large part of Monday preparing for those calls to keep laser-focused on the core of my business. I want to create magic for the incredible people that I work with.
Where can you create magic in your work?