I gritted my teeth and wrote 100 emails in eight hours as part of an upcoming two-week product launch.
This was our sixth launch of this product in three years. I wrote all the marketing material for every launch: hundreds of emails; thousands of words for video scripts; every headline, bullet point, and button text for dozens of pages.
The same product. Again. Again.
But, these launches drove millions for our company.
Once exciting and new, preparing for them now made me miserable.
Change the Process
You spend 99% of your time in the process, 1% relishing in the achievement.
It’s crazy to grind through a process you detest — it’s your life.
Achievements are fleeting. As soon as one is won, you’re on to the next.
If doing what it takes to achieve a goal requires neglecting your health, losing sleep, drinking too much caffeine, taking pharmaceuticals, or damaging important relationships, it’s not worth it. Change the process.
Go for your goal. Change the path.
Hire a coach or advisor. Read. Get a partner. Get smarter about how to get to your goal without killing yourself.
Hire an employee or someone to help. Train them. Do what you do best, let others do the rest. Work less, accomplish more.
Sometimes you do what must be done.
Change Your Perspective
One person lays bricks, another builds a house of worship, love, and community.
If you can’t change the process, change your view.
I was tired of marketing. Tired of manipulating and tricking people into buying. Tired of selling the same thing which didn’t work as well as it did in the past.
I stopped marketing. Our company lost money. Lower bonuses. Less hiring. More firing.
I changed my view. Our product worked. It helped people. Through marketing, I motivated people to improve their lives. Buyers got a great deal; I would buy the same product if I were them.
Did I lie to myself? I don’t think so.
I adopted a more useful view of the process.
Don’t Change Your Goal
Changing goals is dangerous. Changing goals is giving up. Changing goals is living lesser lives than of which you are capable.
Sometimes you must change goals. Don’t do it lightly.
Most people change goals because pursuing them is hard. It’s much easier to give up.
Don’t do it.
Change the process or change your view.
Inch-by-inch you accomplish greatness while loving the journey.