Summertime... And the feelin's easy-ish!

Written by Chris Small

It’s summertime and if you’re anything like me, you’re probably thinking, “Are we really half way through 2019?” Where did the time go? By this point you should be well on your way to completing that personal project, hitting that billings goal for your business, or releasing that piece that got shelved a few months ago… But here we are. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie said it best, “It came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time…”

At Soundstripe, our team has shifted our plans more times than I can count. It keeps things interesting but it also can cause a level of anxiety if we aren’t careful. So how do we combat this? How do we “grab the bull by the horns” and actually keep momentum?

Control what is controllable.

Here is what we can control: Our objectives. Our work. Our input. Our mindset.

OUR OBJECTIVES

Objectives are measurable and can be tied to key activities which impact the progress of the objective. Here’s an example of an objective you might set for your business:

OBJECTIVE: Secure a contract with a large corporate client in 2019. Key Activity 1: Develop highlight reel and landing page specifically showcasing corporate work. Key Activity 2: Make 20 outbound calls or emails per week to agencies or corporations and introduce services. Key Activity 3: Attend 1 conference or trade show per quarter and make industry connections.

The benefit of this approach is this: If the one large contract you have for the year BAILS on you at the last minute, there is now a process you have to land the next one. We now have a clear path to success even when things go wrong.

Setting 2-3 top objectives will allow you to prioritize your work and stay focused on what matters.

OUR WORK

Let’s face it. Sometimes the work we take on can seem mundane. Not every project is going to inspire us into Mozart-level productivity. So how do we stay inspired even if it’s the eleventh church logo we’ve designed in a single year?

If the project itself isn’t inspiring, then let the process be. We can always improve our work. At Soundstripe, one of our company’s core values is to “Make it Better.” Yes, this is related to the output of our work, but it is also relevant to the intangible aspects of the business as well. How are we working through creative debate? How are we approaching problem solving? How are we measuring success of a creative project?

What about our processes can we glean inspiration from and make better?

OUR INPUT

Garbage in, garbage out. It’s important for us to remain creatively inspired, so how do we remain aware of our “creative inspiration bucket,” and how it may be impacting our work? One idea is to plan for intentional creative input throughout the year. We can write down a list of conferences, places, favorite art, concerts, or people we need to spend time with. It may sound simple, but putting this into practice becomes complicated among the chaos of deadlines and revisions. How much more fulfilled could we be if we “planned” our moments of input?

OUR MINDSET

One thing that we have some control of is the mindset and perspective we bring to our work every single day. No, you don’t have to be a bubbly, sunny, ball of energy every day, but it is vitally important to come at each day with a level of belief, optimism, and positivity. If we approach each day with belief, optimism and positivity, and pair that mindset with the other controllables mentioned, we operate at a higher frequency. When we operate at a higher frequency, we allow ourselves to welcome new and unplanned possibilities that present themselves.

Here’s the thing. Even if you get all four of these “controllables” right, there is still a high likelihood of change to occur. So maybe our mantra needs to be something more like this:

Control what is controllable and leave space for flexibility.

Life and work for creatives can be incredibly rewarding and also incredibly exhausting. Treading the thin line with grace is the work of professionals. You can do it!

Cheers!