Learned Along the Way #2

Jason-

Good stuff. Looking forward to the webinar on Wednesday. My young professional card was taken away from me a couple of years ago, but I absolutely learned some valuable lessons during that period of my life. I will start with this one...

#2: Clarity of Purpose

I think that when you come up with an idea and decide that you are going to "do something" it is very important to be clear on what you want to accomplish and also why you want to accomplish it. When you take something out to the world (an idea, a product, a service, a message) you may not get the response you were hoping for. You may not get any response at all...and that indifference may lead you to believe that your idea, product or message is not of value...especially if you are a young professional / emerging leader and have not taken anything out to the world before. This is why clarity of purpose is important.

Truth be told, people are much better at finding and recognizing what is popular than they are at finding and recognizing what is valuable. In my experience this is regardless of level of education or professional status. If you take something out to the world (an idea, a product, a service, a message) that is new and of real value it is likely that 99.9% of people will not know how to respond initially or they will be confused or resistant to what you are proposing. Staying connected to why you are carrying your particular message or idea can be valuable in fighting through this.

I think that having real clarity on the what and why has proven to be a valuable lesson for me and I think it overlaps nicely with what you said about Making Big Plans.

-joe