Small Shifts

I titled this post 1/4 inch about a year ago. After yesterday's panel on building a brand, I felt we could use a reminder.

This is a concept than anyone trained in martial arts -- three years of Karate-do for me -- knows well. If you played European football or volley ball, like I did, this idea applies there, too. It is the distance that can make the difference between a brilliant and effective move, and a near flop. A small adjustment in posture can and does make a really big difference in business, and in life.

I'm actually not interested in hard metrics today. I prefer for you to consider an adjustment in belief and your own behavior. 1/4 inch adjustments can mean:

• you becoming a savvier buyer who pools resources with other buyers and taking responsibility for better products by researching and demanding them
• developing shared goals for the outcome of a conversation, even better if it's a conference you're attending -- why not see it as an opportunity to join or form a community?
• building on the old axiom -- standing for something vs. falling for everything. What is your value proposition? Do you have one?
• respecting that others don't need to move at your own speed (especially if they're driving in front of you)
• making the final push to go from good to great -- taking a simple concept and making it awesome
• seeing, being aware of situations, and context

Take shifts in small increments and see how far you can really go.

[image courtesy of Wiki commons]

Comments

[Gabriele Maidecchi]

I also believe a small adjustment can become the start a domino effect, inspiring or directly causing more small adjustments.
Living in a stasis, a status quo that no one is bothered to even try changing, is highly counter productive.

[AJ Leon]

Great great post, Valeria!! You are absolutely right. Many times, its our perspective, a small shift that keeps us from the exact spot where we should be.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Gabriele - the secret is to start somewhere, and worry about editing or correcting course once in motion, when it's easier.

@AJ - we are better at it on the days when we feel optimistic. Being aware of it is already a good step in the right direction.

[Gabriele Maidecchi]

@Valeria - I agree, what you just said reminded me of something from high school, I am sure you'll like it: "There are two forms of friction, kinetic and static. If you try to slide two objects past each other, a small amount of force will result in no motion. The force of friction is greater than the applied force. This is static friction. If you apply a little more force, the object "breaks free" and slides, although you still need to apply force to keep the object sliding. This is kinetic friction. You do not need to apply quite as much force to keep the object sliding as you needed to originally break free of static friction."