If you're someone who wants to master digital skills, your creativity and productivity are your most valuable assets. Without a replicable system for generating and refining ideas, you will struggle to build a sustainable online career.
But no pressure, because I'm telling you right now, if you can master doing this thing, you'll have less to worry about than your competitors.
I am a walking testament to this...
Having a process mapped out before I begin any assignment that requires outside-the-box thinking has helped my online career in many ways...
From lowering my anxiety to building my confidence, it was in this process that I realized a little-known truth — One of the causes of low self-esteem is lack of clarity and direction.
Most times, you will be caught up in who you want to become and show little concern for the things you should be doing to become that person.
*Success doesn't lie in the goal, it lies in the process.
Everyone has a goal, and an idea of what they want to become. What separates someone who can afford a vacation on an exotic island from someone who is living in debt and waiting for a golden-goose opportunity is P-R-O-C-E-S-S.
That is the system, the blueprint, a workflow, whatever you choose to call it.
Having a process in a place where you can easily refer to and itemize the things you did right and wrong is one of the smartest productivity hacks you can ever implement.
BUT... Where I see people making a mistake is they don't record these things - they rely on their memory, right?
Now, the brain is an excellent idea generator; on average it generates about 3300 ideas in an hour (even though most of them are not practical).
With those stats, who can argue? The brain is incredible useful for coming up with ideas, however, it is a terrible storage option.
To be able to keep track of your process, you need to be able to see it (and in some cases, touch it).
It should be there so you don't always have to pull it from your vortex of memories, which, if you think about it, saves you a ton of time and energy.
I've prepared a little case study to drive home the significance of having a written process beforehand.
Take John, for example. John here is a fictional character, but I'll use him to illustrate something, so pay attention, okay?
When John is given a task, he feels overwhelmed because he doesn't have a templated system of approach.
Who knows, maybe he always felt he could figure it out after he got the role or the task.
But after a few sloppy attempts at relatively easy tasks (I say relatively because these tasks are not beyond his skill level), he quickly realizes that his approach might not work.
Then he starts to scramble, and his self-confidence takes a beating because he's always unsure of what to do.
Compare that poor guy with this genius - Mark.
Mark sits in the living room at 10AM on a warm Saturday morning, pen and jotter in his hands, and he's ready to get to work.
He hasn't physically been given the role, but in his head, he's got it.
Mark knows the kind of role he wants; he has assessed his skills and interests. He understands that the key to succeeding in this role is not just waiting for instructions, but also creating a seamless workflow and communication with his employer.
He creates a 7-step process detailing what he's going to do from the start of the first conversation till he hands over the final deliverables.
He has his elevator pitch written, edited, and roaring to go.
Now, all of this pre-planning is hypothetical of course, because you can never know what your client/boss will need from you until after that first call. A little prep beforehand is always a great idea because sometimes they will want you to tell them what you can help them with and how.
They may not voice this out during your calls, but you can pick it up once you start to get experience with talking with them and feeling your way through the conversations.
Anyway, back to our case study, it doesn't take a math whiz to figure out, but I'm pretty sure Mark's got the best chance of success while protecting his mental state.
*And it's very important to keep both if you ask me.
The highlight of this elegant case study is that it is overwhelmingly in your favour to have a process for approaching every task.
If one approach doesn't work, you can always look over your already written process and tweak it as needed, instead of starting all over and scrambling to create another system.
I've recently adopted this approach, and like I said, it has helped. I only hope to continue being steadfast with it, as one of my biggest flaws is commitment!
Speaking of which, if you have any tips or advice on how I can be more committed, please, please, please don't leave without saying something in the comments.
We all have different experiences that teach us different things, so I would be open to hearing from you.
And I'd really appreciate it.
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
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