“The breaking news mindset isn’t just annoying, it may be distracting you from what really matters.” – Seth Godin
The wisdom of Seth Godin is so eye-opening, sometimes I just want to share it verbatim. And so I have below.
Seth’s post, dealing with the larger flows of society, provided a useful analogy (my thoughts - in italics) to the value of consistent small steps over time to move forward and de-emphasize current distractions.
“Most existing systems (organizations, cities, careers, governments) (people) are resilient to external shocks. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t still be here. Earthquakes, edicts and emergencies (ups and downs) come and they go, but the systems remain.
And yet, it’s the emergencies we pay attention to.
No single event demolished the music business (your reality or dreams). It was a series of slow changes over the course of two decades, all the way back to the CD.
Smoking (lack of exercise and overeating) killed far more people than terrorists ever did. It’s just not as dramatic.
No single technology (habit) destroyed the business model for newspapers. Sure, Craigslist (pick your poison) hastened their demise, but the writing has been on the wall for a decade or more.
Your career won’t be made or broken on the back of one interview (event or personal reaction), one meeting, one sales call. Sure, it might help (or hurt), but the sudden impact of one event (big promise) isn’t sufficient to change everything forever.
The slow changes in the media landscape (status-quo) are accelerating and virtually every pre-digital (existing) system is in danger. The slow changes in the marketing landscape (personal challenges and opportunities) are in their second decade (ongoing) and these changes will have their effects on every business (individual) and cause as well.
Cultural (small) shifts create long terms evolutionary changes. Cultural shifts, changes in habits, technologies that slowly obsolete a product or a system are the ones that change our lives. Watch for (guide your small) shifts in (personal) systems and processes and expectations. That’s what makes change, not big events.
Don’t worry about what happened yesterday (or five minutes ago). Focus on what happened ten years ago and think about what you can do that will make a huge impact in six months. The breaking news mindset isn’t just annoying, it may be distracting you from what really matters. As the world gets faster, it turns out that the glacial changes (small steps) of years and decades are become more important, not less.”
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