Win The Gold

During the Olympics my husband and I have been watching an insane amount of Olympics coverage. Being from the Northeast and growing up around these sports, we have a special fondness in our hearts for the Winter Olympics in general. One thing that struck me about this year's coverage of ski jumping was that the announcers kept reiterating that ski jumping as a sport is not particularly difficult to master physically- it is a sport featured around one simple movement. What makes ski jumping challenging and sets amateurs apart from the pros is the timing of that movement, and the strength with which it's held in the air. They explained, that the art of ski jumping is knowing when to lay out over your skis, and convincing your mind to stay there when everything inside you is telling you that you shouldn't be doing that. You are, after all, essentially jumping off a three story building chest-first to a steep snowy landing below. Convince your mind that that's totally normal and safe, and you're on your way to winning Olympic gold.

Sometimes work is like this. Sure, work is a heck of a lot safer, but there are times when your mind seems to be chanting "This doesn't matter" or "Focus on something else" or "Nothing could be more boring than this." I don't care how much you love your job, inevitably at some point you will find yourself wondering if you're making a difference, unable to focus, or trying to complete an annoyingly mundane task. (Note: If this describes the majority of your job maybe you should think about a career/job change, but for the rest of us this will happen from time to time.) It's times like this that set the regular employees (the amateurs) apart from the stellar employees (the Olympic gold medalists). Right, but how do you convince your mind that it's wrong? Just like athletes have different techniques, so too do employees. I tend to use the following tricks (the overall concepts are universal, and the examples are job-specific):

1. Break Big Tasks Into Smaller To-Dos
   
   I feel accomplished when I can cross something off, even if it's something small. I would rather have 8 small/medium-sized tasks on my to-do list than three big ones. So if I have a few major things I need to do I will spell the steps out and let myself cross them off as I go. This also helps you to think through the task and better budget your time throughout the day.
2. Look at the Bigger Picture
   Sometimes if I'm fiddling with small keyword bid changes I can get stuck in the "Does this 10 cents really matter?" trap. By aggregating that and looking at the bigger picture I can remind myself that it does matter to the company at the end of the day. If we can save 10 cents on 100 keywords, that's $10/day, or $3,650/year- on just ONE account. Sure, no one cares about $0.10, but $3,650? Now you're talking!
3. Rely on The Industry
   
   Sometimes it's easy to let yourself get away with doing less work. In my case, that would be something like "This account is small enough that match type and strength of long-tail keywords don't matter much." But, is that true or just what my mind is telling me so I can do less work? Look to the industry's opinions- industry standards would say that both match-type and long-tails are very important. Then you'll have your answer!

So get out there, conquer your mind, and win gold at work! What tricks do you use?