Tag: pause

Pausing and Searching for Indicators of Progress (6-24-26)

This is week 5 of our series based on lessons I’ve learned working in a central role.  This week is about pausing, looking around, and searching for indicators of progress.

Part of the challenge of being in a central role is that there often is not a clear scoreboard.  When I worked in marketing for a brand, we had clear targets we were going after.  We knew we were trying to help X number of patients and achieve Y level of market share.  I don’t have that in this role.  I’m trying to drive us to the future of market research.  It’s hard to know how close or far away I am from an ambiguous target that is always changing.

Recently, I had a few days where I was a bit overwhelmed and irritated.  I was getting swallowed up by various fire drills and other issues.  In the frustration, I thought to myself, “Am I even doing anything?  Am I even getting anywhere?”  After being grumbly for a day or two, I snapped out of it, slowed down, and pulled my head up again.  I still didn’t have a clear scoreboard.  However, I could at least see indicators that I was at least moving things forward.  I still can’t tell you exactly how close or far away we are from the future.  I can see how far we’ve come.  I can see how our momentum is taking us forward, and that’s fuel enough to keep going.

Let’s make some connections.  Our story this week is about being overwhelmed, lost, and pausing to find perspective.  Have you ever felt lost and discouraged in your role?  Even if you’re in a role where there is some kind of scoreboard, I’m willing to bet there are moments where you have been so overwhelmed with things that you’ve felt a little lost.  It’s easy to feel this way.  Everything is going so fast.  Technology is changing so much.  There is so much pressure.

In moments like these, we have to find a way to slow down and pull up.  We have to find a way to slow down, even if we think we should be sprinting.  Once we slow down, we can look around, check out the indicators around us, and see how we are really doing vs the story we are telling ourselves.

The challenge: Will you slow down and look for indicators of progress?

Bonus- Many of you will be part of our annual shutdown.  I hope you totally unplug.  I hope you reconnect with friends, family, and yourself.  I hope you stay safe and get some sun.

Have a jolly good day and a fun/safe 4th of July,

Andrew Embry

Lies of P and Scoping out a Situation Before Taking Action (2-28-24)

Last week was about Lies of P and expecting difficulties.  This week is about boss fights and the importance of understanding the situation before sprinting forward. 

I had made it through the first few bosses without much trouble and then I ran into Fuoco, the King’s Flame.  It was a giant incinerator like puppet (robot).  I went all in and was super aggressive for my first attempt.  It didn’t go well.  He quickly killed me.  After that, I switched up my approach.  I started playing more cautiously and slowly for a few rounds.  My kids saw this, thought it was weird, and asked why I wasn’t rushing in aggressively again to win.  I explained to them that I wasn’t trying to win the fight right now.  Right now, I was trying to better understand what I was up against.  I was spending time learning his moves and finding his weak spots.  I knew that after I had a better understanding of the fight, I would be able to be successful.  Sure enough, when I finally went all in, I was able to get him down to about 10% of his health before he ever hit me the first time.  My kids were amazed at how I was virtually flawless in the battle. (I’m virtually flawless in life too, so they shouldn’t have been surprised 😉)

What does this have to do with anything?  In the above story, I quickly failed because I didn’t know what I was up against.  If I would have kept charging in super aggressively then it would have taken me a long time before I was able to win that battle.  I would have kept failing over and over again, because in my rush to move fast I would not have been learning the critical things about the boss fight to be successful.  Investing time in approaching the situation more slowly, so I could understand it, ultimately enabled me to move faster toward success.

Now let’s look at the parallels with work.  Have you ever had a project or assignment where you just went blindly barging in full steam ahead?  How did that turn out for you?  I’ve done that and it never works out particularly well.  When I just rush in, I often fail to understand the true problem or miss important bits of information, and both lead to failure.  Throughout my career, I’ve had to learn that the most important thing I can do for any project is understand what we are trying to accomplish, why, with whom, and how the deliverable is going to be used.  I’ve learned that if I invest the time to slow down to understand those things, then I will be able to be faster and more successful in the future.

The challenge: Will you be willing to take your time to understand the situation before trying to charge forward?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry