Take a hike
Take a hike
When a stroll is the best kind of market research for your business
So, in my day-to-day work, I do a ton of reading. I read news, I read charts and graphs (and tables), I read research papers. I read about my clients’ competitors.
There’s so much information available out there and it’s really easy to get distracted. Like, really easy.
Anyone else ever get distracted these days?
Is the sun gonna rise tomorrow? (Just thought I’d ask 2 obvious questions in a row.)
I also read a lot about how to not get distracted. That almost seems funny to say.
On one of those days when I was trying to figure out a good way to stay focused on the job at hand, I came across a short, brilliant little mantra.
“More strolling, less scrolling”
Brilliant, right?!
If you’ve done some work on the Find Your Wedge framework (subscribers get the starter version for free) and started looking at some of your Inspo-Competitors, you too may have gotten distracted.
It’s easy to start down one path and then see some ‘shiny object’ along the way and find yourself off on a tangent. You’ve looked at so many things – only some of which were related to your original search – that you aren’t sure what you’re searching for anymore.
Not only is your head spinning, but you may also be frustrated by all the time you spent searching and all the questions you haven’t yet answered.
I totally get that.
Totally.
Using the Find Your Wedge framework was created to help you avoid this. Placing distinct parameters around what you are searching for – and understanding why you are searching for it – helps tremendously. It’s like having a map for getting from point A to point B. And man, do we need it!
More strolling
We’ve all probably done this re-focusing in one way or another. We’ve stepped away from a project, done something else for a while. Maybe even looked at our work or problem from a different angle as we search for a solution.
But, I really like this mantra.
Sometimes (most times?), our best insights come when we step away, take a walk, maybe even take a moment to reflect a bit about all the things we’ve read. Sometimes it’s best to take a break and think about nothing at all.
While there are 4 distinct steps in the Find Your Wedge framework, definitely one to add is to take a break between steps to reflect and give your brain some space to process the step you’ve just worked through.
The whole idea of taking time to find your wedge is that it’s time you are taking to set your course so that you can be more strategic and clear about your direction. The Framework is ALL about less scrolling, whether that’s on the web or in how you are moving around in your business.
For me, I’m finding that the “More strolling” piece is crucial. I need to give myself time to reflect on what I’ve learned. I need that time to put it all together, to take a bird’s eye view of it all, to reflect on what I’ve learned.
The reflection also helps me incorporate my past experiences and expertise in creating my perspective on what I’ve learned. That’s not easy to do while scrolling.
Less scrolling
So, we’re back to the framework.
The framework is meant to help you stop scrolling in your business and to give you a way to create a good direction (or pivot) based on good information. It’s meant to help you save time (and money) by creating some clarity in the messy world of business growing.
So, ‘less scrolling’ can mean literal scrolling through news or social media. It can also mean less scrolling through the various tasks in your day and creating more thoughtful action around them. I mean, there will always be tasks to complete, no way around that, but when you find your wedge, you are on your way to creating a thoughtful direction to your action. Less scrolling.
