How To Show Up And Stand Out

Seth Godin shows up every morning during my meditation sessions. Each day, no matter where I am in the world, I try to meditate with the rising of the sun. That tends to occur around 6:30am.

That’s also the exact time that Seth Godin sends out his emails. When I’m done my deep breathing, I look at my Blackberry, and see the red light flashing. I know that it’s Seth. He could be an alarm clock. He shows up 7 days a week…every single darn day at the same time.

That’s the consistency that his audience craves and appreciates.

I’m impressed.

I love the daily content formula.

It puts pressure on you to produce.

Also, because you produce so much, you come up with some really, really great ideas.

The world notices action takers.

The world appreciates consistency.

A slice of the world becomes your tribe when you have good stuff to say.

Your Tribe members are your fans. Your fans become your customers that can give you a very, very secure retirement.

You can make a lot of money with fanatic fans.

You can also change a lot of their lives.

So show up.

Ship your work.

Be consistent.

That’s how you build your tribe.

Even the big dogs take notice (see below).

“Tribes thrive when they connect and coordinate and synchronize. They work when they create a cultural connection. As you organize and lead your tribe, then, the opportunity is to be crystal clear about what you stand for, and to give the alert observers within your clan the ability to stick with you and what they believe without having to pretend that the world outside doesn’t actually exist.” – Seth Godin

As I mentioned, when you show up and ship, you stand out. Seth has a lot of people taking notice, like Steven Pressfield. Steve recently wrote about Seth:

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Seth’s Primary Principles
By Steven Pressfield  

These are Seth Godin’s principles for success.

1. Don’t wait to be picked. Pick yourself.

2. Go for the weird. Pursue what you love, no matter how marginal or seemingly non-commercial.

3. Be resourceful. Use every bit of leverage you can think of–people, ideas, funding sources.

4. Be brave. Seth has two phrases that he uses about ventures he’s about to launch: “This might not work” and “This might work.” These are the only possible outcomes. Why worry?

5. Ship.

I consider Seth a friend, even though we’ve only spent a few hours together all told. You get it fast with Seth because he embodies the principles he teaches. That’s why watching him make a phone call is worth more than a semester at Harvard. You will never make a phone call the same way again.

Each summer Seth offers an internship. A young man named Liam applied. Liam didn’t get picked. He will not be among the lucky fifteen this summer.

But wait, isn’t Seth’s first principle, “Don’t wait to be picked?”

Liam gets it. He is already talking about “the Big Seth in my mind.” In other words, everything that he (or anyone) might learn by being up close and personal with Seth, he already knows.

We don’t really need to attend Seth’s seminar, wonderful as it will be.

What we would have come away with, we can come away with on our own.

We all understand the stuff that Seth embodies. We know we have to be bold. We know we must embrace our own weirdness and that we have to think like professionals at the same time that we’re kicking down doors and taking names. We know we have to thrash & sweat, & we know we have to deliver.

All that’s in our wiring already.

What spending a week with Seth does is it gives us permission to be like Seth. To do the same stuff he does, only do it for ourselves.

“So why,” Liam says, “can’t I perform that process myself? No reason at all. I can.” There it is. Liam has just applied in his own heart and been accepted.

Seth would approve.

***

Brilliant move by young Liam.

He is taking on Seth as a Virtual Mentor, just as Napolean Hill did with his mentors in Think and Grow Rich.

If you can’t afford a coach, playing the WWMMD game (What Would My Mentor Do?). It is your next best place to start.

Liam is playing WWSD.

Sometimes I play WWMFD (What Would Mark Ford Do?) or WWPSD (What Would Porter Stansberry Do?).

What will you play?

Start there if you must,

Craig Ballantyne

Everyone needs a pick me up, a kick in the butt, and helping hand to get back on track. Stay strong and pay it forward today!