Over the past few years, I’ve tested out a bunch of ideas and experiments on various audiences. Taking out the disinterested lot, I always found the interested ones to divide themselves into 3 groups.
– The nodders. Lots of smiles and nodding with no follow up
– The wannabe hustlers. While smiles and nodding aren’t a pre requisite, the wannabe hustlers DO follow up. But, the follow up doesn’t last long. They love the sprint and hate the marathon.
– Hustlers. I’ve been fortunate to work with hustlers of all kinds of personality types. A couple of them I know don’t say much but follow up with exemplary execution. Some others say a lot but also back it up with stuff that gets done.
There are 3 learnings I take away from witnessing this behavior.
– I am learning not to get carried away after a meeting. I’ve realized that the true success of a meeting can’t be measured immediately. It’s a metric that shows itself in time and is dependent on how many hustlers you met.
– I am learning to test ideas with folk and see what their preference is. A work or project relationship is a two way relationship. Push doesn’t help.
(And yes, hustling is a preference)
– I am learning to ask myself the ‘Am I nodding or hustling?’ question every once a while. Hustling is a painful preference since you dedicate a big part of your down time to doing just that. But, integrity is about making and keeping commitments. It’s so hard to keep commitments that we often tend to forget the first half of the deal.
The lizard brain may hint that not making commitments is safe. But, hey, who are we kidding?
We wake up every morning faced with many choices. Today, let’s remember to check in on whether we want to nod or hustle..