Post by TMM guest blogger Lauren Stout, DMCP, CTA, Director of Sales
I can’t take credit for this saying… I was recently reminded of it by one of our well-respected colleagues in the industry. For me, it is equally applicable in the office as it is at home.
Human nature tends to be quite resistant to change… I tend to be more resistant than many. To say I’m a creature of habit would be an understatement… I eat the same thing from the same restaurants all the time, I have taken my coffee the same way for 10 years, I always pick out my outfit for work the night before, and I only use my email inbox at work for tasks that have not been completed. Everything else is systematically filed.
I realize that big change can bring big rewards… but at the same time, it is almost always uncomfortable. Case and point – we are implementing new software at the office and our partner understands our reticence to implement until every last formula is completed and every little button is perfectly branded and beautiful. It was during software orientation that she said something I found particularly valuable from a sales perspective “at some point you just have to jump off the cliff….”
Being a perfectionist by nature, I don’t like to do tasks unless they are as perfect as I think they can be. This is good and bad --- the product is usually very thorough, but it can take longer when you hesitate to just make something happen. There is most certainly a fine line between doing something right, and doing it at the right time – in a perfect world those lines will cross and you will invest exactly as much as you need to, no more, no less, to create the ideal product for your customer.
So, without further adieu, I’m going to continue to “jump off the cliff,” provided I have enough information to know that although it could be a bumpy ride down, there will be a stable enough landing at the bottom that I won’t be annihilated.
