You don’t know anything about our company. You don’t have a plan. You don’t know what you’re doing. These statements were spinning through my head like a merry-go-round stuck at hypersonic speed. 

The drive home from my client who just informed me of my ineptitude felt like what time travel might be like: one moment, I was in one location, and the next moment, I’d moved a significant distance and didn’t have a clue how I got there.

My client didn’t tell me I didn’t know what I was doing, but he didn’t have to say those words to convey the message. It was clear to me. That conversation was discussed in last week’s post. 

Things were changing fast at work. My client had just finally noticed what I felt like on most days at my job: an impostor. 

All I knew for sure at this point was that I’d better figure out what I was doing fast before someone at my employer had the same revelation. It would be years before I learned about impostor syndrome, but it was clear this was how I felt about myself for many years during my sales career. 

Training Would be Helpful

I’d had three jobs over 10 years, and not once did any type of education come along with the various roles I’d played. My second job was at a small software firm where I’d been hired to do functional and technical support for clients. My training consisted of being given a manual and being instructed to listen in on the other staff as they helped our clients. 

After a full day of being on the job, day two started with a challenge: to navigate a client through my first support call. I forgot to tell you that I’ve battled with stuttering all my life. Most people would never know, but in this situation, I couldn’t even answer the phone with “hello.” The fumbling and mumbling it took just to get past the greeting was embarrassing at best. 

What Next

The clock was ticking on the two weeks I had to report back to the business unit VP. Looking at my random list of tasks to do, it was obvious I still didn’t know what the VP’s goals were for my company’s technology. 

Of course, it also didn’t occur to me to get that answer when he pulled me into his office to admonish me about not having a plan. Another meeting with the VP would be needed to gain the proper insight to formulate a plan. Getting on this guy’s schedule was virtually impossible, something his administrator reminded me when I called asking for time.

A Two-Smoke Meeting

Luckily for me, she had given a tip to get some unofficial time with the VP. She suggested catching him in the parking lot when he arrived in the morning and walking with him to the building. She let me know that he usually smoked two cigarettes before coming inside. 

It never occurred to me how unorthodox and awkward this meeting approach might be perceived by some. Preparing for a two-smoke meeting meant preparing about three or four questions. It worked, though, and the VP didn’t even bat an eye when I surprised (stalked) him in the parking lot. 

Two weeks later, the plan presented to the VP was far from perfect. He made some corrections, gave me more homework, and provided more advice about working with his staff. Maybe this guy saw a younger version of himself in me. Maybe he was a business angel. Whatever he was or whatever his intent, his plain and unapologetic feedback radically changed the way I engaged with clients.

Other Impacts from Being Called Out

Outworking everyone had been my business strategy up to this point in my career. Maybe using my brain a little more would be more productive. This notion was on a never-ending playlist swirling through my brain. At the time I loathed quiet moments like lying in bed. My body was physically drained, but turning off my brain to sleep became an increasingly significant obstacle.

A lifetime of experiences has confirmed it’s not the hard stuff that’s so hard. It’s failing at the easy stuff that will destroy opportunities. Failing at the small stuff was my specialty. 

“Your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.” That’s a bit of wisdom I heard recently from productivity expert David Allen, as he framed my very problem during a Tim Ferris Podcast. 

Stumbling into a Rhythm of Success

Not long after my client called out my obvious disorganization, I stumbled into a foundational piece of my self-taught business education in a book called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (there’s a reason this is still considered a vital training tool for people in all aspects of the business world).

I devoured the book and listened intently during multiple plays on drives to work. It seems so simple and obvious, but it was a real revelation to me at the time. Getting my jumbled ideas into some sensible view made all the difference. Limiting the number of tasks to work on each day, but more importantly, only working on the most important tasks was a tremendous stress reliever, too.

This book got me hooked on reading a wide variety of self-help books. I was seeking a better, more efficient way to succeed (whatever success meant in the context of what I was working on at the time). Even today, nothing has changed in my relentless journey to find ways to improve. 

Continuous Improvement

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m seeking a way to avoid more mistakes or failures, but even today, I continue to be a voracious reader of nonfiction books. The book I’m currently reading is “Originals.” I firmly believe that there are always nuggets to be gleaned from every book. 

In “Originals,” the chapter discussing Ray Dalio’s meritocracy-based management style at this firm Bridgewater Associates, LP, highlights the importance of candid feedback. Unfiltered feedback is not easy to give and maybe even harder for people to properly consume. Dalio’s management style can be studied in detail in his book, “Principles.” 

It would be a couple more years before I was all in on planning for my success. But one thing is for certain, and it’s been the theme of the previous two posts: “less is more”. Whether it’s a business, family, or personal goal, if you have too many of them, you’ll likely not achieve any of them. Each next step is a filtering process. Whatever you do, get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper.