🎯 TREE 769: For me
This infographic arrived in a newsletter. The only context provided was that the newsletter is primarily for small-scale entrepreneurs.
It’s good advice for lots of people. But my first reaction was: this is terrible advice for so many people!
For instance:
Single parents trying to make ends meet with two jobs.
Single parents with a job and evening classes
Single parents full stop.
People with ADHD like me have plenty of focus but it goes off in unhelpful directions. I don’t need more focus. I need tools to help me manage my focus.
Watch what happens when the graphic is changed from prescriptive to descriptive:
Now my defences are down. Now I’m curious. I’m interrogating myself. Is time the issue? Is focus the issue? Is craving more productivity the issue?
This is why I’m a big fan of the phrase ‘for me’, as in, ‘What worked for me was…’ When you say ‘for me’ you grant your listener freedom to decide whether or not it’s for them.
Another good thing about ‘for me’ is that it can save your work from death by a thousand caveats. You don’t need to list all the people your story may not help. Tell your story with context. Tell people what worked for you and trust that it will resonate with the right folks.
Grow slowly
Jeff
I always think of those magazines that tell you what’s in and what’s out. For instance, yellow is in this spring! Here are some yellow notebooks! Buy yellow shoes! Why don’t you wear some yellow earrings! Sometimes I’m persuaded and I go get something yellow and I’m happy and other times I think FOR ME, I don’t prefer yellow. I don’t like it when everybody projects what is in and what is out because for me, what might be in might be out for somebody else and vice versa
I’m in a season of life where I’m rebuilding. So, “what’s for me?”, is very helpful to ask myself. I’m trying new things that open doors to creativity. Like, leaving a canvas and paints out so tv viewing can be creative entertainment, too.📺