Huh? What is she talking about. Hold on, I will get to the juicy pickle part soon…
Back in January I attended a great event hosted by The JWE (Jewish Women Entrepreneur). The focus was on networking, with a great speed dating, I mean networking event.
Before we got into the active networking we had a great speaker, Orna Drawas, the author of Perform like a Rockstar and still have time for lunch.
Here are some of the main points that I think will help anyone get further in either their career or business, with my cliff notes (my interpretation):
1. You control your destiny.
At the end of the day you can decide to become great, it may take a bit longer do to external circumstances, but do not blame those circumstances for not getting anything done.
Just start. Now!
2. Use the power of others. You cannnot do everything on your own AND grow your career or business. You should not do it on your own. Make it a point to seek out at least 1 new person per day who does have the specific advice or skills and expertise you need to break ahead. If you stay in your little bubble, you will stay little…and keep on going around the hamster wheel until you collapse.
3. Know the big goal.
ALWAYS keep in mind what you are striving towards. Is it a big client that you can use to name drop to get a stream of clients in their wake as a result of name recognition? Would you like to write a book, partner up with a company. This will help you focus on what is really important
This brings me to what Orna discussed next:
The pickle jar theory:
Everyone stars with the same size jar (the same amount of time per day). The question is what you will fill your jar up with. In order to maximize the preexisting space within the jar. If you start with water it will be very hard to fit in many rocks.
Follow this route:
First the rocks, which are the major goals that can propel you forward such as new product development.
Then goes the pebbles, these are the items that support your goals such as research, people you need to meet etc.
After that goes the sand which is the fun stuff such as meeting friends.
Finally, you have the water which is the clutter, all the stuff in which you can drown if you do not control it. This is emails, social media. Do not worry the emails and social will always get done.
Make sure to prioritize.
In order to really accomplish, you need to sometimes take a step back and look at your goals and realign your steps to make sure your path is still pointed in the right direction.
