Hippie CEO Life #66 - The Importance of Getting Smarter Every Day
A behind the scenes view of building a more humanistic company.
August 18, 2023
Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.
~William Pollard
i have a saying that i share with my team often, so often that i’m sure they are tired of hearing it, but i believe it’s one of the most important messages i can share with them, so i make a habit of repeating it over and over again.
The saying goes something like this, “The time that we spend solving our current challenges, is what ensures that we can pay our bills today. The time we spend thinking about how we are going to solve tomorrow’s challenges, is what ensure’s we will be able to pay our future bills.”
In the context of 33 Sticks, this means that the work we do today, things like consulting with clients, doing analysis, building data collection architectures, running A/B tests, creating content, speaking at conferences, is what brings in revenue for the company in the near term.
However, it’s the non-client work, the non-marketing activities, etc. that we prioritize time for, things like learning new skills, spending time thinking future-backwards, honing our existing skills to master-level, things that aren’t necessarily needs of the business today, are what keep us prepared, informed, and relevant as the markets ebbs and flows. It’s those things that will ensure that we are able to pay our bills tomorrow.
When we only focus on doing today’s work, we run the risk of our skills, the products we offer, becoming commodities. When we balance our focus between today’s work and thinking about the challenges of the future, we put ourselves, the products we offer, in a position to be indispensable.
This strategy not only holds true for businesses but for individuals as well. The work we do today, is what ensures we continue to get a paycheck today. The time we spend preparing for the problems we will solve tomorrow, is what ensures that our skills will be highly needed, and compensated, in the future.
Never stop learning, my friends, commit to getting just a little bit smarter every single day!
✌🏼💛
