Everyone knows it snows in Michigan.
I remember shuffling down the streets of Midland one October, trick-or-treating, with thick ski pants and boots covering my Halloween costume; just a kid with a pillowcase wearing a Chewbacca mask staring out from under a winter hat.
Two feet of snow. In October. And that was in the lower peninsula.
The upper peninsula? That’s no joke.
The people that live up there, lovingly referred to as uppers (pronounced yew-pers), get hammered in the winter.
Yet, even knowing that, we stopped in awe at a lone sign in the woods. Deep into our seven hour drive, in the northern part of Michigan’s upper peninsula, we stared up at the sky where this sign, 29.5 feet in the air, marked their record snowfall.
When you grow up seeing two to four feet of snow at a time, 29 feet seems unbelievable.
But this sign didn’t lie. It was accurate, and the record it represented has been beaten since.
(Email me a pic if you’ve seen it recently, I didn’t have a camera back then and I’d love to marvel at it’s height again)
This sign, and the extreme snowfall record it represented, reset my expectations of what’s possible. It made me wonder what else I didn’t know, didn’t realize, or couldn’t imagine.
It’s easy to get used to the status quo. But that’s not how to stand out. That’s not how you make the biggest impact. That’s not how to strike awe in your customers.
Recognizing that, it’s helpful to ask yourself a question—one that will help reframe your expectations of what’s possible:
“What am I continuing to do myself that I’m not good at?”
Think about it. Write it down. Then improve it, eliminate it, or delegate it.
Improve what you’re not good at and raise the bar on what you can accomplish.
Eliminate what you’re not good at and give yourself time to work on more important tasks.
Delegate what you’re not good at and buy yourself energy while allowing for someone more skilled to set the bar higher.
Don’t wait for a sign in the woods. Challenge what you know. Ask yourself this question monthly to reset expectations of what’s possible, what you can focus on, what’s important, and what’s holding you back.
About the Author
Michael Mehlberg
HUSBAND, FATHER, ENTREPRENEUR, BUSINESS STRATEGIST, AUTHOR, FITNESS NUT, ORGANIZATION FREAK, PRODUCTIVITY JUNKIE
I help high-achieving entrepreneurs live their passion and achieve their dreams by consistently saving time, getting productive, and being more efficient and organized.
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