excuses – Sean Blake Blog

Do the reps

Repetitions count.

The more we do something, the better we become.

Instead, we look for shortcuts. Hacks.

We must do the reps.

It’s usually quicker to get started the old fashioned way rather than always be searching for the best way to get started.

Start at 1.

Controllable

In any business, it’s easy to stress about the external factors that can bring us down.

It could be the economy, your customers, the industry or government. Things can go bad quickly.

However, many times we use these factors as excuses or as reasons to not invest as much time and effort into what we can control.

Sure, traffic to your site will fluctuate. Customers might out away their credit card in January.

But when the opposite happens, and it will, there will be no excuses as to why you didn’t take full advantage of it.

If the customer journey is broken, or illogical, sales will pass you by.

If we make the most of the uptrends, the down trends won’t hurt so much.

Pick your own career

This post originally appeared on medium.com.

There’s a trend emerging in the dialogue of my generation of recent graduates and it’s terribly depressing. It consists of blaming previous generations and taking zero personal responsibility.

We blame the system for educating more and more people and, by extension, a greater supply of graduates for a limited number of jobs.

We complain that debt and recruiters conspire to make our lives hell.While these things may be true, they are muttered while playing video games, eating burgers and doing absolutely nothing to change the situation.

An alternative.

Quietly, without fuss, a group of young people are doing something completely different and succeeding.

I’m talking about everyday 20-somethings who, despite the system, actually get jobs. With or without qualifications they manage to overcome the conspiracies and land incredible jobs in amazing organisations.

How?

They ignore the excuses and take control of their careers. They develop skills that are in demand, quickly and cheaply. They test ideas, interview techniques, applications, networks and through pure perseverance they succeed.Continue reading “Pick your own career”