As I read through this morning’s summary of the latest articles from HBR I was struck but the sheer volume and breadth of advice that is produced each and every day.
Advice noise, analysis noise
Noise from people who make their living from generating noise, some of them trying desperately to get heard above the noise of their fellow expert analysts and noise makers/advice givers…
- Focus on the past, focus on the future
- Strategy is obsolete, strategy is more important than ever
- Micro stress, quiet quitting
You can spend hours reading about all of the latest ideas and concepts from people who have got all the time in the world to think up these new and interesting terms and make them sound like they are the biggest and most important thing that you need to do today (different from the biggest and most important thing that you needed to do yesterday).
All this noise and wasted time just gets in the way of you actually identifying and dealing with the most important things you need to do today. It is very specific advice based on a very general viewpoint.
None of this advice will have been provided based on your specific context so the chances are it is not going to help, and even if it is going to help how would you know which bit of advice to follow?
Before you use up any more of the little time that you have got left in the day it is time to take a step back, forget about the noise and the fancy ideas, focus on the simple things, get the basics right.
The basics for your business and your life, right now.
To know what those basics are that you need to focus on right now you need to be able to stop, reflect, review and look differently at your situation.
If there is too much noise for you to know what the right thing is to do, don’t read more and more articles and magazines, get some clear, direct and specific guidance by having someone come in, talk to you understand your goals, look at your business and help you navigate the noise to do exactly what you need to do today for the situation that is in front of you and the direction you want to go.
Ian MacLeod
