Heeding My Own Advice

I fell victim to a common mistake, and it took me two years to notice. I was so busy helping other people that I forgot to heed my own advice.

I have spent the past two years recommending strategic, integrated communications – best practises to spread a unified message across multiple available platforms. As an illustration, I recommend that if you publish a newsletter, you should break the individual articles apart and repurpose them as blog posts. Those blog posts can be automatically fed to Facebook and Twitter accounts (if it’s appropriate for your brand). This can help to drive traffic to your website, and the circle can be completed by allowing easy access to your social media sites by providing quick links on your website.

I missed this last part.

The simple act of inserting clickable social media icons on my own website has eluded me until this week. The new-and-improved Sociable Communications website now includes direct links to the social media accounts I have been populating for years. This not only offers more communications functionality, but I think it looks better too. I consciously went for a minimalist design on my site, but the added splash of colour works for me.

It’s a common mistake to overlook the simple things in life and in business, even if they are elements that you recommend to others each day. Still, it’s a reminder that we all need to spend a bit of time and attention re-examining our own daily approach to the way we present ourselves and our business. You can always find a way to improve things and evolve your processes for the better.

I always liked a quote from The Shawshank Redemption:  “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” My interpretation of the line is that it’s always in your best interest to seek self-improvement and growth. The challenge is that with a bit of ambition, you are often looking for the forest and the trees, forgetting to prune the bushes at your feet. It’s sometimes hard to see what’s right in front of you. We all need to stop and look down, even when we are running ahead.