Avoid This Noob Mistake

I just sat down in the lobby of my hotel in Dubai.

Ordered my double espresso, busted out my electrolyte drink, and sat down ready to work.

Then I got asked this question:

“Hey my competitor does X, should I be doing X too?”

It’s an honest question, and I understand where it’s coming from.

There is an instinct that you should always be ahead of the competition, so if they’re doing something you’re not, it is natural to be concerned.

But the ‘noob mistake’ here is arbitrarily making any change to your business.

Trust me, I have done this a lot.

When you randomly decide you need to add a new marketing channel, edit your product suite or target a new ICP.

That is what I mean by arbitrary changes.

Whenever I have made these arbitrary changes - it has never gone well.

The reason is because:

• You could make 50 arbitrary changes per day. It doesn’t mean any of them would have any reason to happen. This leads to running in circles

• Just because someone else is doing it doesn’t automatically mean it’s worth doing. You need to analyse it for yourself.

• You are being reactive. Whether it be to a feeling, an insecurity, or a competitor doing well, you are reacting to an external thing and taking action. That typically doesn’t lead to the best decisions. If you are going to react to something in your environment, at least get some numbers to back it up first.

Ideally, the decisions you make are proactive and pre-planned.

You want to know what you’re focusing on, and ruthlessly pursue that.

Step 1: Create 5 Core Objectives For The Next Quarter

Step 2: Create 5 Key Results Per Objective

Step 3: Plan Out Tasks For Each Key Result

Step 4: Allocate The Tasks To Daily Planning Sheet

Step 5: Execute On Everything

Maybe I’ll make a video on this if it’s relevant.

The main takeaway:

Plan your actions in advance. Don’t react to external forces and make arbitrary decisions. If you need to react to something, find the data to back it up, then make a plan. No shooting from the hip.

Hope this helps.

Btw, a few people have told me this video is my best one yet.

You should check it out here (link).