I was standing outside on our back deck.

The air was chill.

My breath clouding around me.

The mist filtering through the small forest of 80 foot evergreens hugging our back yard up the hill.

Drips of rain softly pelted the grassy hill around me.

Reminded me of that scene in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, where the orcs are gathering in front of Helms Deep and you see them huffing and puffing huge breath clouds into the cold rain.

Like dragons breathing.

(Maybe because we watched the trilogy for new years)

Anyway.

Less “end of the world” and more “Im enjoying the peace and calm of a cold morning with rain dripping off the trees”

Its moments like those which reveal clarity.

How can I help YOU the best way possible?

How can I help my clients the best way possible?

What is the ONE thing I can do now that will have the most powerful impact on you today, tomorrow, this quarter, year, etc?

(I've been thinking a lot more about what's "useful" rather than what's "correct")

And right now,

The most useful thing I can do is help YOU answer the question “What do YOU really want?”

Nothing else matters if you can’t answer that question.

If you don’t know, down to the root of what’s important, what it is you really want, then you can’t get where you’re going.

Imagine you’re trying to drive to a park on the other side of town.

You need to use Google Maps for directions.

Now,

Is Google Maps going to give you good directions, if you can’t tell it exactly where to go?

Of course not.

Won’t even work.

Following this question is, where are you NOW?

That’s the other side. Because you might know the address of where you want to go, but what happens in Google Maps if you click “directions” on the place you’re traveling to, but then you can’t tell it where you are now?

Nothing of course.

It’s the same in life.

It’s the same for my clients who come to me for help.

I can’t give USEFUL guidance if I don’t know where you are going (and of course, where you’re coming from).

(No one can, so don't be fooled)

That’s why my answer to “can you help me” or “should I do this” or “will this work for me” is always “it depends.”

It depends on where you are now and where you’re trying to go, which requires you to understand who you are and what you really want.

How can you effectively grow your business if you don’t know where you’re going?

“Hey, we’re looking to increase our open rates and click rates in our emails, can you help us?”

“Ok maybe. Why do you want to do that?”

looks at me oddly

“So we can have more sales …?”

“Ok. Why do you want more sales? What does more sales mean to you?”

perplexed look

I think most people in my shoes, when presented a proposition of “we want to pay you to increase our open rates and click rates” would say “sure, here’s the price, here’s what I’ll do, lets go.”

Because I could do that.

I could increase your open rates and click rates.

Probably by a lot if you’re even having average results.

But what’s most likely to happen is after the project, you’ll then have “better” open rates and click rates …

And you’ll still be dissatisfied.

Without a place to go, you’re just wandering aimlessly and you can NEVER get to where you think you want to be (since it has no definition).

This is the problem with “more” as your solution.

More is a bucket which can’t be filled.

What do YOU really want?

That’s the one question that matters.

The one question which can clearly define the rest of your year and give you the path you need to get closer to that point today, this week, this quarter, etc.

Think on that.