This week, I created a new position in my company and hired a candidate for the role. They’re on a 90 day probation, and if they don’t perform, I’ll have to fire myself.
The position is the Chief Hype Officer at Email Mavens.
The candidate is me.
At Email Mavens, we have a process called the end of the day standup – where we share via Slack our wins for the day, any roadblocks, and our goals for the next day.
The process is designed to help create some transparency on progress with our team who work varying schedules and from different states and sometimes even different countries.
In theory, sharing wins for the day should be an opportunity for us all to appreciate and celebrate our accomplishments, not just list a bunch of tasks we got to tick off. Yet, inevitably, that is what it ends up feeling like for me. And just listing tasks I’ve ticked off doesn’t actually feel that empowering because there are always MORE tasks to be completed.. And quite frankly, some days I’m focusing on the wrong tasks.
As you can see, it is an effort to celebrate my accomplishments without qualification.
I had this realization on a coaching call last week and it was a really gut punch. I somehow have found a way to even make celebrating my wins a weapon against myself.
For example, last weekend I got a note about a client accepting a proposal for a $10,000 project. I off-handed mentioned it to Zeb and he was like, ‘Oh we are just nonchalantly mentioning this stuff now?” to which I replied, ‘Well, it was off a referral, so it’s not like I worked that hard for it.’
Qualifying my success. Downplaying the fact that I’ve established enough of a reputation that a leading email service provider knows about what we do and makes a recommendation of US to a top Napa wine brand.
Which honestly, is probably more of a big deal than if I’d WORKED HARD to get the business.
On this coaching call I bemoaned the fact that as a small business owner, it is NOBODY’S job to celebrate you, give you kudos or positive feedback, focus on your wins instead of where you fall short and haven’t met expectations. And since that’s my default with myself I am SURE it is also sadly the default I’m giving to the amazing team working by my side to build this empire.
When producing the outline for today’s episode, I was fighting the urge to beat myself up about this, too.
To share a concept from Brendan Burchard, I have to integrate my wins. SLOW DOWN, take it all in, celebrate all the good things in life. As he put it, ‘Some of the best celebrations you’ll ever have are if you just sit with something for a minute and take it in.’
The first job of the Chief Hype Officer at Email Mavens is to spend time at the end of every working day to INTEGRATE THE WINS. Not just write them in a Slack message and tick off another task, but process them, appreciate them, acknowledge the effort that was put forth in their accomplishments, and deliver an emotional high five. I busted out a brand new journal to actually write down the biggest win from every day to keep a log of atto-girls that is pure celebration, without qualification.
The second job of the Chief Hype Officer at Email Mavens is to come up with countless creative and meaningful ways to celebrate and acknowledge the rest of the team and their contributions. If my default mode is to focus on what I don’t want instead of what I do, I have to intentionally build time and processes in that help me flip that script and become the empowering and uplifting leader I want to be. Awarding a daily Maven Moment to somebody who exceeds expectations or overdelivers for a client or steps in to support another Maven…
And finally, the Chief Hype Officer is accountable to me to come up with ways to make sure that the ways we are celebrating actually are effective in integrating the wins. I want to create a winning culture at Email Mavens. I want to create a winning culture in my own home. I want to create a winning culture in my heart. I want focusing on wins to be the default, not a concentrated and literally calendared effort.
Intellectually, I know that this is the most useful and meaningful work I can to in progressing towards my impossible goal. But how I’ve ever accomplished anything else has been through grit and grind and hustle and effort. Those are all required to achieve impossible things, don’t get me wrong. But the contagious ‘KICK MY OWN ASs’ energy that goes into the grit and grind and hustle and effort has me caught in a vicious cycle of never doing enough and constantly moving the bar higher.
I am deciding today to stop that shit.
Hiring the Chief Hype Officer is me doubling down on a new direction. And yes, she’s me. And maybe this sounds like weird dual personality stuff. Honestly, I was scared to record this episode and publish it for that very reason. That and acknowledging that I struggle to give myself any credit seemed like a level of vulnerability that is uncomfortable for me.
Maybe that’s what’s required for me to finally snap out of the cycle I’ve been in and step into the Millionerica energy that’s going to catapult me to forward.
Because you can bet that Millionerica isn’t kicking her own ass all day.
She probably isn’t perfect at integrating the wins, but I can bet she’s intentional about celebrating accomplishments without qualification and acknowledging the people who are giving her assists along the way.
As I measure the Chief Hype Officer’s performance, I’ll be sharing updates here to help you learn what is working and what isn’t working in this process. It could be the best hire I ever make.
If you struggle to celebrate your own accomplishments without qualification, I’ll invite you to take this baby step with me:
It’s simple and it will take you less than 3 minutes every day.
At the end of your work day, or before you head to bed every night, take a moment to write down a win and actually think about it for a solid minute. You’ll might notice as I have that your immediate instincts are to add some qualifiers, or start thinking of what you want to do next instead of sitting with the feeling of accomplishment and achievement that today’s win gives you. You might even decide after one or two attempts not to stick with it. But love yourself through that, like I’m committed to loving myself through it. Try it for a week even if it feels weird. I would also LOVE to hear your insights as you go through this process yourself.
You can find me on Instagram, @workhardmomharder and send me a DM to share your insights, or leave a comment on the post that accompanies this episode (which, assuming I don’t chicken out, will go live on June 16).
I’ll also be sharing the Chief Hype Officer’s 90 day probation results in mid-September, so be sure you subscribe to this podcast so that you don’t miss that episode.
Until next week, work hard mom harder love hardest and hype yourself 🙂 Because you, yes you, are worth the hype.