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Links Referenced:
- Episode 122: Is it Really a Sick Day?
- The Dip by Seth Godin
- ESPN 30 for 30: The Best That Never Was
Tweetables:
Is what you’re pursuing in your business worth it to you to keep pushing? #vatip 
Gotta Tweet!
There’s enough people who are average, but only so many are best. #vatip Gotta Tweet!
Are you settling for average or shooting for best? #vatip Gotta Tweet!
On Video:
In Words:
Hi and welcome to The Business of Being a Virtual Assistant. I’m your host, Tiffany Parson, and your virtual co-worker. You are watching and listening to episode number 123.
Today, I want to talk to you about being the best in the world, being the best in the world. Now, if watched or listened to last week’s episode 122, I mentioned a book that I was starting to read called The Dip by Seth Godin. If you haven’t watched that episode, we’ll link it up in the show notes, so make sure you go back and watch that.
But this is called The Dip. It’s the little book that teaches you when to quit and when to stick. One of the things that stuck out to me in reading this book is about the concept of pursuing things and being persistent with things that you want to be the best at.
I’m going to stress it saying the best in the world. Because I’ve always wanted to be the best, the best me, putting my best foot forward, but I never thought about it being the best in the world. Wow, the best in the world.
Are you pursuing something right now that you’re kind of casual about? You’re just testing it out, seeing if it will work. I know a lot of times when we’re just getting started with our virtual assistant business, that may be the initial thing because we’re scared. We’re afraid. We’re not sure.
But hopefully by now, you have watched enough episodes. You’re heard me enough to know that you can do it and you are needed and there are clients on the other side waiting for you. It doesn’t take the fear away or the scariness of it away, but at least it lets you know that there’s a possibility.
Now, the thing is with this book, it’s making me think now about being the best in the world. Like if that is my pursuit to be the best in the world at being a technical virtual assistant or the best in the world at having a virtual assistant firm, the best in the world in supporting my clients and their online events, the best in the world at supporting clients and helping them with their digital strategies.
The best in the world. Wow! The best in the world. That is something that you’ll always be pursuing.
Like just thinking about that is getting me excited because I tell you this week, ugh, let me just give you a visual because I don’t have a word for it, and I’ll figure out a word for my folks that are listening. It’s like, oh, my gosh. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Maybe that’s my word. Are you kidding me? Really? That’s pretty much how I was feeling this week. Wanting to, you know, say to heck with it [laughs]. However, that’s the emotion and not what the response should be.
What I do pretty much when I just want to throw in the towel and say, you know, well, just forget it, because those are emotions, so I have to pray about it. If I don’t go to God and pray about it, then I keep repeating the same thing over and over again to myself and it causes me to get stressed and frustrated and just an endless cycle. I have stop.
Let me take a minute. Let me walk away. Let me talk to God, turn it over, and then before you know it, and this is what happened this week, before you know it, just felt a calmness, a peace come over me. Had the situation changed? No. However, I knew that it was in God’s hands. Whatever will be, will be, right?
Does that change anything about me? No. Does that change anything about what I offer in my business? No. It allowed me to be able to move forward and not sit and sulk or be stuck. It allowed me to move forward. It was within the same day, so it wasn’t a long period of time, but within the same day.
Then I remembered. It was like bing. I remembered I was supposed to be reading this Seth Godin book about The Dip and being the best. Not just the best me, but the best in the world. So it’s like let me get back on that. It was affecting posting on social media. It was affecting coming up with content for the podcast. See how stuff gets in the way? It’s the trick of the enemy.
Anyway, so I realized I have something to say. We’re going to talk about that book. I’m not going to give it away. I want you to read it. It’s a short read. Normally, I don’t even highlight and write in my books, but I decided to take ownership of the book. I highlighted. I wrote notes on the side so that I can go back later and read those.
But the best in the world. Then as I was thinking about the book and not wanting to give away all the goodness of the book, but just to let you know to read it. Because I know once you read it, you’ll be able to connect the dots. Basically, it’s saying that the dip is where the hard work is. It’s where we may have to learn a new skill. It’s where we may have to figure out what are the right words that will get our client to know that we’re the one to know, like, and trust.
It’s that place. Let’s say if you’re like when I was getting my certification to teach group fitness. It’s the place. We had three full days of training from morning to evening and then you had to go home and learn a song and learn a routine and know it by heart by the following day and perform it in front of the group or lead the group in that exercise with that song, and you had to do that for three days over a weekend so you’re committing that time.
There was an application process, there was a fee, and then there was a test after all of that. You had to actually teach a class, be videotaped, and then send in all your information so that they could review it. I was going to say analyze it. But, no, not analyze it. So they could review it and check off whether you met all the qualifications. Then you’d be certified to teach their program for life.
So the end result was a lifetime certification. Like I don’t have to go through that training again. It was a hard thing. It was a push. Everybody won’t do it. But I did it and that was years ago and I did it three different times, three different type classes and still able to teach those classes.
Is what you’re pursuing in your business, is it worth it to you? If it’s worth it to you, then you keep pushing.
That’s a little summary of the book, so I want you to read the book. The other thing it made me think about – I like documentaries. I like to hear people’s stories and…oh, this is what happens when I can see myself in the camera and I’m like what is that? But that’s under my arm. Okay. But anyway, totally distracting myself. Let me just say this is the first time I’ve worn a black sweater. I have this black desk. So when I lifted my arm, I thought is that a hole? Okay, first time wearing this sweater.
Okay, so I like documentaries and I love watching ESPN’s 30 for 30. Now, I’m not a big sports person so I don’t, you know, I did sit and watch the Super Bowl. I have sat through basketball games, football games and stuff. But I don’t really always know what’s going on. I’m learning, but I’m learning as a result of watching these 30 for 30 documentaries because that is where you find out the story behind the athletes.
There is an episode of 30 for 30 and I don’t know if they’re on Amazon Video or Netflix, might be on Netflix. But this particular one is called – the title of it – it is a 30 for 30 ESPN episode. The title of it is called “The Best That Never Was.” Now, this came out – I initially saw this, gosh, it’s probably been about five years ago. But I saw it recently and it’s just a story that is always – it always captures me. Like I want to watch it again, and it just – it’s sad.
It all boils down to the decisions that this football player made in his youth and how he could have been the best in the world playing football. I don’t remember what his position was, but he was a big guy. He caught the football and he ran. Maybe he was a wide receiver. I’m going to say he’s a wide receiver, but I could be wrong.
But again, that episode is called “The Best That Never Was,” and I don’t even know his name. I don’t even remember his name. But he was excellent and there were football coaches on this documentary that he, you know, I think he had gone to like Oklahoma and then some school in Mississippi. But the Oklahoma coach, and he’s a familiar coach. His name is not coming to me. But he said he is by far, when he first saw him, that he was by far the best player in that particular position that he played, the best he had ever seen, ever, ever.
Can you imagine somebody saying something about you like you’re the best they’ve ever seen?
You’re the best virtual assistant they’ve ever seen. You’re the best business owner they’ve ever seen. So to them, you’re the best in the world because the best of their world, the best they have ever seen. I’m going back to The Dip book because the world. Everybody’s world is a different thing, what they consider their world to be. So he said, “The best in the world.” But the problem was he couldn’t stick out the tough part to get the big reward. He wanted the big reward right then.
Normally, as a freshman player, you have to sit out for that first year, what they call “redshirt,” and then you play the next year because they want you to get acclimated to college and how the program works, and I don’t know, workouts or something. I’m not sure, maybe learn the plays. I don’t know what all that is, but I know they usually have you redshirt your freshman year. Well, he actually got to play, but the coach was giving him a hard time. Come to find out the coach was giving him a hard time because the coach said he was the best he had ever seen. Wow.
You ever have a teacher see something in you and you feel like they’re riding you? They’re giving you a hard time. Maybe that happened in college or high school, whatever. They were giving you a hard time only to realize the teacher really liked you and wanted you to reach your full potential because they saw it in you. But what you were doing was sabotaging yourself or being average and just settling for average and they were trying to push you.
This is basically what happened. As a result, he left the school. He went to a different school and, you know, it all kind of went downhill from there because he got hurt, got, you know, involved with people who gave him some bad advice.
Needless to say, he never had an NFL career and I think he played for I want to say is it the American Football League? Whatever, the league doesn’t exist anymore, but he played for a short period of time for that. Lost all his money because working with the wrong people as an agent and all that stuff. But they showed the films of him and how good he was. Even in the eighth grade, that he was way better than college players.
So as I was reading the Seth Godin book, you know, that came to mind, like I don’t want to settle for average because I’m limiting best. It’s not even the best to us. It’s the best to the market. You know, the market determines what the best is, the people in the market and those are different people. I don’t know. I probably could – I am thinking and talking about it all at the same time because it was just a powerful connector of the two things, this documentary that I saw years ago and recently and The Dip.
Really looking at projects and things, it just needs to be eliminated. Not things that you’re doing for fun. But if something is not fun, you’re not interested in it, you’re bored in it long-term like you can’t see yourself doing this for another two years, I’m not going to tell you what to do, whether to quit or not. I’m just going to suggest you check out that book.
So anyway, I’m going to check my notes, make sure I hit all the talking points. I certainly don’t want you settling for average because average and best, it’s like a pyramid. Where’s my highlighter? I don’t draw well, or I would want to redraw this, but I want you to see. Can you see that? So there’s enough people average, but only so many are best.
The endeavors that we’re pursuing in our virtual assistant business, are you aiming here or just satisfied with where you are, just satisfied creating a job from home and not making it a best business that functions beyond your personal capacity, but has room to grow and to build?
Are you settling for average or shooting for best?
I’d like to hear your thoughts on this in the comments. Sit and think about it for a while. It’s pretty intense. It’s your life. It’s your business, and you certainly don’t want to be sitting on something two years from now, settling. Realizing in 2020, man, you know what? I was listening to The Business of Being a Virtual Assistant. I remember hearing that episode two years ago and I’m still sitting, settling for average. There’s room for improvement for all of us.
Anyway, it’s a heavy one today. I’m feeling heavy today, so that’s what I am bringing. Anyway, thank you so much for your time and for listening. As you know, I like to do the podcast where it’s almost like we are sitting right in the room together and I’m not sure if you can feel it. I feel it, like a weight because of being here too long and not here, or pursuing it like on the rise pursuing it.
You’re awesome. You’re amazing. There is one passage I do want to read to you. I’m going to show you how I wrote it to myself in the book. This is what happens when I get bright ideas at the end. Okay, see, I put my name right in there. I wrote my name in the book, and this is what it says. This is the part I added my name, Tiffany, and this is the book. This is Seth Godin. “You’re astonishing. How dare you waste it. You and your organization have the power to change everything, to create remarkable products and services, to over deliver, to be the best in the world.”
I’m not going to keep reading because I want you to get this book. You’re astonishing. You are. Put your name where I put my name. You are. This podcast episode will be transcribed. The words will be there. You’ll have the book. You’ll have the link to get the book, all that good stuff.
I want to hear from you. Come on over to my Facebook page. Let me know your thoughts on this particular episode. I hope next week is a little bit more lighthearted. Ahhhh… [laughs]. Yeah, next week will be more lighthearted.
Speaking of that. Do you feel like you should be happy all the time? No. It won’t work like that. But joy is from the inside out. So even though there’s a heaviness, there’s also an excitement on the inside that is coming out. While every day may not look like your best day, some days there’s lows. There is the dip. You may be in the dip. There’s no rule for how long it lasts. It doesn’t take away your joy. That’s inside of you. That can’t be taken away.
Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful and fabulous day.
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