Regret. And other productivity tips (part 2)
Have you ever felt stuck—like no matter what you do, you just can’t make progress?
Yesterday, I wrote about my first published book while celebrating Mentorvention, my most recent offering.
My first book, Regret, sold only three copies—and I was the only customer. And my publisher, UMI Dissertation Services (a Bell & Howell company), didn’t offer much support. No book tour, no promotional push… nothing!
Regret was my grad school research topic, and funny enough, I learned even more about it after defending my dissertation.
Here’s what I mean—after I graduated, I hit a research wall. It was hard for me to collect data for future studies. Turns out, people don’t love sharing stories about things they blame themselves for. Shocking, right? And so I was stuck. Unproductive.
But then, two things changed everything:
- I flipped the script. Instead of studying consumer regret (blaming yourself for a bad outcome), I shifted to consumer grudgeholding (blaming someone else for a bad outcome). Suddenly, the data started flowing. People LOVE talking about their grudges!
- Other researchers started publishing about regret. At first, that stung—that could have been me! But then I realized this was a good thing. It meant I wasn’t alone in my interest. There was a growing audience for this topic.
That’s what I meant yesterday about making the pie bigger. There’s no such thing as 100% market share. Find your audience, serve them, and don’t stress about the people who aren’t interested.
Which brings me to two more productivity lessons:
- Serve your audience. They are your biggest fans. Your success helps them, and their success helps you.
- The answer to your problem might be hiding where you least expect it. It could even be the opposite of what you’re doing now. Why not look there?
What do you think?
See you tomorrow!
#ProductivityTips #FindYourAudience #MakeThePieBigger #Mentorvention #NoRegrets