I respond well to deadlines, but I’m not that happy about it.

I’m working on my second book and have some deadlines coming - both self imposed and from others. It reminds me of one of my favorite words: ambivalence.

Give some thought to the idea of ambivalence and your head will soon explode. Mixed emotions can be found for just about anything.

“Gee, I’d love to get that job…but boy, it’ll be a lot of work!”

“I want to blog every day to get my thoughts out; but if I blog every day, I’ll have to…you know, blog every day and people might actually pay attention. THE PRESSURE!!”

I’m always happier to have deadlines, even as I recognize they add a bit of stress to my work life. But I’ll trade feeling productive for not being sure.

Besides, if you notice, once you establish a certain momentum and pace for your days, it’s easier to keep it going. Sort of like a boulder going down a hill or staying in shape once you get in shape.

Thought of the day: having a deadline creates good stress, ’cause it helps you increase productivity and pace, which you can then keep.

All right, already!

I’m now spending time on Twitter every day. This, only after getting a lesson on what the heck I’m supposed to do on there.

If you’re on Twitter to just knock off some comments, out into the void, don’t waste your time. You should be following strategically, Tweeting strategically, and creating lists strategically.

Twitter can (and possibly should) be just as important as LinkedIn, etc., but only as a business development channel. I’m still not the one to claim expertise, but I’m getting better and I advise looking into developing good habits around the Twitter community.

Because, guess what: it’s not going away! (Follow me at @stephenmelanson)

Do you enjoy what you do? Yes?

Can people tell? If they can’t, maybe you really don’t enjoy what you do. I’ve known people that say they like their work, but act like they can’t stand it. I tend to think their actions speak louder than words (ironically, since I’m a verbal branding guy!).

Now that I think about it, people very likely can easily tell if you like what you do - whether you do or you don’t. And if you’re hiding or withholding your enthusiasm, shame on you.

What are you saving it for?

I continually see so-called experts giving advice on how to best formulate an elevator pitch.

They go on to say something about how to DESCRIBE what you do in the best possible way. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Here’s a tip: the moment you see either the word “describe” or the words “elevator pitch”, run for the hills. What you’re about to be told is completely wrong.

Describing is not what you need. You need Positioning for differentiation.

Many of you know I have a 5 second rule. If you can’t position yourself in 5 five seconds, you don’t have a strong enough brand. If you only describe what you do, you may not have a brand at all.

There’s a very good reason why everyone is still trying to figure out how to give an elevator pitch that works. It’s because…they don’t work intrinsically!

I’m sure this won’t be the last time I rant on this, but I’ll say again as I’ve said before: throw away your elevator pitch forever and replace it with a Verbal Branding, positioning statement.

This is the leading edge of what you should think and say !

Through my entire adult life - whether in a business scenario or not - one thing seems to hold true, and it’s Occam’s razor theory.

It simply means, simplicity is best. Or, put another way, the simplest answers tend to be right.

The way I relate it to business is, when I start feeling like I’ve got too many goals or activities rolling around in my head (where there’s limited space, as you can imagine) I make sure to remember that I need to get to SIMPLICITY.

Given the choice, each day I could write articles, write my book, tweet, blog, start a newsletter, do some video blogging (which I really should start doing), have some Facebook time, Link In, make phone calls, research prospects, work on my PPT presentations, develop new product ideas, etc., etc., etc. (And this is beside client work, which is a constant as well.)

Which do I actually do every day? Well, that’s for me to know, and you to wonder about But I will say this; I don’t attempt to do all that’s listed above, of course.

Each day, I make sure to simplify, because I believe in Occam’s razor theory: the simplest answer is usually the right one.

We all should look at what we think and do each day to be sure we’re creating the simplest path to success. Do you have “headlines” readily in your mind that direct your activity? Ideas in large print, that act as the strategy behind your actions?

If not, you should. Start today by answering, what’s the simplest (not to be confused with easiest) path to succeed? What do you do each day that, if stopped completely, no one would notice, especially you?

A short post today, but I have to comment on the branding of a team that lost and that of a new Super Bowl champion.

First, the Colts. Their brand after this particular loss is underachievers, chokers, or timid.

The Saints? Their brand is now, and forever, gutsy.

And this is how branding works. It’s never what an organization (in this case, a couple of football teams) hopes it should be. It’s always what individuals think, feel, and most importantly remember at a later time.

After someone meets you, or once a project is done, what do people remember about you or your company? It’s pretty much all that matters, so you should get your ducks in a row to be sure those memories are what you want.

I’ve known a lot of people in my life that “sell”. Most of them didn’t know what they were doing.

Good selling isn’t just being a good talker. It’s a much more comprehensive picture to consider.

Does the brand (i.e. “Position in market”) match the price? Does the target audience match the brand and product? Does the salesperson’s experience and strengths match what’s to be sold and who needs to be solicited?

There’s more, but these are a few considerations for whether the foundation is in place to sell most effectively. And guess what…typically even these considerations are either not thought of or not addressed in a decent way.

Let’s start with this: your brand position in the market (your differentiation from the competition) needs to match who you target.

If you promise to be “faster” at something, you need to target busy or rich people. If you are the cheapest, you need to target appropriate income groups.

This is where the hackneyed slogan, “Work smart, not hard” applies to branding. Don’t waste time and effort approaching the wrong audience, or even the best offer will fall flat.

In sales it’s called knowing your product and “qualifying” your prospects. In branding, it’s called having a robust market strategy.

Verbal Branding impact is fixing things like this - by any measure a very large problem:

AdWeek article

“A Bain & Co. survey notes that 80 percent of CEOs believe their product to be differentiated, but only 8 percent of consumers agree.”

It’s literally impossible that a Verbal Branding platform won’t fix or at least mitigate such a circumstance.

I despise shoveling snow. That doesn’t mean I don’t have to do it in the winter.

Last time I had to shovel, the snow was noticeably heavier…I guess it was more of a “winter mix”. (Oh, and I hate terms like “winter mix” too!)

Anyway, because the snow was heavier, it took longer to clear the driveway and paths in front. My back and arms got tired faster. The whole thing seemed like a big pain in the $^%&*&#.

The funny thing, though, was after I was done and I rested a bit, I got a sudden surge of energy. I had to admit, I felt pretty good from the exercise. That didn’t happen when the snow was light and fluffy, even though I was much happier just pushing the light stuff around.

Hmm…I felt less like shoveling when the snow was heavy; it was going to be harder work, and I knew it going in. I didn’t get the same charge after shoveling when the snow was lighter, i.e. easier.

The lesson is, doing the hard things takes more time, energy, and motivation, but when you’re done you feel better and you’ve accomplished something more significant.

In business, sometimes you have to do what feels hard, or you’ll never get the satisfaction or benefit that comes from fighting through and getting to a better place, i.e. more successful (with whatever that means to you).

So, what’s it going to be: heavy snow or light?

One of the best things I ever learned in my life was the difference between aptitudes and preferences.

An aptitude has to do with how our brains are wired, giving us ability for some things and not others. For instance, I’ve never had a single music lesson in my life, but it turns out I have perfect pitch.

Strange but true.

Preferences are what we’d expect; the things we learn to prefer through life based on experience or circumstances. I’ve learned through my life that putting puzzles together - either for fun or work, like a jigsaw puzzle or the ability to design the architecture of a building - is something I wish I could do well.

The problem is, I have no aptitude for either. One way to flag these things is if they simple feel hard to do. If so, you probably don’t have the aptitude for it. If you had the aptitude, it would be very, very easy.

Once I learned these things, it helped me discover my aptitude for speaking, because I was told I’m wired to “rapidly produce new ideas” in my brain. That means I can keep talking, without hesitating, and it will be easy to do so. Huh - what do you know about that!

These things aren’t virtues, they just…are.

Knowing about these easy strengths is great information. Since I learned this nugget, I realized how easy and natural it is for me to speak in front of audiences. I first did a radio talk show on a small station. Easy! Then once I developed Verbal Branding, I realized the best way for me to market was to speak as often as possible.

The reason is simple: speaking in front of an audience is an easy, natural thing for me to do. I have the aptitude for it.

What are you hard wired to be or do? Do you know? Check out this organization - Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation - and you might find a different way to think about your strengths and weaknesses.

The point is, if you’re doing a job that is against your aptitudes, you might never reach your full potential.

That’s something to know about, wouldn’t you agree?