I hate lane assist

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I hate lane assist

I recently upgraded from a trusty, old 2006 Honda to a new fancy pants mom-mobile. The difference in 20 years of safety features and “newfangled” tech is, well, a lot - everything from the back up camera (I’m late. I know.) to lumbar massages as a little treat after I’ve driven for 30 minutes. It took some adjusting. One feature I’ve come to hate is lane assist.

It’s there to alert me when I’m drifting past a lane line or (gasp) changing lanes without signaling. But I feel like as the human involved I should be able to adjust a little or change lanes or scoot over to avoid the potholes if I so choose, without getting scolded by my vehicle. After all, these Atlanta streets are a little wild and I’m the one that’s doing the driving right? But alas. It’s a ~sAfEtY fEaTuRe~.

Accidents happen. We pay attention to something else and drift a little. Or we just get distracted and don’t follow the road. Features like lane assist makes it harder for me to crash. They give me more warning (and presumably result in less damage) if I do. We use features like this all over the place: railings on a balcony, bumpers on bowling lanes (k maybe just me), stanchions in the TSA line - all telling us “GO THIS WAY!”. Why wouldn’t we have them in our business?

An excellent system doesn’t just make things easier. It will also make some things harder. I talk with my clients about using systems as guardrails to protect the vision. A few real life examples include:

• tailoring a task management system for a specific use case so that any others are (intentionally) more difficult to accommodate

• linking a scheduler to invoices so that it’s harder to let non-billable time to accidentally fill the calendar

• using an app to moderate social media scrolls so time doesn’t get away from me I mean you.

Systems can provide in-the-moment reminders to “GO THIS WAY!” They can make it harder for you to to drift a little (or a lot) or to crash. And they should give us more warning presumably resulting in less damage if or when we do.

How to use this:

1. When you think about your vision for growth, notice where you’re prone subtly drifting, to getting distracted by a shiny thing, or just not following the road? Is there a particular place in your business or workflow where you’re most likely to get off track?

2. Consider what platforms or tools you can use as guardrails to make it more difficult to drift.

Events & Free Stuff

• Now live! Sales Boosting Book Club!

  Starting September 19th, I’m teaming up with Brandon from Small Axe Sales to offer an expert led book club on “Go Givers Sell More”. If sales gives you the ick, this is a a great chance to learn and apply a simple value-based framework at an accessible price point. We’ll cover a wide range of tools & approaches to get you started. Limited spaces available.

• Strategy Workshop [Free!]

  On September 25th at 11 EST all online community members (that’s you!) are invited to drop in and talk through your tensions as you move towards more impact with less friction. We’ll start with the “How to use this” 👆sections from the past month and then open it up for questions.

• Impact Integration Work Sessions

  If the questions above were helpful and you want to dig in more - or if you have other strategy sticking points, book a free work session where we deep dive into your vision, strategy, and systems. I have 1 or 2 slots a week for these free, 1.5-2 hr sessions.

This cool thing I found

Resources & products I’ve loved or recommended lately:

• This week I learned that some jellyfish are immortal??? Apparently some species can revert back to their polyp stage when damaged, essentially starting their life cycle over. Here’s an article if you want a deep dive.

• I’m almost done with “What an Owl Knows”, a fascinating read that dives into the intrigue of owls. It’s a bit academic but if you’re into that sort of thing I totally recommend it. (I know - my nerd is showing. I am who I am, ya know?)

• Lots of people as me about the app I use to manage my IG scrolling. Clearspace prompts you to set your own restrictions on number of opens and minutes on the app per day. When you open the app, it prompts you wait a few seconds and then choose how long you want to use the app. When your time is up it kicks you off! The free version allows you to pick one app to manage.

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