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Daily PPILL | Leverage

Quote week: Pushing the envelope – The Daily PPILL #239

I know how it feels. That moment when everything seems to be rolling along. Things getting done without exceptional effort. No major challenges, enjoying sustained relative success.

Those times are great. They give us a chance to catch our breath, build some resources, and an opportunity to reposition our stance; but they don’t necessarily make us proud or excite us.

During these times we know we are not giving it all we got.

To be in that zone where we know we are at top performance, we must push ourselves to the limit of our competence, where we are just about to lose control.

Right there, in that “event horizon”, is where our best lies.

In the words of Mario Andretti, one of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, and one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, and NASCAR:

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough”

mario andretti

As originally published at The ChannelMeister
on February 2, 2023. Please consider sharing and subscribing HERE.
The Daily PPILL is my personal daily blog project. PPILL stands for Purpose, Process, Innovation, Leverage, and Leadership; the themes that I write about, and in my view, indispensable ingredients of any great initiative.

Huba Rostonics is a GTM and Business Strategy expert, offering services to Mid-Market, Enterprise, and Start-Ups. To learn more please schedule an exploratory call

Moving next door – The Daily PPILL #395

I think I know a thing or two about moving after we have done it six times in the last ten years. Moving can be really stressful and disrupting. But there are positive things about it as well. It can be cleansing. As we pack and we revisit all the things we posses, we ask ourselves whether if we need them or not. We can get rid of a bunch of...
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Habits (Repost) – The Daily PPILL #394

There is an awesome quote by no one else but Mahatma Gandhi:  “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.” (BTW, I feel like only Gandhi can pull off such a run-off sentence without half the...
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Decision making (Repost)- The Daily PPILL #393

Making the right decision is always desirable, but it is even more important to make a decision at all. Any decision. Decision-making is the most important aspect of the CEO's job and one of my favorite sayings goes "as long as you are making decisions, you are moving forward". Making decisions can be hard. There is even a term coined for the...
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Celebrating letdown – The Daily PPILL #392

Responsibly, I would say. Nothing crazy. I poured myself a Negroni and slowly sipped on it. (If you like an Old Fashioned, or a Manhattan, and don't know what a Negroni is, you have to remedy that. Sweet, bitter, opens your appetite and gets to your head quickly. Anthony Bourdain recommended it: "Have a Negroni. Have two Negronis.") I walked away...
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When the wheel hits a rock (REPOST) – The Daily PPILL #391

I lost count on how many times did I trip over on the skateboard when I was young. When your wheel hits a big enough rock, it will stop. You could apply more power to the axle or pull on the cart with increased force, but there are times when just giving it a slight lift can be much more effective.  Rocks are frequent, but not everywhere,...
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Who do we follow? – The Daily PPILL #390

We may want to think that we follow those who align with the way we think, but the opposite may also be true. Who we follow, defines us. Either for someone observing us looking from the outside, or by slowly changing the way we think. Who we select as our leaders, says something about us. If we don't align with their vision. If we would not like...
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The four biggest mistakes in Channel Strategy – The Daily PPILL #389

Should you partner? Go direct? This is an article that I wrote many years ago, and a lot of things changed since then. These hold true however. 1.- Failing to choose the right model from the start It seems simple, but it can really make a difference. The right decision will depend enormously on the client base you are trying to reach and second,...
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The three people living in your head – The Daily PPILL #388

From time to time I revisit some seminal business books. This is the case of the E-Myth, which every small business owner and entrepreneur should at least know what is about. Through a number of anecdotes, the author makes his case for building businesses with a system in-place from the very beginning. In one of the chapters, the concepts of the...
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The ____ fish eats the ____ fish – The Daily PPILL #387

Here is a thought: In every pond today, it is no longer the big fish that eats the small fish. Size doesn't matter that much anymore, the field has shifted. In fact, it is more likely that the fast fish will eat the slow one, regardless of size. Does that make sense? If it does, What are you doing about it? "We'll wait and see" won't work...
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Hypecycle of Everything – The Daily PPILL #387

If you are involved with the Tech industry in any way, you are probably familiar with the "Technology Hypecycle". It's first cousin is the "adoption curve", and it looks somewhat like this, with its very creative phase names: SOURCE: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hype-Cycle-General.png The hypecycle attempts to explain some of the...
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What does charging and drying my hair have in common? – The Daily PPILL #386

I feel like we are steadily moving towards complete electrification of our transportation system. I know, it is not happening overnight, but according to several articles even though only 1% of vehicles in the USA are electric, and that you may be one in the 46% of Americans who would NOT consider buying one, legislation and other incentives...
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10 technologies that will change everything – The Daily PPILL #385

I know what you're thinking: "Great. Just what we needed. Another article about fantastic technologies." I promise this one is *slightly* different and is targeted not at my techno-bro friends, but more for all the capable business people on this platform who don't consider themselves technologists. I am aiming, not only to name and define the...
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There’s an app for that. – The Daily PPILL #384

Do you remember that campaign? In the early iPhone days, when Apple was attempting to jumpstart the AppStore and to get the ecosystem going, it would come up on all media. It quickly became a catch phrase to convey that whomever was on the receiving end was not acquainted enough with current technologies, and that was probably struggling with...
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The origin of the Exponential Age – The Daily PPILL #382

If you follow me, you are probably either sick of hearing me talk about them, or you are already a believer that the world has gone exponential. I just wish it would be as simple as to ask anybody to just recognize that there have been probably more advances in the last 10 years than during the century before; that I could just instantly share...
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Digital scent – The Daily PPILL #381

No, this is not about some startup working on the next iteration of "smellorama", but it is about something that could stink as well. We go about our lives participating in the digital marketplace, interact with businesses and other individuals. We purchase stuff, use services, shop around looking for options, wear a smart watch. Overshare. Then...
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Blindsided: Abundance is going smart – The Daily PPILL #380

When investing, there is a meme that describes market behavior in terms of the different mindset of people who engage in a particular asset. The first wave is -suitingly- the early adopters. These people usually know something. They are either an insider to the company, the industry, or they are a visionary recognizing a trend. They come in...
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Talk to me – The Daily PPILL #379

Every time you deliver a presentation, a pitch, it gets better. You gather feedback, and you test ideas. There is this saying in Spanish, "he who teaches, learns twice". Every time, you have to explain something, you develop the concept and improve on it. That's why those who take speaking, or presenting seriously; rarely say no to an opportunity...
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What can entrepreneurs learn from “A million miles away” – The Daily PPILL #377

Making a movie recommendation on a Monday is almost like talking about cocktails at 10 AM, but here I am, doing what I am not supposed to. If you haven't seen "A million miles away" on Amazon Prime Video, it is a deeply inspirational movie, with a story of struggle and persistence. The movie is an adaptation of José Hernandez' book, "Reaching for...
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The 5 questions your pitch should answer – The Daily PPILL #377

When you are putting yourself in front of others and explaining what you do, there are five questions you should be prepared to answer. Whether you are selling your services, some specific product, or you are pitching your business idea, the objective is to to engage the audience and get them excited about what you are selling, about you, and...
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Flow: or how a Coldplay concert can get you writing again – The (not so) Daily PPILL #376

When I decided to pause The Daily PPILL sometime in Summer, I was hoping to restart it gently once Fall would hit us. It happens to be that restarting something can be almost as hard as getting it going in the first place. We have all kinds of questions in our heads. Questions like, should I change the writing? Is it good enough? Can I just wait...
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Summer’s end – The Daily PPILL #383

Summer comes to an end. Long days and the open windows will be gone. But the one thing that we know about summer, is that once it ends, and we go through the gray days of winter, eventually, there will be another summer. Most of life is cyclic. Waiting is an option.
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Summertime – The Daily PPILL #375

The first Daily PPILL was published more than 18 months ago. It has been an incredible ride creating the habit of creating daily, and counting with your patronage. I seldom hear from any of you, but every once in a while someone reminds me that there are readers out there and I am infinitely grateful for them. THANK YOU. This summer, I will need...
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Determination (Repost) – The Daily PPILL #374

If we don’t have the will, we’ll never get things done. We may never even get started. Hannibal (not the fictional serial killer of “Silence of the Lambs”, but the Carthaginian general), has been recognized as one of the greatest military strategists of all times. Among other things, he famously invaded Italy (and the Roman Republic) during the...
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Pulling off the Band-Aid – The Daily PPILL #373

Consulting is an interesting role. We go about our lives being somewhat experts at what we do, and we think that we have all the answers. That's why most of us think that doing the same thing as a consultant will be a piece of cake. Having been on both sides of the table, I am here to tell you that it is, actually, a very different skillset. Most...
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Building a vision (Repost) – The Daily PPILL #372

In hindsight, successful startups always have great teams, however, the recruitment process rarely has to do with résumés. Sure, skills are important, but more important is to share a strong vision. A vision that prospective team members can get inspired by and join our journey. This is the underlying idea of something called "the crazy quilt",...
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