My friend, Mark, has a daily humor blog and email post, and at the bottom of his credits, he usually has some sort of clever "ism" that goes unnoticed by the majority of the public - after all, it's in the credits.
Well this morning, his ism was "SWORDFISH" and I didn't get it, so I emailed him back.
He told me to go watch "Get Smart" - and then it made perfect sense to me, as I hope it now does to you.
We conversed a bit about the film, and he had this to say:
"despite what *all* the critics said, it was a 90-minute laugh-a-scene hoot! I haven't laughed so hard at a movie in years. Bonnie could hardly catch her breath at times!!
Which put me in mind of this almost blog-worthy thought:
Why are critics' opinions often so different than my own experience? Then I realized that a critic goes into a movie theatre and says, 'entertain me.' It's almost a dare. I go into a movie theatre and say, 'I want to be entertained.' It's my fondest hope.
So it's the expectation level that makes all the difference. I'm expecting good things, the critic challenges everything he/she sees.
I bet that happens in church on Sunday morning a lot, too.
It was so deeply profound, and yet so simple. I HAD to share it with you.
From a marketing perspective, many times our critics (or we as critics) will challenge everything and expect nothing. Very often we get just that - nothing - in return. We feel deflated, disappointed, and our perspective is one that's just plain poopy.
But when we modify our outlook, change our mindset, and expect greatness - in whatever we are pursuing - very often we are pleasantly surprised, or at least pleased with the outcome.
Does that mean we lowered our standards? Not necessarily. It means we held a different kind of expectation.
What about YOUR expectations? What about YOUR perspective and mindset? Are you looking at your business, shaking your head as you meet all your negative expectations? Or are you setting your business into motion each day with the "fondest hope" of a positive outcome?
Do you dare yourself to succeed, or are you pushing forward with the expectant end result in mind - regardless of the swordfish in your way?
