This is one of my favorite misleading phrases. It’s rarely followed by a description of something truly simple and uncomplicated, like “pick the socks up off the floor.” No, typically “All I’ve got to do” is the precursor to a general summary of an activity the speaker sees as easy, but that contains multiple stages and steps, lots of which are hard to know about until you’re in it.
I’ll give you an example. I was talking with a friend recently who’s going to start a series of live webinars. She’s excited about her idea, which is to interview various guests around a single topic. So far so good. “All I’ve gotta do is line up the first few guests, and we’ll just talk.”
Hmmmm. Yes and no. Here are some questions I’d like her to think about before she presses “record”—
- Who are you making this series for?
- What do you hope they will walk away feeling, thinking, or doing differently?
- When you think about the steps involved in launching the webinars, which of those are familiar to you? Which will be new?
- You are the leader and guide for your audience during this experience. What do you need to do to prepare?
- How do you want to show up for your audience? What elements of who you are will serve them best?
- How do you want to show up for your guests? What experience are you hoping to create for them?
It’s easy to start something. We all have the technology. What’s harder is to choose the standard you’d like to set; to be explicit about how you will serve your audience.
