Nick Powills: Winning at Your Job Is Not Hard If You Want to Win

In my career, I have often found that the difference between good and great is not a large distance. The good news in this discovery is that winning is easier for everybody – it’s just a matter of deciding that you want to win.

Wait, what? It’s really that simple?

Of course it is.

You decide how much you hustle in every aspect of every day. You decide what you eat, how you sleep, what you drink, if you exercise, if you tell others you love them – all of that is controllable.

<mind blown>

Within our organization, No Limit Agency*, an easy division to apply hustle to is media relations.

In January, three dudes broke our agency record for interviews secured in a month. Three. They weren’t at work until 8 p.m.; they didn’t have better stories to pitch than everyone else; they didn’t buy placements. They just did the work and hustled hard during the day.

How can one win in media relations? By absorbing/studying the media so that they know what the reporters are expecting. By writing/practicing a good pitch before taking it outbound. If given a no, they can then rework that pitch to ensure they are putting the most important information at the top. By preparing their target lists and pitching them with quick hit headlines to snag attention. By following-up. In essence, they play ball and work on every part of their position.

A crack of the whip can certainly force them to work harder, but that can only be effective for so long before the business says get the ef out or they quit. Success is in the individual. Data proves that if you follow the above, you win. Now do it.

For those who don’t have success, while they may try convincing you that they did all the right steps, they didn’t. Period. They didn’t block and they didn’t tackle. End of story.

So, if you want to win in media relations within our business – it’s simply a matter of doing it. As is winning in just about anything else.

Doing it. A willingness to adapt and learn. Doing it again. Repeat.

Why do so few people crush it in their careers? Laziness. Lack of giving a shit. Not believing in the possibility of doing great things.

The good news is that because the difference between good and great isn’t that far – it doesn’t take you killing yourself to be successful. The bad news is the same – that if someone gets a strong enough kick in their butt, they are going to compete against you.

So, now, it’s up to you. Do you want to do it or not? It could be anything – a diet, exercise, loving your spouse or killing it at your job. At the end of the day, the choice is 100 percent yours.