Picking Parties

“I pick my parties, that’s what I do

I wish that I could hit ‘em all

But I’ve got to pick and choose

I’d be pushin’ up daisies

If I did it every day of the week.

So, I pick my parties, but

Sometimes, they pick me.”

–       Lyric from “I Pick My Parties” by Montgomery Gentry

We’ve got to pick and choose.

Mom used to say, “the hurrier she went the behinder she got.”  Growth in our business(es) presents lots of opportunities to hurry from one thing to the next – lots of opportunity for distraction.  In times of growth, if we’re not careful or smart, it’s less about which party we go to than how many parties we can hit in rapid-fire succession.  Unless we’re careful.  Unless we’re smart.

In times of growth, picking the right parties (tasks, targets, clients, segments) should mean going to the right party and settling in for the evening.  It might be fun to be seen at several different shindigs, but you might not get as much enjoyment from all the activity.  And the enjoyment ramps up when you know, at the end of the night (month, quarter, year) that you picked the right party!

I’ve always called it the “something shiny” syndrome.  We just start to get in to a rhythm and then “something shiny” flashes past us and we’re distracted – and off we go, in pursuit of that shiny something…wearing our “busy-ness” as a badge of honor.

Which parties are we really excited about?  Let’s hit those, and plan to stay until closing time.

Oh, as for that last line of the lyric, there will be times when a party picks you, and you don’t have a ride to the next one, or it would just be too much social risk to leave early.  For example, if your boss’s boss’s boss says, “This is the party you need to attend…” well, that’s where you’ll belly up to the bar for your Grape Nehi.  And, if that’s the case, you might as well enjoy it – ‘cause it can’t really be a party without you!