Favorite Bloggers

One of my favorite blogs is by marketing guru Seth Grodin. I'm always fascinated with the workings of corporate America. His bits of wisdom that he shares for free on his blog are not only marketing gold, they also carry over into to real life.

For example, a recent post talks about getting 'soggy':

"New organizations and new projects are so crisp.

Things happen with alacrity. Decisions get made. Stuff gets done.

Then, over time, things get soggy. They slow down. Decisions aren't so black and white any more."

He then describes reasons for this - new, successful projects draw attention and review. Such scrutiny tends to slow progress.

Another issue is the fact that the longer a project is around, the more often decisions are made that may overturn past decisions. The may me admitting that those decisions may not have been as good as previously though. Not something someone is going to be in a rush to do.

Now this stuff obviously pertains to new product roll-outs, revamping a web site, or tightening a production schedule. But when I start thinking about things I do, like deciding to exercise (woohoo, I finally spelled exercise correctly my first attempt!), or moving junk on Ebay, it starts as a great idea. I'm highly motivated for a week or a month, then it slowly fades back to the status quo, which for me, is eating cookie dough and playing Wii.

Unfortunately, Seth doesn't give a fix for this (you probably have to buy the book), but he does say that just being aware of this phenomenon helps.