truth

The Bad: Something is wrong.

The Worse: Something is wrong and people know it.

The Ugly: Something is wrong, people know about it, and no action is being taken.

Polish your content so that none of it is bad. This prevents things from getting worse, and for some people, just getting ugly. Take action when you see a mistake, and don’t let a mistake stay up for long.

I created a blog post called “Everyone Notices Messinesss” (there is an extra s at the end of messiness). One of my friends looked at the title and told me, “You spelled that word wrong.”

Once my friend read the content, he realized the typo was intentional. People notice when something is wrong. We could have read 500 pages in a book and enjoyed every word. Then, on page 501, there is a typo that we stare at for a few seconds. Nevermind the 500 pages. What about page 501? Everyone notices the smallest mistakes.

A similar spell check can save a lot of frustration. Nothing needs to get bad, worse, or ugly.

 

Don’t fall into the shiny trap. The cars in the commercials are new and shiny. Most of them look better than the average person’s car. The average person’s car is going to have some dirt on it. You can’t avoid all of the puddles, rain drops, mud, and gravel when you are driving with your car. New becomes old very fast.

Remember when one of the car dealerships did a commercial for their newest car back in 2012 or even earlier? You may see the ones for 2013 and 2014. Remember those commercials, and then when 2015 comes, remember how shiny the cars from 2013 and 2014 looked. In 2015, there will probably be a car commercial for the 2016 car.

My Mac Book Pro was in the box when I got it. The keyboard was untouched and so was everything else. It’s not in horrible condition, but you can see that it has been used. I still use it every day, and I am still happy with the product. I don’t need to buy another computer until the one I am using breaks.

When we make choices to buy something, that something we buy will lose its shine. Make sure you can use it and you’re not just getting it because it’s popular, new, and shiny. Within a few years, what is popular, new, and shiny now will most likely be unpopular, old, and dull.

A small fraction of a second separated Bernard’s relay team from beating Michael Phelps’ relay team. The gold and silver medals could have been distributed either way. The length of each anchor legs’ fingernails was the difference between a victory and a loss.

Everyone looks at the winner, not the guy who gets second place. Be that winner and make sure people know who you are.