Category: Professional Development

Workweek Wars! Be the Unicorns Who Stay Refreshed, Creative, and Balanced.

7/25/2023

As a professional services marketer in the A|E|C industry, your workweek is an assault on your brain, body, and spirit. The demands of your job are fast-paced. Expectations of staying ever-connected, always available, and an organization ninja are completely unrealistic. It's no surprise that personal wellness seems unachievable. Many of us struggle to balance our work demands, technological distractions, and healthy lifestyle choices. To shed light on these challenges, I conducted a personal wellness survey. The results were eye-opening, yet instructive. In this post, we will delve into the survey data and provide practical recommendations to improve your well-being and lead a more balanced life.

1. Disconnect to Reconnect - Sleep!
The survey revealed that 4 out of 10 marketers often or regularly have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Sleep is crucial for overall health and productivity. Poor sleep patterns can have adverse effects on both mental and physical well-being.

Recommendations:
To promote better sleep:
a) Shut off all screens (phones, tablets, and computers) at least 30 minutes before bedtime. The blue light emitted by screens tricks the brain into thinking it needs to stay awake.
b) Establish a consistent bedtime routine. Going to bed at different times confuses the body and disrupts its natural sleep-wake cycle.

2. Fuel Your Day Right
Surprisingly, 45% of respondents do not eat breakfast regularly, or their breakfast diet is imbalanced. Breakfast is often considered the most important meal of the day as it kickstarts your metabolism and provides essential nutrients.

Recommendations:
To improve breakfast habits:
a) Make breakfast a daily ritual. Opt for a well-balanced meal that includes a mix of protein, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
b) A balanced breakfast can positively impact weight management, creativity, and overall health.

3. Work Overload
Over half (54%) of the respondents often or regularly reported having more work than what is possible within a 40-hour week. Work overload can lead to burnout, reduced productivity, and increased stress levels.

Recommendations:
To manage work overload:
a) Regularly communicate with your supervisor about your workload and expectations.
b) Advocate for more resources or staff if needed, and review processes for efficiency.
c) Prioritize tasks weekly to focus on high-priority assignments.

4. The Power of Saying "No"
On a positive note, 59% of respondents felt comfortable saying "No" to their supervisors when necessary. This assertiveness is essential in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

5. Successful People Delegate
Shockingly, only 19% of respondents had the option to delegate tasks to others. This suggests potential understaffing issues or inefficient workflow practices.

Recommendations:
To facilitate delegation:
a) Educate leadership about the responsibilities and capabilities of the marketing department.
b) If overloading persists, communicate the need for additional staff and resources.

6. Make Exercise a Routine
More than half (53%) of the respondents admitted to rarely or sometimes getting 30 minutes of daily exercise. Regular physical activity is crucial for overall well-being and can significantly impact productivity and mental clarity.

Recommendations:
To integrate exercise into your routine:
a) Establish a consistent exercise schedule and treat it as a lifestyle discipline.
b) Prioritize sleep and a balanced breakfast, as these elements can boost your energy levels and make exercise more manageable.

7. Digital Detox
Worryingly, only 30% of respondents felt they could ignore their phones, emails, and texts when needed. This indicates a growing trend of difficulty in managing online habits.

Recommendations:
To unplug and focus:
a) Set boundaries by putting your phone on "do not disturb" mode during important tasks.
b) Turn off unnecessary notifications to minimize distractions.
c) Close email or other distracting apps when you need uninterrupted focus time.

Conclusion
The personal wellness survey highlights the challenges many of us face in maintaining a balanced and healthy lifestyle. These recommendations are a start. If you are serious about changing your habits create accountability. This may mean hiring a life coach or going to a few counseling sessions with a therapist. Investing in your well-being improves your productivity, creativity, and overall quality of life. Make a commitment to yourself and take the first steps towards a healthier, more fulfilling existence. Your well-being is worth it!

Take the 3-Minute Personal Wellness Survey HERE!

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Five (5) Common Challenges for AEC Marketers

6/29/2023

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AEC marketers face many common challenges. Problems may vary depending on the organization and market conditions. However, the following five issues seem to be the most common:

1. Differentiation and Competitive Advantage.
AEC firms often struggle to differentiate themselves. The industry is highly competitive, yet most firms copy each other in marketing language and presentation. This is where AEC marketers need to help their firms find unique selling propositions. Once established, these unique propositions need to be communicated effectively to the right audience. Places to search for unique selling propositions exist in levels of expertise, project experience, innovation, and sustainable practices.

2. Targeting and Reaching the Right Audience.
Once unique propositions are identified AEC marketers must target the right audience. Most firms struggle to properly identify the appropriate audience. This is crucial for marketing messages to succeed. The AEC industry has diverse market segments with diverse stakeholders. Marketing messages must be tailored for clients, contractors, architects, government agencies, and end-users. Marketers are always refining their targeting strategies to effectively communicate their value propositions to the right audience.

3. Technical Complexity and Communication.
AEC projects often involve intricate technical details and specialized knowledge. Great marketers translate challenging technical concepts into compelling and understandable messages. This requires time and intention to study your firm's technical capabilities. Communicating the benefits and value of AEC services in a clear, concise, and engaging manner is essential.

4. Long Sales Cycles and Relationship Building.
The AEC industry involves long sales cycles due to projects' complexity and high-value nature. Therefore, client relationships are the backbone of winning work. Marketers and technical professionals must build strong relationships with clients and prospective clients. Marketers and technical professionals must nurture leads. On-going engagement is crucial with active projects and when clients are slow. Being top-of-mind throughout the decision-making process is essential. This is accomplished through effective relationship-building, relevant content, and consistent engagement.

5. Limited Marketing Budgets
AEC firms often allocate limited budgets for marketing activities compared to other industries. Marketers must maximize the impact of the efforts with limited resources. To do this, marketers prioritize their initiatives, leverage cost-effective channels, and show return-on-investment (ROI).

There are many factors that dictate the unique challenges of each AEC marketer;

the size of the firm,
specific market segments,
location,
emerging trends and technologies,
data analytics, and more.

Your challenge as an AEC marketer is to dig in and get to know your firm, your clients and your markets. Once you understand your firm's value and market position, then you will be able to overcome these challenges and provide great marketing!

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Forgiveness

5/9/2023

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I just finished a book about forgiveness. It is one of the “go-to” books in mental health therapy for helping people through the process of forgiveness.

Forgiveness Is a Choice: A Step-by-Step Process for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope. Dr. Robert D. Enright https://a.co/d/bo5ixrx

There are a few takeaways I believe can be helpful in our everyday work lives. Your teammates and colleagues will hurt you, intentionally and unintentionally. Clients will abuse you and take you for granted. Supervisors will ignore you or may belittle you. We need to know what forgiveness is and how to exercise it.

Forgiveness is both a Choice and a Process. I am so relieved to know that when I have been hurt, forgiveness is not something that will come easily or quickly. As human beings, we cannot just turn our emotions on and off. However, we can exercise self-control. We have the power to make a choice. Should you choose to forgive, you are exercising your freedom and power to release your anger by experiencing it in a healthy way. So you Choose to forgive and then experience that forgiveness in the Process of experiencing emotions through release, not harboring them.
Forgiveness teaches us how to be Fully Human. People will disappoint you, slander you, abuse you, disregard you, and offend you. It is part of the common human experience. By holding grudges and nurturing bitterness, we devalue our humanity and only harm ourselves further. To be more Fully Human means to do the heavy lifting and hard work of forgiveness.
Forgiveness offers the prospect of Unity and Reconciliation. In concert with being fully human, forgiveness offers us the opportunity to be in Unity with our human brothers and sisters. Forgiveness holds out its hands with a gift of potential Reconciliation to restore peace where there once was strife.

You spend hours upon hours with your work colleagues and clients. As such, there will be opportunities for offense and hurtful behaviors. I encourage you to explore forgiveness as a way of life. Be an agent of change in your sphere of influence by exercising forgiveness. You cannot control what others may say or do to you. You can control your attitude and responsiveness by offering dignity and respect through a spirit of forgiveness.

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Workweek Wars! Be the Unicorns Who Stay Refreshed, Creative, and Balanced.

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