A quick recap of the PhD from this week:
- Get This Party Started
- What Motivates Action?
- Spoons Don't Shovel
- A New Roadmap is Coming
- Seek First to Understand
Recently published:
- PartnerUp #092 - 2023 Trends & The Path to Helping Others Reach Their Promised Land - Tyler Calder
- Lining Up Your Shot by Jessie Shipman
- An Investment in Self-Development Pays the Highest Dividends by Greg Wasserman
- Top Partnership Reads by Yansong Pang
- Three Internal Obstacles You’ll Face as Head of Partnerships — And How You Can Conquer Them by Eric Sangerma
- Follow the ‘Customer Value’ Rule in 2023 and You’ll Win by Allan Adler
Happenings
- Partner Ecosystem Kickoff - January 17 - Let's dive into some tactics to make 2023 the best year in the history of partnerships. Don't miss this half-day event. Pre-register here.
- Amplify Summit - January 17-18 - Affiliate Insider's two-day virtual event where you can learn everything you need to start your affiliate program. Save your seat for free here!
When it's better to not care
Every New Year's Day I go for a walk in the woods. I think about the year ahead, and a phrase comes to me.
This always happens.
I always get a phrase or theme for the year on that walk. And I come back to it throughout the year. I use it as a guide, or an anchor when stuff gets crazy. It works well. A few years ago, it was "Stay above the fray." Last year it was, "Do what brings joy."
Might sound cheesy or fluffy, but I'm telling you, having this theme to hang on to through the vicissitudes of the year is helpful for me.
2023 hit. I went for my walk. Nothing came.
My mind was blank. I was tired from sickness over the holidays. Wiped out from an intense and crazy Q4. Not feeling very clear about what the new year might bring. And my mind was just sorta empty. Not bad. Just quiet.
My first thought was, "Why don't I have any kind of theme emerging?" My second thought was, "Meh. Oh well. I don't really care."
And wow. That felt really good!
I have no idea why, but saying I don't care to myself was freeing.
I am a passionate person and I care deeply about just about everything I do. That's not going to change, so this I don't care wasn't a true resignation. It was more of a release of the need to know the answers ahead of time.
It was more of an I don't care what comes my way, I'm not stressed about it, I'll be fine.
It was a calm, defiant, confident, steady, exciting I don't care. It reminded me of the Psalmist asking What can man do to me?
It set the right tone.
2023 is going to be a tough year. I think we're all aware of that. The market is full of unknowns. Capital is tight. Challenges abound. The world is uneasy.
I don't care.
I will keep walking one foot in front of the other, just like I did in those woods. I don't need the world to behave just so. I don't need the perfect answers. I'm here, with all that I need within me.
I will survive. I will thrive.
That's the type of not caring that helps. Not caring about the things I can't control. Caring only for what I can.
I'm taking this stoically optimistic point of view with me all year.
