The Year of the Red Pen (Fast Company)

Circle and strike like your quality of life depends on it. Here's how I'm using the red pen. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Hi There, We’re in the year of the Ruthless Red Pen. When we circle and strike like our quality of life depends on it, this surgical tool can quickly improve our business outcomes and life overall. Ultimately, the red pen dictates our profit and loss. [In my latest article for Fast Company]( I share how to strike things like time thieves, the sea of sameness, vanity projects, noise traps, personal liabilities and how to circle healthy tension, resilient talent, assets that increase human capital, listening loudly and making friends with reality (ALL the data). Here's one example of something you can strike: TIME THIEVES Start by striking those unnecessary standing meetings, hour-long Zoom meetings that could be replaced with a 3-minute voice note, epic long CYA emails, unnecessary decks and reports that nobody opens, and calendars of popcorn meetings across your day that leave zero time for deep work. Instead, try putting yourself and your team members on a [time budget](. Map your ruthless priorities against the budget, spend your valuable and finite resources there, and reconcile at the end of the month. It’s eye-opening and pure motivation to shake things up. Now here's one example of something you can circle: LISTENING LOUDLY Listen loudly to your customers, but not your competition. Our customers help us identify white space, and they often shine a light on new solutions. Noise-cancel the rest. The shared economy was born from the 2008-era economic cycle. We're in the 2024 version of that now. Anything is possible with an active red pen (but everything is not). Cheers to circling and striking, Ajo [Instagram]( [iTunesPodcasts]( [Linkedin]( Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Renegade Global, Inc, Austin, Texas 78739, United States