On Sunday we were driving out to the beach and took the usual shortcut.
We turned into a side road, and hit a brand new pothole. Not just any pothole. This was more like a smooth valley that spanned the whole road.
The car kicked… I was surprised at how it hit, considering how benign it looked. It kinda reminded me of a skate ramp I built when I was little.
A day later, I saw that the road was blocked off and being repaired.
When there’s a big warp in the road, people complain. Someone wrote in to the council that day I’m sure.
And when a nice new road network is put in, people might cheer. Maybe it’s in the local paper.
But the rest of the time, day in, day out, people use the roads, the water, the services – an insane amount of value, and, say nothing.
As you head down a journey in your business or idea, you might get the odd cheer, or, the odd complaint*. Typically though, even if what you’re doing is working and bringing value, most of the time you’ll probably hear very little.
They don’t need assurance to keep building great roads, houses, or a bridge, and looking for assurance, reviews and comments may not be the best way to fuel our own work either.
[*Social media has really taken this to an extreme level – I’m fairly certain the small metrics of “likes” and other engagement is destroying momentum for a lot of people daily.]
