Do the hard work

The always insightful Seth Godin this morning talks about the difference between “getting picked” (e.g. winning the lottery) and “building a tribe” (takes longer, more reliable, worth doing).

I think all of us secretly wish for the “fire from heaven” miracle that would instantly vault us on to the stage to share some message… but that’s more about us being on the stage than the message.

Few are willing to do the hard work it takes to build a network, a tribe, to accomplish a purpose over time. That’s… hard. work. Which takes sacrifices.

But I think you’ll find that if you aren’t willing to do the hard work on behalf of a passion, a dream, a vision…

…you’re less likely to get picked when its time to pick.

…because people are mostly picked because they have done the hard work, are seeing something accomplished, are part of a bigger cause…

…not just because they’re pretty.

How to build a tribe? That part’s easy. There’s lots of stuff written on it. Some free, some not. I’ll boil it down into three easy steps to start with:

1) define your vision and what you are going to do about it (your plausible promise + specific actions)

2) share your vision broadly and find out who responds

3) connect everyone who responds and encourage, persuade, challenge, provoke them to do the actions.

Here’s a bonus:

4) get everyone sharing what they’re doing and new ideas for doing it better.

How to do it? Use facebook, twitter, google groups, email, chat, coffees, SMSs, whatever to share your vision and connect people.

You can do it. Start with your vision! Just share it!