Friday, I had an entertaining catch-up call with my dear ex-colleague Christian Weichelt. We came to talk about the power of habits. His mantra: “Don’t control the output; control the inputs.”
By controlling the inputs, you establish habits – and with that, you move closer to your goals every day. It’s a simple but super powerful concept.
For example, I’ve promised myself for months to get on my spinning bike for 30 minutes at the end of my day and failed….until I decided it was going to be the first thing I’d do when I get out of bed every morning. Today it shows a 200-day streak – and a much fitter me is the result.
So, I reflected on this – and wondered, ‘What are the habits of companies that build the software products we keep talking about?”
I mean, creating something remarkable in the eyes of our customers isn’t something that you do once. It’s a continuous process because it’s a moving target. What’s remarkable today isn’t necessarily remarkable tomorrow.
It’s not something you do at the end of the process – it’s essential to pay attention to every step of the design, build, test, launch, sales, and support process.
In my book The Remarkable Effect (you can find a link to free Kindle in the 1st comment), I highlight the ten traits that define Remarkable Software companies. But these are the prominent characteristics. So what are the habits?
Through my reflection, I ended up with this top 10 list of the things I see around me with the tech-entrepreneurs I closely work with:
- In everything they do, they prioritize ‘just start’ and don’t overthink
- When they research, they go deep on how they can help someone make a difference instead of everyone.
- When they meet, they actively listen – to learn, instead of aiming to answer.
- When they design, they spend extra time creating the magic moments instead of just the table stakes.
- When they create, they prioritize iteration over perfection.
- When they test, they pay attention to the desired emotional reaction, rather than only focusing on accuracy.
- When they communicate, they actively showcase empathy and talk with their customer rather than at their customer.
- When they launch, they focus on incorporating captivating stories about the transformation experience.
- When they position, they concentrate on the desired outcomes or core believes of their ideal customers, rather than the category they’re in
- When they sell, they aim to be different, not just better.
I am eager to hear what habits you see around you that set you up in the right way to create something your customers just keep talking about.