• Drift Help Center
  • Partners
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • Leadership Team
    • About Us
    • DEI
    • About Us
    • Careers
    • About Us
    • Leadership Principles
    • About Us
    • Newsroom
drift logo
  • Product
    Everything starts with a conversation
    Drift Conversation Cloud

    A single platform for personalizing conversations at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

    Qualify and convert visitors
    Conversational Marketing
    Build quality pipeline
    Conversational Sales
    Deliver customer support
    Conversational Service
    powered by
    Integrations
     
    Conversational AI
     
    Reporting & Analytics
  • Use Cases
    • For Marketing
      • Generate High-Quality Leads
      • Power ABM Campaigns
      • Personalize Web Experiences
    • For Sales
      • Jumpstart Conversations
      • Improve Sales Efficiency
      • Engage Target Accounts
    • For Service
      • Automate Customer Support
    • By Industry
      • Financial Institutions
      • Manufacturing
      • Professional Services
      • Technology
  • Case Studies
  • Resources
    Learn
    Blog
    Books & Reports
    Events
    Webinars
    Podcasts
    Explore
    Test Drive Drift
    Live Demo
    Conversion Rate Calculator
  • Plans
  • Log In
  • Let's Chat
drift logo Let's Talk
  • Product
    • Product
    • Drift Conversation Cloud
      • Conversational Marketing
      • Conversational Sales
      • Conversational Service
      • powered by
      • Integrations
      • Conversational AI
      • Reporting & Analytics
  • Use Cases
    • Use Cases
    • For Marketing
      • For Marketing
      • Generate High-Quality Leads
      • For Marketing
      • Power ABM Campaigns
      • For Marketing
      • Personalize Web Experiences
    • Use Cases
    • For Sales
      • For Sales
      • Jumpstart Conversations
      • For Sales
      • Improve Sales Efficiency
      • For Sales
      • Engage Target Accounts
    • Use Cases
    • For Service
      • For Service
      • Automate Customer Support
    • Use Cases
    • By Industry
      • By Industry
      • Financial Institutions
      • By Industry
      • Manufacturing
      • By Industry
      • Professional Services
      • By Industry
      • Technology
  • Case Studies
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Learn
      • Blog
      • Books & Reports
      • Events
      • Webinars
      • Podcasts
    • Explore
      • Test Drive Drift
      • Live Demo
      • Conversion Rate Calculator
  • Plans
  • Log In
  • Let's Chat
  • Drift Help Center
  • Partners
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Us
    • Leadership Team
    • About Us
    • DEI
    • About Us
    • Careers
    • About Us
    • Leadership Principles
    • About Us
    • Newsroom
Log In

Handling the inevitable ups and downs

February 3, 2020
Like what you’re reading?

Stay connected and get The One Thing delivered straight to your inbox.

Subscribe

Hi all –

This week we’re hearing from Will Collins, Drift’s VP of Operations, about something we all struggle with – the ups and downs.

– DC

P.S. Drift’s CMO just launched a brand new podcast. You can subscribe to CMO Conversations with Tricia Gellman here.

—

I’ve been thinking a lot about mentality lately and in a number of cases over this past month, I’ll admit it’s not a fight I have been winning.

I have felt myself being short in meetings. Jumping to a conclusion too quickly. Resistant to feedback. Thinking something isn’t fair. Confused about missing something that, in hindsight, was obvious. More frustrated than normal about things that in the grand scheme of things don’t really matter. The list goes on. We’ve all been there, right? Woof.

So I’ve been thinking… How can I be better at handling the inevitable ups and downs? A startup is an incredible place. You get to move fast, you get to build, you get to disrupt. It’s a place where the highs are super high, but it’s also a place where the lows can be lonely and very humbling.

Click to tweet this ☝

How do I keep that in perspective? I started to look externally and at least for now (I am under no impression that this will be an easy or a short term fight) I am trying 3 things:

1. Flipping the script

I just finished a book called Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins, who is a former Navy Seal. In the book he talks about embracing the suck (more here). Basically it’s about strengthening your mind, putting in the work, and finding comfort in being uncomfortable. It’s a mantra so that when you’re doing something hard you can find strength and a sense of progress.

Lynn Tan, Drift’s Senior Marketing Ops Manager, also reminded me of another book I read a little while back called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Sometimes you just need to flip the script. Hard is good. Challenging is an opportunity. Failure is learning. It’s all about mindset.

2. Managing “the monkey”

DC sent this article a while back and I thought it was great. It’s a blog / Q&A on Sequoia’s website from John Donovan, the CEO of AT&T. One of the questions is: “What don’t you know that you wish you knew?” I love his answer below. You can spend all day worrying about something (or being frustrated) but that is just not productive. The better you manage “the monkey” the more present and productive you can be both in and outside of the office.

3. Showing more gratitude

Another thing I am working on both personally and professionally is intentionally taking more time to reflect and be thankful (shoutout Fabulous app). It’s too easy to get wrapped up in what’s broken or what we haven’t done yet. At Drift in particular, we move so fast that if something is already working and humming, it’s old news and it’s on to the next one.

I don’t take enough time to reflect on the good and consciously be thankful for what we have.  We are so lucky at Drift. Lucky to have great customers. Lucky to work with great people. Lucky to be able to move fast. I could go on and on and on. It’s important not to forget all of those things. In my opinion, taking time to reflect and show gratitude is one way to ensure I am not only focused on the destination, but am also enjoying the journey.

Anyway, thank you for listening, and if you have any other suggestions for me on how to stay positive and focused no matter what else is going on, I am all ears.

Appreciate it,

Will

Get The One Thing

Habits, mental models and tools from Drift's CEO and our favorite role models delivered right to your inbox every single week.
Sign me up
drift logo
  • Product
    • Platform
    • Conversation Cloud
    • Conversational Marketing
    • Conversational Sales
    • Conversational Service
    • Conversational AI
    • Integrations
  • Learn
    • Resources
    • Blog
    • Drift Insider+
    • Conversion Calculator
    • Case Studies
  • Support
    • Drift Help Center
    • Partners
    • Professional Services
    • Security & Compliance
    • Contact Us
  • About Drift
    • About Us
    • Diversity Equity Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Leadership Team
    • Newsroom
    • Brand Assets
    • Drift Store
  • Get Drift
    • Pricing
    • Test Drive Drift
    • Drift for Startups
    • Mobile App
    • Video Mobile App
    • Drift for Chrome
    • Get a Demo
Terms Privacy Policy Drift Status Sitemap © Copyright 2023 Drift.com, Inc.