There’s a story I’m fond of telling about the time my two oldest daughters had what I believed was a lemonade stand. When I walked down to the street, I discovered they were selling bags of dirt.
And they had already made sales! At first, I thought, “Wow, my neighbours are nice people.”But then I stood there and watched.
My daughters were not just sitting behind a table hoping someone would stop. They were engaging people and explaining what someone could do with the dirt.
Talking about the benefits and making the case. It was one of the best sales lessons I have ever seen.
As I think about that story again, I realised I may have missed the most important lesson.
You do not know what might work until you are willing to try something that might not. I think that matters even more.
Business as usual is costing many companies right now. It’s the same conversations,the same approaches, and the same habits.
It’s the same ways of responding to what is changing around them.
We keep waiting for something to change while repeating what we already know is not working.
Yes, the economy, AI, politics, changing customers, staffing challenges, and everyday pressures are real. They affect every one of us in different ways.
But the bigger question is how we respond. Are we trying enough new things? Are we testing different approaches?
Are we willing to sell a few bags of dirt just to see what happens?
That does not mean being reckless. It does not mean throwing out everything that already works.
It means not being so quick to dismiss something simply because it feels different, uncomfortable, or unlikely.
It might be a different question, offer, way to start a conversation, or a fresh strategy to approach an employee.
It might be a new way to follow up with a customer, or perhaps a different way to solve a problem that you’ve been living with for too long.
Start with an experiment
Small tests create movement, and movement teaches us things that thinking about movement never will.
My daughters did not hold a strategy session on whether there was a market for dirt. They did not overthink the offer. They put some dirt in bags, went to the street, talked to people, and found out.
That is the part I keep coming back to. They found out by trying. So, this week, try one small thing you might normally dismiss.
It's not because you know it will work - because you don't know. You may not know what is possible until you are willing to sell a little dirt.
Continue with the action
Deciding what matters most before deciding what you need to do is important.
This is where many people have it backward.
Most of us have 100 things we could do on any given day. There are emails to answer and calls to make. There are meetings to attend and problems to solve.
Tha might all come before you remember you have errands to run, people to support, and details to handle.
That is real life. The goal is not to pretend those things do not exist. The goal is to elevate the few priorities and actions that matter most so they do not get buried underneath everything else.
First thing is first
A priority is what deserves your best attention and energy today. An action is what moves that priority forward.
A to-do list is one of the many other things that still needs to get done.
That distinction matters. When everything is treated like a to-do, everything can feel equally important. The urgent, easy, noisy, and familiar all compete for the same space.
That is how people stay busy all day and still never do what matters most.
For example, the priority might be increasing this week’s average sale.
Of course, those to-dos still exist. You will still have to handle the emails, meetings, interruptions, errands, and unexpected issues.
You will still deal with what the day brings - whatever that may be. But now you have decided what must get your best focus before the day starts pulling at you.
That is the difference. A to-do list captures what needs to get done. A priority identifies what matters most.
Most people who read this will think this is how they already work. It probably is not.
Most people start with their task list and then they try to squeeze their priorities into whatever time and energy are left.
But by then, the day has already taken over.
Try reversing it!
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