When I came across an interesting “national” day called ‘Toss Away the “Could Haves” and “Should Haves” Day‘ started by author and motivational speaker, Martha J. Ross-Rodgers, I knew that I had to blog about it! It’s celebrated on the 3rd Saturday in July (tomorrow!) and according to the NationalDayCalendar.com, the day is “intended for everyone to let go of the past and live for the present”.
The day resonated with me because as long as I have known our fearless WMT founder and CEO, Lorrie Thomas, one of the things she has always advised is to not “should” on yourself and, as a marketing agency, she has always said that we do not “should” on our clients. What she means by this is that we don’t tell clients what to do … “You should do this to your website”, “You should do this to your social media accounts” … instead we advise, educate, and make recommendations so that each client can carve a healthy marketing path that they feel comfortable with because it fits their specific needs and their bandwidth. We would never want a client to execute a marketing plan because they felt pressured by us to do so.
Similarly, Lorrie has taught me that “should-ing” on oneself is detrimental as well. Thoughts that spew regret … “I shouldn’t have eaten those gummy bears”, “I should have bought that stock ten years ago” … don’t get you anywhere other than maybe getting upset with yourself. Instead of feeling regretful about the past, use it proactively to learn from your mistakes or from your successes.
So this is just a gentle reminder to stop the cycle of “should-ing” all over yourself – and on your clients – and instead look to the future about what you could do instead.
Web Marketing Therapy® specializes in strategic advisory, training and marketing management. We are a marketing company driven by the desire to help our clients maximize relationships, bridging the art and science of marketing with our success-backed therapeutic approach.
