The Indiefield Blog

In the career world, big decisions are rare and dramatic: "Should I take this job?" or "Is it time to switch industries?" Cue the existential music.

But in project world? Crossroads happen constantly. Should you greenlight that new approach? Launch a new tool? Reprioritise your team's focus? Drop a current method to make space for something newer?

Here's the twist: we obsess over the big, infrequent career choices while ignoring the daily project decisions that actually shape outcomes. In project management, those little moments (what to start, stop, or optimise) can be the difference between smooth sailing and a train wreck.

So don't wait for the "big" calls. Treat every project decision like it's pivotal-because, honestly, it is.

Waiting for fear to chill out? Bad idea. Here's why:

A. By the time fear goes away, your big idea will be old news. Someone else will have done it, tweeted it, or turned it into a TikTok trend. Fear shows up because what you're doing matters. That's your green light, not a stop sign.

B. Fear also keeps you sharp. Sure, fearless people sleep better, but are they out there crushing it? Fear's like a personal trainer for your brain - it's annoying, but it pushes you to be better.

So yeah, fear's not nice, but it's also your guide. Listen to it, learn from it, and then tell it to shut up while you do the thing.

When did you start sounding like a granddad? "We can't do that", "Not bad for my age", "Ugh, new tech is too hard". Even governments pull this move: "Too late to change now!".

Spoiler: getting "old" isn't some cosmic inevitability. It's a choice. You can drop a hit album at 40, crush a marathon at 60, or overhaul your 80-year-old wardrobe.

Sure, it's harder than binge-watching reruns, but that's exactly why it's great. So stop aging yourself out of the game because your best moves might still be ahead.

Want to instantly boost quality and accountability? Here's the hack: if you wouldn't sign your name on it, don't send it out.

Sounds simple, right? Except, oops - most people specifically avoid putting their name on stuff. Can't blame anyone if the report's anonymous, right?

But hey, if you're proud of it, own it. If not, maybe it's not ready for the world yet.

Step 1: Find a tech wizard - someone who speaks fluent Gmail, Outlook, and Excel like it's their first language.

Step 2: Bribe them (money, coffee, whatever works) to sit next to you for an hour while you flail through your workday.

Step 3: Beg, "How can I save an hour a day without losing my mind?"

Whatever you pay them, it's a bargain. You'll earn it back in saved time before the week's out. Bonus: no more yelling at spreadsheets.

People have been messing up, figuring it out, and writing it down for centuries. Scientists cracked the code, economists saw the fallout, and historians - well, they've seen it all (twice).

So why on earth are we out here winging it? Skipping the manual, pretending facts are optional, and acting like history's a Netflix drama?

You're in marketing tech and don't know David Ogilvy, Lester Wunderman, or John Hegarty? That's like being a chef who’s never heard of salt.

If you're doing work that matters (and I hope you are), do your homework. You don't have to use it, but at least know it.

People love to explain away success: "They went to Oxford," or "They didn't go to Oxford," or "They've got connections," or "They're nobodies, so no risk."

Basically, "They're special, and I'm not."

Newsflash: All success is special. That's the point. Nobody hands out trophies for breathing - it's universal.

The real trick? Stop whining about their special sauce and start noticing what ingredients you've already got. You might be closer to your own recipe than you think.

We're all money nerds - earning, spending, and obsessing over price tags. Companies? They're even worse, obsessing about commissions, margins, and cost of sales.

But while everyone's busy crunching numbers, there's a booming invisible economy we're ignoring: attention.

• "Blasting my entire email list - what's that gonna cost me in annoyed subscribers?"
• "Could a decent user manual save our customers (and us) hours of frustration?"
• "If we don’t ask for permission to follow up, are we flushing trust down the drain?"

Attention is finite and ridiculously valuable. Its price tag only goes up. Spend it wisely.

A tribe thrives when its members give, not just take. If everyone's hunting loopholes and trying to game the system, the whole thing crumbles.

Here's the deal: culture is bigger than management. A strong group lifts itself up; leadership follows. Same for society - government isn't the tribe, we are.

So stop waiting for a leader to fix it. The maths is simple: the more you give, the more everyone, including you, gets back.

Poetry is easy: call yourself a poet, grab a pencil, and voilà - bad poetry is born. Same goes for tweets, emails, Facebook posts, and songs. No barriers mean plenty of bad art.

But here's the twist: the flood of bad also brings more good. Sometimes, you don't need a gatekeeper - just the freedom to create (and let the audience sort the rest).