We’ve talked a lot about SOPs - Standard Operating Procedures.

The top level idea is to have a system in place for repetitive stuff and uncomfortable stuff. The SOP for repetitive stuff exists to create a blueprint for optimization / delegation. The SOP for uncomfortable stuff exists to make that stuff easier and make sure it happens.

We talk a ton about SOPs for repetitive stuff.

You start a newsletter, do it a few times, then start to document in detail the steps needed to ship a great one. This might include how to come up with topics, how to research those topics, formatting, tagging, a/b testing. The idea is to get to a “best practice” that you can hand to someone else to take over. The more detailed the SOP, the easier that will be.

Your business then becomes a bunch of SOPs and the whole thing becomes scalable. That’s how you grow in a serious way.

The second type of SOP is very different (and maybe more important). This is the one to make sure you do uncomfortable stuff. It won’t be as specific as the other type of SOP, and it’s not built be handed off - it’s built for you to use.

My favorite uncomfortable SOP is inspired by my son’s favorite show, Daniel Tiger. I call it, creatively, the Daniel Tiger SOP. It’s for when I’m doing something new and uncomfortable and is inspired by this song in the show.

Basically, whenever Daniel has to do something new - like go to the dentist - they talk about exactly what’s going to happen. The dentist as a concept is scary, but broken down - get in the car, drive to the dentist, park, walk in, wait in the waiting room, go into the dentist room, sit in the chair, open your mouth, get your teeth cleaned for five minutes with a water squirter, etc. It seems less bad.

Here are the questions in my Daniel Tiger SOP - for when I’m dragging my feet on something new and important:

• What do you want to do?
• What’s uncomfortable about it?
• Why aren’t you doing it?
• What’ll happen, exactly, when you do it?
• What’s the worst case?