When you create something for others, you often have to manage the reality of having two audiences. Those two audiences don’t necessarily align in what they want to see, either.

For example, imagine you work for an advertising firm, and a car company has hired you to create their new ad campaign. Well, you’ve got at least two audiences here (we’ll talk about the third later): The intended market for the cars, and the executives of the car company.

The executives of the car company want to sell cars, sure. But they also want to see an ad that makes them feel prestigious and boosts their ego. That’s not a knock on car company executives; everyone wants that. And that desire can conflict with the desire for an ad that sells cars most effectively; the ad campaign that makes them feel the best isn’t necessarily the campaign that will sell the most cars.

Your job, annoying as it might be, is to appeal to both audiences. If you create a campaign that will sell the maximum number of cars but it doesn’t appeal to the c-suite, you’re going to have a very, very tough time selling it. Sure, you’re the expert. Sure, they hired you because they knew you were the expert. But as soon as they disagree with you, suddenly they’re all experts, and what do you know, anyway?

The savviest among them might say “Look, I hate this, but I love money. And I’m not the target market for our cars, so it doesn’t really matter if I hate it. What matters is that the market analysis says our customers will love it, so we should do it.” In reality, maybe one person in ten has the self-awareness to think that way. Don’t count on it.

You have to find that middle ground, even if that means weakening the actual end result. The best campaign that never airs sells exactly zero cars.

And of course, there’s always that third audience, the one I alluded to earlier. You see, you have to make a campaign that appeals to your client and their customers… and your future clients. The third audience is comprised of all the people you want to impress – for your own prestige and status! See, I told you no one is immune.

Super Bowl commercials are often touted as the pinnacle of advertising, but lots of them fail to achieve their official objective, which is generating more revenue than they cost. But the advertising industry loves them; they give each other awards for them whether they sell anything or not. In the same way that the Oscar for Best Picture doesn’t go to the movie that made the most money, advertising awards are given to insiders by insiders. If you want to win an Oscar, sometimes you have to not make the movie that will sell the most tickets, and that dynamic applies pretty much everywhere.

For all creatives, the advice “Know Your Audience” is incomplete. It’s “Know Your Audiences.”

Sometimes, you can improve your life by deciding that, just for today, it doesn’t need improving. A day of rest is a blessing we receive far too rarely.

We had a term back in the sales days, if we ever heard someone complaining too much about a rude ‘no’ or a missed sale. We’d say, “One for the Rejection Collection!”

It was a reminder that some experiences aren’t worth keeping. They don’t do anything for you except drain your attitude and sunder your confidence. Rehashing it, even to complain about it to someone else, solidifies it in your memory. That’s valuable real estate! It’s better discarded with a shrug and forward progress, no matter the context.

Don’t keep a Rejection Collection. You’re better off with stamps or baseball cards – rejections never increase in value.

One of the oldest errors in human reasoning is the assumption that just because someone has immoral opponents, they themselves are moral.

If a low-down dirty scoundrel talks bad about someone, that doesn’t mean that the target of their ire is a paragon of virtue. Grifters have grifter rivals, too. And they often try to pull themselves up by putting others down, creating a roiling stew of malfeasance.

So if someone you don’t like dislikes someone else? Don’t assume they’re virtuous.

Today, I spent time with people I care about very deeply and have known since we were children. While we hung out, our children played together, forming their own bonds. I remember fondly the children of my parents’ friends and those same play dates, decades ago. It’s a wonderful tradition. If you have children, the best thing you can do is spend time with others who have them as well. It’s an incomparable joy.

We all experience stress. It’s natural and nothing to be ashamed of. But stress has a funny way of hijacking your actions when it has no business doing so.

When we’re stressed, we react more than we act. And those reactions very rarely serve to make us less stressed; often, they worsen the problem. A common example is “letting the stress do the talking” when we’re in a professional environment.

Take some time now to recall times when you were stressed. What were your emotional and physical signs? How could you tell you were stressed? Perhaps your heart rate increases or you get a headache. Maybe you get snappy and defensive. Whatever happens, write it down. Make a little warning note for yourself.

Next, keep that note handy. Pin it to your wall or save it on your desktop. When you feel those signs, let that be a reminder that you should create some emotional distance. That means just step back a little, maybe for no more than thirty seconds. Just enough time to remind yourself that you are not your stress, and you want to take positive steps. (Personally, I write a little haiku about the current situation – always centers me.)

Now, in that space, ask yourself: “What is the outcome I desire?” Be clear about it. The outcome is very rarely “I want everyone to know how frustrated I am.” So your goal isn’t to express stress, it’s to diminish it.

(By the way, if you need to vent – awesome! Go vent! But venting happens in a different space. Vent to a friend, a loved one, your journal. Not to the source of your stress!)

Now, as you begin to act, stay deliberate. For each action, each sentence you want to say or write in an email, ask yourself: “Does this bring me closer to my goal? Or is it just the stress talking?”

Saying to one of your employees, “I can’t believe your work was this bad! I shouldn’t have to even explain this,” feels good in the moment, because that’s the stress substituting its own feelings for yours. But if your goal is a productive long-term employee and corrected work, did those words get you closer to that goal? Absolutely not. In fact, those words are very likely to lead to more stressful situations for you in the near future!

Identify your stress. Build your warning signs and take emotional distance. Put the stress in its proper place, and act as your true self. Silence the stress, and it won’t propagate.

Not every story has to have a dash of magic in it. Just the ones worth telling.

If you can’t inspire an action or entice a smile, why open your mouth? You might do either by simply listening, instead. Hold your tongue until it has magic on it.

To reflect well, you need to do more than just step away and ruminate. You need to actively participate in the downtime, as counter-intuitive as that seems.

To use reflection to really gain insight, ask yourself some pointed questions: What three things made you curious today? What two things do you want to try tomorrow? What was your biggest surprise today?

Give yourself some structure, and make your thoughtfulness meaningful.

Mirrors hurt the most. So if you think a general statement hurts, you perceive it as a mirror. That says more about you than about whoever made the statement.

People will obey the rules you give them. But you don’t always give them the rules you mean to.

If you give someone a rule that states, “I always want to hear your opinion,” but then every time they voice it you shut them down and berate them, really you’ve given them the rule “I want you to lie to me and tell me that your opinion matches mine.” And they’ll obey that rule.

In other words, the rules are set by what you do, not what you say. And if you give too many contradictory rules, remember that people will always obey the rule: “If you can’t win, don’t play.”