Every Monday I throw out a challenge to the readers, something to give a concentrated nudge in a certain direction.

This week: breaking from the normal.

The normal is a staff training where you hold up a bottle and talk about it.

The normal is the parade of sales reps waiting in line at the store for their turn to talk to the buyer.

The normal is reacting to a quota or goal from a sales manager by taking a particular wine out for the week.

The normal is standing behind a table at a retailer on a weekend night, peddling your goods.

The normal is having to go out of your way on a Friday to collect a check from a particular customer.

The normal is a glass pour of 5 or 6 ounces.

This week, brainstorm on ways to break from the normal. To present things in different ways. To sell with variety instead of predictability. There are hundreds of examples beyond the ones above.

The challenge to you: this week make a list of ten things that are done in your wine world because that is the normal. Then brainstorm a way to do it differently. It might not be as effective, efficient, or profitable, but that’s not the point. The point is the exercise in creativity when it comes to assumed business practices, and to write it down and think about it as a form of deep work. This is the kind of work that will make your wine life remarkable and take you to the next level in your career.