Have you ever wondered what the difference is between extraordinary success, mediocre performance and abject failure? Are there people who aren't (your opinion) as smart as you, but they just always seem to come out on top?Observantly, (including looking "back" for perspective, "sideways" for evaluation, and "forward" in anticipation), it occurs to me that the people who always come out on top have one thing in common with each other…regardless of their area of endeavor.
I am not just talking about executives, or salespeople, or any one class of business person, individual, boss or employee. I am talking about everyone and every organization. Why does one pastor start a church 15 years ago and have a congregation of a few hundred and another pastor start a church at exactly the same time in the same city and build it to a congregation of thousands? Why two salesmen, same age, same sex, same experience level with the same opportunity join the same company in the same week and one experiences extraordinary success while the other either languishes in mediocrity or fails?
Did your high school valedictorian achieve all of his or her dreams? Is the smartest person you know the most successful? Who is the happiest? What defines personal and job satisfaction? Which of the four personality types tend to be the most successful? At what? Okay, you get the idea. I could go on down this path forever, but my blogging consultant encourages me to be brief.
The enemy of success in any area is firmly rooted in “self”. Success (or failure for that matter) has very little to do with your coworkers, your boss, your job or any other external aspect of your life. It frankly has very little to do with your IQ or what your GPA was in college, although all of those things might be indicators of how you manage self. The enemy of achievement is complacency. There is nothing wrong with being satisfied with your place and achievement, but that satisfaction must not be allowed to extend beyond a personal emotion or feeling for the moment. When you win…celebrate! Then move on.
Think about those high achievers that are not as smart as you. Think about the companies that were started the same year as yours and have out performed your company five or tenfold. What about those that rise to the top of the corporate food chain. Are they really just better at blowing smoke up the proverbial corporate derriere? What do they all share? What is it that gives these people or organizations a leg up on the rest of us?
I propose that the common trait is very simply . . . URGENCY.
Do not mistake URGENCY as the “false urgency” of the fretter. You know the fretter. . . the one always scurrying about with the impossible to do list that never really completes anything and just adds to the chaos of failure. Quite the opposite. I am talking about the person who has a sense of urgency that is focused. The one that says, “Okay, that project is done. What’s next?” My God, do these people ever sleep? Probably better than most because they have the comfort and confidence of actually producing outcome. They are always moving and never satisfied with the status quo and understand that success and excellence are not destinations, but a journey. Perhaps most importantly, these people know that they can’t help what happened yesterday and that they can’t do anything about tomorrow. They know that the ONLY thing they can affect is NOW…this moment…what to do with the next 60 seconds. They can only control how they respond or react to the moment (see previous blog Reaction vs. Response), and they do so with a sense of urgency, a sense of mission that is founded on an expectation of outcome. These people do not even consider losing. To the contrary they expect to win – NOW and every time. And when they don’t, (which doesn’t happen often), you won’t find them languishing in the self pity of a loss. They don’t have time for that. It isn’t a part of their “plan” or their psyche! They move forward without consideration to yesterday’s failures. Remember, yesterday just doesn’t matter and you can’t do a thing about what happens tomorrow.
So what does this have to do with you and me? As the NIKE slogan says – “Just Do It”! Excellence, urgency, success all start right now…with you. Be urgent! It’s in your mind - in your hands. Decide right now to intellectually and emotionally commit yourself to a mission of accomplishment. Do something. There will be those around you that scoff at your new focus. Do something. Do concern yourself with them because they will be like lead on your feet – guaranteed to take you to the bottom. Do something. Concern yourself to the point that you get away from these people. Do something. They won’t like it. Do something. They’ll talk negatively about you for the wrong reasons. Do something. Don’t worry about barking dogs. Forget about them and DO SOMETHING DELIBERATE AND WITH CONVICTION...NOW!
Any questions?
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