Want & Need

We were fortunate as children to have two sets of Grandparents. Each set of Grandparents were noticeably different although as children we hardly noticed the stark-worldly-differences that would, later in life, be readily apparent. One set of Grandparents were poor and the other set were well-off. The material value of each set was, in the eyes of us children, never more apparent than at Christmas. The less fortunate set of Grandparents would always give us what we wanted, toys. These toys were never expensive but we didn't care, because as children what the toy represented was all that mattered. The well-off set of Grandparents would ALWAYS give us clothes. Not the trendy clothes we might have tempered the insensitive gift with, but we got basic stuff like underwear, socks, shirts and pants. These gifts were not what we wanted, they were the gifts that we absolutely needed. I can't prove this, but I'll bet that my well-off set of Grandparents spent time with my parents asking what we needed and very little time discussing what we wanted. Because what we wanted was not likely to make a lasting impact on our daily lives whereas what we needed had the potential to make a difference!

When you are dealing with people in business and in life regarding their wants and needs, you must always provide recommendations based on the level of need and not the shiny-new-toy they think they want. While this is almost always the path that will be the toughest to take, it will surely prove to be the wisest choice. You must first start with discovering the difference between the want and the need and that discovery more often that not comes through close observation and asking the right questions. Someone may want you to prepare a presentation for them when what they really need is for you to show them how. You may want someone to do something for you when what you really you need is help learning how to do it for yourself. Socrates said; "What we need to learn to do we learn by doing."  You must be willing to give the instructions and help based on needs and you must be willing to accept the help based on needs and not give or get that which is wanted.

Late

This is a picture of vultures hanging out in a graveyard. Now we all know how vultures feed themselves, so they are wasting their time here because they are, of course, late. These guys represent: opportunity lost, simply because of missing a manageable timing issue.

Once while listening to a national TV talk show host, I caught the tail-end of a discussion about someone trying to determine why they were always late. No mater how hard they tried, seems that they were rarely, if ever,  on time to anything. The importance of the meeting did not seem to matter either. They were just as late to high value meetings as they were to low value meetings. The host listened for several minutes as this individual shared the many justifiable reasons they were late to everything! After a few seconds the host asked: "Why do you think your time is so much more valuable that anyone else's?" The individual was highly offended and proclaimed that they did not feel, at all, that their time was more valuable, they simply had so much to deal with that they found it almost impossible to be on time. The host countered and said: "Of course you think that your time is more valuable that anyone else's, otherwise you would not waste the other persons time by being constantly late."

When you are on time, you demonstrate your commitment to the value of the opportunity. Being on time is almost always a matter of proper preparation. Whatever the planned opportunity, make certain that you have factored in enough time to get ready with everything you need to make the most of the meeting, but that you also factor in enough travel time (walking down the office or driving across town) to arrive early. Get to the meeting, ready and early, it matters!

Have & Get

If you HAVE it use it, if you don't HAVE it, GET it!

HAVE:

One day a man was driving his new pickup truck down a rather busy city street when he realized that the front right tire was going flat. Much to his disappointment he pulled the truck over to the side of the road and began the process of taking the flat tire off and replacing it with the spare tire. After jacking the truck up he removed the lug nuts and carefully placed them in the small decorative tire cover he had to remove to get to the lug nuts. He then placed the tire cover that was holding the lug nuts on the curb. As he was taking the tire off he accidentally hit the lug nuts and watched helplessly as they all fell into the storm drain! A passer by saw the predicament the owner of the truck was in and after a few minutes suggested that the truck owner remove one lug nut from each of the three tires still on the truck and use those to hold the spare tire on until he could get to a place where he could replace the lost lug nuts. He could use the the resources that he had and get the job done without HAVING to get other resources.

GET:
The West Texas country is beautiful. The land is filled with low profile, hardy trees that can withstand the winds that whip across the landscape, cactus and a very rocky soil. There are thousands of rocks, large and small. The ranches are huge and the Texans are "Can-Do" Texans. One of my Texas rancher friends was inspired to smooth out a section of a very rocky road on his ranch. He spent a month working the section of this road with a tractor and whatever other equipment he had at his disposal. After about a month he told his ranch foreman that the road was even rockier than when he started and was more difficult to drive on. His ranch foreman agreed and said: "If you keep fixing it with what you have, pretty soon you will not be able to drive down it at all." The foreman knew that in order to get the road smooth the rancher would need to GET soil and fill in between the rocks. It mattered not, how much he worked the rocky terrain, unless he GOT additional soil, he was not going to have a smooth road.

When you have to get something done, evaluate your situation and determine if you HAVE what you need or do you need to GET something to ensure that the outcome will meet expectations. There will be instances when you get involved and do not realize, until well underway, that you either do or do not have what is required. If you HAVE what you need, keep the fires burning. If you do not have what you need GET it.

Start by Stopping

There should always be two list. One is the list of things you are going to start or continue doing. The other list is the number of things that you are going to stop doing.

In our business and professional life we can easily become so enthralled with our inherited or created duties that we fail to consider if the time committed to performing those duties well, is really getting us anywhere. Going through the routine is just that, routine and routine does not help anyone distinguish their performance from others. Making constant evaluations of the things that you commit valuable time to is not only a good idea it is critical to your success.

The reality is that many people and companies repeatedly do things because they always have and because they can and not because they should. When we start placing a greater value on doing or continuing to do the things that we know contribute to our progress, we are making decisions that we know are going to pay-off. When we stop doing those things that amount to not much more than distractions, we free-up valuable time that we should now devote to those things that are on the "keep or start doing list".

The trap of filling your time with activities of very little value is an easy one to get caught in. Since we seem to be busy we feel we are doing our job and while we are doing a job as we currently value it, it is not our job. Any job has the potential of filling the time allowed and if we are at work at least eight hours a day and we justify our existence by doing things that are of little value, then sooner or later someone is going to notice. Then what? Our job is a job that contributes to the success of the team by engaging in those activities that we know are going to make a positive contribution because we know they are on the "doing list."

NOTE:


The facts support that one of the healthiest things a person can do is to stop smoking. (Additionally if you stop you are going to save a considerable amount of money. The guy in front of me in line the other day at the convenience store bought a package of cigarettes and he paid $6.50 for one pack!!!) When you stop smoking your body immediately will start getting better.