Something Sleeps

There is something inside you that sleeps if you never move.

That has been my experience over the years as my profession has provided me opportunities to move from one location to another, at times many hundred miles. While a geographical move is easier to identify with and creates more issues (professional and personal) , the move need not be from one city to another in order for that special motivation inside you to wake-up. Moving to a greater level of responsibility or increased expectations due to changing circumstances will be enough to wake-up that special motivation.

When you don't move, literally or figuratively,  is when things go to sleep and then you become more and more compromised. This is when there is not enough happening, either by omission or commission,  professionally that will disturb your sense of well being sufficiently enough, to wake up a level of commitment, that otherwise you may never know you have. There is a reason some people are called:"Movers & Shakers." These people are the ones that are willing to move and take risks and take action because something new and exciting has awakened a level of commitment that serves to take them to higher levels of accomplishment. So when you are given the opportunity, move and wake up!

It Takes Discipline to Develop Discipline

There is simply no getting around it. If you are going to be really good at what you do you are going to have to do, whatever it is, repeatedly and improve every time you do it. Additionally if you are going to endeavor to learn something new that will add to your skill-set, you are going to have devote time on a regular basis that is focused on that effort. Both of these objectives: getting better at what you do and learning something new, are going to demand discipline.

Discipline means that you are focused and dedicated and that you are going to accomplish your task without allowing anything to get in your way. One step at a time, always moving in the direction of your goals, will demand-discipline. When you have made the mental and emotional connection to the value of discipline you have made a giant step in accomplishing your goals and becoming more successful. In order to get something you are going to have to give something. When you are disciplined you are committing to a greater level of achievement because you are willing to focus and make the time to make thing happen. Giving up a few things that are less important and filling that space with new things that are more important is disciplined approach to improvement and that takes discpline.

Mason & Dixon

Like Mason said to Dixon; "You have to draw the line somewhere."

There is always a time to draw a line and declare that this is a direction we are headed in. The time may not always be perfect to make a decision and draw a line representing a defining moment, but what is perfect ? We all need to know our clear expectations, that are either self-imposed or given by our leaders. When we know we can act accordingly and engage in the actions that will help meet the expectations. We will then have a direction and know approximately how much effort we need to exert in order to move the needle and effect positive change. Far too often people get so wrapped up in the circumstances that they fail to make a decision and draw the line. Making a decision, gives liberty and affords opportunity.

Some of the biggest problems in life and business often are a result of not making a decision. When decisions are not made the matter becomes one of omission and not commission. Things are not happening because there is no definitive direction and people wonder why, when the answer is obvious. The best thing to do is to zoom-out from the circumstance and take a look from 30,000 feet to get a better fix on what is really happening. Once you have zoomed out and removed yourself from the emotional impact and confusion that resides when you are too close to the situation, you will have a better view on the reality. Then you can draw a line and move back in and start moving in the right direction.

Embrace Don't Chase

Back in the Internet boom days companies were attracting billions of investment dollars even though many of the companies had never turned a profit. The fervor over what might be, based on the irrational and unrealistic quest for easy and sky-high returns on investment lead many investors off the cliff. The commotion that the disruptive "Internet-introduction-change" caused, had a profound effect on the logic that had previously served so many so well. People began to chase and not embrace. They followed, very quickly, in the reckless direction that the masses were going and failed to recognize the Pied Piper in the front. So, off the cliff they went. Thousands lost everything and yet the Internet thrives.

Whenever you are faced with dynamic and light-speed change you should stop and look before you cross the quantum-leap street, lest you be run over by a fast moving change that does not have much substance. Following for the sake of following, because you are afraid that everyone else will beat you to the punch, places you in the reactive position and then you are no longer in control. Others are making the decisions for you, without your best interest as a consideration.

Allow pragmatism and logic to help you make decisions. When things appear too good to be true, guess what?

Change is going to come and you MUST embrace it. However allowing change to disrupt your common-sense train of thought can be reckless. Embrace change, don't chase change.

Take a Step

The system has never failed me.

Whenever I am faced with a project that keeps getting bigger the more I think about it, the less inclined I am do to anything about it, because I have made a mental mountain out of a literal mole-hill. When I employ the failsafe system of simply Taking a Step in the direction of the project, everything changes. No longer am I facing a huge matter that keeps getting bigger, now I am facing a manageable portion of the project, and I find that if I keep moving, things get done. Once a piece of the project is complete, I move on to the next square and make additional progress. Even when mistakes are made, they are made and overcome while I am moving in the direction of a satisfactory conclusion.

It is in the "doing" where discoveries are made and those discoveries will likely cause modifications to the steps we are taking, because the piece we are working on proved more or perhaps less challenging and time consuming that previously thought. The good news is that we now know more than we did before we got started and we got started by Taking a Step.

The possibility of not "doing" always exists, especially when we are venturing into territory that we have never been before. While we are fretting over the job that must be done, we build up our justifications for not "doing" even though we are perfectly capable. You will never know what you are capable of accomplishing if you allow the fear of the unknown to stopping you from "Taking a Step".

There Are Only Two Ways

No matter the business or organization, they all have this in common when it comes to employees and the value they represent. Employees either save the entity money or they make the entity money. These are the only Two Ways to justify your existence.

If you are in a revenue generating function the evaluation is pretty straight forward. Your worth to the organization is equal to the revenue you generate. For every dollar they pay you, you must generate between ten and twenty dollars in sales at a minimum. This is called the; "cost-or-sale" and will have dynamic range based on the industry, company's development status, competition and other factors. That is why; if you can't sell, you can't stay.

If you are in a position that does not directly generate revenue you must be so productive and flexible and adaptive that the company does not need to hire someone else to help you get your job done well and on time. Demands on companies change all of the time and these changes will absolutely result in your function changing. To the extent that you are willing and capable of adapting, your worth will be measured and improved.

Companies and organizations are only as good as the people they employ and the people they do business with. The difference is where the control lies. Companies control the people in the building (employees) and have no control of the people outside the building (customers) and that is why they can only have two types of people in the building; they that make the company money and they that save the company money. Which are you?

Mother

My Mother was, without question, the most influential person during my formative years. She reared six children without much help from my Father. She worked, at times, three jobs to make ends meet. She always looked professional and was always on time to her job. She rode the city bus and took her meager lunch in a brown paper bag. Every day she would get up and prepare breakfast for her six children. We ate a loaf of bread and consumed a gallon of milk every day for breakfast. Often the milk was the powdered kind because it was cheaper. Mom either made us lunch to take to school or would give us enough change to buy lunch or she would buy a book of lunch-tickets. Mostly in the early years of school, we took our lunch because it was cheaper. Mom cooked dinner.

My Mother always had too much to do but she never missed a Little League game, or school play or open house or teacher conference (although I wished she would have taken a pass on the stressful teacher conference events) or a Boy Scout important event or a speech tournament or a choir performance or anything that was important to me and I was one of six. Mom never missed signing my report card or responding to the teachers when I behaved badly, which was far too often. She never missed a chance to discipline me when I deserved it. I was probably the most challenging child she had, but she never let me know it. She was the ultimate multi-task driven person. We never missed a meal and we never wore dirty clothes. She had a washing machine and a dryer but she often hung the clothes on the clothes-line to save money. We had one phone and one bathroom and she regulated and directed traffic for the use of both of these critical areas of our lives. She took me to work and picked me up.

Mother always expected more out of me than I gave because she saw more in me that I did. Now many years after she is gone, I am writing to tell you and remind me what a remarkable person she was. She taught me to get up every day, put your left foot in front of your right foot and start walking.

Mother prayed continually for me and her prayers were answered. The answer has a name: Norma. She taught me to dress and act like I owned the place and always behave like God was watching, which of course He is.