Winners do what losers don’t want to do. ~ Gary Busey
Winners do what losers don’t want to do. ~ Gary Busey
One Small Step For A Man
It was 10.15pm on Monday the 21st day of July 1969. Many of you reading this blog were not born then. After travelling non-stop for three days, three hours and forty-nine minutes, Neil Armstrong took the next and final step to become the first man to step on the surface of the moon. In his own words broadcast live to more than 450 million listeners or one out of every eight persons on the of the earth, he described this as ‘one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind’.
Dream Big
To grow your life and grow your business you need to dream big. In 1961, US president John F Kennedy’s goal of sending an American to the moon was an ambitious one. You have big ideas you have been playing with for many years. Right there in your imagination, you have created the products, written the books and grown the business idea. Despite the planning, anticipation and excitement, when the time comes for you to take action, you freeze. You remain immobile and the opportunity passes you by. Time and time again you hesitate at the point where action is needed. How do you go about building the industry changing Business Empire you have in your head?
Take small Manageable Steps
The key to your success as an entrepreneur is to dream big and then take small manageable steps in the direction of your dream. Dream big, but start small. There is no room in your imagination for small dreams. Yes you may be running a small business right now, but think of that as one of the small steps in realising your big dream. What small next step can you take today to bring you closer to the dream enterprise or the dream job that keeps you awake at night?
There is only one obstacle in the way of achieving your dreams…YOU! Get out of your own way! Dream BIG and dare to fail!
Experiment with small Steps
Dream big, start small and be willing to experiment with your small steps. Every experiment carries with it a risk of failure and very few adults want to fail. Our education and upbringing has thought us to avoid failure and so as adults we remain rooted in the same dull, boring and unproductive job for years because we are uncertain of the outcome of our next move. A small step affords you the privilege of failing forward and makes each unsuccessful attempt at change, growth or expansion a chance to learn what works and what does not work at little financial cost.
In my career as a businessperson, I have taken several small steps and none of it resulted in my being disqualified from the race. While working as a consultant some year’s back, I got together with some of my friends and we felt the next logical step was to start our own consultancy company. We all contributed money, started the company and employed a manager to run it. We had big dreams and we started small. After a year and a half of not making much money, we closed the place down and I moved on to my next experiment. So dream big and start with small manageable steps.
Ten small steps you can take today to bring you closer to your dream.
Why not spend time today, think of the little things you can do to take you closer to your dream and then do it.
We were dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a great distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size. ~ Isaac Newton
I sat through a one-hour lecture on 4000 years of management history with great difficulty as I asked myself the question, “What is the relevance of this to me?” On a deeper reflection I realized how myopic I was in my thinking.
Here I was unable to appreciate the energy, effort and passion that had produced this amazing intellectual work. While I find no immediate use for what I heard, there are countless of others who will. This made me think differently about the work I do, the decisions I make and the actions I take. Everything is important and everything is relevant.
Today, tomorrow or 4000 years to come, someone somewhere will have a chance to build on your work and will thank you for making the effort.
What value do you put on the work you do? Beyond yourself, have you stopped to consider the effects of your thoughts, the implications of your decisions, and the consequences of your actions?
Yes it’s not about you. It’s about those coming after you. To leave a legacy is to think beyond yourself and have some consideration for those who will inhabit this world after you. As long as there is breath in you, you cannot resign yourself to your present circumstances or get complacent about your station in life. There is more to be done and you have a unique role to play. Yes, there is one more mountain to climb.
What inspires you to keep going when all that is inside of you wants to give up? After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela said “I found inspiration in a poem that helped me stand when all inside me wanted to lie down”. What inspires you to get up and move on?
I draw strength from the achievements of those who have gone before me, whose accounts and thoughts I glean from the books I read. I look beyond myself to the many I can assist on their journey just like many have helped me on my journey. You must find inspiration from outside of yourself. You must look around you at the things in your world from which you benefit not from your direct effort but from the effort of those who went before you.
You have available to you an enormous amount of information, knowledge and wisdom. That which took several men and women the whole of their lives laboring and sweating to investigate, learn and understand is now available to you at the click of a mouse. To who much is give, much is expected.
You can be more, do more and achieve more than you can think or imagine, you only need to make the required effort to climb on the shoulders of those who have gone ahead of you.
As you acquire and leverage knowledge, you can take advantage of opportunities unseen by many simply because you are standing on the shoulders of giants.
Leave a comment.
What inspires you to get up and continue to make the effort to learn and grow?
There are winners, there are losers and there are people who have not yet learned to win. ~ Les Brown
You and I know that giving meaningful and constructive feedback is not easy particularly if you believe you have something to say. Much more difficult is the receiving of feedback. I have to confess that I just do not handle the recieving of feedback as well as I should especially when there is a challenge to change.
I am yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism. ~ Charles Schwab
One valuable tool to aid your leadership journey is your willingness to give and receive feedback. Feedback will help you steer your course, maintain focus and give you the good feeling that comes from knowing you are making progress in the direction of your goals. Feedback is your friend. Seek it earnestly and profit from the valuable information derived from it.
How do you feel when you receive feedback? I conducted a survey amongst my work colleagues and these are the top three answers?
To grow from feedback we need to be challenged to improve on our current standard. Some will call this negative feedback, but I say that a challenge to improve and do better need not be a negative feedback. If receiving feedback brings the best out of you, why don’t you harness the giving of effective feedback to bring the best out of your team.
The WWW – What Went Well and EBI – Even Better If is one method of giving feedback that is used successfully in organisations. What went well simply means that you have to pay attention and comment on some of the things that worked. To make the work even better, you will need to point out some areas of improvement in a positive manner. For more on this visit http://stevesutherland45.wordpress.com/
If you live in the Toastmasters International world of public speaking where evaluation is an important part of members development, a used method of feedback is to Commend Recommend and then Commend. You commend the effort by telling your audience what worked well for you. You recommend an area of improvement and then you commend again to leave the speaker on a high note and in other not to diminish the sense of achievement that is felt after having completed a task.
Feedback is the Breakfast of champions ~ Ken Blanchard
Here are five tips to giving effective feedback.
Here are five tips to receiving feedback
How receptive are you to receiving feedback?
Why hesitate? Upon the plains of hesitation are the bleached bones of countless millions, who on the threshold of victory sat down to wait, and in waiting they died. – Author Unknown
Let me tell you a story.
Two seeds lay in a shallow depression in a field where the farmer had thrown them. As autumn arrived, birds searching for worms and the wintery wind loosened the earth which slowly starts to cover them up. Patiently they waited as the nights grew longer and the days grew colder. Autumn turned to winter. The ground turned frosty and they felt cold.
The snow came in and the pressure increased from the weight of the winter snow piling up above ground. Eventually the pressure eased, the snow melts and the soil once again became soft and moist. Warm spring winds gently began to caress the fields and both seeds could feel strange and powerful urges within themselves.
Still covered up and pressed down by the earth, the first little seed pondered, “I wonder what’s up there” and like a nation coming out of recession, he began to push curious little green shoots upwards in the direction of the earth’s crust. “And I wonder what’s down there” he said as he began to push enquiring little roots into the soil below.
But the second little seed said, “I have no idea what’s up there. It could be scary. And I don’t know what’s down there. That’s really frightening. So I think I’ll stay here a little longer. (from More Magic of Metaphor: Stories for Leaders,Influencers and Motivators Nick Owen)
Like the seed that’s saying to itself, “I think I’ll stay here a little longer. It could be dangerous up there and who knows what’s down there”, what is keeping you where you are when all the signs tell you this is not where you should be? Are you afraid of taking a step into the unknown? Do you lack the confidence in your own ability? Maybe you are enjoying where you are and you have lost your appetite for battle. You have become a big fish in a little pond.
For you reading this today, a gap exists between what you want to do and what you are doing. There should always be a gap because inside of you is a desire to reach out for more. The two seeds in my earlier story represents the two struggles that you will go through from time to time.
One part of you wants to reach out to start a new business venture but then another voice tells you that the world economic conditions are unstable. There is a promotion opportunity at work and you want to put yourself forward, but then this second voice tells you that you do not have the required skills and qualifications. You stay on for so long in a job that you hate; a job that is taking you farther away from your dreams because you find comfort and security where you are.
Yes stepping out of the familiarity and safety of a routine job into the uncharted waters of running your own business can be scary. Accepting the promotion and becoming responsible for leading twenty people as the branch manager can be equally daunting.
If you can see it as done then you can make it happen.
“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve”. Can you see it? Do you believe you can achieve it? ~ Napoleon Hill
It’s time to stop waiting and take the next step. If you have to improve your skills to get the promotion, please do it now. If you dream of owning your own business someday, begin today, do the research and write your plan.
Leave a comment and tell me why you hesitate.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. – John Quincy Adams, Sixth US President
For many years as a young man, I assumed that it is the job of the people at the top to lead the organisation. I thought that until you had a ‘position’ or occupied an ‘office’ you are not required to make any contribution to the organisation beyond what you are paid for.
So I did nothing other than what my job required. This meant that I stayed in one place and got frustrated and angry when things were not moving forward. I felt helpless as if I was tied to a chair with no room to move. I could feel the pain of stagnation resulting from my self imposed limitation.
One day at a seminar, I had the words ‘You need no title to be a leader’ and the proverbial penny dropped. I can lead without a tittle! It occurred to me that if I was going somewhere with my life I might just move this department forward and in the process move the organisation forward.
Leadership is about you going somewhere and inspiring others by your actions.
You are a leader and you do not need to be the chief executive to make a difference. You can make a difference where you are.
In his book The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life Robin Sharma tells the story of Ann, whom he described as a lovely woman who has a strong understanding of what it means to be a leader and lead without a tittle. Three things from Anna’s story that could help you in your job:
You too can take charge, to take responsibility and to take action.
To take charge demands courage conviction and confidence. Yes you can make a difference, yes you can impact the lives of others for good and yes you can go forward with your dreams.
To take responsibility requires you to fully understand that it is your action or inaction that got you where you are and it will be your action that will get you where you want to be.
To take action makes talk cheap. Now is the time to make it happen. Remember Noah didn’t wait for it to rain before he built an ark. Neither should you wait for anyones permission. Begin today to take the necessary steps to build the life that up till today you have only dreamed about.
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.’~ Abraham Lincoln
Here are three things to remember as you go into this week.
What steps will you take this week to move in the direction of your dream?
Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer ~ Denis Waitley
Contemplate the desired future in reflection,
Hold back from the challenges in today’s motion,
Afford yourself a change in direction,
Take life to a new dimension,
Seek the answer in a superior question
And observe steps of the cherished future in fruition.
What we focus on makes the difference.
Practical efforts applied towards the solution of today’s issues are bound to make a difference.
Often times the what, why, when, who and how, gravitate us towards the answers desired.
The depth of commitment applied to the questions and how far we are prepared to hold-out in favor of a solution, determines the quality of the answer.
While no question is of itself inferior, searching questions avail superior atmosphere within which excellence thrives.
However, while the answer desired may be absolute, the answers to our questions would almost always be incremental steps towards the solution.
By persevering during the wait, by taking on-board the lessons from the small increments, the stage is being set for a steady roll-out of superior questions and cherished answers that build the individual of excellent spirit.
Six words and their meaning to aid your thinking from dictionary.com
What question is on your mind at the moment?
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney
The beginning of Spring presents you an opportunity to get rid of some of the clutter on your desk, in your wardrobe and in your life. This can be really tough as you are often hunted with the thought that you might need what you have just thrown away. But then in the process of de-cluttering you just might uncover some hidden gem that has gotten buried under your pile of stuff.
Not only are gems buried under clutter, a clear out also gives you the perfect excuse to acquire something new. Now you don’t need to explain to your spouse the reason for your investment in new clothes, new shoes or a new gadget. You simply exchanged the old and unused for the new and useful. Your acquisitions have brought an increase or growth in your possessions. Old things discarded did not bring a decrease in your life because you weren’t using them anyway, but new things almost always bring growth and increase.
In the depressed world economy of today, where is your growth and increase coming from? Here is my list of 20 new things that can grow, increase and propel your life to the next level.
Now you have an opportunity to get bigger, become better and open up new streams of income. Start something new today.