Newsletter for Septmeber 2005:
Delight in Taking Small Steps
Contents:
- This Months Thought
- The Magic of Taking Small Steps
- Quotes of the Month
- Strictly Business: Lessions of A World Class Business
- Humor: Curious & Useless Stuff
This Months Thought
In general, human beings do not do "big" things. We do little things. We get up, we go to work. We hug our loved ones, we make phone calls. We balance the checkbook, exercise and fix dinner. We do little things! Highly successful people simply do the right little things, at the right time, in the right way, and they do lots of them. If you would achieve great things, do little things and pile them one on top of another, until you reach the stars.
The Magic of Taking Small Steps
One of the great tragedies is to carry a dream and never take action to make it come true. To die with your dreams and aspirations still inside you, waiting for another time, another day, or a "big break" is the greatest of failures. Do not let that happen! Do not wait "until"!
Literally every thing you see and every tool you use, even the chair you're sitting on, began as nothing but a thought. Someone had an idea for a chair. Henry Ford had an idea that cars could be in every garage. Your computer began as an idea and a series of huge, crude devices in the 1940's. The actual computer you are looking at right now began as someone's idea that they could manufacture and sell computers better, faster and cheaper than anyone else.
Everything starts with an idea. It always has, and always will.
Many people have observed that "ideas are things". Thoughts and words have the power to move us, to change us, and to become living, breathing, tangible things! In a sense, our world is made up of nothing but thoughts and words!
But there is a gulf between an idea and its fulfillment.
Most "things" are actually still-born and never come to fruition because we fail to span the gulf between potential and reality. That gap can only be bridged with daily action.
How many times have you thought of an invention or process that could be worth a fortune, done nothing about it, and then found that same (or a similar) product for sale a few months later? We've all had that experience. Someone got rich off "your" idea and the difference is that they took specific, concrete, focused ACTION. Their product is in the store, for sale, making them money, and your idea is still...a dream.
Here are some basics, some essentials to make your dreams come true:
- Plan your days. Every evening, plan the following day. First thing in the morning, plot your strategy. Leaders have always done this! This is not new! But only about 4% of the population does it. Write down your priorities and choose your daily actions.
- Keep a list of big things. On your desk, or on your bathroom mirror, keep a list of your most important projects, goals and commitments. Keep it where you see it, and read it, every day. Keep it current. There is a fundamental truth I share with my clients frequently; “What we think about, gets done; what we focus on expands”!
- Keep a list of small things. Keep a list of 5-minute tasks, phone calls or notes that you can do any place, any time. When you wait for an appointment, make that call. When you have a minute, send a note or read a few pages. Always know "what's next" and take action, every single day.
- Take magnificent care of yourself! Healthy, happy, energetic people get the most done. It takes time and energy to achieve greatness. If you "don't have time", or are "too tired" or too distracted or too anything, you will not achieve your dreams. Take care of yourself.
We've all heard the phrase, "Rome wasn't built in a day." We know that "a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step", and we've heard the Serenity Prayer that begins, "Give me the courage to change the things I can."
In general, human beings do not do "big" things. We do little things. We get up, we go to work. We hug our loved ones, we make phone calls. We balance the checkbook, exercise and fix dinner. We do little things! Highly successful people simply do the right little things, at the right time, in the right way, and they do lots of them. If you would achieve great things, do little things and pile them one on top of another, until you reach the stars.
Quotes of the Month
"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?" -- Ben Franklin
"If you can DREAM it, you can DO it." -- Walt Disney
"We don't know who we are until we see what we can do." -- Martha Grimes
"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Strictly Business: Lessons of A World Class Business
The following is about the common skills, attitudes and behaviors of "World Class Businesses". It’s a reminder that small companies have huge advantages over larger competitors, but most entrepreneurs utterly fail to leverage their advantages.
Small companies can respond instantly to new opportunities. An owner or manager of a small company with the right ATTITUDE can take advantage of a new opportunity, often within 15 minutes. A large competitor may take months to form a committee!
Small companies can form alliances with their customers and suppliers that are simply impossible for larger companies. You KNOW your customers! Ask them what they want. Ask them to help you serve them better. What customer would refuse to help you develop a better product at a lower price? Use your alliances!
Finally, small companies benefit from small changes in ways that large companies simply can not. For a professional or small business owner, a new product or even one new customer that increases sales by $100,000 per year is a big deal! You can afford to get interested. You can afford to respond. You can leverage that! General Motors literally can't afford to care or even notice a $100,000 deal.
World Class Businesses use their strengths. They use technology, mobility and creativity in ways that large bureaucracies simply cannot match.
Humor: Curious and Useless Stuff
The following stuff is totally useless, but they may give you a chuckle and you could certainly stump most people with these as trivia questions. Enjoy! (There is also no guarantee that any of them are factually accurate or "true".)
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than for the US Treasury.
Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better then men.
Coca-Cola was originally green.
The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...) The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
The youngest pope was 11 years old.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
Those San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monument.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 12,345,678,987,654,321
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
Rodger Blaker works with small business owners and professionals who want to grow their business and create an extraordinary life! For info on resources for your success, visit: http://www.rodgerblaker.com
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