Newsletter for January 2008: First Pillar of Success: Passion
This Months Thought
First Pillar of Success: Passion
Quotes of the Month
Strictly Business: Why Are You in Business?
Humor: So, Like, What's UP?
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Out of knowing who you are and what you want (Self-Awareness) comes a Passion to make a difference. Find something that excites you, something that scares you a bit because it's so big and challenging and wonderful then trust your Positive Passion to make it happen. That's what winners do.
First Pillar of Success: Passion
This is the second in a series on what I believe to be "building blocks" that high achievers use to achieve their goals. After studying highly effective people for over 5 years, ranging from wealthy entrepreneurs to creative artists, to great parents, ministers, teachers and salespeople, I've tried to identify what I think are excellent "building blocks" that they have in common.
I am convinced that building a great life is NOT an accident. It is not a matter of luck or coincidence or genetic gifts. Of course, those things play a role. If your dream is to be a world-class athlete, it probably helps to be strong and quick and agile!
No one disputes that, but the mystery is how so many people with apparent "lucky genes" falter and fail in life, while others who were never voted "most likely to succeed" go on to great achievement. How does that happen?
The answer, of course, is that there are specific, measurable skills to success in life. And they can be learned!
Last month I pointed out that the "foundation" for a great life is Unusual Self-Awareness. Highly effective people know who they are and build lives that reflect their interests, abilities, talents and values. The failures in life, no matter how much money or power they accumulate, are always trying to be "someone else."
Perhaps the most glaring example of failure in all of history was a guy named Judas Iscariot. He figured out how to get the money - he betrayed his teacher - and he got the money. He got 30 pieces of silver and all it cost him was a self-hatred that caused him to throw the money away and go hang himself. Getting the money did not equal success!
"First, know thyself." It all starts with a foundation of Self-Awareness. You don't want to spend your life only to find out at the end that you "blew it." Walk in the direction you really want to go!
And go with Passion!
Passion has many names. Some people call it a sense of mission or purpose. Some have a sense of God's calling, while others have a vision that keeps them focused through the years.
I am convinced that all high achievers have a sense of Passion about what they can accomplish in life. Some describe it elegantly and precisely, while others seem muddled and may even claim they "never think about it." But it's there, nevertheless.
We are goal-seeking creatures. From childhood we have dreams and we are determined to walk and talk, to master games, and go to school. Later, we learn to drive, to date, to play sports or music. Throughout history, we have wondered what lay over the horizon, out of sight and calling to us. We are an exploring, curious people, and that is the basis for Passion.
Now, it's important to note that some people are driven by negative passions. In extreme cases, they are driven by hate or fear, but more often they are driven by less dramatic, everyday passions for sex or money or irresponsible power. Many addictions are merely passion focused, for instance, gambling or drugs. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the person who acts out this way is bad, but the results are often disastrous.
The winners in life are pulled forward by a Passion for what's possible. They have a dream of raising great kids or building a great business. They imagine writing a great symphony or preserving a rain forest. They have a Passion that fires their imagination, which gets them up in the morning, a Passion that renews their hope, and pulls them forward.
Out of knowing who you are and what you want (Self-Awareness) comes a Passion to make a difference. Find something that excites you, something that scares you a bit because it's so big and challenging and wonderful, and then trust your Positive Passion to make it happen. That's what winners do.
Quotes of the Month
"In each of us are places where we have never gone. Only by pressing the limits do you ever find them." -- Dr. Joyce Brothers
"Picture in your mind a sense of personal destiny." -- Wayne Oates
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain
Strictly Business: Why Are You in Business?
Over the past five years I've worked with dozens of small and mid-size businesses, and have talked with the owners of most of them. I've noticed that while every situation is different, there seem to be two basic reasons why these people are in business.
By far the most common - and unfortunately, the less successful - reason is to make a profit. Sure, there are many ways to phrase or look at it, but the majority of these owners have told me they are in business to make money. They market a product or service in the hopes of beating the competition, attracting customers, making sales and creating a profit.
In the process, they create jobs, expand the national economy and achieve a level of satisfaction, personal reward and profits.
There is nothing wrong with that! That is the essence of capitalism and our free-market system!
What I notice, however, is that the focus on profits often leads to a kind of myopia, or short-sightedness. They make sales, but not repeat sales. Their costs of advertising, marketing, and customer-creation are extremely high.
The second reason is fundamentally different and leads to different results.
These people tell me they are in business to SERVE A SATISFIED CUSTOMER and that is a HUGE distinction!
A well-managed business that is focused on serving a satisfied customer generates profits, but they also have the benefit of repeat business and LOYAL customers. They have the advantage of customers who become their (volunteer) R&D team. They have the advantage of lower marketing and sales costs and that advantage typically falls straight to the bottom line and into the owner's pocket.
So, why are you in business? What's the "real" reason? What do you think about first, last and all day long?
My advice: Think about serving satisfied customers. If you do, innovation, production costs, marketing costs, and profits, will tend to take care of themselves in a very satisfying way.
Friends often send me great humor, puns and miscellaneous things to ponder in my spare time. Here's a few observations I received recently on the English language and our simple two-letter word, UP:
So what is this stuff about English being easy? There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word in the English language -- and that is the word "UP."
It's easy to understand UP (meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list) but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning, but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!
To understand the proper uses of UP, look it UP in the dictionary. In a desk size dictionary, the word up takes UP almost a quarter page and it adds UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so...I'll just shut UP!
Rodger Blaker works with executives, small business owners and professionals who want to grow in their business and create an extraordinary life!
For info on resources for your success, visit: http://www.rodgerblaker.com or call me at 214-485-2238.
Please forward this copy to your friends and colleagues! That's how I grow!