Newsletter for February 2009: The Power of a Single Step
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Before you go to bed tonight, take one step toward your dream. Maybe it's as small as writing a note to yourself, or re-reading your goals. Maybe it's making a phone call, buying a book on the subject, or driving past the home you want to own someday. Whatever it is, take one small step and remember Neil Armstrong's words when he landed on the moon: "That's one small step for a man, one GIANT LEAP for mankind."
This month, I want to talk about one of the simplest, easiest and most powerful tools for ultimate success I've ever found. It's based on common sense (one of the least common things around!) and it always works.
A few yeas ago, a therapist named Bill O'Hanlon wrote a great little book called, "Do One Thing Different." His point is that to change our lives, we must start somewhere. To build a mansion, we have to lay the first brick. To become wealthy, we must save that first $100. To write a book, we must get that first sentence on a blank page.
In debate and politics, there is a famous strategy called a "straw man" where you first accuse your opponent of advocating some silly position, then attack the weakness of that position in an attempt to make your opponent look just as silly. The strategy is based on a "big lie" but sadly, if often works.
And even sadder, we often do it to ourselves! How often do we hold ourselves back by going through the following ridiculous process:
(1) To be rich I must have lots of money. (2) I don't have lots of money. (3) So obviously, there's no point in trying to become rich.
We do that all the time. (All human beings do.) We tell ourselves that since I can't lose 30 pounds by next Friday, I might as well have ice cream tonight. Or, since I can't start my own business this week, there's no point in thinking about it, planning, reading, talking to people or gathering information. We talk ourselves out of getting started! We do it all the time, and if it weren't so sad, it would be silly.
Thomas Edison didn't know how to make a light bulb until he figured it out, and most people know it took him thousands of "failures" before he got it right. The Wright brothers didn't know how to fly until they figured it out. Amelia Earhart didn't know how to fly until she took lessons practiced and figured it out. No one is born knowing how to walk, ride a bike, drive a car, read a book, make love or earn a living, but gradually we learn to do all those things.
The key is incremental learning, or in simpler language, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Whatever you desire, take some step in that direction every day. Whatever you desire to learn, or build, or do or have or become, take some step in that direction TODAY. Of course, it may seem small! Come on, get real! In terms of the total journey, each individual step IS tiny! That's the way life is.
When Donald Trump built his first building, he had to apply for a loan like anyone else. He had to hire his first contractor, fill out paperwork, apply for a building permit, do all the "risky" small steps. And here's a powerful secret: When he builds a tower today, he STILL has to go through exactly the same steps! Sure, he has experience and a staff to help him, but the steps are still the same. Blueprints, permits, paperwork, and details.
Before you go to bed tonight, take one step toward your dream. Maybe it's as small as writing a note to yourself, or re-reading your goals. Maybe it's making a phone call, buying a book on the subject, or driving past the home you want to own someday. Whatever it is, take one small step and remember Neil Armstrong's words when he landed on the moon: "That's one small step for a man, one GIANT LEAP for mankind."
"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.
"The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams." -- Eleanor Roosevelt"
"The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed." -- Lloyd Jones
"We don't know who we are until we see what we can do." -- Martha Grimes
Strictly Business: Get With the System
One of my favorite authors and coaches is Michael Gerber, author of "The E-Myth" and "The E-Myth Re-Visited." With all due respect for his insights and at the risk of over-simplifying, my interpretation of his genius boils down to this, "A system will beat hard work every time."
Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of creating a job for themselves, when what they really intend is to create a business. Too often, skilled professionals, whether they are an attorney, architect, roofer or brick-layer, fall into the trap of being good at what they do, attracting customers, making money and forgetting a critical step: they never do the detailed work of creating a business.
Instead, they create a wonderful and lucrative job for themselves. They go to the office every day, work hard, and make some money. At some point, however, they discover they can't take a day off without losing business. Everything depends on them and they become slaves to their own success. No matter what their business cards say, that is NOT a business. It is a job.
The solution is that businesses run on systems.
Successful businesses are built on routines. They have written procedures and documented proprietary systems. Employees or sub-contractors may come and go, but the system stays in place and remains profitable. In the end, the customer is served not by one (lonely) professional, but by the systems the entrepreneur has created.
If your business isn't growing, or (even worse) if it is booming and you're just trying to keep up, consider getting a coach to help you develop systems for your success. A good system will beat brilliance and hard work, every time.
If you'd like to know more, contact me about coaching. We'll look at your systems and develop programs to expand your business so you can truly work less, make more and serve more customers. Contact me via email at: rodger@rodgerblaker.com
Humor: The Joys of Getting Older
Someone (it may have been George Burns) once said that the nice thing about growing old is that it beats the alternative. Read these additional insights about "the road ahead" and enjoy.
--- "I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor's permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over."
--- Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman asked, "What do you think is the best thing about being 104?" She replied, "No peer pressure."
--- The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs.
--- Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked, "How old was your husband?" "98," she replied. "Two years older than me." "So you're 96," the undertaker commented. She responded, "Hardly worth going home, is it?
--- I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees. Fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver's license.
---I've still got it, but nobody wants to see it.
---Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get back up!
--- And remember: You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing.
Rodger Blaker works with executives, small business owners and professionals who want to grow in their business and create an extraordinary life!
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