One of the most successful business people I know says that his goal in life is to die with everyone owing him something. He is one of the most generous people I know.
He is generous with his time, his knowledge, and his money.
He is also incredibly rich, and healthy, and happy.
And whenever he asks me for anything I always say ‘yes’, happily.
Most people go through life living by the maxim ‘I’ll give once I know I’ll get’.
And most people aren’t that successful.
In my career as a doctor there was a rule in medicine; only order tests if you were going to act on what you found. This is the same in business.
Only measure what you are then going to do something about.
If you’re not going to do anything, don’t waste your time measuring it.
When I wrote Unfair Fight I included the different stages in the lifecycle of a business:
Yesterday in a discussion with one of my staff members, I realised that this doesn’t just apply for businesses; it can also apply to units within businesses.
By not treating your entire business the same, by becoming more sniper accurate in the approach you apply to move each business unit forward, the more effective you can be.
It’s like marketing, you can throw enough shit at the wall and see what sticks, or you can aim before you fire.
Success isn’t that complicated, but it does take hard work:
You will never get this day back, you are running out of days, so make today your masterpiece.
“Get off your ass, write a plan, and take action.”
Be prepared to pay the price for success. Because it is worth it.
The price for not paying the price is intolerable.
No more excuses. You’re better than that.
Most people seem to really care about their reputation, about how others perceive them. Great people care about their own character, about who they are when nobody’s watching, and they let reputation take care of itself.