So many people asking for the answers… to life, to success, to business…
It’s so IRONIC! I want to scream from the mountain tops…
STOP ASKING FOR BETTER, EASIER ANSWERS… Just work on applying the ones you already know.
All we need to do, is do what to books say to do!
There is so much intelligence available today. And, not just available but readily available, and yet, so many individuals and businesses continue to struggle to find “harmony”, success, PEACE OF MIND!
I see NO correlation between financial wealth and peace of mind / harmony. NONE!
But, let me stick to the script…
DO WHAT THE BOOKS SAY!
I am thinking primarily to achieving peace of mind as individuals and sustainable growth as businesses. I am going to try to speak to both at the same time.
How many books do you read that suggest…
- Add more to your plate.
- Focus on the little stuff.
- Do more things at once.
- Don’t take any time to reflect.
- Don’t worry about people, just worry about the numbers.
- Company culture is irrelevant.
- You don’t really need a vision or a strategy.
- Focus on making money – in order to find happiness.
- Just make it about your own interests…
- Don’t worry about communicating your vision with your company.
- Make all the decisions yourself.
- Work on worrying and being anxious… its not only good for you, but good for your business.
- Eat more carbs.
- Your weight and wellness has nothing to do with your state of mind.
I haven’t found many… in fact NONE.
All the books and the research, whether you agree with every ounce of it or not, suggests a very similar course of action.
And, most of us can probably recite the “RIGHT” things to do.
We all have a pretty good idea of how to eat to lose weight, but its still quite challenging.
WHY? What makes finding personal peace of mind, sustainable business success SO FREAKIN' TOUGH???
I am convinced it’s primarily three things.
First, we focus our energy on “knowing” and not “doing” or “being”.
So many people say with a pseudo smirk, and a sarcastic tone, is there any business book you haven’t read?
I am convinced, they are thinking, “What new things could you possibly be learning?” Or, “Are you that dense that you have to keep reading those books?” Maybe its my own insecurity, but I am pretty sure there is a real tone to their comments.
I read, not to “know” more, but to be reminded of those things that I know, but don’t do enough of…
I don’t read thinking, “Do I know this?”
I read and listen thinking, “How well do I apply this? How often do I do this? How can I better understand it to do it more, to do it better, and to help others understand the importance of it?”
When we think, “Do I know this?” We immediately dismiss it, when we check the box.
Every company wants to grow. Every company wants to succeed. But, SO FEW DO. The Executives and Leaders all KNOW what needs to be done. They could all likely write a long dissertation on what it takes to succeed. It’s just not about KNOWING.
It is so frustrating to watch people spiraling into the organizational and business abyss and when you ask them about a certain concept, its “I already know that.”, “I already tried that.” And, yet, truth is they are failing exactly at that.
Success and happiness and harmony aren’t a box that you can check. It has no end line, no end point… There is no THERE, THERE! You can’t KNOW it.
You can’t succeed by KNOWING… you can only succeed by DOING and BEING.
Second, we focus on the BIG goal, the EVENTUAL success, and we fail to make the MOMENTS MATTER.
We want to grow by $10 Million dollars next year. We want to diversify. We want to improve quality. We want to… want to… want to… next month, next year, over the next 3 years…
Harmony, success, happiness… happens in EACH and EVERY moment. It’s the only place we exist. It’s the ONLY place that we can AFFECT.
We can’t do anything next month. We can’t do anything “next year” or even “this coming year.”
What ever it is that we want to achieve, we need to define it and act on it in the granularity of the moment.
I know we all “get” that. We all “know” that. But how often do we LIVE that?
How aware and active are you in EVERY MOMENT building the business, creating a consistent interpretation of strategy and vision, improving clarity and quality, engaging employees, understanding clients’ needs, selling?
You MUST act in EVERY moment in the direction of your DESIRE… in the direction of PEACE OF MIND.
You tell your employees, “we are going to focus on quality!” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? How do I act on it? Versus, starting right now, we are going to increase our training, and next week we are going to have our first training on X, Y, or Z, and right now you are selecting the leader of that training, and right now you are communicating that training, and right now you are working to free people up to be able to join that training.
We cannot act in the future. We cannot deliver large and impressive goals “over time”.
We can only act in the NOW, and we can only deliver minute changes and minute impacts in the moment that overtime create the transformation.
Third, we aren’t really committed to change (and grow).
Our minds have momentum. Our “truths” have momentum. The way we have come to understand things makes us comfortable. It’s the world we know. It’s the rules we have come to accept.
We read things. We consider things. We see others doing things. But, when it comes right down to it, we aren’t really committed to doing things differently ourselves… and yet, we expect different results.
I know it sounds crazy when you read it, but tell me its not true.
It’s true for me, at least.
How many times have I been in the same conversation at work, trying to increase sales or improve quality or solve some problem. We are all talking about making it better, and yet we leave without committing to really doing anything different.
We talk about different things, different solutions, but we don’t really commit to anything different, any real change in priorities, change in resourcing, change in process… we just speak animatedly about the need for change and better results. And, then we go back and do everything the same way.
Why don’t we keep growing? Shouldn’t we find more and more harmony and happiness as we grow older? If we are indeed learning, shouldn’t we keep getting better and better? But, how many people actually do? How many businesses truly get better and better over time. How many people find greater and greater happiness as they go… versus how many business survive in spite of themselves, how many adults can’t sleep without sleeping pills? How many adults are in a maturing and improving relationship with their spouse? How many marriages are happier and not less happy over time?
Not MOST, and I would argue, a small % actually do.
So, why NOT ME? Why NOT YOU?
It’s possible and within our power.
I call it harmony. You call it what you want.
It’s about setting goals and having a mindset committed to controlling what you can control. What is within our control.
REFRAME your life in a way that speaks to that which is in your control (which is A TON).
Then SEEK to really understand THE truth. Not YOUR truth, but THE TRUTH. It is elusive, and when we understand it – we need to EMBRACE IT. We don’t just need to KNOW the truth… we need to ACCEPT and ACT the TRUTH.
And, then we need to come up with a plan to deliver what we want. IN EVERY MOMENT. The plan needs to be mindful of the power of the moment. It must be made understandable and actionable in the MOMENT.
We all know the answers already. Don’t look at the world and ask yourself, “Do I already know this?
Do what the books say.
Do what the research suggests.
It’s not about knowing, its about doing and being, about acting on it in the moment, and about realizing that its never ending…
And, if we DO that… if we LIVE that…
Then every so often you can look up, in fact you should do it regularly…
And, acknowledge the TRUTH of your progress, and your lack of progress,
And, adjust your actions in the moment… to keep working toward that unreachable place…
It’s about the journey, its about the being…
Do what the Japanese did in the 60s and 70s. They thought the Americans were really doing what the management books said, and by following the books they became the world leaders in manufacturing.
I see my momentum and that of our company accelerating. We fail in many moments, but we keep succeeding more and more deliberately. And, I and EMG are deliberately growing... attempting to learn and grow... in EVERY moment!
Do what the books say…
Do what you already know is right…
And, don’t expect to do it once…
COMMIT TO CHANGE and keep growing forever.
Success is a moment away…
Don’t KNOW it… BE it…
Yours in harmony,
Nestor