Everyone wants to be extremely talented and to have incredible natural ability. But the reality is that not all of us are blessed with that natural ability. We can’t change that. But what we can change is our effort.
How hard are you willing to work? How much are you willing to sacrifice? Are you determined to make it happen? Do you make a plan and work the plan? Are you intrinsically motivated? Do you work well with others? Do you have a good attitude? Do you show up? Do you follow through with what you say you’ll do?
Your effort in life will play a bigger role than your natural ability. The more effort you give, the more ability you can develop.
You need to have discipline to reach your potential. When people say they can’t wake up early, can’t find time to go to the gym, can’t eat the right foods, etc. what I hear is an excuse. You can have results or excuses, not both. If you want something bad enough you will find away. If you don’t, you will find an excuse. Don’t say I can’t. Say how can I?
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
There are lead measures and lag measures.
Lead measures are actions you should track to help you get to your goal (such as how many prospecting phone calls you made, deals you analyzed, days or minutes per week you exercised, or calories you consumed). Lead measures typically don’t get you too excited, but they are necessary for you to hit your goals. These are the seeds that you plant.
Lag measures are results-based. Examples of lag measures might be how many deals you closed, how much weight you gained/lost, hitting a PR in a specific exercise, etc. Lag measures are the end results. Their success depends on what you’re doing for your lead measures, therefore they are lagging behind. This is the harvest you reap.
Obviously, you don’t always want to only plant seeds and never receive the harvest. You need both to stay motivated and keep getting the results you desire. But don’t expect the harvest to always be there if you stop planting seeds daily/regularly.
What type of players do you have and your team? Grade each player/team member. Do you have A players, B players, C, D, or F? An A player has all the attributes you want. They have a good work ethic, are ambitious, speak and act with integrity, are always willing to help the team, have a good attitude, and are always looking to learn or improve. A B player might be missing one of those attributes or might have a lower level of several of those attributes. A C player will be missing multiple attributes. You should seriously consider whether or not to keep a C player on your team. Are they willing to work hard to become an A or B player? If not, better to cut the cord and let them go. D and F players should not be on your team, as they are just dragging everyone else down and making them work harder.
There is the saying that when a flower doesn’t bloom (or a tree doesn’t grow), it’s not the flower/tree’s fault, it’s the environment. That is true of flowers and also in business. You need to have the right environment around for your best players to blossom and to become the best versions of themselves. But at the same time, not every flower/tree/plant is meant to survive in every environment. For example, you aren’t going to see a cactus thrive in Alaska or a palm tree in Antarctica. Sometimes you cannot change the environment. Or at least, you shouldn’t change the environment to suit the needs of the extreme outliers in your company. Some people will succeed and others you may need to let go. Don’t change your environment for C, D, or F players. You will drive out your A and B players. Don’t cater to the weak spots on your team. They need to step up their game and take responsibility.
If you aren’t willing to work for it, don’t complain about not having it.
This is a simple, but true statement:
“If you aren’t willing to work for it, don’t complain about not having it.”
The truth is, many of the things we desire most in life won’t come easy. If you want the best marriage, an extremely successful career, lots of money to save/invest or to spend on things you want, amazing health, etc., you’re going to have to work for it. It doesn’t just naturally happen, especially when it is in our programming to embrace being comfortable.
Society has contributed to making our lives as comfortable as possible. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. It’s nice that society has made much of life easy and convenient, but oftentimes, what is easy and convenient is not what’s best for our long-term goals. There are too many exciting things vying for our attention and making us lose focus on what’s important, too many delicious treats/junk food to add to our expanding waistlines, and the affordability of those items seems relatively low. But that’s part of the genius of any good company’s marketing plan…Because, on a case-by-case basis, most of it IS inexpensive. But when these actions are compounded daily – when it becomes the norm to go on a shopping spree instead of saving money, to binge on a Netflix show instead of working out, to going on social media instead of reading a book, or to eat fast food instead of making a healthy meal – that’s when it really costs us a lot.
Our goal should be to get better every day. Whether that’s 10% better, 1% better, or 0.1% better…if we can improve ourselves everyday, we will look back 20 years from now and be amazed at all we have achieved. The key here is to start with your next decision. It can seem overwhelming if you have to make the right decisions all day. But if you just do what you feel is right for your next one, and build momentum from there, you’ll be alright.
Remember that we have choice in everything we do and there are consequences to those choices. Do we want a positive result or a negative one from the decisions we make? Is the short-term pleasure going to outweigh the long-term effects of it? Many of us subconsciously complain about lacking what we desire – a lean body, a big bank account, a perfect marriage – but we don’t put in the effort that it takes to achieve those things. The way I see it, you have two options…Option one is to change your habits and to work hard for what you want. Option two is to stop complaining. You didn’t want the result badly enough to act on it, so stop complaining. Nobody wants to hear you complain anyways – at least not those who have already achieved what you want to achieve.
