Newsletter for August 2008: The Three-Step Success Dance

This Months Thought
The Three-Step Success Dance
Quotes of the Month
Strictly Business: Many Hands Make Light Work
Humor: The Wisdom of Children

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The third step to total success is a commitment to make life better, easier, and richer for as many people as possible. I love Zig Ziglar's quote that, "You can have anything you want in life if you find a way to help enough other people get what they want in life." What a wonderful challenge!
 

Over and over again, I receive emails, inquiries from clients and invitations to speak on the question of "the good life." Every human being wants to live a great life! We want peace, joy, loving relationships, meaningful work, and a level of financial success. We want our lives to "mean something."

One of the most influential books of the past 50 years is Viktor Frankl's, "Man's Search for Meaning." Having survived the horrors of Nazi death camps, Frankl observed that the most basic and enduring of human needs was for "meaning," or I might term it, significance. We want our lives to "amount to something."

So the question really boils down to, "What can I do with my life that will be fulfilling and make a difference for me and others?" I don't want to get too philosophical, but that is a key question!

I think the answer is both simpler, and perhaps more difficult, than we like to admit.

The answer is simple because it's been known for thousands of years. Philosophers, teachers, theologians and poets have been talking about this for a long time. "There is nothing new under the sun." Unfortunately, it's also more difficult than we like to admit because we want an instant solution or a guaranteed formula and that (sad to say) hasn't been found.

Here, however, are three "simple" (not easy, but pretty straight-forward) steps that have been recommended by lots of smart people and, in my 25 years of observation, seem to work. Ready? Here we go:

1. The first step of the success dance is, as Socrates put it, to "know thyself." In Western culture, with our love of technology and speed and change, we don't do much "pondering." We are not patient, introspective people. In the famous words of Walt Whitman, we want to "be up and doing."

Too often, we are doing the wrong things. As Peter Drucker put it, too often we climb the ladder of success, "only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall." The good life seems to be a life lived out of our values, consistent with our talents and reflecting our aspirations. Success is about integrity, commitment and service. Often, money and other nice things arrive, too, but success is seldom found in anything as obvious as a bank account or fancy house.

2. The second step is about getting along with people. It's about teamwork, partners, community, and fellowship. As the poet, John Donne, wrote, "no man is an island," or as the Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman observed, no one person can produce even a simple pencil. We need the cooperation of others. We need people who love and respect, appreciate, trust and cooperate with us.

Success is about the ability to get along with one another. We need our families, friends and business partners. At the very least, we need the trust (and purchasing power) of our customers!

3. The third step of the success dance is about making a difference. The third step is always action! It's about being flamboyant, taking a risk, reaching out, trying something, getting our feet wet and our hands dirty. It's about making a contribution and serving as many people as possible.

The third step is to make life better, easier, and richer for others, before we focus on enriching ourselves. I love Zig Ziglar's quote that, "You can have anything you want in life if you find a way to help enough other people get what they want in life." What a wonderful challenge!
 

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." -- Mahatma Gandhi

"We are what we repeatedly do." -- Aristotle

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world." -- Buddha

"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, this is no other life but this." -- Henry David Thoreau 

Strictly Business: Many Hands Make Light Work 

A classic mistake of entrepreneurs, professionals and ambitious people is to try "doing it all" by themselves. Too often, people with great potential fail because they fail to delegate. They fail to build effective teams, or in their rush to succeed, they forget the skills of leadership.

This week, a man in the L.A. area decided not to hire me as his coach because a major deal, for which he had requested my services, fell through. In our initial conversation, he recognized that he needs help with organization and accountability. He's been trying to do too much by himself and admits he is often scattered and ends up not being as productive as he could be. He is often frustrated and confused by his own behavior-he "knows" what to do, but ends up spending his days "majoring in minor things."

Based on the projected revenue from that deal, he was going to hire a coach to assist him. Then, the deal fell through and he wrote that, "now, while I probably need a coach more than ever, I don't think I can afford it." Well!

Too often, entrepreneurs and professionals make major investments in their own skills (education) and in hardware, but fail to hire good people. Or, they hire people, but fail to train, equip and supervise them. Instead of hiring and delegating, they abdicate! That is no answer.

Every business needs a team! Every business needs accounting, production, sales and technical support. Every business needs a staff of one kind or another. You probably cannot "do it all."

If you would like coaching to build your business and increase your effectiveness, let me know. Let's talk about it! Contact me at: rodger@rodgerblaker.com  I look forward to hearing from you.
 

A few of us are old enough to remember Art Linkletter's "House Party" and the conversations he always had with children at the end of each show. The following are some similar nuggets.

NUDITY: I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, "Mom! That lady isn't wearing a seat belt!"

HONESTY: My son Zachary, 4, came screaming out of the bathroom to tell me he'd dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. So I fished it out and threw it in the garbage. Zachary stood there thinking for a moment, then ran to my bathroom and came out with my toothbrush. He held it up and said with a charming little smile, "We better throw this one out too, 'cause it fell in the toilet a few days ago."

OPINIONS: On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, "The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents."

KETCHUP: A woman was trying hard to get ketchup out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. "It's the minister, Mommy," the child said to her mother. Then she added, "Mommy can't come to the phone right now. She's hitting the bottle."

DRESS-UP: A little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, "Daddy, you shouldn't wear that suit." "And why not, darling?" "You know that it always gives you a headache the next morning."

SCHOOL: A little girl had just finished her first week of school. "I'm just wasting my time," she said to her mother. "I can't read, I can't write and they won't let me talk!"

BIBLE: A little boy opened the big family bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found," the boy called out." "What have you got there, dear?" With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, "I think it's Adam's underwear!" 

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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