Self Improvement Information

There are many memorable moments in our lives.  To a parent, it is their child’s first steps, first tooth, or many other moments of our child’s growth.  In our business life it is when we make a total commitment to our goals and to the business that we are pursuing.

Many people  never make that important decision.  They drift through their working years going from one thing to another.  Trying a business here, and tiring of that, and moving on to another one.  It reminds me of when I was a child, and the first swim of the summer season.  My friends and I  would put our big toes in the cold water and squeal from the shock.  It seemed too brutal to just jump in, with a total commitment.  As I got older, I realized that the commitment of  jumping in, although it was a shock to my body,  saved so much time.   Even with the anticipated agony of the frigid water, once it was over, it left me so much more time to swim and enjoy the water.

I have known a lot of people, when starting a new business opportunity,  only want to put their toe in.  They refuse to immerse themselves in a total commitment.  They say, “I’m going to try this”.  What they don’t realize is that “trying” something is like attempting to drop a pencil.  You either drop it, or you don’t…there is no “try”.  “Trying” leads, almost always, to failure.

Then there are the half hearted people who really believe they are giving a commitment to something.  At the first sign of  the pain in a challenge, all you can see is their dust as they fly down the road to the next business or opportunity.

Commitments are life changing.  When we truly commit to something, we give it our all!  Fulfilling marriages are not made by bolting at the first sign of trouble.  Marriage, as anything else, has its painful moments.  Some of the happiest couples have worked through some of the worst pain in their marriage.

Succeeding in business is much the same.  There are painful moments in any business, whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur.  The most successful people I know in the business world had to slog through some of the toughest challenges imaginable.  They made a commitment.   They got tough.  They planted their feet, burned their bridges and committed wholeheartedly to success.

My advice is to jump into the freezing water of your business with a total commitment.  If you make a total commitment and you fail….you fail.  Dust yourself off and go at it again.  Don’t waste time licking your wounds.  Successful people fail fast, and fail forward.  Meaning, they embrace their failures for the lessons they bring.  Get back in the game, and use those lessons to, once again, commit to the success in their future.

Every day, we are presented with a clean sheet to write our life’s experiences upon.  Do you believe that?  In some ways, that is correct.  This day hasn’t been lived before.  We can do with it as we wish.  What does matter, is the decisions we have made in the past.  Each new day has been colored with the crayons of our past decisions.

I watched a movie several years ago called 50 First Dates.  The premise of this movie was that Drew Barrymore’s character had an accident years before that left her with short term memory damage.  Every morning when she woke up she had forgotten the last 10 years of her life.  Life was moving on for her, she continued to draw, she fell in love, she just couldn’t remember any of it the next day.

Why do I bring that movie up?  Each day, our lives move forward.  We continue to go to work, have families, and live our lives.  Unlike Drew Barrymore’s character, we don’t automatically forget what happened yesterday, last week or last year.

Let me propose something to you.  How could someone get to the place in their life where they have lost their sense of proper business ethics and embezzle a million dollars?  They wouldn’t wake up one morning and say, “I think I’ll embezzle some money today.  A million dollars sounds about the right amount.” No, they make little decision all along the way that eroded their honesty and make the theft a logical thing in their mind.  They made the decision years ago to become less than ethical.

Most of us don’t go the route of doing criminal things.  Yet, our success or lack of success has been practiced every day by the habits we decide upon.  Today, I have a great video from John C. Maxwell taking about successful habits.  It is 7 minutes long and I believe you will enjoy it!

Have you ever been in the situation where you are ruled by the time clock?  When you are late to work,  you are met with glares and threats from your management.  You better be on time or lose your job!  When production isn’t met, or you make a mistake,  you are threatened, once again, with dismissal or that dreaded disciplinary action “going into your file”.  Getting time off for a doctor’s appointment, or any other needed time away, is met with suspicion and guilt.  Management is seen as the enemy, always prepared to use fear, intimidation, and threats to keep us producing the way they think we should.

Why do perfectly decent human beings result to managing like this?  Do they treat their family and friends this way?  Of course not!  They wouldn’t keep them for long if they did.  I believe, they do this because they have had a manager in the past who treated them this way.  They believe this is how people are suppose to be managed.  Perhaps, their management above them treats them this way.  As a plumber would tell you, poo runs down hill!

Another reason might be that they really believe that genuine caring is considered a weakness and that they are being “too nice”.  They believe that you must be tough and uncaring to win people’s respect.

This is a crock of crap.  They may get the production done because of their intimidation tactics.  But, it will come with a stiff penalty.  They will never earn the respect of their people.  They will only get the work they force others to give, and no more.

I believe,  people want to be treated with caring and respect.  A leaders solution to this is to add the human factor to all aspects of their business.  It is possible to make firm and tough decisions and treat people good.  Decisions should be made for the benefit of the team and the people who are part of that team.  They will see this and respond positively.  People will give more to the leader who who sees them as a human being not just a nameless face or number.

It is a human desire to be part of something bigger than themselves.  They want to belong to a team or business that functions like a positive family environment.  As with families, it isn’t always perfect, but with time and respect all things can be worked out.

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