TIP #42 - Don't Give Up
The words below were engraved on a plaque on my office wall. On particularly bad days, the kind where you want to quit on the spot, I would read these words again and again, looking for the courage to keep going. I always managed to find it. And in my twenty years in management, I learned the power of persistence. I learned not to give up on what I wanted.
You see people who are winning at working keep going when their dreams are beaten down, things fall apart, rejections mount or obstacles block their way. People who are winning at working don't quit on themselves or on their dreams.
DON'T QUIT
By Author Unknown
"When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high;
And you want to smile, but you have to sign;
When care is pressing you down a bit -
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you never can tell how close you are;
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit"
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Posted by Nan Russell at 01:31 PM
January 12, 2006Thought for the Day
I find it interesting that Cicero, the Roman philosopher and statesman who lived from 106-43 BC, wrote the following 2,000 years ago and it still applies in today's world.
"The six mistakes of man:*
1. The delusion that personal gain is made by crushing others.
2. The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or
corrected.
3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not
acquiring the habit of reading and studying.
6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do."
* From IdeaBank
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Posted by Nan Russell at 01:10 PM
January 07, 2006Thought for the Day
"Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
When I ran across this quotation recently, it struck me how often we throw away minutes in life. Say we waste 20 minutes a day. That's 121 hours a year or three 40 hour weeks. What could you do with three extra weeks every year that would help you be winning at working?
In twenty minutes you could make 4 phone calls which means an addition 1,460 calls a year. Or answer 3 emails, which would let you answer 1,095 more emails a year. Or listen to a book-on-tape, which would let you complete 20 books a year. Don't throw away your uncut diamonds.
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Posted by Nan Russell at 11:17 PM
January 03, 2006TIP #41 - An alternative to New Years Resolutions
I'm not a big fan of New Years resolutions. Sure I've made dozens of them, all with good intentions and a bit of magical thinking, believing this time the resolution will stick. Maybe a few have, but generally these wishful self-promises end up broken. And when that happens my self-esteem suffers.
You see, every time you break a self-promise, your self-trust is weakened. Every time you give up on your commitments your self-confidence takes a hit. And every time you look back on broken resolutions, your self-assessment hurts, not helps, your performance future.
By contrast, I am a huge fan of goals or dreams or aspirations or targeted focus. Call it what you like. Mine come in a variety of forms, anything from a life-to-do-list to aspirational dreams. But their achievement hinges on the same element - incremental action. I learned in twenty years of management the power behind small steps.
One baby step, then another and another eventually leads to achievement. Most of us are unlikely to hit home-run equivalents with our work or life goals. But by incrementally nibbling at them, we can accomplish most anything, actualizing life dreams and winning at working. Like the Chinese proverb reminds us, "The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
So, instead of New Years resolutions, I suggest you try an alternative this year. First, assess your progress. Second, align your direction.
Start by writing down your accomplishments for the last twelve months, asking yourself, what's different today from a year ago. These don't have to be big or work-only achievements, but note incremental progress in any part of your life. If I can do more sit-ups this year than last, that goes on my list. If I've read thirty books, I put that down. If I have a better relationship with a client, it's there.
Now, take a few minutes to savor your list, breathing in the powerful feeling of personal progress. It's amazing how good it feels to see what you're accomplished. Whenever I observe a tangible list of what I've achieved in just twelve months, it fuels my energy for what I can do in the next twelve. And that leads me to the second part of the experience: seeing where I'm headed. Like a compass, the list helps me align my focus and build incremental goals in the direction I want to be traveling.
You see, people who are winning at working leverage the power of incremental progress to build their performance, reach their goals, actualize their dreams and impact their results. In the process they build their self-esteem, self-trust and self-confidence. They know accomplishment breeds accomplishment; success produces success; and progress multiplies progress. Want to be winning at working? Start fueling your progress with incremental action.
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Posted by Nan Russell at 05:56 PM
