The Importance of Productivity, Focus, and Measurement
When I was in school, I would study at least a couple of hours each day in the library. While there, I noticed that the best students were always very focused. They were not distracted like poorer students were. A poor student looks around and looks up frequently. The poor students try to start conversations, make jokes, and laugh at things going on in the library. When I was studying with the best students, I could feel their energy and focus. They blocked out external stimuli and their study time was extremely productive. In fact, just about [Read more]
Stay on Track
I have been interested in self improvement and the process of growing spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually for most of my life. For the most part I believe we are all interested, to some degree, in growing and getting better at everything we do. If you go to any bookstore, you will undoubtedly encounter thousands of books all claiming they can help you improve in all areas of your life. There are gurus and similar types of people throughout the world who will tell you how to change or improve one thing or another about yourself. For example, [Read more]
You Need to Stand for Something
Today, I read a story in the Washington Post about a girl who recently resigned from West Point and is going to Yale. She resigned from West Point because she is gay and the school will kick her out if it learns that she is gay. Tired of compromising between what she believed was right and wrong, she resigned to protest the policy and be consistent with her own internal compass. When I started reading the story, I immediately thought—she’s probably transferring to Harvard or Yale. Sure enough, I was not surprised when I learned later in the article that that was where she was going. Why wasn’t I surprised? Because a school like Yale probably receives a couple of hundred transfer applications for every spot it has open (very few people drop out of Yale). In order to get one of those spots you need to stand for something. How memorable is it to have a good grade point average? Lots of people have good grades. Very few people stand for something. The people [Read more]
Values and Your Career
In my entire career, I have not come upon a single instance in which a candidate left their firm within one year of starting there. Putting a person in a job where they are likely to stay is more difficult than it may sound. In order for someone to stay in a job for an extended period of time, they need to believe that the job is a good fit for them. In speaking with jobseekers, I have heard comments like:
- “That firm is so cool, the people there all like to do stuff like go mountain climbing together.”
- “That firm is great. Once you get a job there, you pretty much always have a job because they never let people go.”
- “I really like the people at this firm. They love to go out and have a good time all the time and are all friends outside of work.”
- “I would never work at that firm, the people there are too uptight and boring.”
Give the World What It Wants
One of the most fundamental laws in the human and animal kingdom is that you must contribute to the world in order to survive. Species that do not contribute effectively to the world are typically eliminated by evolution. People who do not contribute effectively to the world are unemployed or under-employed. A major key to the success we experience in our lives, then, will be in direct proportion to how much we contribute.
- In most cases, the people who are the most powerful, wealthy, and famous are the people in society who contribute the most.
- Conversely, the people who are least powerful, least wealthy, and least known in the world contribute the least.
Your life and the success you experience [Read more]
Strategy, Symbolism, and Your Career
For several decades, Kaiser Permanente, a large HMO based in Oakland, California, has spent tens of millions of dollars annually advertising on television, in magazines, and various other media. Kaiser, like other HMOS, traditionally promoted itself with the sorts of images you’d expect: a doctor treating a happy patient, a group of smiling doctors, and so forth. A Kaiser advertisement generally also spoke about the quality and number of its doctors. For just about every HMO out there, this was the advertising formula. When meeting with Kaiser and discussing alternative approaches, advertising executives were asked:
If You Pursue Growth and a Vision You Will Never Be Unemployed
When I was around 10 years old one day my stepfather stayed home from work. He had a bad stomach ache the night before and had felt very sick. I remember he had gotten sick at around 8:00 in the evening and had been ill most of the night. His illness continued into the early afternoon that day and I remembered when I went to school that morning I could hear him moaning from his illness. I remember the atmosphere in the house was just that we thought he was ill with some sort of a serious [Read more]
Upgrade Your Career and Life by Finding Work to Be Done
Several years ago I decided that I did not want to work in a law firm any more. The problem was that I did not know what else I could do besides practice law. Also, I did not have any money. In order to continue to make a living, I needed to do something that is among the most important skills we can have: I needed to create work for myself. I have written extensively about the importance of creating work before, because without the ability to create work for yourself you might as well settle for a life of mediocrity. The more work you know how to create, the better off you are going to be. If you know how to create work for yourself, you will never be unemployed or without excitement in your life. Everything that happens in this world comes about through the ability of us to use our minds to create work. One of my favorite motivational writers is Wallace D. Wattles. In The Science of Getting Rich Wattles writes:
No one is kept in poverty by shortness in the supply of riches; there is more than enough for all. A palace as large as the capital in Washington might be built for every family on earth from the building material in the United States alone; and under intensive cultivation, this country would produce wool, cotton, linen, and silk enough to clothe each person in the world finer than Soloman was arrayed in all his glory; together with food enough to feed them all luxuriously. The visible supply is practically inexhaustible; and the invisible supply really IS inexhaustible. Everything you need on earth really is made from one original substance, out of which all things proceed. New forms are constantly being made, and older ones are dissolving; but all shapes are assumed by One Thing. There is no limit to the supply of Formless Stuff, or Original Substance. The universe is made out of it; but it was not all used in making the universe. The spaces in, through, and between the forms of the visible universe are permeated and filled with the Original Substance; with the formless Stuff, with the raw material of all things. Ten thousand times as much stuff as has been made might still be made, and even then we should not have exhausted the supply of universal raw material. No man, therefore, is poor because nature is poor, or because there is not enough to go around. Nature is an inexhaustible storehouse of riches; the supply will never run short. Original substance is alive with creative energy, and is constantly producing more forms. When the supply of building material is exhausted, more will be produced; when the soil is exhausted so that foodstuffs and materials for Clothing will no longer grow upon it, it will be renewed or more soil will be made. When all the gold and silver has been dug from the earth, if man is still in such a stage of development that he needs gold and silver, more will be produced from the Formless. The Formless Stuff responds to the needs of man; it will not let him be without any good thing. This is true collectively; the race as a whole is always abundantly rich, and if individuals are poor, it is because they do not follow the Certain Way of doing things which makes the individual man rich. The Formless Stuff is intelligent; it is stuff which thinks. It is alive, and is always impelled towards life.
Wattles’ writings are somewhat abstract; however, the point is that there is unlimited wealth and unlimited opportunity out there for you. People can create great wealth and opportunity for themselves from nothing. You too need to do the same thing with your life and career. I am amazed when I look around me and see how incredible certain people are [Read more]
Persist Until You Succeed
Today I would like to share with you one of my favorite quotes. This quote is something that can change your life forever if you adopt the incredible power of it in your life:
I will persist until I succeed. In the Orient young bulls are tested for the fight arena in a certain manner. Each is brought to the ring and allowed to attack a picador who pricks them with a lance. The bravery of each bull is then rated with care according to the number of times he demonstrates his willingness to charge in spite of the sting of the blade. Henceforth will I recog- nize that each day I am tested by life in like manner. If I persist, if I continue to try, if I continue to charge forward, I will succeed. I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered unto this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny. I will persist until I succeed. The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I will persist until I succeed. Henceforth, I will consider each day’s effort as but one blow of my blade against a mighty oak. The first blow may cause not a tremor in the wood, nor the second, nor the third. Each blow, of itself, may be trifling, and seem of no consequence. Yet from childish swipes the oak will eventually tum- ble. So it will be with my efforts of today. I will be liken to the rain drop which washes away the mountain; the ant who devours a tiger; the star which brightens the earth; the slave who builds a pyramid. I will build my castle one brick at a time for I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking. I will persist until I succeed. I will never consider defeat and I will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the ques- tion, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopeless, and retreat; for they are the words of fools. I will avoid despair but if this disease of the mind should infect me then I will work on in despair. I will toil and I will endure. I will ignore the obstacles at my feet and keep mine eyes on the goals above my head, for I know that where dry desert ends, green grass grows. I will persist until I succeed. I will remember the ancient law of averages and I will bend it to my good. I will persist with knowledge that each failure to sell will increase my chance for success at the next attempt. Each nay I hear will bring me closer to the sound of yea. Each frown I meet only prepares me for the smile to come. Each misfortune I encounter will carry in it the seed of tomorrow’s good luck. I must have the night to appreciate the day. I must fail often to succeed only once. I will persist until I succeed. I will try, and try, and try again. Each obstacle I will consider as a mere detour to my goal and a challenge to my profession. I will persist and de- velop my skills as the mariner develops his, by learning to ride out the wrath of each storm. I will persist until I succeed. Henceforth, I will learn and apply another secret of those who excel in my work. When each day is ended, not regarding whether it has been a success or a failure, I will attempt to achieve one more sale. When my thoughts beckon my tired body homeward I will resist the temptation to depart. I will try again. I will make one more attempt to close with victory, and if that fails I will make an- other. Never will I allow any day to end with a failure. Thus will I plant the seed of tomorrow’s success and gain an insurmountable advantage over those who cease their labor at a prescribed time. When others cease their struggle, then mine will begin, and my harvest will be full. I will persist until I succeed. Nor will I allow yesterday’s success to lull me into today’s complacency, for this is the great foundation of failure. I will forget the happenings of the day that is gone, whether they were good or bad, and greet the new sun with confidence that this will be the best day of my life. So long as there is breath in me, that long will I persist. For now I know one of the greatest prin- ciples of success; if I persist long enough I will win. I will persist. I will win. Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in The World
Think about your own life and the power of persisting and never quitting. Think about the people you spend your time with and make sure these people empower you and do not drag you down. You also have the power within yourself to win. I want you to win at all costs and persist until you succeed. [Read more]
Never Stop Growing
Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953, he scaled the highest mountain known to man-29,000 feet straight up. He was knighted for his efforts. He even made American Express card commercials because of it! However, until you read his book, High Adventure, you don’t understand that Hillary had to grow into this success. You see, in 1952 he attempted to climb Mount Everest, but failed. A few weeks later a group in England asked him to address its members. Hillary walked on stage to a thunderous applause. He then moved away from the microphone and walked to the edge of the platform. He made a fist and pointed at a picture of the mountain. He said in a loud voice, “Mount Everest, you beat me the first time, but I’ll beat you the next time because you’ve grown all you are going to grow… but I’m still growing!” I first read this quote several years ago and it stuck with me. I am not sure who recorded it, or why, but the importance of this quote to my life, the lives of my employees, and to you cannot be overemphasized. I grew up in a small city outside Detroit to which I do not return often. A few years ago I had to go back, and in my few days in the town I visited gas stations, hardware stores, and other such places. Inside many of these businesses I saw people I grew up with working at cash registers and doing other, similar tasks. Many of these people are the nicest people you will ever meet, and they are also extremely happy. What struck me about the people working these jobs was that many of them had been far more intelligent, far better socially, and far more talented in many respects than I ever was. These were people I knew could have become doctors, lawyers, or anything else they wanted to be-and they still could. However, what happened to many of these people is that they stopped growing and stopped trying to be the best they could be in all respects. Don’t you ever stop growing. One of the most shocking things I saw when I visited home was a girl I had a serious crush on growing up. She used to be an athlete and someone who was very concerned about her appearance. She was someone who I remember as being so attractive and in demand that, from the time she was 14 years old, she was always dating men a couple of years older. What struck me when I returned home and saw her was that she had probably doubled her weight and looked like a completely different person. There is nothing wrong with being overweight; nevertheless, she was someone who at some point simply gave up on trying to look the best she could. There is a positive side to this: she has the potential to be who she was before. There is nothing more exciting than having an opportunity to improve yourself. You should never stop trying to be the best you can be. Each day is a new opportunity for learning. Your career and your life need to follow the path of constant growth. You want to get better and better at each thing you do. One of the men I respect the most in the world is Al Gore. After he won/lost the election to George Bush, I (and many others) believed that he would simply fade into obscurity like most politicians do after leaving office. Al Gore was different, though. Several years later, it almost brought tears to my eyes when I saw him campaigning for his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. To me this was a huge comment on his character because it showed that he kept growing even after losing. I imagine that if George Bush had lost the election he would have simply returned to Texas. Gore was different. He kept growing and did everything within his power to continue growing. And he is still growing. This is the sort of person we need to be in our careers. We need to always be looking for room to grow and get better at what we do. The more we grow, the more exciting our lives and careers continue to be. There is nothing more exciting than always growing in your career. Some of the hardest things for attorneys to do are get a job in a major law firm when they graduate from law school and make partner at a major law firm. It is interesting to watch the race between attorneys trying to make partner. What generally happens is that there are some attorneys who grow and others [Read more]
