You can’t depend on another to create your success. This has been true through the centuries but even more so today. You have to be not only pro-active (positive and forthright) but pre-active (seeing what is coming and positioning yourself for it).
If you always lean on your master, you will never be able to proceed without him. It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate; to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance [planning].” Thomas Jefferson to his daughter Martha, March 28, 1787
You have to generate leads, prepare diligently, implement decisively and make your own path. You have to work hard to make sure business gets positive results. When (not if) others let you down, you learn to anticipate it and have plans in place to deal with the issue and get results — on your own. Teddy Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, right where you are.” Losers spend time blaming others for their problems and always looking for a savior who will magically do all the work necessary.
This doesn’t mean you operate alone. Successful people today bring in lots of others around them to work in a value-for-value way achieving goals. However, you don’t depend on the others for your success. You accept 100% responsibility and help others as they blend their lives around you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his famous Essay on Self-Reliance which I consider a must-read in this wonderful, adventurous journey called life. In that essay he admonishes us to rely not on the whims and passing fancies of the day, but to rely on our own skill and fortitude to face the incertitudes of life. This is true in business. We don’t know the future. Mistakes are often made believing that the past equals the future. Life is constantly presenting us with new ventures, new opportunities and new challenges. What worked in the past will not necessarily work in the future. Therefore, the wise regularly adapt, change and morph continually into what will pragmatically be effective today. This is real success.
Take control of your own destiny for your business success. If you’re in sales (and aren’t we all?), don’t rely on someone else to generate leads for you. Make it happen. If you’re in management delegate tasks, (Peter Drucker helped us enormously with this important admonition) but don’t stop with delegation. You have to take responsibility for follow-up and confirmation that the task is completed. Ultimately it is up to you.
Educate yourself continually. Thomas Jefferson believed that education was not preparation for life but a way of life. This is the creed of the successful businessperson today. Learn relevant, profit-building and productivity-enhancing technologies and principles on a regular basis. Change and adapt as times change and new technologies emerge. Regularly budget your time, money and effort (TME) for skill and knowledge acquisition in those areas that will benefit you and your company.
You have full control over your own reaction and what you are going to do about your own business and your sales. Take matters into your own hands. Rely on what will work for you practically and in a tangible way. Focus on helping others and making their lives better and good will inevitably come back to help you.
So why not make it your goal today to do something on your own, to help others and build your own sales and business? Make the extra sales call. Learn that extra worthwhile business-building skill. Go the extra mile.
Somehow I think this level of resolution and commitment to achieving success would make Thomas Jefferson proud.
What do you think? Leave your comments and reply below. Thanx!
