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Leave a comment Posted on decision making, Development, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Ownership, Passion, Productivity, Professionalism, Success

Response Ability

On my way into work this morning, I was listening to John Lee Dumas’ podcast, “Entrepreneur on Fire”.  In the episode I listened to (#1482 from November 11, 2016), John was interviewing Rob Moore, author of Disruptive Entrepreneur.  I would highly recommend taking time to listen to EOFire.  Whether you are striving to become an entrepreneur or not, you will learn valuable insights into yourself, your work, and your world.

During an interaction, Rob pointed out that John had emphasized the word “responsibility” as “response ability”.  They had a great exchange following that.  For obvious reasons.

This past Friday, my company held its 3rd annual all-employee education day.  It was a great time to learn, collaborate, and stretch.  But now it’s Monday morning.  What are we all doing with all that information we were exposed to?

Studies show that probably only 5% of us will actually act on new insights we’ve been exposed to. That’s it!  Only 5%!

But dove-tailing off of EOFire this morning, you have the “response ability” to do more with what you learn.

  • You read an article that directly applies to your line of work.  Take time to share it with someone on your team.  Find out if your work should change based upon new ideas you discovered.
  • You read a book about personal growth.  Create an action plan to put what you’ve learned into practice.  Today.
  • You attended a seminar that got you all pumped up.  Journal about what you learned, how you felt, and what you intend to do about this new insight.

In other words, when you learn something new, TAKE ACTION!  That’s your response ability.  As Jeff Olson in The Slight Edge says, take daily, disciplined action toward your goals and you will succeed.

Are you taking responsibility?  Make a plan.  Do the plan.  Don’t let great insight and experience go to waste.

make things happen

 

Leave a comment Posted on Development, Leadership, Ownership, Passion

The Most Successful People Take Small Smart Steps Toward Their Goals

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by Paul B. Brown

Lives there anyone anywhere old enough to work who has not had an idea for a new company? Who has not said on at least one occassion, “someone could make a fortune if they’d just…”

So how come we have so few entrepreneurs?

Study the type of ideas on which highly successful growth companies were originally based, and you will have to conclude that the reason there aren’t more successful entrepreneurs is that there aren’t many people with the need or nerve to try out their ideas in the marketplace.

The successful entrepreneur is the person who makes an idea happen, even if there are a lot of unexpected problems, and even if it’s not a very good idea in the first place.

But they don’t do it with one roll of the dice. The most successful entrepreneurs we know are extremely risk adverse.They don’t do it by taking large bets. Instead they:

1. Start with desire.

You find/think of something you want. You don’t need a lot of passion, you only need sufficient desire to get started. (“I really want to start a restaurant, but I haven’t a clue if I will ever be able to open one.”)

2. Take a smart step as quickly as possible toward their goal.

What’s a smart step? It’s one where you act quickly with the means at hand. What you know, who you know, and anything else that’s available. (“I know a great chef, and if I beg all my family and friends to back me, I might have enough money to open a place.”) You make sure that step is never going to cost more than it would be acceptable to you to lose should things not work out. And you bring others along to acquire more resources, spread the risk and confirm the quality of your idea.

3. Reflect and build on what you have learned from taking that step.

You need to do that because every time you act, reality changes. Sometimes the step you take gets you nearer to what you want (“I should be able to afford something just outside of downtown”); sometimes what you want changes (“It looks likes there are an awful lot of Italian restaurants nearby. We are going to have to rethink our menu.”) If you pay attention, you always learn something. So after you act, ask: Did those actions get you closer to your goal? (“Yes. It looks like I will be able to open a restaurant.”) Do you need additional resources to draw even closer? (“Yes. I’ll need to find another chef. The one I know can only do Italian.”) Do you still want to obtain your objective? (“Yes.”)

4. Repeat.

Act. Learn. Build. Repeat. This is what defeats uncertainity…providing that you actually start and try to make your idea a reality.

Paul B. Brown is co-author of Just Start published by Harvard Business Review Press.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/actiontrumpseverything/2013/05/15/the-most-successful-people-take-small-smart-steps-toward-their-goals/