What did you do?

The last couple of weeks I had many challenges at work, circumstances made me uncomfortable, it felt like I ran into a dead end street... and that made me stand still for a while.  I felt alone and were thinking that I have done things wrong in the past and hence ended up where I was.

I acknowledged that I had to stand back, take a deep breath and look at things from a different angle.  Try and remove myself from the situation - or out of my position - and into the shoes of my team. This led to me thinking about some experiences I had in the last couple of years.

One specific thing that jumped out again was an encounter I had with a colleague from a competitor company last year.  Not going to drag this out, so right to the point.

The question I was asked: "What did you do as a consultant that made you so successful?".  At that moment the first thing that went through my thoughts was "I'm not sharing my secrets with you!".  Especially because this person works for our biggest competitor.  Then as I processed the question and my thoughts an answer just popped out of my mouth.

"It's not what you do, it is what you are willing to do".

After thinking, re-thinking and over-thinking what came out of my mouth for many days afterwards, I realised just how true it is.

How many stories have you heard of people that achieved something amazing? People that did something no one else did before them? I read a tweet last week that said: "The person that achieved success is the person that failed and tried one more time" or something to that effect anyway.

That person was willing to try once more.  To fail once more.  To learn once more.

What are you willing to do? Of course you need to stick within moral and legal boundaries!

Thank you for reading my post.

Francois

Speed kills

Easter is that time if the year when so many road deaths occur, the 2nd biggest after the December Holidays.  I was unfortunate to be on the road this long weekend and as I often do, I think non stop while I'm driving (which in itself is dangerous).  Everywhere you drive on the main routes, you see signs for "Arrive Alive" and "Speed Kills".

I started looking at the way people drive, when and where they overtake, how they overtake, what speed they drive, etc.  I was driving at a speed of 125 km/h.  So many people overtook me at a blinding speed, I would say no less than 150 km/h.  It is crazy and they overtake on solid lines, with cars approaching from the front and just making it back into their own lane.

Then I got thinking about the signs next to the road trying to caution drivers, trying to make them think, trying to get them home safely... Why? Why don't they think? Why do they still drive at blinding speeds? Why do they take chances with their families and the lives of other families?

I came to realise that it is not speed that kills, nope...  It is IMPATIENCE.  The fact that people do not have the patience to wait, to drive at the legal speed limit, to overtake where they are allowed to - that is what kills, not the speed.

Just a thought.

Motivation and why it lasts or not...

Welcome back!

Before you read this, make sure you read my post on Beliefs, Thoughts, Emotions and Behaviour as this article is a continuation of the previous one.

How many times have you listened to an audio book, watched a video or attended a conference where a motivational speaker addressed the group? When you listen to the audio book, you get excited and decide that you are changing your life around, when you watch a motivational video, you also feel excited and motivated and can write an entire list of things you want to do or change and when you walk out of the conference you just can't wait for tomorrow to start doing things in a different way to get different results.

Does this sound familiar? I know it does!

How many times have you heard people say (or even said yourself): "I had the best intentions, but when I got back to the normal day to day things I just did not have the time to get to it" or "I never felt so good, but that subsided very quickly - the feeling just didn't last"?

If you think about beliefs, thoughts, emotions and behaviour... which one of the four does motivation speak to? In other words, which one of the four does motivation influence or effect? It had a lot to do with how you felt at that point in time, thus emotions, right?  It can even talk to your thoughts as it can make you think differently about something specific.

Do you notice anything at this point?

Motivation does NOT talk to what you believe! So even though you think differently for now or even if you are excited for now, ultimately you will go back to your old ways of thinking and back to your old emotions that will make you behave the way you always do... thus changing nothing!

Until such time as you change your beliefs about something, you will not be able to sustain the motivation.  You will not be able to change anything as a matter of fact.

But is it possible to change what you believe? Absolutely!

I am a firm believer that everything in life is a choice.  You can choose to change your view of something, but to do that you have to be honest with yourself and truly change your view (belief) and not just say you are now changing how you view something.  Saying that, I guess it is also fair to say that one will not be able to change all of your views, but the ones you really want to change, you will most definitely be able to!

Question:  Do you think there is a difference in levels of success reached by optimists vs. pessimists?

Thanks again for reading my blog - please leave a comment or tick one of the boxes below to indicate what you think of the post!

Francois