On my way to the airport to leave Vegas after one of our events, my driver asked if Lady Luck had smiled at me while I was there – an indirect way of asking if I had made any money. I replied, “I grabbed that b*tch by the ankles, turned her upside down and shook every damned nickel out of her drawers.” That got a laugh. I declined further comment to him, leaving him immensely curious, I suppose. Truth is, I DID make money on that trip but can assure you that “luck” at the tables had nothing to do with it, but instead years of hard work, planning, preparation and strategy.
It is one of the things I’m most GRATEFUL for having learned early in my career: developing skills that pay.
My gratitude is NOT for special circumstances or external factors that require luck, which is where most people place their gratitude.
Yes, I AM grateful for the luck of being born in a country at a time in history where I’m given the opportunity to do what I do. I am lucky to live in a day and age with advanced medical treatments, easily available, FREE knowledge about nearly every subject you could think of and unbelievable conveniences like Amazon delivery (how did I make it without the everything store?). I am lucky to be born healthy, with a sound mind and body. But I gave up on luck as a strategy for success in business a LONG time ago.
But as grateful as I am for what I have, I also have a LONG list of complaints and frustrations, projects, people and things that are NOT producing as they should, piles of work undone and things that scream for my attention. Nothing is ever “done” in business. Not marketing, not operations, not financials, not hiring and managing people and not systems and processes.
That’s why it’s important to control your focus so you notice what’s RIGHT as well as what’s wrong; too much focus on what’s not perfect, not complete, not being done and broken is the cause of a lot of angst and worry, robbing you of seeing what IS working, what IS right, what IS winning.
I am guilty of this, focusing far too much and too long on the irritants and broken windows. Of course, every highly productive entrepreneur lives a similar existence. In the same day, if not within the same hour, we can be winning AND losing, finding something to be EXCITED about as well as something to be P.O.’d about. Often in the same project or initiative, we can have things that are going really, really right AND things to be disappointed by, irritated by and angry about.
After all, we are juggling a lot of balls in our businesses, not to mention the tsunami of personal and family “stuff” that needs to be dealt with. Entrepreneurs lead complex lives with 10X the responsibilities of the average person walking around, both a blessing and a curse.
But as heavy as the burden is of running a growth business, it IS something to be deeply grateful for. A recurring dream (nightmare?) I have is that I’m back working at an old job I used to have for an old boss, and suddenly realize that I’m spending all my time running my own business simultaneously, without them noticing, which then freaks me out that they’ll fire me. I’m sure there’s some deep, psychological weirdness there that requires counseling. I’ll ask Dr. Phil about it the next time I see him.
But as miserable as we are when the workload and problems crush us, we’re even more miserable if we don’t have them.
That’s how it goes with a lot of things in life. Human beings are constantly seeking things to be miserable about and VERY infrequently reflecting on things to be grateful for. Bountiful complaints and whining about the most minor inconveniences, and zero gratitude for the “mundane” day-to-day blessings.
If we don’t frequently look at what IS working – and show gratitude for it – we could lose it. Deprived of sunshine and nutrients, a healthy plant can quickly wither. Let us not forget that our business and all the things that challenge us also give us meaning and purpose in our lives, particularly in this month of all months.
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