A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village.
An American tourist, who was a
consultant, complimented the Mexican
fisherman on the quality of his
fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.
"Not very long," answered the Mexican.
"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and
catch more?" asked the American.The Mexican explained that his small catch
The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta
with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends,
have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs . . I have a
full life."
The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help
you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell
the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger
boat."
And after that?" asked the Mexican.
With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second
one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of
trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then
negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your
own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City ,
Los Angeles , or even New York City
"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.
"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied
the American.
"And after that?"
"Afterwards? Well my Friend, That's when it gets really interesting,"
answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big,
you can start selling stocks and make millions!"
"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Mexican.
"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the
coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a
siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying
your friends." - Anonymous
I love this story! It's a great launch into today's chautauqua. I'm calling it Sustainable Success in 2012 and Beyond. Everyone strives for success, but just what exactly is success? The achievement of a goal? Sure, but who defines it?
Can efforts that fail be successful?
Who determines whether you succeed or fail?
Why can this differ depending on who you ask?
I want to talk about how we determine success.
More specifically, how we should determine success. I've learned over the years that when I have allowed other people to create the rules of my success, I would fail just about every time. It sounds so simple, but the trick is for you to create the rules of your success. God has given all of us unique talents, skills, and attributes. Just as it's possible to arrange a finite set of notes in infinite sequences to create music, the same is true with the way we use our God given talents to achieve our goals and dreams. The story of the Mexican Fisherman is a great example of this. Both the Mexican and the American had the same goal, however each had very different ways of accomplishing it. They also each share very different definitions of success.
As a professional sales person one of the biggest, most important goals I strived for was being recognized as the Rep Of The Year. Besides the plaque, money, and Rolex watch (which are ALL fabulous), the real prize is being recognized by your sales professional peers as being #1.
It's the equivalent of achieving an Olympic gold medal (in my opinion).
The problem is that there are so many sales people who are better than I am at so many things and there is NO way I can beat them. After years of beating my head against the wall and intense disappointment, I decided to hell with this and just do what I do best.
This is where the sustainable part comes in.
I simply couldn't keep up the incredible and stressful sales effort, month after month, year after year, so I came up with ways to make the day to day grind more manageable and even enjoyable. This allowed me to tolerate the long hours and mind numbing detail work. It took me 11 years, and when I least expected it, I did finally achieve Rep Of The Year in 1996. I am going on 28 years of working this crazy job with all it's unreasonable and often mind numbing travel and nonsense, but I've been able to sustain a level of performance that allows me to be a sales leader in my industry.
When people ask me what my secret is, I tell them something no one wants to hear. That being there is no secret. Just sustaining a reasonable effort over a long period of time, making small and incremental changes regularly. It's my opinion that greatness is not about winning the race every time. It's about finishing it - time after time, after time. Because what you'll find is that with each race, fewer and fewer people will finish. Excellence therefore is sustainable effort. The simple test is to place this powerful adjective before any aspect of your life, and see if it is indeed true.
I love this story! It's a great launch into today's chautauqua. I'm calling it Sustainable Success in 2012 and Beyond. Everyone strives for success, but just what exactly is success? The achievement of a goal? Sure, but who defines it?
Can efforts that fail be successful? Who determines whether you succeed or fail?
Why can this differ depending on who you ask?
I want to talk about how we determine success.
More specifically, how we should determine success. I've learned over the years that when I have allowed other people to create the rules of my success, I would fail just about every time. It sounds so simple, but the trick is for you to create the rules of your success. God has given all of us unique talents, skills, and attributes. Just as it's possible to arrange a finite set of notes in infinite sequences to create music, the same is true with the way we use our God given talents to achieve our goals and dreams. The story of the Mexican Fisherman is a great example of this. Both the Mexican and the American had the same goal, however each had very different ways of accomplishing it. They also each share very different definitions of success.
As a professional sales person one of the biggest, most important goals I strived for was being recognized as the Rep Of The Year. Besides the plaque, money, and Rolex watch (which are ALL fabulous), the real prize is being recognized by your sales professional peers as being #1.
It's the equivalent of achieving an Olympic gold medal (in my opinion).
This is where the sustainable part comes in.
I simply couldn't keep up the incredible and stressful sales effort, month after month, year after year, so I came up with ways to make the day to day grind more manageable and even enjoyable. This allowed me to tolerate the long hours and mind numbing detail work. It took me 11 years, and when I least expected it, I did finally achieve Rep Of The Year in 1996. I am going on 28 years of working this crazy job with all it's unreasonable and often mind numbing travel and nonsense, but I've been able to sustain a level of performance that allows me to be a sales leader in my industry.
When people ask me what my secret is, I tell them something no one wants to hear. That being there is no secret. Just sustaining a reasonable effort over a long period of time, making small and incremental changes regularly. It's my opinion that greatness is not about winning the race every time. It's about finishing it - time after time, after time. Because what you'll find is that with each race, fewer and fewer people will finish. Excellence therefore is sustainable effort. The simple test is to place this powerful adjective before any aspect of your life, and see if it is indeed true.
Just to put this into some perspective, I have been jogging since I was 16 and although I was never very fast, I was consistent. As the years went on I got slower, covered fewer miles and skipped many days. I conservatively
estimate that I have been able to sustain a very modest record of jogging
between 2 to 3 miles, 3 or 4 days a week over these 34 years. If you were to
average this to say, 9 miles a week, x 52 weeks a year (468 miles a year). Then multiply this by 34 years you get a
total of 15,912 miles jogged. That’s
more than three quarters of the earth’s surface! Think about it this way, it’s like running
from Chicago to Beijing China, and back. Oh yea, then to Costa Rica for some beach
time and rest.
Little changes sustained over a long period
make a profound difference. Who are you going to let define your success in 2012? Let 2012 be the year that each of us introduces the power of sustainability to the important aspects of our lives.
May you find sustainable peace, Love, friendship, good health, and prosperity in the new year.
That hs long been one of my favorite stories, Mark. It provides an excellent counterpoint to that humorously cynical (and dangerously seductive) recommendation we heard at NOJHF a couple of years ago about lowering our expectations if things aren't going as well as we'd hoped. The key is honesty, with yourself and with your family, about what expectations are realistic, taking into account, not ony your abilities, but your energy level and your health! Your jogging illustration is a good one; it's good for your health, it gives you a sense of accomplishment and improves your energy levels.
ReplyDeleteGood piece for reflection, thanks!
Thanks for the thoughtful comments Steve. I love the 'dangerous seduction' part. It's very easy to get lulled into a sense of complacency. In this age of the 24 hour news-cycle and the constant barrage of information and being connected 24/7 via devices we all carry, it's ironic how easy it is to become isolated from reality. I'm guessing you would be hard-pressed to find a more competitive guy than me, however I won't be competing with you the way you might think or want. I'll play in whatever way I can construct utilizing my God given abilities. The idea of 'becoming one with my weakness' can be a powerful concept. It disarms people. It's never too late to make some small change in your life to improve it, however the key, much like the concept of compound interest, is to make a part of your daily lifestyle and do it over a long period. You'll be pleasantly surprised how powerful this can be :-) Peace Brother!
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