Posts Tagged ‘Success’

When you purchase a real estate property you purchase it within some physical boundaries that have been laid out by the designers of the plot. And it is with that same clarity that you need to set boundaries for your own life.

In the design of your life it is important to consider those things that you will allow in your life, as well as those things that you will not allow. By ascertaining these things early in your life, confusion will have no hold on the decision making processes that you are faced with on a regular basis.

When in business you too need to determine the boundaries within which you will conduct your business, whether it be the terms and conditions of doing business, the way you collect payments, the way you deliver your product and services, the way you deal with complaints or even the way you conduct customer service.

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Traversing by plane from the Gold Coast to Adelaide, the land below resembles a patch work quilt of light browns and dark greens that spread in a beautiful pattern all the way to the far horizon.

And as I look at the earth below I am reminded of the eagle. I am so pleased that I have, even through the tough times, sought to gain an eagle’s perspective on life in preference to living a turkey’s scratched out existence.

And even when I have at times felt that I have been literally physically scratching around in the dirt, I have continued to mentally and spiritually see myself as an eagle catching those warm rising currents and have found myself thinking high thoughts rather than low thoughts.

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How does one assess one’s success? Is it by the size of the bank account? Is it by the number of accumulating assets that one has? Is it the level of business growth in the past quarter? Is it the quality of shares, bonds, stocks or even gold that one has been able to acquire?

How is success measured? Is it the strength of relationships, the number of friends, the state of your family? Is it the fact that you can communicate with your son or daughter on a heart to heart level?

Is it that you can part with possessions and give them to others without a thought of loss? Is it the fact that you have time for the small and are unphased by the big? Is it that when tragedy darkens your door that you can respond in a state of peace? Is it that when storms rage you can stand firm as a rock? Is it that no matter how many times you get knocked down, you always get up and go again?

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Just this last weekend I stayed at one of the Marriott Hotels in Sydney and came across Bill Marriott’s Twelve Rules Of Success.

He wrote: My father often said, “Success is never final.” After hearing the stories of our Marriott associates, it’s easy to see why this is a great company. Their spirit to serve and passionate pursuit of excellence are the reasons we’re successful.

Based on the core values that formed the foundation since the early days of our company, coupled with my experience, I’ve adopted what I refer to as the “Twelve Rules of Success”. These management philosophies are a simple but powerful part of our culture and create a living tradition of values and beliefs that we share with our associates all around the world.

1. Continually challenge your team to do better.

2. Take good care of your employees, and they’ll take good care of your customers, and the customers will come back.

3. Celebrate your people’s success, not your own.

4. Know what you’re good at and mine those competencies for all you’re worth.

5. Do it and do it now. Err on the side of taking action.

6. Communicate. Listen to your customers, associates and competitors.

7. See and be seen. Get out of your office, walk around, make yourself visible and accessible.

8. Success is in the details.

9. It’s more important to hire people with the right qualities than with specific experience.

10. Customer needs may vary, but their bias for quality never does.

11. Eliminate the cause of a mistake. Don’t just clean it up.

12. View the problem as an opportunity to grow.

I am currently reading Winston Churchill’s account of the 2nd World War. It is interesting to discover what actually set the scene for the war. Of course there were many contributing factors, but there were two main points that Winston raises. And interestingly enough, they were things done, or rather not done, by the allies - not the Germans.

The first thing was this: During the time of peace, following the 1st World War, the allies did nothing. That’s right. When they should have been rearming their forces, they did nothing.

The second thing was this: The allies - the French in particular - who actually had the necessary artillery in place were requested to decrease their armament because it was a time of peace.

I firmly believe in the following saying: When preparation meets opportunity there is success.

So when considering the 2nd World War, if the allies had actually done the necessary preparation in times of peace, it is quite possible that the disastrous World War could have been avoided.

And it makes sense. An athlete who prepares for the Olympic Games, doesn’t leave their training until one week before the Games. They spend at least four years preparing for the big event. And that applies to those of us who want to achieve in other areas of our lives. It is during the times when nothing much is happening in our lives that we need to read that book, attend that seminar, study that subject, and continue to do excellent work.

And when our time comes, we will be ready.

Why?

Because we have positioned ourselves to win.