Getting proactive to save your year
As I write this we have just moved into Q3/ H2 of 2020.
When I coach people I believe in holding them accountable – if you do not like having your feet held to the fire and being challenged then I’m not the coach for you !!
There are a lot of people are struggling at the moment, that’s a confluence of factors.
There are three drivers of results or let’s be honest the lack of results in your life.
One is strategy the choices you are making.
The second is habits these are the actions you are taking on a daily basis.
(So strategy would be like the macro-version of habits in a lot of ways).
And then of course there’s luck, which is just random.
You can’t do much about it.
You can only increase your surface area for luck – remember the old adage “the harder I work the luckier I get.”
So if only two of these three things are under your control in any meaningful way, if you master the areas that are under your control, then you can improve the odds.
Get your habits and your strategy in order so when something good happens, you can capitalise on an opportunity.
Or you can avoid getting steamrolled by bad luck.
With money there are a lot of people that I know who are over-leveraged, they seemed so “lucky” before the economy hit a downturn. Driving around in expensive cars living a 5 star life but in reality they were living well beyond their means and limping from pay cheque to pay cheque.These people are now facing real challenges.
There’s an oft quoted phrase “Everybody’s a genius in a bull market.” In truth for the past 10 years especially in sales it’s been difficult not to be good, you turned up, you put a bit of effort in and money came out the other end.
But the present day is different as Warren Buffet says “We see who’s naked when the tide goes out.”
You get the picture – but do you also realise that your network is also like a bank account that you should top up every week ?
When it comes to careers I hear plenty of people say “I don’t need to worry about networking or building relationships. I’m a “whatever”, fill in the blank, “in a super secure job.”
And then they come into my LinkedIn inbox “I can’t believe it, I’ve been made redundant. Who could have predicted this?”
And the answer is, everyone could have predicted this, everyone knows there will be a downturn at some point.
You can be guaranteed that in your life, you’re going to have an economic downturn or career hurdle.
You have just been living beyond your means and not making the right investments.
If you’re not prepared for that, you have failed in your habits.
You have failed in your strategy.
So when you have “bad luck,” of course, it looks terrible.
Please take these thoughts going into this week –
What can you do to increase the value and the quality of your habits and your strategy?
Who are you going to connect with and what meaningful relationships will you cultivate?
What new skills are you going to learn to bring value to the market place?
How are you going to improve so if “random bad luck” strikes, it doesn’t demolish you?