Believing Matters

Someone recently asked me: “What is the single biggest thing that makes a difference between those that achieve the success that they desire when compared to those who do not?”

Two significant thoughts immediately came to my mind. One is persistence; most do not obtain the level of success that they seek easily. It takes great effort and the ability to endure hardship while also overcoming adverse conditions.

The other is belief. Belief that you belong and that you are worthy and deserving of the level of success you desire.

Are you prepared to be persistent? Do you believe?

- DEG

When Wishing Isn’t Enough

People sometimes wish, spiritual people sometimes pray, but successful people will find their path regardless of the obstacle. There is nothing wrong with extending a good wish, nothing wrong with prayer, but at the same time there are often forces that are both unknown and uncontrollable that leads you to a different outcome.

Most likely you will not find success in the status quo. There are no secret formulas and no magic potions. When the path develops into something unexpected successful people may wish, and they may pray, but they will definitely face the obstacles head on, take risks, and make the best possible choices.

When your path takes an unexpected turn – what will you do?

 

- DEG

Discovering Worth

Do you want a pay raise, job promotion, or better personal (or professional) relationships? How do you know if you are worth it?

Discovering worth is not that difficult, the real challenge exists in the risk. You will never achieve the success you are seeking without risk. Play it safe or stick with the status quo and nothing will change.

You can discover your worth through three easy steps:

1. Honestly assess your goals. Your goals should be a stretch but realistic, they should represent the gap between your current worth and where you (realistically) see yourself in the future.
2. Seek and LISTEN to feedback (coaching) from people you trust and respect.
3. Recognize that every opportunity doesn’t mean it is “the” opportunity. Practice patience.

Overstating or understating your worth, dishonesty about who you are, and unrealistic expectations are often a problem. Stretching is good, but fraudulent representations by you, about you, or by someone else on your behalf will likely result in disaster. Properly managed your worth will continue to grow.

Remember you are worth it!

 

- DEG

Take Chances

“I didn’t stand a chance!”

How often have you heard this phrase? How often have you said it? Most people would likely agree on the meaning of this phrase to be - given a particular opportunity there was absolutely no possible way to win or be successful.

Many people lack the self-confidence to take risks. They view the risk associated with chance, as too risky. They see the opportunities in front of them as a disaster, a dead end, or something that they will never attain. If you try nothing new, take no risk, see opportunities through the lens of “I don’t stand a chance,” then guess what? You will never know the amount of success you could have achieved.

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame has a motto, “Move fast and break things.” Apparently this motto was adopted as a core value in the organization. A core value which ultimately may have helped them achieve such high levels of success. They took chances, and so can you.

Risk isn’t for everyone, then again, neither is success. Are you taking chances?

 

- DEG

Take the Stairs

It’s sadly amazing the number of people that I talk with who tell me they want more, they want a better job and more success, yet they feel they are not worthy of achieving it. I hear every excuse about what “might happen” or “what if this happens” and I hear very little “I’m going to make it happen.”

Here is the good news, these are normal thoughts for many people and success is just a few steps away. If you can dream it, if you can see it, you can start on the path to getting there. Here are five simple steps to help you get there:

1. discover your dream
2. plan the steps to get there
3. start taking steps, reasonable risks 
4. constantly exceed your expectations
5. reflect on accomplishments and push for more

Like a ladder or stairs, the steps should be reasonably separated allowing you to move from one step to the next without a big jump. In contrast to this analogy, life or your career may not always present opportunities in equal increments. Some steps may be more of a stretch then others. This is where risk and reflection will be important factors in your success.

I like taking the stairs – do you?

- DEG

Risk of No Risk

Everything around us is changing. Would you agree? We live in a world of constant change. Many people grow and adapt but some like the safety of their comfort zone, the safety of the status quo.

Some people cling to their comfort zone as a seemingly unstoppable force to reckon with, they put up a tremendous fight with comments such as:

“We tried that before a couple of years ago, it didn’t work then, it won’t work now.”

“We’ve always done it this way.”

Often priding themselves on their temporary victories they almost bully their co-workers, direct reports, and sometimes even their supervisors into their change resistant ways. They avoid risk at all costs. Change and the risk associated with it is too scary.

Here is the question that everyone should be asking themselves: If everything around us is changing, isn’t the riskiest position to take one of no risk at all? I see reasonable risk as something that reminds us that we are alive. That we have free will. That we control our own destiny.

What do you think?

 

- DEG

Take a Position

Sometimes people believe that taking a position is a dangerous idea. While evaluating the risk of taking a particular position and considering the pros and cons they conclude that the cons outweigh the pros. There may be some circumstances and situations where this perceived risk is real and there may be situations where it is merely a negative fantasy. Despite the potential consequences there may be some benefits to taking a position.

Taking a position may establish new friendships, give you more respect, and result in previously unknown opportunities. Some of this depends on how you evaluate or analyze risk and popular wisdom suggests that there are “two sides” to every story.

Many people take a position on the environment, on politics, and on guns. Taking a position is not necessarily bad. Your position may differ from others or even from “popular” opinion, but taking a position shows you are real and not “playing games” with others ideas or values. Knowing exactly where someone “stands” promotes trust, even if that position differs from your own.

Keep it real – take a position!

- DEG

Leadership and Risk

Risk taking is one of the most fundamental aspects of leadership, yet sometimes formal leaders are only moderate risk takers. In some regards, true leaders may also have some identity crisis with the rebel stereotype. While this may sound extreme, it often is not too far off. True leaders are willing to take risk.

In our workplaces we may sometimes take a risk as simple as speaking up in a meeting or during a decision making process, in other cases the risk may be much more involved and with serious consequences. Risk in our workplace should be reasonable, calculated, and manageable.

Are you leading?

Find out more about leadership and risk by watching this short video clip: