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

The Grocery Store and Success

One of the chores I dislike the most is grocery shopping. A failure for planning what to buy and what meals to prepare leaves me open for a disastrous shopping experience. My dislike to for the experience positions me to want to move fast and make quick choices. My lack of planning often opens me up to be forgetful and leave the store without something I desperately needed. I know the solution to this problem. It is better planning and an appropriate pace, it is the discipline to want to overcome the negative outcomes and have a positive shopping experience.

Success in our personal or professional careers may be an analogy to the grocery store experience. The good news is that there is a solution to achieving success. It requires planning and an appropriate pace. Knowing the desired end result and creating a plan for a path to get there is important. Pursuing that path at an appropriate pace is also critical. Going too fast we may burn out early. Going too slow may limit our options, or we may find the doors closed as we approach a desired milestone.

Approaching your life and career unprepared and without a plan could limit your success.

What is your plan?

 

- DEG

Pleasing Everyone

Have you ever tried to please “everyone?” Trying to please everyone can be amazingly frustrating.

Have you ever felt like there are too many choices? Have you felt confused, not knowing which option to pick? Do you worry that the outcomes of a decision or choice you make will cause anger or hurt to another person?

At times, by our own desire, we may seek a wide variety of options. However, limiting our choices and narrowing options will be less confusing and make us more confident in our selection. In order to make a good choice there is always a balance between having the widest array of opinions and options and choosing a responsible path.

The good news is, recognition of too many opinions and not enough commitment to a choice or a path can be avoided. Don’t try to please everyone, don’t pursue every recommended option. Select your path, make your choice. Be committed to your choice. Start by thinking – “Yes, I can do this. I’ve got this one!”

Confusion is frustrating. Pick your own path!

Who Are You?

What is your elevator speech? You know that short paragraph or expressions that describes who you are and what you do. 

Do you know who you are? Sometimes your inability to define who you are is not only a matter of not being up-to-date on your elevator speech, but it is a matter of understanding yourself.

Right now, I am asking you, “Who are you?” In our personal or professional lives we sometimes feel forced to be the person that someone else wants us to be. Worse yet we sometimes allow ourselves to become “invisible.” We become so introverted (introversion is not necessarily bad) that we fail to be noticed by others. Fear, pressure, and obedience represent at least three of the factors that may drive us into this place.

The good news is this, if you are truly determined to become successful you can break out of the mold or frame that you or others have placed upon you. Have courage to take your own path, forget about the pressure that someone else has placed on you; and obedience, well quite honestly that only brings one thought to my mind. Training a four legged furry creature we know as man’s best friend.

It is unlikely that someone else will make you successful, so only you can make YOU successful.

So I’m asking. Who are YOU?

 

- DEG