Success is a Choice That Requires Action
Success often is a choice, but it must be followed by self-confident action.
Every leader I know wants to be successful. In fact, they can usually articulate the generalities and specifics of what this means easily. However, most of these same leaders spend the majority of their time simply “surviving.” Why is this? If it’s not a question of awareness, what is getting in our way? The answer is simple: our actions don’t align with our vision of success.
Knowing what to do is much different than doing it! This is not just limited to business, but our personal lives as well.
Take some time, sit down alone or with your team, and ask the following three questions:
- In our business (or life), what is the difference between success and survival?
- Which answers best describe the current situation?
- How can we modify our current thinking and behavior to achieve greater success?
Then segment these answers into both short-term and long-term action items, prioritizing those activities where you have the greatest ability to make a change.
It sounds too simple, but I assure you, it works. We often are so caught up in the day-to-day that we lose sight of what we were trying to achieve in the first place. Over time, our actions begin to align with this mindset, leading to dissatisfaction with the status quo. Unsurprisingly, we end up with exactly what we wanted to avoid. Unprofitable companies make bad bottom-line decisions. Businesses that are stalled in their growth agenda often make poor growth decisions and investments. Leaders frustrated with the accountability of their employees often create cultures that limit accountability.
In most developed nations, especially America, success is usually a conscious choice, as is survival. Don’t ever lose sight of this fact. Of course, this doesn’t mean everyone’s journey is equally hard or easy – external forces do intervene. However, if you’re unhappy with your current results, take a step back and reflect on your actions and decisions over the past year. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll quickly identify how your business and/or you got off track and then start the process of fixing the problem. It’s not rocket science, but rather a matter of conducting basic self-analysis and reflection, and then making logical corrections based on this information.
Related articles
- Who do you really work for? A Business Survival Checklist! (hrmexplorer.wordpress.com)
- The Science of Success (heidigranthalvorson.com)
- How to Overcome Startup Fears (entrepreneur.com)
- Survival and Success as a Small Business (tanyaknguyenportfolio.wordpress.com)
- To thrive or survive…that is the question. (elizamoritz.wordpress.com)