You can't do everything today.

But you can do the most important thing.

And if you work on that, at the end of the day you will feel like today mattered.

What is that most important thing right now?

Hunting mice or antelope?

Lions eat meat.  But if a mouse walks by a lion, the lion won’t bother it.  The energy the lion will use to chase the mouse and eat it will exceed the caloric content of the mouse.  It’s not worth hunting mice.

Lions eat antelope and other big game.  When they win, the reward is abundant.

Some people hunt mice.  Some hunt antelope.

What do you hunt in your business?

Situational Ethics

Situational ethics is when your ethics change based on the situation. 

Can you get away with it?  Is everyone else doing it?

For example, if you wouldn’t rob a store, but if a mob was looting it, you’d grab an armful.

If you wouldn’t steal an item, but if someone on drugs was selling something very cheap, you’d buy it.

If you wouldn’t hurt someone but if you didn’t like someone, you would.

If we are to have integrity and stand for what we believe in, our ethics should not change with the situation. 

This can be quite difficult when the test comes. You may not be popular with your friends during these tests, but developing our higher selves that eclipse our lower impulses demands it.

$ doesn't make you happy

It gives you options.

Those options may make you happier.

No money, few options.

You can be miserable with or without money.

You can be quite happy with or without money.

If you are the kind of person who earned the money – this satisfaction will be part of your content.

You will respect all money earned because you know what it took to do it.

Continuing to engage in delivering value for others, what made the money, especially when you are really good at it, can bring much satisfaction.

Being proud of yourself and having meaningful relationships are more important to being happy than lots of money.

Uncomfortable today?

If you were comfortable you probably aren’t learning or growing.

It’s a trial – and when you pass successfully, you will be a better more capable person.

Fail it, and you’ll be faced with it again.

Grow through it.

You can do this.

Get to work.

A firm decision

A firm decision sets everything in motion – and alerts universal intelligence that this is the way it’s going to be.

In what area have you been waffling that you need to make a firm decision in?

Clarity is trusted

If the plan is too complicated, the process too hard to understand, the message too convoluted or the goal hard to grasp – it’s not trusted.

Great leaders bring clarity to chaos.

Clarity is trusted, and when there is trust, you have buy-in.

Your team can accomplish things when they are clear.

Do you have clarity in your organization? 

Have you created it?

Leadership material?

Looking for new leaders/managers in your company?

Who do your people already listen to and respect, title or not?

Who is trying to make the people around them better, and cares about that?

Loyalty in your company

I’ve been in business for 40 years.  High and low performers have come in and out of my business.  I’ve seen a lot and learned a lot.

I do appreciate loyal employees.  The ones who believe in the mission, believe in the team and myself, and show up each day year after year, without a doubt in their mind.

Of course, when we talk about loyalty, you have to look in the mirror and ask if you are the kind of person people would be loyal to, and if you built a team of managers who are the same.

Some people swear their loyalty.  They don’t use that word; rather it may sound like “I’m all in” or “I’m fully committed”, but they are really mercenaries.  They are here for the money or some other reason and as long as they get it, they are “in”.  These people often don’t stand the test of time because when a test comes, they think short-term and they are gone.

Patriot or mercenary?

Hoping people will be loyal to the mission over long periods of time depends on other factors.  Do they feel important at work?  Do they have the right amount of challenge – not too much and not too little?  Do they know the mission?  Do you?  Are YOU all in?  Are you sure?  Because they know.  If you are unsure of yourself, you don’t have a plan, you react badly when things go wrong, and you can’t manage your own affairs, how can they expect you to lead the organization through thick and thin to the promised land?

Great leadership makes the difference; and even with it, some will not be loyal, and some will be indifferent.

But some will hitch their wagon for the long term and form the core of your company. 

Cherish them.

Have THEM review the numbers with YOU.

Sitting down each month and reviewing a department’s numbers with a manager (or a salesperson, or anyone) can feel a lot like you are judging them – seeing if they passed a test each month or not. 

Instead of you reviewing the numbers with them, have them review them with you.

The manager can be proud, have an explanation, or create their own improvement plan.

It’s a different dynamic.  Try it!