In the ABC’s of creating a successful organization – W is for Winning! In no matter what sport you participate in it’s easy to clarify winning, it’s simply about the final score up on the board. In business, it comes from reviewing your profit-loss statements and your balance sheet. What results are you producing? Are you consistently increasing your top and bottom line?
However, whether in sports, business or life what does it really take to win? What does it take to consistently stand out as one of the best? What does it take to never lose that mojo that keeps you in the game? I believe the ingredient is that when you compete – you compete against the best you that you can possibly be.
In addition to being your best, what actually creates that desire, that drive to win? I believe that it’s about you being clear on your WHY. When you are truly clear on your why the what and the how will follow.
Six years ago, I was in a transition phase of moving forward on my coaching practice. However, like many of us who are making a big decision, I needed to go through the process to have the correct answer come to me.
There’s a line, “When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” I can’t tell you how much that phrase resonated with me years back. I say this because slightly more than six years ago I was touched with a stroke of clarity on my why. That why was to serve business owners to get the best out of themselves, their team and their business. It was to have them see more in themselves that they thought was possible. To have the confidence to take the action to get them what they really wanted both in business and in life. I knew if I served in this manner, I would be creating a win/win for all involved.
You see we are all here to serve. It’s not necessarily about us. It’s about creating wealth and abundance by helping others get what they want. When we come from that place, the results can be astonishing!
When an Olympic athlete hires a coach, he or she hires that coach to help them win the gold, not the silver or the bronze. They hire that coach to help them be maybe just 1/100 of a second faster than the other competitors. They hire that coach to help them become the absolute best of the best. However, until they actually make it to the event to compete who are they actually competing against? They are competing against themselves at the absolute best they can be, their own personal best. They are also actually chasing their why, the reason why they exist.
I had the distinct pleasure of receiving a call last week from a man who worked for me 25 years ago. It was the first time we’ve spoken since. He called me to share that I gave him a book that I wrote a note in. It read, “We are what and where we are today because we first imagined it. Your friend, Michael.” He also shared about the success he has created for himself since then and how I gave him the confidence to take that path. He somehow found me on the internet and now wants to work together again. I now have the distinct pleasure, honor, and privilege of working with Russ 25 years later on leading him, his team and his organization to the next level.
I challenge and encourage all of you if you are not already, to get clear on your why. When you get clear on your why and authentically put yourself out there for others it’s absolutely amazing what can happen. I also challenge you to create the path to compete against your best possible you. Because when you venture on this path of following your why and being your best you, I guarantee that you’ll create a win/win for everyone involved.