I’d like to share a little story about a gentleman I met several months ago. As we were sitting down talking about his business, he was telling me how bad the last year was and how everything that has happened that he couldn’t control was a contributing factor of why he was not successful. He proceeded in sharing with me all the reasons. I just let him vent and get it all out. At the end of that conversation, I asked him, “Well, what’s your number for this year?” He asks, “What do you mean?” I said, “What’s the dollar figure that you want to reach in revenues this year in your business?” Surprisingly, he gave me a relatively low number, which caught me off guard. I asked him why such a low number? And again, he went into a rant of how everything that’s going on outside of his business that he cannot control is affecting the future of his business.
I then asked him another question, “What was the best year you ever had in your business?” He shared with me a very nice number. It was a very, very good year. Those are the numbers I like, I shared. I then asked him, “Well, what did you do that year?” Because success leaves clues. When we have success, we have to investigate it to see what we did so we can replicate it, do it again, and have the same success. You know what he said? He shares, “Oh, that had nothing to do with me. All the stars aligned. I got lucky.” Really, you have a bad year because you couldn’t control all the outside circumstances. You have a good year and it was because all the outside circumstances that you once again didn’t control.
The lesson in this story is in both good and bad, of which this gentleman did not do, simply own the results. Just own it! When you do well, own it. Own it because you worked hard. You did the prep work, you did whatever it took to get there, and that success came because you were in control. If you don’t do well, own it. Learn from it. Make the necessary adjustments. Control everything within the four walls of your business of which only you can control.
When we take 100% responsibility and ownership for everything we do and the results we get, only then can we learn and grow. Good and bad. Owning your results always starts with your attitude, being the best, you can be. Taking the proper action, you know you should take of which will eventually deliver the results you’re looking for. The only way to get the results you’re looking to achieve is to own your attitude and own your actions.
Take control of your destiny, own it and only then will the future be based on your plan opposed to what’s going on outside the four walls of your business.