Gladwell on The Secret

 

“The people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.

– Malcolm Gladwell (1963 – )
Canadian journalist

Are you sitting on some kind of wonderful (waiting for a better day, week, month, year, time to make the call)?

Be careful to invest your money hours wisely. Time is the only thing you can never get back.

Sure… There are lottery winners. But that’s not the way to bet.

Gladwell’s bestseller “Outliers: The Story of Success” is a favorite read of mine (well worth the time) – some great insights on what it takes to succeed.

The hard work piece you already know (hopefully). It’s the impact of luck and culture that are pretty fascinating.

 

Einstein on Give > Take

 

“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”

– Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
Swiss physicist

Sales kick off…

This week, focus on giving more for the dollars you earn (with your effort, with your product/ service) and you’ll find more will come your way. It may not always happen as quickly as you’d like, but it’s the better bet in the long run.

Bradbury on First Things

“Notoriety and a fat bank balance must come after everything else is finished and done.”

–Ray Bradbury (1920 – )

American writer

We do well in our work by being valuable to someone else.

That’s it.

It seems to me that too many of us forget this too often… allowing ourselves to slip in and out of some state of ego-driven entitlement rather than obsessing over making good things happen for other people (so sad).

We need to get over ourselves and kick@ss for others. We do that and everything works.

The people at Netflix get it. They call it being a “stunning colleague.”

Don’t you love that… a stunning colleague? Aren’t stunning colleagues what we all want from the people we work with (and what we all want to be for others… yes, you do)?

We need to get tired of mediocrity and indifference and be positively surprising to our colleagues and customers (and managers). We need to encourage each other more.

How?

Stop seeking the complex answer and embrace the simple one. Handle what it is you’ve been given to do. Contribute your piece of the equation.

“You gotta take responsibility for the place you hold here.” – Oprah Winfrey

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