Making Difficult Decision (Nov 29, 2009)
Have you ever noticed how beautiful life is? Look around with thankful and loving eyes and you will notice it. Are you aware how great a difference we can make to the world? Move forward with sincerity and positive purpose, and we will be astonished by what we can accomplish. Do you know all the good things you are capable of achieving? Make use of this very moment to find it out. In fact, the possibilities of finding joy and fulfillment are all around us. Explore them fully now.
We can start with what we have got right at where we are. No matter where we are or whatever circumstances we are in, we can get from where we are to where we want to be! It does not matter who we are or what we are doing. The most important thing is to start NOW.
It is impossible to make progress in our life if we continue to allow ourselves to be held back by decisions we made in the past. We are constantly evolving, growing and maturing in our journey towards our destiny. We must not let cultural, religious or social conditioning cause us to stay on a relationship or continue with an activity, be it business or recreational, that no longer serves our purposes. In fact, that relationship or activity is detrimental to our long-range aspirations and goals.
We can engage one valuable exercise which is called Zero Based Thinking. I learned this method from a book by Brian Tracy. I have used this method in my own life with profound results. Life should be one long journey of learning and Zero based thinking is a great way to speed up that learning process at time when we have to make difficult decisions. The Zero-based Thinking technique is terrific for really focusing on the key issues.
Ask yourself the following question, “Knowing what I know now, would I have gotten involved in this relationship, this career, and this project, etc?”If the answer is “No!” then get out of that situation as quickly as possible. That is Zero-Based Thinking. It is useful and powerful.
When we apply Zero-based Thinking, one important point we must remember is we must be absolutely honest with ourselves. If we are unhappy, we must tell ourselves that we are unhappy. We will not get the results if we try to be positive with our feelings when in actual fact they are not. Our mind will use whatever power it has to keep us in our comfort zone, even if it means staying in a working relationship that is not working and in all likelihood will never work. We have to understand that the fear of admitting one’s mistakes is just human nature. Human beings have a serious tendency to fall in love with their decisions even when it is totally obvious to others that those decisions are wrong. In practicing Zero-based Thinking, we must be brutally honest with ourselves on every aspect of our life.
We must learn to say: I WAS WRONG. According to management research, 70 % of our decisions will turn out to be wrong in the fullness of time. The sooner we realize that we are on the wrong road and admit it, the sooner we will turn back and the faster we will get to our destination of business growth and high profitability.
We must be willing to say these words” I MADE A MISTAKE. ” Face up to our mistake and move towards our desired goal…. cut loses when we realize that we are going in the wrong direction.
We must learn to say” I changed my mind.” Always be willing to change our mind in the face of new knowledge or information that challenges old ideas or the established way of doing things. The faster we change our mind and get back to doing what works, the less stress we will have and the more effective we will be.
Imagine if one of our team members is unreliable, performs his job poorly and won't communicate his progress to management despite many requests for updates. We have a difficult employment decision to make. Should we consider firing him? So when we apply Zero-based Thinking to a decision we ask ourselves:
"Knowing what I know now, would I still recruit him?"
If our answer is "No", then it is a pretty clear indication that it is time for the parting of the ways. We cannot employ staff that we would not re-employ.
I have a friend who bought a franchise business in Philippines and paid a hefty sum for it. Unfortunately it was not an exclusive business and the market had been largely tapped by existing businesses. Though relationships were established with the likely prospects, other “suspects” were just not interested.
The franchisor had poorly-developed marketing systems and offered little in lead generation but expected a monthly franchising fee to be paid incessantly. In the face of such difficult situation, my friend decided to come out with a decision by applying Zero-based Thinking. "Knowing what I know now, would I still buy this franchise business?" Again the answer was "No." The business hardly generated any cash and certainly was not providing a return worthy for the time spent or money invested. While it was a bitter pill to swallow, it was time to accept that the franchise fee was gone. The business opportunity was never there and it had been a bad decision. It would have been an even worse decision to continue wasting time on this failed franchise business and Zero-based Thinking made this clear.
In one of his audio CD, Spike Humer, an international speaker, business consultant, and growth strategist, states that there are only 4 ways to achieve real measurable success. First, STOP doing what you are doing right now that does not bring you any kind of success. Second, START doing what you are not doing right now that will bring you real success. Third, do LESS of what you are doing right now that doesn't bring you any kind of success. Fourth, do MORE of what you are doing right now that brings you real success.
I would say that most people prefer the third and fourth ways. It is easier for any person to start doing more or less of any thing he/she has been doing than to start doing something new or stop doing something old.
Thus in addition to the Zero-Based Thinking question, it will be very helpful for people to ask themselves, A. What are the things I need to do LESS in order to achieve MORE success? B. What are the things I need to do MORE in order to achieve MORE success? Yet the elite will ask: A. What do I need to START doing right now that will bring myself more and more success? B. What do I need to STOP doing right now to bring myself more and more success? I prefer to belong to the elite. What about you?
We can start with what we have got right at where we are. No matter where we are or whatever circumstances we are in, we can get from where we are to where we want to be! It does not matter who we are or what we are doing. The most important thing is to start NOW.
It is impossible to make progress in our life if we continue to allow ourselves to be held back by decisions we made in the past. We are constantly evolving, growing and maturing in our journey towards our destiny. We must not let cultural, religious or social conditioning cause us to stay on a relationship or continue with an activity, be it business or recreational, that no longer serves our purposes. In fact, that relationship or activity is detrimental to our long-range aspirations and goals.
We can engage one valuable exercise which is called Zero Based Thinking. I learned this method from a book by Brian Tracy. I have used this method in my own life with profound results. Life should be one long journey of learning and Zero based thinking is a great way to speed up that learning process at time when we have to make difficult decisions. The Zero-based Thinking technique is terrific for really focusing on the key issues.
Ask yourself the following question, “Knowing what I know now, would I have gotten involved in this relationship, this career, and this project, etc?”If the answer is “No!” then get out of that situation as quickly as possible. That is Zero-Based Thinking. It is useful and powerful.
When we apply Zero-based Thinking, one important point we must remember is we must be absolutely honest with ourselves. If we are unhappy, we must tell ourselves that we are unhappy. We will not get the results if we try to be positive with our feelings when in actual fact they are not. Our mind will use whatever power it has to keep us in our comfort zone, even if it means staying in a working relationship that is not working and in all likelihood will never work. We have to understand that the fear of admitting one’s mistakes is just human nature. Human beings have a serious tendency to fall in love with their decisions even when it is totally obvious to others that those decisions are wrong. In practicing Zero-based Thinking, we must be brutally honest with ourselves on every aspect of our life.
We must learn to say: I WAS WRONG. According to management research, 70 % of our decisions will turn out to be wrong in the fullness of time. The sooner we realize that we are on the wrong road and admit it, the sooner we will turn back and the faster we will get to our destination of business growth and high profitability.
We must be willing to say these words” I MADE A MISTAKE. ” Face up to our mistake and move towards our desired goal…. cut loses when we realize that we are going in the wrong direction.
We must learn to say” I changed my mind.” Always be willing to change our mind in the face of new knowledge or information that challenges old ideas or the established way of doing things. The faster we change our mind and get back to doing what works, the less stress we will have and the more effective we will be.
Imagine if one of our team members is unreliable, performs his job poorly and won't communicate his progress to management despite many requests for updates. We have a difficult employment decision to make. Should we consider firing him? So when we apply Zero-based Thinking to a decision we ask ourselves:
"Knowing what I know now, would I still recruit him?"
If our answer is "No", then it is a pretty clear indication that it is time for the parting of the ways. We cannot employ staff that we would not re-employ.
I have a friend who bought a franchise business in Philippines and paid a hefty sum for it. Unfortunately it was not an exclusive business and the market had been largely tapped by existing businesses. Though relationships were established with the likely prospects, other “suspects” were just not interested.
The franchisor had poorly-developed marketing systems and offered little in lead generation but expected a monthly franchising fee to be paid incessantly. In the face of such difficult situation, my friend decided to come out with a decision by applying Zero-based Thinking. "Knowing what I know now, would I still buy this franchise business?" Again the answer was "No." The business hardly generated any cash and certainly was not providing a return worthy for the time spent or money invested. While it was a bitter pill to swallow, it was time to accept that the franchise fee was gone. The business opportunity was never there and it had been a bad decision. It would have been an even worse decision to continue wasting time on this failed franchise business and Zero-based Thinking made this clear.
In one of his audio CD, Spike Humer, an international speaker, business consultant, and growth strategist, states that there are only 4 ways to achieve real measurable success. First, STOP doing what you are doing right now that does not bring you any kind of success. Second, START doing what you are not doing right now that will bring you real success. Third, do LESS of what you are doing right now that doesn't bring you any kind of success. Fourth, do MORE of what you are doing right now that brings you real success.
I would say that most people prefer the third and fourth ways. It is easier for any person to start doing more or less of any thing he/she has been doing than to start doing something new or stop doing something old.
Thus in addition to the Zero-Based Thinking question, it will be very helpful for people to ask themselves, A. What are the things I need to do LESS in order to achieve MORE success? B. What are the things I need to do MORE in order to achieve MORE success? Yet the elite will ask: A. What do I need to START doing right now that will bring myself more and more success? B. What do I need to STOP doing right now to bring myself more and more success? I prefer to belong to the elite. What about you?
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