There’s Always Better than…

It is great to dream big, have a vision, make a name, and work hard. But guess what: There's something better than that.

Better than being negative…

Now, let me take you through a very simple math exam. I'll rattle off a couple of equations, and you tell me what you observe about them. Be mindful of the instructions. You are to tell me what you observe about the equations. Here goes:

"3+4=7", "9+2=11", "8+4=13", and "6+6=12". Tell me, what do you observe?

Mostly, more than 90 percent of the participants immediately say, 8+4 is NOT 13, it is 12!

That's true and you are correct. But you could have also observed that the three other equations were right. That 3+4 is 7, that 9+2 is 11, and that 6+6 is 12.

You definitely experienced this in the corporate world. You do a hundred good things and one mistake-guess what? Chances were that your attention was called on that one mistake.

So what's better than focusing on the negative? Believe me, its focusing on the positive. And if this world could learn to focus on the positive more than the negative, it would be a much nicer place to live in.

What's my point? Many people immediately focus on the negative instead of the positive. Most of us focus on what's wrong with other people more than what's right about them.

Examine those four equations. Three were right and only one was wrong. But what is the knee-jerk observation? The wrong equation.

Get the point? It's always the negative we focus on and not the positive.

Better than working hard…

We have always been told to work hard. Our parents say that, our supervisors say that, and our manager says that. But there's something better than merely working hard. It's working SMART. It's taking time to understand the situation, and coming out with an effective and efficient solution to get more done with less time and effort.

Now, let me share to you a story about a company to elaborate it more.

There was this one company in Japan that produces soap products. Now this company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a box of soap that was empty. It immediately isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty.

Management tasked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast.

But a rank-and-file employee that was posed the same problem came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Clearly, the engineers worked hard, but the rank-and-file employee worked smart.

So what's better than merely working hard? It's working smart.

Having said that, it is still important to work hard. If you could combine both working hard and working smart, you would possess a major factor toward success.

Better than having a vision…

John Maxwell once wrote in his book that an indispensable quality of a leader is to have a Vision.

But surprise! There's something more potent than a vision. It's a CAUSE. If all you're doing is trying to reach your vision and you're pitted against someone fighting for a cause, chances are you'll lose.

In the realm of business, many leaders have visions of making their company No. 1, or grabbing market share, or forever increasing profits. Nothing really wrong with that vision, but take the example of Sony founder Akio Morita. He did not just have a vision to build the biggest electronics company in the world. In his biography, "Made in Japan", he reveals that the real reason he set up Sony was to help rebuild his country, which had just been battered by war. He had a cause he was fighting for. His vision to be an electronics giant was secondary.

What's the difference between a vision and a cause? Here's what sets them apart...

No one is willing to die for a vision. People will die for a cause.

You posses a vision. A cause possesses you.

A vision lies in your hands. A cause lies in your heart.

A vision involves sacrifice. A cause involves the ultimate sacrifice.

It may take time, and it may take long. But if you have the right vision and are fighting for the right cause, you will prevail. If not, no matter how sincere you are, if you are not fighting for what is right, you will fail.

My friends the point that I want make here is that, there’s always better than the common ways on how we think and handle things in life. This is true and if you haven’t found it, keep looking and keep on thinking. Don’t settle.