I SEE YOU

"The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages."

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) British novelist and essayist.

There is very little bad or good you can do that will not ultimately be known to others.

Choose carefully what that will be.

SOMETHING IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING

"Every calamity is a spur and valuable hint."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet/essayist/lecturer

But only if you recognize it as such.

Many, maybe most things happen for a reason.

Do your best to learn what that is and then plan to deal with it.

"I CAN'T UNTIL . . ." NEVER HAPPENS

"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome."

Samuel Johnson

18th century British author

And none are more egregious than objections you give yourself.

Only knowing how to get to places you never go to gets you nowhere.

"Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but, disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort."

Marshall McLuhan

20th century Canadian communications theorist and educator

Not by a long shot.

I founded, grew, and sold what was at the time the consumer electronic industry's largest independent market research and database marketing company in the world.

No one did more research than we did and while much of it was acted upon, much of it was not.

Memo to managers: Don't buy research you don't use.

Well?

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

Harriet Beecher Stowe

19th century American writer and philanthropist

If your business, your career, is not going to be the success you originally envisioned, are you really OK with it being because of things you knew you should but never attempted to do?

Do it!

MUCH MORE THAN SIMPLY DREAMING IT

"Human life is driven forward by its dim apprehension of notions too general for its existing language."

Alfred North Whitehead

Late 19th/early 20th century English mathematician

Business too.

Every idea now recognized as successful began life as just a notion in someone's mind.

But you have to do something with it to create value.

"STANDING STILL" IS NOT AN OPTION

"A man grows most tired while standing still."

Chinese proverb

Fortunately or not, depending on your view, you can't "stand still".

Unrelenting, often imperceptible, sometimes unimaginable change is constant reality for us all.

The only question is, how much will you have to do with what is going to happen to you?

But Does It Have To Come To This?

"When it becomes more difficult to suffer than change, then you will change."

Unknown

And often well before.

Much change occurs regardless of how much you suffer.

What Will You Do First?

"To him who is determined it remains only to act."

Italian proverb

Good advice to all seriously considering starting their own business.

But understand, "acting" includes having first planned what acts you will initiate.

Anything less is just blind wandering.

It's Time To Act!

"You don't have to see the whole staircase to take the first step."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

20th century American preacher/civil rights leader

In fact, continuing metaphorically, you will rarely "see" (understand) the "whole staircase" (all you need to know) before being forced to either "start up it" (take action) or give up and walk away.

What's it going to be?

Think (But Not Too Much) Before You Act!

"Reflection makes men cowards."

William Hazlitt

18th century British essayist

You need to reflect before taking action but too much thinking about what might happen and you may not act at all.

How do you balance the two?

You're One Of Three

"All mankind is divided into three classes; those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move."

Arabian proverb

A pretty neat summary of business personalities as well.

Those who don't, those who might, and those who do.

Which are you?

Decisive Indecisiveness?

"I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up."

Mark Twain

19th American humorist

Carefully considering the facts prior to making a critical decision is as important in business as is making timely decisions.

How do you find balance between the two?

Your Reputation Precedes You

"The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour."

Unknown

We do more remember the bad than the good.

Think before you act and speak.

I Wish I Didn't Know Now What I Didn't Know Then

"Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty."

Mark Twain

19th century American humorist/author

I see this in my clients and often it's not as much a matter of education as it is experience.

Or lack thereof.

Those just starting out don't know what they don't know, not to mention what they should know.

And those, generally older, who do know, are scared thinking about what they now know they don't know.

Knowledge Without Understanding . . . What's It Worth?

"When you cease to try to understand than you will know without understanding."

Chinese proverb

And if you really don't understand how can you act on what you know?

The Rusty Brain

"Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright."

Benjamin Franklin

18th century American statesman/inventor/philosopher

This isn't just about the physical.

It pertains to the mental as well.

On The Merits Of Being Cautiously Agressive

"Caution is not cowardly.  Carelessness is not courage."

Unknown

I have one individual in mind who has consistently demonstrated balance between managing aggressively and being overly cautious.

And when I think of his failures they are almost always the result of being too much of one or the other.

I Hope There's More

"Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper."

Francis Bacon

Late 16th/early 17th century British statesman

Much success begins with hope, and, when that's all there is, much failure as well.

Too Much Talk, Is

"A dog that barks much is never a good hunter."

Proverb

Think, plan, discuss, talk, even bark if you will, but above all else, do.