Episode 106 - Looking Ahead on the Big Things
A teenager was boasting to a police officer how he bought a car with an awesome engine that could powerfully out run any patrol car. The boy had done his homework. He cited remarkable statistics about engine size, configuration and horsepower. The policeman listened intently, even nodded his head a few times. When the young man finished, the officer calmly informed him, “Impressive. But I’ve never seen one yet that could out run a radio.”
Ooops! The teen got so focused on getting something big he forgot to look ahead. Business professionals sometimes do that, too. We concentrate on getting the promotion or landing an account and sometimes we forget to look ahead. Maybe the tradeoff for the promotion is that now you’ll work 10 hours a week more. Maybe the tradeoff for the big account is that you’ll have to let go of a smaller account you love working on. Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote, “There are no right or wrong business decisions, only ones with different potential outcomes.” When you have your sights set on something big, it’s smart to look ahead to the potential outcomes that’ll start clicking in the right after you succeed.
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