Just Shut Up and Get It Done

I saw a post someone “put” (spelled s-p-a-m-m-e-d) onto my Facebook wall last week. It was encouraging me to click on a link and see how some doctor would show me how to take the “Law of Attraction” even farther by showing me techniques to actually implement it.  Just for funsies, I clicked on it. As I figured, it was a really general description replete with the compulsory big words and jargon, but no specifics. No… for the specifics, you’d certainly have to plop down your hard-earned money and buy the CD, DVD, book, and/or fly to Florida or somewhere warm to attend the in-person training. 

Typical, right? 

I actually commented with my thoughts on this type of scam. Don’t worry, I didn’t spend a lot of time on the response because I really didn’t think anyone human would see it anyway. I felt a little bit better, though! Cathartic, y’know?

I hold what may be a really controversial stance on people like this. I won’t call out any names, but you’ve seen them, the motivational gurus who claim to help you make tons of money, good-looking, big smiles,

secrets of life, get rich by listening to me, just follow my system and everything else will take care of itself, blah, blah, blah. Well, I’m not buying it (or anything they sell, for that manner). I’ll admit, part of my disdain may be jealousy that I’m “missing out” by not jumping in with my own “system” (honestly, ANY halfway competent salesperson can do it). Good PR, good marketing, good timing, a good look, you really can do it.

I’ve heard (and really believe) that the only way to make money from a motivational, get-rich, self-help book is to write one. The industry (yes, industry) and people involved prey on the helpless and desperate and use the money gained from them to propel themselves upward and give the impression of even more success, which, in turn, draws more desperate people.

Why not just do it all yourself? Like the ubiquitous Nike tagline… “Just Do It.” Really! Say what you will, but big business does a lot of things right. The techniques and lessons learned really can be made applicable to the small business and entrepreneur. These are tried and true and are written and used by successful people  

to help successful people, or people who aspire to be successful. They don’t involve the wishing and hoping and hocus-pocus aspect a lot of these other books and systems tend to have, There are no baits and switches, no training sessions in warm locations, no bells, or whistles that do nothing more than enrich the “guru.”

The preeminent book, in my opinion, you should get, read, digest, and implement is Execution – The Discipline of Getting Things Done. 

See? Even the title is no-nonsense, let’s get to work. It’s written by Larry Bossidy, former Chairman and CEO of Honeywell International, Ram Charan, who also wrote What the CEO Wants You To Know, with Charles Burck. I got it as a District Manager at Pfizer and have used its tenets to make me an even better manager and leader. Apparently, I’m not the only one. It’s been reviewed and praised by the CEOs of various and sundry Fortune 500 companies, world-renowned business publications, and a bevy of others, including Jack Welch.

Where this book, and thus, this philosophy, goes is far away from the “forces of nature,” “fate,” karma,” and “spiritual forces” thing of which I see way too much.  What I like to call “the discipline of getting things done” is just that – a focus on discipline, accountability, metrics, and success versus failure, all aimed at getting what needs to be done, done. You don’t see that with the standard self-help fare.  That very discipline is one of the two main things that separate the successful from the unsuccessful. The other is decision-making. Timing runs a close third. Look for future thoughts on those two factors from me.

As I intimated in “The Price of Words,” it’s not what you say, much less hope or wish for, it’s what you DO that counts. Let’s get away from spending and wasting valuable resources on someone else to get you up, motivated, at it, and successful… The only person to do that is YOU!

That’s the point!

  - Tony