Three Driving Forces

Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.”

Thomas Edison

What drives no limits people? That’s what I wanted Jim Newton, author of Uncommon Friends to reveal. He didn’t disappoint me.

I met him thirty years ago when he was in his late seventies. During his early twenties his circle of friends was Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Alexis Carrel and Charles Lindberg.

This group has been called the men who invented the 20^th Century. During the hundreds of hours he was with them, he took notes, actually five or six boxes full of them. This treasure trove became the basis for Jim’s book, “Uncommon Friends.”

Of my many conversations with Jim one is a standout. I learned one of the biggest lessons in my life. I said, “Did these great high achievers have any common driving forces?”

Three interlocking and self-supporting forces, he explained, motivate these high achievers. First of all, no-limits people are inspired by an unshakable sense of purpose. This sense of purpose supports and reinforces (and is supported and reinforced by in turn) two more driving forces. The no-limits person has an unquenchable spirit of adventure and a desire for continued personal growth. These people know they don’t know it all. (Anyone who does think he or she knows it all is in what we used to call “the graveyard spiral” in the flying business.)

As I say, these three motivations don’t operate in a vacuum. Although the sense of purpose (which is sometimes described as a “sense of mission”) initiates the cycle, it connects with each of the other two motivations, and is constantly strengthened by them. Take a look at the diagram, which I developed after a discussion with Jim. It makes the process a little easier to understand.

The cycle starts in the middle—the no-limits person has developed an incredibly strong sense of “what needs to happen and why.” This is the awareness and planning stage, the part of the cycle where goals are developed. Without a firm sense of purpose, without a mission, without a strong goal orientation, there is no such thing as a barrier-breaker.

So the goal’s established and a plan is in place. Then the no-limits person launches that plan and embarks on the adventure of actually achieving the goal. Of course, there are challenges and temporary setbacks along the way; problem solving is part of the adventure. This is the second phase of the process, and it’s very exciting.

Even after the goal is achieved, the no-limits person is motivated—this time, to prepare for the challenges of the future. That third element, the desire for continued personal growth, is a commitment not to “rest on laurels” or “stick with the formula” because it’s always worked before. No-limits people are about positive change, positive growth, and forward movement. For them, the cycle is not complete until there’s evidence of renewal and new understanding.

All three motivations support and reinforce one another. All three are essential forces for the development of a no-limits life.

These are the driving forces that no-limits people use to put their lives into “afterburner” mode, to use Air Force terminology. With practice, you can use these forces to change your life, too!

Immediate Action: Review the three forces that drive no-limits achievers. Jot them down on a separate sheet of paper.

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: No-limits people are those who commit to pushing themselves outside of the comfort zone, those who know what they want and are willing to commit fully to the adventure of achieving their goals, and those who are willing to say, as my friend Jim Rohn says, “In order to do more, I’ve got to be more

Break Your Own Records––Not Theirs

“To be what we are, to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end of life.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

A favorite author of mine, O. S. Marden said, “Adversity sometimes strips a person only to discover the person.”

There was a period of time that I had a real chance to learn more about myself as well as the sales team I managed.

It had been a tumultuous seven months since I was appointed to manage the #1 office of 36 offices. In three months we were 36^th because I was trying to get them to sell like I did. It’s a common managerial mistake. My boss said, “I’m looking for your replacement.”

I went into “high gear” looking for good leadership techniques and putting them into practice. In four months we were back to #1. Over the next few months we stayed at #1 but at the same level of productivity.

We were back at our comfort levels in other words we had stopped at our individual self-imposed barriers of the past.

The system I created that worked like a charm was to bring each of my team members in for a “closed door” session with me. In this private conference I said, “I don’t want you to break anyone else’s sales record. I only want you to break your own in five different categories. What is your highest producing day, week, month, quarter and year?

If they didn’t know what their record was in each category I helped them figure it our. I also explained they didn’t have to break them in order. They might have their best week before their best day, for example.

Launching this technique worked extremely well. We broke office records, company records and industry records.

Once they saw that breaking their own personal records was a great motivation their morale went even higher.

It also got them away from that old, inefficient saying, “I’m going to go break ‘so and so’s’ record”. They were more focused on their own records.

Immediate Action: Figure out what was your best productive day. Your best productive week, etc.

Making the Best Better

“Only a mediocre person is always at his best.”

Somerset Maugham

I was conducting a leadership program at a client’s company headquarters in South Carolina. During the lunch break, as I was strolling around with one of their vice presidents, I couldn’t help but notice the great inspirational quotes hanging on the walls. I commented what a great idea this was. The VP said, “These are the inspirational reminders we used in the turnaround we went through a few years ago. We were a very old company that had drifted into the doldrums and plateaued out. Then our CEO read a book by Philip Crosby called Quality Is Free––and after that we turned the company around. Now we’re the acknowledged world leader in our field.”

The first quote on the wall that really caught my eye said, “There is no saturation to education.” What a great thought! Think about it. Do you realize that nobody has ever been completely educated? There is always room for another new idea! I think that quote ought to be on every manager’s wall and across the top of every company newsletter. There is no saturation to education!

But the one that brought me to a complete halt was a few yards further down the hallway. This is the one that will stick with me forever. “Good is the enemy of best; best is the enemy of better.” Wow! That’s profound! When we get good at something, what do we tend to say? “Why do I have to be the best at this? I’m already good at it.” Should we happen to become the best at something, and then the tendency is to say, “Why do I need to get any better? I’m already Number One.”

When I was in the cockpit of my supersonic fighter I was always “checking my six.” That was the area directly behind me where something bad could slip up on me. Occasionally, we’d see one of our buddies in the squadron getting a little too cocky, a little too self-assured for his own good and ours. That’s when somebody would say, “You’d better check your six. Something’s gaining on you and you don’t even know it.”

That same thing happens in the business world. I spot them in my audiences at conventions and seminars. Their arms are folded; they never take a note and have a “know it all” look on their face. I spring this on them, “Check your six. Something is slipping up on you that you’re not going to like.”

When you take that new road––the one that leads out of the familiar routine and into new goals and new growth––your customers will be thrilled. But what happens if you keep going around and around in the same circle? Plateauing, followed by stagnation, followed by burnout…in that order.

Immediate Action: Think of a person you’ve worked with who thought he or she knew it all, but didn’t. How should he or she have kept up with the challenges of the day? What can you learn from his or her complacency?

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: Don’t forget to check your six. You’ve got to make sure you stay out there where you can focus. For your own good and for the good of others. You’ve got to make sure that complacency isn’t keeping you from developing new talents––and developing defenses against the new challenges you’re going to face.

Declaration of Personal Responsibility

Several years ago, and all in one afternoon, I wrote what I call my “Declaration of Personal Responsibility.”

The inspiration for this piece was from a man who was in one of my audiences. After the program, he said, “I hope the guy on the white horse gets here soon because I need help. I gently explained that if his problems were going to be solved he’d have to do it himself because the “guy on the white horse” is nonexistent.

My Declaration is in two of the books I’ve written. Dr. Robert H. Schuller asked me to use it in one of his best sellers. Other authors have used it in their books.

Og Mandino, who wrote the worlds best selling. “The Greatest Salesman in the World,” framed a copy of my Declaration and hung it above his desk. He told me he read it every morning before he started writing. His favorite paragraph was the next to the last one that begins “With Personal growth comes a fear of the unknown…”

I’d love to hear which one is your favorite.

My Declaration follows this letter. May I challenge you to write your own Declaration?

Higher up and farther on! The best is yet to be!

Danny Cox

Declaration of Personal Responsibility
By Danny Cox

I currently possess everything I've truly wanted and deserved. This is based on what I have handed out to date. My possessions, my savings and my lifestyle are an exact mirror of me, my efforts and my contribution to society. What I give, I get. If I am unhappy with what I have received it is because, as yet, I have not paid the required price. I have lingered too long in the "quibbling stage."

I fully understand that time becomes a burden to me only when it is empty. The past is mine and at this very moment I am purchasing another twenty-four hours of it. The future quickly becomes the past at a control point called the present moment. I not only truly live at that point, but I have full responsibility for the highest and best use of the irreplaceable now.

I accept full responsibility for both the successes and failures in my life. If I am not what I desire to be at this point, what I am is my compromise. I no longer choose to compromise with my undeveloped potential.

I am the sum total of the choices I have made and I continue to choose daily. What I now put under close scrutiny is the value of each up-coming choice. Therein lies the quality of my future lifestyle.

Will my future belong to the "old me" or the "new me"? The answer depends on my attitude toward personal growth at this very moment. What time is left is all that counts and that remaining time is my responsibility. With a newfound maturity I accept full responsibility for how good I can become at what is most important to me.

With personal growth comes a fear of the unknown and new problems. Those problems are nothing more than the expanding shadow of my personal growth. I now turn my very real fear, with God’s help, into a very real adventure.

My life now expands to meet my newfound destiny. "Old me" meet the "new me."

Copyright 1984

Thoughts on "Repeating Yesterday"

Stagnation of personal growth is caused by “Monday times 5”

Thoughts on "Repeating Yesterday"
By
Danny Cox

Repeating yesterday re-enforces self imposed barriers. It puts a lid on undeveloped potential.

You're losing ground when you repeat yesterday and the world doesn't.

Repeating yesterday is surrendering the leadership of your life to mere day-by-day tasks.

The habit of repeating yesterday is the result of goal orientation, a negative goal orientation, but still a goal orientation.

Repeating yesterday runs your battery down.

If you have no new goals you are repeating yesterday.

If you continue to repeat yesterday the high point of your life is already behind you.

Repeating yesterday centers on reaction not action.

If you have trouble getting up in the morning you are repeating yesterday.

Repeating yesterday causes psycho sclerosis –hardening of the mind.

A small success can paralyze a person into a long string of repeated yesterdays.

Repeating yesterday is deciding not to delve further into the storehouse of potential that is available.

Stagnated leadership can send a company "hell bent for leather" down the road marked "Return to Yesterday."

If you're repeating yesterday you've fallen in love with false security and out of love with your undeveloped potential. And like an old love it hurts to remember what could have been.

Repeating yesterday becomes hypnotic. It's motion versus direction.

Repeating yesterday is freezing at one rung of life's ladder.

Repeating yesterday is continuing to do what you know doesn't work.

Repeating yesterday makes you a rejecter of information and knowledge rather than a gatherer.

Repeating yesterday freezes you at your current level of competence.

When you give up repeating yesterday, it great to know that you’re best is yet to be.

Point to Ponder: Make a vow to never wake up some day to find yourself master of the mediocre, best of the bottom, average of the average, “leader” of the lukewarm, “champion” of the contented, “king” of the crumbs, “lance corporal” of the leftovers and “almighty” of the almost.

Declaration of Personal Responsibility

Several years ago, and all in one afternoon, I wrote what I call my "Declaration of Personal Responsibility."

The inspiration for this piece was from a man who was in one of my audiences. After the program, he said, "I hope the guy on the white horse gets here soon because I need help." I gently expained that if his problems were going to be solved he'd have to do it himself because the "guy on the white horse" is non-existant.

My Declaration is in two of the books I've written. Dr. Robert H. Schuller asked to use it in one of his best sellers. Other authors have used in in their books.

Og Mandino, who wrote the worlds best selling "The Greatest Salesman in the World," framed a copy of the "Declaration of Personal Responsibility" and hung it above his desk. He told me he read it every morning before he started writing. His favorite paragraph was the next to the last one that begins "With personal growth comes a fear of the unknown..."

I'd love to hear which one is your favorite.

My Declaration follows this letter. May I challenge you to write your own declaration?

Higher up and farther on! The best is yet to be!
Danny Cox

Declaration of Personal Responsibility

I currently possess everything I've truly wanted and deserved. This is based on what I have handed out to date. My possessions, my savings and my lifestyle are an exact mirror of me, my efforts and my contribution to society. What I give, I get. If I am unhappy with what I have received it is because, as yet, I have not paid the required price. I have lingered too long in the "quibbling stage."

I fully understand that time becomes a burden to me only when it is empty. The past is mine and at this very moment I am purchasing another twenty-four hours of it. The future quickly becomes the past at a control point called the present moment. I not only truly live at that point, but I have full responsibility for the highest and best use of the irreplaceable now.

I accept full responsibility for both the successes and failures in my life. If I am not what I desire to be at this point, what I am is my compromise. I no longer choose to compromise with my undeveloped potential.

I am the sum total of the choices I have made and I continue to choose daily. What I now put under close scrutiny is the value of each up-coming choice. Therein lies the quality of my future lifestyle.

Will my future belong to the "old me" or the "new me"? The answer depends on my attitude toward personal growth at this very moment. What time is left is all that counts and that remaining time is my responsibility. With a newfound maturity I accept full responsibility for how good I can become at what is most important to me.

With personal growth comes a fear of the unknown and new problems. Those problems are nothing more than the expanding shadow of my personal growth. I now turn my very real fear, with God’s help, into a very real adventure.

My life now expands to meet my newfound destiny. "Old me" meet the "new me."

Important Notice:

Uncommon leadership for these tough times is a requirement for the organization that will survive and be stronger because of the challenges overcome. Good leadership always tops market conditions whether they’re good OR bad. These leaders do not enjoy being “part of the pack, like everyone else.” The following article reveals the secrets of these triumphant leaders.

(Please feel free to pass this along to other managers)

High Performance Leadership in a Tough, Tough Market

The longer a slow market is in place the more likely bad habits have been developed in both team members and managers. This can cause a slower than necessary re-entry into an improving economic climate, when that happens. These habits, which can take many forms, need to be identified and rooted out quickly by the manager personally and in the team.

To accelerate this re-entry the leader must be sure that the four elements of a high performance organization are in place. Those are inter-active trust between the coach and the team, a sense of purpose, focused action and clear communications.

The first, inter-active trust is initiated by the leader’s commitment to personal growth, thereby setting a good example for the team. The leader doesn’t set this example so all can be copies of him or her but only to prove that the leader is on a growth curve and improving in the role.

When the leader then coaches the individual’s strengths into better job performance the reward is trust from the team member. The individual, the coach, other team members, the customers and, most importantly, the person’s family, see this growth.

As this trust and respect spreads it makes an inter-active statement that “You have my best interest at heart.” A by-product is high morale and a camaraderie that each knows there is something very special going on.

The second element, a sense of purpose, is bigger than just a goal or even a vision. Purpose makes a long-term statement that through the years a number of visions will be achieved. A single vision is made up of numerous goals well aimed at the eventual achievement of the vision.

The leader knows that true enthusiasm is built by the accomplishment of smaller goals that are part of a larger plan. These periodic achievements build team energy in the march toward the vision.

The high performance leader also knows that as soon as a vision is attained it should be celebrated and immediately replaced with another vision lest there be a let down in morale.

Focused action is the third element. The leader is aware of where the team is and the course to be maintained for goal and vision accomplishment. The leader is precise and up to date on progress and keeps the team aware of it. This keeps energy and motivation high in each individual.

The fourth element is effective communications. A high performance leader has inventoried each person’s weaknesses and strengths. He or she knows that to be effective in coaching, you must be aware of the weaknesses but talk to the person’s strengths.

Another important phase of communications is to adapt a policy of “never quit selling your company to your company.” Often, the last time a team member has heard anything good about the company was during the recruiting phase. Keep selling them!

A final reminder: When a team has made it through a storm because of good leadership the cohesion, camaraderie and synergy that takes place is hard to break.

Excerpted from Danny’s book, Leadership When the Heat’s On Second Edition, 2003

© Copyright 2009