Tag: endeavors

Focusing On the Small

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Regardless of your endeavor, you probably have at one time or another thought about hitting it big.  Natural as the air you breathe it seems.  In many respects big is a good thing-if it is a part of your destiny.  For example, Nelson Mandela was meant to have worldwide notoriety and focus.  He was the right man for the journey South Africa was in.  It’s also quite a statement how he released power, while some of his contemporaries held (and are still holding) on.  See Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe on this.  In an ironic way leadership plays out like this everyday in organizations across the globe.

So as we hear the music playing our tune, it’s easy to embrace the big.

I’ve been asked about Oprah, about fame, about money, about feeling the love.  But rarely am I asked about the input, the mission, or the pain.  Maybe there’s no surprise here, since we are enamored with the output.  If I were not careful, I could easily miss the small while going for the big.  Thankfully, humility is now in my blood work.  Wasn’t always this way.

Here’s why the small is most important:

  1. Hitting the big is very temporal.  Hitting the small refines your soul. It will keep you focused.
  2. The small people are the biggest people.
  3. Those who are only fascinated by the big will leave you in a heartbeat when the party is over.
  4. The small allows you to serve from a perspective of reality and measurable outcome.
  5. The small will stay with you come good or bad.  The small knows dedication.
  6. The small will pave a way for greatness and a measurable legacy.
  7. The small reminds you (daily) that life truly is a moment by moment game.
  8. The small will not detour you from your destiny.
  9. Customers are always found and served in the small.

Output and Input

A post from 2008 that I got to thinking about this week. To this day, I'm struck by the silence on the input side of things.

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It's easy to get excited by the output of one's work.  In many ways, a leader can feel a sense of justification for what's flowing from their perspective tributary. 

If you connect with glowing about your output, then you could be missing something vital.  You could be missing the input.

Here's why you might not think, or like to think about, you input:

  • The input part is the hard work of your endeavor.
  • The input part is the pain of your endeavor.
  • The input part is the fears you've dealt with in the journey.
  • The input part is the hope within your heart.
  • The input part is the sense of destiny you feel deep inside.

There are times I still have to look away from my own "inputs."  But we must look and examine what has gone into what has been produced.   

There are some valuable benefits to embracing the input: 

  • It will keep you from thinking your management style is a 10.
  • It will humble you and bring a sense of thankfulness.
  • It will redefine how you define success.  You'll discover that the journey is where the gold is.  Think about a marvelous road trip and what you see along the way.  The destination can never compare.
  • It will help you know who really digs you.  People who are for you are the ones that have time for you when no one can see the tangible (fame, wealth, influence, etc.) benefits of the output.
  • The world will smile at the thought of you because embracing input implies an inside-out approach.

The input is the gold found in our lives.  Ironic how our age worships output instead.  Some longing for meaning I suppose.