The Law of Average

To get what we've never had, we must do what we've never done.

I was working with a fairly large company recently on their business strategy, and how they were going to get their whole team engaged so that everyone was pulling their own weight, and everyone had a passion for the growth of the company. The idea was, if everyone could work together, productivity would increase, business relationships would flourish and the end of year bonus would be much bigger. Their goal was to be above average over all of the competitors in their market. That was the plan.

What I didn't know going into this project, was that many of their staff really didn't like or even want to get along with each other, and they weren't interested in any plan that would have them in closer contact with people whom they did not like or had little in common with, also, there didn't seem to be any interest in them making any changes or in getting stronger. They knew that business was way down, but they were content to stay in their own little cocoon and pretend that everything was alright. They were also content to do the same things today and tomorrow that they had been doing which had caused the business to drop in the first place. They were comfortable with being average, because that was all that they had known. People were going home each night tired and drawn out with little or no energy for anything, only to repeat the same procedure the next day. Little did they know that all they had to do to get more out of their job was simply to look for the things that they DID like and then build on that, and then they would find all the enthusiasm that they needed to fill their days with energy and achievement. If they could even have added only one more degree of energy or action, like bringing water to a boil, they could go from 211 degrees which is really hot water, or doing a pretty good job, to 212 to boiling and excellence: Just one degree, that's usually all it takes! Without that one degree, you couldn't run a locomotive, because the water has to boil before it can generate enough steam to run the engine.

Did you know that in the world of sports, often, it's the difference of less than a second that makes the difference between winning and coming in second? For example, in the Zurich Weltklasse IAAF track meet in November, in the 100 Meter race, American Tyson Gay ran it in 9.88 seconds. As a runner, I can tell you that that is lightning fast! Unfortunately, he came second to Jamaican Asafa Powell who ran it in 9.77! In less time than it takes to blink your eye, a race was decided with a field of runners who tried hard, and only one winner who tried harder.

Most people say that they want positive change in their lives or in their places of employment, but unfortunately, it usually doesn't go any further than that. Change takes a few important things, first it takes a vision of what you want to change to, and then it takes an action of some sort to make it happen. There are many people out there with whom we come into contact with each and every day who are completely content to stay just average. After all, if they stay average, then they get to be invisible which means that they will never be in a rocking boat, and will not be asked to do anything that they may find uncomfortable or out of their level of knowledge, so then they will never make a mistake or be held accountable for poor results. They will be just one of those leaf cutter ants, who are in a lineup day after day where they go out in line, cut their piece of leaf and bring it back to the nest in line and then go out and do it again. Every day is the same thing, and each worker ant is as indistinguishable as the next in their appearance and work habits. What if there was a better way? Would one stand up and say, "Hey guys, we're doing this all wrong. There is a better way!" to which one of the average ants would probably say, "Hey buddy, get back in line. We've always done it this way. It works for us."

Being average is a choice, as is choosing to be excellent! You don't just wake up one fine day with a motivation to change to excellence unless you see some reason for going there. Often, in business and in life, I have seen that our emotions and motivations are more responsible for our success than most of our education. Sure education is important, it's your ticket to the game, but if you take a person of average intelligence and average enthusiasm and you place them in a position where they can achieve a certain level of success, and match them against another person of average intelligence and a higher level of enthusiasm, the latter will win every time. You see, unless a desire is created that will blast them out of their average mindset, they will not bother to take the effort to learn whatever it is that they need to learn or do what it is that they need to do to succeed.

You know that. That's why you have decided to read positive articles like E-Motion. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet that this is not the only bit of positive that you receive in your mail weekly. You have discovered that it's your life, and you are responsible for your results, you are also responsible for replacing the negative that can come along into positive. You have learned that some laws, like the law of the average are meant to be broken! This week, be a law breaker: take a chance, make a change, and make a difference!

To all the success that you can handle.

Paul