The despair of compare

If there is one word of wisdom I can offer you today it’s this: stop comparing yourself to those around you.

The days of keeping up with the Jones or the Smiths are dead and gone. Stop looking at the other guys car, because if you knew the truth of it all, you’d probably be glad to know that you don’t have to pay his monthly lease bill. I have seen it time and time again – especially in tough economic times – the shedding of top end vehicles and full furnished bungalows because the vehicles and properties were never owned by the occupants in the first place. They were owned by the bank.  So stop comparing yourself with others and their stuff.

The only person you should be comparing yourself with is you and your last week, month or year’s performance.

Here are some questions to prime your personal comparison pump -

How far have you come?
What skills have you added to your resource in that time frame?
How much more money have you saved?
How much bad debt have you reduced?
How many credit cards have you cut up?
What have you produced in the past twelve months?
What new mentors have you added to your circle of influence?
What new friends have you added to your circle of peers?
How many people have you positively influenced?
How much money have you given to charity?
How much time or effort have you volunteered for no charge?
Have you grown as a person?
Are you more in love with your spouse and your children than last year?
But don’t’ spend one minute on a comparison analysis with someone else. It’s a total waste of time.

And as someone once told me, ‘If we all put our problems into a hat and then picked out of it someone else’s problems, we’d all ask for our own back.’

Learn to live in a state of dissatisfied satisfaction. Enjoy today, but continue to dream and hope for a better tomorrow. But whatever you do, don’t waste today worrying about what you could have done yesterday. Learn from yesterday, but don’t stay there. Do better today than you did then, and you will be assured of a better tomorrow.

Make it your focus to only compare your today’s efforts with yesterdays – with a constant mission to improve. This will set you up for some hugely successful tomorrows.

And remember this, that to compare yourself with others will only create one thing – despair. Don’t go there!

Meeting With The Chairman Of The Board

I love my five times meeting a day with Chairman of the Board. It would have to be the highlight of my day. It is the oxygen, the blood stream. It is the place of dreams. It is the source of hope. It is the realm of peace. It is the launch pad. It is the shelter. It is the rock. It is the comfort. It is the hug. It is the kiss. It is the joy. It is the tenderness of tears. It is the thunder. It is the expression of love.

I don’t know how people survive without this refuge.

It is the still small voice. It is where I draw my next breath. It is where life changing words guide my life. It is the source of reality. It is the war room where strategies and plans are birthed. It is the central nervous system of my very existence, because it is the place where I meet Him; the creator of all things, the inventor, the mastermind, the Lord of life, the King of the universe.

So it is here that I cuddle up to him and nestle deep in his arms – sometimes laughing, sometimes crying. It is here that I am fearless, comforted, restored, renewed and where I am called to obey His instructions in the knowledge that I will hear his beautiful voice, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ and where he calls me his child.

The Master Idea

I just read an inspiring article in a magazine I picked up recently….here is an excerpt from that article….with a few of my added notes…

“Nothing else in the world….is so powerful as an idea whose time has come” Victor Hugo

A corporate Master Idea has the power to ignite and propel a company in the direction of its fullest potential.


Core Values

Trust, Optimism and Resilience work

In one survey, professionals who considered their company’s core values to be “crucial and part of everything we do” were:

300% more likely to believe their work is continually challenging;
200% more likely to feel energized when thinking about the job;
600% more likely to say they work for a superbly led organization;
200% more likely to report customer service as the driving force behind the organization

Those who believed their company’s values are unimportant, not motivating, not articulated or inconsistent were:

500% more likely to say they plan to leave their current job as soon as possible.

Source: Based on interviews with 750 professionals, with results to be published in ‘Business at the Speed of Molasses’ by Joey Reiman and Andrea Hershatter (Crown Business 2007)

A Higher Purpose

Working toward a higher purpose that captures a company’s soul is an idea whose time has come. Some of the most successful companies have realized the value of providing employees with meaningful aspirations.

Values First

By putting values and principles before money, the capacity of the organization can be harnessed in service of both a greater good and a profitable future. Master Ideas offer the promise that the deeper you look inside an organization, the more passion and celebration you will find. This translates into a bond with a marketplace that increasingly demands authenticity along with every transaction.

Companies that identify their Master Idea create corporate missionaries who contribute to its success. When an organization excavates its Master Idea, it harnesses a power that results from a clear, pure purpose. It provides a new way of thinking that invigorates and guides all aspects of the business.

The great news is that the Master Idea already lives inside your company. When you discover it, it will give depth to your culture, define your policies, guide your tactics and give rise to a strategy that holds it all together.

Many wonder, “If my company were to fold, would the world miss a beat?” If you have defined your company’s heart, the world most certainly would.

Ten Tests of a Master Idea

1. Do you know the founding sentiments that made your organization thrive?
2. Does the vision or purpose feel authentic? Distinctive? Enduring?
3. Can you articulate meaningful organisational values shared and lived by all?
4. Do you feel inspired to go to work each day?
5. Are creativity and innovation part of everyone’s job description?
6. Does your organization leave its communities better off than it found them?
7. Do you create something more significant than products and services?
8. Is your company on a heroic mission?
9. Do you earn profits in a way that is consistent with your purpose?
10. Does working toward your purpose enable you to earn profits?

The Master Idea

I just read an inspiring article in a magazine I picked up recently….here is an excerpt from that article….with a few of my added notes…

“Nothing else in the world….is so powerful as an idea whose time has come” Victor Hugo

A corporate Master Idea has the power to ignite and propel a company in the direction of its fullest potential.


Core Values

Trust, Optimism and Resilience work

In one survey, professionals who considered their company’s core values to be “crucial and part of everything we do” were:

300% more likely to believe their work is continually challenging;
200% more likely to feel energized when thinking about the job;
600% more likely to say they work for a superbly led organization;
200% more likely to report customer service as the driving force behind the organization

Those who believed their company’s values are unimportant, not motivating, not articulated or inconsistent were:

500% more likely to say they plan to leave their current job as soon as possible.

Source: Based on interviews with 750 professionals, with results to be published in ‘Business at the Speed of Molasses’ by Joey Reiman and Andrea Hershatter (Crown Business 2007)

A Higher Purpose

Working toward a higher purpose that captures a company’s soul is an idea whose time has come. Some of the most successful companies have realized the value of providing employees with meaningful aspirations.

Values First

By putting values and principles before money, the capacity of the organization can be harnessed in service of both a greater good and a profitable future. Master Ideas offer the promise that the deeper you look inside an organization, the more passion and celebration you will find. This translates into a bond with a marketplace that increasingly demands authenticity along with every transaction.

Companies that identify their Master Idea create corporate missionaries who contribute to its success. When an organization excavates its Master Idea, it harnesses a power that results from a clear, pure purpose. It provides a new way of thinking that invigorates and guides all aspects of the business.

The great news is that the Master Idea already lives inside your company. When you discover it, it will give depth to your culture, define your policies, guide your tactics and give rise to a strategy that holds it all together.

Many wonder, “If my company were to fold, would the world miss a beat?” If you have defined your company’s heart, the world most certainly would.

Ten Tests of a Master Idea

1. Do you know the founding sentiments that made your organization thrive?
2. Does the vision or purpose feel authentic? Distinctive? Enduring?
3. Can you articulate meaningful organisational values shared and lived by all?
4. Do you feel inspired to go to work each day?
5. Are creativity and innovation part of everyone’s job description?
6. Does your organization leave its communities better off than it found them?
7. Do you create something more significant than products and services?
8. Is your company on a heroic mission?
9. Do you earn profits in a way that is consistent with your purpose?
10. Does working toward your purpose enable you to earn profits?