THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF PERFORMANCE
Productivity
Much of success is about performance. It's about what we do and what
we are able to inspire others to do.
There are some simple performance principles I have learned in my
life, and I want to share them with you. They
really bring success, and what it takes to be successful, into sharp
focus. They are also the basis for developing and maintaining an
expectation of success.
The Five Principles of Performance:
1. We generally get from ourselves and others what we expect. It is a
huge fact that you will either live up or down to your own
expectations. If you expect to lose, you will. If you expect to be
average, you will be average.
If you expect to feel bad, you probably will. If you expect to feel
great, nothing will slow you down. And what is true for you is true
for others. Your expectations for others will become what they deliver
and achieve. As Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the
world."
2. The difference between good and excellent companies is training.
The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not
train them and keep them! A football team would not be very successful
if they did not train, practice, and prepare for their opponents. When
you think of training as practice and preparation, it makes you wonder
how businesses survive that do not make significant
training investments in their people.
Actually, companies that do not train their people and invest in their
ability don't last. They operate from a competitive disadvantage and
are eventually gobbled up and defeated in
the marketplace. If you want to improve and move from good to
excellent, a good training strategy will be the key to success.
3. You find what you look for in life. If you look for the good things
in life, you will find them. If you look for opportunities to grow and
prosper, you will find them. If you look for positive,
enthusiastic friends and associates who will support you, you will
find them. On the other hand, if you look for ways to cheat, you will
cheat. If you look for ways to justify leaving your spouse, you will
find them. If you look for justifiable reasons to hold a grudge
against another person, you will find those, too. It is a natural
tendency of us all to look for things that will justify what we think
we need or want. If you are not living by the foundation stones of
honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty, you will be
drawn to seeking selfish gratification, and that leads to misery and
unfulfilled dreams. Whatever you have will never be enough. Always
look for the good and
for ways to help others.
4. Never make a promise without a plan. Far too many people make
promises they can never keep. They may have the best intentions in the
world to keep their promise, but if they have not made a plan to keep
it, they will not be able to do it. Business leaders who make promises
to their employees will not honour them if they do not create a plan
on how the promises will be kept. If you make a future commitment, you
must understand and be willing to do whatever it takes to complete
that commitment. One of the reasons marriage commitments fail so
frequently is because the husband and wife do not understand what it
takes to have a great marriage. They do not plan for or understand the
sacrifices each must make for the other to
enable a long-lasting relationship.
5. Happiness, joy, and gratitude are universal if we know what to look
for. I believe you can have everything in life you want if you will
just help enough other people get what they want. All people want
happiness and joy in their life, but you have to know what produces
real happiness and how to do the things that produce it. The moment
you begin to worry about the things you want and the things you don't
have in life is the moment you will lose your gratitude for what you
actually have. If
you are ungrateful, you will never be satisfied or content or joyful
about your life. The greatest source of happiness is the ability to be
grateful at all times.
6. The Right Attitude
Obviously, the right attitude to expect the best in your life is a
positive attitude. But I want to be very clear that the kind of
positive attitude I
describe is not one that is contrived or falsely manufactured to
impress or manipulate others. The positive attitude I talk about is
one that you are filled with, and when you are jostled, it just
spills out! What I'm saying is that a genuinely positive attitude is
part of who you are at your core.
If you have a bad attitude, it is a reflection of who you are, as
well. It's a "heart condition," and to get rid of that bad attitude,
you need a
change of heart. I would be remiss if I did not encourage you by
saying that God is the most amazing heart surgeon available to us all.
He does not just repair a bad heart; He can give you a new one that
your body will not reject.
The new heart He provides will produce love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in your
life. When you have those characteristics and qualities in your life,
you will be rightfully positioned to know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that you are truly born to win.
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