OOPS! YOU
FORGOT SOMETHING
After
a refreshing break and too much Christmas ham, you’ve come back with
a clear mind and renewed energy.
Remembering that customers are not just important to your business, they
are your business, you have told your staff that looking after your existing
customers must be the Number 1 priority. “What’s the point,” you told your
staff, “of spending a lot of time and money getting a customer and then brassing
them off?”
Because you know that a customer is anyone who uses your products and services
then you understand that your customers are really your staff. Therefore you
have told yourself that every day you will come to work with the expressed
intention of making your staff successful.
You also understand that your business processes are the engine that drives
your company and so you have made a note to review and improve each of your
key processes this year.
Finally, you realize that no matter how well you performed last year it won’t
be enough to make you successful this year. Every year the bar is raised and
therefore you are determined to encourage continuous improvement and innovation
throughout every area of your business.
So, now everything is in place for a successful year.
But wait! You have nearly forgotten to look after one of the most important
ingredients in your business.
You.
What are you going to do to look after you this year? What will you do to
ensure your happiness and your success?
The father of a friend of mine used to say that the key to happiness is to
have someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to. That’s
pretty good advice when you think about it.
Make sure that this year you spend time looking after your relationships
with the people you love. There is little joy in business success if you have
no one to share it with. Relationships, like houses, take work to build and
even more work to maintain. Those who don’t have a program of planned maintenance,
usually pay a high price in the long run.
I know you have lots to do at work, but what about outside of work? All work
and no play makes for a dull work colleague, a boring companion and an uninspiring
parent. Interests and hobbies will keep you learning. Physical activity will
keep you healthy. Both will stimulate and energize you. You will need to recharge
your batteries regularly if you are going to last the distance until the next
long break so take time out for some fun.
And what have you got to look forward to this year? Plan to do something
that you find exciting at least every quarter and ideally once a month. It
doesn’t have to cost a lot of money or take a lot of time to keep you feeling
alive and enthusiastic.
Benjamin Graham had a good philosophy on life, too. Many of you will recognise
that Benjamin Graham is considered to be the father of modern investment theory.
He’s the man, for example, who taught Warren Buffet, who is now the second
richest man in America, how to make money on the stock market.
Graham said that he hoped that every day he would do something foolish, something
creative and something generous. Now, if you were prepared to do something
foolish everyday, maybe you would take more chances. That would help your business
because business is a four-letter word spelled R I S K. Creative you must be
if you want to stay ahead of the pack. And being generous, well, that speaks
for itself doesn’t it? After all, what goes around comes around.
I know you’ve probably long since given up on making New Year’s resolutions
but how about making just one. Make sure that this year you take the time and
make the effort to look after yourself.
Think about it. Without you, what would you have?
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