Grow up to Move Up: Decisions and Consequences
“He who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.” — Prov 12:11
Classic.
That is the one word I would use to describe Coach Carter — a movie starred by Samuel L Jackson. This movie is a sports biographical depiction of Richmond High School basketball coach — Ken Carter. The coach used unconventional and strict methods, including the signing of contracts, to demand discipline, respect and academic excellence from his players. He enraged the players, parents and the entire school when he locked the school gym and suspended the team for poor academic records. I could go on about this movie, but let me cut to the chase. The team lost the regional playoffs to his son’s former high school in a somewhat anti-climax fashion. But Coach Carter was successful in instilling great values in the players and “affected them more profoundly than he ever expected”. Why? He stuck to his decision of how he wanted to shape his players despite the many resistances. He knew the consequences of those decisions; he knew that cutting his players some slack in the short-term will be detrimental to their future. The coach was concerned about the men they will become rather than the high school basketball players that they were.
Having said all that, what gripped me the most is the gratifying reward for true leadership, discipline, and a commitment to a high standard of work ethic that the story line portrays. One profound statement from the coach to his son summed it all up for me. This quote is from a scene in which Damien (Carter’s son) informs his dad of his decision to leave St. Francis High School to play for his dad at Richmond High. Coach Carter was shocked at his son’s decisions, but Damien’s reasoning was too compelling to resist. His dad’s response left the most impression on me.
“Part of growing up is making your own decisions and living with the consequences.”
That response captures the entire theme of chapter four of the book, Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. The title of the chapter is “Consider the Consequences”. And it opens with this thought-provoking line.
“The mark of a superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something.”
Coach Carter knew the consequences of not insisting on academic excellence from his players. He was thinking about the lives of his players ten, twenty or even thirty years after high school.
This notion is true in life as it is in business. It all boils down to what we decide to do or not do. And all those decisions are based on what we believe will be the consequences in our life, work and business. Our perception of those consequences determines the level of importance we will place on any project or decision at hand. As a result, we determine what to prioritise. We will tend to defer tasks or decisions that we perceive to have little or no consequences whether positive or negative. The trick, however, lies in our ability to assess the long term implications of our present actions accurately. It is not about the quick wins, easy fixes or low hanging fruits as we will call them. It is quite easy for us to fall into the trap of doing now what we believe will give an instant result. Those quick actions that might give us an indication of progress. But such measure of success may turn out to be an illusion because they are not solid enough to stand the test to time. If the goal is to make successful, long-lasting decisions, then we have to reframe our minds to think long term.
“Having a clear view of what is really important in the long term makes it much easier for you to make better decisions about your priorities in the short term.”
A couple of days ago, I was engaged fruitful meeting with my CEO and one of our business partners. We ended the meeting with a potential win-win solution for all parties. As we walked out of the room, my CEO asked me a pertinent and salient question. “Is this solution sustainable?” In other words, what is the long term implication of the solution? That is the key question. Whether it is a solution to grow our businesses, to advance our careers on improve our relationships, we must answer that question in the affirmative if we are to enjoy lasting success.
What is the end game to all this? Ultimately, it is about making decisions that will ensure that we make the best use of your time now for maximum productivity. Time is the one resource that we all have in equal measure and never seems enough to do all that we want to accomplish. The difference, therefore, between successful people and the rest lies in how they use their time now for long term gain. According to Brian Tracy:
“Successful people are those who are willing to delay gratification and make sacrifices in the short term so that they can enjoy far greater rewards in the long term.”
Brian Tracy suggests three introspective questions that will help us to complete our most important tasks on time and with high standard.
1) What are my highest value activities? Be clear on what will give the biggest contribution to your life, career or business. We can not over-emphasise the importance of this question.
2) “What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?” — Peter Drucker. Answer this question correctly, and you are on your way to personal effectiveness. The way to make a real difference is to give your best in that which only you can do. “Good enough is not good enough if it can be better. And better is not good enough if it can be best.” ― Rick Rigsby
3) What is the most valuable use of my time right now? Brian Tracy suggests that the answer to this question is the key to productivity and is fundamental to effective time management. To borrow from the “Pareto Principle”, I would say we must focus on executing the “vital few” and resist the temptation of doing the “trivial many”. Do not delay the pursuit of what is important right now.
“The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.” — Goethe.
To be successful we must be clear about what will give the most value to us, give our very best to make a difference and avoid procrastination.
Clarity. Effective. Productivity.
