This was a phrase I heard a lot from an interior design instructor. "Remember," he said, "Always add just a little bit of black!"
I went to school years ago to get my design degree. I was employed back then by the second largest furniture store retailer in the country and they added to my department duties the manager responsibilities of the design studio. The studio was attached to the rest of the furniture store facility and employed five interior designers. My design background was very limited. I figured that if I was going to agree to add that department to my list of managerial responsibilities, I would need to bring myself up to speed with the duties those employees performed. I felt my leadership would be best served by knowing a little bit more about what those employees were trying to do. My company would pay for the schooling. I was single and could add the extra time to my life calendar. I went to school after hours, studied and received my certification. I learned a lot. It was a great help to my twenty-seven year career in the furniture retail business.
Everyone of us has a few things we seem to remember the most from some of the experiences we have had in the past. I remember a lot from my sports career and the things my coaches used to repeat teaching. I remember some things I learned in college that have always stuck with me. I remember special things I have learned in some business leadership classes I took later in my career with the SBA and International Leadership Training. Certain phrases, concepts and ideas just seem to stick with you from many of those experiences. They have become part of some of the character we own. One of those great phrases I carry along with me is one I learned in an interior design class. It came from a really good instructor. That is usually how we remember some of those great phrases. We liked the person who said it. It might have been a high school coach, a grade school math teacher, a college professor or a business mentor. We sometimes remember some special phrase they used over and over.
'Always remember just a little bit of black' was one of those phrases that this instructor used a lot and to this day, I remember well. The other phrase he used a lot was this one, "You cannot invent a new color. They have all been defined." That one stuck with me forever. I use it a lot, too. When I see someone trying to do something different that does not need to be done differently, I use that phrase. "You cannot invent a new color." I try to get their attention to illustrate to them to quit trying to do what they are doing, incorrectly. "You cannot invent a new color, stop trying. They have all been defined." This phrase helps them to see that they may be trying to do something in a way that has already found its defined success. Business owners often work hard on trying to invent a new way to do an old method. I find this kind of work a good thing. I have found better ways to do many old tasks in my career. I am one of those owners who tries new things and new ways. Sometimes I discover a new method to do an old task that works better. I like those discoveries. They motivate me to try and invent other new ways to do things.
Operating this way once in awhile can help separate the good from the really good. I like to be on the really good side of those things. That is why I keep on trying to invent new ways to do old things. It helps feed my creativity needs as well as produces a better way to operate once in awhile. Getting out of the box and inventing some new way to do something can be very useful at times. I have developed the habit to practice this process once in awhile. However, if over-used, inventing new ways to do old things can lead to doing some things very wrong. I know, I have done that more than I would like to admit. I have made some very bad mistakes while trying to invent a new way to do some old things. They were so bad that I wished someone had stepped in and told me, "You cannot invent a new color. They have all been defined."
For example. You must plan, organize and control your business to become successful in producing great results. If you try to skip one of these components, you will not become great in your business production. It has already been defined. Do these things, or fail. Quit trying to invent a better way to ignore one of these truths. The truth in these colors is already defined. Do them or lose. Learn how to plan, organize and control what your business model does. Do not try to skip one of these steps and insert something you think will work better. There are no new colors on this one. They are already clearly defined. Accept them and learn how to do them well if you desire to produce good results in your business model. Use all of these defined colors if you want your business model to produce great victories. You cannot invent a short cut to the top of this process. The path to this top is already defined. Plan, Organize and Control.
Another one that deserves to be on the list of defined patterns of success is to understand how better success comes from improved understanding about how money works. You cannot invent a new way to work more money. Money has already been defined as to what it can and cannot do. Just check out how our government is trying to make money work. You cannot make money do what it cannot do. You will fail. Quit trying it. If you do not know how money works, get straight to work on finding out how that works. If you have any confusion about the rules of how money works, your business model will suffer because your decisions will be tainted with the wrong things coming. Money works in ways that only money works. Money does not work in ways that money does not work. Money will always run from problems and gravitate to solutions. That is how money works. Quit trying to make it do something else. It won't. Our U.S. government is practicing some of these wrong things right now and bright people 'in-charge' are trying to define new ways to invent how money management should be done. It is not working and it will never work. You cannot invent a new color when they have already been defined. Quit trying to do with money what money cannot do. Do only what money can do. Do not use your government as a 'good' example. They are not a 'good' example to follow. That is why they have failed at the money game for more than 50 years! It will eventually become the end of them all. It might take another 50 years to finally fail, but it will come to an end.
Money can help to deliver business success. It can do that. Unfortunately, it needs to be managed correctly in order to do that trick. You cannot invent a short cut to the top of this process. The path to this top is already defined. The leaders of our country just are not following it. Don't do what they do. It won't work. People...it hasn't worked. Wake up. The 'business' of our country has failed and has been failing for more than fifty years. Remember in an earlier post that I mentioned how you can fail in a business model for a very long time before you have to sell-out or close your doors. I rest my case. Our government is trying to invent a new way to work money. The immutable laws that define how money works are already defined. If you own a business model...go figure out how that is done...then stick absolutely to it. It ain't complicated. Keep it simple like it is defined. "Money runs from problems and gravitates to solutions." Quit trying to make it do something else. You will fail...and they are.
You cannot steal love. You cannot re-arrange how it works. You cannot invent a new way to make love happen. You may believe you can re-invent how love works. You will only prove how wrong you are. You may trick yourself into believing something may be coming from something it is not. We humans are very good at deceiving ourselves. The results will not lie. Love will only come when the right things are done. You cannot invent a short cut to the top of this process, either. The path to this top is already defined.
You cannot steal respect. Respect has its own set of permanent rules. To try to re-design them is like trying to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic during the panic to jump overboard. It would be a futile attempt to try and invent a new way to 'earn' respect. I watch millions try new ways. I have yet to discover one myself. Respect knows its own road. It will not travel on any other path. A lot of us try to convince it to come down the one we are traveling, but it somehow refuses to comply. You cannot invent a short cut to the top of this process. You cannot invent a new color. The path to this top is already defined.
You cannot steal success. These colors have already been defined. The human being will honor only the truth in these definitions. Leaders tend to try and trick themselves into believing something less than these truths. We try to steal our way to the top of our business success. We are always looking for the short cut path. It does not exist. We may be the only ones who have not yet accepted this truth. We continue to try to do the things that will not work. We continue to try and do the things that will only guarantee failure. We want so badly to find some new color nobody else has seen. It ain't happening. Work hard on finding what areas need no new inventions and learn how to discipline your ways to respect those permanent patterns. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to invent new ideas and new procedures to become more successful. Just quit trying to do that kind of stuff on the ones that are already defined.
You cannot invent a new color. Accept it and move on.
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment