"Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I must learn of him." -Emerson
We ALL like to win when we compete. We all seek to be the BEST player on the team and get all the ACCOLADES. It FEELS great to be the "go to guy (or gal)" when your team needs someone to step up!
Consider this... If you are always the BEST player on the team, who do you learn from to become BETTER? How much POTENTIAL for growth do you have when you are already the best? Who on the team has the most OPPORTUNITY to be better than you are today?
My dad always said, "it is better to be the worst player on the best team than the best player on the worst team.". What he was saying is that when you are surrounded by TOP talent, you have the ability to become better, faster. When you are the best and surrounded by MEDIOCRITY, you are likely to begin to become worse.
2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
When you are choosing a team, a workplace or even friends, seek to surround yourself with people that have strengths GREATER than yours.
Take the opportunity to check your EGO at the door and find a true GROWTH opportunity by learning from someone that is more skilled or has a greater expertise.
Remember... The student often becomes the teacher because the teacher has difficulty learning and thinking beyond the level they are at.
Cheers,
Zach
*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com
The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.
Morning Motivator - The Law of the Garbage Truck
"Happiness is a decision you make daily. You don't choose what will happen to you, but you will choose how other will affect you."
- Unknown
I want to say a special thank you to my good friend, Arlene Raines, of Riley, Warnock and Jacobsen Law in Nashville for this excellent story.
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy and I mean he was really friendly.
So I asked, "Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"
That is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
so..... (2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:)
"Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't."
Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!
Cheers,
Zach
*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com
The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.
- Unknown
I want to say a special thank you to my good friend, Arlene Raines, of Riley, Warnock and Jacobsen Law in Nashville for this excellent story.
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy and I mean he was really friendly.
So I asked, "Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"
That is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
so..... (2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:)
"Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't."
Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!
Cheers,
Zach
*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com
The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.
Morning Motivator – Go Get What You Want!
"A little initiative will improve your luck nine days out of ten."
- Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy's
- Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy's
I want to BRAG this morning on a friend of mine, Matt Manning. Matt and I have only known each other a short while, as he plays on my soccer club in Nashville. About a week ago, he approached me to ASK for help. I wondered what he could possibly need from me. He said he knew I was an owner in BarkLoud Marketing (google it!) and that he was SEEKING an opportunity to GROW professionally. Very astute!
I never told him about BarkLoud, nor did I ever mention anything about my willingness to HELP. He took his own INITIATIVE and put himself on the line to seek an opportunity. How often do you just STEP UP and try to get what you want? Are you willing to risk EMBARRASSMENT or REJECTION to get a chance at what you are seeking in your life?
Needless to say, I was so IMPRESSED by his drive to seek assistance that I met with him this morning. He was EARLY and well dressed. He had a PLAN of what he wanted to do and how he wanted to get there – SEEKING the correct pieces of the puzzle to make the bigger picture come to reality. How COOL is that?!? Needless to say, I am now spending part of my morning, emailing, calling and smoke signaling (just kidding) all the people I know that are looking for a SHARP young talent for sales and marketing. (If you are looking, let me know). Today, Matt took the INITIATIVE to CREATE his FUTURE!
2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
A mentor once told me that you will win 80% of the time if you just SHOW UP, 90% of the time if you are PREPARED and 100% if you are EARLY. Interesting… I wonder how many people are taking the INITIATIVE to ask for the opportunity to even show up?
To CREATE your own success patterns, you must be willing to ask for help and have a PLAN of what you want help with. When you have CLARITY in your "ask," you provide the person helping you with distinct ACTION steps that they are able to follow. By asking for SPECIFIC items in a MEASURED time frame, you STRUCTURE the request in a way that it makes it easy for the other person to KNOW if they can assist or not…
Don't be AFRAID to ask… as my good friend Jason Denenberg says, "If you ask and they say no, all you did was BREAK EVEN. At least you gave yourself the benefit of the doubt to start."
Have a great WEEKEND… next week's Morning Motivators will be sent to you from Sunny San Diego as I will be back "home" on vacation!
Cheers,
Zach
*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com
The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.
Morning Motivator – You Know What You Get When You Assume…
"The assumption that seeing is believing makes us susceptible to visual deceptions"
- Kathleen Hall Jamieson
- Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Admittedly, I use the Morning Motivator as a teaching platform to others about the GROWTH and MISHAPS I experience daily. I would even say I use it for a personal THERAPY of sorts. Today, I want to speak about ASSUMING…
We have all heard the phrase, "When you ASSUME, you make an … blah blah blah." Last night, I made an assumption that started a QUARREL with someone very close to me. I ASSUMED I knew their intentions prior to even giving them a chance to let me down. As I ANALYZED the situation in my head this morning, I began to think about how many times I have been the CAUSE of challenges in my own life, simply because I ASSUMED the worst of someone.
I have DISCOVERED that most of us have a NEGATIVE mentality towards the world. We call people who are OPTIMISTIC "unrealistic" and people who always speak of "Doom and Gloom" as "realists." Consider this – in PROVEN studies, near 90% of an individuals' negative thought processes NEVER were realized. This means only 10% of what they ASSUMED would happen, actually did. With that in mind, wouldn't you consider someone who is OPTIMISTIC to be more REALISTIC too?
2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
The challenge with being ASSUMPTIVE is the underlying belief that we are always CORRECT in our thought processes. How arrogant! For us to BELIEVE we will always be correct is borderline insanity if you ask me. Secondarily, you are also under the belief that somehow you have CONTROL over that others person's actions, such that you KNOW what they will do before the even take an initial action.
Give people a CHANCE to prove you RIGHT. If they make a mistake, don't chastise them for it… COMMUNICATE with them about your feelings and expectations. Give them INSIGHT into your needs and thoughts processes. Lastly, SHOULD you assume the worst of them and be proven wrong – show your CLASS and apologize. It takes a strong person to give up control and a stronger person to admit when they made the wrong ASSUMPTIONS…
Cheers,
Zach
*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com
The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.
Morning Motivator – What’s the Worst That Can Happen?
"If your life is free of failures, you're not taking enough risks."
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr., "A Father's Book of Wisdom"
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr., "A Father's Book of Wisdom"
Scenario: I am 25 years old and walk into the office of the Senior Vice President of SunTrust Mortgage to share a discussion with him the success I have just had in being AWARDED Rookie of the Year. He sits me down and says, "I am very proud of you. I know you have WORKED hard and spent a lot of time learning this system. What will you do next?" I replied, "I GUESS, just keeping doing it." His next statement was PROFOUND – "Zach, have you ever FAILED at anything?" I never have. He continues, "I know you have something SPECIAL in you and I BELIEVE that when you begin to take the RISK of failing, you will find that you have it too." Scary…
Zoom ahead… I am 30 years old. Have I FAILED yet? Nope. Have I REALLY tried anything that I could fail at? Nope.
I am someone that has always PRIDED myself on the fact that I have ALWAYS succeeded at what I do. I have never FAILED at anything I wanted to ACHIEVE. I am also starting to REALIZE that maybe my goals have just been too LOW and EASY. How can have pride in the fact that they NEVER push themselves to the point that they can be HURT or FAIL? If you do push yourself to that point… what is the WORST that can happen?
2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
I read an interesting thought in one of my favorite books, The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss (highly suggested). He asked, "What is the WORST that could happen as a result of taking a major risk?" He doesn't mean jumping off bridges or robbing banks, rather starting a business or asking someone for a date. Seriously… what is the WORST thing? I did my best to find something HORRIBLE and here is what I came up with:
- I might look SILLY
- I might go BANKRUPT
- I might make a BAD DECISION
- I might LOSE my house
- I might TARNISH my good reputation
In looking at these "MIGHTS" (meaning they may never even happen), I also realized this:
- I might look BRILLIANT
- I might make a TON of money
- I might make the BEST decision of my life
- I might be able to buy a BEACH HOUSE
- I might create my LEGACY
Now, you tell me… Is it a BIGGER risk in NOT taking action or having to live with the thought that you MIGHT have missed out on the best opportunity of your life? Everything can be REVERSED… except the TIME you waste "waiting" to take action!
Cheers,
Zach
*To enjoy past editions of the Morning Motivator go to – http://grow-learn-lead.blogspot.com
The Morning Motivator is a copyrighted publication. The use of this article is open for print or publication with proper citations.
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