Do What You Said You Would Do

On November 3^rd (for my fortieth birthday), my five wonderful siblings chipped in and bought me a five-disc Sony DVD player. (Did I mention that they are wonderful?) To set up the DVD player is very complicated. You have to put the plug into the wall outlet and you have to connect three wires to the back of the DVD player and the back of the tv. Takes about three minutes.

I installed the DVD on December 27^th.

Why did that take seven weeks to accomplish? Even though I said I wanted to do it, I had a huge mental block. It went something like this, "This is technology. This is complicated. I don't have time to deal with this."

One of the best ways to accelerate your results and your career is to do what you said you would do. I mean it. Just do what you said you would do. Today I'm celebrating five years as an entrepreneur. Five years ago today I left my tenured position as a high school teacher and set out on my own. The times when I've experienced success were when I did what I said I would do. The times I have been unsuccessful were a result of my not doing what I said I would do. (See, there's this book I've been talking about writing since 1990.)

The United States Military has a great commercial that says something like, "An Army Of One." I love that. It means every soldier, every captain, every general and every person in the army is responsible for their decisions and behavior. I think every business should say, "A Corporation Of One." In other words, every person is responsible for his or her decisions and behaviors. On the cover of Time magazine, the 2002 Persons Of The Year are Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Sherron Watkins of Enron. This time, Time got it exactly right. These three women took responsibility for their decisions and their input. They pushed back on their bosses for their lack of integrity and honesty. They changed the world.

In his book, "Leadership", Rudy Guiliani, the former mayor of New York City, tells a story that on his desk was a simple little statement, "I'm responsible." I love that. It means that every person in government is responsible for his or her decisions and behaviors. That philosophy helped his team a great deal during the September 11th crisis.

In his book, "A Long Way From Home", Tom Brokaw tells a story where he simply stopped taking responsibility for his life. Through the help of his father, a great teacher and his future wife, he learned that life is actually much easier when you take responsibility for your decisions and behaviors.

In the book "Execution" by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, the same point comes screaming out loud and clear. Beware of current reality and take responsibility for making the adjustments necessary to be successful. Don't avoid responsibility and assume that things will take care of themselves. (i.e. That DVD player wasn't going to jump out of the box and into the outlet by itself, although you might have thought I believed that due to my behavior.)

Every time you make a commitment to anyone, write it on a sheet called, "My Commitments." Put a deadline on each commitment. Then when you complete the commitment, scratch it off. Be fanatical about doing what you said you would.

I'm listening to a CD program by Brian Tracy called, The Power of Clarity, produced by Nightingale-Conant. In a bonus interview, he says that the biggest thing he has learned about success is that the key is for people to do what they have committed themselves to doing. If you say you're going to lose weight, lose it. If you say you're going to write a book, write it. If you say you're going to look for a different position or a different employer, do it. The gain in self-esteem and momentum will be extraordinary. Do what you said you would do every single time.

And now for our next trick, Barb and I are going to get our three-year-old and one-year-old children to bed earlier so we can actually watch a DVD.

Republishing Articles

Each month my e-newsletter gets republished in approximately 20 blogs, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with "Republishing Article" in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document. All I ask is that you include my name as the author of the article and a short paragraph at the end of the article about me with a link to my website.

Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

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