Monday, December 2, 2013

THE GREATEST LESSON OF 2013

We are nearing the end of the year and one of the 
most important (and profitable) investments you can make is 
to review the past few months very, very carefully. 
Humans are creatures of habit. We are great examples of 
Newton's law that, "a body in motion tends to remain in 
motion." We tend to plunge ahead, repeating yesterday's 
mistakes and failing to learn from experience. We take 
great pride in the fact that we "can" learn, but my 
observation is that we rarely do. 
We tend to assume that what worked last year will continue 
to work next year. We know that we should be innovative, 
creative and original, but in our daily work it's easy to 
get trapped in old habits, whether they still work or not. 
When Jack Welch was the head of General Electric, 
he insisted that half the company's profits come from 
products and services that were less than five years old. 
Why? Because he knew that yesterday's methods won’t fit 
tomorrow's world. 
Take time to review the following questions: 
1. What worked best this year? What surprised me, inspired 
me or taught me something new for my work or my life? 
2. What did not work, or is working less and less well? 
What was less profitable or effective than I expected? What 
should I drop in the new year? 
3. What's new in my field? What are my colleagues 
doing that I should apply to my business? 
One of the BEST things any professional, business owner or 
manager can do is invest in seminars and conferences. The 
chance to "see the forest for the trees" is incredibly 
valuable. Conferences generate new perspectives, and new 
ideas create vast new opportunities! Invest in yourself!

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