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3 Secrets For Getting Your Own Way
By Chris Wisdom www.wizcomm.co.uk
Which way are you going? Is it your way or someone else’s?
Drivers select the destination, choose the route, decide on the speed, have the skills to get there and know what to do if there is a problem. They can take action and even make choices for other people. Drivers are active. Passengers are passive. They are dependent on drivers to get them where they want to go.
Passengers need drivers, but drivers rarely need passengers. So which one are you a Driver or a Passenger?
If you are a Driver that’s fantastic. You’ll know because you will probably be going where you intend and getting what you want. If you’re not then read on to discover three crucial secrets of getting your own way:
#1 Invest in yourself
The business writer Charles Handy shares a story of when he was waiting outside the door of ‘Personnel’ in the company where he worked. An older Scottish colleague walked by and asked what he was waiting for. When he replied, ‘I am waiting to see what they have planned for me’, the Scot said, ‘Invest in yourself, my boy, don’t wait for them. Invest in yourself; if you don’t, why should they?’
If you are employed by a large organisation or even if you are part of a smaller enterprise or your own boss, this attitude is fundamental to your progress and fulfilment. Don’t wait on others telling you invest in yourself now.
• First invest your time to work out what you really want, where you want to go and how you are going to get there.
• Then invest time and money to get the learning, skills, experience and opportunities.
• Now invest your time and money and yourself and be persistent, smart and lucky
#2 Design your life
The way the large organisation looks after you can seem reassuring and affirming, but what happens when they make choices that aren’t what you’d have chosen for yourself? In smaller organisations it can be even easier to end up doing the wrong thing because there’s usually less choice. If you don’t design your life, someone else will do it for you and you may not like the choices they make.
Great designs don’t often happen by accident.
They go through predictable stages. First you get an idea. Then you have a go at shaping it into something that will tick the boxes for you but it’s not very clear. Next comes the prototype stage when you bring to life the first attempt (there can be many stages like this) and then you refine it and
it starts to look beautiful and wonderful and what you really wanted to create for yourself. Now that’s exciting and fulfilling!
#3 Get unstuck
The problem is many, many people never get to experience that excitement. Because you have a capacity to endure tough and unsatisfying things that’s what you do. But there’s a massive risk here. The risk is that by enduring a situation that doesn’t enrich and challenge you your dissatisfaction can so easily turn into blame and inertia?
Inertia means: lacking the ability or strength to move.
Inwardly you begin blaming others for your lack of opportunity or the type of work you are doing. Inertia sets in because you can’t see a way out or you feel you’ve run out of options. The first thing you must do is be honest with yourself, stop blaming others or the situation and begin to make a plan. This is when you begin to get your power back. This is how you take back control.
Jump into the drivers seat and decide to go on an exciting journey!