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Monday Morning Memo

The After-Success Mistake You Make

July 10, 2017

| Download
https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/39084c03-16c7-4ca8-b54b-d7b50caca12a/MMM170710-AfterSuccessMistake.mp3

Every successful person has a blind spot.

Here’s what often happens:

  1. You have a unique approach, a particular process, or a special emphasis.
  2. It separates you from your competitors.
  3. Your commitment to it makes you successful.

So far, so good. You found a way to be different and it made you a success!

But now your hockey-stick growth has begun to flatten out and level off.

You’ve obviously reached a plateau.

How do you get to the next level?

Most people double-down on the thing that brought them success.

That’s when it happens: Blind Spot Blowback.

The thing that made you a success will rarely take you to the next level.

I’m not suggesting you abandon it. That would be stupid. You’ve got to maintain what you’ve begun.

But that’s easy. You like doing it. It comes to you naturally. That’s why you feel good about pressing the accelerator even further.

But your business did not quit accelerating because you failed to press the gas pedal hard enough.

Your business quit accelerating because it’s time to shift into second gear.

Your first innovation shot you like a rocket off the starting line. You were shoved back into your seat by the g-force of your acceleration. The crowd went wild.

And then things began to level off.

Second gear, idiot! Second gear!

But few people ever find second gear.

They believe in first gear. First gear works for them. First gear is where they feel comfortable. Second gear seems counter-intuitive. They’re not sure second gear would be the right thing for them.

They want someone to help them get more speed out of first gear.

Your business doesn’t have an automatic transmission.
You’ve got to press the clutch and move the lever.
Only then can you press the pedal again.

And someday, if you’re lucky,
you’ll get to do this
all over again
at a much
higher
level.

Are you lucky?

Roy H. Williams

Take a trip with the wizard and Princess Pennie. Come home in a higher gear.


In the past, when I’ve heard the wizard talk about the subject he wrote about today, I’ve heard him talk about “limiting factors.” In essence, what he’s saying is that the limiting factor that was holding you back at first is never the factor that limits you later on. Your new limiting factor will be a new, unrelated challenge that requires a new, unrelated answer. Glad I could offer some clarity! Aroo. – Indy Beagle


PS – Roving Reporter Rotbart is roving undercover for the FBI this week, so there’s no new edition of MondayMorningRadio. (sigh) BUT, I have a high level of confidence that he will rock your world when he’s back in his studio a week from now. Want to tell him you missed him? Send an email to dean@mondaymorningradio.com

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Random Quote:

“

Sometimes the same word ends up with contradictory meanings. This kind of word is called a contronym. Sanction, for instance can either signify permission to do something or a measure forbidding it to be done. Cleave can mean something cut in half or stuck together. A sanguine person is either hotheaded and bloodthirsty or calm and cheerful. Something that is fast is either stuck firmly or moving quickly. A door that is bolted is secure, but a horse that has bolted has taken off. If you wind up a meeting you finish it; if you wind up a watch, you start it. To ravish means to rape or to enrapture. Quinquennial describes something that lasts for five years or happens only once in five years. Trying one’s best is a good thing, but trying one’s patience is a bad thing. A blunt instrument is dull, but a blunt remark is pointed. Occasionally when this happens the dictionary makers give us different spellings to differentiate the two meanings as with flour and flower, discreet and discrete, but such orthological thoughtfulness is rare.

“

- Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue, p. 70

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