Thursday night over drinks my friend told me that he had been watching one of my presentations and was stumped by a question.
At the beginning I asked the group—If there was one thing you could change that would make an enormous difference in your career, what would it be?
I then emphasized that the economy doesn’t count. Nor does your boss. Nor does anything else that you cannot personally change!
Really think about that. What is one thing that you can actually change?
Because that’s what matters, right?
“Too many people live their lives laboring in mediocrity, operating at a fraction of their potential, getting far less than they deserve because they are unwilling to change,” my friend said to me.
I disagreed, and parroted a line one of my teachers has drummed into me—All we are is change.
There is nothing about you that is not changing in every moment.
Your hair is growing. Your fingernails too. Whatever you last ate is being digested. In the second it takes you to read this sentence you are spawning 1,000,000 new cells.
Everything you are is change.
The distinction in this case is between what is already changing in you and the changes you must activate outside of you.
Your boss’ hair is growing too, but is that getting you more of what you want?
What can you change that will?
I’ll give you a hint. Everything you want comes from one thing—GETTING BETTER.
So, to phrase the question differently—What is one thing you can change to get better that will make an enormous difference in your career?